Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS

"Tony?" she asked, incredulous, and scrubbed her face clear of tears. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd come and see how you are doing," he said, then gestured to the seat Gibbs had vacated. "May I?"

"Since when do you ask permission?" she asked, but nodded.

"Well, I figured I'd try to be polite."

"Uh oh, this can not be good, then," she muttered. "Okay, let me guess. You are going to say that you cannot have a partner who jumps the gun at crime scenes and gets herself shot, or not one who lies about having a sociopathic brother?" she demanded, her voice hard. His attitude the last few days irked her.

Tony flinched slightly, and was glad that she didn't have any weapons on her. "I was wondering if we could talk," he said.

"Talk? Why would we?"

He held up his hands. "How about an olive branch?"

"Why would I want an-"

"I mean, lets make peace for a minute and talk. If you want to kick my ass later, well, then we'll figure something out," he said, smiling. When she simply nodded stiffly, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out, handing it to her. "I know its not as good as Abby's but I thought you'd like the original back," he said quietly.

Ziva gasped. He had taped all of the pieces of her photo back together, like a puzzle. "Tony, I-" she didn't know what to say.

Tony smiled. He was amazed that he could render the Israeli speechless. "Like I said, its not in the condition it should be, but I thought it might make you willing to talk?"

She ran her fingers over it, then placed it with the other pictures, sat up straighter, and looked him in the eyes. "What would you like to ask, Tony?" she wondered.

"What makes you think that I had something to ask?"

"Please. I may not be familiar with all American idioms, but it seems clear that when one person desires to speak after tension filled days of working together, the first thing to do is to ask a question that has been bothering them. So, what?" she said, not wanting to beat around the bush.

Tony sighed. He could never get anything past the human lie detector. "Why didn't you tell us about Ari, Ziva?"

Ziva nodded. She had figured this was where he would start. "Wind the clock back a year, Tony. Kate has just been killed, as has Ari. I was assigned to your team, and it was made clear to me that I was no Kate. Do you have any idea how hard it was to gain your trust? I knew that if any of you had the slightest idea that I was related to Kate's killer, that I would never have gained your trust."

"Why did Gibbs say that he killed Ari, instead of you?"

"There were a few reasons for that, but mostly it was to protect me. Ari still had a lot of faithful friends in Mossad, and if I had returned to work there, my safety may have become an issue. Which is why we lied in the report, and why I came to NCIS. I confided in Jen, who agreed that I could become part of your team."

Tony's head was spinning. He hadn't expected her to be so blunt about it. But that was part of who she was, she didn't like to dance around the issues.

"Look, Tony. I do not like walking on seashells around you guys."

"Eggshells," he corrected immediately.

"Pardon?"

"The term is walk on eggshells. But continue."

"Oh-kay. I do not like walking on eggshells around the team. If there is one thing that I have learned in my life, its that teams may not have to like each other, but they do have to trust each other. So the way I see it is that there are two choices. Either, you trust me enough, at least in the field, until I can get reassigned; or you let me know right now that you can't do that, and I will make sure I stay on desk duty until then." She swallowed. She hated to do this. She loved working at NCIS, getting to help instead of kill? It was like a breath of fresh air. But she would go where she had to in order to survive. It was what she did, after all.

"What if I want a third option?" Tony asked.

"Which would be….?"

"You stay on Gibbs' team. We're like a family. A completely dysfunctional, insane family, but one nonetheless."

"Wow, did you just say nonetheless? Kind of a big word for you, isn't it?" she asked, unable to keep from teasing him.

"See, that's my point exactly. We're a family. We can fight and argue, and you can threaten me with a paperclip and all the ways you know how to use one. But in the end, we learn to give each other the benefit of the doubt, and trust each other."

"So, is that the DiNozzo apology?" she asked.

"Yeah, close enough," he said, then shook his head. "No, not really close enough. I'm sorry, Ziva. Sorry I destroyed your photo, and sorry that I lost my faith in you. I jumped to conclusions. I guess that I just needed an outlet, since I was scared of losing Gibbs. Our team had lost so much already, and I was worried. Now, you tell anyone that I got all mushy like this, and I will Gibbs slap you back to the Middle East," he said with a smile.

She smiled back and reached out for his had, giving it a squeeze.

"So, what did you mean by 'stay on' desk duty?"

"Ah, Gibbs said that with my injury, I cannot go out into the field until the doctor says that it is okay," she said, grimacing.

"That's what you were so upset about when I walked in?" he asked softly. He knew how hard it was to stay out of the field because of an injury, and he was sure it was harder on her, since she had probably worked through bigger injuries.

"No, I was thinking about….other things," she said, unsure of how much to reveal.

"What things?" he asked, honestly curious. He didn't often see her so upset, and wanted to know what caused it. "Was it the fact that you risked your life for a dick like me?" he asked, with a grin.

"No, but thank you for reminding me," she said with a laugh. "No, I was thinking about homes, my family. Things like that," she said.

"Which home?" he wondered.

"What do you mean? You cannot have more than one," she pointed out.

"Sure you can. I mean, I know that NCIS has become my second home, since I'm there more than anywhere else. Whenever I go back East, I feel like I'm going home, but I get that same feeling when I get back to D.C. You can, too, have more than one home."

Ziva paused. She had never thought of it like that. Suddenly, the weight she had been feeling for so long felt lifted off of her. "Thank you, Tony. I mean that," she said, full of wonder. Lifting up her injured arm to grip his shoulder in thanks, she hissed when the movement pulled the stitches.

"You okay?" he asked with chagrin. He still couldn't believe that she had done that for him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she muttered. She hated getting injured, especially when others have to see her injured.

When Tony stared at her, she gave him a look. "What?" she asked.

He smiled. "You just used a contraction," he said in amazement.

"What is a contraption?" she asked, confused.

Tony laughed, and decided to let it slide, for now. "Never mind, my ninja. I'll let you get some sleep. See you tomorrow?"

"Tony, you have work, you don't have to come by ag-"

"Yes, I do, unless you are going to threaten me with bodily harm. Then I will stay away. Though, since you are one armed for now, I think I could take you," he said with a laugh.

Ziva grinned. "Well, we would just have to see, will we not?" she asked, and Tony looked nervous.

"Okay, so I will bring you dinner tomorrow in exchange for the promise of my safety," he bargained.

Ziva smiled. "Sounds like a deal."

A/N: So, I was thinking one more chapter to round things out, so stick with me, I'll finish it up soon.