A/N: Based off the song, Forever and Always, by Parachute
This was previously uploaded to my tumblr account, but now that I'm back on I decided to upload it here too! :)
"We'll do dinner at six!" he had called out as she pressed the button for the elevator.
That had been five pm, and while Team Gibbs had let out for the night, Tony's team in the next cubicle over was still hard at work chasing down their leads. She had offered to push their "date night" back a day but he had insisted in keeping their plans.
"I'll pick you up at six, and we'll go out," he said with his charming smile.
That was two hours ago and Ziva could be found sitting at her kitchen table going over a new case file, still awaiting his arrival. Her work khakis had been replaced by white lacy blouse and deep green skirt, ready for a night out on the town with DiNozzo.
As the kitchen clock sounded 7PM Ziva put the case file down and reached for her clutch lying on the table. After fumbling around in it she pulled out her phone, checking to see if there were any missed calls.
She let out a sigh.
There weren't.
Turning back to the case report she attempted to look through its pages once again, but found her concentration was all but gone. This wasn't at all like Tony and a knot began to form in her gut.
She shook her head to scramble her thoughts loose for surely nothing was wrong. He got called out on assignment, was down with Ducky, or up in MTAC for all she knew. He had simply lost track of time. Again.
Her chair scraped across the linoleum as she moved from the kitchen table to the living room, hoping to find a distraction from her racing thoughts. Her expansive bookshelf looked like a winner, and after choosing one of her favorites she stretched out on the couch and began to flip through the pages. Because that's all she was really doing. The familiar story seemed to fade in front of her eyes and she flipped the pages like a machine, simply scanning them before flipping to the next. She wasn't actually reading them. Her mind was other places.
Fifteen minutes passed before she grew more frustrated with her inability to concentrate and she threw the book down on the cushion, standing up, instead, to pace. Passing the front windows she stopped and glanced down the driveway in front of the apartment. It was empty, save her mini cooper parked out front.
Circling around to the kitchen, yet again, she grabbed her phone and punched in his number, waiting as it rang in her ear. Finally his voice filled the other end: "Hey, you've reached DiNozzo…" She ended the call, knowing it was pointless to leave a message on his voicemail. She rationalized that if he was with the team or in interrogation with a suspect he wouldn't be able to listen to it anyway. He'd simply see the missed call and call her back. He always did.
Before placing the phone back on the table she tried a different set of numbers, this one to the squad room.
"Special Agent Brenner," the way too chipper voice greeted on the second ring.
"Hello Matthew, it's Ziva," she began. "Is Tony still at headquarters?"
"No, the boss isn't back yet," he replied and Ziva couldn't help but smile at the agent's name for Tony. She wasn't the only one, as Gibbs always let out a snicker when he overheard his former lead agent's new title as it filtered over the partition. "He and Sullivan went to track down a lead," the man continued, pulling Ziva back into the present, "but they should be back soon. Is something wrong?"
"No, everything is fine" she said politely, relieved to know that he was just where she thought he'd been, out working on a case. "Can you ask him to give me a call when he gets back? Somebody forgot about dinner plans," she said with a chuckle.
"Will do ma'am," he answered with a laugh of his own. "I'll have Dorneget get on his case too. Have a good night," he finished before hanging up the phone.
Ziva let out another sigh of relief. He would be out tracking down a lead at this time of night. This week had been a hard one for Team DiNozzo as they struggled to put together the pieces of this intricate case. Ziva could tell it was weighing on Tony as he poured over the evidence again and again, searching for that one clue that had gone overlooked. She hoped for his sake this lead would be the last one the team needed to nab the dirtbag.
Now that she knew he wasn't simply MIA she turned to the kitchen to see what she could make to satisfy the hunger in her stomach. Dragging down a box of pasta from the cabinet over the stove she figured she'd make dinner for two so it'd be ready by the time he finally showed up.
Pulling out the other necessary items from cabinets and drawers she almost didn't hear her phone buzzing from the table a few yards away. She picked it up before it reached her voicemail and her eyebrows crinkled when she saw it was Gibbs, not Tony, on the caller ID.
"Hello?" she answered, wondering what her team leader needed after work hours. A few seconds of silence met her ears before she called into the receiver again. "Gibbs?"
This elicited a response, but there was something about his voice when he spoke her name. "Ziva…" Silence filled the line again, but this time he came back on his own accord. "Ziver, something happened."
The grief in his voice was evident, but his next words caught her by surprise. "You need to get down to Bethesda."
"Wh-" she began, but the man jumped in again, anticipating her question.
"Tony went down tonight. They say it doesn't look good."
It was as though all of the air was sucked out of the room and Ziva gasped as his words registered. The table beneath her became an anchor as she grabbed hold to steady herself.
"I'm coming to you, we'll go to the hospital together-"
But this time it was Ziva who cut him off as she finally found her voice again. "No Gibbs, I will get myself there."
"I'm not going to have you out driving like this, Ziver" he countered, his mind set.
Nonetheless it was her next words that made him throw on the breaks a pull a U-turn. "Please Gibbs," her voice broke as she made her final plea, "Stay with him, don't let him be alone."
"I'm going to send McGee to pick you up then" he resolved, zooming down the roads towards the hospital.
"He will not get here in time, I live in the wrong direction. I will be fine Gibbs, see you in a few minutes."
She heard his sigh come through on the other end before he echoed "Drive save, Ziver." She reciprocated the goodbye and snapped her phone closed.
~~TBC~~
A/N: To any and all readers of my other story, First Day of the Rest of Their Lives, I want to sincerely apologize for the HUGE lack in updating. I've been running into a plethora of problems with and this is the first time I've actually been able to long in since my last update. That being said, as long as fanfiction lets me log in, you should be seeing some updates over the next few weeks :)