Thank you so much for the amazing reviews guys, here is Chapter 3, the third and final chapter of my story. All your positive feedback has been overwhelming for my first story; hope this Chapter will do it justice. Keep reading and reviewing people please please please! Much love:*

Ziva awoke to find that she had slept through her alarm, having only managed to drift off to sleep a couple of hours before. Allowing her eyes to adjust to the morning light she saw beautiful blue skies out of her window, not a cloud to be seen, it had been the same the day before, the beauty hiding the horror that was to follow.

She sighed and contemplated calling in sick, she was worried about seeing Tony, she knew that she had done wrong by just leaving him stood there the night before, but she was glad that he respected her enough to just let her go.

She had not been able to sleep for thinking about what had happened, she was annoyed with herself that she had let her guard down, she had revealed far more to Tony than she ever would have on any normal day. The days events had made her vulnerable and emotional, Ziva David did NOT do vulnerable and emotional, EVER! But what had kept turning the cogs in her head was what Tony had said back, he actually felt the same, and he had kissed her, an amazing all encompassing kiss which she had not wanted to end, but she was still scared about the repercussions.

She cursed in Hebrew as she jumped out of bed hurriedly getting washed and dressed before heading off to work, Gibbs had enough on his plate without her calling in sick, she would just have to suck it up and talk to Tony.

When she arrived at the navy yard it was awash with security, agents and cleanup teams, surveying and assessing the damage and looking for any further threats. The damage to the building looked fairly cosmetic, hopefully repairs would not take too long and normal service could be resumed quickly, it was lucky not more people had lost their lives given the proximity of the bomb to the building.

She passed through all the new security measures and started to make her way up to the squad room. As she passed the elevator she felt herself shudder involuntarily, it could so easily have been her final resting place, but luckily it had not, she had survived where many had not and she had the elevator partially to thank for that.

As she entered the squad room it was empty even though it was full of people, many NCIS personnel were missing, either dead or in hospital, replaced by cleaners and builders, computers technicians and more ever present security. Quickly scanning the room she could not see Tony anywhere for which she was slightly relieved, however Gibbs and McGee were, both covered in cuts and bruises, both very lucky given their proximity to the blast.

"Morning Gibbs, McGee," she nodded at each of them as she dropped her bag by her desk and waited for instruction.

"Ziva," Gibbs nodded back, silently assessing her condition.

"Hey Ziva," McGee replied, getting up and enveloping her in a big hug, "how are you today?"

"I am fine McGee, bit sore in places but just thankful to still be alive. How are you?"

"Bit sore too, but good considering," McGee replied.

"And how are you Gibbs?" Ziva redirected the question at her boss, knowing full well he would never admit to any effects of the blast.

"I'm ok Ziva, nothing a nice coffee wouldn't cure," Gibbs smiled at her, extremely glad to see that she seemed ok; he had been worried after the events of the night before that she might retreat back into her shell once again.

"You want me to make a coffee run Gibbs," Ziva smiled at Gibbs' not so subtle hint, she knew he didn't really like the coffee in the break room, and who knew what kind of state the break room would be in anyway.

"Can't think of a better way to start what is going to be a long day," he replied, getting up from his desk and making his way towards the stairs, "gotta go see Vance, will be back soon."

"Will Tony be needing coffee too?" Ziva asked McGee as Gibbs disappeared up the stairs and into Vance's office, wondering why her partner was nowhere to be seen, she hoped he was ok.

"Yeah, he's just in Abby's lab then he's been stuck with some probie in the evidence garage," McGee replied, noting the concern in Ziva's voice, "they gotta re-catalogue all the evidence down there which could take a while as it's a bit of a mess."

"Ooh nice," Ziva grimaced, "I am sure that he will not enjoy that at all, better make it a large coffee."

"Wait till you hear what you gotta do," McGee grinned, trying not to laugh but failing miserably.

"Do not tell me and spoil the surprise for I may not come back if it truly is that bad McGee," Ziva warned, flicking her hair back over her shoulder and heading for the stairs, "be back soon."

When she returned she wished she hadn't as Gibbs led her to the biggest pile of papers she had ever seen in her life, breaking the bad news that they all needed to be sorted back into individual case files, then re-catalogued and put back into their relevant filing cabinets, evidently the bomb had ruined their filing system.

Ziva decided that this was better than having to be in the cold evidence garage all day so she counted her blessings and settled cross legged on the floor amidst her towers of paper, resigned to her long arduous task.

After what seemed like hours she had managed to get through one tower, her large cup of coffee now starting to work its way through she took a break, needing to stretch her legs. She still hadn't seen Tony but she wasn't surprised if the job he was doing was as involved as hers, she would have to wait until the end of the day to speak to him.

She made her way to ladies room, as it was in the middle of the building it had suffered very little damage, quite calm when everything else around her was so chaotic.

As she washed her hands she looked in the mirror and seeing Tony in the reflection she nearly jumped out of her skin.

She turned round and punched him on the arm. "What the hell Tony are you trying to give me a heart attack!" she asked angrily, she was annoyed she hadn't heard him come in or even felt his presence, her usually sharp ninja senses seemingly deserting her.

