Female Bonding

She didn't know what had prompted her to choose Washington as her intended destination.

Maybe she just needed to be as far away as she could from Sacramento in order to take a break from the memories that still haunted her day and night. One was supposed to relax on vacation, and she couldn't relax at all with Craig's ghost lingering within her mind.

Of course she didn't expect to stop thinking about him once she was at the other end of the country. That would have been wishful thinking, and she was perfectly aware of it.

Visiting new places was a welcome distraction nonetheless. At least she wouldn't be constantly running over what had happened, and that was definitely an improvement for a start.

Right now she was enjoying her booked tour to the U.S. Capitol. As she entered the elevator she paid little attention to the woman that strode in after her; she wasn't exactly looking forward to strike up a conversation with random strangers after all.

Then it happened. All lights went out and the elevator stopped abruptly.

She fidgeted nervously as the emergency lights came on. Being trapped inside an elevator was something that could hardly set her at ease; she loathed feeling stuck, helpless, caged.

"It's just a power outage," the other woman pointed out reassuringly. "All we have to do is stay calm and wait."

"I know that," she replied curtly. She wasn't a frightened schoolgirl, and she wouldn't let anybody treat her like one.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude. Last time I've been stuck in an elevator was after the bombing at the Navy Yard; that's why this looks like a walk in the park to me."

"You've been involved in a bombing?"

The stranger shrugged. "I've survived worse thing than that. I'm an NCIS agent, and I've been in the Mossad before that."

"What a coincidence. I'm an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation. My name's Grace Van Pelt, by the way."

"Ziva David. Nice to meet you."

They shook hands and lapsed into a somewhat awkward silence. They were both cops, that was true; it didn't meant they had that many things in common though.

"I bet you've had some narrow escapes as well, agent Van Pelt."

Grace smirked wryly. "Yeah. The most recent one was when my fiancé tried to kill me, along with my boss and my boss's boss."

"A rather unpleasant situation indeed. How did it end?"

She looked her new acquaintance straight in the eyes. "I shot him – dead."

Ziva nodded approvingly. "Well done."

No one had ever addressed the matter so bluntly; she had to acknowledge it made her feel considerably better.

"Whatever."

And for the first time in months she allowed herself a genuine smile.