Hey everyone! Firstly, thanks for all of your comments/alerts on my first story! Here's the sequel, which I really hope you enjoy. This story is probably going to be a bit longer than the last, hence the super long first chapter. I'm not exactly sure how this story is actually going to play out, but I have a pretty good idea of the end. So… Enjoy! Byes! :)
I, sadly, don't own NCIS :( :( :(
"You did what?" Ziva screeched, a look of horror crossing her face. "Why on earth would you even think about doing that?"
Tony, knowing that all traces of their peaceful moment had fled the room, quickly backed up, wanting to be out of the way of Ziva when he explained his reasons. Once he was a suitable distance away from his partner, Tony quickly tried to explain why on earth he would tell anyone about their relationship without telling Ziva about it before hand.
"Well… It's like this…"
"Tony! I'm sooo glad you're finally here!" Abby called, running over to Tony, her face beaming.
"Uh, hi Abs… So, um, why'd you call me down here?" He questioned, striding over to the giant TV on the wall. Looking up, he saw a picture of the latest criminal that they had just put behind bars. Per usual, he'd wanted something, hadn't gotten it, and had ended up killing a Marine. The case had been generally easy, it had just left behind a ton of paperwork to do.
Suddenly, a picture of a blurry yellow sticky note appeared on the screen. Confused, Tony turned around to see Abby leaning against the opposite wall, smirking in a very un-Abby-like way.
"Can you explain to me what this is, DiNozzo?" Abby asked in an almost exact copy of Gibbs' voice. Caught off guard, Tony's eyes widened for a moment before turning back around to face the monitor.
"Well, Abs, Gibbs, or whoever you are… It looks like a sticky note." Tony replied, shrugging nonchalantly.
"Mmmm-hmmm." Abby murmured something to herself before quickly striding across the room and typing rapidly.
Tony watched as the blurry shot on the screen slowly cleared so that the handwriting was clearly legible.
'Tonight? My place? I have an extra special movie picked out. -Tony'
"So…?" Abby trailed off, looking expectantly at Tony as she absentmindedly twisted a pigtail around her pinky finger.
"Still looks like a sticky note, Abby." Tony replied, trying to keep a cool head. Sure, Abby was smart. But was she smart enough to deduce who the intended recipient of this note was?
Come on, it's Abby we're talking about. Let's get serious here.
"Yes, but the question is… Who is it to?" Abby slowly strides across the room until she was face to face with Tony. "And don't lie to me, DiNozzo. I can detect lies a mile away." Abby said in yet another perfect imitation of Gibbs' voice.
Plastering the classic DiNozzo smile on his face, Tony quickly thought of a movie reference in a desperate attempt to distract Abby. "You know, this reminds me of-"
"Tony, this isn't a movie. This is reality. Abby's reality. Now tell me who this mystery girlfriend of yours is or things might just get a little… Messy." She finished menacingly, reaching over to the table in the center of the room and taking a long, slow sip of Caf-Pow! to emphasize her point.
"Well… Um…" Tony searched the room desperately for a way out of this sticky situation. He could climb out a window… But none of the windows opened. He could quickly knock Abby's Caf-Pow! out of her hand and attempt to run away. But neither Gibbs nor Abby would ever let him live it down. The only way out, unfortunately, was the quickly tell her the truth and then flee as quickly as possibly.
"Ziva." Tony quickly muttered, turning beet-red. As Tony began to side-step the dazed Abby, he accidentally bumped her shoulder, jolting the girl back to life.
"Ah Ha!" Abby called, practically pouncing on Tony as she pinned him against the wall. Quickly pushing a table in his way, she proceeded to do a happy dance around the room.
"Abby! Can't breath." Tony huffed, trying to push the table, covered in a multitude of lab equipment, off of his chest and unpin himself from the wall. When he finally managed to scoot out of the tight space and catch his breath, Abby was again in front of him, clapping her hands, cheering, and hugging him.
"Yay, yay, yay, yay, yay! I can't believe that this is finally happening! Timmy was all like 'Not gonna happen, Abby. They would never disobey Gibbs' rules like that.' But I told him! I said 'Oh, Timmy, it's bound to happen sometime, and the sooner the better, right?' Yay! You guys are so cute together! Plan Tiva has finally come through!" Abby giggled, throwing her hands up in the air and doing a spazzy-dance-routine sort of thing.
Tony, dumbstruck from learning all of this information at once, cocked his head to the side as he tried to process Abby's words. Finally, after a minute, he was able to wrap his head around the concept.
