Did you love the last two episodes as much as I did? Good. This picks up from there. It's a two shot, so I'll post the new chapter soon (hopefully).

The dialog in bold below are directly from the show; I didn't write them and I'm not taking credit for them. Enjoy!

"Agent David, do you really consider me to be in your life?"

The question took her by surprise. She stared into his green eyes, trying to study his thoughts. She honestly didn't understand.

What kind of question was that? Of course he's a in her life. He's her partner, friend, teammate, and roommate when the movie nights got to late.

She nervously tore her stare away from him and tucked some hair behind her ear. He still had his eyes on her, she could feel it. Her heartbeat sped up and she briefly wondered if Tony could hear it. She forced herself to look at him again, and the small smile on his lips made her skin turn into gooseflesh.

Damn, that smile. She blamed it for her current urge to lean down and kiss the man in front of her.

The cell phone made her slightly jump. She managed to tear her stare away from him again to look down at it and her mouth fell open when she saw his name on the front screen.

Tony watched her face, and tried to hide the surprise on his own when he spoke again, "No."

Ziva was having trouble making words, "Yes."

"Seriously?" Tony said aloud. At this moment? He had to call?

"I mean, what should I say?" Ziva asked nervously.

Tony knew that if there weren't a ringing cell phone in her hands, and she wasn't currently thinking about what to say to him, she could see the obvious hurt in his eyes, "Say 'hello'." He put the sunglasses that were in his hands over his lips to try and cover it up.

Ziva looked at him again and chuckled softly, "Okay." The small space between the bookshelves and her the edge of her desk where Tony was sitting made it hard for her to get through. "Excuse me." Tony looked up at her again as she passed, but made no effort to move out of the way. He turned and watched as she opened her phone and started the conversation. "Hello? Ray? Um, no, I can talk, yeah."

The words EJ said to him earlier were ringing in his head over and over. 'She cares'.

He honestly didn't know what it meant, and wondered if it was some sort of woman code. He knew that Ziva cared for him, just as he cared for her, but in a...partner kind of way.

But EJ made it seem like there was more to it than the simple explanation he had.

He tore his stare off of Ziva and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. Thinking about this made his head hurt. He didn't look up again until he heard Ziva speak.

"So it seems that you have a headache, does that mean we cannot go out for drinks?"

"Drinks? As in plural?" He smiled up at her as she walked past him again, collecting her purse and weapon.

"Yes, well, I would rather not drink alone, so are you coming?" She said softly. He stared at her in the same way he did earlier for a few more seconds before standing from her desk and heading over to his own to collect his things. Ziva smiled at him, "I will see you there, yes?"

Tony smiled, nodded slightly, and kept his eyes on her until she disappeared into the elevator. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face with both hands. What in the hell was he doing?

And why couldn't he just...tell her?

Ziva looked up at the door again when she heard it open, and it still wasn't him. She let out a loud sigh and took another sip of her drink. She wanted to see him again, even though it had only been a few minuets since she saw him.

She knew she could be reading more into this than what it was, but there seemed to be a moment earlier, before Ray called. The way he was looking at her...

The thought made her shiver and she quickly took a gulp of her drink.

Looking up at the door again, it still wasn't her partner, so she finished the current drink and spoke in another language to the bartender to fix her another.

Ray was back in town and wanted to have dinner with her the next night, and she honestly didn't know how she felt about it. She understood that he was across the world, and that communication would be difficult.

But...seven weeks?

Liam sat down her drink in front of her making her jump slightly, "Your third already...bad night?"

Ziva looked at him and smiled, "No, just an...interesting one."

He chuckled and wiped out one of the beer glasses, "Those can be the best kind." He watched her carefully for a moment, "Do you need me to call you a cab?" She took another sip and looked over at the door, and finally spotted who she was waiting for.

"No thank you." She winked at him. She waved at Tony, and when he spotted her she patted the stool next to her. He walked through the crowd and when he sat down, she whacked him in the arm.

He grabbed his arm, "Ow! What was that for?"

"I have been waiting on you!" Ziva replied.

He told the bartender he wanted a beer and then turned to her, "Sorry, I uh, had some...stuff to do." He couldn't tell her that the reason it took him so long was because he couldn't rip his mind away from thoughts about her long enough to freakin' drive.

"Well you, my dear To-ny, are behind." She lifted her glass and took another sip of it. "And Liam is making them extra strong tonight, and for that I am thankful."

Tony laughed at her, "I can see that. But beer comes pre-strong, so I think I'll stay on the sober side of things tonight."

Ziva giggled and to be honest, it made Tony's blood rush south, "I do not know if I will go to this dinner tomorrow night. He says he has something important to tell me." It took him a second, but Tony realized that she was talking about her conversation with Ray earlier. She took another large gulp of her drink, "But if it is so important, why did he not call and tell me sooner? They have phones over there."

"Over where?"

