Chapter 22

No One But You

~~At Navy Yard, after the episode, Desperate Man. 2012~~

The elevator doors slid open on the garage parking level, and Tony, Ziva and McGee walked out of the elevator car. A few steps away, Tony stopped and turned around to McGee and let out a sigh. "I just realized it's been a long while since we actually got together like this. How many years has it been that we were doing all these little single-agent cases, year and a half, two years?" Tony grimaced slightly and tilted his head toward McGee.

McGee shook his head slowly and chuckled. "Right around two years, yeah. Time sure went by in a blur. Not any real big cases where we could work as a team all this time, either." McGee pointed his finger at Tony.

Ziva turned around to McGee and smiled. "I'm sure we'll get handed a big case soon. I overheard something Gibbs and Vance was talking about a big case," Ziva said, her eyebrows rising on her forehead.

Tony looked at Ziva and smiled. "I heard the same thing. Would be nice for all of us to work together as a team, for once."

"Gets a little tiring working these little cases that had been sitting for such a long time. I'm more than ready to work and talk with other people when working a case." McGee smiled at Tony and Ziva.

"Yeah." Tony let out a long sigh, stretching himself a bit. He turned to McGee and asked, "So you're done for the day, right?"

McGee let out a short chuckle. "I wish." He shrugged his shoulders and shot his hands up in the air for a moment. "I'm taking a short break. Lots of paperwork, but I thought I'd catch you and see what's up, maybe figure out how we could catch up with each other."

Before Tony could say something, Ziva turned and stepped away toward her car, then stopped a couple of steps away from Tony and McGee. "I've got to go clear my head for a bit," she said as she turned back to look at Tony.

"Oh, you finished for the day?" Tony tilted his head at Ziva, a slightly puzzled look on his face.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, I'm done with the case that I was working on. I guess Gibbs saw that I was a bit stressed out, so he gave me the rest of the day off. Clear my head." Ziva walked back to Tony. Her eyes told him volumes that left no question as to how she really needed some alone time.

Tony shifted his stance and tilted his head to Ziva, a slight smile on his lips. "And, could I ask where you're planning on going to clear your head?"

"Same place as usual." Ziva held out her hand to Tony. "Your keys, please, to the place."

Tony chuckled slightly. "Salt in the air, the light sweeping over the house, that place?" He dug into his pocket and pulled out his keychain, and separated one key from the rest of his keys, and dropped the key in Ziva's hand. "There you go."

Ziva smiled and said, "Maybe if you helped McGee speed things up, you could come out sooner."

Tony chuckled. "Hopefully I can get done pretty soon because I gotta help McGee a little with his case. Maybe an hour or two, tops?"

"Sounds about right," McGee said. "Shouldn't be too long."

"See you guys later." Ziva nodded and turned to walk toward her car.

Tony saw something in Ziva's eyes as she started walking toward her car. He gave McGee a quick glance, and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Gimme a few. I'll be right up there." Tony turned and walked after Ziva.

"Sure, see you up there." McGee smiled as he turned back to the elevator.

Tony caught up to Ziva just as she closed the door on her car. He tapped on the window, getting her attention. "Ziva?"

Ziva looked up and rolled the window down partway, smiled gently at Tony. "What?"

"You doing alright, Ziva?" Tony asked

Ziva nodded, smiling at Tony. She put her hands on the steering wheel. "I will be when I get in that hot tub. Just need some alone time. What better place to spend it than the beach house?"

Tony nodded and smiled. "Alright, sounds good. I'll see if I can get a hold of my aunt Ade. You remember Adelaide?"

Ziva smiled and nodded. "It's been a while. I remember her as a sweet person."

Tony nodded. "Yeah. Just wanted to let her know ahead of time. Dunno if she'll be there or not. I know she's there every once in a while." Tony leaned his hands on Ziva's car, his head close to the window.

