So apparently I've been inspired by music lately….this one I can't tell you what happened other then I wrote it in about half a day. It forced its way out. A bit OOC for both of them… maybe more than a bit. You tell me, it was just to fun not to write. Enjoy! If you're wondering what song inspired this Clint Blacks "Like the Rain"
The rain thundered to the ground more a sheet of never ending water than individual drops. Visibility was barely closer than her outstretched hand. Ziva wished she had her NCIS hat it would have offered some protection for her eyes; instead with her hands tied behind her back she was left to shaking her head now and then like a mangy dog. Her hair was a long heavy mess down her back and the simple black slip dress left her little protection from the cold. Still she didn't imagine her comfort was high on her captor's list of things to worry about, otherwise she wouldn't be standing in the rain in the middle of nowhere. She should have been grateful she wasn't alone but under the circumstances she was wishing she hadn't lingered at the restaurant with Gibbs hoping he would offer her more than just a ride home after the team dinner. It had been a calculated kidnapping six men well trained and well-armed, any less and they might have made their way out of it. Why they were standing in the middle of the night in the rain remained to be seen. Glancing at Gibbs she saw the carefully controlled anger in his eyes, it matched her own and gave her even more confidence than she already had. They would find their way out of this.
Gibbs watched Ziva standing in the rain, head high, shoulders back showing not an ounce of fear these men might have expected. One lip was split, one eye showing signs of swelling and there would bruises in more than a few places on her body come morning. His own injuries were similar the men had done enough damage to subdue but not cause major damage. Of course the tasers they had used had been an unfair advantage. The men would glance his way now and then but they were watching her far more carefully than him. She stood like the warrior she was. The night was cold and the rain hitting his skin through his suit jacket had to have been even colder on her bare skin yet she showed no sign of it. The men stood underneath a premade tent that had been waiting upon their arrival. They were professional mercenaries that was easy to see, and paid well at that. They all kept their mouths shut and their distance all except for two that were just a bit younger than the rest. They didn't watch Ziva with the respect the other four did, they watched the rain hitting her body and the way her body reacted to that cold with a lot less than professionalism. It pissed him off, but since his hands were bound and there were more weapons available than men he refrained from getting too worked up about it.
Ziva watched Gibbs assess the men in front of them, she had done the same and saw their chance in the two youngest men just as he did. Why they were being made to stand in the rain she couldn't be sure but she had to guess it had to do with weakening them. She smiled wondering if they had any clue just how much it would take to break the two people in front of them.
"You find something funny?" one of the younger two men rubbed his hand across his gun as he stood in front of her.
"You look like children playing G. I Joe, I was just wondering where the little boy that controls you had run off too?" Ziva shrugged waiting for the anger she saw brewing to spill over. The hard slap across her jaw wasn't unexpected but it still hurt.
Gibbs knew Ziva had a reason for baiting the man but the harsh slap across her face made him see red. The loudly yelled "Drew! Stand down!" was the only thing that kept him from expressing any of that anger.
Drew watched Ziva pissed when she showed no reaction to his abuse. "Take a breath Cain, I've got it covered."
Ziva fought back her smile this time, only slid her glance to Gibbs as Drew walked away. They had two names now. That was something to work with. She watched them all glancing at their watches now and then. They were definitely waiting for someone. "Talk to me Gibbs I am bored."
Gibbs shook his head and grinned, following her lead. "You would be."
She looked at him noticing out of the corner of her eye that the men, all of them watched their by-play carefully. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You just like your excitement level high Ziva." Gibbs watched her pretending to pout then she turned to him again.
"Base jumping is not that difficult Jethro, I imagine you have done it yourself for work. I do it for fun, I do not see the difference." She shrugged while at the same time trying to work her hands free from behind her, for a reason she couldn't fathom but only be grateful for they had used duct tape rather than zip cuffs, again something she could work with.
"I wasn't referring to the base jumping I was talking about the tightrope walking without a net, gotta say that scares the hell out of me." Gibbs watched her lips twitch. He wasn't joking and she knew it. How she'd gotten into the "sport" he'd never guess but damn if it didn't make him sweat.