She shrugged a shoulder, "I know that he was on the other side."

Tony took a sip of his beer, and watched as Ziva tipped her glass up to finish the last bit at the bottom. "Maybe he wants to tell you in person, Zi. Some guys like face to face." Seriously? He was defending the bastard now? He'd give himself a head slap later.

Ziva looked at him, "Seven weeks, Tony?"

Tony sighed, "Yeah, that's...not good. But maybe he has a good excuse and that's what he wants to tell you tomorrow."

She had already ordered herself another drink and then turned to him, squinting her eyes at him, "Why are you defending him, Tony? You do not even like him!"

Damn it, he didn't know why he was defending him either. He shrugged a shoulder, "You're right, I don't like him. I don't trust him, I think he's a bastard."

"He is." Ziva agreed, making Tony chuckle.

"But I know, somewhere deep down in that hard exterior of yours, that you really like him. And I want you to be happy."

"So what you are saying to me is that I should go to this dinner tomorrow?"

"I don't wanna make that choice for you, Ziva. You should go only if you want to go."

She stared into his green eyes, similar to the way he stared at her earlier in the office, "Do you want me to go, Tony?"

He almost spit out his beer in surprise, "What?" Maybe with the loud music he misheard her.

She leaned in closer to him, hooking her arm around his, "Do you want me to go and have dinner with Ray tomorrow night?"

Tony chuckled nervously and looked down at her. Her face was inches from his and her voice had turned deeper in her very tipsy state, "Why does it matter if I do or not?"

She kept her stare on him for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, "It matters." He turned away from her and took another sip of his beer, trying his best to fight the urge to kiss her. When she didn't get an answer from him, she returned to her drink and quickly finished it up. "Well, I am going to go."

Tony put his beer on the counter and pulled out his wallet to pay for their drinks, quickly catching up to his partner at the door, "Okay, I'll take you home."

She stopped and stared at him, "Do not be rediculous. I am fine, Tony. It is silly for you to drive all the way to my apartment and then all the way back to yours." She patted him on the chest, rather hard, he might add, "So hit the road Mack and do not come back no more." She continued to sing as she walked over to her car.

He was proud that she knew a song, even though she got it wrong, "It's Jack, Ziva, and I'm not letting you drive."

She turned her head and scrunched her eyebrows, "Your name is Tony."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "No...the song...never mind. Here's your options: one, you can come home with me and crash at my place, or two I can take you home and crash at your place. But you are not driving."

She sighed deeply, "Fine. But just know that I am too tired to argue with you and that is why you won this one, Anthony."

"Okay, lets go then. My car is over here." He put his hand on the small of her back and led her over to his Mustang, carefully helping her in before shutting her door.

The short ride to Tony's apartment was all but silent. Ziva ranted about how bad of a boyfriend Ray Cruz was the whole time and Tony only wanted to eject himself from his car.

But he stayed inside of it as he parked in his usual spot, quickly walking around again to Ziva's door. He opened it and she was still going.

He sighed deeply as they walked towards the stairs, "Ziva, are you the energizer bunny tonight?"

She gave him a confused look again, "What?" She pointed to the elevator, "What about the elevator?"

They started to climb the stairs, "The elevator is still broken and they don't know why."

"So, I am a bunny?" She was even more confused.

"You just keep going and going. Enough about Ray." He said honestly. And he knew that if she wasn't halfway in the liquor bottle that she would've probably hurt him in some sort of way he didn't want to think about.

She sighed, "So you are telling me that we have to climb twelve flights of stairs?"

Tony laughed, "Well, you can if you want, but I live on the 4th floor."

Ziva laughed again, and just as she was about to take another step, her knee hit Tony's shoe and caused her to trip. Tony turned around and quickly caught her, using the rail to support them both. He pulled her up to the stair he was on, "You okay?"

She looked up at him and nodded, and he let go of her arm, leaving them incredibly close to each other. She ran both of her hands up his chest and Tony gripped the rail behind him. She sighed his name and now his suit pants were too tight.

"Ziva?" He said softly. She stared into his eyes for about the 5th time that night, and slowly moved towards him. She placed her lips on his for only a second, but it was enough to make Tony to want more. They stared at each other again and Tony cleared his throat so there wouldn't be silence anymore. He looked up the stairs and back down at her, "Come on Zi, lets get you to bed."

He put his arm around her waist and walked the rest of the way to his apartment. Once inside, he gave her some sweat pants and a t-shirt to change into.

After she changed, he tucked her into his bed. "Get some sleep, Zi."

He walked towards the door of his room, and as he flipped the light off he heard her whisper, "Thank you, Tony."

He smiled at her in the dark and walked out, closing his room door behind him. He let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

She must've been a lot more under the influence than he thought she was, he decided.

Or at least, that's what he kept telling himself.

Tomorrow was going to be possibly the longest day of his life.

Damn it.

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