Hi everyone :) Thank you for the nice reviews :) So, well, here is the second chapter, I hope you'll like this too.

A guy

Another day, another morning, another coffee. Ziva drank her coffee slowly, tasting every single drop of it. When it was over, she washed the cup and then she went to the bathroom. She stared at her face for some time, looking at all the makeup she was wearing.

There had been a time when she never wore makeup. There had been a time when there was nothing on her skin and around her eyes. When she was younger, when she was in Israel, working for the Mossad; even during her first years at NCIS. But then something had changed. She had started to wear makeup and earrings; she had started to have different hairstyles: straight hair, curly hair, pony tail… every day a different one.

When she thought about this, Ziva wondered what had changed. "Maybe I was just… growing up, becoming a woman" was her usual answer, but she knew that this was not the real reason. The real reason was another one: she had let herself do something that she had never done before. She had let herself become a woman like all the others, a woman who's allowed to wear makeup, and she does, because she wants to like herself and she wants people to like her. It was not vanity, though. She had never really admired her looks and this was why she was always surprised, and maybe flattered, when men told her she was pretty, or even beautiful. She was starting to become conscious about the beauty of her body and she was getting more and more comfortable about it.

She didn't feel comfortable when Tony told her she was beautiful, though. Of course she was flattered and his words made her shiver and smile. She felt uncomfortable about that because it was… embarrassing. She never felt embarrassed when someone else told her she was beautiful. She laughed and smiled and flirted back. With Tony, she felt embarrassed. She hated to feel embarrassed. She felt weak and vulnerable and she didn't want Tony to see her like that. This was why she didn't ever say anything when he told her she was "beautiful" or "attractive". Receiving compliments from him… it wasn't easy. The worst thing – or maybe the best thing, according to some part of her mind – was that the compliments were getting more and more frequent. His most beautiful compliment was a mark in her mind: contents priceless. She smiled every time she thought about that. He had never really talked about the fact that he liked her before that. But that sentence, those words of his… the meaning was quite obvious.

Tony liked her, after all.

As time passed, she had started to wonder if he just liked her or if there was something else. Somehow, she was afraid of the answers her mind gave her; but above all, those answers made her smile once again and she felt happy.

While was driving to the Navy Yard, Ziva kept thinking about his words: "Have you ever had that kind of relationship with anyone?"

She was angry at him for some reason. He said too much. It was obvious he was talking about them, and she didn't want him to talk about them. It could just make everything harder and more complicated. As if it wasn't complicated enough already.

That thing that they had… that relationship… of course she had thought about it when Bath had described the relationship she had had with Colber. Everything had reminded her of the two of them. Bath had almost quoted her own words: "We had each other's backs. We have always had."

Why was everything so complicated? Why couldn't it just be easy?

I guess it's never easy when you really care about someone.

Her own thoughts scared her. Anyways, she had to admit she cared about Tony. Actually, she didn't only care about him. She loved him.

She kept thinking about the moment when she had told him those words. She had never been so honest with him. She had never been so honest with anyone, actually. She had never revealed her feelings out loud. But she had done that for him, with him, and she knew that this meant something.

Ziva wondered if Tony had realized what her words meant to her. Of course, she had been trying to tell him that everyone loved him for who he was. But above all, she was talking about herself, about her own feelings, about her love for him, for the man who – she knew that very well – was not only the class clown. Tony was much more and she hadn't told him anything about everything he was. She had just said "class clown" because that was what he really needed to hear in that particular moment.

But while she was driving her car on the way to the Navy Yard, Ziva wished she had said much more.

When Tony got into the bullpen, Ziva had been sitting on her chair for twenty minutes. She welcomed him with a smile and he smiled back, then he sat. He looked quite tired. There was a shadow of bags under his eyes.

"Did you sleep well?" Ziva asked him, trying to sound more amused than worried, like she was.

"Never slept better," he replied sharply, avoiding her gaze, pretending to focus on the sheets of paper that were on his desk. But as time passed, he could still feel her eyes on him. "What?" he asked, looking at her.

"Nothing," she immediately said and then she got back to work.

