Disclaimer: NCIS isn't mine.

"I'm sorry. I should have trusted you." Ziva's heart beats faster as she looks up at Tony.

"That's okay. I'm just glad you're alive." He shrugs, and for a few seconds there is an awkward silence.

"I saw Kate." The words tumble from Ziva's mouth of their own accord. "I wanted to give up, to die...but she told me to keep fighting. She said that you...all of you needed me."

Tony starts, his jaw tightening. "Kate?" As he speaks her name, his voice chokes, and for a moment a world of pain opens in his eyes. Ziva averts her own, quietly waiting for him to regain his composure.

It takes a moment before Tony is able to talk again. "Ziva, that's not—"

"I saw her, Tony. She saved my life."

Tony's jaw works for a second before he speaks again. "Why? Why would she show herself to you and not us?"

"Because it would have hurt you." Ziva doesn't have to think; the words spring naturally to her lips. "You didn't need to see her. There was nothing that went unsaid...or unknown. I never knew her, but if not for her, I would not have been there when you came."

"What?"

And so Ziva tells him about the first time they met. She tells him of the desert and her own grief and despair; how Kate had come and given her the strength to hold out.

When she finishes, there is silence. Tony swallows, hands fisting at his sides. "She told you all that?"

"Yes. And something else, too."

"What?"

Now it's Ziva's turn to swallow as she gazes up, locking her eyes with her old partner's. "She loved you."

His jaw clenches so tightly that it pops. "She said that?"

"She did not have to," Ziva replies softly. "It was very easy to see." As Tony's eyes mist up, she hastily turns away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

The senior agent's hand shoots out and grabs Ziva by the wrist. Startled, she glances back. Tony's green eyes are burning intently as he gazes into her own. "I lost Kate...and I never told her how I felt. I don't want that to happen again."

She smiles a little, placing her free hand on his cheek. "It won't."

And in that moment something heals within both of them. It's quiet and gentle, like a breath of fresh air. But the ache in their hearts fades—for Tony, something he has been carrying for years; for Ziva, it's more like redemption.

But they both know things will never be the same again. They had changed, this time for the better.

The faintest of voices seems to whisper in the quiet: You'll never be separated again.

But maybe it's just their imaginations.