All I Ask after Adele's song
Tony DiNozzo Jnr shuffled restlessly in his seat. He was only an hour into a 8 hours flight Washington to Heathrow, London. He just couldn't get comfortable.
He was on a week's vacation from NCIS. It was only 3 weeks before Christmas and Gibbs was seriously pissed at him for taking time out. However NCIS director Leon Vance must of seen how much in need Tony was and much to his stunned surprise had signed off on his leave.
Tony sighed and rolled his shoulders. He so badly needed this break. His life felt suffocating. He needed air to breathe and he couldn't do that in DC.
His mind turned to Zoe Keates his girlfriend of just over a year. The ATF agent was his old partner from Philadelphia. She was a serious blast from the past.
She had reappeared when Tony was at a very low ebb. She had been good for him, had helped fill the void left by..NO he wouldn't think of her. Just lately the small things were beginning to jar. Lack of sleep, owing to her being scared of the dark. There were definitely more downs than ups.
Tony rubbed his eyes and settled back his mind drifting to recent events. One that had shaken his life to it's very foundations.
He and McGee his friend and fellow agent had been called to the Sudan to rescue a bunch of doctors. While there he encountered his old flame Jeanne Benoit. Her husband David was in peril. He had thankfully been rescued.
He thought of another rescue mission in Africa one done with reckless abandon.
"Excuse me sir? Would you like a drink?"Tony numbly shook his head. Alcohol would make the whole situation worse.
8 years before flashed thru his mind. Jenny Shepard responsible for the whole mess. Jeanne, Ziva his former partner. They had grown very close the summer Gibbs retired to Mexico. Yet he had lied to her while undercover and hurt her.
Jeanne and her sudden reappearance had sent his life into a tailspin. Forgotten feelings and emotions had been awakened. He genuinely thought he loved Zoe but in comparison to Jeanne those feelings were nothing.
Then there was that whole other mass of confusion and hurt he'd spent two years burying.
Tony drifted off into an exhausted slumber. He could feel the scorching heat, could see her beauty. Dark chocolate eyes so full of sadness. Tumbling, dark curls that his hands itched to bury themselves in.
He could see the orange grove. Could smell her scent, taste her warm, moist, lips. He sipped on them like a man quenching his thirst in the desert. SOMALIA.
He jerked awake. He was coated in a fine film of sweat. He headed to the bathroom splashed his hands and face. Much like he had when he told Gibbs he felt that had made a mistake only it wasn't his to make. These memories were just too painful.
Tony stumbled back to his seat and accepted a bottle of water, smiling his thanks. No flirting this flight, he had enough women in his head.
Where was he? Jeanne Benoit, yes he did love her 8 years had helped him to mature from the immature, frat boy."The man you are becoming Tony needs a woman" the exotic, accent drifted thru his mind.
Tony remembered the summer before Jeanne. Gibbs had retired to Mexico. He and Ziva David the former Mossad liaison officer had become close friends. Movie nights, after work drinks. Impromptu piano lessons.
All ended when Gibbs returned and Tony was given the mission to get close to Jeanne. He had hurt Jeanne, himself and Ziva. He could see she was concerned about his health. Then hurt by his lies.
It had all crashed and burned. Tony DiNardo was who Tony had wanted to be in another lifetime. The whole vendetta that Jenny Shepard had against Jeanne's father an international arms dealer had ended badly for everyone
Jeanne had accused him of murdering her father. Thankfully it was dismissed. That wound still hurt.
However after the flight home from Sudan she had given him a lingering kiss on the cheek and he felt peace. It had also reminded him of another similar kiss given after another rescue mission. .One much more personal. .Another lady he had loved and lost.
Tony scrubbed his hands over his face. He felt so old and worn out. Like he had nothing left to give. He was a shadow of his former, happy go lucky self.
What was it he had said to Ziva? The heart wants what it wants. Exactly who and what did Tony and his battered heart want? He hoped on this trip to England to trace his late mother's roots he found out. Or at least gained some peace of mind.
Tony had no idea what fate had in store for him.
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