Chapter 12

"It's been hours, Tony; we need to start thinking about our options."

"Zi, we did that hours ago; no escape, no communication, and no idea who kidnapped us; our options are drive ourselves crazy with useless attempts of escape, or wait patiently, conserving our energy, until the chance is presented for us to escape," He watched in the dim light as his partner paced like a caged animal in the grimy light, her face contorted with frustration and exhaustion, "Will you please just stop pacing; you're making me antsy."

"Antsy?" She whirled on him, brown eyes flashing, "Why do you feel like an insect, when you should be feeling anxiety; they might have Mahala, Ben and Sara as well as us; they could have the whole team, and we wouldn't know! We could be stuck here for days, months, until we d-"

"Stop," His quiet word cut through her loud, panicked ranting, and she stood there for a moment, frozen by the weight of the emotion in his tone, "It doesn't help us anymore to start thinking about all the things that could be going wrong out there. Sit down here, and just stop, okay? Please." She huffed and started to object, but a heavy look from him shut her up and she slowly sat down beside him.

"Why have we heard nothing?" She finally asked, looking at her hands as they twisted the fabric of her coat, "Why has no one come, not even to gloat or demand ransom?"

"Ziva," Tony bit out, "Stop; don't keep asking questions that neither of us can answer. If you can't do that, stay silent." Ziva turned to him, fury in her eyes at his tone and attitude; no one ordered her about like that with such carelessness and coldness, not anymore; but then, she saw his face, and Ziva deflated, all her anger gone when she saw the anguish in her partner's eyes.

"I know you said no more questions, but this is one which I hope you at least can answer. Where did we go wrong, Tony?" She whispered, as her hand found his and her cold fingers laced through his warm ones, "What did we do so wrong to end up like this?" He only sighed in response, tightening his grip on her hand, leaning his head back against the wall, unable to look into her eyes.

"I have no idea, Zi, I just don't know." He replied, and he heard her take a shaky breath, the reality of their situation, emotional and physical, crashing down on her; he just ran his thumb over her knuckles lightly, just as he had whenever she was at a loss, hurt or confused, and let her just gain control of herself, knowing better than anyone that Ziva did everything by her own way. The thought of that made him chuckle slightly, and open his eyes.

"What?" Ziva murmured, eyebrows furrowing, already assuming she'd done something.

"Nothing; I was just remembering the day you introduced me to my daughter," He replied with a soft, rueful smile, "You always do things your way." She laughed slightly in response, nodding, and her fingers tightened her grip on his slightly.

"That I do; that, I do."


A/N: And this is another peace offering for just leaving this alone for so long! Just a warning, I am busy over the next few weeks, but I will try my best to update if I can; still, I hope you like this chapter, cliffie and all XD Still, tell me what you think and if you want more!