A/N: Just a short but necessary chapter to wrap it up. Sorry it's late. I ended up completely rewriting it.
Disclaimer: Disclaimed.

"You want to pull or you want to push?"

Ziva looked from the heavy table that she and Tony had carried from the elevator on the top floor of his apartment building and then up at the flight of stairs leading to the roof. Getting the table this far hadn't been too difficult thanks to the wider corridors and large elevator in his building, but the stairs to the roof were steep and narrow and she didn't fancy either role. She planted her hands on her hips and looked at her partner.

"The smart thing to do would have been to find a cheap, light, plastic table to use tonight."

Tony made a face like he hadn't considered that, but then shrugged it off. "Well, the smart people haven't arrived yet. Pull or push, Supergirl?"

Ziva moved to the end of the table nearest the stairs. "You weigh more," she pointed out. "It makes more sense for you to push from behind."

Tony flashed her a childish smile a moment before she recognized her accidental double entendre. "Agreed," he said. "Great minds think alike, Ziva."

"We just established that we do not have great minds," she pointed out.

Tony shrugged again and went to the other end of the table. "Yeah, but you and me have great sex minds that think alike, and that counts for something." He bent his knees and prepared to push the table up the stairs. "One, two, three…"

Ziva lifted her end of the table and started climbing backwards up the stairs. Together, she and Tony managed to climb clumsily up the narrow passageway to the roof without injuring themselves (although the walls and table were a little worse for wear), and then carried the table over to the stack of folding chairs they'd already carried up. They dumped the table with a thud, and then Tony straightened to stretch out his back.

"We're not bringing that down again tonight," he declared, wincing as he arched his back. "Maybe not even tomorrow. Or we could make McGee and Jimmy do it."

"McGee with the bullet wound in his leg?" Ziva asked pointedly, swatting at his arm as she passed him and headed for the bowls of snacks they'd left teetering on the roof ledge.

"Oh, right," Tony said. "Well, we can make one of the other guests do it."

She gathered bowls of chips, crackers and dips and stacked them carefully in her arms. "How many agents, cops and detectives are coming tonight?" she asked over her shoulder.

"A lot."

"Surely one of them thinks highly enough of you to be helpful."

"Yeah, maybe," Tony said, and then headed for the speakers they'd carried up earlier in the day. "They're supposed to be celebrating my birthday, but some will be here just for the free food and beer."

She started unfolding the chairs and positioning them around the roof as Tony fiddled with connecting the speakers to his iPod dock. "How long has it been since you have seen some of these people?"

"I don't know," Tony said distractedly. "Not long, for some. A couple of years for others."

"Years?"

"Yeah. Couple of guys from Baltimore. Couple of agents from different agencies."

Ziva nodded to herself and thought that over. Tony had been through a couple of different phases of his life just in the time she had known him, and more in the time since he'd been a detective in Baltimore. She wondered how many of the people coming tonight knew him as Tony, the sweet romantic with eyes on a wife and kids and a house in the suburbs. How many would know him as Tony, the serial dater who balked at commitment? How many would know him as Tony, the focused investigator with no time for a personal life? How many knew him as an athlete? A joker? A risk-taker? A fighter? And how many would find it hard to believe that he'd committed himself (albeit only in the last few weeks) to a woman who looked and sounded like her and was in the same field of work? She certainly had not predicted it when they first met.

She recalled that right back in the beginning she had thought he was just another over-confident, hormonal frat boy who talked too much, joked too much and clung too hard to the little power he had over her and McGee. She had been attracted to him physically (although she had not been entirely proud of the fact), and perhaps if they had met in slightly different circumstances she would have slept with him and then left and never thought of him again. It hurt her heart to think of what she would have missed out on if she had not forced herself to get over her own arrogance and look a little deeper at who he really was. And she was glad that she had never given into any of the urges she'd had along the way to jam a stapler down his throat. Because she didn't think that she'd ever find anyone else to love like she loved him. And she knew without a doubt that there would never be anyone else who would be able to get past all her flaws and history to love her like he did.

