I Will

They arrived on the scene and it was only six in the morning. Ziva had finished the entire coffee and seemed to have plenty of energy for the moment. Her and Tony were in the girl's bedroom, looking for any sign of a struggle. They collected a picture of her with her mother.

"There's no sign of a struggle," Tony said quietly and thoughtfully. Ziva turned to him, surprised to see a very sad look on his face. She walked over to him, comprehending where the sadness was coming from.

"That means that the person who took her was someone she knew and trusted," Ziva whispered, feeling a tear forming in her eye and blinking it back before it could show to her husband. "Are you going to be okay through this?"

"I honestly thought I would be the one asking you that question," Tony said quietly a smile coming onto his face, but not reaching his eyes, which were still sad. "I will be okay. How about you, Ziva?"

"So far, I am fine," she whispered. "It does make you question who will be around your own child, though, doesn't it? I am starting to see why these cases affect Gibbs so much more than the rest of us."

"He's lost a child," Tony whispered with far too much emotion in his voice. "Come on, let's go downstairs and give this story a happy ending."

"That sounds like a great idea, Tony," Ziva agreed and took his hand, not something she ever wished to do at a crime scene ever before, but knowing that they were both going to need it on this case in particular.

They headed downstairs together, holding the bag with the picture of the girl and her mother and nothing else in hand. Gibbs was searching the living room with Ducky telling him a story about what he thought the uncle was like based on the house that they were standing in now. Everything here was neat and organized, almost obsessively so. There wasn't a single spot of dirt to be seen anywhere, as though it was cleaned more than often enough. Ducky was analyzing the lack of photographs and the lack of other giving details about a person. He was in the middle of saying something about it when Tony cleared his throat.

"Did that make me a little strange, Ducky, before I had Ziva in my life permanently?" Tony asked.

"Yes, Anthony, I suppose it did," Ducky said with a nod. "However, you didn't live with anyone else and I don't believe that you reported anyone missing and then disappeared from a home that looked as though it should be a display in a magazine or at some fair selling homes."

"No, it didn't," Tony agreed, wagging his head back and forth, still fighting strong emotions about the case. "I don't like the uncle already and I've only seen his home. We need to go back and get details on this guy and the girl and her mother. We need to learn all that we can. Boss, the room was clean. There was no sign of a struggle up there."

"Attacker was someone she knew and trusted," Gibbs muttered thoughtfully. "I don't like these cases, but we have to do what we have to do. You two get a head start back and McGee, Ducky and I will head back right behind you. Get another coffee into your wife and get to work on the uncle and the girl. McGee and I will handle the mother, unless you two think you're up for it?"

They nodded their heads and walked out of the house without really answering Gibbs. Both of them knew that it was a difficult conversation with a military mother about their missing child and them being so far away from being able to help. They also knew that these were typically easier cases when the other parent was so far away, because they didn't get in the way of the investigation as much.

When they finally climbed into the car, Tony noticed the hard expression on Ziva's face and knew instantly that she was pulling away emotionally. He decided to let it go for now, because she felt she needed to be strong for this case and strong for Tony who had nearly lost it upstairs in the girl's bedroom before. He drove in silence back to headquarters and took her hand when they got into the elevator.

Ziva sighed and reached behind Tony, stopping the elevator and sipping her coffee before looking up at Tony. There were tears pooling in her eyes rapidly and spilling over immediately following that. Tony felt powerless against her tears. But, Ziva couldn't help it; she had held on as long as she could in the car and on the scene.

Ziva didn't know what to say to Tony; she didn't know how to react to this strong wave of emotions that was washing over her now. So, she just leaned in and hugged Tony, wanting the comfort that only his arms had ever presented to her. He wrapped his arms willingly around her and held her as close to him as he could get her, knowing how she was feeling without her saying a word to him about it.

"We'll find the girl, Ziva. We have to," Tony muttered quietly. "We have to."

Ziva nodded into his chest and just stood there for a moment. Perhaps that was why Gibbs had sent them back earlier, she thought. Perhaps Gibbs had seen how close to losing it she really was and had sent her back just in time, so that she could do so with Tony there for her in all the ways he needed to be.

Ziva gained control over herself almost as quickly as she had lost control of herself, but clung to Tony a moment longer, because she didn't know what her emotions were doing right now. They were surprising her today so far. She reached and pushed the switch on the elevator again and looked into Tony's wondering green eyes.

"I know we will, Tony," she said quietly and turned just as the elevator doors slid open. She took another sip of her coffee as they entered the squad room and went their separate ways to their desks to get to work on finding information on the missing girl.