Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David stood in front of the metal door, composing herself. What did Director Vance want? At this hour? After a case? She needed to get home…she knew that it was Tony's last night here, and she wanted to…make the most of it.

"Miss David?" She heard Cynthia's voice, and she quickly turned around, staring into the eyes of the director's assistant, "Director Vance is waiting for you." She motioned to the door, and Ziva took another deep breath before she finally threw it open, walking in and silently closing the door behind her. She walked towards him and stood right in front of his desk, her arms behind her back in a military stance, preparing herself for whatever was going to come to her.

"Officer David." Vance spoke, and Ziva cringed. She remembered the last time he had addressed her by that; she had been going back to Israel. What did she do this time? Was it the incident with the car?

It was only then that she noticed that he wasn't going to say anything, "Director Vance?" She questioned, "I have arrived as expected."

"Yes, David, I was hoping that you could answer a couple of questions for me." She just stared down at him, and he then realized that it was his turn to speak up again, "What is your relationship with DiNozzo?" He saw her stiffen.

"Sir." She said, looking up at what was directly above his head, not actually at him. She blinked a couple of times, a little flustered by the question and a little angry at the same time, "I would like to know how this is relevant."

He nodded, pursing his lips together, "I forgot. I am just curious. I've noticed that your working habits have changed over the last couple of months, and suddenly they're up again. The only logical explanation is DiNozzo's presence."

She cocked her head to the side a little, nodding in the process, still not meeting his eyes, "Well," She started, "I do believe that that is none of your business. Unless my father has you spying on me as well." She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she looked around a little bit before moving her eyes back to their original position.

"No, no, Eli has not addressed any of these questions. Don't worry. It's just an observation."

She looked him straight in the eyes, "Yes. Well it is an observation that you need to keep to yourself, yes?" She demanded, "Tony is my partner. My only partner. Aside from what papa may have told you."

"Solely a working relationship…right?" He questioned, and she shifted her weight on her feet.

"Why do you ask that?" She demanded, "Why is my relationship with him so important to you? Another mole? Something else you fail to tell us about?" She scoffed, "If I were you, I would make sure to inform Gibbs this time." She gave a short, angry laugh.

"No mole David, just you and your partner. Now I'd answer the question if I were you." He leaned forward in his chair, his body pushed up against the desk, "Is your relationship with your partner a professional relationship?" She didn't answer, and Vance went in for the kill, "Are you intimate?" She again, didn't answer, she just ran her tongue on the inside of her mouth, her lips parting just slightly as she gave a small, yet barely audible laugh. He leaned back in his seat and rested one elbow on the arm rest, his head propped up against the one finger he extended from his hand, "Sexually active?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow, and that was it. She moved uncomfortably in one spot.

"This meeting is done." She shortly said before she started towards the door, turning quickly on her heel as she did so. She had her handle on the door, ready to turn when Vance spoke up, stopping her in her tracks.

"David you open that door I'm sending you back to Mossad." He picked up the phone as he stopped, "I'm sure Eli would love to find out about why his daughter got fired."

She tightened her grip on the knob and then let go, turning quickly around, barricading her back against the door, "What do you want?" She huffed out.

"Do you and Agent DiNozzo have a professional relationship?" He repeated, slowly this time, in case she missed it last time.

"Only in the office." She spat.

"So you're sexually active?"

"Yes. We are. What does it matter to you? You send me back to Israel, you send Tony away with a 'promotion', and now you are choosing who I sleep with?" She demanded, but he didn't answer, "I answered your questions. Interview. Over." She said as she started towards the door, muttering angry Hebrew under her breath as she slammed the door closed, storming past a shocked Cynthia, and then running out of the office. All she wanted to do was get home.

Tony would surely kill Vance, and it made her extremely happy knowing this fact was true.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Tony?" Ziva called as she entered her…his….their apartment, closing the door and placing the key back into her pocket. She turned on the light and noticed that he wasn't there. She threw her coat down. She needed to be calmed down. Where was Tony when she needed him? Normally, when she needed to be calmed down, he could slowly undress her, pressing kisses up and down her entire body as he led her to the bedroom before they continued to make sweet love until the night ceased to exist. However, tonight, she didn't feel like she wanted any of that. Just to be held by him…that's all she needed.

