"Tony, what are we doing here?"
He didn't turn away from the water, but Ziva studied his face in the moonlight reflecting off of it. "Haven't you ever been to the beach at night? C'mon. Don't tell me this is your first time."
"It is, actually," she said, dragging one bare toe through the sand. A wave came in, sloshed up on the shore, washed over her feet. It was cold. She shivered. "But Tony, it is ten thirty and we need to pick up the witness first thing in the morning."
"I am not leaving a coastal state," he said defiantly, "without going for a walk on the beach at night. Now let's go."
Ziva was surprised when he grabbed her hand, and she almost pulled away out of instinct but stopped herself just in time. Resigning herself to the fact that she was not going to get the full eight hours of sleep she desired after spending the day on airplanes and in airports, she allowed Tony to pull her along the shore. Every time water cascaded over her feet a chill crept up her legs, but she did admit (only to herself) that it felt good and the water was beautiful and so was its sound.
They walked in silence for several minutes before Ziva realized that she still held Tony's hand. For a moment, she thought she should drop it, but he did not seem to mind. Either he liked holding her hand or he was wrapped up in the ocean and had forgotten about it.
In the end, her fingers went from clutching his to entwining with them.
As they continued, she began to see why Tony had insisted on doing this. The beach was pretty during the day, yes, but at night… at night it seemed wider. More open. It seemed like it could hold an infinite number of possibilities, and it also seemed as if all that potential could be transferred to her.
Ziva had lost track of the time when Tony finally stopped. He stuffed his free hand into his pocket and tilted his head back in order to take in the darkness stretched out above them. "Look at all that," he said, voice low and somewhat awed.
She looked up, too. "The sky?"
"Yeah. The sky and stars and moon and sand and ocean. It makes me feel small." He leveled his gaze at her- the first time he had looked at her directly since they arrived at the beach. "I'm just one point in this humongous universe, and so are you, and remembering that makes everything a little clearer, you know? I can't conquer the world." Tony laughed- not bitterly, not comically. He laughed with an air of relief, like somebody free to laugh after the pressure that had been building, building, building on his chest had been lifted. "All I can do is follow the line my point is on and do my best with the other points I come across."
Ziva nodded, and as she stared out at the world surrounding her, she thought about the line of her own world, her personal world, and all the points on it. One of the major points- one that had drastically changed the course of her line and life- was standing right beside her. He swung their clasped hands a little bit, and another wave roared in, and thought that everything was easier when two points were able to explore a line together.
Oneshot. Random. Ocean-inspired. Unsure whether anybody will actually find it enjoyable, haha. Leave me a review if you are so inclined!