A/N: Thanks for the reviews and alerts! Here's chapter 10. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any original characters.

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A little while later, Tony and Ziva were standing alone in the observation room while Gibbs and McGee were getting coffee. Todd Williams sat alone in interrogation looking rather confused. He had not caused a struggle when the agents showed up at his house to bring him in for questioning, but he had appeared puzzled even then as to why they were asking for him. Now, while Todd was awaiting his interrogator, Tony and Ziva were supposed to be watching him, taking notice of his behavior as his waiting time increased. As they stood there, though, Ziva's mind was racing. She had done a decent job of concealing her feelings for Tony that day. To her knowledge, Gibbs had not caught on to her feelings, and if he had, he had not said anything about it. She was not surprised that Gibbs was oblivious though; her feelings for Tony had been present for years, after all. They were simply growing too hard to handle. She reflected briefly over the past several years and thought about how hiding her true feelings for her partner had grown more difficult after he saved her from Somalia. She knew she was playing with fire when it came to her feelings; if Ziva was honest with Tony, it could destroy their relationship and the dynamic of the team. Yet, if Ziva continued keeping her feelings inside, she did not know how much longer she could handle working with Tony every day. Her thoughts were interrupted by Tony's voice.

"I know I've been asking you this a lot lately, but are you okay?" he asked. Ziva sighed and did not respond. "The way you acted in interrogation today was really unlike you."

"I just got a little carried away," Ziva replied. "It happens."

"Look, I just know it's not like you to act that way during cases," Tony said. "I know there's something bothering you, and I know you want me to believe that you don't want to talk about it. But I know you, and I know you're burning to let it out. So, whatever it is, whatever you need to say, Ziva, I'm right here. You can talk to me about anything."

"Tony, why are you so concerned?" Ziva asked sternly, looking at her partner. "For days, you have been pushing me to talk to you about something that I obviously don't want to talk to you about. Why can you not let it go?"

"Why am I concerned? You're my friend, Ziva. I care a lot about you. I hate seeing something eating at you this much. And we're partners, so when something affects you, it affects me too," Tony replied. "I don't like seeing you conflicted like this, and I want to help you."

"I see," Ziva whispered. She had listened to everything that Tony had said, but three words kept ringing in her head. 'You're my friend.' Ziva just wished it was more than that.

"Talk to me," Tony said quietly, taking a step closer to her. Ziva looked up and saw the care in his eyes again. She had never met a man so sincere in her life, and she hated that she had to keep lying to him.

"It just bothers me to see people lie and hurt people like that," she said lamely. "That is why I lost it in interrogation with Megan."

"But that had to be triggered by something, Ziva," Tony said softly. "We've seen lies before; we've seen hurt before."

"But after everything that I have seen and lived, it means more to me now," Ziva whispered. She saw as the realization hit Tony. He still did not know everything that happened to Ziva in Somalia, but he now knew that every case post-Somalia that dealt with hurting women had triggered feelings inside of Ziva that continued to build until she was nearly overflowing.

"Zi, you have been through a lot, and I know it has changed you," Tony began.

"You do not know the hell that I went through," Ziva said, forcing memories out of her head.

"You're right; I don't. I don't know everything that happened, but I know that you have never been the same," Tony replied.

"I never will be the same," Ziva whispered. Tony nodded. "I do not know if I can ever trust a man to get as close as I have in the past. On top of what happened to me, so many days at work I have to see men hurting women...not the way that I've been hurt. But it still just adds to what I have been through."

"I know that," Tony said softly. "And if I could go back and prevent all of that from happening, I would. There are so many things that I would change if I had the power to, but I can't."

"No one can," Ziva whispered, looking at the floor. Tony took another step toward her and placed his finger under her chin to lift her head back up to face him.

"I hate that you've been through what you've been through, and I hate that what you see affects you like this, but I promise you, not everyone is like that," he said just above a whisper. Ziva looked deeply into his eyes and saw his sincerity. She opened her mouth to speak, but she and Tony were startled by the interrogation room door opening as Gibbs finally walked inside to question Todd Williams. Tony backed a couple steps away from Ziva as McGee opened the door to the observation room to join them.

"Todd Williams," Gibbs said as he sat opposite of the suspect.

"Yes, sir," Todd nodded.

"Special Agent Gibbs," Gibbs introduced himself.

