Title: Comfort In the Night

Author: TyriaT

Pairing: Tony/Ziva friendship

Disclaimer: No, they are not mine. If only they were…

Spoilers: 7.13 Jet Lag

Author's Note: I really wish I had gotten this out before Shiva came out. This has been on my computer for a couple years, but I just couldn't get the scenes in my head to mesh. I'm glad that Tony speaking Hebrew is now cannon! Unfortunately, I do not know how to change the Hebrew alphabet into Latin lettering, so I kept the Hebrew and put the translation at the bottom. Thanks as always goes to my amazing beta and to my wonderful cousin who helped me with the Hebrew. And if you could be so kind, leave me a word about what you think! Enjoy!

x**********x

"Ah, Pari. The land of fine wine. Fine women." Tony watches a woman walk past them. "And love."

"Just do not lose sight of why we are here." Ziva said over her shoulder, as she walked to the desk to pick up their keys.

Tony allowed his eyes, and his attention to wander about the room. He spied several women, giving a small smile to a few. Some ignored him, some looked him up and down and then turned away, but one not only smiled in return, she held his gaze. He was about to walk over to her, when he heard the sound of raised voices behind him. Turning, he saw Ziva angrily staring down the desk clerk. He arrived at her side just as Ziva turned away from the man in a rage.

Tony furrowed his brow and looked from Ziva to the man behind the desk, and back to Ziva. "Is there a problem?"

Ziva glared at Tony. "Yes! There is a problem."

Tony waited for a bit. "And that would be?"

"Someone at NCIS requested only one room."

"Ah."

Ziva's eyebrows instantly shot up. "AH?"

"Yeah. So…um…funny story." Ziva crossed her arms over her chest as Tony paused. "Last week…You're gonna laugh…" He said as he chuckled and grinned. "Rodney, you remember him? He works in accounting and is one of those who signs off on expenditures. Anyway, he wanted some help with asking this girl out…And, hehe, he heard how great of a wingman I am!" He chuckled again. "So, we went to the bar, and I start chatting up the girl."

"I am not laughing, yet."

Tony cleared his throat, licked his lips, and took a breath. "Well, um, anyway she ended up liking me more than Rodney and refused to go out with him. Which was completely not my fault!" Ziva stayed silent. "OK, so it might have been slightly my fault, but I didn't know he would be angry enough to take it out on me while we were traveling!" Tony sighed as Ziva's expression never changed. "OK. I'm sorry! I promise, when we get back, I will fix it! But, for right now, we're just going to have to live with this situation."

Ziva sighed. "You are right. Let us see the room."

They took the elevator, walked down the hallway and Ziva opened the door with Tony following her inside. They looked around the room as they arranged their bags. "At least there is a couch along with a bed."

"Yeah, that looks comfortable." He said sarcastically as he shut the drawer and turned to face Ziva. "Well, come on, let's get out of here and see Paris!"

x************x

It was late that evening when they arrived back at the hotel, hunger sated and presents bought. Ziva exits the bathroom wearing a tank top and shorts. "I have decided that you should take the bed and I will sleep on the couch."

"You decided! I'm the one who got us into this mess. I think you should take the bed, and I will take the couch."

"If I take the bed, then I will have to listen to you whine and complain about your back the whole trip home."

"But if I take the bed, I'll never hear the end of the teasing from making you sleep on the couch."

Ziva sighs. "Alright, look. We are both adults, yes?"

Tony narrows his eyes, curious as to where she is taking the discussion. "Yeah…"

"We will share the bed."

Tony laughs. "Really."

"Really."

He shrugs. "Fine by me." Chuckling, he walks to his suitcase to get ready for bed, turning his back on her.

"As long as you can behave yourself."

Tony turns with his clothing in hand, glares at her, and fake laughs at her joke as he enters the bathroom.

x***********x

"No. No." Tony hears the whispers seconds before an arm smacks his chest. He is about to tell Ziva to knock it off, when she yells. "No! NO!" Tony turns to face Ziva in time to see her arm about to hit him again. He is able to slide out of the way before contact is made. Ziva is thrashing on the bed. Avoiding her moving limbs as much as possible, he is eventually able to lay atop her and rein in her flailing arms and legs. Putting his lips by her ear, he repeatedly whispers, ""שקט. ששש, אני כאן.

As Tony spoke, Ziva began to quiet. Slowly, her arms relaxed and grasped onto his upper arms instead of hitting him, and her body stopped trying to roll. The only sign that she had been restless was the hurried breathing, but even that slowly calmed down.

Tony raised his head, so he could look at her face and make sure Ziva was truly calm. Sighing in relief, Tony was about to move, when her eyes blinked twice, and then finally stayed open.

"Hi." He smiled softly before he continued. "Are you alright?"

Ziva nodded her head while her eyes wandered around the room.

"Want to talk about it?"

She shook her head and then furrowed her brow in confusion.

Tony instantly noticed. "What?"

Meeting his eyes, she cleared her throat. "We are still in France?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I thought I had heard…I could have sworn someone was speaking…" Ziva's voice trailed off as she saw the grin slowly evolve on his face. "Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you…Did you speak Hebrew?"

"כן"

Ziva pursed her lips and nodded. "Thank you."

Tony's smile turned soft. "You're welcome."

"Um. Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you on top of me?"

"Because if I hadn't, I would be sporting a black eye right now." He said with smirk.

"Ok. So why are you still on top of me?"

"Because you have a very strong grip." At her questioning look, Tony's eyebrows rose and he glanced at her hands which were still grasping his arms.

Ziva blushed and quickly took her hands off showing them to him. Tony smirked as he moved across the bed and settled in on his side, facing away from her. When he finally started drifting off, he heard Ziva comment, "I knew you could not keep to your side."

x************x

Tony took a couple of slow deep breaths as he gradually awoke. He left his eyes closed and just relaxed as his body readied itself to leave the bed. Of course, Tony knew it would be more difficult leaving the covers with the added comfort of the body that was draped over most of him.

He tightened his arms briefly around the body he was holding, but a few seconds later, his muscles stiffened and his eyes shot open. Forgetting where he was and dreading what he would find, he looked down to see that it was Ziva who was in the bed. Her head was on his shoulder, her left arm over his chest with her hand resting on his right shoulder, and her left leg over his. Relief washed over Tony as everything came back to him: Paris, the problem with the room, Ziva's solution, and her nightmare. The way they were sleeping and the fact that he hadn't been awoken the rest of the night, made him believe she slept soundly the rest of the night. Tony breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that it was Ziva and not some random woman.

A grin split his face as he realized the new position they were in was not his fault. He was trying to think up the perfect way to wake her, when movement beside him made the decision moot. Ziva burrowed her head into his neck and tightened the grip she had on his body. "Tony," she softly sighed into his neck, but just loud enough for him to hear. Suddenly, she shot up off him and into a seated position on the bed. "Tony! What in the Earth is going on?"

He put his hands behind his head and smirked. "Morning, Sugarplum, sleep well? And it's 'what in the World' not 'what in the Earth'."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You know what it is I mean."

"Hey, don't blame me for this," he said joyously. "I wasn't the one who put us in that position. That was all you, Ziva." He closed his eyes with the grin still plastered on his face. "And you were worried about me not keeping to my side."

The pillow hitting his face made Ziva feel better, especially since he didn't see it coming. Tony made a muffled sound of surprise when it made contact. She got out of the bed, picked up her clothing from her suitcase and walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day, with Tony's laughter following her.

x*******x

AN: Hebrew translation (Hush. Hush, I'm here.)

(Yes.)