December Rain
AN: This is my very first NCIS fic, so please be kind! Any reviews are welcomed, unless they are just flames from people who don't like Ziva. The title is so stupid, I couldn't think of anythig else. Okay, on to the story
Tony DiNozzo leaned forward in his chair and propped his elbows on his knees. No way was this happening. It couldn't be happening. Tonight was supposed to be for partying, not working. "What? You can't be serious, Boss." He asked incredulously. When Jethro Gibbs turned to stare at him, Tony continued. "It's New Year's Eve." He stated. The holiday it's self being self explanatory. Or so he thought.
Gibbs continued to stare at him, his expression unreadable. He shrugged. "Yeah, so?"
Tony opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't make him sound shallow or get him smacked up side the head. "Well, it's New Year's Eve." He repeated again, with a little more emphasis. "Party night of the year." When Gibbs still hadn't responded or showed that he even cared, Tony took one last desperate stab at getting the night off. "I already have plans."
"Well," he replied slowly. "I suggest you cancel them and get moving or you won't have a job this New Year." He warned and somewhere, Tony knew that the chance of him getting the night off was as slim as McGee getting a date.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs called out to Tony. "Follow us out to the crime scene and take David with you."
Perfect, he thought sarcastically as he rose to follow the rest of his colleges out. "Well," he heard McGee talking to Ziva as the two began to walk out. "Not like I had anything special planned tonight anyway."
Tony chuckled. "No surprise they're, probie." He laughed as McGee rolled his eyes and Ziva shot him a dirty look.
When they reached the elevator, Tony stopped and cursed slightly under his breath. "Hold on." He sighed as he jogged back to his desk. " I forgot to get my bag." He began rummaging through his stuff, looking for it. He knew he had placed it here after he changed the film in his camera, the only problem was he forgot where he put it. A few minutes later and he was still going through his things, Tony turned and was caught off guard by a very angry Ziva. "Do you have to stand so close?" he asked, moving back.
Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was tapping her foot. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice tight. "Do you want Gibbs to be mad at the both of us?" her slight accent accentuated with her anger.
The thought hadn't slipped Tony's mind as he shuffled through his things, becoming more antsy by the moment. She did have a point. A very good point. Tony had never really made it on Boss' good side, and with him losing his bag and making both him and Ziva late, didn't shift in his favor. "No." He spoke through clenched teeth. Finally finding it, he raised it in the air with success. "Found it." He smiled smugly at her.
"That's very nice," she responded in sarcastic sweetness. "But could we get going? I really don't like to be on Gibbs bad side while we're at a crime scene."
Tony agreed, but didn't tell her aloud. They didn't have the best relationship and he didn't want to stroke her ego. They walked to the elevator and took it down to ground level. Never in all his years working as an NCIS had the elevator gone that slow. "I'll drive." She told him briskly, as she held her hands out for the keys.
"I don't think so." He said as they continued walking. "You're a terrible driver." She snapped her head toward him and opened her mouth the say something he only supposed was a derogative comment, so Tony spoke before she had the chance to insult him. "Besides, I know the way there and I also know a short cut."
"Short cut?" she enquired.
"Yeah." He answered as they found the car and both got in quickly. "A way to get us there faster so we won't have to be too late." Tony stuck the key's into the ignition and started the car up. "We can just blame it on the New Years traffic."
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Ziva asked him as she glanced out the window at her surroundings. They were on some back road that Tony had said would get them to the crime scene faster. It had started to rain pretty hard a couple of minutes ago and it didn't look like Tony knew where they were.
"Yes, Ziva, I know where I am going." He replied through clenched teeth. She found his irritated tone some what amusing, even though the situation was less then funny. She knew they would both get it from Gibbs when they did finally arrive.
Suddenly the car made a violent 'popping' sound and lurched forward before stopping all together. Neither of them said a word as the only sound made was the rain falling and a hissing sound coming from underneath the car. "What did you do?" she finally asked in a hushed whisper.
"I didn't do anything" he defended. "I think we've got a flat."
