Ziva sat in the darkness of the store, leaning up against the side of one of the shelving units. Her head was tilt to the side, looking out the glass door into the rain that continued to pelt down onto the ground. She let out a deep breath and never felt so helpless. Okay, that was a lie, but then again, she hadn't felt this way in a while. Okay, another lie. But still…

She was thrown out of her thoughts by the sound of something scratching across the floor and Tony's angry muttering to himself before she watched as the telephone was quickly pulled off of the counter, thumping onto something and Tony cursing. He appeared from behind the counter, rubbing the top of his head, "Are you going to help?" he demanded angrily.

She sighed and stood up, walking towards him, "What do you want me to do?" She questioned, no happiness evident in her voice.

"Get me some ice." He nearly spat, and she rolled her eyes as she turned around and started walking to the back room. She returned a couple of minutes later with cubes of ice in her hand. She all but threw them at him as he muttered a 'thanks' and then placed them on top of his head. She went back to where she was sitting before, and he stopped her with his words, "Hey." He called, his tone soft now, "I found something."

"Your brains?" She questioned, and he rolled his eyes.

"Not now, Ziva." He said, "I found what Roberts bought with the credit card."

"Yes? And what did he buy?" She questioned, and he held up the receipt in his right hand.

"You'll never guess." He grinned, and she quickly snatched it out of his hands, reading the paper in mere seconds.

"Condoms?" She asked, and he nodded, "Why?"

"Did I buy the condoms Ziva? Do I look like a drug dealer to you?"

She looked him up and down and shrugged, "Hmph."

"Hey, he was trying to tell us something." Tony determined as he started towards the part of the aisle that had the condoms. He grabbed a package off of the shelf and Ziva started after him, "He may have planted something in here for us to find."

Ziva laughed, "Oh yes. That makes sense. Because a drug dealer who possibly killed three people is going to leave us a way to find him in a package of condoms. Oh yes, brilliant. Genius." She snatched the condom package out of his hands, which tore. She threw them onto the ground and then started off in a huff asTony furrowed his eyebrows together. What was her problem? He followed her, but still kept his distance.

"Ziva?" He questioned, "Hey, what's wrong. You can tell me. We're partners."

"No." She firmly said, "I can not tell you." She turned her back on him.

He tentatively reached out and touched her arm, just lightly. This caused her to slightly turn towards him, but she still did not look him square in the eyes, "Tell me, Ziva. We're partners."

"And partners are supposed to tell each other everything, yes?" She demanded, turning full on to look at him, searching his eyes for the answer.

Tony hesitated a moment before he nodded his head, "Yeah."

It was that one word that made her snatch her arm out his light grip, "Then we are not partners." She spat before she stormed past him, her shoulder knocking against his as she quickly went out the back door, leaving Tony perplexed, and for him to wallow in his own thoughts.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"McGee!" Gibbs shouted as he walked into the bullpen, causing McGee to nearly jump out of his seat at the abruptness of Gibbs' voice.

"Boss!"

"You got anything on Tony and Ziva?" Gibbs demanded, staring at the blank plasma in front of him, as if he was trying to make it appear with his 'dark magic' (which he only uses for good, not evil).

"I'm trying to track down the GPS coordinates of their phones but…"

"But what, McGee?" Gibbs questioned, obviously annoyed with the entire situation.

"Well with the rain…"

"Fix it!" He slammed down his hand on McGee's desk, and he jumped as he tried to stare into Gibbs' icy blue stare. He couldn't. He looked down and to the left.

"But boss I can't just turn off mother nature!"

He glared at him. His famous 'Gibbs stare' before he started out of the bullpen, "You find them, McGee!" His voice boomed, and McGee sighed before he turned back to his computer.

Scott turned to Aaron, whispering quietly in his ear, "At least Gibbs isn't our boss."

