Bathroom Talk

Ziva excused herself to the bathroom, completely annoyed with Liat and Malachi at this point. She gave Tony one small glance as she exited the room. He was amazed at her.

Ziva had quickly turned on the cold-Mossad-Assassin face that she had had turned off forever as soon as she knew that Eli David was in town. They had spent every night apart so far and it was wearing on both of them and they both recognized that. They couldn't wait for this case to be done and over with.

Tony soon got up and found his way to the girls' bathroom, knowing that Liat was watching him carefully and so was Malachi. He snuck off, though and managed to not get caught by either one of them. He snuck into the bathroom and carefully closed and locked the door behind him and walked over to Ziva who was resting her hands on the sink with her head hanging down.

He placed both hands on her sides and pulled her into him. Her expression softened immediately and she turned to face him. "This is more difficult than I thought it would be," she said quietly. "I know it's important to hide all this from them, but I'm having a hard time doing that when all I want to do is beat that cocky young Mossad Officer into oblivion."

Tony chuckled. "Don't kill Liat. It's not her fault that she's following in your footsteps," Tony said quietly.

"She could have picked better footsteps to follow in," Ziva admitted as her arms made their way around Tony, finally giving into the irresistible urge to be near him and touching him at all times. "This is difficult."

"I know," he muttered to her, running his fingers through her hair for the first time in several days, realizing that it felt like forever. "I know."

"He manipulated me again," Ziva admitted. "He disappeared, causing me to think he is dead. How can I still love the man after all that he did to me?"

"He's still your father," Tony said quietly. "He's still your father and a part of you will always love him no matter what. Why do you think I support my father every time he comes around asking for money? Some piece of me keeps hoping that he will finally approve of me and love me for who I am and not who he wants me to be."

"I understand the feeling," Ziva said quietly as Tony opened up about his own emotions in the bathroom. "I know it too well. He will never see me as anything other than a Mossad Assassin I am afraid."

"He does see you as a daughter, you know," Tony said quietly. "I can see it in his eyes. It is definitely secondary, but he definitely does see you as a daughter. Have you gotten the chance to talk to him at all?"

"Briefly," Ziva said with a shrug. "No surprises in that conversation. Not so much as an apology for not sending anyone to find me and sending me on a suicide mission. To him it was just another failed mission that someone else cleaned up. I noticed he did thank Gibbs for taking out his target, but never once did he apologize for sending me in alone or thank me for not talking at all."

"He thinks it was part of your job to keep quiet," Tony said.

"As soon as I was in Somalia, in that camp, it was no longer my job in my eyes. As soon as I realized the full gravity of his words, it was no longer my job," Ziva said. "I decided as soon as I got captured that I couldn't do Mossad anymore. It wasn't right for me and it was just too much to try to live up to my father's expectations for me and ever expect to be happy. I am happy now and I'm only staying away from that happiness to keep it in place. I honestly do not know what he would do if he found out that I was dating an Italian-American man who he has yet to express any opinion on. I do not think he would be happy about it."

"I don't know," Tony said. "Wouldn't he want to know you were happy?"

"He would be more concerned with the fact that you were Tony DiNozzo than if I was happy or if you were right for me," Ziva said. "I do happen to know that you annoy him, regardless of what he has said or has not said. I just hope this is over soon so they can leave. I miss you."

"I miss you too," Tony said, quietly pressing his lips to hers and capturing her in a kiss once again.

The two were locked like that for some time and pulled apart, remembering they were at work and left wanting more.

"To be continued as soon as your father is no longer in town," Tony whispered in her ear and kissed her forehead, knowing that she was feeling the need to have Tony, too.

"Absolutely," she promised. "Too bad we are at work and there are four Mossad Officers waiting in the squad room. Otherwise, I do not think I would be able to resist."

"Get your Mossad face back on, sweet cheeks," Tony said quietly. "Because now we have to face those four Mossad Officers."

She chuckled a little at Tony and pressed one more kiss to his lips before recomposing her face into the cold and hard face that she used to carry when she first met Tony. He was gone by the tie she did this, so as not to draw more suspicion to them since they were both missing at the moment. She met him in the squad room and their eyes never quite met, though they normally would have. It was incredible what having Mossad around did to help hide their relationship from everyone.

A/N – Another chapter revolving around the two episodes "Enemies Foreign" and "Enemies Domestic" from NCIS season 8. Leave a review and let me know what you think!