"I do not know why you insist on getting lunch here, Tony," Ziva complained as they stepped into the Burger King line. "This food is disgusting, greasy, extremely unhealthy-"
"Live a little, Ziva," Tony said, staring at the menu board. "What did McGee want, a number two? Yeah, a number two and some union rings. Okay, what do you-"
He turned toward her and paused mid-question, his voice trailing off as he stared at her face. "What?" she demanded.
And then Tony cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her. She stiffened at first, and their lips stayed pressed together without moving; then she responded, and they exchanged a couple of slow, sweet kisses.
Ziva pulled back first and stared at Tony in wonder. His hand slipped off her face and fell back to his side.
"Can I help who's next?"
The cashier's call broke them out of their trance, and they both turned to see the teenage girl watching them expectantly. Ziva started to back away. "I, um, I will wait in the car. I do not want anything."
Tony watched her go, then sighed and stepped up to the counter. He tried, and was unable, to get his lips to stop tingling.
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For two days, Tony and Ziva spoke only when absolutely necessary. There was no banter, no playful teasing and flirting, and everybody noticed. Gibbs and McGee kept sneaking glances at them, but they took no notice. They were too wrapped up in their own thoughts.
Three days after the kiss, Gibbs sent Tony and Ziva to follow up on a lead. They walked in silence to the elevator, and once they were on, Ziva refused to meet Tony's gaze.
That is, until he reached over and pressed the emergency stop button.
"Tony, what are you doing?" Ziva snapped, stepping forward to get the elevator going again. Tony stood in front of her and grasped her arms as he pushed her back.
"We need to talk, Ziva."
"No, we do not."
"Yes, we do." He hesitantly released her, and when she didn't immediately lunge for the emergency button, he stuck his hands in his pockets. "You kissed me back the other day."
She narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't deny it.
"We have to figure out what's going on here."
Ziva turned away from him and stared at the closed elevator doors, arms crossed tightly over her chest. "You kissed me, I kissed back. It was a mistake. And now we will move on."
It was a mistake. Tony would never admit how those words sliced through his heart. He pressed on. "Look. I'm in love with you. And you might not love me, but you feel something. You might love me someday."
Those words, I'm in love with you, were spoken as casually as Let's get lunch at Burger King had been the other day, and that's what made Ziva look back into Tony's face. It was completely open, and honest, and she found herself almost believing him.
Almost.
"Tony, you just got out of a relationship," she pointed out, referring to his fling with E.J. Barrett. "You wouldn't have been dating someone else if you loved me."
"Yeah, I would," he argued. "Because I needed something to make me feel better about you and Ray. I more or less used E.J., and yeah, that was wrong. But it was because of my feelings for you, Ziva."
Ziva was shaking her head and beginning to pace. "No," she said emphatically, "no, no, no. Because I know you, Tony. You go after what you want, and you get it. You snooped in my e-mail, yes, but you never tried to break us up. In fact, when I did break up with him, you defended him!"
"That's because as much as I want you, I want you to be happy more." Tony had a completely serious look on his face, and it made Ziva stand still. "And you were happy. You were smiling and laughing more than I'd seen since… since you got back from Somalia."
"You mean it," she said in awe.
"Of course I mean it," he said quietly.
Their eyes met. A few long moments passed, and then Ziva reached up and brought Tony's face down to hers.
He immediately started kissing back and put his hand on the back of her neck to keep her mouth against his. They kissed- longer this time around, but still softly, still a little tentatively.
Ziva pulled away after several blissful moments and said, "Tony, you were right. I am not sure yet if I love you. I think I might but I do not know."
"It's okay. You'll figure it out." He ran his fingers through her sleek ponytail, still half-dazed.
"You do not mind waiting?"
"No, Ziva. I really think we've got something here. I can wait for you."
With that, she grinned and stepped around him to hit the emergency stop button. The bright lights came back on, and the elevator started moving again. They rode to the lobby in comfortable silence, but when the doors opened, Ziva turned to Tony and asked, "Would you like to come over tonight? I will make you dinner."
"That sounds good."
She smiled and strode out of the elevator. Tony followed, unable to keep a humongous grin off his face.
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