Disclaimer: I own nothing from NCIS or its characters

A/N: Thanks to all the people who's reading this story and to the ones who leave a review. I do not know if I will be able to post this weekend since I have my own Nettie at home right now.

Chapter 10

Ziva vs. Jeanne/ Tony vs. Yago

"Shall we?", said Ziva

Tony knew that the decision was hurting her somehow, she was not showing it, but something told him she was upset.

"Listen Ziva, I smell you know", he said burying his nose in his shirt. "Nettie, or I should say Mrs. Diamant did not like me even when she thought I was your husband, when she founds out the truth, she's going to be even angrier, so, let me take a shower and I meet you there, kay?", He said lifting her chin with two of his fingers and looking into her eyes.

"You're right, you definitely smell". She said covering her nose with her right hand and pushing him away with the other. "But I won't wait for you outside, I prefer to wait here. If you do not mind of course"

"No Ziva, I do not" They laughed at each other before he went into the bathroom.

Ziva sat down in the airbed wondering how was she going to tell her aunt Nettie that she lied to her?. Nettie had always been honest to her. But on the other hand she could not let her aunt keep on bothering Tony the way she had been so far; it was not fair Tony was a good man and he was only trying to help her. Even when she told him that everything was his fault, deep inside she knew it was not completely true. She could have stopped him, she could have said the truth back then, but for some reason she did not. Was it because she loved the way Tony took the phone from her hands and started defending her from the man, that he thought, was upsetting her? Or was because for a second, just a second she loved the idea of being Tony's wife?

She shook her head as an attempt to pull those thoughts away "no Ziva, that is never going to happen", she said to herself. She sighed and leaned her head against the cold wall.

"Ready?" Tony asked her before taking her hand into his

She nodded, "let's do it Tony, the sooner, the better, yes?".

When they got to the kitchen Yago and Nettie were talking about something, again, Tony did not understand, but for Ziva's expression it was not something good, at least not good to him. Then Ziva said something in Hebrew to call their attention. After that Tony cleared his throat.

"We need to talk to you Mrs. Diamant", Tony said, keeping Ziva's hand into his, they were both standing in front of Nettie and Yago.

Before Tony could say another word, Ziva asked Yago to leave them alone. That was a good sign, Tony thought. Yago nodded but before leaving, he squeezed Ziva's shoulder in an affective gesture. Ziva smiled slightly at him.

"What do you want to tell me Ziva?"

"Not me, us", said Ziva. A little upset about the fact that once again, her aunt was ignoring Tony.

Then she took a deep breath, and looking into Nettie's eyes she said: "the truth".

"What are you talking about?" Asked Nettie.

Tony was going to say something, but he was cut off by Ziva, she looked at him and Tony understood, no words were needed. Just by looking into her eyes he knew she wanted to be the one explaining the situation to her aunt.

"Tony and I… Tony and I…we … We are not married. We are partners, yes, but there is nothing else going on between us. We…No," she shook her head and corrected herself "I… lied to you"

The room was in silence, and remained that way for at least a couple of minutes, nobody said a word. Tony was looking intently at Ziva, whose eyes were set in her aunt's. Suddenly Tony squeezed Ziva's hand, letting her know that he was still there, by her side.

For some reason he wanted to hug her, but he decided against, the moment was not the best; instead he put an arm around her waist and waited…

Suddenly, and completely out of nowhere, Nettie started to laugh so hard that Tony thought that she was going to suffocate.

Tony and Ziva looked at each other, confusion in their eyes. Why was Nettie laughing at? What they've just told her was not funny at all.

Maybe this woman is actually crazy, Tony thought.

Ziva was the one who spoke first. "Why are you laughing? Are you ok?"

After a couple of minutes, Nettie stopped, and cleared her throat.

"I knew it my dear, I knew it", Nettie said looking into Ziva's eyes "I always did, even before coming to America"

Tony and Ziva were frozen by Nettie's confession. "But how?" Ziva and Tony asked at the same time, their voices were barely audible.

"After I hung up the phone, I called your father and asked him about you, he updated me about your job here in America, your activities, your friends, everything. The name of a husband never came up. And knowing your father, he would have been the first to know. He has eyes everywhere and you know that. But still I wanted to listen to what you had to say. When I called you, instead of telling me the truth you started protecting Mr. DiNozzo and…"

"Wait!" said Ziva trying to understand what her aunt had just told them, "You called my father?" Ziva's voice raised and anger was reflected in every single letter.

"I was worried about you"

"You, better than anyone knows that I do not talk to him, and one of the reasons is that he keeps spying on me, trying to control my life as if it belonged to him. Let me tell you something, my life do not belong to you or to him. My life is mine and that is something that I realised when I came to America. I never thought you were going to do this to me, of all the persons in the world, not you, you betrayed me". Said Ziva before releasing herself from Tony's embrace and leaving the house.

