Written for the 2010 Secret Santa Exchange on the NFA, for mysslyss.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
Hey guess what? I don't own NCIS! I would have a much better computer if I owned NCIS.
Small white puffs fell from the sky outside of Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David's window. These mysterious puffs had not gone unnoticed by said Mossad Liaison officer, as she was currently standing in front of her window glaring at the suspicious flakes. Ziva turned her television on to one of the many local news stations to see what exactly these foreign particles were. The tiny screen flickered to life, and displayed on it was a blonde-haired news reporter with too much make up on talking about a four-year-old saving his infant sister from a vicious llama attack. She sighed discontentedly before flipping the channel to a different news station. This time a stout balding man was relaying all of the excitement that happened at the various high school football games that had taken place over the weekend.
Ziva glared venomously at the screen before turning the television off and haphazardly tossing the remote onto her coffee table. She turned to look outside of her window to check if the puffs were still falling. Surely enough, they were still descending from the sky. The only difference that she could see was that now some of them had started to pile up and stick to the ground.
Marvelous.
Ziva grabbed her cell phone and hit the first number on her speed dial. She was shocked when after a few rings instead of hearing an indifferent "Gibbs." as an answer she was met with a computerized voice asking her to please leave a message. For a brief and terrifying moment Ziva thought that perhaps her boss had been kidnapped, or possibly something worse. But then she remembered seeing Gibbs and Director Shephard walking out of the NCIS building hand-in-hand last night when they thought no one was looking. Ziva quickly realized that their night time rendezvous must have carried on into the morning.
She hit the small red end button on her cell phone and remembering that the second number on her speed dial list was Jenny, she decided to skip it. Realizing that her only other options would probably not know how to handle a situation such as this, Ziva made a hasty decision to make her way to the Navy Yard. She figured that someone there had to know what was going on… right?
As Ziva stepped out of her car and began walking into the NCIS building, she quickly realized that it was much colder out than she had thought it would be. She had her hands shoved deep into the pockets of her grey pea coat, but her fingers were still becoming numb. One of the small white flakes had nearly landed on her face, so Ziva had quickened her pace to a near-jog to the door. She reached out to the grab the handle and immediately shied back when she saw that the wind had blown one of the particles onto the handle. Ziva huffed and rolled her sleeve down over her hand, then opened the door using her coat to protect her from the flake and its possible death-bringing powers.
The door swung shut behind Ziva and she simply stood for a moment and basked in the comforting heat and security the building had to offer. Gathering her thoughts, Ziva made her way to the closed doors of the elevator and hit the small white up button. It flashed to life and moments later the elevator dinged and opened its doors. Ziva silently stepped in to the machine and felt the familiar pulling sensation as the elevator rose to the squad room.
As Ziva stepped out of the elevator and made her way to the circle of desks that was Team Gibbs designated area, she noticed two things that she was most certainly not expecting.
1: The building was in full morning mode, agents were scurrying to their desks with large cups of coffee in hand, team leaders were giving orders, and one team was already grabbing their gear and heading to a crime scene. It was as though everyone but her was oblivious to the threat that awaited them outside.
And 2: Tony DiNozzo was the only wan sitting in his- or rather McGee's- desk in the area that their team worked.
Ziva approached McGee's desk and said "Tony," in an attempt to get his attention.
He muttered a "Gimme a sec, Ziva," and held up his index finger at her, which she briefly considered breaking.
"Tony, this is urgent. Stop whatever it may be that you are doing to McGee's computer and listen to me," she snapped, not in the patient mood.
Tony continued to ignore her.
"DiNozzo…" she hissed venomously, quickly bending down and yanking the computers plug out of its outlet, effectively shutting down the device.
"Jeez, Zee-vah. The Probie's not going to be very happy with you," he said in a sing-song way.
Ziva gave him an incredulous look. "What is going on?" She asked.
"Well…" he started, standing up and beginning to walk in a slow circle around Ziva, "the Probie is down in Abby's lab helping her with a case about a petty officer twisting his car around a tree last night. They're not sure yet whether it was foul play or just the snow. Also, methinks the boss man is at the director's place, or vice versa. You should've seen them last night. Something hinky is defin-"
"What did you say?" Ziva cut him off with a look of deep contemplation and perhaps the beginning of understanding on her face. If one had looked closely enough, they could probably have seen the gears turning in her head at that moment.
