NCIS

WHERE'S DINOZZO?

DISCLAIMER: NCIS and characters do not belong to me.

Summary: Tony goes missing and no one knows where to start looking for him. Will they find him and will Ziva finally tell him she loves him, or will it be too late?

CHAPTER 24: ZIVA'S RETURN TO NCIS...

THE NEXT MORNING...

Gibbs, McGee, Tony, and Ziva returned to NCIS after being at a crime scene of a dead marine most of the morning.

"McGee, take..." Gibbs started to say. "May I take this evidence to, Abby?" Ziva asked.

"After what happened last night? Just don't stay down there too long." Gibbs said as Ziva headed for Abby's lab and the three men headed to the Squad Room.

ABBY'S LAB...

Abby heard the elevator, but did not look up from what she was doing.

"Abby?" Ziva said and it was then Abby looked up. "What are you doing here?" Abby asked, her happy mood disappearing fast.

"I have some evidence..." Ziva began. "You know where to leave it." Abby told her and turned back to what she was working on. "I also came down to talk to you." Ziva told her and when Abby looked up again, Ziva could see the anger in her eyes.

"The day you left is the day you stopped being my friend." Abby told her.

"I know everything that happened after I left and I am sorry for the way I left. I was angry and hurting. I could not sit across from Tony and not think about what had happened..." Ziva began.

"Every one of us e-mailed you and you never once e-mailed back or called." Abby replied.

"Because I was hurting and I thought I would stop hurting if I just...left and didn't have to deal with any of what had happened." Ziva told her. "We were a part of your family and when you left...we all felt broken..." Abby began.

"You have already told me I hurt Tony the worst. I know all of this and there is no way I can go back and change it. After I left your house last night, Tony and I stayed up most of the night talking." Ziva told her.

"You could have stayed and we could have helped you." Abby told her. "I know that now and I know I was wrong to leave the way I did. Do you think we could start over as friends?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know that I could be your friend anymore, after what you did." Abby replied.

"We can't just stop being friends because I mistake I made, Abby." Ziva pointed out. "I know, it's just that..." Abby began.

"Just what," Ziva asked. "You were one of my best friends and you missed some points in my life that I wanted you to be there for." Abby told her.

"The day Kate was born and the day you got married to McGee." Ziva said. "Yes, I wanted you there." Abby said again. "I could not be there, because it reminded me of everything I had lost. The baby I lost and the day I lost Tony." Ziva told her.

"You never lost Tony he never gave up on you. He hardly ever speaks to Agent Martin, except when he has to. Every since you left, he has been more of Tim's partner and has tried to find ways to ignore her. He still makes jokes and plays pranks on Tim, but not as often as he did when you were here. Every since you left, it changed everybody." Abby told her.

"I know, Tony told me all of this last night." Ziva replied.

"So what else happened between you and Tony last night?" Abby asked changing the subject.

"Does this mean you forgive me?" Ziva asked. "That will take time. Are you going to answer my question?" Abby asked.

"We just talked nothing else." Ziva told her. "Are you and Tony getting back together?" Abby inquired.

"I think so, but it's a little soon to tell. I have to get back upstairs. Gibbs told me not to be down here too long." Ziva said and headed for the door.

"Ziva," Abby called. "Yes?" Ziva asked turning back to her. "I'm sorry about what I said last night. I was just so..." Abby started to say.

"I know." Ziva said and, it was a minute later that Abby heard the elevators and got back to work, she turned on her music and was a little happier then she had been.

THE SQUAD ROOM...

The day that Ziva said she was coming back, Agent Martin...who had taken Ziva's place four years before said she needed to move on and that would be to a different city. Her real reason for leaving is that she had tried repeatedly to make friends with the team, but had never felt that welcome. Then she heard Ziva was coming back and could take no more.

Hearing the elevator, McGee turned off the proof that they had been watching what had happened in Abby's lab.

"What is going on?" Ziva asked. "Nothing," Tony said. "You were watching?" Ziva accused.

"No." Tony and McGee replied.

"Yeah, they were." Gibbs said looking up from the paperwork at his desk.