She entered the bedroom and noticed that his clothes were still on the floor from yesterday, so she knew that he hadn't packed up yet.

He probably just left to go to the hotel to get the rest of his stuff and check up on his team. Yes, that is it, Ziva. Calm down! She commanded to herself as she turned around and started out of the bedroom. However, as she entered the pathway where the living room and the entrance met, the door opened and revealed Tony DiNozzo, slinking in, looking a little down.

"Tony?" She questioned, softly. He closed the door behind him and walked a couple of steps towards her after taking off his coat and carelessly throwing it on the floor behind him. Concern and sorrow was evident in his green eyes, and she took a careful step towards him before they both pulled each other into their own arms, hugging each other tightly. No words were needed as Ziva wrapped her arms around him, gripping his prominent shoulder blades as she turned her head into his neck. She breathed in his scent. His faint cologne, worn off from the rain, his normal amazing scent, and then…sawdust. He had been with Gibbs. She thought, and she held him tighter to her. She felt his warm cheek against the side of her head, his lips close to her ear. He wrapped his arms tighter around her body, crushing her up against him, placing a small kiss on her ear.

"Ziva…" he murmured, his voice sending shivers up and down her spine, causing Tony to hold her tighter against him. She finally pulled back, and they stared up into each others eyes. She tore his eyes off of his first and broke out of his embrace.

"We need to talk." She determined, her back turned to him, "Vance…he…"

"What?" He questioned, his voice soft though his insides were churning. She didn't answer, she just turned her head, and he walked towards her, "Ziva. What?"

"He questioned me." She softly said, yet her voice was rough.

"About what?"

"You..." She sighed, "Me...." She sighed again, "...Us." She let out the biggest sigh of all.

"And?" He prompted.

"And he knows that we're intimate, Tony." She said, catching his eyes for a moment over her shoulder before she took off towards the bedroom, unable to turn back around and see him. She took a seat on the bed.

Tony followed her into the bedroom and walked towards her, "So does Gibbs." He said, sitting down next to her, "He's known for a while." She turned to look at him and carefully lifted a finger up, brushing his hair lightly from his face. He subconsciously closed his eyes as she traced his jaw line, pressing one finger under his chin as she turned him towards her, "You are deeply troubled." She noted after searching his eyes. She tried to find the answer, but it just….wasn't there.

He looked down at her stomach and she followed his gaze, confused as to where it met. She looked up at him and then back down, still very confused. She suddenly saw his hand reach out towards her, and then it carefully brushed against her lower half. She jumped off of the bed, wrapping her arms subconsciously around her stomach, "What are you doing?" She demanded, and he looked up at her.

"I was just…" He suddenly grinned, "Are you ticklish?"

"No!" She shouted, "But that was not why you were touching me there. Why were you touching me?"

"I just thought…" He stood up and walked towards her, "Are you…" he started and then looked down. He placed his hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes, "Are you…preg…"

"No." She firmly said, wiggling around so that she ripped her body away from his grip. She let her hands drop from her stomach and looked curiously up at him, "Why do you ask that?"

"I was just…just wondering."

"So what if I am Tony?" She demanded, turning towards him, fully.

"Is it mine?"

"Why do you care?" She challenged, taking a step towards him. They stood in silence for a moment, "Why do you ask if I am pregnant, Tony? Answer the question."

"I heard it. Around."

"From who?"

"Aaron and Scott."

"And who did they hear that from? Lynn?" She demanded, and he just looked down, finally realizing that she was right.

"Gibbs was right…" He muttered.

"Of course he was!" She threw her hands up in the air in annoyance, "You should always listen to Gibbs!" She motioned her hand towards him, "You told me to always listen to Gibbs because Gibbs knows! And Abby with the dark magic…yes?"

"Ziva, I knew that was stupid, but-"

"Then why did you believe it?"

