A/N: This is a pretty short chapter, almost filler, but it's where my brain took me, so there you have it. :) Thank you so much to everyone who is reading and reviewing, I truly appreciate it. ~Em
Disclaimer: NCIS is not mine.
Tony wasn't really sure how long they'd been sitting there. He lost track of time watching traces of emotion flick across Ziva's face. It was never much, no changes in her expression, simply a flash of sadness or fear in her eyes from time to time. He kept silent, deciding that she should be the one to make the first move. He had never gotten anywhere by pushing her, and now was no different. As he saw the conflict play out in her eyes once again he couldn't help but think, "How could I have missed this?" She was in pain, palpable pain, and he had somehow glazed over it as though nothing was wrong, as though she hadn't been held captive for three months. As though she hadn't been tortured god knows how.
He shook his head, mentally headslapping himself for not seeing his partner's need for someone to reach out to her; her need for him to climb up that wall she built up, jump into the lion's den and help her fight an impossible battle. One battle that he knew she would fight tooth and nail, or rather stapler and paperclip, to keep him out of.
All the while he continued to watch her, waiting for her to make a decision, to say something, hell, even to look at him. A good long while after they faded into silence Ziva turned to him and said "You should go."
"What?" he asked surprised not only by what she said, but by the fact that she said it at all.
"You came here for a reason. You must have something to do. You should go." she said.
He stared at her incredulously for a moment before replying, "Zi, you are way more important to me than anything I need to do right now."
"Tony, please go. I will move when I am ready. You should go far away and be happy." Her eyes were pleading, but her voice and expression remained blank.
"I'm not leaving you." He said firmly. She sank back to her position curled up against the wall, turning to face the wall in front of her once again.
"Fine." she said "But I am not ready to go yet, and I do not know when that will be."
"That's okay," he said. "I'll wait with you until you are."
And with that they collapsed into silence once again.
