An Empty Box by EbbandFlow
Summary: Tony finds Ziva at her desk after Ray leaves. Spoilers to the season finale.
Author Note: I took a longer then intended break from fanfiction, but I wasn't really inspired by this season. I am really glad to be back writing though! Again, I don't own NCIS.
Tony walked down the stairs, surprised to find Ziva sitting alone at her desk, holding something square in her hand.
"What are you still doing here?" Ziva looked up to see Tony, standing in front of her desk. "Where is Ray?" He asked, looking around for the missing CIA agent.
"He left. He got a call and had to leave." The blank look on her face was making Tony's brain work overtime. 'Why would you leave your girlfriend after she was kidnapped and just found?' Tony thought in his head. Tony wished he could out a smile on Ziva's face, but he wasn't the man who put a smile on his partner's face.
"Everything okay with the director and the SecNav?" Ziva couldn't help but not notice Tony in the direction away from Vance's office. He plopped down on the empty spot on the filing cabinet behind Ziva's desk.
"Just tying up loose ends. What is in the box?" Tony had a twisting feeling he knew what was in the box; he held one just like it when he proposed to Wendy. Ziva wordlessly handed him the box, waiting to see his reaction. He knew that a box like this usually held a ring, often leading to marriage and kids.
"He gave you a empty box?" Tony's lips pursed and his nose flared. Ziva saw how Tony badly hid his disbelief of CIA Ray giving Ziva an empty box.
"It is not a empty box; it is a promise."
"What promise? I will be there in sickness and health, to tend your wounds after a long day from a thousand miles away," He said sarcastically as he handed the box back to Ziva. "I may not be the expert on relationships, but a stable relationship is isn't easy being so far away from someone all the time."
"Just because what you and EJ have is different that what Ray and I have doesn't make it any less of a relationship."
"So, you and Ray are in a relationship again? This morning you said you hadn't talked to him since he was last here." Tony was starting to push her buttons, and Ziva knew he just wanted her to lash out.
"Since when are you a expert at relationships? Deciding whose place to stay make a relationship."
"An empty box doesn't define a relationship either. It just says the person will be there eventually. If they aren't willing to be there right now, they aren't worth it. " Tony paused, and pulled his thoughts together before asking the question that was really on his mind.
"Do you want the box to mean something?" He asked carefully, wondering what she would say in response.
"It is a promise that Ray and I have a chance at this, something trusting and permanent." Tony saw Ziva's eyes wonder back to the box that now sat in the middle of the desk. In that instant, Tony knew that the box was more then what Ziva admitted. She never talked getting married or having a family, but Tony knew she must have considered settling and having kids after her years in Mossad.
"I still think you deserve more then a empty box." Tony said before getting up and going back to his desk.
Author's Note 2: What did you think of the season finale? I feel like it left more questions then answers, but hopefully things will be addressed in the fall.