Title: Nightmare
Fandom: NCIS
Author: Alidiabin
Words: 2,158
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Warnings/ Spoilers: post 8x13 'Freedom'
Parings: Tony/Ziva
Summary: The talk with the widow causes nightmares to resurface.
Nightmare
Salim stood above her, his hand on her shoulder gripping it tightly. His mouth was open; his smelly breath lingered in the air. She could see his cold tooth. She tasted sand in her mouth. Salim's clothes smelt like Caf-Pow! And cigarette smoke.
"You will not talk to me," Salim said boldly. "Fine." He called out in a language Ziva did not understand for the men to bring something. One of Salim's olive skinned henchman emerged with an electricity generator. Ziva gulped, she knew what he was going to do. Electrocution was a particularly cruel form of torture as there was only so much one person could handle, despite her training. An evil laugh echoed from Salim's mouth as he saw fear wash over her.
Ziva's eyes shot open as she woke from the vicious and violent nightmare. Her head hurt. Vomit slid up her throat. She jumped out of bed and rushed to her bathroom. She threw up empting the contents of her stomach and regretting eating the leftover falafel. She licked her lips, but still tasted phantom sand in her mouth. She leaned her head on the white toilet seat not caring about the germs on the seat. She took slow and deep breaths. They did not calm her. She was shaking. She closed her eyes and only saw Salim's face, his glaring eyes, and his open mouth revealing his fake gold tooth. She crawled to the shower sliding her pyjamas off and letting the water rush away her pain. When that did not work she grabbed her phone and called Tony.
Tony was asleep on his oversized couch, his evening out with McGee and his identity stealing juvenile delinquent neighbour had ended when the kid's curfew came up, McGee had also headed home. Tony had suggested they go bar hopping or clubbing but McGee had refused, which was much to Tony's relief, because when he got home he realised he had a still unwatched DVD due back at the video store the next morning. In the end, he had fallen asleep on his couch halfway through the movie. His phone woke him up; he grabbed the phone from the side table. He checked the caller ID, even though he knew only two people would call him at this ridiculous hour. A smile crossed his face as he read Ziva's names instead of Gibbs.
"Ziva," he said groggily.
"Tony," she said her words lingered Tony knew something was up. They stewed in silence for a few seconds as they both tried to get their heads straight and organise the thousands of thoughts that they both had swimming around in their heads.
"So what can I do for you?" Tony asked breaking the silence. He noticed the clock on the DVD player. "At 0232 on a Thursday morning."
"I," Ziva whispered. Tony knew what she was going to say. In their nearly six year partnership, he had learnt to read Ziva; he knew how to interpret her pauses as she tried to translate her buried emotions into words.
"You had a nightmare," he uttered; he hoped he was not right because he knew what the nightmares did to Ziva, they shook her confidence. She felt she had nowhere safe if she could not escape her demons and ghosts when she slept.
"Yes," Ziva said quietly.
"You haven't had one for a while," Tony said, there was a time between Christmas 2009 and Ziva's citizenship when she called him every second night when she was shaken by a violent nightmare and needed distraction. Since her citizenship ceremony she had not called once. Tony had found himself waking up once or twice about the time Ziva would have called expecting his phone to buzz and expecting to have to have to help Ziva fight her ghosts.
"No," Ziva said, she paused. Tony knew what she was not going to say but really meant; no, I just stopped calling you. Tony wondered why she had stopped calling, had he done something. Had she seen herself as burden, and decided to stop calling him? Tony had missed their late night conversations.
"Do you want me to come over?" Tony asked, he had made the same offer once or twice when Ziva was hysterical. Ziva moved on the other end. It was only then Tony noticed an almost rhythmic noise going on in the background. A banging. Ziva was repeatedly hitting something.
"Tony I do not want to disturb your night, you probably only just got back from your boy's night out," Ziva said not wanting to be a burden, she had already wasted his time by calling him. Tony counted the bangs he heard, one every ten seconds.
"The kid and McNanna ditched me at 2130," he said as he found his car keys and walked out the door. "I'm coming over Ziva."
"Ok," she whispered and she hung up.
Ziva sat on the floor of her small bedroom, at some point between her shower and calling Tony, she had managed to push her service weapon into the wall and had made a hole in the plaster of the white coloured wall. She leaned her head on the wall and pushed the gun into the hole she had created. She found it brought her some relief, it distracted her mind from the nightmare and Tony.
Once the mutilation of her wall became a tiresome task thoughts about the case swirled around in her head. She thought of the Gunnery Sergeant and their conversation about them both being victims of controlling men, even though they would both prefer the label survivor over victim. Ziva also thought of how her time in Somalia had affected her; before she would have seen the widow as weak for not leaving her abusive bastard of a husband, now Ziva could empathise with the woman and believed Georgia Wooten showed strength and determination for dealing with the hell she was put through and fighting for the sake of her child.
Tony let himself into Ziva's small and sparsely decorated apartment, with the key she had given him over Christmas so he could water her plant while she was skiing with renaissance Ray. None of the lights in the lounge or kitchen were on; there was a hint of light coming from the bedroom at the end of the hall.
