A/N: Last Chapter everybody! Heads up for spoilers on last week's episode (A Man Walks into a Bar). Enjoy!~

*For the purposes of this story "Ray" does not exist.

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VIII. V-Day

The day before and the day.

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"Her footsteps sunk deep into the white slush, yet another one forgotten; the wilted rose petals fell onto the harsh, snow covered ground as the last of winter fell. It was amazing how when he was born he came in alone, innocently, holding his breath. And now, when he left, he left alone, innocently, on his dying breath.

Fin."

Ziva let out a deep sigh and masked the yawn that threatened to escape her lips; she shut the book close and placed it on her side table. The clock now read 0423; it was Monday. And he hadn't showed up like he had said he would. Her heavy, tired lids had been begging for her to turn in for the whole night and into the wee hours of the morning, and she finally complied reluctantly. She was angry, heck infuriated!

Normally she'd have been on her run by now, but she was incredibly thankful for the director to let them off today, it wasn't usual for him to act so kindly on them. For the past few years they'd been stuck at their desks doing paperwork. But he had any cases that came in today re-directed to the back up team, saying something about how hard they'd been working. But she was more convinced it was something to do the psych evaluations that they had just gone through the past week.

She wasn't going to lie, what she told Rachel was a truth that she hadn't really come to terms with. Just a few days ago she wouldn't have ever thought what she hoped for could ever happen, that she'd ever find that constant in her life. But she was faced with the scary truth that no one really ever dared to push on her, to tell her indirectly but still so blatantly clearly that her partner was the person that had influenced her work, her life.

And that washed most of the anger away and the atypical frown that wore on her face a minute ago faded. With her eyes still shut she turned to the empty side of her bed, wishing that he was there, because the empty void in her was getting old and tired. She was sick of it eating at her, slowly hollowing her out until she convinced herself that no one could ever take on such a task to complete her. Yes. It was too much to ask for; clearly.

With a sudden change of thought, her eyes flickered open and the investigator in her took control. She gave herself a mental head slap for not even considering that maybe he was in danger and then a bigger head slap came when she realized she hadn't even attempted to call him. It was strange because he would've called, and he didn't.

.::.

"Please let me out, please, please, please…" his fingers clawed at the cold slippery metal, it was a futile thing to do, but it gave him that little hope to hang on to, and hung on he did, strangled it until he was sure it was dead in his hands, but it was a little hope at least. A dead one. It killed him to know that he broke his promise once again, bad things seem to seek him out specifically and for some reason made sure they found him just at the worst time possible.

After trying about everything he could, the door was still unwilling to give in and the power still had obviously not returned. He wondered if anyone knew he was still here, especially given more than half the office wouldn't be in today and for once he wished they would.

He would've called or texted, anything to tell her, but as always bad things had bound to happen to him and he somehow left his phone that spent its life in his pocket in his drawer.

"Okay elevator…" he sat down and leaned against the chilly surface, "I'll make a deal with ya, I'll give you a hundred bucks if you let me out. Deal?" He stood again, and stared it down as if he was in one of those western cowboy movies, with the ball of hay rolling by.

With the little energy he had left from all his efforts he gave a final bash at the door, mostly out of fury but it seemed to have done the job. It had to be a miracle; the metal case jerked to life and began to descend downwards; which was opposite the way he was hoping for, but either way he was glad it was moving again. It came to a smooth stop and the doors slid open like it always did, he sprinted out, glad to be on real solid ground again.

After a seconds' consideration he darted up the flight of stairs, taking them three by three until he reached their bullpen. Though a little out of breath he grabbed his phone from his desk and scurried back down the steps, it hadn't taken him longer than five minutes, Ziva would've been proud of him.

He hurried along as he glanced over the missed calls, his car was the only one that sat in the car park, and he allowed a little grin to spread across his face, because though he'd spend the longest amount of time to get to the bullpen he was headed to her place. And that was all that mattered.

.::.

Murky brown eyes revealed themselves slowly, adjusting itself to the darkness that still absorbed the room. In the deafening silence she could hear her front door clicked close, and she couldn't help it but grab at her gun that sat by her side table and hide it underneath her pillow. The clock glowed a dim 0514. Still a little unfocused, she left her back facing the door as the sound of water running ran through her apartment, followed by a quiet clinks of dishes.

