Title: Antarctica
Author: SplishySplash
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairing: TIVA
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I've been toying with this idea for awhile, but I don't think that if fits in with Boyfriend Jobs, so another one-shot series. I also think that Gibbs is the biggest TIVA shipper ever. Let me know what you think about it
Summary: Somehow he knew that McGee was the reason he was stuck in Antarctica, but it couldn't be all that bad if he got to be Ziva's personal heater right?
He was stuck in Ant-freaking-arctica.
Literally he was at the bottom of the planet, freezing his ass off and he knew that somehow, in some way it was McGee's fault. Tony wasn't sure why he was dragged out of the warmness of the northern hemisphere to the black hole at the bottom of earth, but at the moment he hated the probie with every fiber of his frozen, snowy being.
The case involved the naval compound at the South Pole and their computer system was on the fritz causing one of the team members to go nuts and kill another, but Tony's conclusion that somebody suffered from cabin fever wasn't the popular theory. McGee, ever the computer geek thinks that somebody tried to steal a computer program, he didn't know he had tuned it out and only tuned back in when Tony was assigned the first watch shift.
Everyone had retired for the night, leaving him alone in the much larger version of Abby's lab, in fact the forensic scientist was jealous that they got to go and that she didn't get to accompany them to the mecca of geek-dom. It was filled wall to wall with microscopes, computers and blinking lights, not that he knew what any of them are or what they were used for, but he had a specific instruction that if anything was touched, the surviving crew of the project would cut his finger off. McGee even threatened him.
He did another sweep of the room with his eyes before pulling out his computer. He needed something to entertain him and good thing the couch was harder than a rock or he would've fallen asleep. He checked his email and responded to a few, cleared out his inbox. He leaned back on the couch and pulled up his Facebook page, he updated his status and commented on a few others, trying to prolong his normal routine.
Looking at the clock and he groaned, it had only been twenty minutes. It was going to be a very long night. Switching to he caught up on every sport team he was a fan of in every sport genre before going to Youtube looking for something to keep himself occupied.
When he exhausted every form of entertainment, he resorted to playing lame Facebook games. He rolled his eyes and thank god that somebody was smart enough to put Plants vs. Zombies online, because McGee had taken his iPhone with him. After saving his hypothetical house from a Zombie attack and throwing a bunch of pissed off birds at structures built by pigs, his boredom was getting overwhelming.
Just as he was resorting to Netflix, some footsteps made him look up from the computer screen. Ziva, wrapped in a blanket, appeared from the sleeping quarters. Tony leaned back against the chair and smiled brightly. "What are you doing awake? I thought Gibbs' watch was next." He asked as she stopped in front of him.
"I cannot sleep." She said, stepping over him to sit next to him.
She sat down with a heavy thud and wrapped the blanket around her tighter. "Too cold?" He asked and she nodded and he lifted his arm over her head and wrapped it around her. She sniffled slightly and a tissue appeared from underneath the blanket to wipe her nose.
He knew how much she hated the cold, growing up in the desert didn't give her any natural insolation. It didn't help that she had zero fat on her small body. "Thank you." She sniffled tucked herself into his side. "Why are we here again?"
"I think we are a third wheel to McGee's computer fantasy." He answered with a yawn, sliding down on the couch so he could put his feet on the table next to his computer. "Or a murder investigation, I don't know anymore."
She shook her head and rested it against his arm. "I do not like Antarctica." She said, yawning also. "What were you doing?"
Tony reached for his computer, setting it on his lap. "My normal computer stuff," He answered before he deflated. "and playing games on Facebook." He scrolled through his Netflix recommendations.
She yawned again. "You were. . ." another yawn escaped her lips. "That bored?" She asked sleepily. Tony wasn't one for computer games, he was more the Xbox kind of guy and the lack of one was driving him crazy. Antarctica was driving him crazy.
He chuckled. "It was either that or plot my revenge on McGee, but I feel that revenge is more of a you and me thing." He answered, scrolling through the obscenely long list. "What movie do you want to watch?"
