Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: Prompted by "Surrender is a powerful word".
Feedback: Greatly appreciated.
It has been raining for five days. The lingering clouds not only precipitated rain, but the melancholy mood of the occupants existing below them. Any fires did not have even a chance to survive their first spark.
Tony and Ziva walked into the lab mundanely conversing about something that had more control over them than they did of it. The discussion was going nowhere and with the help of double negatives, they were actually saying the same exact thing, but still not agreeing. The partners couldn't even do the "let's talk about the weather" talk like the rest of small-talking society. The conversation included Tony asking, "What's up with the rain?" and Ziva saying "The rain is coming down." Between all the ups and downs and insides and outsides, they exhausted any bitterness that may have built up the last few weeks of no contact.
Abby grabbed the evidence box from Tony and started sorting and processing it and threw them for a loop and started to guess what they were going on about.
"Were you guys going over the motive?"
"No." Both Tony and Ziva uttered quickly in unison. Before either one of them could respond with what they were talking about or the denial of a conversation in general, Abby spoke up again.
"Are you debating the difference between teal and turquoise?" It was random question from Abby, but not for Abby. She continued with her inquiring, never considering it wasn't something she should be privy to.
A questioning look crossed by all three of their faces. "No. It's nothing Abs. Really." Tony replied for the both of them, hoping to keep the conversation to things relevant to the case.
"OK." She knew that there was something deeper to the conversation they were having, whether they were aware or not. After a myriad of other off the wall negated and ignored questions, she gave up and turned back to the evidence she was processing in the background of interrogating them. "How about how this blood could've ended up in the picture frame from the victim's nightstand since the victim did not show any signs of blood loss or puncture wounds?"
"Continue, Abs." Tony answered her with an approving smile as he stepped away to answer a call from McGee, with a look and a nod towards Ziva to finish with gathering the information from Abby.
Abby turned to Ziva. "You guys are like a little girl's outfit that she swears matches because, though the pants are floral and the shirt is plaid, they both have the same colors in them." Ziva looked down at her own outfit, then over at Tony's, letting her eyes linger a bit too long, trying to make sense of that statement. But before she could ask or just smile and nod, Abby was interrupted by a ding from one of the computers. "Goody, the blood results. Great! It looks like this blood is not human. I guess that is not great, no matter the source of the blood, it is still blood. Poor little creature, I hope it is ok."
Ziva turned to acknowledge Tony saying to meet him at the car. She quickly asked Abby to keep them posted on the details and left slightly informed with her findings and slightly confused with her analogy.
It was between the swish and the swish of the windshield wipers, but Tony finally broke the silence between them by thinking out loud. "Were you giving me the once over in there?"
"What? No."
"Oh, these are new pants and I thought maybe you noticed."
"OK, yes. But not how you think and no, I didn't notice your new pants." She only slightly hesitated before she added, "They are nice pants, though."
"Thanks. I didn't even need them tailored."
"Plaids and florals don't match, right?" She quickly skipped over that thought with the one she meant to verbalize hoping he would ignore the matching comment. "Oh, the blood on the frame was not human."
"So, half of a conversation about clothing and you are asking about matching?" Not that he couldn't go on about his pants or answer her question straight up, but since he actually never saw her sporting plaids with floral, he decided that perhaps this was case related. "Or does this have to do with the case?"
"Abby said something that I don't get." She replied rather quickly, as if she already prepared how she was going to bring up the topic.
"Abby says a lot of things that we don't get." Tony said matter-of-factly, figuring it had to do with the blood.
"But she is always right, yes?"
"Most of the time she is, at least about the facts. Maybe they had a pet, we'll have to have McGee check into that. Did she say something else?" He asked thinking perhaps it was a connection with the evidence she wasn't getting or telling him about, but he still got a vibe that may not be the case.
She felt conflicted as to whether or not she should even bring it up. Well, she knew she should but wasn't sure if now was the right time or even if she wanted to. "We were only discussing the weather and she made it out to be like we were discussing the fate of the world or whether the chicken or the egg came first. Not like we have any say in either, but still."
"So we are back on the weather? Engaging in mundane small talk is not particularly our MO, look where that conversation got us earlier. Abby really probably thought it was something about the case." And as Tony was turning up the speed on the windshield wipers, he felt the need to add another comment about the weather, since they were talking about it again. Right? "Do you really think it could possibly rain any more days in a row - I wonder what the record is?"
She sat silent, hearing what Tony said, trying to apply it to the context and ignore his deflection at the same time. He still has no idea what Abby actually told her. She figured since she seemed to think she was remaining open to him lately and even inquiring how he was doing, one step from blunt was not working; she would try to see if he could figure out what she has been trying to get at on his own while she prompted him. He still hasn't acknowledged the mud wrestling tickets or even the fact that EJ has not turned up yet. She wanted him to know she is there for him beyond his weather woes. She wanted to see if the "if you need a friend, be one" rule could be used in reverse. Maybe if she got him to help her with something she will be able to help him indirectly. Or at least open the lines of communication.
"It has rained a lot lately." She agreed with Tony. Frankly, she was a little tired of the weather conversation so she vaguely restarted another one. "Do you think we make a good outfit?"
"I am not sure that my new pants would go well with your blouse if that is what you are asking. Ziva, if this is your attempt at small talk, you have some work to do." He wanted to rule out whether she is suggesting they go shopping together to pick out an outfit or take up sewing together as a hobby, but she hasn't given him any indication to the contrary. For all he knew this seemingly random stream of consciousness she is going on about could be about the evidence.
"Like, we have a lot in common, sure. But do we match?"
"Only with the right shoes."
She looks at him.
"Belt? Purse?" He shoots her a playful grin but finally realized that she was seriously asking and since they were in the car, it was hard to avoid or deflect with humor any longer. "Ziva, what did Abby say to you?"
"Well, I am not sure what it was that she was trying to ultimately say, if it was good or bad or neither. I am not even sure I should have brought it up." She said while she was trying to divert her gaze from contemplative to focused and stared at her hands, pretending there was a hangnail or something.
"We can talk about it if you want."
"It is not bothering me that much." He knows she is in denial.
"So it is bothering you some."
"Only to the point where I am I not sure I understand what she said."
The pounding of the rain was already drowning out the radio that they weren't listening to, so Tony reached over and turned it off to get rid of the unnecessary noise. He knew there was something more to say or to be said. And if he was honest with himself, he couldn't deal with her in this kind of contemplative, wavering mood and still have the capability to be mentally unwavering enough not to fall apart himself. It has been a rough few months and he needed a rock and whether he has acknowledged it or confided it to her or not, that rock was her at this moment.
He was still driving, keeping the necessary attention he needed to on the road, so he didn't see facial expressions when she finally surrendered to the conversation. "Abby said that we are like an outfit that a little girl thinks matches, like a floral shirt and plaid pants and the only thing in common are the colors that are in the two totally different patterns."
They had been denying themselves of a proper conversation for weeks, years even. It only seemed fitting that just repeating an Abby-theory that confused her in the midst of attempted small talk and a case was the launching point for clearing the air between them. She finally understood what Abby was saying and at the same time they both said "I get it." Maybe they did need a belt and, in this case, it was in the form of a conversation. And, yeah, maybe the conversation wasn't all that long and as soon as they really started it, it was over. And maybe all that they talked about was an analogy, but it was a start.
By the time they arrived at the suspect's house, the windshield wipers were off and the sunglasses were on.