"I don't know!" he admitted, throwing his hands up into the air.

"Because you wanted to believe it? You think that I would sleep around?" She demanded.

"No! Of course not!"

"Did you sleep around, Tony?" She questioned, taking another step towards him, "When you were in San Diego? Hmm?"

"I didn't sleep around, Ziva. I didn't even look at a woman with the thoughts of sleeping with her in my mind."

She scoffed and laughed, "I'm sure you didn't."

"I didn't!" He let his voice raise a little higher, for he was getting rather upset, "Ziva!"

"I am not like your mother, Tony." She muttered, and that made his blood run cold, "I did not sleep with other men. Everyone knows that. Even Jimmy knows that! You are not stupid enough to believe that, so why did you?"

"Because I was scared!"

"Of what? Tony DiNozzo…scared?" She scoffed, not believing it, "What were you afraid of?" She demanded, shouting now.

He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it quickly. They angrily stared at each other for a moment or two before Tony finally stopped and then stared deep into her eyes, the brown chocolate pools that he'd come to love and know like the back of his hand, "Never mind." He mumbled, "Doesn't matter now." He brushed past her, his shoulder knocking against hers. How did this happen? We fight before I leave…and then again…I don't know how much more I can of take this. He opened up the door and was about to step out when Ziva's hand caught his arm half-way.

"Tony." She firmly said as he spun back around to face her, their bodies standing in the door frame, Tony on one side, Ziva on the other.

"What?" he sighed, "Another lecture?"

She took a step towards him, "Only one that you should listen." She warned, "What were you going to say?"

"Does it matter?" He demanded, walking towards her, nothing between them now but the thin millimeters between their two desperate bodies.

"Do not do this Tony." She warned.

"Don't do what?" He demanded, "Because I'm pretty sure that no matter what I do, it won't change the current situation we are in, Ziva."

"Oh really?" She demanded, raising her voice, "I think that it would possibly change a lot, Tony! You want to know why?" She raised her voice.

"Yeah, I would, Ziva, instead of leaving me out in the dark!"

"You almost have always left me out in the dark, Tony! Remember Jeanne?"

He growled and Ziva watched his eyes grow dark, "Of course I do." He muttered through gritted teeth, "But we don't talk about her, remember?"

"You are having the same problem!"

"I am not on an undercover mission, Ziva!"

"Hiding from these feelings like a flowery boy!" She shouted, enraged now, why couldn't he just admit it?

"Cowardly." He corrected, closing his eyes just briefly in annoyance.

She slapped his arm, causing him to yelp, "Do not correct my English when I am yelling at you!" She shouted, stomping shortly.

"I don't want to yell at you, Ziva." He said, his voice low, his face close, "Not now. When I am leaving tomorrow morning. The case is closed. My team and I are going home."

"You are choosing to leave. Just like before." She whispered, looking down at his neck, refusing to meet his eyes.

"I didn't choose to leave last time."

"Yes you did! You chose the promotion, not me. Vance gave you a way out, and you took it."

"Don't bring him into this, Ziva. And before you bring him up again, let's remember who walked out on the other and who broke up with who? I took the logical path. I took the path that you chose. You did what was best for the team. So did I."

"Well it was not, yes?" She questioned.

He put his face dangerously close to hers, whispering almost silently in her ear, "You ever think that you didn't do what's best for the team…or us?" On the word 'us' another shiver was sent through her spine. She shuddered as his lips, tingling, pressed up against her cheek, "Goodbye, Ziva." He murmured, almost under his breath as he pulled back, stared into her eyes, and then left the apartment.

Ziva didn't know just how long she stood rooted in that position, almost as if his kiss had in fact planted her there, but when she finally gained control back of her body, she closed her eyes and slid her back down the frame, resting when she hit the ground. She leaned her head back and her heart thumped her in ears as the rain continued to beat down.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Director Vance definitely wasn't expecting anymore visitors that night, in fact, he was just ready to start packing up for the night when he suddenly heard his metal door slam into the wall and then slam shut.

He was sure it left a mark, and, for Agent Gibbs sake, he wasn't too happy. (Gibbs was though, of course.)

