This one is kinda short so sorry...but I literally only just got in from college typed this up and now I'm posting :-) anyway I wanna give a HUGE shoutout to Sue Dooley for being an awesome reader and reviewer...anyway REMEMBER IT'S COTE'S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW AND WE ARE TREDNING #HAPPYBIRTHDAYQUEENCOTE ON IT SO IF YOU HAVE TWITTER PLEASE HASHTAG THAT! Anyway...enjoy this chapter :)

He felt the knife pull away. "Tony?" She asked gently.

He nodded then realised she couldn't see him. "Yeah" He said quietly.

"You're home"

He nodded again. "Yeah"

She dropped the knife and stood up pulling him to his feet as well and wrapping her arms around his neck. He returned the hug wrapping his arms around her waist. "I knew it was a bad idea to sneak up on you…but really Ziva…knives under your pillow?"

She nodded. "You didn't like me having a gun there"

Tony laughed. "Hey how about another deal?"

Ziva smiled. "Back five minutes and already making deals with me. What this time?"

He grinned at her and turned the light on. He turned back to face her and just stared. She cocked her head at him.

"God….Ziva…"

"What?" She asked.

"You're even more beautiful than I remember" She blushed and looked away. He grinned at her. "It's true"

Ziva smiled at him. "So…what's this new deal?" She asked him.

"You don't have any weapons in bed"

Ziva pouted. "But people are trying to kill me" She commented.

"That may be so but I'm home now. You don't need them"

Ziva looked at her side of the bed then back at Tony pouting.

He smiled at her "Ziva, I don't want a slit throat or stab wound…and I don't want you to have one either"

Ziva rolled her eyes and walked to her side of the bed and stuck her hand under the pillow extracting another knife from underneath and placed it in his outstretched hand. She then proceeded to stick her hand down the side of the mattress and pulled out another three knives.

Tony raised his eyebrows at her "Really Ziva? How many knives do you need in one bed?"

Ziva knelt down on the floor and reached a little bit under the bed pulling out two more knives and handing them to him. "A woman can never have too many choices, Tony"

Tony looked at her "Normally women use that excuse when they have loads of shoes"

Ziva laughed. "I use it when men complain about my knife collection…"

Tony grinned at her. "Of course you do."

He looked down at the seven knives now balanced carefully in his hands. He bent down and picked the one she had dropped when she realised it was him up. He picked up an old cardboard box and put the knives there and shoved the box under the bed. Ziva walked round and wrapped her arms round him again. "Oh and Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Welcome home" She whispered.

He kissed the side of her head. "It's good to be back. I missed you"

Ziva smiled and breathed his musky scent in deeply. "I missed you too."

He kissed her head again and hugged her tightly. He yawned and tried to hide it but Ziva noticed. "Sorry…I'm keeping you up and you must be exhausted." Ziva apologized.

Tony shook his head yawning again. "It's fine, Ziva…I'd rather stay up and talk to you than go to sleep and miss seeing you for another night and day"

Ziva smiled and shook her head "Tony, you're tired, you just had a long flight and drive plus I am working tomorrow. You're going to bed"

Tony held her at arms-length and pouted at her. "But-"

Ziva cut him off "Shush! No if, buts or maybe's…you're going to bed"

Tony moved round her and got into bed "Yes, mom"

Ziva grinned and turned the light off before also getting into bed. Tony lay there looking at her for a minute as she adjusted her position. When her head hit the pillow he moved forward and kissed her deeply. He pulled away and paused before saying "I've missed that"

She grinned at him "Me too…"

He kissed her again and pulled her close. After a few minutes he rolled onto his back. "This is nice"

"What is?"

"Being home…with you…in a proper bed…"

"It's nice to have you back…it's been getting pretty lonely"

"I can't help thinking about the guys though…I was supposed to move further into 'The Zone' over the next week but I got called home"

"Are you going to write to them?"

"Yeah. I promised I'd send them candy. You know one of the things they like to listen to me talk about was you"

"Really?"

"Yeah. If I hadn't been called home today…or was it yesterday? I can't tell…anyway, if I hadn't been called home I wouldn't have made the wedding"

"You would have let me know though, right?"

"Of course. But the thing is….I'm not going to miss it"

"I know"

"Tomorrow can you not tell anyone I'm back? I wanna surprise people."

"Only if you don't surprise them in the way you surprised me"

"Yeah, sorry about that…I was kinda hoping you wouldn't wake up when I came in and then when you woke in the morning I'd be there but I should have known not to be so stupid"

"You're not stupid...just a bit dim witted at times…and I'm sorry for the first thing I did was hold a knife to your throat…"

"It's fine…I expect no less from you…besides you have to be more on your guard…oh and speaking of guard…where is your twenty four hour protection I was promised?"

"I was getting annoyed with him…so I told him to leave me alone and I could look after myself, so he went."

"But what if-"

"No what if's Tony…if you didn't notice I managed fine tonight…"

Tony laughed "Yeah…I did notice"

Ziva nodded "I rest my case"

Tony grinned and kissed her again "Ziva David…I love you…a lottle"

Ziva frowned "What's a lottle?"

"It's a bit like a little but a lot"

"Oh….well then, I love you a lottle too"

"I know you do"

"How?"

"You've been eating"

"How did you know that?"

"You've put on weight"

"Is it obvious?"

"No, but I somehow manage to notice everything about you…even if it is the smallest thing in the world"

Ziva smiled "I defiantly love you a lottle"

Tony laughed and listened to her breath deepen and even out. He knew she was asleep when he heard her little snores. He grinned when he realised he'd missed even her snoring. He pulled her closer to him and kissed the side of her head. "I have really missed you, Ziva David…" He closed his eyes and smiled as he fell asleep to the sound of her snores, the weight of her body on his chest and the strong feeling in his heart of pure love.