Author's Note

Hello readers. Familiar Faces are back.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll do my best not to disappoint you in future chapters. Anyway, I don't know what else to say so, let's continue to the story

To Guest: I totally agree with you. Ziva's PTSD should have been addressed on the show. I don't understand why it didn't. Either they scared that Ziva's character would be more likeable than Gibbs' or they didn't want, in their opinion not mine, the show to turn into a soap opera (it's completely different that it turned into to a soap opera the two last seasons though. The show runner has changed so the writers)

To Guest: Don't worry. This chapter will give you the answers about Ziva and Tony, and how both of them are dealing Somalia

To Debbie: Thank you for your review. I'm glad you like it the fact that I'm dealing with Ziva's PTSD. I was a little hesitant at the beginning about that matter but then I thought that if Ziva and Tony hadn't dealt with it their relationship wouldn't have moved forward properly.

Specials thanks

To Teresa: who is my personal consultant on this story. I own you many things. for the story, for the fact that you are my rock, my personal confessor. Whatever I say is not enough to describe the greatness of your heart. Thank you for eerything. Your favorite chapter is up sister…I hope you enjoy it.

To Laitie: my personal beta who she has been through a hell to correct my errors as always…Countless thank you for tolerating me…

And of course all of you that favorited reviewed and followed that story

Disclaimer: If only I had owned it…

This is the new chapter of Familiar Faces…Enjoy!

Athena

When he left the Navyard, Tony went to the bar where he went drinking the afternoon after the incident in the squad room when Adam had called. He ordered a glass of scotch and, taking the glass in one hand, he raised it and drank it all in one gulp. After that, he drank a another one, and another one. 'Drinking,' popped into his head. The only thing that made him forget all the problems he had had through the years. It helped him to forget them, not to solve them, though. But, still, even when he was drinking and forgetting for a while, the memories like Somalia and pain then came back to haunt and torture him again. 'Somalia,' Tony thought and took a sip of his drink before he buried his head between his arms and the bench. Every time he heard that place he was angry. He had been boiled with anger for Saleem, for Eli, for Rivkin but most of all for himself because of what had happened Ziva's apartment where he had shot the Mossad Officer to death. Tony took the last sip of his scotch and beckoned the bartender over for one more drink. Whether it was his fifth, sixth, or seventh drink, he didn't know. And, truth be told, it didn't matter. He just wanted to drink so he could forget.

"You promised Ziva that you would never drink again" a female voice echoed into his ears while he was raising his glass so could take a sip of his drink. He snapped his head in the direction of the voice and turned to cold at seeing who that woman was. Not believing in his eyes, the glass slipped from his hand and shattered into thousands of pieces on the floor.

"K...Ka...Kate?" it was the only thing that he managed to say.

"Boo" the brunette woman said and laughed loudly.

"You're dead...You're just a hallucination." he told her completely ignoring her existence and paying his attention to the glass of water which was still in front of him.

"Hallucination or not, I am still alive in your heart and your mind. So there will be times that you will see me" the woman said. "So, tell me, how are things going? Does Gibbs still head slap everyone to death?"

Tony didn't move or answer on her comment. "Come on, Tony! Don't you want to chat with me?! We could have had a drink together under other circumstances. Too bad I'm dead," she went on with a smirk. He turned his attention to her and gave her a look. "What? Do you have any idea how hard eternity is? How it is to not have the pleasures that life has?" she continued, eyeing with appreciation a handsome young man who was walking from the other side of the counter towards the exit.

Tony rolled his eyes and paid his attention back to the glass before he spoke. "So, what do you want from me?"

"What do you think?" she fired back, playing with her hair.

"It was all my fault" he said, sighing, and rubbed his face briefly with one hand.

"Somalia?" she asked, but he didn't answer and kept playing with the glass of water in his hands. Kate took his silence as confirmation. "It wasn't your fault" she tried to reassure him, leaning her elbows against the counter.

"How could you know that?...You weren't there!" he exclaimed. And turned his attention to the woman "I was the one who shot Rivkin in her apartment! I was the one who didn't drag her onto that damn plane when she decided to stay in Israel!" he went on, full of anger.

"I know what happened. And it was Gibbs who didn't drag her and left her there. She didn't want to stay in Israel."

"How...?" he started, and she interrupted him, explaining.

"I was there. That's how I know what happened. I'm everywhere you are when you need help and guidance. I'm your guardian angel. For both you and Ziva. You couldn't have done anything."

