"Take it like I returned the favour. Just tell me what's going on. Talking helps, I should know. And I think you know it too." Damon coaxed.

Ziva pondered for a while as she continued gulping down beer. Damon did have a point, and they have indeed been good friends as the years progressed. The beer seemed to have loosened her up further and given her a boost of courage. "Okay fine I will tell you."

"I'm listening."

"The past summer, I was...captured, by a man called Saleem. He kept me prisoner in his terrorist cell for about...four months." Ziva said slowly and pointedly.

"I was uhh...tortured for those few months. Saleem and his men found it fun to beat me in any way they could." She spat out.

Emotions were starting to boil beneath her tough exterior. She never managed to meet Damon's eyes as she continued. "At first, I resisted. I thought I would get out. But as I lost track of time, I...gave up. I was ready to die." Her bottom lip had started quivering slightly.

It felt like she was back in interrogation with Gibbs when she told him that she had nothing but death in her heart. Damon was appalled. He knew Ziva had been through much harder times than he had, and those couple of years ago she had still seemed so composed. This had to be something big, to be able to make her vulnerable enough to show such emotions. "And then one day, I see...Tony." Ziva continued, laughing sadly.

"He was the last person I would have thought of seeing. I did not know whether to be...happy, or sad, that the guys came to rescue me. Because now, my life can be a bit of a living hell sometimes. And I am getting tired." She finished flatly.

Defying all logic and sense in the world, a lone tear escaped from the shelter of her eyelid and cascaded down the contours of her cheek, leaving a wet trail that glistened and reflected under the light. She rubbed it away quickly, disappointed yet again for not being able to control her emotions. It had been happening a lot lately. Damon was speechless to say the least. Ziva actually wanted to die, heck she almost literally died. He noticed her fingers gripping tightly around the glass. As he reached his hand out to touch hers in an attempt to provide some comfort, he was pulled by the collar of his shirt.

"What did you do to her?" It was Tony.

Tony had finally found the bar. Ziva wasn't expecting him at all, since she thought she had lost him on the road back there. He parked his car a street away in case Ziva recognised it, and walked towards the bar. It wasn't a bad looking bar, but he hadn't been to it before. Huh, this could be my new hangout, Tony simply just had a random thought. He entered the bar as soon as a group of men walked in, so he could blend in and not get noticed. He scanned the bar for Ziva or Werth and then settled at a table not far, but not near either, from their booth.

He was watching them, hiding his face behind the glass of scotch he ordered, his eyes just peeking above the brim of the glass. He couldn't care less about Werth, but he observed him as well. He was watching their facial expressions like a hawk, every twitch, and scrunch, frown or smile since he was too far to listen in on their conversation. At first when he started observing them, both had tired looks on. Werth then put out a concerned expression, while Ziva looked impassive. As they continued talking, Werth was still looking concerned, his eyebrows slightly sloping down at their far sides. Ziva broke out into a different expression then. Oh he recognised that look on her face all right. It was her defensive look. He had seen it too many times when she found the need to prove herself and her actions.

Ziva's eyes then glazed over just a bit, looking like she was remembering something. Werth on the other hand started talking again, snapping Ziva out of her bubble of thoughts. Next thing he knew, Ziva's shoulders sagged forward as she proceeded to talk, keeping a reserved expression across her face. She paused in between her sentences, and she broke out in laughter, but with a wistful look rather. And then, her face went all stoic again.

This time, he saw a tear fall. She tried to swipe it away quickly, but Tony caught sight of it quite easily. Alarm bells started going off in his head. What the hell? She teared. She just teared! It must have been that Werth guy, I should've known better! God, he's gonna get it when I get over there! Tony scolded in his mind as he stood up abruptly, striding quickly to their booth.

"What did you do to her?" He questioned vehemently as he gripped the collar of Damon's shirt, pulling him closer to himself.

Damon knew better than to fight back. He didn't do anything, he just had to get that point across to Tony. He tried to slowly pry Tony's fingers off his shirt before standing against his accusation, but that part was covered. "What are you doing Tony? Let go of him!" Ziva exclaimed.

"Yeah DiNozzo. I didn't do anything. I swear." Damon said clearly.

Tony didn't release Damon just yet. He looked over at Ziva for confirmation of what he just heard, and he got a swat to the arm. "It is true, now let him go already!" She demanded.

