Sorry about the massive wait for this chapter. I have been on holidays and I had no internet, so no . Yes, it nearly killed me :P .

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

xo

xxx

Control

Chapter 3 – Reality

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Knock, knock, knock.

When Ziva answered the front door she didn't expect Tony to be outside. She didn't say anything to him. Instead, she just walked to her couch and sat down, leaving her front door open. Tony walked in and shut the door behind him. He walked to the couch and sat down next to Ziva, but he didn't look at her.

When Tony finally had the courage to look at her, he said, "Ziva, what you're doing is scary and-"

"Do not treat me like a child," Ziva said. "I know this is scary for you and I know it is stupid. I know I am weak for doing this."

"You are not weak; you are one of the strongest people I know. I'm just worried and-"

Ziva cut him off again, "Do not worry about me."

"Ziva let me say this without cutting me off," Tony said. Ziva just nodded.

Tony got up and walked to the window. He couldn't bring himself to look at her while he said what he knew he had to say, so he just looked out the window.

"Ziva I'm so scared I'm going to lose you. The rest of the team is scared too." Tony could feel the tears starting to form in his eyes, threatening to spill over. "I'm losing you to self harm, to an eating disorder, even to cigarettes and whatever else you're doing to yourself. These things are taking over your life and they are taking over you." The tears started to roll down his face and they weren't going to stop anytime soon. "But that's not even the worse part." Tony had to turn around and face Ziva, it would be cowardly not to. When he turned around and Ziva could see the tears running down his face tears started to well up in her eyes, but she wouldn't cry, she doesn't cry; at least not in front of people. Tony continued, "The worst part is that I'm going to end up losing you forever. This will kill you and I honestly don't think I could handle that."

Ziva just broke down. The reality of what she was doing and her situation had been shoved into her face and she couldn't ignore it. Tony was right; this will kill her if she doesn't get help. Before she had been able to convince herself that this wasn't dangerous, and honestly she had even started to believe her own lies. When Tony started to cry, it showed her he really cared and that was also what made her cry.

When Ziva started crying, Tony walked up to her and hugged her. She didn't resist like he thought she would. They stood there for an hour, just hugging each other with tears pouring down both their faces. When they finally let go of each other the tears had long dried up. They both walked to Ziva's bed, got in and fell asleep without even changing their clothes.

When Tony hugged Ziva and snuggled close to her, she didn't react or push him off. She just felt peaceful and hoped this feeling would last for at least the rest of the night.

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When Ziva came home from her run the next morning and got into the shower, she made a decision. For the first time in over 2 months, she wasn't going to cut in the shower that morning. It scared her that she wasn't going to cut but it also made her feel empowered. She was scared because she didn't know how she would react if something happened that made her upset because she felt like she couldn't act calm without cutting herself. Maybe it is alright to show my real emotions, Ziva thought. Plus there was no way she was cutting with Tony in her house.

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Tony and Ziva left for work 10 minutes apart, hoping it wouldn't look suspicious that Tony would still be in the same clothes. He could go home and get changed but he didn't want to be late; after all, he had promised Gibbs he would not to be late again this week. He had time but with his luck he would probably get caught in the traffic and be late.

"Wow DiNozzo, I'm impressed," Gibbs said when Tony walked in.

"Thanks boss. I made a special effort."

"I can see that. There are even 20 minutes until we actually start work," Gibbs said.

"Well I didn't want to be late."

"Would it really take longer than 20 minutes to put on clean clothes?" Gibbs asked.

"Sorry, boss. I will wear clean clothes tomorrow," Tony said with all his DiNozzo charm.

Gibbs just went back to what he was doing before.

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Nothing much happened until after lunch. Gibbs was with the director, Ziva was in the bathroom and Tony and McGee were left alone in the bullpen.

"So why haven't you talked about your "hot hook-up" from last night?" Tim asked Tony.

"What?"

"Gee Tony, I'm not dumb. You are in the same clothes as yesterday. That means you didn't go home, so what happened?" Tim said.

"I didn't hook-up with anyone last night."

"Then why didn't you get changed?"

"If you must know, I was helping a friend. It was late so I just slept over at their house," Tony said.

"Girl or guy?"

"Wow McGee, when did you get so annoying?" Tony asked.

"I spent too much time around you," Tim replied. "Was it a girl or guy friend?"

"It was me, McGee," Ziva said as she walked around the corner.

Tim gave Tony and Ziva a weird look before dropping the subject.

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"Tony," Ziva said, walking up to him. They had just finished work and they were in the car park, ready to leave. "Would you mind coming over to my house again tonight? I just do not want to be alone."

"Of course," Tony replied. "I will be there at 8."

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What happens next? Favourite, follow and review while you wait to find out. ;)