A/N – wow, thank you so much for the lovely reviews on the last chapter means a lot! Well this is the last chapter – thank you to all that have reviewed and liked and followed this story. Hope you enjoy the last one. Spelling and grammar my own.

Disclaimer – Not mine. Just borrowing them hoping to give a ray of light for our Duo.

Even after all this time?

Chapter 10

It was day three since the team got back to work following the departure of Ziva, there was a low mood among the whole team and no one knew what to say or ask if either had heard from her, for everyone it felt like the summer of 'Africa' again. But this was worse, they all knew she was ok and she was safe but still no one dared to mention her name.

Day three passed with a little ease with no case to be called out on and everyone was thankful, just meant everyone could bury themselves in cold case paperwork and find any excuse not talk to anyone. Five o'clock came and went and all the team disbanded for the night heading their own way for the night. No sooner the team had settle down for their relaxing night the phone call had come from boss with 'grab your gear' all the team now found themselves in the bull pen at 11pm dreading what was to come.

Day four and the whole team now were on tent a hook, the case turned out to be a kidnapping of a son and daughter of an Admiral and there was nothing worse under Gibbs than a kidnapped kid, he would not rest, would not stop till they had been found, for the team this was the worst case possible. It was now 10pm and everyone was tired, restless and frustrated they couldn't get a break in the case, Gibbs was on his 6th coffee and barking orders every 2 seconds, slamming hands on desk and slamming draws. Finally, 12:30am came and a small breakthrough came thanks to McGee, Gibbs cooled a little and ordered the team home for a 2-hour break, just what they needed.

Arriving home Tony found it hard just opening his door thanks for the lack of sleep, he placed his bag down and fell on the sofa hoping for at least a little sleep just to get by the next few hours. He frowned a little as he stared at his coffee table, when did he leave a drink on it? With his senses finally kicking in he turned to his side and stared at the face staring back at him.

"Tired?" remaining still Tony nodded and carried on staring at her. "Blink Tony" she laughed a little as she patted his head, shaking his head he closed his eyes and rubbed them was he dreaming? Was he that tired that he had fallen asleep at his desk and now he was dreaming? Opening his eyes again he couldn't believe she was sat there on his sofa, in his OSU t-shirt and pants, wet hair had she really taken a shower in his?

"I, uh, what" Tony stumbled over each word, again she just smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder

"I should have called" she whispered, again Tony was lost for words, tiredness was at its peak now and he was in no mood for mind games. It took a while for his brain to finally catch up with him.

"What are you doing here?" Ziva shifted in her seat and tucked her legs under her to turn more towards Tony she gave him a little smile and studied his features. From the moment, she landed on the DC tarmac 4 hours ago she felt like she was home. Now she was sat in his apartment waiting for him to come home and it all felt right – this is what she wanted and needed now and she was going to do everything in her power to have it.

"It is hard to explain and I am thinking now is not a good time yes?" Ziva questioned, Tony rubbed his face and just nodded, he leant back on the sofa and turned towards her.

"Shitty case, kids" was all he could manage, even though she left many years ago she instantly knew what he was referring too, she knew this was going to be a tough one.

"I am sorry about breaking in and "she trailed off pointing down to his pants and top she looked back up at him "I shall leave you"

"Don't worry I am going back in an hour you might as well stay" Tony mumbled, his eyes closing he would feel himself falling to sleep. Watching, Ziva smiled a little and set a timer on her phone to awake him, within two minutes he was fast asleep snoring a little. For Ziva this felt like home. Turning the TV on low she sat back and relaxed, the comfiest she felt in years.

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The ringing of the phone stirred Tony, he groaned and stretched out, he really felt worse now all he wanted to do was climb into bed and sleep forever. He reached out for his phone and looked at the ID and groaned a loud.

"Yes Boss"

"We have a huge lead office now' the line went dead, Tony through the phone down and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"You better go" Tony's eyes flew open and he looked to his right, it wasn't a dream she was really sat in his apartment in his clothes, he frowned and opened his mouth but words wouldn't come out.

"I have to go" he finally said after a while. Pulling himself off the sofa he collected his things to head back out and occasionally, he would just look over to see if his mind wasn't playing on him. She mused in watching him, a tired over worked Tony was an adorable Tony.

"I can be here when you finish?" The question sounded more like a statement and Tony frowned a little, did she think she could just turn up, break in and not explain?

"Yes, explain" he nodded and in a swift motion headed out the door and back to work, praying, especially now for a quick finish on the case.