"Something I can help you with, Agent Gibbs?"

"My agent!" he demanded, slamming his hand down onto his desk, leaning in close, "Anthony. DiNozzo." He slammed his hand again, and then backed up, pacing angrily around the director's office.

"I talked to Officer David."

"And?" he asked, continuing to angrily pace.

"She admitted to having sexual affairs with DiNozzo."

"I knew that a long time ago, Leon. All I want is my damn agent back!"

He sighed and stared down at his desk, "They're leaving tomorrow."

"Delay the flight."

"What about the rest of the San Diego team?"

"Book them on another one. DiNozzo's not getting on." He demanded, telling Vance precisely what he wanted.

"I don't know, Gibbs…"

He growled angrily, throwing his hands up and then turning abruptly on him, "Hey!" He shouted, throwing him off guard, "I want my senior field agent back, Leon!" He paused for a moment, an then realized he had no effect on him, "NOW!" He demanded, "He's not getting on that damn flight, I don't care if I have to stop it myself!"

"You're going to kidnap a federal agent?"

"Yeah. And you lose DiNozzo, you lose me, Vance. And David. I would bet the entire damn agency on it!"

He pondered for a moment, and then made his decision as he looked Gibbs straight in his angry, icy blue eyes.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tony DiNozzo checked his team's bags in, flashed his badge at security, and then solemnly made his way towards where their plane was going to take off. He started to drag behind the team, which went unnoticed to them all except for Aaron, who watched his boss from afar as Scott and Lynn made it up front.

Tony turned around and stopped, suddenly, in the middle of the swarm of people rushing to their flights, most of them late, hoping they would catch it in mere seconds.

"Why didn't they come?" He muttered, "Why didn't Gibbs come to say goodbye to me?" He still felt horrible that he hadn't properly said goodbye to McGee or Ducky or Abby…just Gibbs. And…Ziva…but that wasn't an apology. Mostly…well he didn't know what that was besides a fight. A big, huge, blowup. And they had just gotten back to normal too… he sighed.

"Hey, Tony?" He felt Aaron tugging on his arm before shaking his shoulder, "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah…yeah, fine." He muttered before he looked back one more time and then turning back around and slowly starting back towards his team.

"Come on, Tony, it'll be okay. On the bright side, the case is closed and it's about 80 degrees in San Diego! Wanna hit the pool when we get back? Or will you be jet-lagged?"

"Naw, no thanks." He waved it off before he heard someone calling his name.

He quickly turned around and stopped.

"Tony!" They called again. It was a woman. Aaron furrowed his eyebrows together and looked at his boss.

"Boss? You okay?" He questioned, and Tony stood on his tip-toes to see who was running towards him and calling his name. Suddenly, he was collided with a body against him and black hair thrown into his eyes.

"Abby." He breathed out, smiling a little. Someone came! He desperately thought, wrapping his arms around her. At least someone cares.

"Tony, Tony, Tony!" She sobbed, "You can't go! You just can't! You didn't even say goodbye to me, Tony! How could you do that? What about me? What about Ducky? And Gibbs? And McGee? And Ziva?!" She sobbed.

"Abby I love you but I…can't…breathe…"

"You said that so easily to her." He heard a familiar male voice mutter, and he turned to face his boss as Abby finally let go of him and he finally was able to breathe again. Abby held onto his arm and cried into his shoulder as his team finally stopped. A couple of patrons walking by just looked at them like they were crazy, but they didn't care.

"Boss I…"

"Save it." He gave a small smirk, and Tony took in the fact that his eyes were red and he was growing a small beard, almost like a five o'clock shadow.

"You stay up all night, boss?" He questioned, and Gibbs just put his hand on his shoulder, shaking it once, staring into his eyes.

"You didn't get much sleep either, DiNozzo."

"Yeah, but I had a reason. You don't have a reason."

He smirked again, "You really think I don't?" He asked and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Working on your boat is not a valid reason." He laughed a little.

"Well how about this?" He asked, and McGee walked out from behind him, grinning like a computer idiot.