Aaron nodded, "Yikes."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tony eventually found Ziva leaning up against the side of the back of the store, the rain drenching her entire body. Her eyes were closed, and her head was pointed towards the sky. She couldn't believe that she was that harsh with him. Tony didn't do anything wrong…maybe she was just upset with the medical file issue as well as the fact that they were stuck out here with no electricity or cell phones, and the fact that her feelings for her partner that she tried oh so hard to bury were resurfacing again.

Her straightened hair was starting to turn into curls, which Tony liked very much. He loved her curls…twirling them in his fingers at night when he couldn't sleep…tugging gently on them to tease her as they watched a movie…he stepped out of the doorway, to walk towards her.

Her eyes flew open the second his foot hit the dirt ground, and she turned her head to face him. She stood up straight, "What?" She questioned as he walked towards her, his green dress shirt getting wet as well as the jeans that he was sporting. She always loved his green dress shirt with thing white stripes…it always brought out the green color in his eyes that she adored.

"Ziva….what's wrong?" Tony asked, "What did you mean back there when you said we weren't partners?"

She sighed and closed her eyes, turning away from him, "You did not tell me, Tony."

"I didn't tell you what?" He questioned, taking a cautious step closer to her. She turned her head to look at him, taking a couple of steps towards him, grabbing onto his lower arm and staring up into his eyes.

She sighed, "When were you going to tell me that you're not a DiNozzo?"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

McGee slammed his hand down on his desk, getting frustrated at the computer.

"The rain's starting to pick up," Scott announced, trying to lighten the mood of the room. Aaron punched him in the arm and shook his head in a scolding manner.

Tim suddenly stood up, a small smile on his face, "That's it!" He determined, poking a finger into the air.

"What?" Keating asked, standing up.

"The rain!" McGee announced.

"What about it?" Lynn questioned, utterly confused with the entire situation. Scott and Aaron both shared confused looks with their team.

"If they're outside…the rain…it's fried their cell phones!" He announced, "I gotta tell Gibbs!" He said as he hurried out of the bullpen.

Aaron and Scott shared confused looks again with each other.

"If McGee can't find the trace…how is that going to make Gibbs happy?" Lynn questioned.

Scott and Aaron shrugged their shoulders, "I have no freaking idea." Scott laughed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tony gaped a couple of times before he finally found his voice. He did, however, laugh a little bit, "What?" He questioned, "That's impossible. What are you talking about?"

"I read your medical file." She simply said, "You had DNA tests and a Maternity test done six months before you left for San Diego." She said, letting go of him.

"You mean paternity."

"For the dad, yes?" she questioned, furrowing her eyebrows together.

"Yes…I mean…No…I mean yes. Yes, paternity is for your dad. Maternity is for your Mom…but that's not the big problem here, Ziva. The problem is that you read my medical file!"

"I just wanted to know about the plague."

"But you read past the plague."

"So?" She questioned, not finding a big deal with the whole situation.

"I thought I told you not to read it!"

"I forgot about it!" She defended herself, "Until you reminded me yesterday!"

"But you still read it!"

"You never told me!" She cried, "What else have you been keeping from me?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair, "Look, Ziva-"

"No!" She shouted, "Tony, when were you going to tell me about this? When were you going to tell anyone?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes. It does!" She shouted, "I told you about Tali. I have never told anyone about Tali."

"You told me about her the first day we met!"

"Yes, Tony, I did. And I almost felt as if I had made a mistake. I trusted you from day one, Tony. Before I was even on Gibbs team!" She threw her hands up in the air in frustration, "And then I find out about this. Oh Tony, I could have helped you."

"Helped me with what? Nothing was going to change the fact that both of my parents were complete idiots."

"Tony." She firmly said, "I know about parents. Aba never really cared for me."

"How can you say that?"

"How can you?" She fought back, "Tony." She firmly said again, "My father nearly forced me into Mossad."

"I thought you said I volunteered."

"Yes, Tony, I volunteered for Mossad because it was either that or being disowned."