Tony looked at her questioningly, "That there's something hinky going on between the director and
Gibbs…?"
"No, no, no. Before that."
"The Probie is downstairs helping Abby…?"
"After that, DiNozzo!"
"Uhhh…" he paused, scrambling to think of what he could have possibly said that would interest the Mossad Liaison Officer/ Super Crazy Ninja Chick so. "That they're not sure whether it was foul play or just the snow that made the Petty Officer veer off the road last night?"
"Snow." Ziva nearly whispered, awestruck. Of course, she thought. Snow is the obvious answer to everything that had been going on that day. How could she have not thought of it? She wondered. Now Tony probably thinks I'm a real idiot, she thought.
Pulling herself from her self-degrading thoughts, she stated simply, "It is snowing outside."
"Yesss, Ziva. It's been doing that since last night and it's probably not going to stop for a few more hours. Why are you so astonished by this?" Tony asked.
Ziva said nothing, and Tony moved so that he stood directly in front of her.
"You didn't realize it was snow!" he accused her. Ziva's lack of response was enough to confirm his suspicion. "You thought it was something else! I can see it now, when Ziva David looked outside this morning, she thought there was some kind of rebellion or terrorist attack or who knows what else going on!"
"So what if I did, Tony? It is not as though I have even seen that before." She snapped, looking at the ground and suddenly feeling very inferior.
"You've never seen snow before?" Tony questioned, amazed. Ziva nodded slowly in response. "Well come on then!" Tony nearly shouted while he grabbed her by the hand and began to walk towards the elevator.
"Where are we going?" she asked him, confused.
"Outside, silly! I simply must introduce you to all the fun that can be had with snow!" he exclaimed, continuing to make his way to the elevator.
Ziva studded abruptly, pulling on Tony's hand so that he was facing her."Tony, we are at work. We have much better and more important things to do than go play in the snow like we are children," she objected.
"Zee-vah…" Tony sighed, "McGee is downstairs playing house with Abby, and Gibbs and the director are who knows where. We don't have a case and even if they did call Gibbs he's not even here. There is nothing else that we should be doing." He gave her a pleading look.
"Fine," Ziva huffed "but let me get my coat first."
He watched her as she grabbed her coat and began to put it on and then asked: "Do you have gloves?" Ziva shook her head no. "Oh, here," Tony said, digging inside his pockets, "take mine" He held out a pair of gloves to her.
"Keep your gloves, Tony. I will be fine." She refused his offer.
"Ziva. I have been around snow since I was six months old. I think I'd be better at handling the cold than you would." He looked at her with what she allowed herself to believe was sincere concern for her.
"Fine," she gave in, taking the large gloves and slipping them on to her slender hands.
Tony smiled contentedly and began heading towards the elevator once more. Ziva reluctantly followed and stepped on just as he hit the ground floor button.
As the pair stepped of what was commonly referred to as the "back door" of the building by those who worked there, Tony was looking everywhere for a snow pile worthy of what he liked to call his snow lesson. When at last he found one, he yet again took Ziva's hand (something that he was beginning to enjoy quite more than he should) and led her over to it.
Once near the pile, he bent down, picked up a clump of snow and began rolling it into a sphere in his hands. Once finished, he presented his creation to her. "This, Ziva, is a snowball. It has many uses."
Ziva asked, "Such as…?"
With a devilish grin, Tony lightly threw the snowball at Ziva, hitting her square in the chest. Ziva's mouth formed an O-shape and she quickly grabbed a handful of snow and packed it into a much tighter and harder ball, throwing it at Tony.
Tony threw another snowball at Ziva, and she returned the fire, laughing as their mini-snowball fight kept going.
Their snowball fight continued until Ziva's foot landed on a patch of ice and she slipped and fell forward into the snow pile, accidentally taking Tony down with her. With Tony nearly submerged in the snow and Ziva lying on top of him, they were close enough that their icy breath mingled. Ziva's breathing erratic, she was about to begin uttering apologies when suddenly Tony tilted his head forward and captured her lips in a sweet, if somewhat chilly, kiss. Ziva was quick to return this kiss, and even though she could feel the wetness of the snow seeping into her boots, Ziva was confident that if she had Tony to cuddle up with near a cold fire place, she could survive even the coldest of winters.
Fin.
