One of Us

Disclaimer – NCIS characters are CBS's not mine.

Summary - It felt like she was starting a whole new book with no basic plot whatsoever

She is shaking as she holds the envelope in her hands. This is the most life-defining thing that she ever did. There were moments where she felt she was betraying who she really was; giving up her Israeli sense of duty, turning her back on her family, her whole existence. How could she start a new chapter of her life when there were moments she was not even sure who she was? It felt like she was starting a whole new book with no basic plot whatsoever; a grown tree without its roots.

It was her life at NCIS that convinced her otherwise. Surrounded by people who truly cared for her and showed that they would risk everything for her, she found herself realising what the true meaning of family and friendship is. In a land which is marketed as the land of the free she found freedom in the love shown to her by her friends. In a country in which people from several countries try to restart their lives, she found that uniqueness is celebrated and that she did not have to discard any part of her heritage for her to be and feel American.

With this attitude she pushed herself to learn everything she could about this country which would adopt her and did her best to excel in the citizenship test so that she could finally officially be part of this great family. She found support from her friends who encouraged her and even helped with the material she had to learn. McGee sweetly prepared some slideshows to help her learn; Abby provided moral support and history of forensics; Ducky could help her brush up her history as he had a story linked to every important date and Gibbs would let her mock test him.

The only one who was not openly supportive of her becoming an American was Tony. At first she did not mind as she knew that he had a different way of showing his feelings to her. While others would have found his lecture on the American Dream a distraction, she knew that it was his way of sharing something American with her. She knew that with watching several movies with her he was showing her the American life. No, she did not mind then. She only started to mind when he would not mention anything about her impending test because not mentioning could mean he did not care.

She tried not to let it get to her; she did the test and now here she was, with the test results in her hands, still not managing to open the envelope. It was this way that the rest of the team found her. Abby was the one who approached her silently, for once, squeezing her hand to show her that no matter what the result they were with her. With the courage given to her by her family she opened the envelope and spotted the words: 'Congratulations! You have passed this....'

Allowing a smile to break on her face she felt herself being tightly hugged by Abby as McGee ran forward to take the letter from her hands and read it out loud for the whole bullpen to hear. Later she will notice the clapping that rang round the bullpen; she would notice Vance coming out of his office to congratulate her; she would notice some of her colleagues smiling at her and she would notice Gibbs' slightly red eyes. But right now she only noticed that Tony was not there.

~~ ** ~~

She knows that something is amiss before she even opens the door to her apartment, that is why she takes her gun out of its holster just in case. She opens the door slowly and a smell of microwave popcorn greets her. Unconsciously she smiles, associating the buttery popcorn with Tony but she keeps her guard on and checks the place with the gun ready.

'Now that's not the way to start your life as a US citizen.' His voice cries out from her left. She turns to him and he's just standing there wearing a football sweater and jeans smirking and pointing at her drawn gun.

The deepening of her smile is so instantaneous she does not even have the chance to mask it. It takes a while for her to regain her senses, to remove the gun and her coat, to notice that the apartment is lighted only by candles and to see past him – where on the small coffee table a pizza box stands out amongst the red, blue and white decorating items.

At that moment she is engulfed by a feeling of happiness unlike any other she ever felt before. She is not sure what provides this, if it is merely his presence or the obvious fact that he did care about her passing the test. It was probably a mix of both. She hears a chuckle that brings her mind back to reality and she is suddenly aware that he is standing close to her.

'Go change into something more comfy,' he tells her and she follows his gentle order mechanically. When she is more comfortable she heads back to the sitting room to find him already sitting at the sofa waiting for her with a big bowl of popcorn in his hands. She takes the time to notice the coffee table more closely and sees little American flags at each corner. She also sees 'I heart USA' T-Shirts and a small soft toy in the form of an eagle. There are several other items which she knows she will never wear in public, hating the idea of having something written on her bottom, but there are other things which she deeply appreciates and are so uniquely Tony.

So absorbed once more by the emotion of happiness and belonging, she only realises that she is crying when he brushes the tears away. He does not need to ask what is wrong and answers her questions before she even asks them.

'I did not want to allow myself to believe that there really was a chance... if you had not passed you would have to go back to Israel and I don't think I could have lived with that.'

Suddenly the words 'couldn't live without you' ring in her ears louder than ever and she understands how he wanted to distance himself from possible disappointment. She understands that he is asking her to forgive his actions. She gently shakes her head and looks at him softly to show him that he does not have to feel guilty for anything.

He then takes her hands and leads her to the sofa, she's once again overwhelmed by everything and by him. He just gives her a pizza slice and starts the DVD going on to place his arm on her shoulders. She settles into him and allows herself to be engulfed by this feeling of belonging not just to him but to this country.

'I am one of you now,' she tells him.

'You've been one of us for a very long time Ziva.'

Just a small something about what will happen when Ziva finally takes the citizenship test. Based off some discussions going on in the fanbase about Tony not being supportive of Ziva.