"A flat what?" she asked in an exasperated voice. Her English terms weren't the best and sometimes she got the sentence's confused, but she spoke five different languages and she really didn't make it her mission to learn every English phrase.
"A flat tire." He unclasped his seat belt and opened the door with a hard push of anger. "Let me go see if we have a spare in the trunk." He shut the door with a slam and a few seconds later, Ziva heard a loud string of curse words and a pounding on the back of the car. When he rejoined her, he was wet from head to toe.
"We don't have one, do we?" she asked, stating the obvious.
"Good guess, David." He replied as he leaned over and turned on the heat. Tony wrapped his arms around himself as the two lapsed into silence.
"Maybe you should call Gibbs and tell him what is happening." She offered. "I don't want him to think that we got lost." She paused for a moment as a small smirk played on her face. "But, then again, we are lost"
"We are not lost." He said as he took a look out the window. He would never admit to her that he was lost. He had taken the road only once before and that was it. "We're just . . . "
Ziva leaned her head back on the seat and laughed. "We are lost, Tony." She giggled at his rigged demeanor. "You just can't admit that you're wrong and I am right."
Tony looked over at her before reaching into his pocket and taking out his cell phone. "I don't have time to argue with you Ziva." He responded, earning another grin from her. "I have to call Gibbs."
"DiNozzo!" Tony held the phone away from his ear as Gibbs yelled his name. Ziva glanced at the phone as she heard Gibbs shout Tony's name. "Where the hell are you? I've got a triple homicide and you and David are no where to be seen? This is not the time to be messing around!" he grumbled.
Tony just listened as Gibbs tore at him for not being there. "Um . . . Boss, we sort of got a problem." He replied as he took a sideways glance at Ziva who was watching him with jumpy interest. "We got a flat."
The other line was quiet as he heard a frustrated groan from Gibbs. "Where are you?" he finally asked.
Tony chuckled nervously as he looked out the window and tried to avoid the look that Ziva was giving him. "See, that's the thing," he began uncomfortably. "We-uh . . . we're kind of lost."
"DiNozzo," he growled. "I don't have time to send out a search and rescue team to come look for you." He hesitated for a second before he began to speak again. "I'll send somebody after you once I get the crime scene finished."
"But Boss," he protested. "That could take hours."
"DiNozzo!" he barked. "It is raining out side, we have three dead people and we are trying to get as much evidence as possible and I don't have time to argue with you or come out and look for you." The line went dead as Tony heard a dial tone.
"Well?" Ziva asked softly as he put the phone back into his pocket. "What did he say?"
"We're going to be here for a while." He answered stiffly as he adjusted himself behind the wheel.
"I don't see what the big deal about the New Year is." Ziva said as she made patterns on the foggy window using her finger. "It's really just another day." She shrugged as Tony stared at her back.
"Are you serious?" he asked as she looked over her shoulder and nodded. "It's a night to party and celebrate the New Year."He grumbled. "I had plans for tonight. Nice plans."
"With someone?" she teased as she gave him a sideways glance and tucked a curly piece of hair behind her ear.
Tony just looked at her for a moment. Her coy smile made him look away and try to hide the fact that he was smiling as well. "Yes, with someone." He responded.
"We have that in my country as well." She said, shifting the conversation back to New Year's. "Except, we don't use it as an excuse to get drunk."
"We don't use it as an excuse to get drunk." He defended. "We celebrate the year and we look forward to the next year ahead. We have a good time."
She shrugged her shoulders again as she stopped writing on his window and patted her hands in her lap. "Why is it such a big deal to have a date for this holiday?"
"You don't know?" he asked and she shook her head. He smiled. "You get a date so you can go out, have a good time and kiss them when the clock strikes midnight."
She smiled back at him. "So that it way this is so important to you?" she teased playfully.
"No," he began and laughed at the look she gave him. "No, that's not the whole reason." He sighed as he looked out the window. "I really didn't view spending New Year's in a car with you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked bitterly, obviously taking the comment the wrong way.
"No," he paused for a moment. "I mean . . . I didn't mean it like that." He groaned in frustration. "It's just, I had my whole night planned out and none of my plans included being stuck in the middle of nowhere, wet." He picked at his clothing.
