Title: Hope for the Hopeless
Pairing: McGee/Ziva UST
Rating: K
Genre: Gen
Cat: Angst, UST
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: He just wants her to be happy, but sometimes, it hurts.
Author's Note: Written for the Hopeless Romantic Challenge on NFA. Since I have to pick one character, I'd have to pick McGee. It's mostly from his POV.
He senses her arrival without even looking up from his desk, and smiles to himself. She's happy today, he can tell, can almost feel the radiance bouncing off her as she sits down at her desk.
"Good morning, McGee."
He glances up, meeting her gaze for a second before looking away. "Mornin', Ziva."
They run the same routine day in, day out; casual chitchat, companionable silence, a comfortable friendship. He thinks. . . How special she is to him, and if she realizes what he would do for her. It makes his chest ache to think about it too much, so he tries to focus on work.
He's gotten really good at his job.
A soft gasp from her desk brings a smile to his face, but he doesn't look up. He knows she'll bring his attention to it sooner or later. He imagines the look of awe on her face, mixed with confusion, and maybe her cheeks have darkened with a blush of embarrassment – it is not every day that she receives a gift from a secret admirer, after all.
"Whatcha got there, David?" Tony. With his perfect timing, of course.
"Someone apparently finds me worthy of admiring," Ziva says, and her voice holds the smugness she puts on for Tony, but McGee knows it's just a show for the other man. He likes to think he sees the "real" Ziva, how soft and quiet she can be, what she won't show to just anyone.
"Huh," Tony says in response, and Tim feels some pride deep down at his reaction, but it is short-lived as Tony continues. "Someone must have a death wish, giving gifts to the assassin."
Tim can't help but look up at that, and watches as Ziva pushes the gift into a desk drawer and gives Tony a pointed look. "I think it is sweet, and it takes a lot of bravery to do what this person did."
Tony shrugs. "We'll see when you find out who it is. What if it's that creepy guy from Accounting, huh?" He walks to her desk and Tim feels his heart dropping into his stomach as he watches the exchange. "Just watching out for you." He reaches over to ruffle her hair, but Ziva intercepts his hand before he can.
"I can take care of myself, Tony," she says, and the look she gives him makes Tim look away, back to his computer.
He just wants her to be happy, but sometimes, it hurts him to watch them like this, because he knows he's not the one to make her happy.
Tony returns to his desk and Tim intentionally keeps his eyes focused on his computer. It's easier that way.
What he misses as he gets lost in his work again is how Ziva opens her desk drawer and gazes down at her gift. The present itself is nothing particularly romantic by itself – a book she had mentioned being interested in reading – but the thought, and the anonymity, are what leave Ziva breathless.
She closes the drawer and sits back to think, her gaze unconsciously drifting to where Tim sits, his attention stolen by his work. She stares for a moment, then forces her eyes away. She knows the book is from him, and she knows why he did it. What she will never understand is why he stays quiet.
But then, she thinks, she could say the same about herself.
Now is not the right time, and she doesn't want to scare him off, but she finds herself hoping that maybe, someday, they can be honest with each other.
Someday, before it's too late.
THE END