I have absolutely no idea where this came from. None. But it has been playing around in my head for a while, and I only ever wrote about 100 words for it. I think some of it is…I do not know…messy.
Okay, so remember the music at the beginning of Voyeur's Web, all the way back at the beginning of season 3? Well, there is an advert that keeps playing at the moment with that music, and every time it plays I think that I have somehow misjudged the TV guide and Voyeur's Web has started playing. It is driving me insane.
Rolling Credits
Throughout the duration of the film the only times her eyes glanced at the black and white flickering image were when he tilted his face to look at her. All other times her focus was wholly on her partner. The movie ended, the credits rolled and a silence descended upon the deserted squad room. Their drink cups were empty and the bowl of popcorn void of any kernels, yet neither wanted to move, to disturb the comfortable togetherness that they each felt as they sat, side by side in the dark, forearms brushing as they leaned their arms on the rests of the chairs, the chairs that had mysteriously crept closer throughout the course of the film. It had been a long time since they had watched a film together, a long time since they had done anything but work together – Paris aside, although that had still be work, mostly. Their eyes never met as they looked everywhere but one another's faces, not so certain of what they were looking for, but certain that they would not find it in the eyes of the one who was, at one point, their best friend. It had been a long time since either had called the other best friend, a long time since either of them had dared, scared of the reaction they might receive and unsure of what the other thought, always too scared to ask.
Alas, all silences must come to an end, and the reader beeped as it spat the disc out. Tony clambered up rather inelegantly, stumbling over her legs as he tried to reach his desk to sort the DVD out.
"So, you enjoy it?" Tony questioned, his focus entirely on the disc and how it fit in its case.
"It was great, Tony." She bluffed, hopping he would not see through her.
"You hated it." He sighed.
"No, no I really did like it. I liked the part with the boat." She stood up and he watched as she stretched, cracking her knuckles before leaning against the end of his desk.
He snorted and shook his head. "You didn't even watch it." He had appeared in front of her, their knees brushing as he looked down at her.
"I did!" She protested, the laugh that was supposed to follow being stifled by the proximity of his face to hers, his hot breath on her already flushed cheeks. She could feel his nose tickling her own and knew that all she had to do to allow their lips to meet would be to just tilt her face up slightly, no more than a few degrees. "I did not. I am sorry." Her voice was just whispers of air, floating through her barely parted chapped lips, and he could hear the swallow that followed clearer than the words that she breathed.
"No problem." Their lips touched for the briefest of seconds as he pronounced the 'p' of problem and his hand hesitantly made it's way up to her cheek, gently lifting her face millimetres closer to his own, his softer lips lightly touching her dry ones as her eyes stared up at him, wide and full of a mix of trust and fear.
A stern cough shattered their silent bubble, causing them to leap apart and stare, stunned, at the intruder, their cheeks both blushing redder than her hair. At her raised eyebrows Tony cringed and Ziva bit her lip. "Agent Borin. To what do we owe the pleasure?" She asked as she moved over to her desk, running a hand through her hair and having to resist the temptation to skim her fingertips along her lips.
"I left my notebook here on Gibbs desk by accident." She watched as Tony slammed his palm against the filing cabinet and stormed off, heading towards unknown places near the back of the building, before making her way, slightly hesitantly, over to Gibbs desk. She picked up a little black notebook and held it in the air, showing Ziva she had it. "You and DiNozzo, huh?"
"No." She snapped, too quickly. "No, Tony and I are just partners." Her voice wavered slightly and she was mentally kicking herself for being so unconvincing.
"You seemed awful close for 'just partners' back there." The insinuation in her voice was clear as day.
"Tony and I have always been close. It is what makes the partnership work." She watched as the older agent narrowed her eyes sceptically. "There is nothing going on between us. There never has been, and there never will be."
"You sound disappointed." The red-head moved around to stand in front of Ziva's desk.
"Well, I am not." She sat down, hitting the keys of her keyboard harder than needed.
"You know, I don't think it would be that…unrealistic for you two to…"
"Stop. Tony and I are not a couple, nor will we ever be. We are partners and friends."
"So, you watching him for the entirety of the film, and not the film itself, that was just…friendship?"
Ziva stared up at the woman, disappointed in herself for being so weak. "Why are you interrogating me?"
"Because you're not telling the truth." Borin shrugged.
"I am. I have told you that there is nothing between us, you simply do not wish to believe me for some unknown reason." Her temper was beginning to fray.
"I just do not think that from what I saw I could define you as 'just partners' or even friends."
"And what did you see?"
"Just now or through the whole of the case? Look, maybe you're trying too hard to hide your feelings from everyone else, or maybe you're trying too hard to hide your feelings from yourselves, but either way you're trying too hard."
"And what would you know of mine and Tony's feelings? Because from what you are saying you know more about them than we do. In fact, I can tell you right now that Tony is certainly not attracted to me in any way, other than maybe lustfully due to the fact that he has not been with anybody in a long time, despite what he tells everybody. I myself have not been attracted to him for a long, long time."
"Time is relative, Agent David. What is a long, long time? A minute? A second? Half a second?"
"Many years." She tried her best to make herself sound convincing.
"Okay, why don't you both stop lying to yourself and everyone else and just admit what you feel for him?"
"What, the anger, the hatred or the disgust?"
"Cute. No, what I meant was those feelings for him, the ones that won't go away no matter how hard you try. The ones that are going to get stronger the more you deny them."
"Simple for you to say."
She frowned before coming to a realisation. "Easy? Yes. But it is not so difficult to carry out."
"No, it really is. Co-workers are not allowed to date."
"There are no rules against it."
"Rule number 12. Never date a co-worker. There is also a version of number one – never screw a co-worker – that prevents mindless hanky-panky. Gibbs made certain to explain them to me a long time ago."
"They're not real rules."
"Yes, yes they are. Gibbs' rules should not be taken lightly, and I certainly do not want to receive a head-slap for not listening to him."
"Right. You know, I won't tell anyone, if you two are…"
"We are not."
"Right, but if you were, then I would keep my mouth shut. Gibbs would never find out from me." She nodded. "Sorry, for interrupting and causing any discomfort between the two of you. It was unintentional."
"It was our own faults for forgetting who we were." Ziva shook her head dismissively. "Besides, apologies are a sign of weakness." Borin quirked a small smile and gave one final nod before walking over to the elevator. "Agent Borin?" Ziva stood up, looking over the partitioning wall. "What is hanky-panky?"
I am not overly happy with the conversation between Borin and Ziva. I found the Other Abby difficult to write.
I do like the last line, though. I could just imagine her laughing as she walked into the elevator, and then phoof.
One more story left until my 50th NCIS fic. Maybe I should get to work on it… it is over halfway done now. I have three paragraphs to finish in three of the middle chapters, (13, 14, and 15) then I have six chapters that need writing, although I know what I want to write for them, I just need to be able to put the ideas into words, and then I have to add one more paragraph into the middle of the last chapter, and then it is done. I am getting excited, but I am worried people will not like it now. Oh, well. Even if they do not, I shall upload it all anyway.
For my reference: 48th NCIS fic.