Tony kept staring at her for a few moments then he looked away from her. Of course, he hadn't slept well that night. He had lain in his bed all night, awake. He had spent hours thinking about Bath's words and about them. He just couldn't believe that Ziva hadn't thought about the two of them while listening to her. The woman had perfectly described their relationship and that was why Tony couldn't help thinking about Ziva's death. He had had a hell of night, a night full of thoughts about her death and about himself after her death. They had a dangerous job. They risked their lives every day. There was always the chance that something bad could happen. Something could kill them anytime.

Sometimes he found himself thinking about this, but before listening to Bath, he hadn't thought about that for months. Everything was just perfect between the two of them in all those months and he had never let himself think about all the bad things that might have happened.

After the meeting with Bath, these thoughts had come back to his mind and he was afraid they were never going to leave.

Well, actually not everything is perfect.

He found himself thinking about the guy from Miami that Ziva had met only a few months before. Maybe Tony just needed to focus on something that could distract him from thinking about her death. Anyway, he started thinking about him, about the man that was a shadow that had been darkening Tony's life. His presence in Ziva's life kept bothering him. Every time the Agent had a "wonderful moment" with Ziva – a nice chat, for example - every time he had that joyful feeling after talking to her, that guy was there, in his mind, reminding her that there was a hindrance to surmount.

He didn't know what kind of relationship Ziva had with The Guy. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. In fact, everything about the ordeal reminded Tony of those months when he was trying to find out the reason why Ziva kept going to Israel. When he had found out about Michael and the relationship he had with Ziva… he was broken inside. At that time, he wasn't even completely aware of his own feelings for Ziva. But now he was and the more he thought about The Guy, the more he hoped he would go away from Ziva's life as soon as possible.

-break-

That night, the case about Colber's death was closed. They were all packing their things when Ziva got a new e-mail from The Guy. Tony immediately knew who the e-mail was from. He just needed to look at Ziva's face and everything was clear. She had that special face that made her look even more beautiful. But Tony's heart hurt every time he saw that face, aware of the fact that that wonderful joy drawn on her face was coming from a man that was not him.

He took one last look at her before leaving and he saw something that he hadn't seen on her face for awhile: a pleasant surprise.

"What happened?" he asked, trying to sound less curious than he was.

"My friend from Miami… he is coming to see me," she answered, replacing the look of surprise on her face with a huge smile.

"Oh," was all he could say. He bit his lip and lingered with his eyes on her. "And… when is he coming?"

"In two days," she replied, looking at him for a very short moment.

Tony smiled, unable to say anything else. "Okay, well… goodnight."

"Goodnight."

When the doors of the elevator closed in front of him, he shut in eyes and sighed.

Two days later, Tony was sitting at his desk looking at Ziva's empty chair. He hadn't arrived earlier than usual though. It was her that was late.

She's probably having fun with her Miami Guy, right now, he thought, biting his lower lip and venting his anger on the pen he was using to write a report.

When she got into the bullpen with a huge smile on her face, he smiled too, but his smile was a fake one, unlike hers.

"You're late, huh?" he asked, keeping on smiling.

"Yes," she said simply.

Tony laughed. "Who are you and where is Ziva David, the woman who never arrives late at work?" Ziva didn't answer, but she only shook her head and smiled, amused. "Okay, I understand," he continued. "You're her alter ego. The real Ziva David is… where? Let me think… Maybe at home, having fun with her friend who just arrived from Miami?"

"I wish it was like that…" she murmured, absently looking at something on the screen of her computer.

"You wish what?" he asked, not completely sure he had understood what she meant.

"I wish I were at home and not here at work," she answered, still staring at the screen.

"At home with your friend…?" Tony teased her.

Ziva smiled for a moment. "Maybe."

Tony kept looking at her for almost a minute before going back to work. She had had fun provoking him with her mysterious answers, he knew. Maybe she knew that he was jealous and she was just enjoying the sight of him being jealous.

Of course she knows. She always knows.

That morning it was even harder for him to focus on his work.

Tony got out of the building about seven pm. It had been a long day at work. Ziva was still in the office, finishing her report of a case. Tony hadn't felt like waiting for her: there was no chance they were going to have one of their "wonderful moments" that night.