With a released sigh her grip on her weapon loosened and her tensed body relaxed into the soft springs. It was a few minutes later when she'd drifted into a shallow slumber that she heard her door open quietly and then close with a silent hush that she barely heard.

She knew it was Tony; his scent was all too familiar to her by now. But she was still a little nervy by the fact that he'd entered into her apartment, bothered to even clean her dishes and then do what he was about to do next. She'd never felt like this before, felt like she was truly loved and not just of her, but her life, where she'd established herself.

Was she still angry at him? Yes. But she knew he'd have a good excuse. And that was another problem that had her worried, would she let this be permanent, would she overlook everything? She still hadn't allowed herself to give, fully, completely, because it had always returned back and bit her and she couldn't live through that again.

Her thoughts were all swatted away when he slid in behind her, in his singlet and boxers. That was what she loved about this, about them, that when he was next to her those doubts and uncertainties seemed to evaporate into thin air, and all that mattered was then and there.

She couldn't fight the smile that crept to her face when she felt him carefully maneuver himself as to not wake her. But then she turned and it all became serious. And suddenly his eyes found hers in the little light that the moon provided through her shut blinds. It was obvious that he knew how she felt when his eyes sagged and he grabbed her hand. She flinched away, the hurt in his eyes made her regret doing so.

She retraced her steps and linked her hand into his once again, and that was enough of a signal for him to raise his other hand to her cheek where she moved into his touch.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," his husky voice broke the eerie silence and then followed by his deep chuckle from the bottom of his throat.

"Try me," she was surprised by how soft her voice was compared to his.

"I got stuck in the elevator." There was complete silence between them as they both read each other, he was searching for something to tell him that she'd forgiven him, and stubborn as she was she wasn't giving him any of it. But then out of nowhere she let out her infectious laugh that had him tingling inside.

"Really." It was more of a comment to herself than a question to him. She separated their hands and pulled away from his touch, a wave of concern crossed his face as she turned her back towards him. Unsure of what he had just done wrong he turned to look up at the ceiling, then abandoning the fear of being greatly hurt he leaned over her shoulder.

"Are you angry at me?" she let out a muffled sound that he couldn't have mistaken to be no. He was confused and anger was beginning to rise in him, what did she really want from him?

"I'll leave if you want me to."

"Don't do that." Her wave of hair turned from him and he met her face straight on, and for the first time that morning she looked at him honestly. And she really was hurt by his actions, he should've apologized.

"This wasn't how I planned to start off today."

"I know." Words were not something she could explain herself further with, and there was no longer any need for them as they have become so accustomed to. She hugged herself into his neck, and he pulled her closer and placed a longing kiss on her forehead.

.::.

When she finally woke she was surprised and a little disappointed by the absence of Tony, her eyes glanced around her lightly lit room to find it empty. She stumbled across the distance from her bed to the door, the smell of pancakes floated into the room as she poked her head out. She allowed herself a smirk as she crossed the wooden floorboards to the kitchen.

She crept up, silently watching him as she leant against the countertop and he turned and gave her a genuine smile that she had never really seen before; one filled with content and pure happiness, she bit her lip to hold back her growing smile. He turned off the heat and sidestepped to place his hands on her hips.

"Breakfast at home or out?" he said jokingly, but something hit her as he said the word home. Her home now included him, with her, that's what home was; them.

"As long as we have breakfast I do not mind,' she played along.

"Okay home it is," he plated up the pancakes and topped them with a good dollop of butter and maple syrup, "I know I should've planned something really special for you today, but –"

"No, I want today to be just normal, just us." She shrugged it off and took a generous bite of the stack of pancakes; she let the sweetness explode in her mouth before commending him on a job well done. He laughed and with his thumb, he wiped at the corner of her mouth before placing a tender kiss to her lips.

"Happy Valentine's Day, my sexy assassin ninja."

.::.

A/N: Both Soph and I would like to thank you all for coming on this ride with us, it's been such an awesome journey and we will hopefully hit that 100 review mark! So for now we'll say good-bye, but we shall return with more in the very near future!~

*Take a piece of cake and a glass of champagne on your way out* =)