"I would like to thank you, Gibbs. For letting me take the evidence down to, Abby. We had a chance to talk." Ziva said and sat down at what had been her desk four years before.

It felt strange being back. Everything had changed, but it seemed a lot had stayed the same. Ziva looked over at McGee and then Tony to see they were both smiling.

"What?" Ziva asked.

"Welcome home." Tony told her and they all set to work on the new case.

A FEW WEEKS LATER...

Ziva's stuff had arrived and Ziva moved into her apartment. Tim, Abby, and Tony helped. Though Tony was sorry, she was moving out of his apartment where she had been staying, he didn't say anything. Tony didn't tell Ziva, but he had a plan.

In a few months, he knew the time would be right and he would ask her again to marry him.

He felt this time...everything would be different, Ziva and Tony had been doing nothing, but talking.

They had not slept together since before she had left four years ago. However, there had been many dates, but his thoughts were always on Ziva.

Ziva had also had been on a few dates, though since she had been working for Mossad. Not as many as Tony, even though she had gone on the dates...her thoughts had always turned to, Tony.

"Ziva, where do you want this," Tony asked from behind her and she spun around almost knocking him and the box he had in his hands over.

"In the kitchen," Ziva replied. "Are you all right?" Tony asked her. "Yes, I am fine. Why do you ask?" Ziva asked him.

"You just seemed like you were thinking about something." Tony told her as she followed him to the kitchen. "I was." Ziva replied.

"Do you want to tell me what you were thinking about?" Tony asked. "I was thinking about when I went back to working for Mossad." Ziva replied.

"Why were you thinking about Mossad?" Tony asked. "Because even after I went back to working for Mossad, I had a few dates, but every time I did...I always thought of you." Ziva told him simply.

"I know I went on a few dates after you left. I waited a few months though and every woman I dated I was always thinking about you. How long did you wait after you went back before you started dating again?" Tony asked her.

"It was...almost a year." Ziva told him.

They stopped talking when they heard a squeal of laughter from the living room. When they walked in Tim was tickling his daughter.

"Dada...stops," Kate squealed with laughter.

For a minute Ziva saw, what she had dreamed many times over the last four years.

Tony tickling their child...though she never saw the face of the child, she knew that it was the child her and Tony would have had and for a minute Ziva wanted to turn and run from the sight...it still hurt.

"Ziva, what's wrong?" Tony asked quietly as he turned her to face him.

"N-nothing," Ziva lied. "You're lying, just tell me." Tony said as he reached up to her face and then she realized she felt tears in her eyes.

"Over the past four years, I've had this dream...I would dream that I had not lost our child and with seeing Tim tickling Kate. It reminded me of my dream." Ziva told him.

"How did it remind you of your dream?" Tony asked a little curious. "Because I dreamed that you were tickling our child and our child was screaming at you to stop. This is my dream, but not our family." Ziva told him.

"It could still happen one day." Tony told her.

"Tony..." Ziva warned. "I'm just saying that it could happen, maybe not anytime soon, but someday in the future." Tony told her. "Yes, maybe someday in the future." Ziva echoed and Tony looked into her as with hope.

"What are you two talking about?" Abby asked coming to stand beside them. "We were thinking of how things could have turned out differently." Tony told her.

"If your child would have lived," Abby asked, Tony and Ziva nodded.

"Yes, I have thought about it every day for four years. He seems really good with her." Ziva said talking about Tim and his daughter and Abby laughed.

"You should have seen him the day Kate was born, he was scared to death to hold her at first." Abby told her.

"Yeah, Gibbs had to show him how to hold her. I took a couple of pictures of Gibbs showing McGoo how to hold Kate and the look on his face." Tony said.

"Do you still have them? I would like to see them sometime if that is all right with you." Ziva said to Abby.

"I could show you all of Kate's pictures from the time she was born. Why don't you come over sometime on a weekend?" Abby suggested. "All right, that sounds good." Ziva replied.

After a minute Abby went to stop Tim from tickling Kate, while Ziva and Tony stood there.

Tony looked down in surprise when he felt Ziva laced their fingers together, but she just looked at him and smiled.