Outside it was quite warm. Tony walked slowly towards his car, with his mind full of annoying thoughts. Tony was opening the car when he saw the man.

A man was standing right beside Ziva's car, only a few yards away from him.

So there he is, he immediately thought, sure about the fact that this was The Guy.

He couldn't resist. He found himself walking towards the man, who was now looking at him. "Hi," Tony said when he was only a few feet away from him.

"Hi," the man said, looking at him with curiosity.

Tony smiled. "You must be… Ziva's friend… from Miami."

"Yes."

Tony nodded, studying his face with attention. He was about the same age as Ziva. He didn't have a very handsome face, but he was probably considered rather cute by women.

"My name's Ray," the man said, with a cheerful smile drawn on his lips.

"I'm Tony," Tony said and he immediately noticed that his name had set off a reaction on Ray's face.

Ray looked surprised and then smiled widely. "Hi, Tony."

Tony didn't what to think; his reaction had been quite meaningful to him: Ziva must have mentioned him to Ray. But he couldn't understand why Ray had smiled.

There was now an awkward silence between the two of them. Tony was determined to break it, so he asked the first question that came across his mind: "So, uh… you're staying at Ziva's place, right?"

"Yes," Ray answered. "I arrived last night and Ziva had prepared a delicious dinner. She's a really good cook."

"Yeah… She is great, right?" Tony said absently, still studying his face and the tone of his voice carefully.

"Yeah, she's really sweet," Ray said, nodding.

Tony showed a sad smile upon his face and looked at Ray's eyes. "I'd better go now…"

"Okay… it was nice to meet you, Tony." Ray smiled again.

"Yeah, same here," Tony said, faking the umpteenth smile. He walked away from him for a few feet, then he turned to face the man and stared right into his eyes. "Handle with care. Contents priceless," he added, before turning again. He left a confused Ray behind him.

"You know, I met Tony in the car park while I was waiting for you."

Ziva almost dropped the mug she was carrying. "Oh…" she said, trying to hide the blush that had just showed up on her face.

"He seems to be a nice guy," Ray continued.

Ziva shrugged her shoulders. "Yes… you know, he is the class clown," she said, smiling lightly.

"I understand," Ray replied, laughing. "He looked a bit… strange, though."

Ziva frowned. "Strange?"

"I don't know.. He acted like he didn't feel comfortable in my presence…," he said, thoughtful. "And… he told me something a bit… weird before leaving."

"What did he say?" Ziva asked, giving a mug of hot cocoa to Ray. The man looked right into her eyes and said, "'Handle with care. Contents priceless.'" Ziva didn't say anything for a few moments. She looked surprised, but in a positive way. "Does it mean anything to you?" Ray asked.

"Yes, it does," Ziva murmured, hiding her smile behind her mug.

Ray kept quiet waiting for her to say more. She didn't add anything, though. She looked lost in her thoughts. Ziva couldn't believe Tony had really told Ray those words. Anyways, the fact that he had made her blush and smile. She was so happy, but she tried the hardest to hide her joy from Ray.

"I think he's convinced that we're together," Ray said, trying to break the silence between them and above all curious about her feelings for him.

Ziva laughed lightly and sat on the couch beside him. "He is."

"Why haven't you told him the truth?" She didn't say anything. "I think he's suffering because of this…" Ray continued, looking at her intensely.

Ziva gazed at the floor. "I know."

"But…?"

"I do not feel like telling him," she replied sharply, now looking at him.

"Why?" She didn't answer. "Because you like him being jealous?" Ray asked, smirking.

"No," she immediately replied, offended.

Ray smiled again, then he put a hand on Ziva's shoulder. "Come on…"

Ziva bit her lower lip. "Okay, maybe…"

Ray laughed. "Ah, I understand… You have romantic designs on him."

"Ro… romantic designs?" Ziva asked, frowning.

"Yes," Ray confirmed, nodding.

"Uh… I… I do not know what you are talking about," Ziva said, blushing and getting up from the couch. She went to the kitchen to wash her mug, while Ray was following her with his gaze, smiling.

Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about.