"Yes I could have," he insisted. "And if you are her guardian angel, why did you let them capture, torture and rape her?" he shouted at her with a cracked voice.

Kate's face dropped. "Some things you can't prevent, even if you wish you could," she told him, her tone apologetic. "But she's alive, and you have to understand that everything happens for a reason. That's what we call Fate" she continued.

He stared at the woman furious. "How can you say what happen…" but she cut him off.

"It is what it is, Tony. These things can't be explained. They are just meant to happen, ok?" she tried to explain with a raised voice "Do you think I wanted to die? Noooo. But I couldn't do anything about it either. Things were meant to happen this way and I accepted it, eventually."

"I wish I had died that night in her apartment" he confessed and buried his face in his hands briefly "If I had, Ziva would have never…" but she cut him off, angry.

"Man up, DiNozzo! What the hell is wrong you?" the woman hissed. "If I weren't dead, I would have head-slapped you by now. Whatever happened to Rivkin that night, he deserved it. Don't ever, ever question that. And don't you ever again think what would have happened if you had been on Rivkin's place. You got that?" she went on in the same tone. "Look," she went on, calmer this time. "All I'm trying to say is that Ziva never blamed you for Somalia. She never hated you about it, because it wasn't your fault. She was confused and her father took advantage of that. She loves you, Tony. She was in love with you even back then. Don't you remember? She has already told you that. She stayed in Israel away from you, even though it broke her heart, just to become a better person. To deserve your love. And you're sticking to the past. Don't do this anymore. Don't waste any more time thinking about the mistakes you both made. You can have a great future together. Such a beautiful future that neither of you can imagine" she said.

Yes, he was dreaming a future with Ziva. To marry her, have kids together. That was his dream. But something or someone always stood in the way, and Somalia was one of them. He couldn't get over the fact of what she had been through in that damn camp because of him. For countless nights after that summer, he had wished things would have been different.

"I want a future with her, but" he whispered back, running his hand through his hair.

"No 'buts!' Go for it!" she encouraged him, and stood up from the stool, ready to leave.

"Wait, that's it? You're leaving just like that? What am I going to do?" he asked, a little angry.

The woman turned to face him. "Hey! As your guardian angel, my job is to protect you and give you a piece of advice. I gave it to you so I'm out of here! I didn't come here to solve your problems. It's your job to do that. Go find Ziva and talk about it. That is the only way for both of you to move on from this" she said with a serious tone. "Life's giving you a third chance with her. Don't waste it with guilt and mistakes. This chance might be the last" the brunette woman warned him. Tony didn't say anything. "Look, I have to go. Until the next time, goodbye, Tony" she said before her form disappeared.

"Goodbye, Kate." It was the only thing Tony said. It was barely a whisper. Tony thought about her words, and, glancing around the bar, he stood up from the stool and headed out, towards his car. He had to discuss with Ziva this demon that was called Somalia so he could expel it. And he couldn't be more determined to do that.

A few hours after the incident in the Interrogation room, Gibbs drove Ziva home, telling her that the next day both she and Tony could have a day off. She didn't bother to call Tony on his cell phone because she knew very well that he wouldn't pick it up. She sighed as she closed the door behind her. Kicking off her shoes, Ziva sat in the couch, burying the face on her hands, trying to process what had happened.

'How have things turned this way and why now?' she thought, shaking her head from desperation.

Raising her head after few moments, she caught, with the corner of her eye, the photo that was placed on the piano. She approached it and began to drag her fingers aimlessly on the keys for a moment. Then she took the photo into her hands. It was her most favorite photo in the house. It had been taken by Bishop in the bullpen, the day that she and Tony had decided to move in together. Plus, it was their first photo as a couple. Her chin was rested on his right shoulder while her arm was wrapped around him with her hand resting on his heart. Tony had placed his palm on her elbow, trying to keep her arm wrapped around his neck as much as he could.

"I love you." It was the only thing that she whispered with a shaking voice, caressing Tony's form in the picture while tears were pooling in her eyes. Putting it in its place, she turned her attention to the fishbowl that was placed on a shelf in the corner of the living room.

"Hey, girls. I probably know the reason he has you, now. You kept him company countless nights, when he was alone, when I had abandoned him. I bet you know his deepest secrets," she said with a light chuckle to his fish.

