Comforting Ziva

Chapter 1

By: Harold Finch and Grace Luvr

Author's Note: Hey everyone! Here's a story that I thought of a little while ago. I know the Ducky/ Ziva pairing is a little weird, but I've seen a couple of other authors use this pairing beautifully and it kind of grew on me. Anyways, if this pairing doesn't bother you, then enjoy! :D

Tony walked through the door of his beautiful apartment. He threw his keys down on a table near the hall, and walked over to his black leather couch before flopping down on it. He sighed as he ran a hand through his dark brown hair. It had been yet another one of many trying cases. There had been a serial killer at large whom had sent them on a wild ride. He left them clues and hints of where to find the next victim. First it had started off with a blond naval woman in her early thirties. Rebecca Louis. She was found dead in her quarters. She had left behind a husband and two sons. From then on it had been a seemingly endless stream of murders. One after another. The calls just kept coming in. The whole team had been on edge, especially Gibbs. He was pushing McGee, Tony, and Bishop to their limits to find the lunatic. Hours turned into days, days turned into a week before eventually a week turned into two weeks. Two weeks it had taken to find the crazed killer, and identify him. Danny Charleston. It turned out that Charleston had known Rebecca from his college days. He had constantly flirted with her, but she ignored him for somebody else. Her former husband. Jack Louis. After college Danny started stalking Rebecca and pretended to run into her on accident. These 'accidental' meetings occurred quite often, until she joined the navy. She was gone overseas for 2 years. While she was gone, he spied on the husband and discovered that they had twin identical boys. He felt deceived and betrayed in some way. He felt betrayed by the one he loved. And in his subconscious… he thought she loved him too. But when she returned home, and her family was there to greet her at the docks, Danny decided that he was tired of being ignored. He was determined to be with her. A few nights later, Danny watched as Rebecca took a midnight walk down a dark empty side street all alone. He pulled up along side her in his white van, and pretended to had ran into her again. But then, without warning, Danny began pouring his heart out to her. And Rebecca didn't feel the same. He had grabbed her and thrown her in the back of his van. He drove off to a secluded area where he wound up brutally raping her. When she continued to sob, Danny panicked and began to strangle her in an attempt to silence her cries, and her screams. Only after it was too late did Danny realize what he had done. Then, he cracked. He dismembered her body, and threw her in the nearest dumpster. That's when the random murders began to occur. All of them dismembered. All of them ditched. All of them with a clue to the next one. Until tonight when they finally caught him. Danny had finally slipped up. He forgot to clean his fingerprints off of the murder weapon, which was still embedded in the victim's skull. They traced the prints back to him, and spent hours tracking him down. When they brought him in, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of the team's shoulders. Danny was most likely going to spend the rest of his life in, the Washington D.C. Mental institution for the criminally insane. Gibbs told them that the paperwork could wait until tomorrow, so he sent them home early. Now here Tony was, tired, stressed, and lonely. Everybody had something or someone to go home to. McGee had Delilah, Bishop had her husband, hell, even Gibbs had a basement full of woodwork to go home to. What did Tony have? A glass of wine, a movie, and some Chinese takeout. Other than that. Nothing. Sure he had been seeing a pretty girl this past month and a half, and he truly liked her, but she wasn't coming over tonight. Tony loosened his tie as he removed his jacket. He was just about to pick up his phone to order out when, he heard a creek. It wasn't just any ordinary creek. It sounded like a floorboard creaking. And it sounded like it came from his bedroom. Tony slowly stood up and un-holstered his firearm. He steadily held it in front of him as he stealthily walked towards his bedroom. He slowly pushed open his door and immediately noticed a figure sitting on the edge of his bed. As quickly as he had raised the gun to the bed, he quickly lowered it. The figure was one of beauty. It held a perfect figure, and the face of a goddess. Tony held his breath as his heart skipped a beat. He knew he must've been dreaming again. This must've been another one of his fantasies. The beautiful 'fantasy' looked up at him and gave him a smile that was as bright as a sunrise in the sky. She spoke.

"Hi Tony."

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Ducky sighed as he pushed the last victim into the freezers. It was sad to say, but the morgue was almost like a second home to the older English man. He had been working almost non-stop these past two weeks. It seemed like body after body had been poured into his care. Ducky was glad that Danny had been apprehended, but a part of him also felt sorry for the young man. He too knew what it felt like to be ignored by the one you care for most. To have that strong true feeling of love only be one sided. It was what had been on his mind for months now. Rather who. A certain beautiful Mossad officer, who had left NCIS with no real explanation, or any goodbyes, leaving Ducky devastated and broken hearted on the inside. Ziva David. Sure he was much older. Old enough to even be her grandfather maybe. But Ducky didn't care. To him, age was just a number. Ducky had started falling for Ziva almost as soon as she joined NCIS years ago. He could see Tony had the same look in his eyes. But he had figured that young Anthony just wanted to have a new toy to play with. And that was the case before it had all started. The shy looks, the outrageous flirting, and the way they both brightened up at hearing the sound of each other's names. Ducky hadn't even had a chance to make a move. He took the backseat as a father figure to Ziva, and continued till this day to keep his feelings hidden and well guarded. His love life pretty much dwindled and died after that. Sure there had been that brief moment with Jordan, but she wasn't Ziva, and sadly…Ziva wasn't his. He knew that his one true love's heart belonged to someone else. That of one Anthony DiNozzo. Ducky sighed again and sat down at his desk to begin the process of the paperwork. It was going to be a long night.

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Tony immediately realizes that she's not a fantasy. She's real.

"Ziva?"

Ziva stood up from the bed and slowly walked over to Tony. She slowly reached out and placed her hand on his left cheek.

"I have missed you Tony."

Tony felt a sudden surge of anger within himself. An anger that he couldn't control.

"That's it? All you have to say is 'Hi Tony I missed you'!? Where's the 'I'm sorry I left you Tony', or the reason why you left!?"

Ziva was a little taken aback by Tony's sudden outburst. She lowered her hand back down to her side.

"You know why I left Tony. I could not stay here. I had to do what was best for me."

"Do what was best for you? What about me!? What about your team!? You got replaced by some nut job who does her work sitting cross legged on the bullpen floor! She's a nice girl don't get me wrong, but she's not you!"

Ziva looked down at the floor.

"And then you think you can just reappear when it's convenient to you!? You think that you can just come back like nothing happened!? Well things happened Ziva. Everything happened. Things changed. How do you even know I want to see you!? I might not want you here! Maybe I moved on Ziva!"

Ziva's eyes welled with tears at Tony's words.

"What are you saying Tony? You want me to leave? You moved on from me?"

Tony's lowered his voice, yet it still held a bitter tone.

"Actually I have moved on Ziva. I just don't have feelings for you like I used to. I've been seeing someone this past month and a half, and I like her a lot. Her name's Veronica. And to answer the other part of your question, yes Ziva I'm afraid I do want you to leave."

Ziva felt her heart break into a million pieces. She nodded and whispered to him in a broken voice.

"I'd better go then."

Tony nodded in agreement.

"I think that's best."

She slowly walked towards the door while Tony followed her. Once she opened it and stepped out into the hallway she turned around to face Tony one more time.

"Just answer one question for me Tony. Did our kiss mean anything to you?"

Tony took in a deep breath, he knew this answer would probably hurt her the most.

"Yes, at the time it did. But the past was the past and this is the future. And I'm in love with someone else."

Ziva nodded numbly.

"I understand Tony. I just want you to know that I never meant to hurt you."

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. And with tears streaming down her face, she disappeared into the night.

Author's Note 2: Okay guys that was the first chapter so…. Should I continue? Review and let me know! :D