Tony and Nettie were left alone, and for the first time the infamous aunt Nettie spoke to Tony in a decent Tone.

"I was trying to protect her"

"Well that's two of us. When Ziva asked me about getting rid of a guy, I thought that somebody was bothering her, that was why I chose to say that I was her husband. And when you said you' were coming, I knew it was important to her, so even when I was not happy with the idea of playing the husband part I agreed, what is your pretext Mrs. Diamant?

"I love her Mr. DiNozzo, she's my little girl, she's all I have left. She means everything to me and I wanted to know how she was doing. So I think love is the answer to your question. But how are you going to understand, if you do not love her. For what she said, you're just partners, yes?"

"I does not mean that I do not love her, someway, I know I do. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to see how's she doing", said Tony before following Ziva to the outside.

When he left the house he started looking around trying to find Ziva, then he noticed that she was leaning against a trunk from a tree across the street.

"Are you ok?"

She took a deep breath before answering to him. She nodded "I guess so, it's just that…I do not understand Tony, she could have save us the trouble"

"Maybe…" he said looking to the street. "You know what?, all this crazy situation reminded me that I haven't had breakfast yet, and it is nearly 11:00am. But what was I expecting?, coming from a crazy ninja girl like you, it was obvious that the outcome to our little lie was going to be crazy as well. C'me on Zee-vah, come with me, let's get something to eat and then…well then we will think about something interesting. Yesterday you promised we were going to do something over the weekend." He said offering his hand.

"I really do not feel like doing something Tony. I mean why did she do it?"

"I don't' know Ziva, and I do not think that even when she explained herself right know you'll be able to understand; besides your aunt left me without food, I think you owe me this much" He said giving her a big smile.

"Yes Tony, I think I do"

"Let's go Ziva, let's forget about what have just happened. Let's think about food and…I know exactly what we are going to do. Follow me David, you're really going to enjoy it"

They went to buy Chinese food , it was far from Tony's scramble eggs, but he loved chinese and he knew that she did as well. Then they went to his apartment.

"Your apartment, again? What are we doing here Tony"

"You'll see", He opened the door and let her in first.

"There is nothing here Tony, your stuff is in my house, care to explain what are we doing here?"

"We miss David, are going to forget about everything by watching movies and getting drunk. What do you think?

She gave him a smile. "It seems to be a good idea except for…"

"Except for what?, he said before going to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took a six pack from the cooler.

"Your plasma is in my house Tony, remember?"

"Yes I do, you've said it twice in less than five minutes. But" he said lifting one finger. "We have my computer. Come on Ziva, it is going to be fun"

"What about your movies?"

"Do you really think that the ones that are at your house are the only ones I own?, Zee-vah give me a break", he said looking at her like a small boy does when the answer is obvious.

She couldn't help but to laugh at his look, he was really cute and enchanting, even when he was not trying to be enchanting.

They were lying on the floor, Ziva's head was resting on his shoulder.

After the movie ended, he noticed that Ziva was in another world.

"Ziva, the movie is over. Did you like it?, Ziva!" He fixed his position so he could face her. He leaned down a little, his face was inches away from hers.

"Mm.. yes I did."

"Did you even pay attention"? His nose was touching hers. God!! he loved being so close.

"Sorry Tony, I guess I did not, It's just that, I was thinking"

"About?"

Ziva turned away her head.

"Sayda"

"Again!"

"Yes Tony, again!" This time she sat down straight. "When I asked you about soul mates you quoted one of your movies. You pretended that you did not understand my question, but I know you did"

"And your point is?"

"Was Jeanne your soul mate?", she asked, looking into his eyes. "Did you love her enough to consider her your soul mate?

"Oh Ziva!, I really do not want to talk about her!!"

"Why not? You never want to talk about her"

"Because it is over Ziva, because it ended in a dramatic way. I thought you were over it as well, Jezz are you ever going to let it go?"

"Oh I am Tony, trust me, I am over it. The question is…are you"

When Tony did not give her an answer to her question, she sighed in defeat.

"Sorry Tony, I have to go. I will find out the way to bring your belongings back. Watching movies in front of the computer is not comfortable at all".

She opened the door "By the way, thank you Tony, for everything. Sorry for having got you into troubles, see you on Monday", she said before closing the door behind her.

Tony was speechless, even when he would have wanted to tell her something, the words were trapped between his brain and his mouth. Ziva was the only person who had that effect on him. She knew him, she knew how to ask questions, and the questions that should be asked. He leaned against the wall before going to the fridge. He needed another six. Ziva's words were still in his mind.

Was Jeanne your soul mate? Did you love her enough to consider her your soul mate?

