A/N: Sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long! I got caught up in real life. You know how it is, no doubt.

Here's today's chapter. The first half is another scene I thought of long before I got to write it (I write as I go—I change a ton along the way and can't afford to write scenes ahead of time) but I did have half the dialogue written and waiting to be pulled into the full scene. It's a favorite scene of mine from this story, one I hope we'll see translate onto the show somewhat soon.

Speaking of which.

OHMYWORDIT'SALMOSTHERE! 1 day, 21 hours. I can't believe we're almost there! I'm so beyond thrilled! I've driven my family absolutely nuts for the past 4 months. I don't know how I'll survive Tuesday.

I'll post again on Tuesday unless I get a good amount of reviews tomorrow—one of the reasons I like to wait for 2+ days is so that everyone who keeps up with this story and even some who don't get the chance to catch up and leave a review. It's twisted logic, I know, but I like it. It gives me a good idea of

Oh, and so sorry to have forgotten about this lately, but: thank you so much for all the amazing reviews and messages! I think you're all really fabulous and you flatter me way too much.

So here we go. Enjoy!

"Sir, you should allow her to join NCIS as a full-time Special Agent," Tony said. He had set up a meeting in MTAC with Eli that night and was determined to get this one right.

"She's good at what she does for Mossad. Why should I let her go so easily?" Eli spoke almost defensively.

"Your rogue Mossad agents coerced Officer David into faking her own death, and then got her captured and tortured by terrorists. Mossad hasn't exactly treated her well. And that's only what happened this year," Tony pointed out.

Eli sighed and looked at Tony skeptically. "And who exactly is making this request? Her lover or her partner?"

"I am," Ziva stepped out of the shadows of MTAC into the view of the screen, standing beside Tony.

"Ziva?" Eli seemed startled, though he kept it from reaching his face.

"This is my life, Director. I have found investigation to be more to my taste than espionage," she said, refusing to call him "father".

"You have grown soft, Ziva," he said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Not soft. Human," Tony smiled inwardly as he watched her.

"I cannot allow my officers to be weak in judgement," he said, voice now monotone.

"Then perhaps you should let me go, because that is not about to change,"

Eli shook his head as he moved around with papers on his desk. "Are you sure you want to make this decision?"

"Absolutely," she said, her words a dare.

He sighed. "I will start the paperwork,"

"I'll need it faxed to me within four hours," Ziva said. "No stalling," she said quietly to Tony, who grinned a little.

"Fine," he said stiffly and his feed stopped.

Tony turned to Ziva whose thoughtful eyes had not left the screen before her. "You okay?"

Ziva nodded after a moment then turned away as they began to walk out, not looking back. "Never better,"

The weeks passed quietly now, both Tony and Ziva avoiding any talk of the letter or its contents. Within a few weeks, with the conjoined help of Vance, SecNav, and the Israeli Embassy, Ziva David was an American citizen. Tony was shocked at the speed in which it happened, but grateful. After coming home from the hospital, Ziva stayed a week with Ducky to have her things shipped back from Israel and to work out her housing issues with her landlord.

It was a Tuesday when Gibbs convinced Ziva to grab some food with him. It was an unusual action for him, but they hadn't gotten the chance to talk for quite some time, and there was still so much she needed to know. It had taken some persuasion, but they finally settled on hot dogs from a vendor near the Lincoln Memorial.

They walked along silently for some time, no words necessary.

Finally Ziva sighed and stopped, looking Gibbs straight in the eyes. "What is it?"

"It's been a hard few months," Gibbs admitted. "For all of us,"

"Yes," Ziva agreed curiously.

"Especially Tony,"

Ziva smirked. "Right,"

"He was hospitalized, Ziva,"

The blood in Ziva's face drained, her eyes filled with concern. "What?" she asked, her voice a heartbroken whisper.

Gibbs shrugged. "It wasn't even two weeks after you disappeared. Tony's car was blown up. He was having a real hard time. Had an acute stress reaction. PTSD,"

Ziva shook her head, eyes lost. "Why?" she demanded in a quiet voice.

