These Days

AN: Hi guys! So it's been a while since I've gotten the inspiration to write anything but I heard this song on the radio the other day and thought about Tiva so I figured I would try to get back into the groove with this drabble.

Disclaimer: Neither the characters mentioned here nor the song are mine.

AU - Set 3 months after Past, Present, Future.

Inspired by Rascal Flatts "These Days"

"I wake up and tear drops, They fall down like rain.
I put on that old song we danced to and then,

I head off to my job, Guess not much has changed.
Punch the clock. Head for home. Check the phone, Just in case.
Go to bed, Dream of you, That's what I'm doing these days."

The laugh he hears from across the bar makes him pause, drink mid-way to his mouth, in shock. It's been just over three months now since that sound last graced his ears and he was beginning to think he'd never get to hear it again. Afraid his jet lag was making him hear things, he didn't turn towards the noise until he hears her voice. Her accent was thicker than he remembered and knew it was because of her time away from America, he knew he wouldn't forget the voice of the woman he sat across from for seven years and he sure as hell would never forget the voice of the woman he loves.

He turns around then, looking her way. Her hair was longer than he remembered, her natural curls flowing down her back a striking contrast to the sleek, tight ponytail that was her custom look at NCIS. He notes she's talking to someone, although he cannot see who, and he selfishly hopes it's not a guy. Although there is a crowd of people around him, the only person he can focus on now is her and he watches as she turns away from her leaving companion, who he now recognizes as Monique. Eyes still trained on her, he watches her wave down the bartender, checking her phone as her expression changes and she gets a far-off look in her eyes. When the bartender comes back, it's surprisingly a check, not a drink, in his hand. He stands up before he can register what's he's doing, he just knows he has to see her, to talk to her. He walks up behind her and notes that her reflexes must have dulled because she doesn't even turn her head around to look his direction. It must come with her new relaxed lifestyle, he thinks.

"Well I was gonna ask if I could buy you another but it looks like you're calling it a night."

Ziva freezes at the sound of his voice before shaking her head and replying quietly. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, he walks into mine." She turns around, a soft smile on her face as she sees him for the first time since that night on an Israeli tarmac. The smile that hasn't left his face since he first heard her voice that night stretches across his face as he takes her in and he sits down on the empty stool next to hers.

"Ziva David quoting a movie, I'm impressed." She looked down, a faint blush tinting her cheeks that she hoped was hidden by her hair and the dim light in the room.

"Well Tony, I did spend a few years learning them from you, I was bound to pick up one or two." When she looked back up at him, his smile was now faded and pained expression crossed his face, no doubt thinking of the time they had now been apart. She mentally cursed herself for bringing up their past and quickly apologized. "I am sorry Tony, I…" His hand thrown up stopped her though so she closed her mouth and waited for him to speak.

"Nope. No apology necessary Zi." The normally talkative Tony DiNozzo stayed quiet after that and what used to be comfortable silence between friends is now uncomfortable and neither knew exactly what to say. Tony fidgets with his drink while Ziva looks down at her nails, searching for words to say to make things better. Finally, Ziva comes up with a question normal between two people who have not seen each other in a while.

"So Tony, what have you been doing?" He chuckles, staring down at his drink while mindlessly moving the straw around its outer edges as he contemplates how to answer her. He could fall back into their old routine of telling the half-truth to skirt around the feelings they both know they have but have never spoken of other than in the heat of passion in an old farmhouse. His other option is to tell her the truth and get all of the emotions off his chest that have been building up inside him for months. While the first option is the safest, he decides he's tired of safe if it means Ziva not knowing how he truly feels about her.

