Chapter 16: Solace Confessions

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah.

Author's Note: Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you...the sappiest chapter yet.

They were driving back to Searcy when Tony's phone rang.

If you're sick-a-sick 'n tired

Of being sick and tired

If you're sick of all the bullshit

And you're sick of all the lies

It's better late than never

To set-a-set it straight

You know the lie is dead

So give yourself a break

"Gibbs," Tony muttered, picking up the phone.

"Yeah, Boss?" he answered.

"DiNozzo, did you talk to a student named Cade Cooper?" Gibbs barked.

"No, why? You got a suspect?" About time.

"Maybe." What the hell did that mean?

"Whaddiya mean 'maybe'? Where are you?"

"Jerusalem."

"Jerusalem?! What?! Why-Whu-" Ziva looked at Tony oddly.

"Jerusalem, Arkansas, DiNozzo."

"They have one of those?"

"Apparently. Now, did you talk to anyone named Cooper?"

Tony turned to Ziva and asked, "That kid you heard them talking about, what was his name?"

"David Cooper, why"

Tony held up a finger to silence her, then put the phone on speaker.

"Ziva overheard the principal and the counselor talking about a student named David Cooper, who's not been at school since Justin disappeared. He's got a brother who's going to Iraq, can you see if Cade Cooper is in the military? If he is, then you might be looking for David, not Cade."

"David Cooper? Good job."

"Boss...did you just congratulate me?" Tony was stunned.
"No, I congratulated Ziva, but I know you put the phone on speaker, so..."

"Right..."

"You two follow any leads that you get on David Cooper, we'll talk to the crime lab and see if Cade Cooper is in the military, then get back to you. Stay focused, DiNozzo."

Ziva chuckled, forgetting that Tony had the phone on speaker.

"You're as bad as he is, David."

"She learned from the best, Boss."

"Oh, please," Ziva scoffed.

"Let me repeat myself. Stay focused on your jobs. Break my rules on your own time."

"Boss- we- uh...," Tony stuttered.

"Work," Gibbs said, shortly hanging up.

"'Focused on our jobs'? What's he think? That we're out here partying?" Tony mumbled, shutting his phone. Ziva laughed.

"What's your deal? You're really giggly today," Tony asked, smiling at her, he loved her laugh.

"Am I?" she coolly covered.

He snorted a little.

If you're sick-a-sick 'n tired

Of being sick and tired

If you're sick of all the bullshit

And you're sick of all the lies

"Damn it, Gibbs, what now!?" Tony shouted, looking at his phone.

He picked it up and said, "Yeah, Boss?"
"DiNozzo, Cade Cooper is a Marine and his younger brother is David Cooper. Their parents died last year."

"So are we looking for David or Cade, Boss?" Tony asked.

"David. Cade left for training two weeks ago. We have his address, but-"

"He's probably not there."

"Ya think, DiNozzo."

"You still want us to go out there?"

"Not today. Go back to your hotel and get a map, I don't have time to find your asses while I'm looking for this kid. Go tomorrow. With a map."

"On it, Boss."

Gibbs hung up as did Tony.

"What was that?" Ziva asked.

"David Cooper is Cade Cooper's younger brother."

"He's...I don't know...Gibbs didn't say. I just know that we're supposed to get a map and go to the Coopers' house tomorrow," Tony said.

Ziva shook her head and turned on the radio.

And I don't know why

But she's changed my mind

Would you look a her

She looks at me

She's got me thinking about her constantly

But she don't know how I feel

And as she carries along without a doubt

I wonder if she's figured out

I'm crazy for this girl

Yeah, I'm crazy for this girl

Tony glanced over at her, she was looking out the window.

He was so completely absorbed with everything she did, he couldn't believe that anyone could ever effect him the way that she did.

He wondered if she thought about him the way he thought about her.

Tony had always thought of himself as unchangeable. No one could make Tony DiNozzo be someone else. He would always be a player, no woman on earth could make him change...but now something was different. He felt that if Ziva wanted him to change, he would. He would change into anything for her. If she told him, 'Tony, I love guys who dress up like rats.', he would have been Lester before you can say 'Beakman'.

"Tony?" Ziva asked

"Yeah?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No, why?"

"You keep looking over at me."

