Tiva Under Mistletoe - A Tiva Prequel
By Taygeta
Author's Note: This is a prequel to my "Tiva" series, but can be read as a standalone! Happy Holidays!
It had happened under mistletoe. Both had avoided being near the location of where Abby had placed it by the stairs at the same time. Others in the office - without care - had not been so careful and laughingly shared a friendly peck on the cheek if they happened to find themselves beneath it.
But Ziva David and Tony Dinozzo did not get as far as they had in their careers - survived even death and mayhem - by subscribing to potential follies like being caught underneath the mistletoe.
Each had their own approach.
Dinozzo would jokingly try to get other women beneath the mistletoe in a guise of suave debonair reminiscent of Cary Grant. The only one he notably managed to get was Abby, where they exchanged a friendly peck on the cheek with an Abby holiday bear hug to follow. He would laugh the rest off as not failures in his charm, but as joking gestures that he didn't really mean. While everyone would roll their eyes, he knew the truth. He didn't really want to be caught by that stairwell, share a kiss with someone he wouldn't care to kiss, and didn't really want to be in a situation to possibly kiss the one person he might want to kiss.
Ziva ignored it completely. Even when caught walking by it at the same time as a colleague, she would quickly pass - not acknowledge it. At best she would joke that it was not a Jewish tradition. She humored McGee once. Giving him a kiss on the forehead that McGee laughed about, saying: "I think I want a retraction or a do-over. That was like if you were my mom." Ziva merely replied, "I just don't understand these traditions, McGee. Just tell people that!"
The only approach both Ziva and Tony shared was their desire to avoid being beneath the traditional green at the same time.
If anyone had a bird's eye view on them, they would have noted the few seconds that one might avoid standing next to the other just at the point of being underneath the mistletoe. Neither communicated this plan to each other. It was like an unwritten, stated rule between them. As if both were silently saying, "I don't need such an easy excuse to change everything."
But as fate would have it, it wasn't that mistletoe they needed to worry about, not the mistletoe in the office by the stairway placed by the then unknown President of the Tiva Club Abby Scuito in hopes of having them kiss.
Late one night during the holiday season, both Tony and Ziva left the office at the same time.
"I still need to pick up ingredients for the chicken I'm bringing to McGee's holiday party tomorrow," Ziva said with a tone of exhaustion. "You think he's still going to have it?"
They had just finished up a case before Gibbs had taken off to visit his father. Gibbs had left earlier in the day, but there had been plenty of paperwork to keep the rest of them in for awhile. McGee had only just left an hour before Tony and Ziva. Tony had no excuses to leave even after Gibbs had left.
"Last I checked with McGee he said that we all probably needed a good excuse to drink through all the wine he bought on wine woot."
"Wine what?"
"Never mind. Probably," Tony quipped. "Ziva, it's almost midnight. It can't wait until tomorrow?"
"I need to prep everything tonight for tomorrow," she said getting toward her car.
Tony looked at it with an eye of unfamiliarity. He wondered what number vehicle this was for Ziva and how high her insurance rates must be.
"I'll see you tomorrow..." she began.
"Well...I realize that you're a super crazy assassin woman who could kick my butt, but you sure you don't want me to go with you? D.C. grocery shopping after midnight doesn't sound like the best idea."
Ziva laughed, "What? Are you going to be my knight in shining armor?"
"I'm just offering the company. Could probably wrangle up some of those bags of chips I told McGee I'd bring while I'm at it."
"Chips? You're really going all out for McGee."
"Fine...if you don't want my company, you just had to say no." Tony said as he walked toward his car.
Ziva stood by her car and said, "Fine. So long as I drive."
Tony pause, "How about I just meet you there?"
"What was the point of you coming along? I've been waiting for ten minutes," said Ziva at the front of the grocery store.
Tony strolled up, "Maybe because you drive like a mad woman. I have no idea why I offered to come along. You could just kill anyone with your car."
