Title: Opportunity

Rating: T, I suppose

Spoilers: Anything up until "Truth or Consequence"

Summary: An opportunity presents itself to Tony and Ziva, will they take it?

Pairing: Tiva, of course.

Disclaimer: If I owned them, Tiva would be a reality and not just something I'm writing about.

A/N: Okay, so I'm thinking that there will be one more chapter (not tonight) but I haven't decided yet. Also, I know that Tony's explanation of everything is much more drawn out than Ziva's but I think that fits them perfectly. Her feelings for him are sort of out in the open, she's dropped plenty of hints, and I can see Tony needing to tell her everything because he's tried very hard to down play what he feels for her.

Chapter Four

Ziva didn't know how to respond. She did not know what to say. Tony had just told her exactly what she had wanted to hear, but she hadn't been prepared to hear it. She didn't know how to tell him how she felt.

"We should try to get some sleep," Tony said after a prolonged period of silence, "I have a feeling the drive back to base tomorrow is going to be a long one."

He got to his feet then, not giving her a chance to argue, and held out a hand to her. She allowed him to help her to her feet before they moved toward the opposite sides of the bed. Ziva watched as he kicked off his shoes and pulled back the blankets.

"Something on your mind, Ziva?"

His voice brought her out of her thoughts and she shook her head, following his lead and losing her shoes before climbing into bed beside him. She pulled the covers up under her chin and closed her eyes, feeling the chill seep in through the blankets and her clothes. As the fire began to dwindle down, she could not help but think that it was going to be a long night.

"Ziva?" Tony's voice was soft as he called her name.

"Yes Tony?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

She felt the mattress shift as he moved towards her under the blankets. She turned to face him, opening her eyes and giving him a questioning look.

"You're shivering," he said, sliding close enough that their bodies were touching, "Come here."

She hesitated for a moment, before pressing herself more firmly against Tony, her nose brushing his as she did so. She was not surprised by the immediate warmth provided by his much larger frame and she closed her eyes.

"I do not hate you, Tony," she whispered, "And there is nothing to forgive. It took nearly four months of captivity for me to realize that it is not I who needed to forgive you, but you who needed to forgive me. I do not know how I could have ever doubted you."

Tony slid his arm around her back, allowing it to slid into her hair.

"Love makes you do stupid things, Ziva," he said quietly.

Ziva shook her head, "No, Tony, I did not love Michael. I thought that... I felt that I may have loved him had our affair continued. But after speaking with my father and after he assigned me to finish Michael's mission, I knew that it would have ended badly because he did not love me. Michael was simply following orders."

Tony was silent, running his fingers idly through her hair, and Ziva sighed.

"I thought of you," she said softly, "Everyday. I thought of how we left things, of how I let you believe that I was angry with you. And I hated myself for that. I wanted nothing more than to turn back time and return to America with you and Gibbs."

She took a breath and pulled away from Tony so that she could look up into his eyes.

"I told myself that you hated me and that I was not going to survive as Saleem's prisoner and I was prepared to die. I was prepared to let Saleem take my life until I found myself looking at you again and then I remembered why I wanted to live," she told him, tears in her eyes again, "I wanted to apologize, I wanted to throw myself in your arms and beg you to forgive me. And when you told me that you could not live without me, I wanted so badly to say the same to you."

Tony laughed then, shaking his head, and Ziva glared at him.

"Tony, I did not –"

"I'm sorry, Ziva," he said, "I don't mean to laugh. And I'm not laughing at you."

She continued to glare at him and he leaned his forehead against hers.

"What happened to us?" he asked, "We used to laugh at McGoo and tease each other and I could flirt with you and you'd flirt back and we'd pretend it didn't mean anything. And look at us? We're spilling our guts to each other in some random hotel and I'm seriously considering breaking rule 12, Boss Man be damned. When did we become adults with adult problems?"

Ziva laughed then, sliding one of her hands under his sweatshirt and pressing her cheek to his shoulder.

"We have grown up, Tony," she said, "There is nothing wrong with that."

Tony shook his head, "No, I don't think that there is."

They lay together in silence for a long moment, the fire light so dim now that Ziva could barely make out Tony's face in the darkness.

"Are you really considering breaking rule number 12?" she asked.

Tony laughed, "You heard that, huh?"

"I did. And what makes you think that I would condone that behavior?"

"I can be very persuasive, Probie," he said, his lips brushing across her face.

"Hmm," Ziva breathed, "I think that I would like to see that, my Little Hairy Butt."