Warnings: Minor spoilers for Season 6 and Season 7

A/N: Sorry for the delay in an update. This is just a small filler chapter. Hope you enjoy and I hope I'm not boring you.

"Give me an honest answer, Jackie—I'm a bastard?" Leon blurted out at the dinner table. Kayla and Jared had retreated to their rooms and his wife was trying to make small talk, but Leon kept thinking about the video he'd watched that day in his office.

"Leon… I think I need a little more context here," Jackie told him, setting her wine glass aside. "If this has something to do with Eli—we go through this every time you see or talk to him—I understand why you need that convoluted friendship but at the same time I wish you would end it."

He took a deep breath and finished his wine. "Context. There's not much context except Eli used my friendship to save his kin. And then used it again to save his own ass. He never cared much for others feelings, I knew that much…"

She was understanding and patient with him. She always was which is why he loved her and had married her. "Leon… you got to stop beating yourself up whenever Eli does this to you. Now I won't condone his actions but he is a man that lives in a world where one simply cannot care for the feelings of others. Is Ziva okay?"

Leon glanced at her. Even though he had not divulged any information about what had happened in Somalia or why he was going to Israel—again—Jackie was not a stupid woman and would naturally come to the conclusion that Eli's kin meant Ziva. "She's fine. Back home in Tel Aviv after a… particularly hard mission. I'm sure our paths will cross hers again. She won't sit still for long."

"Do you feel like you've wronged her in some way?"

"No. She had to be removed from NCIS. Her loyalties were muddled. I had to protect my people and myself."

"Then you're not really such a bastard after all," she replied. Jackie stood and began to clear the dinner plates. They had enough money to hire help but she preferred cooking and taking care of her family rather than let some other woman do so.

Leon thought about Natalie in that video, sobbing and shouting at Bashan—telling DiNozzo what exactly had happened to her in that room after the pair had been separated. It had been terrible to watch and he'd felt guilty the rest of the day watching the SFA. He had not only put Natalie through hell reliving her captivity, he'd put Tony through it too. And if Jackie could have seen their faces in that video… well… she might just be singing a very different tune about him.

Tony carefully picked his way along the edge of a ravine. He looked down at the crime scene below him. A beat up, rusted Chevy cavalier lay in a heap at the base. Not far from the car was the crumpled body of Chief Petty Officer Myra Wayne.

Gibbs had sent him on this particular mission when he'd annoyed Bryn Fillmore to the point the lead agent thought she was going to shoot Tony. He glanced behind him when he heard a twig snap and break. Tim was following. He smiled. Of course Gibbs had sent Tim with him… the younger agent really didn't do much to stop Tony's teasing of Fillmore. Neither of them wanted her to get too comfortable in her assignment as a TAD while Natalie was away. That desk was Natalie's now and the two agents were going to protect it—whether Fillmore liked it or not.

Pulling back, Tony waited for Tim to join him. "Long way down. Any suggestions, McScout?"

"We probably should travel light. Only bring essentials."

"You sketch… I photograph?"

"Deal."

Tony hoisted his leg over the guard rail and climbed over. His shoulder was starting to get back to normal now almost three weeks later… but it still hurt like hell when he had to move his body in precarious situations. Hiking down a steep hill to get to a busted up car was one of those precarious situations. By the time he made it to the bottom of the ravine his should was screaming in agony.

Tim not having any injuries from their time in Somalia had made it to the bottom first and was already working. "How's the shoulder holding up?"

"Been better," Tony mumbled as he took his camera to begin snapping photographs. "Looks like she was thrown from the car."

"Distance and trajectory would seem to support that. We should have Abby run a computer simulation based on my sketches," Tim replied, watching as his partner winced. "Are you sure that shoulder is okay? You could have taken some time off too."

Tony grimaced. "And leave you all by yourself with Little Miss Sunshine Fillmore? My shoulder is fine. Nothing a couple of painkillers will not fix when we get back to NCIS."

Tim frowned and continued sketching. He had argued with Tony to take the time off after Natalie had filed for medical leave. Even Gibbs upon returning from Israel had tried to get the SFA to at least take a day for himself. It seemed that Tony thought he was better off at NCIS, working, than sitting around at home resting. And as much as Tim wished that Tony would put himself ahead of others for a change—he was glad that he wasn't dealing with Fillmore on his own. She had swooped in under the impression she was taking that desk from Natalie.

Gibbs hadn't argued with her because none of them knew how long Natalie was going to be out of commission but Tony had nearly pounced on Fillmore. That desk belongs to Agent Callahan and she'll be back. So… keep it tidy Fillmore.

"I think I found the cause of death!" Tony called. He was halfway inside the car. When he pulled out he was holding an empty bottle of Absolute Vodka in his hand. "Looks like Petty Officer Wayne partied a little too hard last night."

"Is there any of that left?" Tim asked.

Tony threw him a puzzled glance. "Empty. Why?"

Tim could hear Fillmore, loudly making her way down the hill towards them, ranting about how the two of them made her look bad by starting all the work without her. "'Cuz…I think we might need it," he muttered under his breath.

"Oh, hey, Fillmore," Tony greeted, tossing her a smile. "Tim and I are almost done here. Why don't you go conduct interviews?"

"Interviews? Who is there to interview?" Fillmore snapped. "The trucker that went to take a whizz and found the crash? Gibbs already handled him. If I didn't know any better I'd say you guys didn't trust me!"