"Heeeeeeyyyyyyy," he replied rubbing his already bruised arm, "I thought you would sense my presence, I didn't mean to startle you, I just wanted to talk to you!"

"In the ladies room!" Ziva replied indignantly.

"Well everywhere else is so messy and crazy," Tony replied, "I couldn't wait till the end of the day to speak to you, and the probie is driving me a lil crazy downstairs I had to escape for a bit."

Ziva's face softened into a smile as Tony grinned at her from across the room; she could imagine the probie driving him up the wall with incessant question asking and babbling. She suddenly felt a little nervous as they continued to just look at each other, she knew that they were both delaying the inevitable but neither knew how to start the conversation.

Finally she broke his gaze and walked back over to the sink, turning round to face him then leaning back against it, Tony watching her the whole time. Ziva decided it was up to her to make the first move; she had walked off and left him the night before after all, leaving him hanging cruelly.

"I am sorry about last night Tony," she started, "I should not have walked off and left you standing there after what had happened between us."

"It's ok," Tony replied, "I know it had been a long, stressful day and I shouldn't have complicated it even more for you." He considered his next line carefully, "I regret the timing but I do not and will never regret kissing you Ziva."

Ziva blushed involuntarily, suddenly needing to look anywhere but Tony's eyes.

"There's something you should know before we continue this conversation," Tony started, "Gibbs kinda saw what happened last night." He half expected Ziva to punch him again, a look of fear flashing through her eyes as she realised the implications of what he had just said.

"That's it then," she said bluntly, "I guess we will be getting reprimanded shortly and then split up."

"Nope," Tony grinned.

"And how do you figure that Tony?" Ziva replied.

"Well we kinda had a little chat about it, Gibbs and I," Tony said, slowly starting to walk towards the sink, which made Ziva walk away from him towards the far wall, "he didn't head slap me or anything, I was very shocked actually after the last time I was….."

"What did he say Tony?" Ziva asked infuriated.

"Well he was very un-Gibbs like actually, he said that he had known that this, whatever it is between us had been coming for ages and he was surprised it had taken as long as it did."

"What?!" Ziva spluttered.

"I know, apparently everyone has known but us. I told him that you would never disrespect his rules and pursue this and he said that Rule 12 is cancelled out by Rule 51 and Rule 5," Tony was still grinning like an idiot.

Ziva looked confused as she tried to remember which particular rules Gibbs was applying to their situation. "Surely you don't mean 'sometimes you're wrong' and don't waste good'?"

"Yeah Ziva that's what he said," Tony replied, watching as her face crumpled up as her brain was trying to process the information he had just given her.

"Are you serious Tony?" she questioned, "you are not just pulling my arm?" she desperately searched his eyes to see if he was telling her the truth, and she could find nothing but honesty, and a twinkle she had not seen before.

"No I am not pulling your arm or your leg or anything else, that's what he said," he was desperately trying to make her believe him. "He's not worried about the integrity of the team or anything else; he doesn't want Rule 12 to be an excuse if we might have something here," he said, gesturing between them both.

Ziva leant back against the wall, slightly embarrassed at the thought of Tony and Gibbs discussing their 'relationship', she couldn't believe that Gibbs was giving them his blessing; he thought that Tony and she were 'good'.

Tony seemed to know what she was thinking. "You can talk to him yourself if you don't believe me."

"That is not a conversation I would relish," Ziva replied, cringing at the mere thought of it.

Tony could see that she was struggling with her inner demons, he had spent the night thinking of what he had wanted to say to her and what he hoped she would say back, but he knew why she was hesitant.

"Ziva," he started, taking a step closer to her, "I know that you have been through a lot, the men in your life always seem to let you down just when you let your guard down enough to trust them." With that he saw the pain in her face as she looked away, remembering Michael and Ray and others before.

"I know why you hold the world at arms length," he continued, "believe me I understand, but you've known me for going on 8 years now, you've seen me at my best and at my very worst, do you not think that you know me well enough by now to trust me?"

"Of course I trust you Tony," she replied without hesitation, her eyes meeting his, "with my life!"

"But do you trust me with your heart?" he asked gently.

"I don't know, I just…" she shook her head and looked back at the floor. She wanted to so badly trust him with her heart but it had been left so fragile by those before him, she didn't know how many times she could patch it back together.

"Did you mean what you said last night?" he asked changing the course of the conversation, seeing he was making her uncomfortable. He took another step closer to her, "I mean I know a lot had gone on and emotions were running high but I meant every word I said to you."

"I meant it Tony," she replied, her eyes still glued to the floor.

"And now you know that we both have feelings for each other, are you happy to just brush it under the carpet and wonder forever 'what if'?" he asked bridging the gap between them with another step.

She didn't want that at all, she knew she didn't, there was nothing she wanted more right now than to jump into his arms and have him kiss her like he had the night before. She finally plucked up the courage to look at him.

"No I don't want to brush this under the carpet but there is a lot at stake for both of us here, you are my partner and my best friend, if we don't work out I don't want to lose that!"