Ziva rolled her window down the rest of the way and reached out to pat Tony's cheek. "Sweet, that would be fine." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw other people coming out, and so she drew her hand back into the car. "See you later, maybe?"

Tony stood up and looked around, seeing the same people that Ziva saw. He nodded his head slightly, then looked back down at Ziva. "Alright, sounds good. I'll call you later?" Tony took a couple of steps back from Ziva's car.

Ziva nodded. "Couple of days at the most should be good," she said. She leaned out the window slightly and said more quietly, "You know, recharge my batteries. Try out the hot tub, maybe a little swim."

Tony nodded with a smile. "Sounds good." Tony took a couple of steps back from Ziva's car as she backed out. He made a small gesture with his hands to Ziva, which she understood immediately the meaning behind it.

Ziva smiled and winked at Tony, but did not say anything. She put her keys in the ignition and turned it. As the car started, she took a deep breath, thinking to herself, "I really hope Tony give me few days to think what's up in my headspace. I hope it's worth my time there."

~~At the Beach House~~

As Ziva pulled her car up to the driveway, she noticed a car in the driveway. She thought to herself, "Oh that must be Adelaide. Tony kept to his word." Ziva got out of her car and slung her weekend bag onto her shoulder, closing her car door behind her. She looked up at the beach house, took a deep breath and smiled. She then walked up to the deck, and as she unlocked the door and opened it, she immediately noticed that the house was tidy and it smelled as if it had just been cleaned. Closing the door behind her quietly, she walked through the foyer to the living room, dropping her bag near the living room door and hanging her coat up on the coat hooks near the door. She could hear someone in the house, and it sounded like there was more cleaning happening. She scanned the living room, then walked toward the kitchen, but she didn't have to go quite that far, because she caught sight of Adelaide in a side room that she'd converted to her office. She smiled and stepped up to the doorway of the office. "Adelaide?" she called out quietly.

Adelaide did not respond, but kept on organizing some paperwork, moving some boxes around in the office.

Ziva shook her head slightly. Forgot she's hard of hearing, she thought to herself. She cleared her throat and raised her voice slightly. "Adelaide? It's me, Ziva."

Adelaide startled at the sound of Ziva's voice, and turned around to look at Ziva. "Oh Ziva! Long time no see! How have you been?" Adelaide's loud, booming voice echoed slightly in the room, startling Ziva slightly.

Ziva chuckled slightly, blinking at the volume of Adelaide's voice. She smiled at Adelaide and said loudly, "I've been busy, but I'm doing fine. Thought I'd come out here and relax for a bit."

Adelaide smiled broadly as she signed/said, "Anthony called, told me that you were coming over because you needed some time away from people. You're more than welcome to stay here." She stepped across the room to Ziva and patted her shoulder.

Instantly, Ziva felt relieved at Adelaide's warm touch. "Thank you so much for letting me stay here." Ziva nodded with a smile. "I've always loved coming out here if I wanted to relax. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Normally with Tony, but not this time."

Adelaide tilted her head to Ziva, her eyes full of concern and a bit of sadness. "Oh, why not with him?"

"Long story." Ziva sighed and walked to one of the chairs in the office and sat down in it.

Adelaide pulled her own chair up in front of Ziva and sat in it. "Well, you can tell me about it. I've got all day long to listen," she said, smiling at Ziva, her voice filling the room.

Ziva smiled, shaking her head slightly. "I've always loved seeing you sign while you spoke."

"Why, thank you!" Adelaide gushed. "Sometimes helps me to say what I want to say."

"Makes sense." Ziva nodded. She let out a sigh. "It's been a long two years for us. I guess it's the job driving us apart." She shrugged her shoulders and held out her hands for a moment. "Always working in different locations on single-agent cases."

"Single-agent cases?" Adelaide looked, puzzled, at Ziva. "What do you mean?"