"Well, I wake up most mornings hoping the last few months have been a nightmare then cry when I realize you're really half-way around the world and I have no way to contact you. I go to work but it's the same thing every day, although I'm the last one to leave now instead of Gibbs. In the car I find myself listening to the song we danced to in Berlin and Tel Aviv because those are the last really good memories I have of us together. When I get home I keep looking at the phone, hoping one day it'll ring and it'll be you saying you're ready to come back and every night I dream of you because that's been the only thing to hold onto." The words fell out in a rush and Tony finally takes a breath and looks at Ziva. Her eyes are wide, mouth agape, and she's blinking in surprise. He realizes what he said and it registers to him that she's in shock so he quickly tries to back pedal. "Ziva I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I know you're trying to move on but I had to…" He's abruptly cut off as her lips crash into his and her hand comes up to cradle his jaw. His hands come up to her face, one tangling in her hair while the other lays gently on her cheek. This is unlike their last kiss, instead it is full of regret, apology, and love. She pulls away gently and he stares at her in surprise. "What was that for?"

"That, Tony," she begins, trying and failing to hold back tears, "is because I missed you too." Tony's reaches out a thumb from the hand still resting on her face to wipe off the few tears she has shed since their kiss and is surprised when she returns the gesture, unaware he was also crying. "Since you left I have thought of you every day. I um, I am finished with what I sought out to do when I went back to Israel." Tony's face lit up at that news.

"So what does that mean Ziva? For you?" She reached for his hands and pulled them away from her face, holding them in hers between their bodies.

"Well, for me that means selling the farmhouse and moving someplace happier, someplace that feels more like home." Tony dared not to get his hopes up but asked anyway.

"And where do you think this place that feels like home is?"

"Home is not a place Tony, it is a feeling. And I feel home whenever I am with you." Ziva didn't think she had ever seen him happier than he was at that moment so she wasn't surprised when he pulled her in for a gentle kiss.

The sound of an alarm clock roused Tony from his slumber and he rubbed his eyes as he woke up. Still groggy, he thought back to the very real, very vivid dream he had last night of running into Ziva at a bar in Paris and pouring his heart out to her. He remembered telling her he loved her in his dream before they went back to her hotel room and expressed their love for one another. Now, he didn't even know which part of the dream he missed the most.

Sitting up, he realized he wasn't at home in his twin-sized bed. Instead he was lying in a king bed with a view of the Eiffel tower and sheets that smelled like ocean and shea butter. Blinking rapidly, he looked around the room to see his tie lying next to a pair of high heels and there was a knife on the nightstand. A strong smile light up his face when he realized last night wasn't a dream. He was really in Paris, with Ziva who he hadn't seen in over three months. They really made up, and made out, and a bar before coming back to her condo and making love. Just then, she walked into the bedroom donning only his button-up shirt from last night and carrying two cups of coffee.

"Morning sleepy head." She placed both cups on her nightstand and crawled back in bed, leaning over him to place a kiss on his lips.

"Mmm, morning. I love you." Now that the words were out in the open, he felt like he never wanted to stop saying them and appeared that she felt the same.

"I love you too Tony." She placed another quick kiss on his lips and cuddled into his side where he started playing with her hair.

"Ya know Zi, I'm really liking the long hair, it suits you. I love it."

"Well thank you Tony." A comfortable silence filled the air before she spoke again. "Do you think this was inevitable? You and me?" He thought for a moment before replying.

"I don't know if it was inevitable, but I do believe that we're soulmates." She smiled, thinking of a long ago conversation in an elevator that left her frustrated with a lack of response.

"I believe so too. You know, Bogie and Bergman will always have Paris."

"And so do we Ziva, so do we."

AN: Okay, I hope that wasn't terrible. Please let me know what you thought!

I feel like if they had met again within a few months of her staying in Israel that the pain would have been more raw for Tony but also that he would be more forgiving. I wrote this at midnight without a beta so I'll own up to all grammatical mistakes. Also, the Casablanca quote just came to me as I was writing so I had to include it. And bonus points to whoever can find all of the other references in this (cause that's what happens when I write at midnight )

If you're reading it, I'm still working on my Thanks to Tali story so please bear with me on that, the AN in it will explain why it's been a while since an update.