"Uh? Boss? McGeek?"

"No, not McGee! McGee!" Gibbs scolded, looking behind him as if something was there.

"I'm gonna miss you, Tony." McGee patted his shoulder, but Tony ignored him.

"I'm confused, boss. What are you looking for?"

"Me." He heard a sweet Israeli voice sound from behind him, and his entire back stiffened as he turned around and saw a beautiful looking Ziva standing behind him, giving him a small closed smile. Her eyes, like his, were also slightly red. She didn't get any sleep either… However, he did take in the fact that she was wearing her hair straight, unnaturally, and looked…amazing.

"Ziva." He acknowledged, "Look I'm…."

"Stop." She said, firmly, and then handed him a manila file. He didn't take it, he just looked down at it. She shook it once, "Take it."

"What is it?" He cautiously asked, and she rolled her eyes as Gibbs promptly whacked him on the back of the head, "Ouch!" He shouted, rubbing his sore spot as Ziva opened it up.

Tony stared down at the paper and then looked up in shock, "How did you…?"

"Do not ask." Ziva smirked, backing away as Gibbs stepped in.

"You belong to me now." Tony just grinned, sharing the grin over Gibbs shoulder at Ziva before he turned to Ziva.

"Take it and you are officially on Team Gibbs." McGee cut in, and Ziva held the folder out to him.

"Wait." Tony put his hands up, "Before I take my position as senior field agent back again, can I have one last moment with my team?" He asked, and they all shrugged and nodded. Gibbs patted Tony's back and pushed him towards his team, who were all looking at him with sad faces. Especially Lynn.

"You're going back to them?" Scott asked.

"You're not coming back." Aaron sighed, it was obvious that he didn't entirely like his decision, but he was willing to accept it, for the sake of Tony and their team, "But I understand why. You work better with them."

"It's not that I don't like you guys…" He said, putting an emphasis on 'guys', "But I'll come and visit you, trust me."

"Campfire hug?" Scott asked, holding his arms out. Aaron copied his movement, and so did Lynn.

"Aw, why not?" Tony grinned his famous DiNozzo smile before hugging his team. He let go after just seconds an then addressed them individually, "Agent Scott Lewis." He said, "You will go far in life. You're a good agent….as long as you stay clear of the pie table." He grinned, and Scott shared the same expression on his face.

"Thank you, sir, it was an honor working with you."

"Agent Aaron Davis." He turned to his good friend, "You're the best friend I had when I was away from my other friends. Keep in touch, will ya? You're a good agent, you're gonna be a hell of a team leader." Gibbs gave a smirk. He was proud of Tony. Gibbs watched Ziva, who was next to McGee and a bouncing Abby, very happy that Tony was coming back. Ziva noticed his eyes on her, and she turned, sharing a smirk and a wink with the boss before turning back to the scene.

He sighed as he turned to Lynn, "Lynn?" He questioned, "I'm gonna pull an Apprentice and act like Donald Trump right now." He adjusted his tie, "You're fired." He smiled, happy as can be as she dropped her mouth to the ground. Tony then turned back around, Ziva sending a happy smirk over Tony's shoulder at an angry Lynn's face before turning back to her partner.

He clapped his hands together and then turned to Gibbs, "Boss!" He outstretched his arms and then he tackled him into a hug, causing Gibbs to just grin and laugh a little. The force of Tony's hug, however, threw him back into a passerby, who dropped his papers and briefcase to the ground.

Tony immediately let go of Gibbs and bent down to help the man pick up his papers. He shoved the papers back into the folder and then went to stand back up when he dropped another one, "Excuse me…" He said, sincere. He picked up the paper and went to give the man back the papers, "Mister…" He read the name on the paper and then suddenly the entire world stopped, his heart skipped a beat. It can't be... He read the paper again, two times, three times, and then he snapped his eyes up to the man's, "Anthony De Luca?" He looked around a bit, his eyes meeting Ziva's, and she understood immediately, her eyes growing wide as well. In shock and amazement, he uttered one word, "Dad?"

THE END