Title: Follow Up
Rating: PG
Spoilers: 6X08 Cloak
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. If I did, Tony and Ziva would definitely have made out in the elevator last night.
The elevator doors slid shut and Ziva felt the sting of tears in her eyes. She had tried desperately to keep this from happening, to keep herself from falling so deeply, and Tony had thrown her efforts back in her face. When she had heard the gunshot ring out at the facility and watched Tony fall to the floor, she had lost all control of her emotions. She could do nothing but submit to her desire to protect and save Tony.
Before she knew what was happening, the elevator doors were sliding open again, revealing the same office that she faced everyday. Only now, instead of walking out of the elevator on her own, she was being escorted out of it by security. She glanced at the director as she allowed the guards to lead her into the crowd of her colleagues. Vance averted his gaze, leading the pack down the stairs.
Tony followed security into the garage behind Gibbs. The entire NCIS staff had been forced into the not-so-spacious space and he spotted Ziva easily in the crowd. She stood beside Abby and McGee her eyes moving cautiously around the room. He knew who she was looking for and he couldn't help but glance around also. He followed Ducky and Palmer off to one side, moving to the right just behind Gibbs.
Vance called them forward in groups, six or seven at a time, and scanned there hands. He was looking for traces of the radio active asymptotes that had coated the key board of the computer consol in the facility he and Ziva had broken into. Realization dawned on Tony. Gibbs had ordered Tony and Ziva both to stay clear of the consol, not to touch it at all. He had told them that it was a fake. Tony glanced at Ziva again.
She was watching him as well and when his eyes met hers he was filled with an overwhelming urge to apologize for the way he'd spoken to her in the elevator. Not that what he had said hadn't been true, he was tired of pretending. But she didn't deserve to have him yell at her. He was furious with Gibbs for letting Vance walk all over them, for allowing them to get burned, only to find out that it had all been Gibbs' idea.
When Vance called on Tony, he stepped forward, joining a line that already consisted of Gibbs, Abby, McGee, Ziva, Ducky, Palmer and Lee. One by one they turned up their palms as the director walked down their line. He stopped at Abby and Tony saw her hesitate for a moment before offering up her hands. Vance waved the meter across her palms and it sounded. She had the asymptotes on her hands.
Tony stood beside Ziva as they watched security put Abby in handcuffs and drag her onto the elevator. Vance and Gibbs followed them in and McGee watched the doors slide shut. The three of them stood together, waiting silently as the rest of the room cleared out. When Lee had disappeared into the stairwell, Ziva let out a low sigh and sat down at the table just inside the evidence locker.
"That was all a part of the plan, yes?" She asked quietly, waiting for McGee and Tony to occupy the chairs on either side of her.
McGee sat first, "It has to be. Abby would never-, I mean, she couldn't-"
He seemed unable to form a coherent sentence and Tony sat down slowly beside Ziva. He placed his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands.
"This is all Gibbs' fault," he muttered, still feeling slightly betrayed, "Stupid decoy was all his idea anyway. He suggested it to Vance and Vance went along with it. Abby can't be in on it, McGee. We all know that, but they had to have someone take the fall in front of Lee. They need to find out who's pulling her strings."
"Gibbs would not put us at risk that way if he did not feel that it was necessary," Ziva added.
McGee nodded, "I'm going to see if I can get a minute with Abby. I need to make sure she's okay."
Tony did not move his head from his hands as McGee took the elevator up to interrogation. Ziva waited until she was sure that they were alone before she stood, her chair scrapping loudly as she forced it back, and moved to stand on the other side of the table. She waited for Tony to look up at her, to acknowledge her, and when he didn't she placed her hands on her hips and opened her mouth to berate him.
"I'm sorry," Tony interrupted,"About the elevator. I shouldn't have - , it wasn't you fault Ziva. I was mad that Gibbs had let Vance use us like that. I was really pissed that we got the hell knocked out of us. But I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"I should have followed orders. If I had not engaged with the guards you would not have been hurt," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Tony frowned, "Look, there is obviously something else going on here that neither one of us is willing to talk about but maybe we should just –"
"I care about you, Tony, too much to watch someone hurt you. That is why I continued to fight. I was afraid that the guard that hit you had shot you. I am sorry."
Tony sat motionless for a minute, not sure what it was he wanted to say. There were a million different things running through his mind because, even though he picked on her and teased her mercilessly, he felt something for Ziva, something he had not been willing to define.
"I completely understand if you are still angry with me Tony but I just wanted you to know that I did not simply continue struggling just for my entertainment. I was worried about you. I know that Gibbs would not approve and I do not know what you are thinking right now, Tony, but I would really like to –"
"Ziva, stop!"
Ziva closed her mouth, glancing up at Tony under lowered lashes. He was still on the opposite side of the table but he was standing. She had not heard him move.
"I'm not mad at you. I told you, I was pissed about the situation. I thought that Vance had tried to sabotage us, I guess. But I wasn't mad at you," Tony explained, walking carefully around the table, "And I guess since we're just throwing things out there. I care about you, too. Alot."
Ziva did not say anything but continued to watch him as he moved around the table toward her.
"And I meant it, both ways, when I said that I was tired of pretending. I know that things have changed, Ziva, you're not the same person who left for Israel six months ago. And I don't really know if I'm the same person I was before I boarded that first ship. What I do know is that I missed you every damn day I was gone."
Ziva felt the sting of tears behind her eyes again as Tony closed the small distance between them. She was not usual so emotional. But then again, she did not tend to fall in love with her partner but, as Tony had said, things had changed. They had changed.
"I missed you, also, Tony," she said quietly. She took the last step toward him and put her arms around his neck, pulling him toward her. It felt right, that was all she could think as his arms slipped around her back and pressed her firmly against him.
"Ziva?" Tony whispered just beside her ear, "You think maybe you'd like to go out to dinner when this is all over?"
Ziva smiled, nodding, "I think that that can be arranged."