Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Rule One – Never Screw Over Your Partner.
Tony had his eyes carefully trained on the beautiful Israeli, who was curled up beneath a tree in a quiet park, reading a book. Such a Ziva-ish thing to do, he thought to himself. Ziva had always loved books, from the age of thee she had even began reading. She had also mentioned to Tony how much she liked quiet parks, how she found them tranquil and calming.
Tony remembered how she told him that she spent a lot of her teenage years reading; she used the books as an escape from her life. Ziva's parents were always fighting; Ziva and her siblings were always moving from house to house, so books were really the only stable thing she had in her life, her only means of escaping her reality, escaping her parents and the fact she was being trained to be – as she put it – a 'cold-blooded killer'. Tony had tried reasoning with her, and telling her that she wasn't like that now, that it wasn't her fault, that she was a beautiful person, but she never believed him.
Eventually, Tony got up and walked over to her, "Hey." He said.
Her eyes graced up from her book, "Tony?" She furrowed her brow, "What are you doing here?"
"I – uh - just wanted to say thank you." He said, sitting down next her.
She cocked her head sideways, "What for?"
"For having my back; when Gibbs was yelling at me for not telling him about the undercover Ops I've been doing, you defended me."
-Flashback-
"Why didn't you tell me, DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked, as he stalked into the bull pen, with a sour expression on his face.
"About what?" Tony replied.
"About the undercover ops the director had you doing!"
"Because I was told not to."
"But we are a team! We don't have sec-"
"Hey!" Ziva jumped up, cutting in the middle of the argument, "You know plenty well that this team is full of secrets!" She snapped.
Gibbs glared at her, "But this is different. Tony's life was being endangered, people were after him, after us!"
"Did you ever think he was just trying to protect us! Keep us from worrying?"
Gibbs said nothing, he knew she was right, eventually he nodded and gave a grunt; about the closest to an apology you could get from Gibbs.
-End Flashback.-
For a moment, Ziva looked a confused, but then her expression softened into a flawless smile. "We are partners, are we not? We have each others back."
"Yes, but you didn't have to do that."
"But I did. To have not would not have been right; rule number one."
"Never screw over your partner." Tony smiled as he reached down and gave her hand a squeeze, "Thanks, Zee."
She smiled, as he tucked a stray, curly lock behind her ear.
"You know you could have told me, though? I could have helped."
He nodded, "Honestly, I didn't want to endanger you."
"I can take care of myself."
Tony didn't agree, or disagree, "Anyway, all that matters is that no one is after us anymore, we are safe."
"I am glad you are safe, Tony." She said quietly, and placed a soft, gently kiss on his cheek."
Did you guys like it? Should I continue with this? (: