Tony and Ziva are on the plane to Paris and Tony has some plans for the evening… What will happen and will they show their true feelings in the city of love? This story is set just before the episode "Jet lag" in season 7.
This chapter is about the flight to Paris and some awkward things happen…A stewardess, a hand on a shoulder,…Read to find out J
I don't own NCIS or the characters…and please excuse my mistakes…
I know that most of you write stories about the latest episode, but I think Paris is a lovely memory of Tony and Ziva... "Paris will never end!"
Paris – the city of love
"Would you like some water or tomato juice, Sir?", sounds the voice of a stewardess besides them. She smiles politely at them and holds a plastic cup in her hand right hand. Tony looks up from his mobile phone, on which he just played pinball and checks out the woman in front of him. She was quite attractive and Tony instantly puts on his famous smile. "Of course…from such a beautiful woman I would take everyth…ugh…", he starts, but is interrupted by the sudden ache in his rips. He winces and quickly turns his head to face Ziva. She has elbowed him in the ribs and now looks at him with hoisted eyebrows. Tony doesn't need to ask for the reason of her behaviours, because he already knows. He sees it written all over her face and no words need to be spoken. He sees a mixture of anger, annoyance and sadness in her eyes. He can understand the anger and annoyance because they were supposed to stay invisible and not attract attention, but he cannot understand the sadness. Why should she be sad when he flirts with another woman? Can it be…? No! Ziva would never have feelings for me…or? He quickly suppresses these thoughts and concentrates on the reality.
After a while he breaks eye contact with Ziva and quickly glances up to the stewardess, as he says sheepishly: "Eh…I'd like some water please…", and then looks down at his phone. He realizes that the game is still on and turns it out with one single keystroke. After some seconds he feels Ziva's eyes on his body and shifts a bit in his seat, before he looks up again to meet her eyes for the second time in the last few minutes. The two partners just look at each other and their eyes immediately lock. For a moment nothing around matters, but even if they wouldn't realize it anyway. They both try to imagine what the other one is thinking, but they can't get through the wall they formed to hide the true feelings. There are a few moments when the two agents allow each other to look behind the walls, however this is very rarely. They both experienced a lot in their lives, such as disappointments and emotional damage. It was part of their survival plan…building walls to show only the emotions they want you to see. They learned to trust nobody, but themselves and to never show any signs of weakness.
That's also the reason that Tony acted against his will. He never wanted to flirt with the stewardess, but otherwise Ziva would have asked awkward question. What's wrong with you, Tony? No flirting with the stewardess? or Are you sick? Normally you would have asked her for her number by now? Something like that, but he wouldn't have been able to answer her questions, because the reason is her and there is no way that she can find that out. Lying would have been no option as well, because she can tell if he tells the truth or a lie. There was nothing left as to do what he always does: flirt with every attractive woman, who goes by. Although it means that he could hurt Ziva with his behaviour, he saw now other option. Wait…Why should she even care about it? And why should she be hurt? There is no reason for that, unless… There are these thouhts again and he puts them aside one more time. As much as he would love it, if Ziva would return his feelings, there is no way that this could actually happen. After the past they share…No way!
However this is not going to change anything about his feelings for her. He always loved her and he always will. The cognition that he is in love with her came when he thought he had lost her. Forever. When Gibbs said those words, back then, down in Abby's lab, a world broke together. "No survivors". He thought he would never see her again, never be able to touch her skin, smell her fragrance or feel her soft skin. In that very moment he realized what she truly means to him. Of course he had missed her, but he never thought he would have such feelings for his partner. Deep down inside him he was always attracted to her, but always denied it. This attraction grew bigger and bigger and developed into pure admiration and love. After Somalia he never had the chance to tell her and he is not sure that he will ever do that. He has lost her once and he knows that Ziva rather runs from problems instead of facing them. As much as it hurts to be near her, but not being able to touch her and kiss her, it is still better than not seeing her at all. They just put the past behind them and the associated problems and he honestly doesn't want to cause new ones.
Tony is brought back to reality by the voice of the stewardess who is still standing besides them. "Oh, I understand, Miss..", she says with a knowing smile on her face. "Besides, you are a really cute couple…must be very romantic…to travel to Paris with the boyfriend.", she continues, obviously misunderstanding Ziva's behaviour. Before one of the agents is able to clarify that, the woman has already put the plastic cup onto the tray table in front of Tony and is now asking her usual question in the row behind them.
There are no further interruptions or conversations between the two agents for the next two hours. They are both thinking about what the stewardess said and are lost in their own world. Ziva cannot help but feel a warmth spread through her body when she thinks about being in Paris together with Tony, alone. She knows that she is attracted to him, but she never let herself show that. Besides there are deeper feelings than just attraction and she cannot afford to show them. Also she looks forward to Paris, she is also a bit worried that she could accidentally let down her mask in a moment of comfort. It could destroy so much she cares about and this is not worth the risk. After Somalia they have been getting closer and she really enjoys that. That's exactly why she is afraid to tell Tony. She does not want to lose this closeness, if he does not feel the same way about her. What she doesn't know is that Tony has the same thoughts, only a few inches away from her.
How would his touch feel? His lips on her? Would he taste the same as the evening when they were undercover? Oh yeah, that undercover mission…. She instantly remembers his lips on hers and cannot help but start to miss this feeling. The warmth, the feeling of safety. It may sound like a cliché, but at that very moment she felt butterflies in her stomach. It felt so damn good and she would like nothing better than kissing him right there and then. Fortunately she is able to control herself, otherwise this could end up really awkward. She quickly puts these thoughts aside before her control fades, but mostly because she feels Tony's glare on her body. She looks up from her book and eyes him expectantly. "What, Tony?", she asks with a small smile on her face. Sometimes just seeing him makes her smile, because he just has a way of cheering her up that is totally unique.
"I was wondering what you are doing?!", Tony asks shifting in his seat. Ziva's smile didn't go unnoticed by him and makes a mental note to ask her about that later. Now he gets back to his original question and turns his attention back to his beautiful partner, who sitting across from him. "As you can see Tony, I have been reading until you interrupted me by staring at me…", she asks and the amusement in her voice is clearly audible. "Yeah, I can see that, but…you haven't turned the page in about…ten minutes…?!" She just looks at him, their eyes lock in the instant they meet. "What were you thinking about, Ziva?", Tony asks trying to look through the fake emotions in her eyes. As she heard his question, she considered breaking their gaze, but decided against it. Instead she intensifies the glare and lets him see a few of her real emotions. Tony is able to see that her walls are tumbling down a bit and he can actually look through it for a short moment. What he sees there makes him only think more: uncertainty, confusion, regret. He tries to place these feelings, but fails.
Her answer to his question, draws him back to reality, but actually he is not very surprised about it. She just says: "Things…" and they continue staring at each other for several minutes. Tony knows he is not going to get an honest answer, so they both slowly break their "connection". Just as Ziva is about to get back to her book, she is stopped by Tony's voice. "Soo…what are we going to do this evening?" She can hear the excitement in his voice and cannot help but feel the excitement rise in her body, but manages to hide it. "I don't know what you do, but I am going to finish my book and then I'll go to sleep…" There is no way that you could overhear the disappointment in Tony's voice as he exclaims: "This is Paris, Ziva! You cannot SLEEP!" Ziva just looks at him and says: "Yes, Tony. I can…" without another word, he just returns to his magazine and pretends like nothing has happened. As Ziva gives her attention back to her book, she cannot help but smile. She wonders what he has in his mind, but she is sure that it will involve some "going-out" instead of staying in the hotel.
Actually she kind of likes his idea, but she is not sure that she is going to be able to hold it together, while going out with Tony in the "city of love". Maybe that's what he wants? But…why would he want that? Ziva thinks about this question for almost the rest of the flight and is only interrupted by the announcement of the stewardess who informs the passengers that they are going to arrive in Paris soon:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, now we areapproaching Paris where the local time is 18:00. At this stage you should be in your seat with your seatbelt firmly, fastened. Personal television screens, footrests and seat tables must be stowed away and all hand luggage stored either in the overhead lockers or under the seat in front. Please ensure all electronic devices including laptop computers and computer games are turned off. Have a nice stay and enjoy the city!"
Ziva does as required of her, but Tony obviously hadn't heard the announcement because he makes no move to fasten his seatbelt. Ziva can see that Tony is lost in his thoughts, so she puts her hand on his shoulders, as he did back then when they were in the car and she was talking about her sister. Tony winces as the sudden touch and his head whips around instantly. They are nose to nose and they can feel each other breathing, but none of them dares to move. A while they just stare at each other and eventually Ziva says: "We're landing…you should fasten…your seatbelt, Tony…" As Tony realizes the meaning of her words, he quickly buckles on, but doesn't break the gaze. After a while Tony looks down where Ziva's hand is still resting on his shoulder and then back into her eyes. Ziva follows his gaze and then instantly removes her hand. She feels herself flush and she looks embarrassed out of the window where she can see the lights of Paris approaching.
This is the first chapter and I hope you like…Shall I continue or not? I would like to know your opinion…, so please review!