Title: The Brother Li(n)e
Disclaimers: NCIS, the rights to the show and its characters do not belong to me. No money was made by this.
A/N: English is not my native language. So please forgive me my grammar and spelling mistakes.
Spoilers: everything until S8's Pyramid
Pairing: Ziva/Ray and Ziva/Tony
Summary: In which we find out why Ziva told Ray that Tony is like a big brother.
A/N2: You have to thank mossadagent-tara on tumblr for this one, because she said that Ziva would never say this. Which had my brain immediately come up with a scene in which Ziva would have done so. This varies slightly from my post on tumblr because I proofread it this time around.

She shifts slightly, leaning more into him and takes a sip of her glass of wine. His hand gently strokes her shoulder as they continue to watch the movie play on the TV screen. It would hold her attention better if she hadn't already watched it on one of her movie night with Tony. But when she had said that, Ray had given her a strange look that had made some weird feeling creep up inside of her and she had hastened to tell him they had only gotten halfway through it because then Gibbs had called and she hadn't been paying much attention to it anyway, because her mind had still been on work and of course she would love to see it again and he would be much better company for this, seeing as he wasn't experiencing a need to babble through every single scene or at least he hadn't done so the last time they had watched a movie together. Upon which he had smiled at her and told her now she was the one babbling and she threw him a self-conscious smile.

To her surprise, he suddenly reaches for the remote, causing her to sit up. Confused, she watches him mute the TV and toy with the remote shortly, his shoulders sagged.

"Ray?" she softly asks, reaching out with her hand and resting it on his shoulder while she is placing her glass on the coffee table next to her cell phone. When she touches him he sits up, his body suddenly tense. She swallows thickly and the feeling from before is back again, from when he had looked at her when she mentioned watching the movie with Tony.

Ray draws a deep breath and stares down at the floor.

"What is he to you?" he asks, his voice just above a whisper. She frowns in confusion.

"Alec Baldwin?" she inquires, not understanding where this question is coming from. Ray turns his head, frowning at her.

"Alec Bald- Why would I ask you about Alec Baldwin?" he wonders, his voice going up.

"I do not know, you are the one who asked!" she reminds him, not understanding what is happening.

"I didn't ask about Alec Baldwin!" he almost shouts, rubbing a hand over his face. "I meant Tony." he adds, watching her carefully. And there it is again, this feeling that starts in the pit of her stomach and makes her heart rate speed up.

"What about Tony?" she asks, trying for a nonchalant tone and reaching out for her glass again, just to have an excuse to turn her face from him, because she is sure she does not want him to see the look on it right now.

"Ziva… you talk about him all the time."

"I do not." she argues, shaking her head.

"You do." Ray insists. "It's Tony this and Tony that. You go out to the movies every week-"

"Every second week, and only if there is a good movie out." she interrupts him, feeling the need to defend herself all of a sudden.

"You have dinner at each other's places, watching more movies. You go to bars with him-"

"I don't go to bars with Tony. I go out with the team, with my partner and McGee and Abby and sometimes Palmer and Ducky and on very few occasions, even Gibbs joins us. We celebrate our cases together, what is wrong with that?"

Ray watches her for a moment, his eyes softening. "He went halfway around the world to rescue you." he reminds her.

"He is my partner, Ray. He has my back and I have his."

"Only that? He is just your partner?" he insists, searching her face and she know that she can't look away this time. So she draws in a deep breath and tries to hold his gaze and finds that weird feeling grow stronger and stronger.

"What are you talking about, Ray? I told you, he is my partner, my team mate and a very good friend." she answers, getting up from the couch and pacing his living room. Ray remains seated, his head in his hands.

"When I called you three days ago, you said you were home." he begins and she turns around, watching his defeated body language.

"I was." she nods, crossing her arms.

"I asked if you were alone and you said yes."

"I know what I said, Ray, why are you-"

"I heard him in the background." he interrupts her, and she feels heat rush to her face, not even attempting to try to keep the blush from forming. Oh G-d. She bites her bottom lip, insecure of how to proceed.