"I did not believe anything could scare the infamous Jethro Gibbs except maybe marriage number five." She watched the shock hit his face and laughed.
"Hey what the hell is wrong with you two?" An unnamed man in the group apparently the second in command stepped forward but not out from under the cover of the tent.
Gibbs paid him little mind keeping focused on Ziva but answered all the same. "What are you going to do kill us? He wants us alive and relatively unharmed I'm guessing."
"Dan, leave it we have our orders."
Gibbs tucked away that latest piece of information and went back to his conversation with Ziva. The rain had lightened a good bit and they could stop yelling over the sound of it. "Marriage number five doesn't scare me Ziva just waiting for the right woman."
Ziva heard the sincerity in his voice even if the others couldn't. "So you think she is out there?"
Gibbs grinned trying not to notice how damn good she looked standing there in the rain, a hostage waiting for the bad guy. He was pretty sure it made him a bastard. "Certain of it."
"Hmm. I do not think I would like marriage." She shrugged again working at the tape around her wrists. They'd left her jewelry on including the lightly spiked bracelet Abby had given her for Christmas. Yet another bit of help they hadn't intended. She knew Gibbs was doing the same, probably using his watch.
"Really? Why" Gibbs was making progress on the tape banding his wrists, the watch Ziva had given him for his birthday had the tiniest cutting tool built into the clasp. She'd said it never hurt to have a little back-up, how right she had been.
"I don't like to be tied-down." She lifted an eyebrow met his gaze through the lightly misting rain and they both laughed loud enough to cause annoyed rumbles from the men under the tent. As she glanced over she saw one of them dozing off.
"Why is Mike always dozing off, dude doesn't share the heavy lifting anymore." The leader Cain laughed, "Guy's got a new kid never sleeps cries non-stop, he got sucked in." the words were barely audible but more information.
Ziva continued talking as though they hadn't heard anything. "I have noticed that when people get married they try to change each other. I like who I am and do not want to change and if you fall in love with someone the way they are why would you want to change them." Ziva watched something she couldn't place flit through Gibbs eyes, it had nothing to do with trying to get free and everything to do with his past three wives. "I am sorry I did not mean to infer."
Gibbs cursed lightly "Don't apologize Ziva you're right." For a moment they were quiet. He stared at the ground the way her feet in those sinfully high heels remained perfectly still despite the fact they were sinking into the mud of the field they were in. "I gotta ask Ziva how do you women do it?"
"Do what insult the people around us so easily." Ziva heard a muffled chuckle from somewhere in the peanut gallery but ignored it.
Gibbs grinned "Wear those shoes? I mean that can't be comfortable, especially right now…?"
Ziva laughed. "Because men like them, oh any sane female will tell you different but at the heart of it is that they look good and make men happy." Ziva lifted one foot gracefully, shook off the mud and twisted his ankle for him to see. "This pair right here was $250 and worth every penny when I saw the way you looked at me when you saw them." She watched his eyes snap to hers, knew he heard the truth in her words.
Gibbs stepped just a hair closer moving with just the faintest shift of his body. For a long moment he was quiet. "Well that's a revelation."
Ziva lifted an eyebrow, wishing the rain hadn't picked up again. "did I shock you Jethro?"
"Was that you're intention, if so watch out it's working." He saw her lips bite into a smile and knew she caught the double meaning of his words. He'd managed to tell her he was succeeding in getting free from the tape. "I think I like you shocking me, makes me think all sorts of things. Like that red dress you wear with the corset back, I wonder if you wear it just to make me think of how long it would take to undo all those laces?"
Gibbs watched her flush, heard a low whistle from the tent and waited for her response. "Well it is certainly on my mind every time I put it on. I think about all that untying, I wonder if you would go slow or just use your favorite knife and cut right through to the chase. I think you would choose fast and let that metal slide down the small of my back just to tease me." She watched him step forward again just the slowest of movements, heard one of the men cough out a "hell yeah.." but what she knew most of all was Gibbs had gotten the message her hands were free, and she had a knife.