Ziva saw that Adelaide didn't quite understand what she meant. "It's when each agent gets assigned a case and works on it alone," she explained. "You could say we were clearing a backlog of cases."

It was Adelaide's turn to nod. "I see now. No big case where you had everybody on the case. How's Anthony been?"

"Fine." Ziva took a breath. "Like I said, Gibbs kept assigning us to separate cases, and I've not really seen much of him. But what I could see, Tony seemed to be fine."

Adelaide sighed, then said, "Well, Anthony talks with me a lot. He sounded somewhat down, is why I was asking." Her voice reverberated throughout the office, spilling out into the rest of the house. "He's been having a bit of a hard time."

Ziva tilted her head, her eyebrows crinkling in puzzlement. "I thought he was fine. At least at work," she said.

Adelaide patted Ziva on the arm. "No, it's not the job. It's who he really loves. He said it's not the same without you."

"Really?" Ziva sat forward a bit more. "How so?"

Adelaide nodded. "Long hours is part of it, he said. Other distractions. Gibbs, pretty much all of it. And other things he's told me about." She held up a finger. "I need to show you something." She got up from her chair and walked to the other room, and returned moments later holding a small wooden keepsake chest in her hands. She gently placed the box on Ziva's lap. "You don't have to open it. But keep this in mind, he really does care about you."

Ziva swallowed the small lump in her throat and looked at the box, running her hand over the top of the box softly. "I did not realize that I'd basically pushed Tony away to the point where he thinks I'm not interested in him anymore," she thought to herself.

Adelaide looked at Ziva, then pointed at the chest on Ziva's lap. "There are things in there that Anthony has kept over the years. He did tell me that something happened with you. About the baby."

Ziva looked at the chest, tears starting to flow from her eyes at the mention of the baby. She nodded, the memories flowing through her mind afresh. "I lost the baby that we created in an explosion," she whispered.

But Adelaide didn't need Ziva to speak out loud because she read her lips. She let out a sigh, and rubbed Ziva's arm gently. "I'm so sorry about your baby," she said, her voice a few decibels softer than her normal voice this time.

Ziva nodded, the tears still flowing. "It's still hard some days for me. But I've not had the time to think about things lately because of work. That's why I came out here so I can try to clear my head."

"I understand." Adelaide nodded. "You might want to talk to Anthony about some things. He feels like he may be too old for you. Feels like he failed you for some reason with the baby."

Ziva gasped at Adelaide, surprise on her face. "He did not fail me with the baby! It was the explosion. And how could he think that he's too old for me?" She shook her head, wiping her tears away. "He's never too old for me. Yes, I've tried seeing other men, because Gibbs forbade us to have a relationship with each other on the job. But nothing has ever worked out. Only Tony. He's always been there for me through thick and thin." She looked down at the keepsake chest, rubbing the top again.

Adelaide smiled at Ziva. "Well, maybe that should tell you something." She pointed yet again to the chest. "What's in there may help you decide for yourself who you really love."

Ziva smiled and nodded. "Thank you for listening. I'll give this more thought, and see what's in here."

Adelaide smiled at Ziva and stood up. "Well, I'll let you be. If you need me, I live a couple houses away across the street."

"Oh? I thought you lived in Boston?" Ziva tilted her head at Adelaide.

Adelaide chuckled. "No, sold it, and bought the house down the road to be closer to this one. Tired of the big-city bustle and wanted to settle in a quieter place. Easier to take care of this house, too."

Ziva smiled and nodded as she got up. "Got ya. Makes it a whole lot easier. This is your office here?"

Adelaide nodded. "I keep my office here just to make things look lived-in. Don't want anybody getting in the house, you know?"

Ziva nodded, smiling. "I'd probably do the same thing if I had more than one house." She carried the chest with her as she walked with Adelaide toward the front of the house.

They reached the front door. Adelaide put her hand on the doorknob and turned to Ziva, smiling. "Well, it's been good talking with you," Adelaide said in her usual booming voice.

