I'm sorry if the following story is too cheesy. I just heard this song and immediately thought of Tony and Ziva. The title and quotes in italics are from the song Love Song by Jill Clayburgh and John Rubinstein from Pippin. Just to get this song right, I listened to this song 100 times.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or Pippin, not that I would want to own Pippin it's a creepy play. I also don't own Indiana Jones. Or Sweet Baby James.

Sitting on the floor and talking 'til dawn, candles and confidences, trading old beliefs and humming old songs, and lowering old defenses

Ziva was late. She and Tony were meeting at his house for a movie night. Ziva was driving slower than normal because it was really raining out. The weather reports said it was a nor'easter. In the passenger seat she had a bottle of wine and a pizza. She hoped to dissolve whatever awkwardness and bad feelings that had come between them since the whole affair with Michael. She was thankful that by the time she got there, the pizza was still warm. As she ducked into Tony's apartment she looked outside just in time to see a flash of lightning light up the sky. It seems she had just avoided the worst of it. She knocked on Tony's apartment door.

"I know I am late" she said just as his mouth opened

Whatever he was going to say next was defeated by the flash of lightning and the boom of thunder. Instead he said, "Come in before the pizza gets cold"

She walked into his apartment and hung her coat up on the coat rack. She was yet again surprised by the warmth of Tony's apartment. It was not the sloppy bachelor pad she had first imagined it to be. Instead the walls were a cozy brown. One was completely covered with a huge shelf full of movies. The front hall was all a deep colored hardwood floor. The kitchen was a deep red. The living room carpet was a soft gold. She knew that the rest of the apartment was just a beautiful.

"How about we open this bottle of wine now?" Tony suggested

"That sounds good" Ziva replied walking into the kitchen

Tony reached for the wine opener. Ziva watched and couldn't help but notice the way he brought down the box it was in down with a triumphant smile. He opened the bottle of wine. Then they grabbed the pizza and they went into the living room. Ziva sat on the couch while Tony popped in a movie. They were watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

They were at the part where Indiana was in the temple and was reaching for the stone when the power flickered and died. Tony walked over to the window and peered outside. Ziva was thinking about how fitting it was that this happened to them.

Tony's voice snapped Ziva out of her thoughts "Looks like it's the whole block, maybe even the whole city"

"Well I do not think we should just sit here in the dark."

"Good point; I'll go get the candles"

"You have candles?" Ziva asked incredulously

"Yeah, they are good for setting the mood"

"Oh" was all Ziva could think to say

Tony went and got two short, fat white candles. He lit them and sank down onto the floor. She sunk down next to him.

"We should probably talk"

"About?" Tony asked

"Us. Things we do not know about each other."

"Alright, but you go first."

"Okay, well when I was a little girl I was obsessed with this song by and American artist named James Taylor"

"Yeah I know a lot of his songs"

"Well, I was in love with this one called Sweet Baby James"

"That's my favorite James Taylor song!" then he began to sing

"There is a young cowboy, lives on the range. His horse and his cattle are his only companions. He works in the saddle and sleeps in the canyons. Just waiting for summer, his pastures to change" he looked at Ziva who indicated for him to go on.

"And as the moon rises, he sits by his fire, just thinking about women and glasses of beer. Closing his eyes as the doggies retire, he sings out a song which is soft but is clear. Just as if maybe someone could here."

She sang this next part with him, "He says goodnight all you moonlight ladies rock a bye sweet baby James. Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose. Won't you let me go down in my dreams? Yes and rock a bye sweet baby James.

They both laughed. Now it was Tony's turn.

"When I was twelve, I went to a boarding school where gambling, even with food, was against the rules. So my buddies and I would sneak into the girls' locker room after they'd cleaned it. One time, we were playing and a girl walked out of the locker room with a robe on. And she screamed so loud, it woke up kids on the other side of the building."

Ziva laughed and even Tony chuckled a little.

Private little jokes and silly pet names

"Hey Sweet Cheeks?" Tony said a little later

"Yes, my Little Hairy Butt?"

"Do you think anybody else knows where our little nicknames came from?"

"It is doubtful, when we made them up, no one was really listening. Why?"

"I don't know, I just was wondering"

"Or trying to stall out of telling me another story"

"That too"

Ziva chuckled, "No roostering out"

"I think you mean chickening out"

"Yes" then Ziva chuckled

"What?"

"It is nothing"

"No come on, tell me"

"Okay, I was just thinking of how funny it was that you correcting my English is sort of like our own private joke"

"That's true, even McGee doesn't correct you anymore. He leaves that to me"

"No more stalling, new story"

"Okay, okay. When I was about eight, my mother passed away."

"I am so sorry"

"Me too. Anyway, my dad was never quite right after her death. He was worse right after her death. I needed to get out of the house, so what I would do is, I'd climb out of my window and I'd walk across a branch of the tree right outside my window. I'd climb to the very top and I'd think."

"About?"

"Nothing. Everything."

"Ah."

"Yep"

Tony and Ziva kept talking; they didn't even notice that the storm had stopped. The power was still out, so it wasn't much of a difference. They kept talking, laughing, singing, and story telling. Then, they finally noticed that it was starting to lighten up outside.

Tony and Ziva went to the window. From there, they watched the sun rise. Tony's arms were around Ziva's waist and he was standing behind her. She had her head leaned against his chest. Suddenly, Ziva yawned. She blushed.

"Sounds like somebody's tired" Tony said with a smile.

She only nodded.

"Well, then, let's get some sleep."

"Okay, so I will take the couch?"

"No way, I'll lend you something to sleep in. We can share a bed, we've done it before"

She smiled and they both thought about the times they shared a bed. First undercover, then in Paris. Both times they hadn't just slept. Only undercover was it fake.

So Tony and Ziva went to sleep in Tony's bed. Ziva had her back up against Tony's chest and he had his arms around her waist.

If somebody didn't know anything about them, they'd believe them to be a couple. If this was a movie, people would say it was predictable. And it was. But in a good way.

All of the clichés and all of the games, and all of the strange emotions…they say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts it's made of. If it's true of anything, it's true of love. 'Cause how can you define a look or a touch? How can you weigh a feeling? Taken by themselves, they don't mean much, but together they send you reeling into a love song.