"I know that he has already told you about...that summer" she continued as she sat on the floor, facing the fishbowl. "I know that he's blaming himself for what had happened. But he shouldn't. It was all my fault. My choice" she continued. I'm ashamed for all that I had done to him back then, and the years that followed. He thinks he doesn't deserve my love because of what had happened in Somalia. But the truth is, I am the one who doesn't deserve his love, what with everything I have done to him," she said with a cracked voice.

"You always deserved my love," Tony answered and she snapped her head in his direction."It just..." he said as he made few steps towards to her. "I'll never stop blaming myself for whatever you went through at that terror camp." Ziva stood up from the floor, ready to protest, but he raised his hand and stopped her. "Don't try to convince me otherwise, because we both know that Rivkin would have gone on that mission if I hadn't killed him."

"I had the chance to not…" she tried to explain, but he interrupted her.

"I know. I know. It was your choice to take on the mission, so you could please your father. Even if it meant your death. You thought that you wouldn't have been captured or that you could have died."

"How…?" she mumbled and looked at him, confused. The only person from the team who knew about it was Gibbs. Unless…

"Malachi told me during your father's visit to D.C. when McCallister tried to kill Vance" Tony revealed. "But even if it is the truth, that doesn't change the fact that I was the factor that set off all of this. Rivkin's death, the fact that Gibbs chose me over you, for us not coming to Somalia earlier."

"Tony, it wasn't..." she tried to reassure him, but he cut her off again.

"Yeah….it wasn't my fault" he said smiling sadly. "I kept telling myself that for years. But I've also been telling myself something else. Nothing would have happened to you if I had died in Rivkin's place. Those men wouldn't have tortured you and…." he swallowed hard, shutting his eyes before he continued. "...violated you for months if those bullets had been in my chest and not his" he went on with a cracked voice. Her heart stumbled at hearing those words from him. She couldn't believe how much bitterness and guilt he had in his heart from what had happened so many years ago. At that moment, she had wished she'd had the power to go back in time. When Malachi tried to persuade her to change her mind in Somalia. When she was in Israel and said to Gibbs that she didn't trust Tony. When she said those horrible things to Tony outside Mossad's HQ, pointing her gun at his chest. She would have done anything to change her actions back then, to ease the pain that had pooled in Tony's heart. "Coming here, I was determined to tell you that I want to move on from that. To make a fresh start. But seeing you and knowing what you have been through because of me, I can't," he said with hurt in his voice. "I tried, but I can't," he repeated and shuffled towards the door, lowering his eyes toward the ground. Tony loved Ziva, but thinking about what had happened to her in Somalia because of him, he couldn't look at her in the eyes.

When she saw him leaving, panic gripped her. She knew very well that the moment he would step out of that door, everything for them would be over. Because, she was aware, as much as he wanted to fight for them, he couldn't do it anymore. Her two year's absence had hurt him irremediably, and what had happened that day in the Interrogation room was last straw for him. She knew that he loved her from the bottom of his soul, but even the greatest love could be overshadowed by pain and guilt. Watching him leave, her mind was racing to find a way to stop him, to make him change his mind. But there was nothing that she could think of. What could she say to this broken man so she could ease the pain in his heart? To give him a reason to fight for them? That was when she understood that the answer was in her heart and not her mind.

"I do know how I would have felt, though" she said softly, and he was rooted in place just before he had opened the door. "How I would have felt if you had been dead in Michael's place," she continued with a trembling voice.

Tony turned and looked at her, and Ziva made few steps towards him. "It was only a few hours for me, but…but watching your car blow up on the screen in MTAC and finding your badge, your phone among the ashes afterwards…and the body…it was…" a crack crept into her voice while tears were running down her cheeks. "I thought you were dead" she sobbed and fell on her knees, burying her face in her hands.

"Oh, Ziva" he said and ran towards her. Kneeling next to her, he held her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest. "Shhh, it's ok, it's ok" he whispered in her ear and kissed the top of her head.

"My heart…my heart felt like it had been ripped from my chest. It was the worst pain ever" she continued, sobbing.

"Shhh. Please, Ziva, don't cry" he crooned in her ear while tears were sliding down his cheeks. "Don't cry."

"And when you told me in Israel that…that I'd prefer you to be in Michael's place, those images came back and…and it was like stab into my heart…"

"I told you those things because I couldn't think otherwise. I had shot your boyfriend. And with your behavior in D.C. and then in Israel I…" he trailed off, his face buried into her curls.