"Ray…" she starts, her voice trailing off because she doesn't really know what to say. How to explain why she lied, why Tony was at her place, why she did not want Ray to know about it, what they were doing, why they were doing it…

"Just… if you are having an affair with him, just tell me now, before things between us get serious." he softly says, his eyes soft, hurt shining in them. And she feels her heart racing and her palms begin to sweat and now she can identify that feeling: it's panic. She has to do something, now. Quickly, she walks over to him and sits down beside him, grabbing his hands and turning him so he faces her.

"I am not having an affair with Tony." she tells him slowly, her voice unwavering. Because it's the truth, she is not having sex with Tony. She would never do this to Ray, betray him like this.

"But you're having feelings for him, aren't you?" Ray insists, his shoulders slumped and for a second, she swears her heart stopped beating before it starts hammering away in her chest again, picking up more speed.

"Tony is my friend." she slowly starts, trying to make him understand. "I have known him for over six years. When they found me in Somalia and I returned to the US, I started going to the movies with him again after a few months. Things at work were awkward because we did not know if we could still trust each other and we needed to rebuild the trust that had been destroyed due to what happened with Rivkin." she tells him, her brain working furiously.

Ray watches her, frowning slightly.

"Do you love him?" he asks, his voice strong and his eyes boring into hers. Blood is rushing in her ears and she feels her mouth go dry.

"Yes."

She hears her own voice whisper the word before her brain catches up with her heart and mouth and it's too late to take them back. Her eyes widen a bit and she curses herself.

"I love him, how could I not? He is like a big brother, he watches out for me, he protects me. I love him, yes, and I love McGee and Abby and Ducky and Gibbs, even Palmer." she hastens to add and prays that he does not detect the panic she feels in her voice, does not realize the shift in her body language. Prays he will believe the lie.

Ray watches her, silently, for what seems like an eternity. Then his body language changes and his lips form an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry." he apologizes, getting up and hugging her tightly. She swallows drily and forces herself to hug him back. "I know how much he means to you, it's just… I see so little of you because of our jobs, I guess I'm jealous he gets to spend so much time with you, at work and then off work, too." he mutters, kissing her neck softly. She turns her head automatically and brushes her lips over his, her eyes clenched shut tightly. She is still trying to get her heart rate to slow down, and when she opens her eyes again, Ray is smirking at her, mistaking the reason for her quickened pulse as arousal. To her relief, her cell phone chirps from the coffee table and she quickly extracts herself from his arms.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you we're on call tonight." she lies, hoping to turn the text message into a call-out and a reason to flee his apartment.

Batman at mi casa. McJoker & Batgirl waiting. BYOSAL. ETA? FB

She doesn't even have to check who this is coming from, only Tony would invite her over to watch a movie and tell her to 'bring your own snacks and liquor' and sign his text with the initials of the nickname she gave him during their undercover assignment, a code they invented for their private texts to know they were really texting each other, not someone else that had gotten hold of their cell phones for whatever reason.

BYOSAL? You did not pay for lunch this week at all. We watch over at yours, you pay 4 pizza. Meat lovers, xtra meat xtra cheese. ETA 40min. NC

She quickly texts him back, using the initials of his own nickname for her. After that, she pockets her cell, turning to Ray with an apologetic look.

"I am sorry, but I have to go." she softly says, feeling slightly guilty. But she promised Abby she would do something with her tonight over a week ago and then cancelled at the last minute when Ray called and said he would be in town. And she hasn't done anything with McGee in ages. And right now, she really needs to get out of his apartment, because she does know where tonight was going before his questioning, and she is not sure if she will be able to remember to say the right name this time, and that would be mightily awkward.

His face falls and she sees the disappointment flash in his eyes before he gets a grip again and plasters on a fake understanding smile.

"It's okay. Call me when you get home?" he asks, squeezing her hand gently.

"If it's not too late, I will." she nods and gives him a quick peck on the cheek before grabbing her purse and jacket and leaving his apartment.

When she is starting the engine of her car, her cell chirps again, and she gets it out, expecting a message from Ray, but again, finds one from Tony.

Out of beer, pick some up, Batgirl wants M&Ms 2. Where are u at, 40min? FB

Long story. C U in 45. NC

She can't help but smile a little in anticipation.

THE END

Please review, because I would really appreciate it. Even if it's to tell me how much exactly it sucked.