She looked across the roof and smiled indulgently at his back as he stood in front of the speakers with his hands on his hips. In the last few weeks she'd found herself thanking God almost daily that Tony had been braver than her and stubbornly held on to his belief that the two of them could make a relationship work. Especially in the face of her repeated rejection. Because he had been right; she did want to know if they would work out. And their relationship couldn't be harder than their constant denials of the last few years. So far things had been pretty easy (lots of sex made them both pretty relaxed and agreeable), but she didn't doubt that they had a lot of ups and downs ahead of them. The trick to coping with the downs would be to remember that they'd already been to hell and back together, and they'd gotten through it. If they truly wanted to make it work, they could.

Ziva smiled to herself as a bubble of warmth grew in her chest. She wasn't used to feeling so optimistic about the future, but she was determined to enjoy it. And she was determined to be as good to Tony as he was to her. That meant she owed him an explanation.

As Tony finally figured out how to connect the speakers properly, Ziva headed over to the cooler that they'd filled with beer, spirits and champagne. She dug through the ice to find two cold bottles of beer, and carried them over to Tony as Frank Sinatra started crooning and Tony looked at her proudly.

"Hey, I did it!" he said. "I didn't need McGee or Abby."

She handed him a bottle of beer. "You are very clever," she purred, teasing him but making up for it with a kiss.

Tony frowned with suspicion and looked her up and down. "You're paying me a compliment," he said. "Why? What are you planning?"

Ziva knew he was teasing her back, and rolled her eyes. He would probably make jokes like that for the rest of their lives. As long as it was always a joke, she didn't mind.

"It would be no fun if I told you," she replied.

She clinked her beer bottle against his and led him over to the brick wall on the eastern side of the building. As she looked out to the darkening sky, Tony turned and faced the sunset. Ziva closed her eyes to enjoy the gentle breeze on her face, the faint smell of Tony's cologne and the warmth of the day clinging to her skin. She smiled at the sense of peace they brought.

"We should do this more often," she said to Tony.

She felt Tony's lips brush over her bare shoulder. "Hang out on the roof?"

"It is peaceful," she said, and took a few sips of cold beer.

"I used to do this a bit," Tony told her. "Birthday tradition when we're not working a case. Haven't you been to one of these before?"

Ziva opened her eyes to shoot him the briefest of glares. "No. I have not had the pleasure."

Tony looked down at her as he searched for the reason. "Oh. Well I guess someone's always in Israel or Mexico or—" He stopped abruptly and took a shallow breath, and his eyes filled with pain before he dropped her gaze.

Ziva reached the same thought he had, and swallowed hard as her heart started pounding. "Somalia," she finished. She still thought about her time in captivity regularly, but the thoughts didn't usually come out of nowhere to surprise her when she wasn't ready for them. But sometimes they did, and she had to take a few deep breaths and remind herself a few times that she was safe and it was over. She kept her eyes open to look at the buildings and streets around her and concentrated on her breathing. It took a minute, but she was able to calm down. She tilted her head back to look up at Tony and found him staring at her with pain and apology. She put her hand on his arm and smiled for him.

"It's all right," she told him.

Tony rolled his eyes at himself and gave a bitter snort. "Yeah, it's all right that you're having a peaceful moment up here and I bring that up."

Ziva pressed herself against him. "Tony, it's all right," she repeated. "We are both here and safe. It's all right."

Tony sighed heavily and ran his thumb across her cheekbone as he cupped her cheek. "I'm sorry."

"I know," she said softly, and raised herself on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I love you for coming for me," she told him, wishing she had told him that before.

Tony put his beer down on the wall and wrapped both arms around her. "I had to," he said with a shrug.

Ziva took another deep breath. "I am sorry that I let things get so bad between us. That I did not listen to you. I was so confused at the time."

"I know," he said with a nod. "I think we both owe each other apologies, but let's just be good to each other now."

She smiled. "Yes. Let's do that."

Tony returned her smile and gave her another quick kiss before they parted. Ziva leaned her hip against the wall to face him, and waited until he had swallowed his beer before bringing Somalia up again.

"Tony, I want to tell you what happened there." At his cautious look, she chuckled and shook her head. "I do not mean right now. But soon. I want to tell you."

Tony licked his lips nervously. "You don't have to put yourself through it for me."

Ziva shook her head again. "No, it is important that you know," she said. "If we continue this relationship—and I want to—I think it is important that you know what happened."

He watched her quietly for a moment before finally nodding. "Whenever you're ready."