"I was so scared" she continued crying. "For you, seeing you lying next to Michael…for the consequences that you might have had by my father… That's why I was mad. You jeopardized your life for me and I…" she revealed with cracked voice.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Shhh, it doesn't matter anymore" he tried to reassure her.

"And when I…and when I went inside the Mossad's HQ and realized what I had said to you, what I had done to you, I cried, Tony. I cried so much that I thought I was crying for hours. I was so mad at you, so mad at myself. I was so confused" she went on, crying. After soaking his shirt with her tears, she pulled back at looked at him with her tearful eyes. "If you had been in Michael's place that night, I would have shot him right there, without hesitation" she said with a steady voice, not taking her eyes from his. Tony swallowed, hard, at her confession. Not only because of the honesty of her words, but also because of the fact that there was a steel in her eyes when she uttered them. "Tony," she whispered, softening her gaze, "please don't give up on what we have. Don't give up on us." Tony cupped her face with both of his hands and rested his forehead against hers. "Don't give up on us" she said again, shutting her eyes. "Don't give up on us." her voice was barely above a whisper. "Don't give up on us."

"Look at me" he said and pulled away from her. "Ziva, please look at me" he repeated and she opened her eyes. Shaking his head, he looked deep into her eyes. "No, I won't give up on us. I promise I won't give up on us" he said and captured her lips in a tender kiss. He felt her give in to the kiss, returning it.

Tony woke up to an empty bed. After what had happened downstairs, they had gone upstairs into the bedroom to get some sleep in each other's arms. The day's events had both been physically and mentally exhausting, and even if he had only had two hours of sleep, it was very refreshing for him. He was, however, curious at to where Ziva was. She had been upset, too. And after her confession, truth be told, more than he was. He had tried so hard to calm her down, reassuring her that he would fight for them. He had never seen her so broken, not even the night that Mike Franks had died, not even after her father's death. She had never been so broken, not even after she had returned from Somalia. Tony looked around until he saw Ziva sitting across the room in the armchair looking outside on the balcony.

"Hey" he said softly, approaching her and kneeling in front of her, he took her hand in his. "What's going on?"

"I couldn't sleep" she answered simply, not taking her eyes from the balcony.

"Did that conversation bring your memories back?" he asked with worry.

Ziva shook her head. "I stayed awake fearing that…that you might change your mind during the night and leave" she confessed with honesty and wiped some tears from her eyes. Tony's heart stopped. He had felt that fear. From the moment he had seen her that day in bull pen when she came back from Israel. He had that fear every day, every hour, every second, even now that they were together. He was afraid that she might change her mind and return to Israel. But even if Ziva was the reason that he had that fear, he didn't want her to have this feeling in her heart because of him, to feel the torture of doubt that he had.

"Hey, look at me" he said and cupped her cheek, making her look right at him. "Look at me! I wouldn't. I promised you that I wouldn't give up on us."

"I know. It's just…" she trailed off with a shaking voice.

"I won't give up on us" Tony repeated and Ziva rested her palm above his. Looking deep into his green-hazel eyes, she leaned and kissed him. How much she needed his kiss at that moment, how much she needed his touch at that moment. Moving a hand between them, she started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Ziva…" he tried to stop her, putting his hand on hers.

"Don't" she pleaded. "Don't stop me. I need you and I know you need me too" she whispered on his lips. "I need to feel you, my love. To make love to you" she went on and started unbuttoning his shirt again.

"I don't think this is a good…"

"Shhhh" Ziva pressed her finger against Tony's lips, effectively silencing him.

Standing up from the armchair, she dragged him towards the bed and pushed him lightly onto it. Tony caught her by waist and placed her on top him gently. What happened that night wasn't just love-making between two lovers, because every touch they gave each other, every kiss they gave each other, was a promise. A promise that they would leave that demon of the past behind, a promise that they would leave Somalia behind and make a fresh start. Together. After a few hours of love making, Ziva was watching Tony sleep. She was caressing his jaw line with her knuckles, whispering to the sleeping man how much she loved him. She was telling him how she loved him all over again like she was trying to reassure him of her feelings. She was repeating her love to him until the dawn came just like she had done in Paris. Watching the morning light peaking through the window, she smiled. After their confessions and their promises to each other the night before, she knew that a new day for both them had just come.

I hope I didn't disappoint you with the chapter… Please review and let me know what you think