"He couldn't live without you," Gibbs answered quietly. Tears came to Ziva's eyes and she began to cry. Gibbs pulled her into an embrace as she cried, crying for Tony, for herself, for all that had happened. "He got your letter," he said after a few minutes.

Ziva pulled back. "My letter," she repeated.

"The one you wrote in the event you died,"

"Oh…" Ziva said as she remembered. Gibbs guided her to the grass where they lowered themselves to the grassy ground beneath the sweet trees above. "Did he tell you what it said?"

"Yeah. I guessed some,"

Ziva shut her eyes for a moment then looked around a little. "He seems fine now. What happened?"

"It was your letter. You told him you changed because he inspired you. Looks like you inspired him right back,"

"I did?" Gibbs nodded. "What did he do?"

Gibbs stood and held out his hand to help her up, though he knew she was perfectly capable. Had she not been so preoccupied with this new information, she wouldn't have accepted. But today, she did. "You should ask him,"

Ziva shook her head. "I can't," She used a contraction. "It's been six months since he read it, and almost six weeks since I got back, and he still hasn't said anything. He obviously read something he did not like,"

"Ziva--"

"Gibbs, this is my choice. I need to move on with my life, or whatever is left of it. He did, I have no doubt. Now. I do not want to take about this anymore," she said.

If only you knew. "Ziva, one more thing. You never did tell us why they wanted Tony,"

"To be honest, I think they wanted us both. The perfect pair. The perfect war,"

What a dichotomy. The perfect war.

Tony was sitting at his desk the next morning, working on paperwork. It felt like all he had been doing lately. They had had a few cases over the last few weeks now that Ziva had been rescued, but for the past couple of weeks, they had been working on paperwork. Again. Vance hates me.

Ding! The elevator sounded across the room and Tony glanced up to see Ziva walking in. He stood and rushed to meet her.

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"I have a meeting with the Director," she said, avoiding his eyes and continued walking towards the stairs.

"About?"

"He has some paperwork for me to fill out,"

"Hm. Me too," he said, grinning. His heart fell when she didn't even look up at him, much less return his grin. He put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "What's wrong?" Worry began to fill his heart.

"Nothing, Tony," she tried walking again.

"Come on, Ziva, talk to me," he prodded, eyes pleading.

Ziva looked up at him, and shook her head a little. "What is it you want, Tony?"

"I want to know what's wrong," he answered, confused.

"No, Tony. What is it you want?" she repeated meaningfully.

Tony's brow furrowed, his mouth slightly open but no words within reach. Ziva gave him an unreadable look and proceeded to bound up the stairs. Tony turned around slowly, hands on his hips as he walked slowly back to his desk.

"Something wrong?" McGee asked from his desk.

"Um… I'm not quite sure," Tony replied, running a hand through his hair.

"What'd Ziva say?" Levin asked.

"Um… I'm not quite sure about that either,"

Levin smirked. "Women," Tony took a deep breath and refused to shoot Levin the biting stare he was so tempted to give. "You two having problems?"

Tony raised his eyebrows. "Problems?"

"Yeah, you know, relationship problems," Levin said. He shrugged. "My girlfriend and I had problems for a long time, but we went to a therapist and we got this book--"

Tony put up his hand. "Ziva and I are not in a relationship,"

"Really?" Levin said with a skeptical smile. "Even after all that pining you did all these months, you never even made a move or anything? Dang…"

"Ziva and I are partners. That's it,"

"Technically, you're not partners yet,"

"Partners don't end when the job ends. They don't even end when the other dies," Tony said, eyes not meeting Levin's, instead drifting away in thought.

"Sounds more like marriage to me," Levin commented.

"Yeah, well, you just go back to your paperwork, okay?" Tony said, almost shooing him away with his hand.

Tony moved his attention back to his paperwork, one head resting back in his hand. He's right.

A longer chapter. I know, I know, angst, right? I promise, it'll get better, just hold out for a couple more chapters, and we'll get back some action too. Stick with me here!

See you Tuesday!