Chapter 2: Five Days
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys! Hope you like this chapter just as much!

Five days since you tackled me,
I still got the rug burns on both my knees

Two days ago she'd stormed out on him and not a word was spoken about the incident since. Work was tense but livable. Gibbs had given them several looks showing his disapproval of the disruption to their normal work environment. Their bantering had all but ceased and any exchanges made between them were specifically work related.

"DiNozzo, my office," Gibbs finally ordered.

Tony begrudgingly left his desk and followed his boss into the elevator. The doors closed, the emergency switch was flipped, and Gibbs's hand connected with the back of his head. Tony flinched but said nothing.

"I don't know what you did. I don't care what you did. Just fix it."

"I didn't do anything," Tony argued.

"You two haven't so much as looked at one another without some smartass comment being thrown around." He leveled his eyes and his senior field agent, "Fix it."

"It's just frustrating. She's so--"

"I don't wanna know about it," Gibbs interrupted.

"Plausible deniability," Tony finally surmised. "You don't care about Rule 12?"

"The rules are there for a reason DiNozzo."

"To be broken?" he guessed earning another slap. "Guess not. How do I fix it?"

Gibbs laughed. "You're asking the wrong person." He flipped the switch, bringing the elevator back to life. "Treat her right...Tony."

Tony's head snapped up. It was rare that Gibbs ever used any of their first names, so when it did happen there was something bigger at work. He knew the relationship between Gibbs and Ziva was unique and he wasn't going to question it. Tony realized that should anything happen to Ziva Gibbs would hold him personally responsible; he cringed at the thought.

NCIS

Later that evening Tony sat in his car on the street in front of Ziva's building. He sat there for a good half hour just staring up at her window. 'She probably knows you're here. Might as well go up.' He pulled the keys out of the ignition and crossed the street, jogging up the stairs until he arrived at her door on the second floor. His hand was poised above the door but he couldn't bring himself to knock. 'Gotta have a game plan.' Before he could formulate one, his phone beeped signaling a text message received.

'I know you are there. Come in.'

"She's good," he said with a smile. Pushing the door open he found her sitting in the living room cleaning her gun. 'That's not a good sign. Hot as hell though.'

"You are here to talk?" she asked concentrating on her task.

Tony swallowed the forming lump in his throat. "Yeah. Look Zi, I'm sorry about what happened, but you need to know I meant nothing by it. I was just trying to get her to open up. Sometimes you gotta work them a little bit, you know that."

Ziva's eyes flashed in anger. She set the gun on the coffee table and stood, crossing the distance between she and Tony. "Do I?" she asked sweetly.

"Maybe?"

"You are so clueless," she said moving past him into the kitchen.

Tony followed her pausing in the doorway and blocking her only exit. "So give me a clue Ziva! Tell me what the hell I did wrong so I can fix it!!"

"If you do not know how to fix it, I am certainly not going to tell you." She grabbed a bottle of water out of her refrigerator and attempted to leave the kitchen but Tony was blocking her way. "Move."

Tony shook his head. "I'm not moving until we figure this out."

"Move," she said a little more forcefully. "Or I will move you."

Tony stood his ground matching her hard stare with one of his own. "Then move me."

In an instant the water bottle hit the ground and Ziva rushed at Tony. She grabbed his arm and spun him around so his back was pressed against her chest. She grabbed his other arm to prevent movement and pressed it to his body. She shoved him forward until his knees hit the carpet.

Tony yelped in pain. "Point taken, Officer David. Now let me go."

Ziva smirked, releasing him and watching Tony climb back to his feet. He dusted off his pants and turned to her with a glare. "Why do you rely on your charm when you have so many other options?" she asked returning the attention back to their previous subject. "You are a good interrogator Tony, you do not need tricks."

He felt a bit of a blush rising to his cheeks from her compliment. "It worked on you didn't it?" Immediately he knew that was the wrong thing to say. 'Oh...not helping.'

Ziva looked up at him, pain in her eyes. "Is that what happened? You tricked me into loving you?" Tony was speechless as his brain attempted to catch up with the situation. She loved him? She loved him and he was saying it was all a trick? God he was an idiot!

"Ziva..."

"I think you should leave."

He opened his mouth to protest but the look on her face stopped him. Her usual mask was gone and for once her emotions were on display for the world to see. It made Tony sick to his stomach to know he had caused that pain. Sighing in defeat he turned and left, closing the door behind him. He leaned back against the door letting his head rest against the thick wood. "I'm sorry Ziva."

Ziva dropped to the couch and leaned her head back staring at the ceiling. 'Why does this have to be so hard?'