"It has. Thank you for letting me spend the night here," Ziva said, waving to Adelaide as she stepped through the door and left.

Several hours after Adelaide had left, Ziva got out of the hot tub after having done several laps in the indoor pool and then soaked in the hot tub, grabbing a towel and squeezing the water out of her hair. She stopped at the nearby chair and dried herself off. After she had dried herself off and put her evening clothes on, she sauntered over to the kitchen and fixed herself a fresh batch of her herbal tea and fixed herself a small meal. Just then, her phone rang on the counter. Ziva took a deep breath and smiled to herself as she thought to herself, "That must be Tony checking on me." She picked up the phone and answered it. "Hello, Tony."

"Hi Ziva, just thought I'd call and see if you're doing alright. All good out there?" Tony's voice filtered through the speaker of Ziva's phone.

Ziva smiled and replied, "Everything's good here. Just finished doing some laps at the swimming pool, then a little dip in the hot tub. Now I'm sitting here drinking some tea and thinking about what your aunt and I talked about earlier."

Tony's chuckle could be heard over the phone. "Drinking that trippy tea again?"

Ziva chuckled at Tony. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad. Especially when it's freshly made. You don't want it to sit too long, because, well, remember what happened?"

Tony laughed. "Not something I care to repeat. Just go easy on the stuff, alright?"

Ziva chuckled, softer this time. "No, it's the regular kind of tea. Not the special tea blend I use for serious self-meditation." She let out a sigh, then said, "Your aunt has given me a lot to think about."

"Oh? Tell me about it," Tony said over the phone.

"Not right now. Maybe in person," Ziva said, suddenly yawning. "Little tired right now. Unwinding for the night. What are you up to?" Her eyes flicked to the box that sat on the table nearby. It seemed as if the box was beckoning her to open it and see the contents within.

"Oh, a whole lot of nothing, really. Sitting in my chair here, talking with you." Tony sighed, then continued. "It's kinda quiet without you around. Alright if I stop by tomorrow sometimes?"

Ziva placed her hand on the box, moving it slightly closer to her. "I think tomorrow is fine. Being out here and talking with your aunt helped a lot."

"Sounds good. I'll come over tomorrow, then." Tony chuckled. It was that kind of chuckle that he would do as if he had something planned up in his sleeves. "I'll let you go, and get some rest myself. 'Night, Ziva." He smooched into the phone.

Ziva smiled at the sound of Tony kissing her goodnight. "You too, good night Tony," she said before hanging up the phone. She tossed the phone on the table, then shifted her attention to the box. She got up from her chair and picked it up and walked out to the living room and sat down on the couch, letting out a sigh. She slowly opened the box, and saw a lot of things inside the box. She gasped at the first thing that she saw inside: the Star of David necklace on top of pictures, letters, and cards. Reaching in, she picked up the necklace and looked at it. Suddenly, she flashed back to when she was seven, and that very day when she snuck the necklace in Tony's jacket before he had to fly out from Israel from his exchange course work. Ziva looked through the pictures and letters, and realized they were all about him and her, together. She burst in tears as she saw how much he had cared and cherished her. She laid herself down on the couch and started reading through the letters and looking at the pictures. She came across the picture of her and Tony in the helicopter, and suddenly noticed the heart-shaped cloud in the picture. She blinked her eyes and came across a picture of her with Tony in Rome. The same heart-shaped cloud was present in the picture. She gasped as she looked through all of the pictures and saw a heart-shaped something within the background of the picture, whether it be a cloud, a leaf, or object, every time they were together. She burst out crying, and cried herself to sleep on the couch, leaving the contents of the box strewn out on the coffee table.

The next morning, Ziva suddenly woke up, realizing that she had fallen asleep. She sat up, the cover falling off of her. She looked down, puzzled. I didn't have a blanket with me on the couch, she thought to herself. She heard small sounds coming from the kitchen, and she cocked her ear to the sounds. It sounded like they were coming from the kitchen, so she got up and walked over to Tony, who was setting breakfast out on the island bar.

