Once again, it's been a while and i'm sorry. I lost someone close to me last week and I just didn't feel up to writing or editing, or much at all to be honest.

But anyway, now that I've put a damper on everyone's mood, on with the story!

Disclaimer- I don't own NCIS or its characterrrs

The ride home was silent, and for once he didn't feel the need to fill it with pointless jokes or quotes from movies she probably hadn't seen. For once, he let her think.

She was still lost in her own thoughts as the elevator took them up to his floor and he let them in to the apartment. He could tell the moment she came out of her head and realised where she was. Her eyes wandered around the apartment, seeming to take in everything and yet focus on nothing at the same time. Work had been busy lately so he hadn't had much time for tidying but the place wasn't too bad. As he watched her take in her surroundings he wondered, for about the hundredth time that day, what she was thinking. He knew the place probably wasn't what she expected. From the way he went on about his party habits and what his so-called 'childlike' behaviour, she had probably been waiting for some sort of extreme bachelor pad complete with stripper poles, but in all honesty it was pretty simple. Aside from a few pictures of the team on different occasions, and of course his massive movie collection, there was nothing out of the ordinary. The walls were white, the furniture was brown and the kitchen was, well, kitchen-ey

'Can I get you something to drink?' He knew there were more pressing matters to deal with but he couldn't help it. Despite what some may think, he had been raised right, even if it had been by twelve different nannies.

She shook her head and sat down at one of the stools behind his kitchen bench, watching as he moved around the kitchen, putting a glass of water in front of her anyway. There was something about his fluid movements as he wandered around the space he knew so well that was nice to watch, calming even. Until he stopped. As he leant on the counter opposite her, his forearms resting not far from where her hands were wrapped around the glass, all her worries from the past 20 minutes came flooding back. She knew she had to give him some sort of explanation but there were so many questions, conversations like this were unchartered water for her and there were so many things she didn't know. Did he want to know? Did she want to tell him? Could she get the words out? What would he think of her if she did? Would he see her as weak?

Before she had time to even acknowledge all the questions, let alone answer them, he slid one of his hands across the bench and covered hers with it.

'Tell me.'

One look at the sincerity in his eyes was enough to answer them all. Yes, he wanted to know, and yes, she wanted to tell him. She trusted him, and he knew she wasn't weak. So she did, she told him everything. First she told him about Anah and the similarities between the two cases, she told him about his eyes that haunted her, the ones she had seen reflected in their victim last week. Ironic that a boy with a name meaning 'answer' had been the cause of so many questions.

By the time she had finished that story the words were flowing. Somewhere between her father's orders and her first kill they had moved to the couch, her back against the arm of the chair and her right foot tucked under her left knee so she was turned to face him where he was mirroring her position at the other end of the couch, still listening intently. Then, sometime during her confessions of nightmares his hand had moved so it rested reassuringly on her knee. A little while after that she felt her words begin to slow and her eyelids begin to droop. She had told him so much and they hadn't even made it to the story of that morning.

There's always tomorrow she thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep and for the first time in many years, the eyes she dreamt of were not the frightening black ones of Anah Brezis, but rather the ones that had been focused on her for the past 3 hours. Reassuring and comforting as she opened up to him, as she finally let the walls crumble. The eyes she saw that night were the ever-changing bright green eyes of Tony DiNozzo.

Well there you go, FINALLY some Tiva starting to appear ;)

good? bad? awfully amazing? okay even I dont know what that means. what i'm trying to say is pleaase review :)

Sorry guys, I had to fix this one up, thankyou Cyanide for pointing out that I mixed up Tony's eye colour in the last line there. In my head I was thinking green but my hands typed hazel, thanks a lot brain! what kind of a fan am I? haha hopefully it's all fixed now. Forgive me? :)