"Wait… You mean to tell me, that there's a bet going on about when Ziva and I will get together? Seriously? Oh, and Tiva? Was combining our names really needed, Abs?" Tony asked, half serious and half humored by Abby's erratic dance-of-sorts.
"Heck yeah! You guys need to have a combined name in order to even begin to be considered as a couple."
Ignoring this last comment, Tony rolled his eyes once more before becoming serious again. "Abs. Please, please don't tell anyone about this, 'kay?"
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Yay! Tiva, united at last!" She screamed before taking another swig of Caf-Pow! and once again dancing around the room.
"You see? I didn't have a choice! It was either tell Abby, or suffer the consequences…" Tony trailed off as small shiver shook his body. He remembered the last time that Abby hadn't gotten what she wanted, and most certainly did not want to live through that again.
"Tony, you could have made something up!" Ziva argued, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow at her partner.
"Oh come on, Ziva, Gibbs taught Abby how to detect lies years ago. Plus, she could probably kill me with any chemical in her lab in ten seconds flat."
"Yes. But I can kill you 18 different ways with a paperclip." Ziva threatened, glaring at Tony for a moment before rolling her eyes.
"True… On to the next story!"
"Hey Palmer. Have you seen Ducky?" Tony asked, striding into the Autopsy room, carrying a stack of folders.
"Um, yes. Well, no. Actually, he just stepped out for a bit. I don't know why." Jimmy replied, ducking his head and continuing to examine the body he was currently working on.
"'Kay… Well will you tell him Gibbs wants him to sign off on these when he gets back?" Tony asked, rolling his eyes and plopping the folders on a desk in the corner.
"S-sure…" Jimmy replied, putting down his scalpel and pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose, his hands shaking slightly.
"What is it, Jimbaro? Cat got your tongue?" Tony asked, enjoying intimidating the Medical Assistant without getting reproachful looks from any of his coworkers.
"Well… Um… I know that you kind of were engaged once, and I was wondering… How do you deal with the pressure?" Jimmy burst, his anxiety level ever-growing. "I mean, Brina keeps bugging me about things like napkin colors and what appetizers we should serve, and I just don't know how to handle it! I don't want to let her down, but at the same time… I don't want to one day crack and then loose my only chance at being with the one person that I truly love!"
As Jimmy babbled on, Tony began to zone out, thinking about his own love life. Sure, he hadn't had a serious-serious relationship since Jeanne. Even when he was dating EJ, he had never really thought of their relationship as serious, considering he was in love with someone else the entire time. Maybe it was time for him to change everything around, take the relationship that he had with Ziva to the ominous "next level". Tony wasn't sure if he was ready for this but, like Jimmy, he wanted a chance to be with someone that would make him truly happy. And that someone, was Ziva.
Suddenly, Tony snapped out of his musings as he noticed Jimmy starting to practically shake. "Jimmy! What's wrong? Come on! You're fine, just chill out! It's not as bad as it seems." Tony rushed out, mentally shaking the last of his daydream out of his mind.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Jimmy asked, taking deep breaths and trying not to go into full on panic-attack mode. "Maybe I shouldn't even be asking you. I mean, we all know what your track record with women is. I guess I could always ask McGee or-," an involuntary shiver ran through Jimmy's body as he thought about his other option, "Gibbs."
"Excuse me? I'll have you know, Mr. Great Relationship, that I have an amazing record of women." Tony replied, clearly irritated. Who was Jimmy, the Autopsy Gremlin, to tell him off for who he dates. "Plus, I'm in a very committed relationship right now."
"Really?" Jimmy looked slightly taken aback as he slowly picked up a magnifying glass and began examining the brain tissue of the dead Marine. "With who?"
"Oh like I'm going to tell you." Tony scoffed, turning around and snatching a pen off of the desk, scribbling a quick note to Ducky.
"I get it." Jimmy countered, laughing. "You're making up a girl so that you win this argument. Tony, it's okay to not have a girlfriend."
Tony couldn't believe it. Since when had Jimmy, of all people, grown a spine? It seemed like just yesterday he was standing awkwardly in the corner of the autopsy room as Gibbs talked to Ducky. Did he really think that he could reprimand Tony like this? Tony knew he had to do something about this, and fast.
"For your information, Palmer, I have a completely gorgeous, kick butt girlfriend who would make you eat your words if you saw her." Tony replied, smirking at the Medical Assistant.
"Who?" Jimmy asked, his tone reproachful.
"Ziva!"