"Ziva," he called into her apartment, expecting her to walk out holding a weapon or two and shout at him for not waiting for her to let him in. He heard the same rhythmic banging from the phone but louder. He turned on the lights on her kitchen and lounge. He also put on her kettle wondering if a cup of tea would help her. He walked toward the light in her bedroom.
He stopped just outside the door, apprehensive over what he might find, he doubted Ziva would cut or drink but wondered if she had been frustrated with her emotions to the point when she would kick or punch furniture the wall. Tony also wondered how covered up Ziva was. She had never been the type to be concerned about her modesty but Tony still thought it better to be a gentleman and knocked on the doorframe.
"Tony," Ziva said as he emerged from the doorframe. He found her wearing a grey NCIS t-shirt and with wet hair and a pale face. She was sitting against the wall, sticking her gun in a hole on the wall.
"It's good it's the wall and not you," he said as she put the gun down. He sat down next to her. "I put the kettle on; I thought you might like some tea." Ziva nodded and wondered how much time Tony had been spending with Ducky, as Ducky seemed to believe a cup of tea would solve everything. She leaned on him.
"My landlord is going to kill me," she said as she looked at the damage she had done.
"He's out of town," Tony said having seen the notice on Ziva's fridge when he turned her kettle on. "He's in North Carolina."
"His father just died, the last thing he needs to come back to is this," Ziva whispered.
"Gibbs will fix it," Tony said. Ziva tensed up next to him, she did not want Gibbs to find out about her attacking her wall, and he did not need anymore reasons to doubt her. She did not want to look weak in front of him.
"No, I will pay someone." Ziva said as she did the sums in her head, and decided if she were to pay someone she would need to skip a meal for the next week.
"Yeah because you have all this extra cash if you're taking your comp time off instead of taking the cash," Tony said he understood why she would want Gibbs to see what she'd done in a fit of frustration, she did not want to be seen as weak. "Don't worry Gibbs won't say anything." Ziva calmed down.
Her kettle whistled and broke the silence that had formed between them. Tony moved to his feet. His hand touched Ziva's and he pulled her up. She followed him to her kitchen. Both of them were deep in their thoughts.
He made tea without having to search for cups or tea, as he already knew where Ziva put things and her complicated kitchen organization system. He even knew her favourite cup; the rainbow striped one because her fingers fitted perfectly around the handle and she did not burn her fingers.
"Why do you think the Sergeant did it?" Ziva said as Tony handed her a cup of tea and she leaned on her kitchen counter. She took a sip; he picked up his cup and took a long sip too. He pondered her question, he was not entirely sure what had happened to the Wootens marriage, and he offered his theories anyway.
"Well the hospital visits started after they had the kid, and she got a promotion over him. He probably had some gender issues, and thought his Misses should stay home with the kid and couldn't handle his wife being better at his job than him." Tony said. Ziva looked at him slightly surprised.
"Did you take a women's studies class?" Ziva uttered as a smirk crossed her face; Tony was relieved to see the little hint of a smile.
"Once, I was really hung-over I went to room my Sports Psychology class was, turns out I was two hours late, I had to sit through a lecture on Gender Issues is a male-centric society." Tony said. Ziva bit her lip and covered her mouth as she laughed.
"I suppose it is a good thing, you got a valuable insight into women," Ziva uttered in a sarcastic tone.
"And three dates," he said holding three fingers up to emphasise his point. "The girls in the class all thought I was sensitive." Ziva rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile across her face. She placed her empty cup in the kitchen sink. Tony did the same a few seconds later. They stood still. Even though Ziva did not say anything Tony could tell she was in a better mood than before. He was relieved she was feeling better
"You going to try and go back to sleep," Tony asked as he stifled a yawn. Ziva checked the time: 0352 her oven clock reported. She cocked her head to one side as if she were seriously debating going back to sleep perhaps in fear of the nightmares coming back.
"Maybe," she said as she walked to towards her bedroom deciding she should at least lie down. "You better though what is it you say DiNozzo's need their beauty sleep." Tony did not protest.
Ziva led him into her room, Tony stripped down to his boxers, and Ziva flattened out the purple sheets that covered her bed. They lay down on either side of the double bed. A brief tug of war over the covers occurred before they both felt they had enough duvet covering them. Ziva watched as Tony's eyes kept closing, he was dozing off. Despite having only a few hours of sleep, she couldn't close her eyes in fear of the nightmare coming back. Her eyes remained wide open, while the Tony's eyes remained open for less and less time.
"Close your eyes Ziva," he said as he rubbed her hand trying to comfort her and remind her he was there, without getting all sentimental because he knew it would freak her out. "It'll be alright."
Ziva closed her eyes and found she did not see Salim's angry face or taste phantom sand. Ziva turned onto her side, Tony's arms draped over, she did not protest. She closed her eyes completely at peace. The room was quickly filled with the pair of them harmoniously snoring in unison.
A/N: Unbetaed because my beta is busy with the last two chapters of OTNC. So reviews?