Gibbs would have to ask her later where she had managed to hide a knife the men hadn't found but for now he was just grateful she had. They had to get out of this, if he didn't get her to a bed and damn soon he was going to embarrass the hell out of himself. "Aren't you just full of surprises tonight?"
"Well if we are being completely honest Jethro, I had lots of surprises intended for tonight." He'd managed to move even closer and none of the men in the tent had noticed or cared enough to stop him. "Catching you off guard has always been a fantasy of mine." Ziva caught the faintest hint of headlights in the distance and knew they had to make their play now.
"You think you could handle me Ziva, I'm not always the right kind of man." He was asking her how many men she thought she could take and that he would go right. Smart woman that she was he saw her catch on just that fast.
"Oh don't worry Jethro I won't get left behind by you, I expect three or four nights with you in a bed will tell me all I need to know." She watched him nod and they both took a long deep breath.
It happened in seconds yet played out in slow motion to Gibbs. Ziva used that lethal aim of hers and planted her knife precisely into the man named Cain's shoulder. As one they rushed the remaining men he took out his own targets, placing well aimed hits to the solar plexus until he could get his hands on a gun. His gaze strayed to Ziva watching her take a bone jarring hit to shoulder as she ducked and landed her own fist to a groin. In the same moment they both had a weapon in their hands and the men subdued. On their knees moaning out their pain and zip tied with their own unused plastics they stared up at Ziva and Gibbs in shock.
Ziva saw the headlights getting closer, just as she finished securing the remaining weapons. "We are going to have company soon." Through the rain she saw a trickle of blood running down Gibbs arm. "You took a hit."
Gibbs ignored it "Just grazed." Glancing toward the oncoming cars he recognized the dark outline of the vehicle headed their way and the hell bent driving that came with it. He smiled "Looks like our company is friendly."
Ziva looked toward the SUV that she now recognized was driven by Tony. She grinned. "Too bad I was hoping to take out the last of the bad guys and have a little alone time."
Gibbs cocked his head watching her step closer, holding her weapon a safe distance away from them and shook his head. He was crazy, they had six men trussed up like turkeys, someone hunting one of them and their team mates driving like hell to get to them and all he could think of was laying her down in his bed. "One of these days you're going to have to show me where you hid that knife."
Ziva laughed sensing what he intended to do "I think I would rather show you." As she finished speaking his free hand wrapped around her neck pulling her mouth to his. The rain, the bad guys and even Tony and McGee stepping out of the SUV didn't register just the feel of Jethro warming her from the inside out.
Gibbs was pretty certain he would end up on the wrong end of retirement papers by the time this whole things was over, but as Ziva trembled in his arms giving as good as she got he knew it would damn well be worth it.
Tony and McGee rushed from the SUV battle ready, they were brought to an abrupt halt. Six men tied up under a tent in the middle of nowhere was enough to make them pause. But Gibbs locked in a passionate embrace with Ziva David both looking like drowned rats and armed to the teeth was downright startling. Tony looked to McGee seeing the same shock mirrored on his face. Ziva was bruised and battered, Gibbs was bleeding and neither seemed to give a damn. He and McGee had driven like hell trying to get here. The bloody knuckles on Tony's hands were testament to the fact he hadn't played by the rules when Convincing Alejandro Rivera to give up where he'd had them taken. Somehow the worm had escaped from prison and his first priority had been making Gibbs pay. "I thought we'd have a warmer welcome or at least a chance to get in on the action."
McGee cocked his head "I'm thinking they saved the warm welcome for each other.." McGee refrained from taking the rest of that comment where he wanted to go but just barely.
"feel free to continue ignoring the bad guys on the ground, they have the whole damn time."
Tony heard the frustrated voice coming from one of the men on the ground watched as Gibbs and Ziva parted and grinned. It was Gibbs' voice that came next. "I used to not be so fond of the rain Zi, I'm thinking you changed my mind." He heard her laugh, couldn't help but join her even as Tony, McGee and the bad guys watched them like they were crazy.