Trouble

Wednesday the same week, they were having trouble. They had a case and it was an emotional case for Ziva and for Tony. It was a husband and wife who were killed by a rapist. The wife was taken and tortured a little and raped. The husband had gone in, trying to save her on his own without the help of law-enforcement and had ended up murdered. They were having a hard time with it emotionally. They were in the observation room as Gibbs was trying hard to break the man who did this. All the evidence added up, but a confession was priceless these days and evidence was just something to back up a confession.

Tony and Ziva were standing very close as Gibbs was going over what had happened with the man and what they had already worked out. Gibbs wanted to know why. Ziva sniffed audibly next to Tony. Tony glanced over at her and noticed that there were tears in her eyes. Gibbs had asked them specifically to be in the observation room and McGee was with them.

Tony didn't care right now that someone else was with them, he moved a hand to Ziva's back and she glanced up at him, seeing his eyes pooling with tears too. He pulled Ziva into a hug and his eyes met McGee's. McGee's eyes had a question in them. He wanted to know if Ziva was alright. Tony just shook his head and then nodded. She was alright, but she was hurting for a very good reason. Tony didn't want to talk about it, just as he was sure that Ziva didn't want to talk about it, either.

Ziva tried to hold her tears back, but she was struggling. The harder she tried the more she shook in Tony's arms. He was aware when the interrogation was over and that was around the same time that Ziva just let go and cry into his chest, sobbing uncontrollably and letting go of her own past at the same time.

A few minutes later Gibbs came into the observation room. McGee was just standing there staring and there was pain in Tony's eyes.

"She okay, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Will be, boss," Tony said quietly, squeezing Ziva a little tighter, letting her know it was okay to continue crying.

"You okay, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked curiously.

"Will be, boss," Tony repeated, the pain evident in his voice.

Ziva glanced up, her face covered in tears and noticed how much pain it appeared that Tony was in. This case was hurting him, too. Ziva quickly wiped her eyes free of the tears that she had shed and placed one hand on his cheek.

"That did not happen to us," she said quietly.

"It easily could have," Tony whispered back. "Easily."

"But, it did not. Let us now focus on the good," Ziva said quietly. "If we do not we will remain miserable over the events of the past."

Ziva turned around to look at Gibbs, realizing that Tony's arms were not leaving her, because she wasn't entirely fine, as she was about to tell the others she was. Gibbs had a questioning look in his eyes and McGee was a little stunned a the redness and puffiness of Ziva's eyes.

"I am sorry, I lost it, Gibbs, McGee," she said quietly. "I am sorry. I tried, but apparently some things still trigger some memories from my time in Somalia."

"What happened over there, Ziva?" McGee asked.

"You do not really want to know that, McGee," Ziva said honestly. "Gibbs and Tony know what happened over there, though I have never told Gibbs about it. But, I am certain that he at least guessed it and read my medical file as well as my psych evaluation. I am fine. I promise both of you."

Tony's arms tightened a little around Ziva and Gibbs eyes widened a little, seeing his muscles tense around her. But, he adjusted his expression and understood why he was having a difficult tie resisting comforting her now, because she wasn't entirely fine, just almost fine. Gibbs was quietly glad that Ziva trusted Tony so much, because going through this alone would not be easy and he knew that.

"I'll give you two a minute to work out what isn't fine," Gibbs said quietly. "McGee, let's go start the paperwork."

The other two left and Tony looked at Ziva as she turned in his arms to face him again.

"You really should not have hugged me, I would have made it," Ziva said.

"There were already tears in your eyes, Zi," Tony said quietly. "I know you would have made it, but I couldn't let you be in pain alone. I couldn't let you deal with this alone."

"I know," Ziva said and placed her head back on Tony's chest. "I am fine, really. I just need to get used to realizing how lucky we are. I am happy that we both made it out of there with only a few head problems to deal with."

"I'm happy too, my ninja," Tony said quietly, wrapping his arms around her once more. "I promise to try to be more careful around work. I know that we can't be doing this all the time. They'll know if we do."

She nodded into his chest and took his hand, leading him out of the observation room and dropping his hand as they got up to the catwalk and headed back toward the squad room where the other two were working. They both looked fine now, if anyone was to ask McGee or Gibbs about it.

A/N – Trouble, yes, but not trouble with Tony and Ziva, which is good. Trouble staying away from each other at work. Trouble dealing with emotions. Trouble holding on when all you want to do is let go. Trouble hiding things from the people around you when the other is hurting. Definitely trouble. But, a good kind of trouble for the two to be having. At least the other two didn't comment that it was Tony that Ziva was able to let go in front of. And, I think her finally crying about it was an important step in her recovery, which is nearly complete, but they hadn't encountered anything nearly that close before and realizing that they both could have lost the other in Somalia was scary to them and a good cause for some tears. Leave a review and let me know what you think!