Tony looked up at Ziva as she entered. "Hey, look who's up now," Tony said as he flashed a smile to Ziva. "Noticed that you were asleep, so I got a blanket out for you. What's with the box and stuff on the coffee table?"

Ziva smiled. "Your aunt gave me the box to look at. We had a very good conversation last night. Gave me a lot to think about."

"Ah," Tony grunted. "Well, we can talk about it over breakfast. How's that sound?" Tony picked up his coffee and took a sip, then smiled at Ziva.

Ziva sat at the island in front of her food, and looked at Tony. "I hadn't realized how long it had been that we hadn't really had a chance to be together."

"Yeah." Tony nodded, then took a bite of his food and chewed through it, obviously thinking. He took another bite of food.

Ziva looked at Tony, sipping her drink, contemplating what she should say next. What she should start off the conversation with. After a few moments of thought, she said, "We can't blame it totally on the job, keeping us apart, you know."

Tony stopped just before he took another bite of his omelet. 'Well, what could we blame it on? Gibbs?"

Ziva shook her head. "No. Well, yes, in a way. What I'm trying to say, I guess is that we seem to have grown apart for two years, and maybe forgotten about each other. Working those single-agent cases must have caused us to become distracted and, well, other people showed up in our lives. EJ with you, for example."

"What do you mean, EJ and me?" Tony asked.

Ziva sighed. "What exactly happened with you at the cabin, anyway?"

Tony sighed. "Nothing. She always suspected that I was better off with you, not her. She said as much to me at the cabin, too, while I kept on the lookout for that guy."

Ziva nodded and smiled. "That makes sense why I found you on that chair when I walked in."

Tony set his coffee cup down after taking a sip of it. "Well, yeah. She left on her own after the case. She saw that we were good together." He tilted his head to Ziva. "Now, what about C. I. Ray?"

Ziva shook her head. "That was a big mistake on my part. I didn't realize how sleazy he was. I'd rather not talk about him anymore. I was done with him a long time ago."

"Yeah, well, when all that happened, I felt like I had lost you when you found him, so I let you go and see for yourself. It's more of I felt like I was maybe too old for you -"

Ziva suddenly put a finger on Tony's lips. "No, you're never too old for me. Don't think that way." She smiled at Tony. "Something keeps bringing us back together, and I am not exactly sure why. The only thing I can say is destiny."

Tony nodded. "Whatever it is. I was ready to move on and grow old and broken-hearted because I couldn't find anyone, if you had already moved on with someone else. But I gotta tell you something, Ziva." Tony shifted his position in the bar stool to face Ziva more squarely. "You know, I've been dreaming a lot about that baby we saw, lately. I can't explain it."

Ziva gasped at Tony. "I've been dreaming at that baby too." She realized that destiny was speaking to her. It seemed that they were destined to be together, and the failures in each others' relationships with other people seemed to confirm that. "Why?" she asked Tony in a soft voice.

Tony chuckled around his food, then talked around his food. "Well, that's the thing I've been asking myself these days. What does it all exactly mean?"

"I want to show you something." Ziva got up from her chair and went to the coffee table and collected all of the photos and brought them back to the island bar.

Tony saw what she was holding in her hands. A smile flashed across his face. "Oh, our pictures together. You found 'em in the box?"

"Yes." Ziva spread the pictures out in front of her. "Take a look and tell me what you see in all of the pictures."

Tony looked down at the pictures. "Us together."

Ziva shook her head at Tony. "Look closer. What do you see? In the background."

Tony looked closer at the pictures, and noticed the same heart-shaped features in the photos. He had held onto those photos for all these years, and hadn't noticed the hearts in the background. "Hearts. How did I not notice that over all these years?"