"What is this about, exactly?" Todd asked. Gibbs sighed and folded his hands on top of the folder that he had brought in with him.

"Do you know a man by the man of Ryan Jacobs?" he asked. Todd shook his head instantly.

"No," he replied. Gibbs studied his face for a moment and thought he was lying.

"Are you sure?" Gibbs asked. Todd hesitated a moment and shrugged his shoulders, avoiding eye contact with Gibbs.

"What do you know about the website DateNow?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't have a DateNow account if that's what you're trying to get at," Todd said defensively. Gibbs shook his head.

"That's not what I'm trying to 'get at' at all," Gibbs replied. "But I take it you've heard of the website."

"Yeah," Todd replied.

"Mr. Williams, are you aware that your wife, Megan, has a DateNow account?" Gibbs asked. He studied Todd's face as Todd struggled with how to answer the questin.

"I...well-"

"Just answer the question," Gibbs said firmly. "Did you or did you not know that your wife, Megan, has a DateNow account?"

"Yes, I know about it," Todd replied reluctantly.

"And how do you feel about it?" Gibbs asked. Todd was silent and breathed hard for a moment.

"How would you feel if your wife had an account on a dating website?" Todd blurted out. "Megan doesn't know that I know she has one. I found it by accident on the computer. It was in the history; she hadn't cleared it."

"Did you look at her account, then?" Gibbs asked.

"I did," Todd admitted. "And I was disgusted. She was displaying herself as a single woman looking for hookups, Agent Gibbs. I was furious."

"I'm sure you were," Gibbs said. "Did you look at who she'd been messaging?"

"She had messages back and forth with a couple different guys, but no I didn't read them," Todd replied. Gibbs nodded, unsure of whether he believed this or not.

"So you were unaware of Megan's affair with Ryan Jacobs?" Gibbs asked.

"I saw that they had talked, but I didn't know there was an affair," Todd replied quietly. Gibbs offered a smirk.

"I thought you said you hadn't heard of Ryan Jacobs," he said. The color drained from Todd's face when he realized he had just contradicted himself. "Why don't you try being honest with me."

"Okay," Todd sighed.

"I'm going to ask you a couple questions again, and I think it will be in your best interest to answer them truthfully," Gibbs said, and Todd nodded. "Did you read Megan and Todd's messages?"

"Yeah," Todd said reluctantly.

"And how did you feel?" Gibbs asked.

"Betrayed. Furious," Todd replied. "She's been hooking up with this guy."

"And you felt like you had to do something about it?" Gibbs asked.

"Of course I felt like that," Todd replied. "What guy wouldn't? I just didn't know what I should do. I didn't know if I should confront Megan about it or what."

"What did you decide to do about it?" Gibbs asked. Todd was silent for a moment and let out a long breath.

"Nothing yet," he replied. "I plan to confront Megan about it. I can't be with an unfaithful women, Agent Gibbs." Gibbs nodded, and they sat in silence for a moment.

"Ryan Jacobs was murdered," Gibbs stated finally. Todd's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

"What?" he asked. Gibbs opened the folder that his hands were resting on, and he pulled out the picture of Jacobs from autopsy to show Todd.

"Poison," Gibbs explained.

"And I'll bet you think I did this, don't know?" Todd asked.

"Did you?" Gibbs asked.

"No!" Todd exclaimed.

"You did have a lot of anger directed toward him," Gibbs pointed out. "I'm sure you justified killing him with the fact that he was destroying your marriage."

"No, I didn't kill him, Agent Gibbs," Todd insisted. "But I am glad that bastard's dead. At least whoever did this is ensuring that this guy can never destroy another marriage." Gibbs nodded and finished the interrogation.

"DiNozzo, Ziva, I want you at the Williams' house," Gibbs ordered when he entered the observation room. "Search it, find me something."

"You think he did it?" Tony asked.

"Something's telling me that he's guilty," Gibbs replied. "Now, we just need to prove it."

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"Was he guilty, Grandma?" Collin asked when Ziva paused. Ziva smiled at her grandson's interest.

"Well if I tell you that, it would ruin the rest of the story," she replied. "I may not have even said the killer's name yet."

"Well keep going," Collin insisted. "I want to hear more!"

"All right," Ziva smiled. She cleared her throat and prepared herself to tell the rest of the story to her daughter and grandchildren.

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A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed chapter 10! Only five more chapter! Please remember to review and let me know what you think so far!