Fluffy AU, because they're still on the same team, and they're also together. Or, how canon should have gone. I don't think there's a single spoiler in this anywhere.
"Let's take vacation together this year."
That was what Tony had said yesterday, followed by a lengthy discussion about where they should go together and how they would both take vacation if they were on the same team, which was followed by the realization that by taking their vacation together this year, they'd have to finally tell everyone that they had been seeing each other for the last two years. They'd kept it quiet so that, when the time came, Gibbs and company would recognize that their relationship wouldn't affect their jobs – which it hadn't.
It was easy settling on a destination. It turned out Tony had already done plenty of research on potential vacation spots and showed a few of them to Ziva when she first asked where he'd want to go. They'd settled on a cruise through the Bahamas. They bought the tickets.
"That way, they'll have to let us go, right?"had been Tony's reasoning with a confident grin, but Ziva hadn't been so sure. Now, standing beside her partner in Vance's office waiting for Gibbs to arrive, she felt tense and anxious.
Tony held the paperwork in a manila file folder. Their paperwork. One vacation request form for each of them, both filled out completely. Matching dates, matching destinations. Ziva was more than curious to find out exactly what the reaction would be from their boss. And the Director.
It wasn't long before Gibbs walked in, swift and sure and all business, as usual. Vance had called him into the office for a meeting, but seeing his two agents standing in the office before him gave him pause. He cocked his head toward the Director curiously, wondering what was going on with his personnel.
"Leon?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, asking for a sitrep. Vance did nothing more than shake his head slightly, as if to say that he was in the dark just as much as the team leader was.
An awkward moment of silence passed, Tony and Ziva standing tensely beside each other, before Vance nodded toward them, indicating that they should begin speaking about whatever it was they needed. Tony cleared his throat. "Here, Boss," he said as confidently as he could muster, handing the folder with their two vacation request forms over to Agent Gibbs for his review.
They'd decided it would be easier to let the paperwork speak rather than volunteer information. Although Ziva could feel Tony's tension radiating from him as he handed the folder over, she was impressed that he didn't look even the slightest bit intimidated. Gibbs took the file folder and opened it up, leaning toward Leon so that he could also see the contents of the folder.
"You requested a meeting about vacation time?" He asked, his eyes narrowing at the two agents.
"Uh, yeah Boss," was the response, and neither Tony nor Ziva felt the need to point out what would soon become obvious once their two superiors actually read the paperwork.
Vance was the first to notice, and he took the folder from Gibbs' hand. "Any particular reason you want to take vacation at the same time?"
Tony reached over and took Ziva's hand, interlocking their fingers and giving her hand a tight squeeze, smiling as he asked, "Do we really have to spell it out for you?"
"How long?" was the only question Gibbs asked, and Tony and Ziva glanced at each other briefly before Tony spoke up in response.
"Well it's right there on the itinerary. We'll be out of town for seven days, but we're requesting nine, because we'll need a couple days to recover. I mean it's all there–"
"How long have you two been you two?" Gibbs interrupted, narrowing his eyes at his agents. How had he not noticed that his agents had been together any length of time? He'd always prided himself on his ability to pick up on subtle changes in people, something that had helped him become a damn good investigator during his career.
"Two years," Ziva responded confidently, speaking for the first time since the meeting had started. She'd seen the doubt flash across Gibbs' face; seen that he was wondering how he had missed this, wondering what else he might have missed. "We have been discreet."
"Never any reason to bring it up before now," added Tony, smirking, knowing that it must be driving the bossman absolutely crazy that he hadn't noticed. In truth, they'd always been so close that their work hadn't been affected by the change in their relationship. They'd always been flirtatious. The only difference was the time they spent together outside of work.
"And you just want me to approve vacation time for two of our best agents, simultaneously, when you didn't have the good sense to let anyone know you were together?" Vance sounded annoyed, but he didn't raise his voice. He sat down on the edge of his desk, the manila folder laying open in his hands.
"Does it really matter? It has not been affecting our work," Ziva pointed out, and Tony nodded in agreement.
"Gibbs?" Vance looked at the team leader, asking him to corroborate the story his agents were telling.
"It hasn't," he affirmed grudgingly, his eyes still narrowed as he looked at both Tony and Ziva, their hands still joined together as they stood beside each other in the Director's office. If he hadn't even noticed a change between them during the last two years, then there was absolutely no danger of this thing affecting their jobs.
Tony squeezed her hand tightly, and Ziva felt a shiver go through her. Somehow, standing here in front of their bosses, it felt as though a huge milestone had been crossed. Not that she'd doubted that they were going to be together for the long haul, but this just made it seem more real.
"So there is no reason not to let us go," Tony supplied, drawing in a deep breath and waiting for the response. There could be plenty of reasons not to let them go, but they'd already bought the tickets, so that had to help them out somehow.