Ziva smiled and pulled out another picture, this one of their time in Paris on mission. "Look at this one. What do you see in there?"

Tony took the picture from her and smiled at the memory of them spending their time together in Paris. He looked at the picture a little closely, and saw the heart-shaped cloud in the background. "Wow, those hearts are in every single picture of us together. Something's trying to tell us something, isn't it?" Tony looked up at Ziva, looking for confirmation.

And he got it. Ziva nodded and said, "It's got to be destiny. The whole reason why we're always finding ourselves together again and again and again, over time."

Tony raised his eyebrows. "That would be the best explanation I've heard yet about why we keep running into each other." A smile suddenly formed on his lips. "Work, outside of work, whatever. We just keep finding ourselves together time and time again."

"Yeah, but what about Gibbs? He keeps trying to pull us apart," Ziva said.

Tony chuckled as he polished off his plate. After a moment, he said, "Well, I'm pretty sure he suspects. McGee slipped up, remember? He blurted out something about individual beds because he was dead tired that night. Gibbs sure kept him going."

"Ah, that McGee." Ziva slowly nodded. "That would make sense why he keeps us apart on the job. That Rule 12 thing again."

"Yeah." Tony nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Got something on my mind that I've been meaning to ask you. How would you handle it if Gibbs kept us apart? How would the 'us' thing work out? Would you be seeing other men, or just spending the time with me?"

"I think I'm done trying with other men, to be honest. I'd rather be able to spend the time with you more. But -" Ziva shook her head. "How would we make this work?"

Tony tilted his head slightly. "Not seeing other people. Keeping us, us. I mean, I'd rather spend the time with no one but you."

"But what about Gibbs and his Rule 12 thing?" Ziva asked Tony.

Tony chuckled. "Well, we just do what we've been doing before these two years came up. Give Gibbs no reason at all to suspect any more. Just keep things on the down low."

Ziva slowly nodded. "Just as before," she whispered to herself.

Tony smiled and nodded. He got up and walked around to Ziva and hugged her from behind. "We'll make this work," he whispered into her ear, then kissed her on the cheek.

Ziva smiled and hugged Tony by holding onto his arms. "Yes, we will, indeed." She got up from her chair and turned to face Tony. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on Tony's lips and smiled. "No one but us," she whispered into Tony's ear. She turned and walked to the sliding doors leading out toward the deck from the den near the kitchen. She smiled at the warm fire in the fireplace at the far end of the room. The fire crackled softly in the fireplace as it kept the cold at bay as she walked over to the sliding glass doors and gently pushed the curtain to the side so she could look at the light house nearby on the beach.

"I'll be back, I need to get something," Tony said, then stepped out of the room.

Ziva nodded at Tony's voice. "Alright. It's beautiful out there, but cold," she whispered to herself.

Tony came back moments later, entering the room quietly. He walked up behind Ziva slowly, and looked out the glass doors to what Ziva was looking at. "Would be nice if we were out there enjoying the day. Too bad it's too cold to do that, though."

Ziva let out a chuckle as she turned to Tony. "I was thinking the same thing. Maybe when it gets warmer and we have less of a workload." She turned back to look at the light house.

Tony slowly walked up behind Ziva, looking out the glass doors at the ocean and the bleary sky. "That'd be wonderful," he said quietly as he hugged Ziva from the side, pulling her close to him.

"Mm," Ziva muttered. "I forgot how good this feels, to be in your arms again." She melted in Tony's arms as she hugged him back.

"Got something you might like, but what about commitments?" Tony smiled softly at Ziva. He broke from the hug and stepped back half a step and looked her in her face, searching her eyes.

Ziva let out a scoff and then smiled at Tony. "I'm tired of trying any more. I think I'd rather be with you for the rest of our lives. But what about you?"

Tony scoffed. "I'm more than done. I'm ready to settle down for good with you."

Ziva smiled at Tony, then looked out to the light house again. "I'd love that."