Tony unclenched his fingers which made creases on Damon's shirt and stood back. "I think I better go. I'll call you Ziva. That's a promise. So don't busy-tone me." Damon announced, giving Ziva small smile as he got out of the booth.

He knew he'd better give Tony and Ziva some private time. "Okay, I am sorry about Tony." Ziva apologised for the rash behaviour of her partner.

"You know I'm still here right?" Tony interrupted with an deadpan look.

Ziva simply rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Don't worry about it. He's just being protective." Damon whispered as he went over to Ziva's side of the booth, kissing her goodbye on the cheek like before. With that he left, giving Tony a straight face and a nod. Tony stared hard at Damon's figure getting smaller and smaller with distance.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at Damon hoping he would spontaneously combust?" Ziva huffed.

"Well, combust already." Tony muttered without looking at her.

Ziva heard what he had said under his breath, and crossed her arms in irritation. Tony looked over at her and slid into the booth, sitting where Werth had just been. Within seconds of sitting, Ziva opened her mouth again. "What were you thinking!"

"I saw you crying!"

"Then why did you grab Damon!"

"I thought he was the one that made you upset!"

"And what made you think that!"

"Well he's the only one with you, isn't he?" The whole conversation so far came out in angry whispers.

It wasn't that good an idea to cause a commotion in the bar. With Tony's last sentence, Ziva went silent. She had nothing to rebuke him with. He was just being the over-protective partner he was. And she couldn't really blame him for that. Although assaulting Damon wasn't really a good way to go. "Look, I'm sorry okay? That was impulsive." Tony admitted.

Ziva just looked at him and said nothing. There wasn't really a topic for conversation at hand. She didn't know where to go with this. Tony however, perceived that she was still silently fuming."You know what? Give me his number, I'll call and apologise." He said, trying to make amends.

Ziva broke into a smile. She could only imagine Tony apologise to the man that put him on painkillers for a broken nose. But she was warmed by the fact that he'd do that to make her happy. "No joke, I'll call him Uncle if you- What? What are you smiling at? Do I have something on my face?" Tony asked, bewildered and touching his face which caused Ziva to smile wider.

"Nothing is on your face. You just make me smile sometimes."

"Sometimes? Only sometimes? You just bruised my poor ego. And there I thought I was doing pretty awesome!" He pouted.

"Your inflated ego needs some deflating." She reached over and slapped his cheek playfully, to which he whined "Ow."

"Don't be such a baby, I barely even touched you."

"So, you wanna tell me why you were upset?" Tony ventured with caution as he threw the question at her out of the blue.

Ziva's face hardened. "I would rather not talk about it."

"That's what you said the last time."

"And it is still what I am saying this time." Ziva answered angrily.

Tony's voice became softer as he asked "Why won't you tell me? I just wanna help."

Ziva's glare softened and she felt anger dissipate from her being. She too, answered with a quiet voice "I am not ready to talk about it with you. Or anybody else from the team for that matter."

Tony just stared at her with gentle eyes, somewhat pleadingly. And there was hurt in his eyes. He must have been upset that Ziva could talk to some Damon Werth but not talk to them. But sometimes, it was easier to talk to someone that wasn't that close to you. With someone you care about and are close to, the fear of being judged would always be there. And it will matter all the more, because that person mattered. Most hurtful of them all, the personal shame would be overwhelming. Ziva knew this, but Tony probably didn't stop to try and put himself in such a position at that moment.

"I promise, one day. One day I'll tell you. One day." Ziva said firmly, repeating her words not so much to him, than it was to remind herself.

And honestly, Tony couldn't find it in himself to ask for more at that moment. He'd leave her be. When she was ready, she'd talk. He would wait. Thus he nodded, saying "Okay."

He held out his pinky, smiling as he asked "Pinky-promise?"

"I recognise this gesture, but I have no idea what a pinky-promise is. I assume it has something to do with promises." Ziva chuckled.

But she grew more serious and hooked her pinky with his, continuing "But yes, I promise Tony."

At the sight of their childish hooked pinkies, both agents broke out in light laughter. Tony was happy to see Ziva smiling. He loved it when she smiled.

He decided he'd personally take on the job of putting a smile on her face every now and then, and he would never stop.

And he would be patiently waiting for that one day when she would be ready. Ready for what?

Nobody knew...yet.

TBC

I give up, I have exhausted my limited vocabulary.