Ziva shrugged and curled her feet underneath her, her toes frozen. "It does not matter." She answered and he scrolled for a Ziva-friendly movie. He settled for a comedy, god knows they needed a good laugh being in the frozen tundra and Mel Brooks' Men in Tights, settled it. He set the computer back down and the adjusted until they were comfortable, mostly with her head on his chest and the blanket wrapped around both of them.
The opening credits started and he looked down at his partner, whose eyes were closed. He smiled softly and pulled the blanket tighter around them, at least she had found some comfort because she needed her sharp ninja senses to solve the case so they could get back to Washington D.C., away from the arctic hell.
Maybe a comedy wasn't the best to watch with his sleeping partner as he tried not to laugh and when one did escape, she would bury her nose into his chest and exhale forcefully. He ran his fingers through her loose curls to calm her and it hadn't taken long for him to become fixated on her smooth hair.
The movie had ended some time ago when someone else's footsteps brought him out of his daze. It was none other than their fearless leader Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who was awake to relieve him of watch duty. Gibbs froze just a step as the pair came into view. He sat up straighter and shifted Ziva in doing so, but she didn't wake.
"Morning boss." Tony whispered and Gibbs nodded in response, taking a sip of his coffee and grimaced. Tony guessed that he hated everything about this case as they did and he made a mental note to include the boss man on his revenge. "Antarctica driving you crazy yet?"
He gave a small glare, ignored him and attempted to drink his coffee again. "Good thing she got some sleep." He commented lightly.
Tony shrugged. "She couldn't sleep." He answered. "She was freezing."
Gibbs nodded in acknowledgement. "Could hear her shivering." He answered and took another sip, scowling again. "It's good thing she got warmed up."
Tony nearly flushed, but it was covered by a yawn. "She needs to sleep so she can use her ninja skills to solve the case." Tony answered. "I will just do what she says."
The older man smirked. "Go get some sleep, I need both of you in good shape so we can get out of this icy hell hole." He answered, in reality it surprised Tony and he concluded that Gibbs was also annoyed at their . He didn't question it as he shook her awake gently.
Her eyes opened slowly, but she didn't move from her spot on chest. "Come on, Ziva." He whispered softly as his hand rubbed her arm. "Let's go to bed."
Ziva shook her head and buried her nose into his chest. "It is too cold to move." She mumbled.
"Go to bed, Ziver." Gibbs ordered lightly and with a heavy sigh, she slowly sat her feet on the floor which felt like ice through her thick socks. She stood up and immediately missed the warmth that her partner had offered, Tony followed right after and put his arm back around her.
She smiled weakly as they passed in front of Gibbs towards the bunks. "Good night." She said softly, Tony led her across the lab towards the bunk rooms.
Just before they were out of earshot, Gibbs peaked up at them and shook his head. "Make sure you're in your own beds." He said and Tony froze for just a moment, but Ziva didn't. She pulled him from his stupor, mostly because she was still sleepy enough that she didn't care.
But she did turn around with a playful smile. "Of course, Gibbs." She answered friskily.
"Good night boss." Tony covered as he led her out of eyesight.
Gibbs knew that he should probably make sure that they listened to his instructions, but right at that moment, he didn't care. Secretly he thought it would be mildly amusing for McGee to wake up to see them together in bed. He shook his head and leaned back against the couch, the youngest man was going to be in a world of hurt when they concocted their revenge, he deserved it.
The older man rolled his eyes . . . kids. The three of them kept him on his toes, for which he was almost grateful.
As for the other two, Gibbs knew that they knew better than to test him while they were in closed quarters. Tony would play dumb, like normal and Ziva would be the one to push it while he was in the room, but alone it would be Tony. Gibbs had watched them enough for the past, god was it nearing on eight years?, to know just how they acted around each other, like playing grab ass when they thought nobody was watching.
He sighed and looked around the room, nothing to hold his interest, but a pile of old magazines. He picked up an old Popular Mechanics, put on his glasses and began to scan through the articles. Hopefully sometime soon either Tony or Ziva would get it through their thick skulls what he saw the first thirty seconds the two met.
Leroy Jethro Gibbs wasn't getting any younger and these two were the closest to giving him grandkids.
He ran his hand through his silver hair, Antarctica was also driving him nuts.
Not that he would let DiNozzo know that.