9am and everyone was arriving into the office, as the team were wrapping up the case, McGee managed to crack it and they figured out the nanny had arranged for the kids to be kidnapped as she was obsessed with the Admiral and he turned down any advance from her, Gibbs had now mellowed out to return to normal Gibbs. Luckily it had been a busy few hours and Tony hadn't had the chance to talk about the return of a certain former agent. Gibbs ordered the team home for the rest of the day to wind down and promised that they wouldn't be called out.

"Fancy some breakfast?" Ellie asked, she rubbed her belly and sighed "I am really hungry" she finished, Tim was the first to decline explaining that Delilah was waiting at home, Ellie turned to Tony who just shook his head "Headache gonna sleep" he mumbled, Ellie sighed "Ok see you tomorrow" All the agents now waved bye to their boss and headed their separate ways.

It felt like Groundhog Day for Tony he opened his door and nearly fell through yet again as the tiredness was now again descending on him. Throwing all his gear down it took a few minutes to realise there was someone crashing around his kitchen soon followed by the smell of pancakes. Walking over to his kitchen he stood at the door way for moment and took in the view. Ziva stood in his kitchen cooking wearing his clothes – still.

"You know when you are tired you are very noisy" Tony jumped a little as her voice broke his thoughts. Turning around Ziva placed a plate down on the counter and pointed "Eat then we can talk" Tony just did what he was told he was too tired to argue back. He took a seat by the breakfast bar and threw his breakfast down in minutes.

Half an hour later, now showered and changed and a little more away he walked back into his living room and watched as Ziva messed around with her book. He rubbed the towel through his hair and threw it to the side as he took a seat on the sofa.

"So sweetcheeks breaking into my apartment explain?" Tony yawned a little and sat back, messing with his pants she was wearing she took a deep breath and looked towards Tony.

"I know after everything I have no right to come and break in but there wasn't anywhere else to go" Ziva searched his eyes for any reaction but all she could see was confusion. "I landed back in Israel and something hit me Tony, that was not home to me anymore, yes it will always be a part of me but it is not the future I want, the one I have been working for" Tony hummed a little at her statement and watched carefully as she fiddled with the string on his pants.

"Ok, I ask again why here?" Tony mumbled

"I am scared to answer, I am scared for the answer" Ziva trailed off, Tony nodded and sat up a little, he could tell this was going to be a complicated talk. He turned a little and faced her, she still looked beautiful. He could feel the pull back and he knew he wasn't going to fight it. He was ready to prove to her and the world that they were worth all this heartache and fighting.

"Ok, let's start small, how are you?" Tony smiled a little just trying anything to lighten the mood, Ziva nodded and smiled back.

"I am good, you? Case done with?"

"McGoo cracked the final puzzle all done" Tony laughed a little, he did love his probie, he had grown so much over the years and became that agent they all knew he could be so when it came down to McGee fitting the final piece it was no longer a shock that probie did it. "I am good just trying to get back to some sort of normality been a weird couple of weeks" Tony glanced over at the boxes that were still sat in his living room and sighed a little, thoughts flashed back to Amber, was she ok? Was she hurt and upset? Frowning a little he looked back at Ziva "Hard couple of years" he finished.

For the next half an hour they seemed to fall into the idle chat of catching up and what happened over the last two years, Ziva had been told about what happened after Israel and Gibb's father and also the passing of McGee's dad, Ziva explained that what she had been up to how she managed to finally come to peace with certain aspects of her life and how she became part of the UN also to a surprise of Tony, Ziva explained how she made peace with Orli. A slight awkward silence had now fallen and Tony knew where it was about to head. Ziva looked around the living room and saw a photo on the side of Tony and who she presumed his ex.

"So, wedding?" Ziva couldn't think any other way of raising the conversation, he sighed and ran his hands through his hair and mumbled a little.

"Nothing to say Zi, it just was not the right time for us, hard to say she was just there to fill an empty space" he stared at Ziva who just gulped a little "she wasn't you, all serious now Zi what are you doing here?"

"I am here to correct the final part of my life I made a mistake" Ziva looked away and again found the string on the pants as a distraction. On the other side of the sofa Tony felt his breath catch his throat he didn't want to presume it was about him just in case he was wrong

"Job?" Ziva instantly shook her head and turned a little more to face him

"No that is one thing I am at peace with, its complicated as it's a conversation that we have never actually had"

"Us" Ziva nodded "Well what about Israel Zi when I begged you to come home to be with me, I told you then I wouldn't care if you packed groceries I asked you then to be with me" A little anger could be sensed in Tony's voice and Ziva grimaced at his tone.