"You will never lose me Ziva I promise you that, regardless of what happens with us," he stated, hoping his eyes would carry all the sincerity he was trying to convey. "I still came for you in Somalia after you shoved a gun in my chest and looked at me liked you hated me, didn't I?"

"Yes you did," she nodded, remembering the total shock and humility she had felt when Saleem had removed her hood and she realised that Tony had risked everything including his life to rescue her, especially after she had treated him so badly beforehand as well. No one else had ever done anything like that for her.

"I'm not asking you to move in with me or get married or have kids just yet," Tony said taking one more step towards her, totally invading her space so he was nearly touching her, "I'm just asking to take you on a date, go out to dinner, see where this goes, I am just asking for a chance that's all Ziva, no commitments, no strings, just a chance."

Ziva looked deep into Tony's eyes, they were pleading with her to let him in so he could prove himself to her, and she felt her heart melting. They were stood so close that she could smell him, not even touching she could feel the electricity between them, the feeling was intoxicating. She broke his gaze again and looked at her shoes, her face hiding behind her hair, her heart beating so hard she was sure it would explode out of her chest.

Tony put his left hand on the wall to the right of her head, using his other hand to sweep the hair out of her face and tuck it gently behind her ear, the intimate action causing her to look up at him. He started to slowly lean his head down towards hers, she could feel his breath on her face and it sent shivers up her spine. He was giving her ample opportunity to move but she was rooted to the spot, her eyes flickering between his eyes and his lips.

As she closed her eyes she felt his lips on hers, mirroring the kiss of the previous evening. It was so soft and gentle; it wasn't about any desperate need to rip each others clothes off, just the need to communicate feelings and emotions.

Tony broke the kiss and as he opened his eyes he saw that Ziva was smiling, her eyes still closed, savouring the feel of his lips on hers. This made him smile from ear to ear; he wished he could capture that look for ever.

"Do I take that to mean that you're giving me a chance?" he asked, twisting one of her stray curls round his finger, resisting the urge to kiss her again.

"Yes Tony," she replied as she opened her eyes, "I would like to give 'us' a go, on two conditions…."

Tony's smile dropped, hoping that she was not about to crush him, "and what would those be?"

"Don't worry Tony its nothing bad, I don't think," Ziva reassured, feeling bad as she saw the look on his face.

"The first one has to be that we keep our relationship out of the office and remain professional at all times, especially until we figure it out for ourselves."

Tony felt his heart lift a little, it was not an unreasonable condition, "that goes without saying I think sweetcheeks, what's the second condition?"

"That we take it slow," she whispered, placing her hand gently on his chest, "please?"

"Anything you want Ziva," Tony smiled, he was expecting much worse than that. "We can do this however you want, I don't wanna mess this up, you mean far too much to me!"

Ziva smiled, Tony had grown up a lot since she had first met him all those years ago, she remembered telling him once that he had to be more respectful when it came to matters of the heart, it appeared that he had listened.

"Good, then you can buy me dinner tonight?" Ziva suggested, knowing that they had much more to talk about, just not in the ladies room at work.

"Anywhere you like," he replied, tucking her curl back behind her ear, leaving his hand to linger on the soft skin on her cheek as they stared into each other eyes.

"We should get back to work," Ziva stated, bursting their little self contained bubble, "people will wonder where we are, I have a paper mountain to sort through and you will have a little lost probie."

"Yeah you're probably right," Tony admitted, wanting the moment to last as long as he could make it, the thought of spending the next 7 or 8 hours in the garage with an annoying probie was not appealing when all he wanted to do was be with Ziva...

"Just one more thing before you leave?" Ziva asked, running her finger down Tony's chest making him shudder at the touch.

"Hmmmmm?" Tony murmured as Ziva looped her finger through his belt loop and gently pulled him towards her, walking backwards until she met the wall.

She snaked her other hand up his body until it was tangled in the hair at the back of his neck as he wound his arms around her waist pulling her so close, then she planted one last searing kiss on his lips.

Breaking the kiss she whispered, "Do you think that will keep you going for a few hours?"

"Oh yeah, definitely something to remember you by," Tony replied breathlessly, feeling like all his birthdays and Christmases had just arrived at once.

"Good," she chuckled readjusting her clothes and smoothing down her ruffled hair, "now we really must get back to work!"

Tony cleared his throat, "yes ma'am," he replied reaching for the door, "ladies first."

As he opened the door Gibbs appeared on the other side.

"Oh hey Boss, we were just…" Tony stuttered, of all the people who could have been standing there, it had to be him!

"Just what, DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded, trying to keep from breaking out in a huge grin, they looked like two teenagers caught behind the bleachers.

"Just needed to talk to Ziva real quick Boss," Tony replied, all of a sudden feeling very self conscious. He stole a look across at Ziva and saw she was blushing.

"Ok," Gibbs said, looking between them, "all good?"

"All good Boss," Tony replied smiling, knowing exactly what Gibbs meant after their conversation the night before.

"Back to work then," Gibbs chastised light-heartedly, "evidence won't catalogue itself."

"On it Boss," Tony replied hurrying off in one direction and Ziva hurrying off in the other.

Gibbs couldn't contain his huge grin any longer, 'well it's about time!' he thought.