Tony turned to face Ziva and noticed that she once again wouldn't meet his eyes. He sighed causing her to look up. "Well I guess we better talk then." He told her not at all relishing where this was going to go. He was terrified she was going to tell him it was all a giant mistake.

Ziva noticed the apprehension in his eyes and inwardly cursed herself. This was her fault. "Yes Tony, I guess we had better talk." She told him and they headed off towards the elevators awkward silence firmly in place.

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The ride up in the elevators was more awkward then any encounter the partners had had to date. Both were blaming themselves and neither was sure where they stood. The memory of the kiss was like a great wall between them, driving a wedge that they'd never experienced before.

Ziva couldn't take any more and quickly reached out to hit the emergency stop on the elevator. Unsurprisingly the elevator shuddered to a stop and the lights went out plunging the two agents into darkness. Not even an emergency light came on and it took a few minutes for their eyes to adjust to the dark. Slowly they turned to face each other, keeping a respectable distance between them.

"Really Ziva? The elevator? It would have only been a couple of minutes to get to our rooms." Tony said with a sigh.

"I am sorry Tony." Ziva said quietly not looking him in the eye.

Tony was quickly thrown off balance. He had not expected an apology. After all, it was his fault and ninjas were not known for their ability to show weakness. "For what?"

Ziva looked up at Tony and noted the look of confusion on his face. Her heart dropped. She knew it hadn't meant anything more to him then a kiss. He kissed women all the time. She didn't know why she was so disappointed. "For kissing you. It was inappropriate and I should have stopped myself."

"You sorry for kissing me?" He asked the disappointment clearly evident in his voice.

Ziva took a step closer so she could see his eyes better. She mentally cursed herself for doing this in the elevator. It was so much easier to read him when she could see his eyes. She could hear the disappointment in his voice and wasn't sure how to take it. Was it possible that he was as involved as she was?

"Are you not sorry then Tony?" she asked quietly.

He let out an audible sigh. "Am I sorry that we kissed? Hell no, it was one of the best experiences of my life. Am I sorry that you're sorry, and that I've completely messed things up? Absolutely. You're my best friend. As much as I've wanted to kiss you for a long time now I had no intentions of ruining-"

He found himself suddenly cut off when Ziva jumped him. For the second time that day he found himself completely stunned and was wondering what the heck had happened.

Ziva realized he wasn't responding and quickly pulled away shame and embarrassment colouring her cheeks. Clearly she was misreading him and she quickly retreated into the corner of the elevator.

Tony's mind caught up with his actions just as soon as she stepped away and he cursed himself when he saw Ziva retreat into the corner.

"Something you want to tell me sweetcheeks?" he asked his voice somewhat huskier then usual.

"I'm sorry." She whispered not looking him in the eyes.

"Damn it Ziva, stop saying that." Tony finally yelled frustrated at the turn of conversation. "You don't have anything to be sorry about. I kissed you back remember."

Ziva's head whipped up so that her eyes could meet his and she suddenly found temper whipping through her blood. "Do not yell at me." She hissed eyes narrowing.

Tony noted with satisfaction that yelling at her had finally gotten her to look at him. He was by no means above using a fight to get her to talk to him. With their experience it was fighting that got them to confess too much. "I'll yell if I want to yell. What am I supposed to do? Twice in one day I find my hot sexy partner throwing herself at me and now here she is apologizing for something that I thoroughly enjoyed. Why do you keep kissing me if you're so freaking sorry?" he yelled as his stalked towards her in the corner. He found himself angrier then he had realized. He wanted her to stop apologizing, or at least explain why she kept kissing him. He couldn't deal with her messing with him. Not her. Never her.

Ziva watched at he stalked towards her and upped the notch on her voice to match his. "I'm apologizing because clearly kissing you was a mistake Tony. I'm nothing more then another bloozy to you, you couldn't even bring yourself to kiss me back the last time." She yelled.

A light bulb went off in Tony's brain and he registered what was going on. A huge smile lit his face. "It's bimbo or floozy Ziva." He said his voice back to normal pitch. "And you could never be either one of those. You're my best friend and I care about you. As far as not kissing you back you didn't give me a chance. And I want one. I want you. I want a relationship. Is that clear enough for you? You can't keep kissing me if you don't want those things too." He told her his voice now soft. "I wouldn't be able to take it."

Ziva felt her temper drain away as she looked at the earnest expression on his face. She hadn't expected to hear that from him. Ever. It scarred her a little bit. In all her wildest fantasy's she had never really ever expected him to feel the same way she did. And the fact that he did was wildly thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. Suddenly she knew that she wanted to try. Not having him in her life, or having him there and constantly with someone else was not an option. She took a step towards him.

Tony watched as she took a step closer and registered that there was only a small amount of space between them now. He was mildly uncomfortable that he had confessed to her. Vulnerability was not something he was particularly fond of. Her step towards him though seemed to be positive. He licked his lips. "If you don't want this, back away." He whispered and noted with satisfaction as her eyes traced the movements of his tongue. Slowly he started to lean down towards her and felt relief at her smile as she started to lean up.

It started off slow. A gradual meeting of lips, feather light as they tentatively brushed against each other. They both knew where this was going and found themselves in no hurry to get there. Both were almost giddy with relief. They wanted the same thing and that knowledge alone made the kiss that much sweeter.

Suddenly the lights came on and the elevator started to move. They pulled away from each other sharing a look of dazed pleasure and quickly took a step away from each other as the elevator doors opened.

"I should have known." Fornell muttered as the doors opened to reveal him and Gibbs standing there. "It would be your team to stop the elevator."

Tony quickly stepped out with Ziva and was completely unsurprised when Gibbs delivered a hard head slap to both of them.

"Ouch boss, what was that for?" he whined.

"Do I need a reason DiNozzo?" Gibbs growled shooting the younger agent a glare.

"Um no boss." DiNozzo muttered to a retreating back as Gibbs and Fornell stepped into the elevator.

"Keep it out of the office" Gibbs shouted out as the elevator doors closed.

Tony turned towards Ziva with a stunned look on his face. "How does he know these things?" he asked.

Ziva smirked back at her partner, completely at ease now that they had resolved their issues. "He is Gibbs." She simply shrugged.

Tony snorted. "It takes a ninja to understand a ninja." He muttered a smile creeping up on his face. "You know you're beautiful right?" he asked reaching out to toy with the ends of her hair.

Ziva had the grace to look uncomfortable for a moment however didn't stop him from playing with her hair.

"No more then you." She finally responded unsure how to respond to a sincere compliment.

Tony grinned then threw his arm around her shoulders. "Wanna go make out?" He asked playfully as he lead the way to their rooms.

Ziva jokingly jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "I don't know." She told him. "How many people will hear about it later?" she asked with a smirk in her voice.

"No one that you don't want to know." He responded seriously. "I meant what I said in the elevator."

Ziva stopped to look up at her partner. "I know." She whispered. "I want the same things."

They paused to just look at each other for another minute before Tony issued his infamous grin. "Then lets go make out." He said grabbing her hand and heading off for their rooms in a quick pace.

Ziva just laughed as she felt herself being dragged along with him. Sometimes he had the right idea.

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A/N: What? I can hear you all thinking...you're still alive??? The answer is yes. I am still alive. I want to thank you all for sticking with me even though it seems I had dropped off the face of the planet. Your reviews and messages did not go unnoticed. I appreciate all of them. I'm going to try and update a bit more often, however I'm not going to promise :)

Sorry this chapter was short- but after this long a wait I figured better short then none at all. I'm a little sure where to take the story after this so why don't you send some reviews with what you would like to see happen and we'll see in which direction the story goes :)