"Tony. I am trying to explain" Ziva sighed, he laughed a little and looked away

"You said I was loved remember?" Tony snapped a little

"That I did, Tony, back then I was broke, I thought I had no mean and I needed to step away from everything and everyone to work on myself, we could not have been together back then it would have not worked we both deep down know that this was needed, I did not expect to come back you and you be waiting for me, I knew I was taking a risk but I needed to take it" Tony knew what she was saying was true. When he left Israel, she was a broken women, she had seen so much pain in the 30 years of her life from her mother and sister Tali to her brother Ari and of course the recent death of her father.

"I do understand Zi, I do. I get you needed time. It was hard to leave you, heck I nearly came back I couldn't cope or function without you. The first 6 months I won't lie nearly broke me I was drinking and the team didn't know what to do, they knew what was up but they didn't know how to help all they could do was be there for me when I hit the bottom" Tony stopped as he noticed a small pool of tears forming in Ziva's eyes, he leaned over and took her hand "I am not saying this to upset you Zi, first time we've actually been honest" Ziva laughed a little as she wiped away a tear that had fallen. He was right this was the first time they had been honest with each other.

"I am sorry" Ziva sniffed a little and wiped away more tears and took a few deep breaths "I did not realise you was hurting. If it makes it easier I was too. There was one night where I packed a bag and sat on my front porch. I wanted to come back to you but at the same time I knew I needed to stay. I sat on that porch for 6 hours until I convinced myself you would not want me back" again silence fell and neither knew what to say.

After a while Tony decided to bite the bullet "I have always loved you Zi. I would do anything to have you back in my life, even now, hell I cancelled my wedding on the fact you were in trouble"

"I know it will not be easy, but can you work with me, on this – us" Ziva waved between them, Tony's smile gave Ziva the answer she came for and thank the heavens and all the gods they were finally on the same page.

3 Months later

Walking into the classroom and having a class full of students stare back at her was by far the scariest thing Ziva had done in a long time. Taking a seat at her new desk she cleared her throat and the room fell silent.

"Hello, my name is Miss David, and I will be your new languages teacher for this next year" The room remained silent as all eyes remained on Ziva. She took a few and begun the first day of her new job,

After their long talk and finally getting on the same page, Tony and Ziva took a few days to catch up and reignite that spark between them. A few days after Tony invited everyone around to his place for dinner and surprised them all with Ziva being there. The night went well, they all caught up and Tony and Ziva explained that they were now working together on them, finally. Everyone was happy that finally they gathered all the courage to work on them. It was like the old times but better, Ziva explained that Vance had offered her a job back but she declined she never wanted to return to that part of her life so he did the next best thing and got her a teaching position at the school down the road as a language teacher. It was perfect for her, she got to do something she loved and she was only down the road from her family. Over the last few months she even forged a lovely friendship with Ellie. Even her relationship with Tony was going brilliantly, they didn't even bother looking for a place for her, they didn't want to waste any more time so Tony insisted they stayed at his and they would buy a place once she was settled in her job. There was even a conversation about marriage and kids, but that was their private conversation.

Finishing the last lesson Ziva made her way to the Navy yard and headed up to the bull pen, she walked in on an argument about the best Bond film of all time between Tony and Ellie with McGee just shaking his head.

"I would give up Ellie if I was you" Ziva laughed and she leant against the wall by Ellie's desk.

"There is no way I am going to win am I?" Ellie huffed a little as she leant back in her chair

"Ellie Tony feels him and James Bond are two peas in a sack"

"Pod" McGee and Tony replied in unison "Two peas in a pod Ziva" McGee laughed. Tony stood from his desk and made his way over to his girl, he placed his hand on her hip and pulled her closer to him.

"So how are you Miss David – teacher" he whispered a little

"Scary but good, I am happy" Ziva whispered, Tony leant in a little and smiled

"Missed you" Ziva laughed a little and leaned in with their lips nearly touching. A smack to the head broke the moment and they both stood up straight.

"Ziver no distracting my agents" Gibbs smirked as he sat down behind his desk. The team laughed and went to discuss Ziva's first day as teacher.

Everything was finally good and as they stood in the bull pen, hands inter linked smiling from ear to ear and laughing with their family they were finally both home.

A/N – DONE. Ah I have loved this little journey. Thank you to all for following and liking and reviewing means the world. I really hope you like this last chapter.

Good Wednesday everyone

Nat x