"It's nothing," he brushed it off.

"You seem different lately, Tony."

"Different how?"

"I don't know. Like you haven't chased every female that we've passed...and..."

"And?"

"And you've been really...protective of me, lately."

"You're my partner."

"I have been your partner for three years, you've never been like this before. You've changed."

You say that I've changed

Well, maybe I did

But even if I've changed

What's wrong with it?

I'll never let you go

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No...no, it's...nice."

"So why are you complaining?"

"I am not complaining. I was simply wondering," she said.

He smirked and nodded.

He looked down at the clock on the dash. It was five.

"Are you hungry now?" he asked.

"Not really. Do we have an address for David Cooper?"

Before Tony could answer, his phone rang.

I'm nerdy in the extreme and whiter than sour cream

I was in AV club and glee club and even the chess team

Only question I

Ever thought was hard

Was do I like Kirk

Or do I like Piccard?

He looked at it, it was a text from McGee.

"Now we do," he answered Ziva.

"Do you want to go print off a map?"

"I don't have a computer."

"There were computers in the hotel lobby."

"Oh, yeah, let's go do that."

They got to the hotel and printed off a map to David Cooper's house, then went up to their room to get ready to go eat.

"Where do you wanna eat tonight?" Tony asked as he flopped down onto the bed.

"I don't really care," Ziva replied, falling down next to him.

He pulled her to him and held her tightly. She chuckled and rolled over in his arms so that she was lying on her stomach on top of him.

"Is it strange that this is so..." she trailed off, unable to find the right word.

"Comfortable?" he offered.

"Yes. Is it strange to you that it we are so comfortable like this?"

"No," he laughed, rolling over onto his side and holding her tightly to him.

"Tony," she laughed, but he had fallen asleep.

The dream was familiar to Tony, he had had the dream hundreds of times before.

He was standing on the rooftop with Gibbs and Kate, when something whizzed past his ear and Kate crumpled to the ground.

But there was something different in the dream this time, something that he had never dreamed before, as he knelt down and pushed the brown hair out of the victim's face it was not Kate looking up at him, but Ziva.

He jerked awake and sat bolt upright in the bed, looking around for something that would make him realize that it had just been a nightmare.

He felt something move next to him, he looked down and saw Ziva looking shocked and scared.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

Silently, Tony pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. Only when she felt his warm tears dampen her shoulder did she ask again, "Tony, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing...just a nightmare..."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He took a deep breath, "I dreamed about when Kate was killed, only when I looked, it wasn't Kate...it was you."

She held him tightly and whispered, "I'm right here."

"I love you, Ziva," he whispered back, through sobs.

Ziva's body became rigid, what had he just said?

A.N.: Well, there you go. He said it...but what will she do?

That scene was based off the book Demolition Angel by Robert Crais, when Carol Starkey realizes that she is in love with ATF Special Agent Jack Pell because she dreams about the explosion that killed her boyfriend Sugar, but when they pull off Sugar's helmet, it's Pell, not Sugar.

The songs in that chapter, other than the ringtones, were:

Crazy for this Girl by Evan and Jaron

and

Never Let You Go by Third Eye Blind

This was a short chapter that I just whipped out because I wanted to have something written before the weekend.

It was written in celebration of:

The groundbreaking of the Habitat for Humanity house in my hometown, our first.

My class ring that I got yesterday

and

The awesome-est church-affiliated anything ever, Ultimate Weekend, which is where I'll be until Sunday afternoon (which is why I wanted this chapter finished)

Also, I want to dedicate this chapter to one of my best friends, Shelby. She was in a car accident last Sunday and crushed her ankles, she had emergency surgery on one of her ankles that night. The other ankle was worse and she's supposed to have surgery on it today. This chapter is dedicated to Shelby in hopes that she'll be back in action before you can say 'fast-pitch'

Oh, I forgot to mention, the line in Tony's thoughts about Lester, Lester was a character on a TV show called Beakman's World that I watched when I was little. He was a man in a rat suit, not a giant rat, just a man in a rat suit. Hypothetical cookie if you know what I'm talking about!

Studies show that sniffing Crayola crayons can lower your blood pressure. So everyone, go out and sniff a 64 pack! But don't forget to review!