[From: Bury Your Dead]

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...

"You need to work on those inflections when you're asking a question." He added.

"For example, why are you worried about Tony?" Claire inquired, finally making her presence known. The two startled and looked over at the woman who was returning with coffee.

"How long have you been there?" McGee asked. Claire shot him a dull look.

"Long enough to know that Ziva is here looking for Tony. And that you still are a bad liar." She answered before turning back to the other woman.

"Now my question deserves an answer." Ziva pursed her lips at Claire's demanding tone.

"He was supposed to meet us as the bar last night. He did not arrive, did not call. He's not answering his home phone or his cell phone." She answered, worry seeping into her tone as she explained. Claire rose a brow at her thoroughness.

"He was with me for part of the night. And I didn't come to the bar either, yet you are not badgering me about my whereabouts." Claire shot back pointedly, frowning at Ziva who stiffened. McGee glanced between the two.

"Alright, then where were the two of you? Is it the reason you have a bandage on your right bicep?" Ziva asked, looking at the woman's arm pointedly. Claire glared at her in annoyance. At least her makeup job had been good enough to hide the bruising on her face.

"Are you ok?" McGee asked, concerned for her wellbeing. Claire sighed.

"I had an incident last night and needed a couple stitches. Tony was with me." She explained vaguely, her demeanor clearly indicating that she didn't want to elaborate. It would be mortifying to admit that she had laid into Tony over meeting his new girlfriend, which none of them had bothered to inform her about.

"Do either of you have the number to his second cell phone?" Ziva inquired, thoughtfully.

"The one he uses for his private calls?"

"Yes!"

"Nope." McGee told her, causing Ziva's grin to drop. She looked to Claire.

"I don't have it. Frankly I don't think it's any of our business what it is. If he's not answering then leave it at that." Ziva frowned as Claire brushed past them towards her desk.

...

...

"Morning, Ziva…Claire. Nothing better to do on a Saturday morning?" Gibbs greeted casually, ignoring the heated stare that Ziva had on her face.

"Not really." Claire muttered behind her coffee.

"Teams to not have secrets, Gibbs." Ziva blurted, walking towards her boss who looked up casually.

"And if you do not tell me what you were both doing here last night…...McGee knows he will." She added knowingly. McGee would break faster than anyone. Claire rolled her eyes, shooting McGee a sympathetic frown.

"Ziva, we don't have to know every sorted detail about each other. If they had their own thing to do then they had their own thing. If it was important enough, they would tell us." Claire defended, unsure why Ziva was so testy this morning. It wasn't like she had her own secrets from them.

"Oh, like how Tony kept you out of the loop about having a girlfriend?" Ziva snipped. The bullpen went silent as the other two realized Ziva had blown the secret. Claire clenched her jaw.

"I know about her. And while it wasn't in the timeframe that I would have liked, it did happen. So back off and stay out of personal business." She practically growled. Ziva was starting to stick her nose where it didn't belong, and it was rubbing Claire the wrong way. Why did she care so damn much about Tony's every move?

"Why aren't you more concerned about what's going on here? You are Tony's closest friend and yet you do not worry. You did not even tell us that you were hurt." Ziva insisted. Gibbs shot Claire a curious look.

"I'm fine! I would have said something if it was serious. And the reason I am Tony's friends is because I know when to butt out. Sticking my nose into things just makes the situation worse. It may surprise you but on certain issues he likes his privacy more than most. I am not his keeper, he can do what he wants with his life. So, take the hint and butt out." Claire growled. The other three agents remained silent, as he voice had escalated throughout her explanation. Something was eating at her as well. Realizing she had drawn too much attention to herself.

"While you three figure this out, I'm refilling my coffee." She muttered sourly, already walking out of the bullpen.

...

...

"DiNozzo in trouble?" Gibbs asked, walking over to watch the map that McGee was pulling up. Was that is undercover number?

"I knew it." Ziva muttered under her breath, looking over at me pointedly. I chose not to indulge her. Maybe she was wrong.