Ziva sneered at Tony, but both were laughing by the time they walked in the store. It was packed.
"You think all these people are going to McGee's party? I don't think I have enough chicken," said Ziva as she wheeled her cart around with Tony dumping in a few bags of chips at one point.
"Well I hope he invites *her*," commented Tony as a blond bombshell strolled by.
Ziva shook her head, "Some things just never change."
It was a short trip to the grocery store - twenty minutes or so - that led both Tony and Ziva back the front entrance. Ziva had her ingredients for her dish in hand while Tony had his assortment of chips where he argued their finesse inside the store because some bags said "gourmet".
"Thank you for coming along, Tony, even though it was obviously quite unnecessary," she said as three women wheeled out their carts of groceries to their cars.
"No problem, Ziva. I'll try to make useless gestures more often."
An older man wheeled empty carts back into store, chuckling as he passed by them.
Tony frowned, "What's so funny?"
The old man nodded his head, "You two realize what you're standing underneath, right?"
Ziva and Tony looked up to see a familiar mistletoe hanging from a stringed wreath above. They had both been avoiding it for days and there it was, as if it had temporarily transported itself from the stairs of NCIS to a grocery store after midnight.
"Public place! Why are you guys putting this in such a public place?" Tony argued.
"New manager thought it'd be nice and traditional," the man shrugged. "You two don't want to break tradition do you?" With a sly grin, he wheeled the carts in.
"I don't really abide by this in the office," Ziva said. "I don't see how this changes my approach from the one at NCIS."
Still, Tony noticed that she didn't step away. And then he saw a glance that was almost shy and curious - a hint of vulnerability.
"You're right," he said, not stepping away either, but meeting her glance. "We should just walk away."
It wasn't as if they had never kissed before. Years ago they had done so undercover as passionate lovers who were also assassins. But they were being both watched and heard. They were being people unlike themselves. It was easy to fall into a storyline that wasn't their own.
But in that moment, in front of the store beneath mistletoe, they were Tony and Ziva. Two people who could walk away...and weren't.
Tony leaned in.
In his mind, he wasn't sure what would happen next - would he change his mind and kiss her cheek? Would it be a light peck on the lips? Or would it be like a kiss he held in his memory - searing, passionate - to confirm that two would-be lovers had once been asked to become lovers on assignment...?
...not to mention the fear he held that she might just kill him for leaning in...
...but she didn't.
She pressed her lips softly against his, took in his temporary warmth as he wrapped his arms around her. The awkward tangling of grocery bags they held in their hands was ignorable for a moment, until - crunch, pop! - a bag of chips pressed too closely against another bag opened.
They pulled apart a little and Tony - still looking into her eyes - said, "I guess I'm not bringing that one to McGee's party."
"I guess not," she said.
And then they took a step away from each other.
Ziva cleared her throat a bit and said, "I guess I should head home."
Tony nodded, "Me too. See you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow."
The next day, McGee's party was in full swing at about nine o'clock. There was only about fifteen people invited but with Abby's selection of upbeat holiday songs, a spread of food on the table, and conversations around the room there was no doubt the party was going well. The woot wine probably helped set the mood too.
For most of the party, like most of the day, Tony and Ziva had managed to have as little conversation as possible.
Ziva spent most of the day at her desk, focused on her computer. Tony found every excuse imaginable to run errands around the building. At the party, Ziva spent her time talking to Ducky and Abby. Tony pretended to try to get to know a few of McGee's 'lady friends', but was really making small talk about his favorite holiday films.
Eventually Tony excused himself to the kitchen to make a call.
"Hello...?" answered Ziva.
"Can we meet up after this?"
"Where are you?"
"In the kitchen."
At the door of the kitchen, Tony glanced at Ziva who smiled.
"I'll call you when I leave."
When Ziva closed her cell phone, Ducky joked, "Another party to attend, Ms. David?"
She smiled, "A friend wants to meet up for the holidays..."
