Years before, they once had a conversation about inevitability. He believed. She didn't. The team was in peril then too. They were being split up, and being flung to distant corners of the world, by a new director they did not think they could trust. That night they drunk, despite the fact that both of them have early flights. The night after they handed their badges into the same director, whom they now trusted without fail, Timothy 'two drinks and out' McGee got drunk. Tony and Ziva shoot each other concerned looks, while they sipped on their matching soda waters.

Months before, he told her she wasn't alone. She had hugged him tight. The she had slept with her friend, because she felt alone. He doesn't blame her for that. That night after they drop McTipsy home to the new McGirlfriend, the ever so lovely Delilah, she tells him that she does not want to be alone. This time he knows what to do. So, that night after they handed in their badges, they lay on Ziva's queen size bed and stare up at the ceiling. He tells her then, that it's them versus the rest of the world.

The Christmas before, he told his Dad that he likes to sleep over at women's places because then he can make a swift exit. They sleep together the morning after they handed their badges in. They spend the day in her bed, becoming acquainted with each other in the biblical sense. Only getting up when they really have to. The next morning, Ziva returns from her run, and asks why he is still there. He tells her there is no place he would rather be, and he means every word. She cups his face in her hands, and admits she is glad that he stayed. Then, they test his theory that her shower is big enough for two.

Once upon a time, and it really feels like a lifetime ago, they played married assassins. Married assassins, who had a lot of very convincing fake sex. Over the years, they've used the names Sophie and Jean Paul Rainer, as an inside joke, or quick alias when a bad guy is on their heals. Over the course, of three days, Tony and Ziva explore every inch of the others body. He has imagined them sleeping together, a fair bit over the years, but this is better than he could have ever conjured up.

They've talked about ghosts a few times. Ziva sort of believes, in mystical creatures, and evil spirits. For him ghosts are completely fictional. But, when they have their first blow out fight, he feels the ghosts of Jeanne Benoit, Ray Cruz and Michael Rivkin in the room. The carcasses of their parents failed relationships, add fuel to the fire of their abandonment issues. In the end he storms out. Her door bounces with the force. Ten seconds later she's running after him. Like, it is in all the old movies, it rains as they stand on the street holding tight to one another. They decided then and there they need to make this work.

He will claim it was rule twelve that kept them apart. He suspects that if Gibbs ever heard him say that, he head slap him into the next century. They talk about rules, a lot in the long difficult days after their big blowout fight. On the tenth day since they crossed the line from friends, to something more, they sit and they make a list of ground rules for their relationship. They borrow quite a few from Gibbs, especially the one about being unreachable, but they nix the one about apologies. They sit in front of each other, and promise to try their hardest to make it work.

Once, not long after her father died, he tried to convince her to go camping. She had laughed at his suggestion, for one thing it was not yet March, and they both knew she hated the cold. Another thing was he dislike of nature. Still, after nearly two weeks spent almost exclusively in her apartment, (Tony's fish now lived next to her Shabbat candles on the bookshelf Gibbs built her), Ziva wanted a change of scenery. He reluctantly agreed to go camping. The weekend they chose, was the weekend where the entire tri-state area, had unseasonal heavy rain forecasted, with flash flooding in some areas. Despite mother nature not coming to the party, they build a fort in Ziva's lounge, using dining chairs and sheets. Under the fort they told each other secrets, and share silly stories. She reveals that she always wanted to go to college, but thinks the time has past. He tells her just how long his latest dry spell was. She reveals the most embarrassing song on her iPod, which turns out is like the Israeli equivalent of Britney Spears, which makes him howl with laughter. They debate making love inside the fort but his back protests. Instead the crawl out, and head to her bedroom, giggling away.

The fort gets taken down, but they do not stop sharing secrets. One night, she tells him stories from that summer they never talk about. For years now, he had been filling in the blanks when she starts gagging at the smell of cigarettes, or when he notices a fading scar. What she tells him, is worse than he could ever imagine. He wants to kill Salim Ulman all over again. He wants to go back in time, and drag her onto that plane in Tel Aviv, so she never even ended up on the same continent as Salim and his men. He holds her tight as she tries not to sob. He tells her she is safe. That night, she has a nightmare, and he is right there when she stirs. He does not go back to sleep, until he is sure she is on the road to being okay.

On another secret telling night; Tony finally gives her honest answers to some of the questions she has asked over the years. Yes, he believes in soulmates, but in a Casablanca kind of way, with the soulmates ending up separated. For a while, he was really cut up about never having a wife or kids, but he still holds out a tiny bit of hope that he might have a family one day, even if he is pushing a zimmer frame, while the kids learn to walk. And yes, most of the time he was staring at her ass, because damn she can rock a pair of jeans. She assures him, that she will remember that power of her posterior, when she wants him to do something.

She doesn't tell him that every night, she dreams about Israel. She dreams about her grandmother's cholent recipe which she has never been able to properly replicate. She dreams of Ari chasing her through the olive groves. She dreams of her father placing her on his shoulders as they watched the Purim parade through Tel Aviv. She dreams of Tali's shrieks as they ran into the blue waters at Haifa. She dreams of her chubby Aunt Nettie who always fed her sweet Jaffa oranges, and told her never to fall in love, because men are dogs. She dreams of Schmeil's huge library, of her and Tali dragging the books home in their wagon like Matilda. She dreams of her favourite bar, the American themed one, the one that got blown up while she was undercover in Cairo, with Jenny. She dreams of her mother's reading voice, reading the Chronicles of Narnia while the scud missiles from Iraq rained down. She dreams of her one eyed Uncle and the horses he called his ladies. She dreams of the friend she had in the Army who she kept alive by making him sing that stupid Hadag Nachash song they both liked, when concussion threatened to lead to a ceremony at the Mount of Olives. She dreams of Shmuel Rubenstein's pecked lips, as she knocked him the ground. She dreams of her Ari shouting at her that she would never bloody get it, as the slipped through a Gazan checkpoint waiving their blue cards, while Ari's childhood friends got interrogated by baby faced soldiers. She dreams of Tali's singing voice. She dreams of her father's glassy eyes, when Tali sung.

Every night, she wakes up, gasping for air, drowning in memories. Every night, it becomes clearer. She needed to go back to Israel. How was she going to explain it to Tony?

A/N:

I have been writing this on and off for months now. And have re-written this section like ten times, and I'm still not very happy with it. The next chapters, will use just one tense, and be more standard, yes with dialogue. It will basically, be a re-write of PPF, in some part quite a radical rewrite, *cough cough* that Deena bs *cough cough*.

I never really do WIPs or many multi-chaps. So, be warned this may take a while to update. I will try my best. Be assured, I'm not holding chapters hostage for reviews. I just have a full time job, a drinking habit, and wandering muse.

Side note, I'm not Israeli or Jewish. Yes, I have researched the eff out of stuff I mention in here, and I also read a lot of books on the subject. (Since I quit watching NCIS, I also quit TV, now I read like a book a day). I will probably get something wrong, please let me know if I do.

Also, I don't own anything. Because if I did, a certain somebody wouldn't be dead.