"The woman Tony has been seeing, Jeanne Benoit, is La Grenouille's daughter." My head shot up in shock. I knew the doctors name had rang a bell but in the heat of the moment I wasn't in a state of mind to process it. There was a lot of other things going on at the moment…..mainly getting shot and pushed around by some pimp. Apparently, I wasn't the only one in the dark about her identity. McGee, Ziva, and Gibbs stared at our boss incredulously.

"He's been on assignment?!" I asked in shock, able to find my voice. All the strange pieces from the past few months were starting to come together. He had been on assignment the whole time. That's what he didn't want to tell me. Why he broke it off with me. I hadn't been imagining his hesitation; hadn't misread the looks he kept giving me…..Or did I? Maybe it just started as an assignment but then developed into something else? Or maybe it all was just a ruse. I didn't exactly give him a chance to explain things at the hospital. I was too caught up with being mad at him and dumping all of my pent up emotions onto him. Was I in the wrong? Why didn't he tell me about any of this? The sound of Gibb's voice brought me out of my mental spiral.

"You did plan on telling us at some point?" he asked warily, already knowing the answer. Jenny shifted under his gaze and glanced around the room. No one was going to counter the question. We wanted the answer as well. After all, she had already hidden part of Tony's mission from us before.

...

...

"He's still on 29th." McGee muttered, reading off the directions. They all watched the car drive down the street…..until a large explosion took up most of the screen. Everyone jumped from their seats, helpless as they watched what was left of the car burn in the street.

"Tony!" Claire gasped in horror as her eyes remained glued to the scene. Her breathing began to speed up as she stepped back to sit in one of the theatre seats. While the others rushed around to call emergency services and grab their gear, Gibbs walked over towards her. Claire could barely focus on the fact that her boss had knelt down next to her.

"Hey….breathe…breathe." he told her sternly, setting a hand on her shoulder. However, Claire continued to take choppy breaths, unable to gain oxygen.

"Gibbs….I….I can't…..I just saw him hours ago…..I was so mad…." She babbled in between her hyperventilation.

"Claire…"

"I was horrible…..and now he's gone….I…" she continued, tears starting to leak out of the corner of her eyes. Gibbs frowned and reached out to smack the backside of her head hard. Claire yelped at the impact, holding her head in pain as she stared at the man in surprise.

"Get it together. I know what happened but I you can't shut down. If you can't handle it then you're going home…"

"No!" Claire shouted in alarm. She couldn't leave now! Gibbs stared at her hard, waiting for her to start slowing her breathing.

"Push it aside for now. We can't confirm it's Tony until we see a the body. Can you do this?" he asked her seriously, staring into her eyes for the answer. Claire sucked in a harsh breath, willing herself to compartmentalize how shattered she felt. She nodded.

"I need you to say it." Gibbs snapped, unwilling to let her leave unless she could do it. Claire opened her eyes, showing him that they had dulled. Her emotions were starting to lock away.

"Yes. I….I can do this. I have to."

...

...

"Special Agent DiNozzo's car was bombed this morning, but I guess you knew that." Gibbs informed as the group walked towards the elevator.

"He wasn't in it." Kort told them easily.

"Thanks for sharing." Claire muttered bitterly.

"The agency had nothing to do with it." The man countered.

"Is that when you mislaid your frog, in all that confusion?" Gibbs inquired, not letting him squirm out of the impromptu interrogation. Kort spun around as the elevator opened to reveal a beaming Tony.

"Hey, my car blew up this morning. Did you do that?" he asked, pointing at Mr. Kort with a grin. In an instant the CIA agent had Tony pinned by the throat against the elevator wall.

"Where did you go with La Grenouille?" he growled. Tony smirked and glanced over the man's shoulder. Kort turned and found the agents all pointing their weapons at him. He grunted in surprise as Claire pressed the muzzle of her weapon against the back of Kort's head.

"If you don't mind, we'd like our partner back now." She whispered warningly. Kort reluctantly released him and Tony took a moment to straighten his tie. He nodded thankfully over at Claire who holstered her weapon, not taking her eyes off him.

...

...

"What, no balloons?" he inquired innocently. Everyone relaxed, smiling back at the man they thought was dead. Claire shifted to the back and made her way silently out of the room, heading around for the bathrooms. Tony frowned watching her leave while the others chattered around him.