"Tony, what are you doing in here?" asked McGee.
"Uh...had to make a phone call," he replied.
"Just letting you know, but I think someone out there might be interested in you..." hinted McGee.
"Really?" Tony said with a forced grin. The one he found himself hoping for was probably not on McGee's radar. Still he stayed in character, saying, "Tell me more..."
Apartments were dangerous places when anything remotely close to feelings were being discussed. Restaurants were noisy and had people hovering around. The weather was a bit too chilly for a walk. After both had left the party separately, Ziva suggested a late-night cafe by her place that was quiet enough for talk and half-empty enough that they weren't truly alone.
After the waitress had dropped off their coffees to the table, both looked at each other expectantly.
"So...you wanted to meet up after McGee's party...?" asked Ziva.
"I just - I kinda think...we've been avoiding each other today," began Tony before he confessed, "Ok...so maybe it's just me. I know I've been avoiding you today."
"Not just you, Tony," said Ziva. He watched as her finger danced on the rim of the white coffee mug as she thought. "I believe it may be because you and I had a lot of choices we could have undertaken yesterday..."
"...and we chose the one that made the least sense?" He added, "Or possibly the most sense?"
"Whatever the case, it's more of a question of what we choose to do now."
"You and I - we can't..." Tony said.
Ziva nodded, "I know... Maybe under different circumstances, but ..."
So for the second time in two days, Ziva and Tony found themselves agreeing about something. Neither wanted to confront the confusion on why they had agreed on two very opposing issues: the kiss and to forget about its unforgettableness.
Try as each might, however, Ziva and Tony's minds wandered every now and again to that random mistletoe. Especially as both navigated their lives to avoiding the one they knew was by the stairwell. But neither could avoid the inevitable figure that is Abby Scuito.
On a slow day close to Christmas, Abby called both down to the lab. She had lure them under the ruse of needing test subjects for her latest batch of peppermint candy. But when Ziva and Tony arrived, they found only Abby smiling widely.
"Where's the candy, Abby?" asked Tony.
"Oh that didn't work out. So I decided on a new holiday experiment."
She stood between Ziva and Tony, smiled sweetly with her bright red lipstick, and pulled out mistletoe.
"Abby!" scolded Ziva.
Abby lowered her eyes at them and began her lecture, "I have seen you two avoiding the mistletoe. I have seen you move away just so you don't encounter anyone and follow traditions. Even you - Tony! I saw you avoiding the new secretary with my very own eyes. So you two better follow tradition right now."
Tony and Ziva looked at Abby and then looked at each other.
Tony cleared his throat and leaned over to give Ziva a kiss on the cheek. It was a split second, but there was a closeness both felt in that brief second nights before, the warm memory of a real mistletoe kiss that didn't have to be coerced by a holiday elf disguised as a forensic specialist.
"You happy Abby?" said Tony.
She sighed, "It's good enough."
For good measure Tony kissed Abby on the cheek.
She resigned, "You two can go on with your hum bug ways!"
Both left Abby at the lab knowing full well they couldn't.
"Maybe it was just a fluke," said Tony as he and Ziva walked around a nearby park. They had decided to meet up after work and both had so much nervous energy, that a walk was in order. The chill in the winter DC air brushed against their faces, but both felt that it might keep them in perspective.
"Maybe," said Ziva. "I'm sure we are just overreacting."
With that statement, Ziva stopped walking and kissed Tony squarely and pulled away quickly. Both looked at each for a moment before finding themselves in a kiss more real than the two before - a deep lingering kiss, a tight embrace, his fingers tangled in her hair. Each was suddenly aware of the other's heartbeat, how one fit the other so well.
Out of breath, Ziva pulled away, "We can't. We said we can't..." Her voice trailed as she felt Tony lean his forehead against hers. Looking into his eyes, she felt as if they were again standing under mistletoe, knowing full well the next decision would not be walking away.