Title: Those Three Words
Fandom: NCIS
Author: Alidiabin
Words: 300
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Warnings/Spoilers/Rating: The Somalia arc | Teen
Parings: McGee/Ziva
Summary: Those three words don't scare her anymore. Happy New Year Smacklicious
Those Three Words
McGee was woken by muffled cries in Arabic. He turned over and found Ziva screaming into the pillow. He rubbed her back. Her hand grabbed his wrist.
"Ziva," McGee shouted. "Ziva, it's ok," he uttered in a much softer tone. Ziva realised her grip. She opened her eyes and took a few gulps of air.
"Tim," she whispered. McGee's hand met hers. He knew she was not ready to be hugged but could not bear not to comfort her. "I am,"
"Ziva there is nothing to apologize for," McGee uttered, "the psychologist said the nightmares were normal,"
Ziva gripped McGee's hand. She had invited him to come to her regular appointments. The weekly sessions alternated between solo ones and a sort of couple's therapy. It helped both of them. McGee slowly understood exactly what Ziva had been through and how to treat her. He learnt not to be scared when the nightmares happened. He learnt he triggers. He learnt how she needed to be treated. Ziva learned to let McGee in. She learned that she did not have to hide her scars from him.
The few weeks they had been having sex had been truly fantastic. The months they had been in a relationship had been magical.
McGee leaned up and kissed her forehead reassuring her.
"I love you," McGee whispered. Ziva stopped. If this had been any other time or with anyone else she would have freaked out and shut down.
"I love you too," the words fell from her mouth before her brain had a chance to censor them.
They just lay still as the words sunk in. Slowly their hand holding developed into a hug. McGee wrapped his arms around her. She did not resist. She knew his arms were safe. They fell asleep just like that.