-One last score
She wasn't like any woman he had even encountered before, she wasn't what you expect at all and perhaps that was what intrigued him.
He really couldn't lay his finger on it.
She was blonde, quite beautiful and she defiantly was a personality. A few years back he wouldn't even have stopped to think about romantically approaching her, a few years back Kate hadn't been brutally murdered, a few years back there wasn't Ziva, a few years back there hadn't been Jeanne.
A lot had happened in a few years, it felt like decades.
But she challenged him in a way Ziva didn't and she was like a mirror of what could've been another reason she was interesting.
Yes, Special Agent Erica Jane "EJ" Barrett defiantly had his mind spinning. She had him thinking of all the could've beens and all the what ifs.
He could've been there, he could've been a boss, a team leader, he could've been… he had to stop thinking about those options.
She triggered something in him most woman could never achieve, perhaps it would be fun to date her – something else.
Not like he and Ziva were ever gonna hit it off, now she was seeing that Ray he had no chance at all also he wasn't even sure if it would work out because between Gibbs' rules, the director's speculations and their past Ziva and him had a lot of things to work out if they even wanted to try – probably why they hadn't tried yet.
He continued looking through the folders placed on his desk and ignored the small tread of footsteps approaching.
"Working late huh?" he turned around to see EJ Barrett standing behind him, her hair wet and dressed in a pair of sweat pants and a large hoodie.
"Just finishing things up" he replied, thinking back about their almost kiss and the meaning behind her words.
She walked towards him – her hips don't swing that much like Ziva's do, he noticed – and then she looked at him.
In that moment he realized that this could work, there wasn't a catch with her. Kate had been like a sister to him and he never imaged anything with her, Ziva was practically impossible, Jeanne had been possible but he had to give up Tony Dinozzo and become Tony Dinardo and he just couldn't live a lie, then there had been his short obsession with Dana Hutton and to be honest with himself he totally had been fooling himself with her.
And now there was EJ.
He stood up and faced her again looking into her sea blue eyes, she looked right back – unfazed.
She talked to herself, she was funny, she was cocky, she was athletic, she was smart, she had the job he could've had.
She had bad sides, she had good sides but so had he.
He was cocky, he was childish, he was immature, he was a senior field agent for almost ten years now, he was not appreciated much, he was athletic, he was a lot of things.
He stepped a little closer nearly closing the gap between them, and wiped away a stray of hair that had escaped her bun.
"You can be so much more" she whispered her eyes portraying the honesty, his other hand found its way to her face too. Rachel had said the same, she had believed in him too and told him Kate had done the same.
It was risky, and there was a fifty/fifty percent chance it would work with them being so similar but he was willing to risk it.
She took the initiative and her lips brushed against his, he tightened the grip on her and deepened the kiss.
This could work.