"Well," she started. Her tone still hostile. "I'm sorry your night was ruined and you're stuck with me."
"Oh, Ziva, Ziva, Ziva, "he spoke quickly. "You don't have fun much, do you?"
"Excuse me?" she asked, some what insulted. "I don't think that's really any of your business."
He smirked. "I'll take that as a no." He answered for her and got an angry glare from her in return. "You really should get out more. Stop focusing on work so much and have a life."
"I have a life!" she stated furiously. "And how dare you comment on something you know nothing about!"
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "But, you really should get out some more, meet new people. It really would help." He offered, trying make peace with her, because he really didn't mean to make her feel bad.
Ziva crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the window. She didn't know if she was more angry at Tony for basically saying her needed to get a life or at herself because his accusations were true. She sighed dramatically as the tension in the car ran a high.
"Listen," Tony said after a while. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you made." He tried saying. "I'm sorry." He touched her elbow softly. "Ziva, I'm trying to apologize and you're not making it easier for me."
She turned to look at him as she tilted her chin. "You should've thought of that before you insulted me."
"I wasn't trying to insult you." He attempted. "I was just observing. That's my job, I observe." He smiled at her, trying to turn on the DiNozzo charm, but it never seemed to work on Ziva.
"Well, you're very bad at it." She said, her defensive wall coming down and Tony moved closer, not wanting her to be mad at him. Sure, she had been angry at him before, but not because he had insulted her, which he didn't intend to do.
"How many times do I have to tell you I'm sorry before you forgive me?" he asked.
She glanced over at him and arched an eyebrow. "Who said I was going to forgive you?" she asked as his cell phone went off again. Reaching into the pockets of his damp jeans, Tony pulled out the phone and saw that it was Anna.
"Hey, Anna." He replied as he looked down at the fabric on the car seats. "No, I know that we had a date." He paused for a moment as she went on about him standing her up. "No, listen. I didn't stand you up. I got called into work and . . . " he was cut off again as she chewed him out. That he promised her the whole evening together and that he was just making excuses. "No I got called into work and . . . "
"Who's on the phone?" Ziva asked, a small smirk touched her face as she looked up at her, his eyes wide.
"No, that's no one, really!" he tried saying, but Anna wouldn't let him get two words out before she hung up. He closed the phone slowly as he looked over at her. "Thanks. You were a big help."
She shrugged indifferently. "I guess we are even?" she asked innocently.
"Yeah." He muttered as he glanced at the clock. Two minutes till midnight and nothing. All he achieved was to successfully get lost, argue with his co-worker and lose a date. So far, the night was going real swell.
"I'm sorry about your night." Ziva said suddenly. "I know you had a lot planned and it obviously meant a lot to you and it got ruined, and I know I really didn't help." She replied softly.
"Yeah, well, it's not your fault that I got us lost." He didn't want her to take all the blame for his crappy night. "If I had just taken the express way, we would have got to the scene and we wouldn't be on Gibbs bad side." He hesitated. "Well, not for too long, anyway."
When he looked back down at the digital clock radio, it was midnight. "Happy New Year." He muttered. Happy 2006, he thought sarcastically. What a great way to get the year started. Suddenly, he felt Ziva's lips on his as she leaned over and kissed him. After a few second, he realized what was happening and started to kiss her back. It's not like they hadn't kissed before.
Tony cupped her face hin his hands as he inched forward to try and get a little more comfortable. He titled her chin up to get a better access as his tongue ran over her lips. When she opened her mouth to his, Tony ran his tongue over ever inch of her mouth. After the need for air over came them, Tony pulled away, his breathing ragged. "What was that for?" he still had her face in his hands as she looked him straight in the eye.
"I felt bad for your evening being messed up and I thought that maybe, since this tradition is so important to you, that we shouldn't break it."
Tony just stared at her for a long moment before finally speaking. "Well, how was it?"
"It was okay." She said indifferently as a small smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth.
"We'll see about that." He said as he leaned in to kiss her again. Maybe the night hadn't been so bad after all.
R&R. Let me know if it was good/bad okay. Thanks!