Just a two shot I thought of when given the two words (by two different people, might I add) explode and dust. I do not own NCIS...
Bombs always exploded. It was a part of the job. They had to get used to the fact that there was a chance that a bomb could explode at moment at a crime scene. Who knows what the killer set up before leaving their victim for NCIS to find?
And that's why Tony had to protect her. He could let her get hurt while they were on the job. He loved her way too much to let her get hurt by a bomb exploding. Tony had to admit that Ziva was really good at keeping her cool while disarming the bombs.
In the five years that Tony had known Ziva, he had grown to love her. She was everything he was looking for in a woman, even though he didn't know it at the time. She was smart, she was strong, she was independent, and she was a good listener. Tony started to fall in love with her, and he couldn't help himself. That was why he had to protect her at all costs; he couldn't lose the woman he loved.
It was a good thing that Ziva knew how to disable bombs. DiNozzo didn't have to worry too much about the bombs exploding on them and Ziva getting hurt too much. It still made his heart race, though, when there was a bomb around. Tony didn't know what he would do without Ziva.
And that was why he held his breath that day. He had heard her screaming his name, and then the next thing he knew, she was on top of him, tackling him to the ground. Tony rolled on top of her so she would be protected, but as soon as the explosion was over, she moved so she was straddling him once more.
Tony wanted to kiss her then. Ziva was safe; she was okay. He couldn't, though. They were working. It would be unprofessional if he did that, let alone the fact that Gibbs would get mad at them. The dust rose around the couple and Ziva was blinking her eyes and staring down at Tony.
"You okay?"
He nodded, looking into her brown eyes. "Yeah. You?" he asked.
She nodded in turn and did not make any effort to move off of Tony. "Yes. I am fine."
Then Ziva got off of Tony and helped him up, grabbing his hand. Both partners made their way through the dust, to figure out what had happened.
Tony watched Ziva the whole entire time. He didn't really care about the case or what was going on anymore; he was just glad that she was okay.