Jimmy's face was blank as he tried to process this new information. Suddenly, it was if Tony could see the cogs moving in his brain as a lightbulb lit up above his head. A look of both astonishment and awe crossed Jimmy's face as he looked up at Tony in the bright Autopsy lights.
"You're dating Ziva? But doesn't Special Agent Gibbs have a rule about that?" Jimmy asked, remembering something that Ducky had told him years ago.
"Yes, so if you say anything." Tony began, glaring at Jimmy. "You're dead."
"Tony!" Ziva yelled, baffled by the information that her partner had just told her. "Why didn't you just leave it at Jimmy thinking that you made up a girlfriend? It would have been so much easier!"
"I have a reputation to uphold, Zee-vah, and I could not let anyone, even Palmer, think that I couldn't get a girl!" Tony replied defensively.
"You are impossible." Ziva muttered, shaking her head in annoyance.
"Hey! Anyway's, just let me finish telling my stories. Then you can criticize me as much as you want." Tony teased as he began to recount his final tale of the night.
"Hey Ducky, did Palmer tell you Gibbs wants you to sign those reports?" Tony asked, pointing to a seemingly untouched stack of folders on the corner of the desk.
"No, but I do not blame him. Mr. Palmer has a lot on his mind these days." Ducky mused as he looked up at Tony from across the room. "I let him go home early, the poor lad. He's been stretched so tight with this wedding, its a wonder he's managed to keep it together."
"Yeah, I noticed." Tony murmured darkly as he walked over to the lifeless Marine that Ducky was peering at.
"How have you been, Anthony?" Ducky asked, looking up at Tony curiously.
"Hanging in there." Tony replied, forcing a laugh as he tried to lighten the mood. In reality, Tony had been anything but 'hanging in there' all day. It had started off with him telling Abby about him and Ziva, then he had to go and blab to Palmer, and finally Gibbs had practically come out and told them that he knew they were dating, and that he clearly disapproved.
"Really? You seemed so happy for the past few months, but for the past week in particular, you've seemed very down. What changed?"
"Well…" And all of a sudden, looking at Ducky's concerned face, Tony found himself pouring his heart out to the old man. Everything he'd ever felt for Ziva came rushing out of his parted lips as he recounted every single thought that had crossed his mind when he saw Ziva.
Throughout the entire debacle, Ducky stood there, listening patiently to Tony as he spilled his guts to the man. His facial expression wasn't annoyed, impatient, or angry. But instead, calm and content, like he really wanted to hear what Tony had to say.
"I'm in love with her, Duck, and I don't know what I would do if Gibbs found out and forced us apart." Tony finally ended his story, his voice barely a whisper as he looked down at the floor solemnly.
"Well, Anthony." Ducky said, smiling up at the man. "If you really want to be happy with Ziva, you must tell Jethro, or you'll never be able to live with yourself and what you have built up with Ziva, will come tumbling down."
"That's why I wanted to tell Gibbs, Ziva. I was trying to prevent what has happened with every other woman that I have ever dated, happen to you." Tony frowning at the ground in frustration. If only he had told Ziva this earlier, instead of waiting until two thirty in the morning to explain his motives.
Looking up, he noticed that Ziva hadn't said anything. It wasn't like she looked furious or astonished, in fact, she seemed almost… Pensive. Taking a deep breath, Tony tried to tell himself that this wasn't the end of his relationship with Ziva, and that all that they had been through together, wasn't going to end within the next ten seconds.
"Ziva?" Tony choked out, his lips barely moving.
As if she had just noticed she was there, Ziva broke out of her thoughts and made eye contact with Tony. Her eyes shone with a fresh sheen of, what was it? Hurt? Hope? Amazement, even?
Then, out of nowhere, Ziva stretched up on her toes and pressed her lips to Tony's. A moment later, she sunk back down onto the balls of her feet to see Tony smiling broadly, looking like a child on Christmas.
"Tony, I agree with you. We should tell Gibbs. But let us wait until the morning, yes? I feel that it would make a bad impression if we showed up at Gibbs' house at almost three in the morning. You can sleep over, I don't want you driving this late at night" Ziva said, smiling as well.
Seeing Tony's hopeful expression, she laughed, rolling her eyes. Pushing Tony onto the couch, Ziva extinguished his happiness quickly as he realized he'd be sleeping alone tonight. "Goodnight, Tony. I will see you in the morning." Ziva called, tossing Tony a pillow and blanket and walking into her room, shutting the door behind her with a creak and a soft chuckle.
I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading and please comment! :D
Byes!