By the time they were done cleaning and had eaten the delicious stacks of pancakes that Tony had eventually been proud to present, it was time for his friends to go to work.
He had another 90 minutes, school starting at 8:30, so he went to an old friend for advice.
The graveyard was quite creepy with the small amount of daylight available. Grey headstones were neatly placed next to each other in long lines. He knew exactly were to go, approaching the mausoleum.
Kate's grave would be just around the corner, his flowers from two weeks earlier withering on the ground above her casket, exactly how he'd left it.
He was about to round the corner, the path familiar enough that he could observe the graves instead of look where he was going, when he heard a voice.
He stopped dead in his tracks, recognizing the voice without any difficulty, the slight Israeli accent announcing Ziva's presence. She was talking to Kate as if they were old friends. Despite their extremely different personalities, they could very well have been.
The Israeli was babbling on and on about her week, as if she'd done this many times before. Tony was about to make his presence known,not wanting to eavesdrop on a conversation like this, when Ziva's story took an unexpected turn.
"Abba has offered me my job back, and Director Vance has reinstated me as the liaison between Mossad and NCIS until I get my American status. I'm just not sure if I should accept," her voice wavered, as if she was considering holding something back.
Tony frowned, wondering why Ziva would even hesitate to get her job back. Until she got a new apartment, she was living with Gibbs, and he would never let her say no.
"He called me Kate again."
The man traced his memories, trying to find an instance when someone had referred to Ziva as Kate. From the moment he met her, talking with a hallucination of Kate, to the moment he stood here, by the mausoleum, hidden in the shadow. Still, he didn't doubt that at least this time, she meant Gibbs.
Had Tony ever said it? He didn't think so, but maybe he'd forgotten, or just didn't notice. How many times had she been called Kate and not said anything?
"I have always been your replacement, and nobody ever bothered to say otherwise. Maybe I should start over, find a new job, like Tony did. He seems to enjoy the school very much. I never really pictured him as a teacher."
"Neither did I," Tony spoke up as he finally rounded the corner. Ziva was on her knees, a simple rose in her hand, ready to be put on the grave of his fallen friend. It wasn't fair to listen in on her conversation like this. Talks like this were private, so he pretended he hadn't been listening.
He came here to ask Kate for advice, but it seemed like he would be the one giving it today.
"Tony!" Ziva exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Tony smiled at her, flustered and embarrassed, with red cheeks. He couldn't tell whether he was the cause, or the cold, but she looked adorable.
"How did you find me yesterday? I covered my tracks." And he had, because they hadn't found him until he showed up at their front door. She could've followed him, but he had been looking for her car and Gibbs', so that shouldn't be possible.
Ziva grinned, obviously proud that she had found him, and wanting to brag she'd found him first.
"You had someone on the inside," Ziva started.
Tony nodded, knowing that his inside knowledge would probably give him away sometime. "Once I knew that, it wasn't all that hard to trace it back to Jimmy. And when he refused to give me the number, I was at a dead end. He is very protective of you."
"He is," Tony interrupted. When it counted, Palmer was the best friend you could have. This was a secret he wouldn't have spilled, no matter who asked.
Looking annoyed at the interruption, but agreeing with a nod, she continued: "That was when I realized that you weren't doing anything." Tony raised an eyebrow in a Gibbs-like gesture. "You weren't buying anything, living anywhere. You didn't have a job. McGee couldn't find any transactions in your name, and unless you had a stack of cash, you were using another identity."
Tony was leaning against the wall of the mausoleum, his right foot resting flat on the concrete behind him. Ziva was approaching step by step, gesturing wildly with her hands. She had really learned a lot about investigating while she was in America.
"So I went further back in your transactions, looking for an account that you were using as an alias. When I didn't find one, I searched your alias from previous cases, and I found the one you were using."
It was smart, he had to give her that. He had been sure Abby would find that trail first, and if not her, than Gibbs.
"Anthony DiNardo. I didn't think I would ever hear that name again." She stood next to him, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She observed the cars on the road just visible through the bushes and trees, waiting for an answer.
"Being DiNardo put some things in perspective for me, I needed that."
He had needed the reminder. That he had to think about his future again, find something that made him happy, away from the politics of the office and the frustrating relationship he'd never quite managed to built with Ziva.
"You are a man of your word, are you not?" Ziva asked him out of the blue, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. Without confirmation of the decidedly odd question, she continued: "Can you promise me you'll talk to Gibbs?"
"That's none of your business, Ziva," he snapped. It was a sore subject, and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to talk about it to anyone but Kate, who couldn't judge him or rat him out.
"Maybe not, but Gibbs is not… Gibbs. He is being rash and if the team has to continue this way, someone will get hurt. Which is a part of why you left, yes?"
Tony weighed the options in his head. He knew he had to, for the very reason she mentioned, but he just really didn't want to. He could admit to making a mistake and be a man about this whole mess, but he really didn't want to face the stony silence that was Gibbs. As long as he put that conversation off, he could still fantasize about ways to get them all back together in one unit. After talking to Gibbs, that would be stripped away, leaving him no choice but the life he had now chosen.
Sure, he liked the kids and the school, the pay wasn't as horrible as he'd expected and the staff was friendly, a clean slate. Still, he was very much aware of how that clean slate could disappear with time, and if that happened, he would have nobody left.
"I will talk to Gibbs," Tony relented. He saw the corner of her lip twitch in a smile, and he wiped it away for her with his next words: "If you get some help."
The smile didn't just disappear. It was replaced by a furious expression that shot him a glare as she distanced herself from him, their touching shoulders separating.
"What?" she gritted through her teeth.
"Look," Tony said in a no-nonsense tone, "You haven't been dealing well with what happened. Instead of talking about it, you tried to turn yourself back into the woman you were a decade ago. It doesn't work that way, Ziva. I don't know how you fooled the shrink –probably one of your ninja-skills- but there is something wrong, and if you want me to help, I'm here. You're not alone, Ziva."
Ziva went from angry, to confused, to a cross between relieved and annoyed.
"Deal"