Bonus mini-chapter because I couldn't just leave it alone.

She was warm, warmer than she'd felt in a while, tucked snugly under a warm cocoon of blankets and limbs, and she sighed lightly as she sank deeper into the heat, reveling in the comforting nest in her sleepy state.

Ziva had never known just how comfortable Tony could be, and god, he just fit so perfectly against her.

She lifted her head slowly, still fighting the pull of sleep, certain he was not awake, not at whatever absurd hour it was, some unknown film on the television the only illumination of his cozy space. She turned toward him, noting with surprise that he was indeed awake, and he was looking at her intently, almost reverently, and she shivered against him, despite the fact that she was far from cold.

"You are awake," she murmured quietly, almost regretting speaking and breaking this silent spell they were under.

"I haven't been awake long," he responded, a slight smile on his face as he watched her, the very picture of beauty even after a night spent having slept in rumpled clothes on a couch.

"Oh," she responded, settling back down against him, her face slightly turned so that she could see him if they decided to continue talking, but still sleep if they decided to stay put for another few hours. Or an eternity.

He reached over and brushed an errant strand of her hair from her face, lightly touching her skin as he tucked it behind her ear. She shuddered at the contact, so intimate despite everything that had happened, so gentle, so careful. His hand lingered at her hair for just one additional moment before he pulled it away, settling it back around her waist, squeezing her gently.

His eyes never left her face, his gaze strong and intense, and she felt the weight of his stare. "What?" she asked, conscious of the way he regarded her, like she was the most precious thing he had ever laid eyes on.

"Nothing," he whispered, his lips turning into a gentle smile. "Go back to sleep."

"Tony," she warned, looking at him pointedly. How would she possibly sleep with him staring at her like that?

He leaned forward slightly to press a kiss to her forehead, his lips lightly grazing her skin, warm, like the rest of him. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feel of his touch, the tender embrace of his lips a piece of his affection she hadn't known she'd missed until this very moment. "I almost lost you," he spoke softly, a slight crack in his voice, and her heart constricted in her chest at the way he sounded, like it had been killing him, slowly, agonizingly, all this time.

Maybe, a voice deep inside of her said, it had been.

"Tony," she gasped and she turned her body to face him fully, needing to wrap him in her arms, despite the way half her body hung off the edge of the couch, precariously balanced. She very well might fall.

But Tony would be there to catch her, in more ways than one.

She pulled him close, hugging him tightly, clinging desperately to a dream she'd thought she had let go of, a dream of him, of them. "You will never lose me," she promised, her voice a whisper against his cheek, her lips meeting his skin in the barest of featherlight kisses. He tightened his arms around her waist, reveling in the way she felt in his arms, warm and real and perfect.

"I need you to know," he murmured against her hair, unwilling to pull apart as he spoke, "that I–"

"Shh," she interrupted, not ready to go there yet, not so soon, not while she was still picking up the broken pieces of the life she thought she'd built. "I know, Tony," she whispered, feeling a tear welling up in her eyes. "I know now."

He pulled back just slightly, enough to look at her, to see her face, to gaze upon the honesty in her expression, the utter contentment of knowing, and he trusted. As she trusted him to hold her, to keep her from falling, he could trust her to know, to know that she held his heart, always had. "Okay," he replied, satisfied for the time being. He had time now, a precious commodity, a wondrous miracle in itself. "We have time."

She smiled, giving a slight nod as she settled back against him. "We do indeed," she affirmed, and closed her eyes against him as he held her in his arms, breathing his scent and listening to his heart beating as it lulled her to sleep.

Okay, I'm really done with this fic now. I promise.