"We need a briefing on what happened DiNozzo. Follow me up to my office, Gibbs you may join." Director Shepherd cut in sternly. Tony's gaze snapped to her, frowning.

"In a minute, I need to take a leak." He dismissed, brushing past the group.

"DiNozzo!" Tony whipped around tiredly.

"Look, I've had a long morning and no time for a break. I will be in your office in five minutes." He countered before trudging on towards his goal. The others let him go without protest, taking note of how hard Claire had taken this whole situation. They needed a moment.

...

Claire stumbled into the women's restroom, stepping over to lean on the counter heavily. She sucked in shuddering breaths to try and get a handle of her emotions. Tony was fine, he was alive, they still had a case to work. Her focus was broken by the door opening. She turned her head and locked eyes with Tony. He stepped inside slowly, watching for her reaction.

"Hey." Claire swallowed before bolting towards him. Tony grunted in surprise as her body collided with his. His arms were left hanging in the air for just a moment before his brain caught up with his limbs and he embraced her tightly. Feeling her shoulders tremble he increased his grip and brought one hand up to cradle the back of her head against his collarbone. His eyes closed in contentment and he turned to his lips were pressed against her hair.

"Don't cry. You know I don't handle crying women well." He muttered with a small grin. Claire barked out a wet laugh.

"I'm glad you're not dead." She told him, her breathing settling down.

"Me too." Claire pulled back and glared at him weakly, both of them pointedly ignoring the tear tracks down her cheeks.

"You have caused way too much trouble for me over the last two days. Are you done now?" she asked bitterly. Tony wilted, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered. Claire waved off his apology, leaning her back against the sinks.

"No, I should be the one apologizing. I said all those horrible things to you out of hurt. When I thought that they were the last things I ever said you to, it killed me. I didn't give you a chance to explain." Tony frowned in confusion.

"I don't blame you for that at all. Honestly, I deserved it. I'd been lying to the team…..to you, for months. And I hated every minute of it." Claire twisted her mouth wryly. She was pretty positive he didn't hate every minute of it…..he did get a beautiful girlfriend out of it. Tony saw the action and clenched his jaw.

"Let's just leave it as we're both sorry for things said…..and not said." She muttered instead. Tony nodded stiffly, not wanting to leave it there. Claire watched his face screw up in frustration, getting ready to add to what was already said but she wasn't ready to hear it. So she cut him off before it could go any further.

"I think you should be meeting with the director by now. I'm sure she's itching to get the story from you. Don't want to keep her waiting." Tony glanced down at his watch. She was right.

"But…."

"Besides, someone needs to tell Abby you're alive. She would kill me if I let her wait to long to hear the news." Claire cut in, already moving to leave the room. Tony reached for her and grasped her wrist gently. Not turning to face him again, she reached down and softly squeezed his hand with her free one.

"Welcome back." She muttered with a small grin before walking out the door. Tony growled in frustration and swiped a hand down his face. Shaking his head he exited as well. He had some loose ends to tie up and be done with all of this.

...

...

"You ever lie to someone you love, Ziva?" he inquired, looking up to meet her gaze. She paused before answering, her eyes scanning over how lost his expression was. This very confident and self-assured man was no were to be seen at this moment. Vulnerable Tony was new to her.

"Yes." She answered honestly, figuring that would be best. There had been enough lies today.

"They ever forgive you?"

"They never found out." Tony nodded.

"Mine found out." he whispered hollowly.

"He told her?" she assumed. Tony shook his head.

"No…but I wish I had." His face screwed up, showing the deep hurt he was feeling. Ziva frowned in confusion.

"I don't understand." She told him. Tony grinned wryly.

"It wasn't Jeanne. It never was Jeanne….I did care for her, but not like that. I told Jeanne…..but it was because of her that I had to lie to Claire." He admitted quietly. Ziva's eyes widened in surprise. She said nothing, not knowing if Tony meant to let that bit slip out. He had yet to look away from the floor, his mind swirling with thoughts and memories of the day.