Tony shook his head. "I wouldn't say that."

Fillmore crossed her arms over her chest. "You obviously don't like me."

"Well no offense, Fillmore, there's really no reason to get to know you that well."

"You honestly think she is coming back? Her brain is so scrambled right now… I doubt she'll ever be able to work law enforcement again."

Tony snapped one final photograph and let his camera dangle around his neck. He glared at Fillmore. "Don't ever insult my partner again like that. Her brain is not scrambled. She's suffering from PTSD… would you tell a marine his brain was scrambled if you found out he was suffering from the same thing?" When Fillmore said nothing, Tony set his jaw, "Yeah… that's what I thought. You're a TAD, Fillmore—temporary—nothing more nothing less. And I do not have to like you."

Tim finished up his sketches and watched as the SFA stalked back up the hill, careful not to hurt his already injured shoulder. Fillmore just stood there, angry and dumbfounded, but Tim was saved by Ducky arriving.

"Ah… Timothy… what do we have here?"

"Petty Officer Myra Wayne. Looks like she was ejected from the car and was drinking. Tony bagged the empty bottle of vodka we found."

"Yes… well her contusions and abrasions would concur with being ejected out of the windshield. Pity, such a waste," Ducky said. He looked up saw Fillmore standing there, "Well… don't just stand there my dear—go help Mr. Palmer with the body bag!"

Tim chuckled silently while Fillmore huffed and stormed off.

Tony braced himself and knocked on her door. It hadn't been a rough day. No harder than most. The case had closed quickly with the evidence they had collected at the crime scene and witness statements from Petty Officer Wayne's shipmates that claimed she was very drunk before driving off.

So, he concluded before he left NCIS that it wasn't the case that was bothering him. No. What was bothering him was Bryn Fillmore and her ever-persistent quest to take the desk away from Natalie.

Locks on her door unlatched and Tony was soon looking into her storm cloud eyes. Immediately he could see the difference in her. There were no longer bags underneath her eyes, nor was carrying herself around with such tension in her shoulders. She smiled and it actually spread across her whole face, and it wasn't forced. "Hey stranger. Is that pizza I smell?"

"DiNozzo special," Tony murmured holding the box up. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Natalie replied, stepping aside and allowing him into her apartment. "What brings you by? We already had our weekly phone call."

Tony put the pizza box down onto her dining table and was surprised when a long-haired, Calico cat jumped up onto the table to sniff at it. "You got a cat?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in curiosity.

Natalie smiled and picked the cat up off the table, snuggling it against her. "Yep. It was a suggestion my therapist made. Animals are proven to help people suffering PTSD, some dogs are even trained to help pull people from a nightmare. But… seeing how I won't have the time for a dog once I get back to work… I settled for a cat. Luna's great company. Plus she really likes Rosa, which is good because Rosa offered to take care of her when I couldn't."

"Luna?"

"Luna Lovegood, first introduced in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

"You read too much."

"And you watch too many movies… your point?"

Tony cleared his throat. "Is Luna going to be joining us?"

Natalie smiled at the cat and put her down. "She doesn't like pizza… and she just ate."

"So… you feeling better?"

"Some days are better than others. Today was a good day."

"Do you… do you think you'll be…back to work soon?"

Natalie looked at him, questionably. "What's the matter?" she asked, taking a slice of pizza and sliding it onto a paper plate. "Do you miss me?"

Tony laughed nervously, even as she cracked a sweet little grin, but then Fillmore's glare crept into his mind and he frowned. "Yeah," he said softly. "I… we all miss you."

"Would you like to stay for a movie?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah," he said, returning the smile, "I'd love too."

Tony felt something warm and fluffy rub up against his face. Blinking open his eyes he found Luna sitting on his stomach, purring loudly while she rubbed against him affectionately. Natalie had warned him if he stayed over that the cat was going to try to sleep on him.

He frowned at the cat. "Don't get too comfortable." Luna just purred. Tony reached out and scratched the cat behind her ears. "Guess you're not so bad if you're taking care of my partner. Listen… she's a little fragile right now… so… she needs extra love, got it?"

Luna stretched her body and then curled up, falling back to sleep. Tony smiled and closed his eyes, drifting back to sleep himself when Natalie cried out for him. Luna startled awake and jumped down from his stomach while Tony himself scrambled out from underneath her BC blanket.

Tony edged his way into her bedroom and found her thrashing about in her bed, mumbling now incoherently. He flipped the light on when she cried out for him again by name and gently shook her awake. "Natalie… Natalie you're having a bad dream."

Her eyes flew open and grew as large as saucers. When she realized he was sitting there… that he was okay… she burst into tears. "They… they killed you," she whimpered, "and they made me watch and I…I couldn't stop them!"

"Shhh," he soothed her, wiping at her tears. "It's okay. Just a really bad dream. I'm okay."

"R-remember when I said… when I said some days are better than others?"

"Yeah."

"Well… some nights are better… than others… and this has been… a bad one."

Tony's heart broke for her as he took her hand in his own and gave it a squeeze. He'd had a few nightmares himself… but nothing compared to what she was going through and the more he worked and the more distance was put between him and his captivity—the better it was getting. "Do you want me to go?"

Natalie shook her head. "No. Please… please stay."

"Okay. I can do that."

She scooted over to make room for him. Tony laid down on top of the covers and let her snuggle into his arms. As they both drifted off to sleep he realized that she was as much of a part of his healing process as he was a part of hers.