She pushes the door open, and steps into the apartment. She tiptoes past the kitchen, carefully navigating her way, into the living room. She stops at the couch.
"Hey," a voice greets.
"Why are you on the couch?"
"I didn't want you to wake her up, when you came in."
"Why are you on the couch?"
"Because I need to talk to you," he answers, flipping on the lamp. He spins around, putting his feet on the ground. She slides onto the seat, next to him.
"About what?"
"I think you should let her sleep."
"Ok."
"You should be here when she wakes up."
"I..."
"You can sleep in my bed."
"That is what you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Among other things."
"Other things, what other things?"
"You don't have to worry about E.J."
"Because you told her off?"
"Because she's out of the picture. I mean, we still have to work with her, but... she and I... we are no longer whatever it is that we were, before."
"When did that happen?"
"This morning."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You had other things to deal with."
"What happened?"
"She stopped by this morning. We had an argument, and I told her that it was over."
"Why?"
"Because she doesn't understand."
"Understand what, exactly?"
"That Zafirah is my priority."
"She did not like that?"
"She didn't like the fact that we would be spending more time together, because of it."
"I see."
"Ziva?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think we made a mistake?"
"By sleeping together?"
"No, by never talking about it."
"I... why?"
"I think that we should have talked about it."
"Why? What did we have to talk about?"
"The fact that it kept happening, and neither of us ever brought it up, after it happened. Neither of us said we thought it was a bad idea, or that it shouldn't happen again. It just kept happening."
"It never should have happened. I think we both know that, but it's too late now. We can't go back, and change things."
"I wouldn't want to."
"You wouldn't?"
"No. Then we wouldn't have her."
"We wouldn't have such a complicated mess, either."
"It isn't so complicated."
"We have a child together. We are partners. It is complicated."
"It could be worse."
"How?"
"You could be dead."
"I know that."
"Ziva... I think that we should have that discussion."
"What discussion?"
"The one we should have had years ago."
"Why now?"
"Because now it matters."
"I don't see how."
"Please."
"Ok."
"You want me to start?"
"You're the one who likes to talk," she points out.
"I feel like I took advantage of you."
"No one takes advantage of me."
"We were both in vulnerable places, and..."
"It never would have happened, if I hadn't wanted it to happen, too."
"You wanted it to happen?"
"Yes, I guess that I did."
"So I'm not the only one?"
"No," she shakes her head.
"I don't think we'd still be together, as partners, if it hadn't happened."
"I agree."
"You do?"
"I know I would have killed you."
"I wish that we had been able to talk about it."
"Why? Why do you wish that? It was just sex. It did not change anything."
"It didn't? I think that it did. I think you trusted me more, after."
"Maybe."
"You should have told me, why it stopped."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought that maybe I had done something wrong."
"It had nothing to do with you."
"Why did it stop?"
"I was pregnant."
"That was it?"
"What do you mean, that was it?"
"That was the reason?"
"That isn't reason enough?"
"I just don't understand. Why was that the reason? Of all of the ones you could have chosen, what made that the one?"
"You would not understand."
"Try me."
"I was afraid."
"Of what?"
She shrugs, "I don't know. I was afraid that you would find out."
"I think it's clear that I am pretty oblivious."
"You're not. I think that you would have known. You would have taken one look at me, and you would have known."
"Why do you think that? I mean... it's not like you got pregnant, and then turned into a blimp."
"You would have known."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I just am. Even if you didn't figure it out... I just..."
"You what? What were you afraid of?"
"It was like I suddenly realized that what we had done had the potential to create huge consequences."
"You were already pregnant, what other consequences were we going to have?"
"I was afraid that it might bring up feelings, that I didn't want to deal with, that I didn't want to think about. I didn't want to further complicate an already complicated situation. I was used to walking through life, being mostly unscathed by consequences of my actions. I wasn't ready to deal with all the changes that were going to happen. I wasn't ready to explain the why to you. I thought that it would be better, to never talk about it. I thought that if I buried the truth deep enough, that it would stay there."
"Haven't you learned that the truth never stays buried, for long?"
"Now, I know that."
"What feelings were you afraid of?"
"I was afraid that maybe it was more than just sex. I was afraid that, I might feel something more, and I didn't want that. I never wanted that. You're my partner. I never wanted you to be anything more than my partner. I just I wanted to stay where we were. I was afraid that if things changed between us, in any way, it wouldn't be for the better. I thought instead of talking about things, knowing they could only end badly, we could just pretend none of it ever happened."
"I couldn't. I tried, but it's impossible. I think that we have to face the facts. We have a daughter, it's time that we admit that the past, doesn't always stay there. We can't deny the past, especially when neither of us ever moved past it."