"The fact that you are both on the same team gives me plenty of reason to deny this request, Agents," Vance said, placing the folder on his desk behind him. He crossed his arms, staring them down. Ziva pursed her lips together, running her thumb along the back of Tony's hand.
"You should have consulted me first," Gibbs added.
"Before requesting vacation, or before dating Ziva? Because either way, I'm calling on Rule 18," Tony supplied, glad that he'd had that one handy.
"It is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission," Ziva recited. It was almost as if they had rehearsed. Which they had. They didn't place much stock in the rules anymore, but it couldn't hurt.
The better they could play their parts as the dutiful agents, the higher their chances that Gibbs wouldn't flip his lid about them requesting a vacation together. Or the fact that they'd blatantly broken another one of his rules, the one about dating each other.
"Rule 18. That's cute," Gibbs said, walking toward them and staring them down, one by one. If he'd hoped to make either of them uncomfortable enough to step backward or to release the other's hand, he failed. Tony and Ziva stood their ground, never wavering in their conviction to be together.
We will have to fight for each other. It was a mantra they'd taken up as they began their relationship together, knowing that there would be so many things conspiring to pull them apart. They'd been determined to stay together, to make their relationship work, and it had been that fighting spirit which had led to them finally standing together in this office.
Gibbs continued. "Using my rules against me, when you've completely annihilated another one of them." Tony's confidence began to waver, and he started to feel a hint of guilt rising up.
Ziva, however, felt nothing of the sort. "I am not sorry," she said simply, lifting up the hand of hers, still clasped tightly in Tony's. "We have been working together for more than a decade now, and there is no one I can even imagine myself being with anymore. He has been there for me through everything; he has forgiven everything I have done in my past and made me want to be better. There is no one I trust more. If I cannot be with him, then I am prepared to walk away from this job."
"Ziva," Tony said, turning toward her in shock. He took her other hand in his, gazing into her eyes. He knew how much she loved working at NCIS, how much it had meant for her to finally be named Agent instead of Officer. She couldn't give that up.
"It is not worth it, Tony, I will not give you up for this job. We have proven over the last two years that our jobs are not affected by our relationship. If that is not good enough, then nothing will be."
Gibbs and Vance watched this exchange wordlessly, unable to think of a single rebuttal to Ziva's argument. The couple stood facing each other, oblivious to the movements of their boss around them. Gibbs stepped back, leaning on Leon's desk, crossing his arms across his chest.
"It's not against the rules, Gibbs," Vance reminded him, reaching again for the folder containing the two vacation requests.
"Aw, hell, Leon, it's against my rules," Gibbs countered. Tony turned his head toward them slowly, and Ziva's followed. Both agents seemed to be pleading for forgiveness, although Ziva hadn't been bluffing when she said she would quit NCIS if she had to.
"I'm gonna level with you. All of you," Vance started, and everyone turned to face him, though Vance noted that the two lovebirds still didn't let go of each other's hands. "I don't really like the idea of two agents on the same team being involved. Things could get messy." Ziva opened her mouth to protest, but Leon held up a hand signaling her to wait, and she shut it again. "That being said, if you two have been together for two years and not a single soul in this building has caught wind of it, then it seems as though your relationship isn't negatively affecting your job. I see no reason not to approve this vacation time." A huge smile spread across the faces of both agents. "However, if an occasion arises where the competence of either of you comes into question, I'm pulling one of you off this team, permanently. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," Ziva responded, and Tony nodded his agreement, unable to keep from grinning. Not only would they get to go on vacation together, but they weren't in trouble, they'd both get to stay on at NCIS, and they'd get to stay on the same team? Everything had worked out better than they had hoped for.
"Agent Gibbs, I trust you will keep an eye on them?"
Gibbs' eyes narrowed again, and he looked from Tony to Ziva and back to Tony again before saying, "Better believe it."
"All right then." Vance leaned over and signed both of the vacation forms then handed the folder back to Tony, who opened it up and saw with his own eyes that both had a checkmark next to "APPROVED," essentially giving them official permission to be together.
Ziva leaned her head on his shoulder and he gave her hand another squeeze. Finally. Validation. They stepped apart again, well aware of the two pairs of eyes upon them, finally letting go of each other's hand and returning to work mode, where touching – especially hand holding – would be inappropriate. "May we go, then?" Ziva asked, requesting dismissal from the meeting.
Vance nodded, and they wasted no time heading for the door of his office. "DiNozzo, Ziva," Gibbs called behind them, and they stopped, looking over their shoulders at their boss. "Tell McGee, would ya?"
Breaking into a grin, Tony answered, "Sure, boss," and put his hand on the small of Ziva's back to lead her out of the office and down to the bullpen to share their good news.
I am working on some longer pieces, but I'm trying to keep myself writing and posting more regularly. I'm terrible at that (honestly), so no promises, but I hope you've enjoyed this simple piece of fluff.