"I was disowned when I was twelve." Tony defended himself, "And I turned out just fine."

"In Mossad, being disowned is being thrown out into the streets." She said, trying to stay strong, "Why did you not tell me? That is hard to find out that your parents aren't really your parents."

"My mom's my mom." Tony mumbled, "But it's not my fault she slept around."

"It was hard." She said, softly, "Was it not?"

"Yeah, I guess it was."

"You feel like your Mother did not purposely have you." Tony just looked down at the ground and Ziva knew that she had finally gotten it right, "You think that your family does not and will not love you....because you were a mistake." She could practically feel the pain, and she instantly regretted saying it the moment it escaped her lips, "But you are not a mistake..."

He cut her off, snapping his eyes to hers, "What does that mean to you?"

"You are a DiNozzo. Finding out you were just a 'mistake' to them...it would crush your Alpha male status, yes?"

He scoffed, "I haven't had that since Jeanne." He laughed, "No. Why do you even care so much?"

"Does this really matter that much Ziva?" He demanded, "Does it matter that I'm not really a DiNozzo, and I've been strutting it around for as long as I've lived that 'I'm a DiNozzo?' Does it really matter?"

"Yes!" She nearly shouted out, exasperated. She didn't want to fight with him anymore. It hurt her so much…he didn't even know. Too bad she didn't know he was feeling the same way, "It does!"

"Oh yeah?" He asked, walking towards her, their bodies inches apart, barely any rain able to make it through the space, "And why's that?" She looked down at the ground for a moment. She didn't say anything, "Ziva. Why's that?" He questioned again, this time saying it slower and in a softer more caring tone. She took in a deep breath and then looked up at him as she prepared herself as she broke down the barriers she had managed to somehow keep around herself since he returned from San Diego.

"Because now I feel like I fell for someone I did not really know." she softly said, placing two hands on his shoulders. She sighed and looked up into his eyes as she watched his expression soften. He carefully wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him so that her hips ran into his. She moved her arms so that they locked around his neck as he slowly moved his head down towards her.

"But you knew me all along. Better than anyone." He muttered, her face just inches from hers.

"Obviously not, Tony De Luca." She teased, and she could have sworn that his lips turned up in a small smirk before they crashed against hers. He moved his other hand up her face, the back of his hand caressing her cheek for just a second before he buried his hand into her hair. She moaned against him, and that was his cue. She opened his mouth just as he opened his own, and suddenly there was nothing around them. Not the rain cascading down their backs or the sound of roaring water as it pelted the ground. They let go after a couple of minutes for air, his forehead against hers as they started to breath heavily.

"This is a really bad idea," Ziva murmured.

He laughed, "I don't care."

"Hmm…" She hummed, "How come I have a feeling that I do not either?" She mused, and he grinned.

"I knew you couldn't resist me."

"No. I can resist you." She watched as his smile fell, "But Anthony De Luca? Him I can not resist." She gave a small smirk as he pressed his lips up to hers again, just for a few seconds this time.

"I love rain." Tony grinned and Ziva laughed.

"Of course you do."

"No more secrets?" Tony asked, and Ziva nodded.

"Oh definitely. No more secrets."

"Well then you should know about the tattoo I got on my…"

She punched him lightly in the shoulder, "Tony!"

HAHA! Didn't think I was going to do it, were ya? But I'm nice. And I was listening to really sappy music...and...I'll admit it. If you didn't know before, or you just weren't really paying attention...I'm a hopeless romantic. (And I've secretly been dying to write their kiss since Chapter 1...LOL!) Mushy stuff! YAY! Review if you liked their kiss! Review review! Make my day! Oh..and just to let everyone know...I don't mean to offend anyone by my writing. If you feel offended by it and you feel that you are very uncomfortable with my writing then PLEASE tell me. Gently. I honestly don't mean to offend anyone. Thank you! :)

QUOTE:

"Uh, boss…why are there condoms on the floor?" -McGee