Finally the next chapter :)

Hope you'll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

Chapter 10

Ziva was making dinner, just two steaks and salad. Ziva also had some bread in the stove.

She had avoided Tony the whole time since the almost kiss. Every time he happen to come anywhere close to her, she'd moved too. Since the cabin wasn't that big, she mostly fled out of the cabin where she spent the most time sitting in the sun. Tony never followed her one outside, giving her the space she needed. At the moment Tony was watching a movie, which meant that she was safe in the kitchen. She had no idea how to live through the next few days. Maybe she should contact Gibbs and ask him to send McGee, but that would bring up questions neither her nor Tony wanted to answer.

The oven cheeped, giving the signal that the bread was ready. She got it out and put it on the counter to let it cool down. As she turned she jumped when she saw Tony suddenly standing in front of her. She hadn't noticed him moving from the couch.

"Tony! You scared me."

"I take that as a compliment. It's hard to sneak up to you without you noticing."

"What is it? Dinner isn't ready yet." she was just turning around to start working on the salad when Tony gently grabbed her arm, hindering her in doing so. "You're avoiding me at all costs for the whole day now. Did I do something wrong?"

Ziva pulled her arm from his clutch and turned round. "I don't know what you mean. Everything is fine."

"Don't even try to lie to me. I know for sure that something's not fine." He waited a moment to see if she'd approached the topic herself, but she stayed silent. "Is it because of the kiss - or better said almost kiss?" Tony noticed Ziva tensing just a little bit. "It is because of the almost kiss."

"Can't we just forget it. It's obvious that we both nearly did something neither of us wanted to happen. It was good that we stopped, I mean we are something like best friends and there's rule 12. It would have made everything awkward-" She ranted on but was cut off by Tony who silenced her by turning her back to him and kissed her. Because she was caught off guard she first tried to fight back, but soon found herself getting closer to him, responding to his kiss. While her left hand found its place on his shoulder, her other hand was caressing his hair. Tony's hands wandered too, one stayed on her hip and the other was cupping her cheek. Slowly they ended their kiss, the need for air getting more obvious and Tony leaned his forehead on hers. "I hope this wasn't a mistake. In my eyes it wasn't."

Ziva hesitated briefly, biting her lip before she answered him with a short kiss. "No, definitely no mistakes. Rather something that was long overdue." She smiled happily and pulled him down for another kiss.

It was a nice sunny day in D.C. The right weather to spend some time outside. William Holt sat in the sun drinking a cappuccino. Since he had to change his location he had lost track of DiNozzo. A necessary loss, but he was sure he'll soon know about DiNozzo's whereabouts again. He was just a little put off by the fact that his target left the city, he had been sure he'd stay at his own apartment. He had studied his target well enough to know that he liked to stay at a place he was completely comfortable with. He had calculated the situation wrong, but it wasn't that bad. It just meant that he'd take longer than he thought. He hadn't heard anything from his client yet, he just wanted the result. As soon as possible.

Holt looked at his watch and emptied his cup. It was nearly 02:00pm. If he didn't make another mistake in his calculation, it would start soon. He looked around the people, looking if he'd see one of them. As soon as he saw a familiar face he grinned slightly and waited for the spectacle to begin.

Special Agents Gibbs and McGee approached Holt with three FBI agents. Holt was sitting at the outside area of a little café, enjoying a cup of hot liquid. How can he be so relaxed when he very well knew that two agencies were looking for him?! Gibbs signaled the FBI agents to approach Holt from behind while he and McGee would walk straight up to him. The whole time Holt watched them getting closer but remained seated, not once tensing up. It was like he just waited for them to get to him.

"William Holt. You are under arrest for murder of Petty Officer Logan Rast and attempted murder of Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo."Holt grinned. Show time.He stood up and turned around, letting Gibbs handcuff him. "McGee, tell him his rights. We don't want him to get free again because we made a rookie mistake." Gibbs watched how McGee led Holt away, ranting of his rights. Something was off. This had been too easy. He planned something. Gibbs gut told him that it wasn't just over yet.

"Alright, Gibbs. I got it. I'll tell Tony. Hear from you soon." Ziva finished the phone call with Gibbs. It was late in the evening. After dinner they cleaned up and cuddled up on the couch, watching a movie Tony brought along. While Ziva sat in an uptight position, Tony was laying down having his head on her tightand one of her hand was curling through his hair.

"That was Gibbs. They arrested Holt today, but Gibbs still wants us to stay for a little bit longer."

"So he too thinks that someone else will take over for Holt? This proves that I'll never be safe wherever I am."

"I won't let this happen. They won't get you." When Tony looked into her eyes he saw little sparkles. Her eyes were telling him basically that she'd do everything to protect him, but how could she protect him if she didn't even know from whom she was protecting him? This was so complicated and he wasn't sure he wanted to pull Ziva into this mess.

"Did you take your painkillers?"

"I don't want them. You know that I don't do well with them."

"But they will be good for you. Besides it's late, some rest won't hurt you. Come on, I'll get your pills and then we'll go to bed."

"Ziva David. Do you want to drug me and then have your wicked way with me?" He grinned evilly at her while she rolled her eyes at his antics.

"Exactly Tony. You've discovered my evil plans for tonight. What should I do now?"

She stood up and went to the bathroom. Ziva had stowed away his pills in the cabinet so that she had access to them too. She had already known that Tony wouldn't take them without a fuss. After she had his dose of pills, she went to get a glass of water before returning to the couch where Tony still laid. She held both, the pills and the glass of water, under his nose and waited for him to take it, however he made no move.

"Come on, Tony. Don't make this any harder than it has to be. Take the pills."It was amazing how Tony could drive her mad. He behaved like a child sometimes. At one moment she was totally relaxed and content and in the very next moment she felt like breaking his neck. Somehow this man could bring up every facet of her character and she was still not sure if that was a good thing or not.

"And if I won't? Will you push them down my throat yourself?" He raised challenging an eyebrow.

"Okay, you know what? I don't care if whether you take the damn pills or not. I'll go to bed and since you're already laying comfortably on the couch, I'll be taking the bed tonight. Goodnight Tony." Just like that she disappeared in the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Now she got him to feel bad. He hadn't want to annoy her, but she seemed to take this whole thing more seriously than he did. Maybe she felt guilty that he got shot but that would be stupid. She hadn't been with him then and even if she had been, there was no way she could have prevented he had to find a quick and easy way to get on her good side again. He looked at the pills and took them. Even when he disliked painkillers, she was right, he was in pain and those would certainly help him to get a good night's sleep. Tony grabbed the glass of water and drowned the pills down. It won't take long for until the pain will fade away.

He glanced over to the now closed bedroom door. He didn't want to begin their relationship or whatever else this was with fight. Tony locked the front door and switched off the lights, going quietly into the bedroom. The room was completely dark and Ziva seemed to be already asleep, her back was facing the door. As quietly as possible he closed the door behind him, took off his shoes and laid down behind her on the bed, putting his arm around her waist.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to annoy you."

"Don't be. I should know by now that it's not always easy with you."

"I took the pills."

"Good. Now close your eyes and sleep a little."

"Goodnight." Tony laid his face in her neck, breathing in the smell of her. It only took a few seconds until he was out for the night. Ziva smiled when she noticed that he was asleep. She slid a little closer to him, snuggling into his warm body and closed her eyes.

"Laila tov."

Wish you all a great evening :)