Here I am with the third chapter :D I'm currently working on the seventh! :D

Thank you all for your reviews, both the positive and the negative ones... I'm glad you like it and I'm glad you tell me what you don't think it's good.

I'm quite excited because we found out (in Recruited) that The Guy's name is really Ray :) just like I imagined.

Anyways, here it is. I hope you'll like it!

A fight

The doors of the elevator shut and they kept quiet for few moments; then Tony spoke.

"Is your friend from Miami still here?" he asked, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

"No, he is not," Ziva replied, still staring at the doors in front of her. "He left yesterday afternoon." Tony nodded, with a serious expression on his face. Ziva took a glance at him, then she said, "I think I've never told you… that we are not together."

It took some time to Tony's brain to process her words. When the meaning of what she had just said was perfectly clear in his mind, he had to try his best to hide the fact that inside of him had just started a party and that his heart was currently uncorking a bottle of champagne.

"So… you're just friends?" he asked, keeping on staring in front of him.

"Yes." She smiled. "Good friends."

"Oh, well… this is great news." Tony immediately understood he had said too much. "I… I mean, unless you want… something more…" Tony hold his breath waiting for her to answer.

Ziva laughed. "No, I do not."

"Does he?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Tony frowned and smirked at her. "I don't believe you."

"Why not?"

He laughed. "Come one. You're a beautiful woman and he thinks you're great, so…"

Ziva smiled. "Well… this does not prove anything. And the fact is that… he does not like women."

"Oh." Tony tried to contain his happiness. "So… I guess he likes you just as a friend."

"Just like I told you," Ziva précised.

They looked at each other and smiled.

The doors of the elevator had opened almost a minute before, but they hadn't even realized that. They left the elevator and reached McGee in the parking lot. They didn't talk all the way to the crime scene. Ziva was focused on the driving, while Tony was lost in his thoughts. However, for the first time in weeks, his thoughts were neither annoying nor painful. He was just really happy.

The crime scene was a simple warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Tony and Ziva got out of their car and followed Gibbs and McGee into the warehouse. It was dark and dusty inside. It took them almost a minute to find the body which was lying on the floor, with a hole in the middle of his head.

"Where's Duck?" Gibbs asked, kneeling near the body.

"He's stuck in the traffic," McGee answered promptly.

Gibbs looked at him. "Stuck in the traffic… in the middle of the open country?"

McGee opened his mouth, his lips forming an 'o' shape as he remembered. "Oh, well… Palmer forgot how to get here, so they found themselves in the middle of the most crowded street of the States, so…"

Gibbs smiled lightly, then went back to stare at the body.

In the meantime, Tony and Ziva were "taking a tour" – as Tony said – of the warehouse, trying to find anything that could be useful. They noticed a door that lead to another room.

The other room was quite big and just as dusty as the other. It was less big, though, and there were some stairs. Tony and Ziva looked around.

"I don't think the killer left the murder weapon here," Tony said.

"We might be lucky, though, and maybe find something else, like…"

"Signs of a struggle?" Tony asked, walking towards something that he had just seen. Ziva followed him.

While they were bagging and tagging the evidence, they heard a noise. Ziva turned, just in time to see a bullet speeding towards her. The bullet hit her in the left arm and she fell to the ground, blinded and confused by the pain. Tony immediately rushed towards her, without thinking about chasing the guy who had shot her.

They heard another bang and saw Gibbs and McGee running into the room and then upstairs.

"Go with them, Tony! What are you doing here?" Ziva yelled at him.

Tony nodded, a little stunned, and followed his team members.

Three days later, Ziva's arm had almost completely recovered and she was back to work. The bastard that had shot her was now rotting in prison, waiting for the trial that was most likely going to incriminate him of murder.

That was something that was wrong with her, though. She had been acting strange all day, especially with Tony. She had been acting elusive and crabby. Tony felt like he needed to confront her.

When they found themselves together in the elevator, Tony stopped it and turned to face Ziva.

"What?" she asked sharply.

"You tell me what."

Ziva immediately understood why he wanted to talk and she felt relieved. She wanted to talk to him and was glad that Tony had made the first move.

"The other day… when the man shot me." She paused for a moment. "You did not run after him. Why?" She looked at him intensely, forcing herself to repress a feeling that was most probably anger.

Tony didn't know what to say. He knew why, but he wasn't going to tell her. He wasn't going to tell her that he hadn't run after the man because he had only thought about her. He should have regretted his action, because it had been pointless and because he hadn't acted like an agent should. But he knew he would do that again if they were in the same situation.

I acted like a person who cares about his partner.

She was still waiting for an answer, looking at him in a way that made him burst out.

"What do you want to hear, huh?" he asked, staring right into her eyes.

"The real reason."

"Like you didn't already know," he replied sharply.

Ziva shook her head and faked a smile. "What am I supposed to know?"

Her question provoked an explosion inside of him. He was now unafraid to tell her the truth, if it was the truth what she wanted. "I don't know, maybe…" he faked a smile too. "Maybe that I was a complete fool to stay with you when I should have chased the killer! Maybe that I did a stupid mistake. Maybe," his voice had grown into a yell, "maybe that I did what I did because I care about you!"

"That should not matter while we are working!" she shouted, hitting the air with the sudden movement of her arms.

"Oh, come on." He gave a faint laugh. "It's always mattered, and don't try to pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about."

His words hit her like a punch on her face. He continued, driven by all the feelings that were burning inside of him. "That time when you started a fight, even though we had had orders not to engage. Don't you remember?"

"I do!" she yelled, then she sighed deeply and calmed down. "I… I know, I remember."

"So why does it matter so much now?" he asked, still angry.