Tony quietly pulled the small box he'd been carrying inside his pocket out, then took a quick peek to reassure himself that the ring was still there, which it was. He smiled to himself, then slowly moved the box around Ziva until it was in front of her.

Ziva gasped as she saw the box float in front of her visual field, and reached out to take the box from Tony's hand. "What's this?" She turned to look at Tony, to see him smiling at her.

Tony gestured toward the box. "Open it," he said quietly, a smile on his lips, his eyes sparkling.

She opened the box and saw an ornate ring within, with a large diamond set in the center, surrounded with several smaller stones. Must be a good half-carat, she thought to herself as she admired the ring. "This is beautiful, Tony!", she said, breathing the words out, smiling at the ring, as she slowly plucked the ring from the box. She held it up and looked at it more closely.

Tony stepped closer to Ziva and took the ring from her. "This was my mother's engagement ring that she wore when she got engaged to my dad. It got passed down from my father's family." He held the ring, almost in reverence, then looked up at Ziva. He slowly knelt down to the floor on one knee, still holding the ring up to Ziva. "Ziva, will you marry me and be my wife and mother to our children?"

Ziva gasped, had some happy tears streaming, as she looked at Tony bringing the ring to her finger and sliding it on. "Oh, Tony, yes! Yes!" She clapped her hands together, then looked at the ring on her finger. "It's beautiful!"

Tony smiled as he got up from his knee and took Ziva in his arms and hugged her tightly, kissing her full-on. They held each other for what seemed to be an eternity, then broke for air. "Figured that now was the best time to ask," he whispered to her. "We can plan our future together, soon. No rush."

"But what about Gibbs? How do we handle him?" Ziva asked.

"Ahh, I'll handle 'im. For now, we can keep the ring safe and secret, here, for now," Tony said as he gently rubbed the ring on Ziva's finger, feeling the heart-shaped center diamond setting. He blinked, and looked down at the ring, and muttered to himself. "That's funny, I never noticed the shape of the diamond until now. It's a real subtle cut to the diamond. Look at it."

Ziva looked at the ring more closely, and let out a gasp. "It's a heart, Tony!" Her eyes were wide open in surprise. "We're meant to be together," she whispered. She stepped up to Tony and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, smiling. She moved her head after a moment and kissed him full-on on his lips.

Tony returned the hug and kissed her full on. After a few moments, he broke for air and said, "I love you, Ziva. Very much."

"Always," Ziva said. "I love you very much, too. And will always love you. Forever and more," she whispered in his ear before kissing him again.

Tony hugged her in an embrace, slowly dancing to an internal love music, and Ziva followed his movements, still locked in an embrace.

Suddenly, it seemed as if the room had brightened up by several degrees of magnitude. Ziva broke from the hug and looked out the sliding glass door. "Look, Tony! It's cleared up all of a sudden," she said, pointing out the door. The sky had indeed cleared, and was cloud-free, a bright blue color.

Tony looked out of the glass door at the sky. "Oh, wow! It did clear up." He saw something near the light house. "Oh, Ziva, look! At the light house." He pointed toward the light house.

Ziva looked and a long gasp escaped her lips. "A heart-shaped cloud!" The cloud slowly slid out from behind the light house and revealed itself to Ziva and Tony. She looked back at Tony and whispered. "It's like the world is suddenly happy that we are together, for good."

Tony chuckled. "Yeah. Every time I'm with you, my heart is happy. I don't want to lose that, ever."

Ziva smiled at Tony and pulled him toward her and hugged him, leaning her head on his chest, looking out the glass door at the heart-shaped cloud. "We're meant to be together, after all," she whispered to herself.

A/N: Dear Readers, Keep in mind, the way I am doing the AU is that I basically fill in the blanks that is left by canon. Thank you for enjoying the chapter, more to come. Also Thank you in advance for the reviews, tweets, messages, and kudos.