She squeezed his arm in thanks and then quickly glanced at her watch. People would be arriving to help celebrate Tony's birthday soon, but she thought she might have enough time to tell him something she had wanted to say since the day he'd come to her apartment and fought for their future.

"There is something else I want to talk to you about."

Tony paused with his beer almost at his lips and looked at her with apprehension. "Something that will make me want to drink a lot afterwards?" he asked slowly.

Ziva frowned and shook her head. She didn't understand his reaction. "No. Although you were planning on drinking a lot tonight anyway, yes?"

"Yeah," he said, then 'tsk'ed to himself. "I just get nervous when women say there's something they want to talk about."

Ziva chuckled and kicked his foot gently. "Relax," she told him.

Tony poured the rest of his beer down his throat, put the bottle down and then nodded at her. "Okay. What's up?"

Ziva slid her hand down his arm and threaded her fingers through his. "I want to make sure that you know that I want this," she told him.

Tony's eyebrows went up for a fleeting moment and he cocked his head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

She pressed herself closer to him again. It was a habit she had picked up lately that she was unwilling to break. "When you came to my apartment and told me that you wanted to do this…" She paused as comprehension came over his face, followed by a soft smile. "Tony, I never wanted to make you beg or fight or prove yourself. I wanted to say yes straight away. Because I do want this. More than anything."

Tony's eyes flicked down briefly, but before he could respond she pushed on to make sure that he knew how deeply she felt this.

"I had been trying so hard to talk myself out of it and let you go, and I just thought…" She paused and tried to find the words to explain how she'd felt. "I was scared that if I went back on my decision, which had been so hard to make to begin with, and then everything fell apart around me, then I would not know how to deal with that. Or what move to make next."

Tony nodded and gave her half a smile. "Yeah. I figured. You're not that hard to work out sometimes, you know that?"

She was pleased to hear that, because she had no intention of being an enigma to him. "I just wanted to say it," she told him. "So that you knew, instead of assumed. I do not want you to think that I only gave in because you would not give up. My hesitation had nothing to do with you. I wanted to say yes straight away."

Tony's smile reached the other side of his face, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. "Yeah, well I'm pretty irresistible."

He was making light of it, but she could see something in his eyes that told her he'd needed to hear it. Tony was such a large personality that it was easy to forget how insecure he could really be about being loved. Ziva had to remember to make sure he would never doubt her.

"I love you," she told him, and then smiled with the release of endorphins telling him that still gave her. "I have loved you for a long time. And I promise that when things get hard, as we both expect they will," she pause as they shared a knowing smile, "I will keep trying. I will not give up again. I will not walk away. I promise you. That is what I wanted to talk to you about."

Tony took a moment before responding, and used the time to brush her hair back from her face and tuck it behind her ears. His eyes started to fill with tears, but with a blink and a hard swallow, he sent them away and kept his composure. "Thank you," he said thickly, and with so much sincerity that Ziva knew she should have told him weeks ago. "I promise you I'm not going to give up either."

She didn't doubt him for a second. If there was one thing Tony could be relied on for, it was his loyalty. She stretched to kiss him again, and after a few moments Tony pushed them away from the wall and walked her a few paces backwards towards the middle of the roof. She broke the kiss to look up at him in question, and he grinned at her.

"Dance with me."

Ziva tuned back in to Frank Sinatra crooning over the speakers and slid her arm around his back. "I did not know that you liked to dance."

"I don't," he admitted, and laughed with her. "Except slow dancing. I like that. I'm good at that." He held her hand in his against his chest and started swaying her slowly around the roof. She let him lead her wherever he wanted.

"Happy birthday, Tony."

Tony unleashed a big, signature DiNozzo smile, the one that she had missed so much during the months they had spent at odds. "It's been a pretty good one, Ziva," he said. "And many more to come."

That's it! Thanks again to everyone who has been reading along, who has marked this as a favorite or marked it for alert. And a special thanks to those of you who have reviewed, be it once or twice or every single chapter. I've said it so many times but to repeat it again, I am terrible at responding to reviews. But I am extremely appreciative of the comments you've all left.

Not related to the story, but it was an FAQ in comments from the last chapter: Shiva was close to perfect and I have declared it to be my favorite episode.