"Because…" she stopped in the middle of the sentence.

"Because?"

She sighed again. "Listen, Tony, I am trying to make this work."

"Trying to make what work?" Tony asked, now a little confused.

"Us!" she yelled. "This… thing between us!" She took a deep breath. They were still staring at each other's eyes. "It is not easy for me, Tony."

"What isn't easy?" he asked again.

"This relationship we have… it is not easy, okay?"

"R… relationship?" Tony laughed, his voice sarcastic.

"Yes." He shook his head, confused. Ziva kept talking. "What were you talking about the other day, huh? When we just listened to Bath's words. Do not tell me you were not talking about us!"

"Of course I was!" he burst out.

"So what?"

"What?"

They both felt anger and pain in their chests. Their fight was getting too far, they knew. They needed to say those things, but neither of them was ready to face the other's reaction. Neither of them was ready to see what was going to happen next. So they just kept quiet and stared at each other. Then Tony sighed and with a rapid movement of his hand caused the elevator to move again.

For the rest of the day, a thick fog divided the two agents, unable to look or talk to each other.

I'll never fall asleep tonight, Tony thought, changing his position in the bed once again. Her words kept sounding in his mind like an echo. He couldn't help thinking about what had happened.

He felt so many things that was impossible for him to focus on just one feeling. He felt angry, and then sad, then he regretted everything he had said, and then he thought about all the things that he should have added.

It hadn't been the first time they had quarreled. There had been other fights, like the one in the elevator, that time when he had told her "I'm tired of pretending" and the one in Israel, of course, when she had almost shot him in his chest. The more he thought about all their fights, though, the more he got convinced that there was just one thing behind them: their care for each other and their love for each other.

Two years earlier, in the elevator, he had gotten angry with her because he knew that she hadn't followed the order they were given because he had gotten hurt and he knew why she had reacted. And he was angry, just like Ziva was angry now. He didn't want people to lie to them, of course, and this was a reason why he was angry; but above all, it was because of what had happened why they had been found and he had been punched.

At that time, he wasn't aware of his feelings for her and they still scared him. He was watching something that was happening inside of him and he didn't know how to react. When Ziva had attacked the men, he had realized that something was changing, work wasn't their priority anymore. There was something, something that Tony didn't know what to call at the time. Maybe the same thing was happening to Ziva now. Maybe she was realizing that things had changed and she felt the same as him, and maybe she felt that "something" too. Maybe she felt that something that Tony had learned to call "love".

Love.

Love wasn't supposed to be easy, he knew. But it was getting harder and harder to handle. And the fact that he didn't know what Ziva felt for him… it made everything even more difficult.

He didn't know what he would say. He didn't know what to do. He just knew that between the two of them, a fire was burning. He had admitted that he had made that mistake because he cared about her. It had been a big step. But Ziva still couldn't accept it. She was scared, he knew. She was scared of what was happening, just like he had been two years before.

He wanted to talk to her, calmly, without yelling at each other. He wanted to talk to her and to tell her all things that were bursting out in his chest. He needed her to know what he felt for her; but when he thought about her reaction, he felt insecure. He didn't want to lose everything they had. The biggest problem was this, after all: they knew they cared about each other and after their latest fight, it wasn't a secret anymore. But Tony… Tony didn't know if she wanted what he wanted, he didn't know if Ziva's love for him was more than a friend-love. He didn't know, and he kept changing his position in his bed, lost in thoughts and fears.

What's happening to us, Ziva? he wondered, praying that she could hear his thoughts. But of course she couldn't and those words got lost in the middle of one of the longest nights of his life.

A week. A week that they spent avoiding each other. A week that they spent without joking nor chatting. A week that they spent being just coworkers.

This is what she wants, right? Tony kept thinking, pissed off. This is what she wants.

He knew that it wasn't the truth, though. He knew that she didn't want this. He wanted to do something, but his pride told him to wait for her to make the first move.

She did make the first move. She cornered him in the men's room and closed the door behind her. Tony wasn't even surprised to see her there.

"This cannot work," she said simply, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

Tony turned to face her and walked towards her. "Of course it can't," he said, giving a faint laugh. "But if I remember correctly, you thought that it didn't work before either."

"Before?"

"Before the other day." Ziva didn't say anything. "So now what?" Tony asked.

"I don't know," Ziva replied simply.

Tony nodded and stared at her eyes intensely. "You can't accept the fact that we are more important than our job." He saw the surprise on her face. "It's the truth, Ziva. I know why you got angry the other day. Because when I saw you wounded, work didn't matter."

Ziva kept quiet, stunned. Tony took a deep breath and continued. "We've gone too far, maybe. We have this strong… bond, now, and I won't let us destroy it." He smiled. "I care about you, Ziva. I care about us."

Inside of him, something happened. He felt the stone in his chest melt and he suddenly felt much lighter. He had told her those words. Everything was going to be fine again. Everything was going to be even better.

Tony enjoyed every little detail of Ziva's smile. "I care, too," she said, nodding slowly.

They stayed there for a few moments, still, uncertain if there was something left to be told. Tony wanted to take the chance and tell her much more, but after all, maybe what he had said had been enough. There would be a time for all the other things that needed to be told later.

So they left the bathroom and went back to work. The end of the day came fast and they soon found themselves home. Tony spent the evening on the couch, watching old movies, thinking about those moments in the men's room.

Ziva did the same. Her eyes looked at the words written in her book without understanding them because her mind was wandering somewhere else.

Yes, there were many other things to say, but what they had told each other was enough for now.

p.s. Oh and thanks to my friend Alice who gave me a little inspiration for this chapter :)