"I do not know Ziva, I don't know" He said to himself

Tony was at his apartment alone, no tv, no more movies. For the first time in almost his entire life he was left alone with his thoughts. Now he had time to realise what was really going on in his life and in his heart.

He thought about Jeanne, about his undercover assignment. Did he ever got to love her, or did he fell in love with the idea of love, of a long term relationship?. Maybe it was not even that. Maybe he only loved the idea that it was a lie, that sooner or later he was going to be free again, that one day Jeanne was going to find out and was going to leave him either way, just the way she did.

Once again, Ziva was right. He had a hard time after Jeanne, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not keep lying to himself. He was not ready to play Anthony DiNardo for the rest of his life. Anthony DiNardo was fun for a while, but the idea of being another person for the rest of his life…he was definitely not willing or ready to do that for anyone, not even for Jeanne.

It was just then that he made up his mind, he needed to talk to Ziva, right away.

He stood up, went to the bathroom, brush his teeth and left his apartment.

When she got back home, she saw Yago in front of Tony's plasma screen watching one of his movies. "He is not going to like the idea my love"

When he heard her voice he turned around to face her, grinning from ear to ear.

"It is not like he is going to find out, is he?"

"I see, did Nettie told you something?"

"The situation in general, no details, but it really must be bad since you're calling her by her name"

Yes it was bad, but I do not want to talk about it. And no, he is not, but enjoy it, because tomorrow is going back to him"

"Ziva, what is wrong?, you can talk to me, you know it"

"I do, but I do not want to"

"Why not?, it is obvious that you need a pair of ears. Come on, let's go outside"

They left the house and sit together under a tree. Leaning against the trunk and Yago took her hand into his.

"Tell me Ziva, what is going on, and I am not talking about your aunt only, I'm talking about everything, including this Tony man"

"She betrayed me".

"Maybe she made a mistake, but it is not her I want to talk about, it is your partner and your relationship with him that interest me the most"

"It is complicated"

"Ziva, we are Mossad, life has never been easy"

She smiled at his statement. It was true.

"You're right, but when feelings are involved…ah!" she said rubbing her temples. "It is even worse"

"I am listening"

"Ok, what do you think about soul mates?"

"What?"

"Yes, soul mates, the one person that is meant to you and only to you for a lifetime"

"God Ziva, America has made you soft"

"Maybe, but that is not the point, answer my question"

"I do not know Ziva, where did this come from?"

She sighed. "Everything started the same day Tony took my phone and threatened Nettie…"

She told Yago everything, from the moment she stepped out of the elevator, until the moment she saw Sayda getting into the car after finding out her husband did not wait for her even when she waited for him.

"So?, what do you think?"

"I think…that it really does not matter what I think, but how you feel. Listen, I know you Ziva, we've been together since we were kids. We went together to school, we've worked together, we've risk our lives together, we've slept together, I really cannot think of something that we haven't gone through together. You know I'll die for you, as well as I know you will do it for me. According to what you've just told me we could be soul mates yes?

Ziva nodded

"But we are not my love, for one simple reason. We are not in-love with each other. We love and care for each other, but we are not in-love"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Easy, tell me how do you feel about Tony"

"I care for him"

"Will you die for him"

"Yes, but as you've just said, I will do it for you as well, and for McGee, and Gibbs, and Abby and Jenny and Ducky, maybe I'll even do it for Palmer and agent Lee. Truth be told, I've done something worse to save Gibbs' life"

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind", she said shooking her head when she realised she was about to confess one of her darkest secrets.

"Any way. My point is that even when you were willing to give your life for all those persons, they do not mean the same to you. You can care for them as if they were your father, maybe even your mother, siblings, family in general. But do you think about Tony as a brother?"

"No"

"Then stop lying to yourself Ziva. Being in love is not bad"

"But you get hurt"

"Yes Ziva, but that is the only way you know that you're alive. We're taught not to feel, to conceal our feelings, to not be involved or attached to anyone. At the end we're going to die without having felt, meaning, without having lived at all"

"But what if he is just an illusion, what if everyone is right and being in America have made me soft, what if…"

He silenced her putting one of his fingers over her lips. "Shh, we both know you're smarter than that Ziva, but if you do not trust your feelings, then let ask you something. Have you ever kissed him?"

"What?"

"Answer to me Ziva"

"Yes I have" she said looking away and remembering about their undercover mission and then their kiss from last night.

"And did you like it"

"A lot"

"Did you feel this way?" He asked cupping her face in his hands and crashing his lips against hers.

Just then, Tony arrived and saw Ziva and Yago, from the distance kissing passionately.

A/N2:Hope you like it. I'll try to post on Friday or Saturday, but I might not be able to.

A/N3:For the ones who want to see more Tiva, just wait please, my idea of Tiva is more implied than explicit. Right now I'm more interested on how are they going to figure out about their feelings for each other.

Thanks again and have a wonderful day.