September 2013

The Olive Garden, Be'er Sheva, Israel

Tony gently kissed her hand and Ziva looked deep into his eyes. Then she slipped out of his grip and framed his face with both her hands, pressing his forehead against hers. She closed her eyes and so did he.

'I'm fighting for you, Ziva,' Tony whispered.

'I know' she said, nearly soundless.

Tony held her in his arms for a long while, his hands slowly rubbing her back.

They opened their eyes and stared at each other for a few more seconds, like they always did. It's like their eyes spoke when words were failing. It's like a language only they could understand.

He leaned in and placed his lips on hers. It seemed like she hesitated, but eventually she opened her mouth for him and he kissed her passionately. Their kiss only lasted for a few seconds, because Ziva broke it off. She looked away and cleared her throat.

'I'm sorry Tony. Lets head back to the house.'

He saw that she was having a hard time with being so close to him, with letting herself go. So he didn't argue with her. 'Sure, let's go.'

They walked back together with their hands nearly touching each other, but not quite.

*God why do things have to be so complicated between us?* Tony thought, *Why can't we just live in the moment.*

He interlocked his fingers with hers like they did before they got in that car crash a couple of months earlier. They didn't talk, they both didn't want to interrupt this moment or make it awkward again.

The way back seemed to take at least twice as long as getting to the Garden had seemed.

Finally, they got to the farmhouse and entered. Tony let himself fall onto the couch, but Ziva was standing still in the doorway with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She stared at him for a few seconds before speaking up.

'Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Tea maybe?'

'Coffee would be great.'

Ziva disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Tony to look around him. He then noticed the many pictures on the wall and went to look at them. They were pictures of her with her siblings and a wedding picture of her parents. Her lost family.

Minutes later, Ziva walked back into the living room, holding two cups of coffee. By then, Tony was back on the couch. She put his cup on a small table and then took a seat on the couch. She was on his left and not very close to him. She held on to her cup of coffee as if she was warming herself up, all though it was 36 degrees inside and even hotter outside. They sat in silence for a few minutes, but it felt like hours. Her eyes wandered to the pictures on the wall. He saw tears welling up in her eyes and felt a pang of the grief she felt. Of course he had lost his mother and somewhat knew what she was feeling, but there was still a big difference between losing one member of your family and losing your entire family. It was even worse if your entire family had been killed. And the fact that she was responsible for one of those deaths must have been unbearable for her.

Then, the tough Ziva they had both been used to dissapeared for just a moment and a few tears rolled down her cheeks withour her producing a sound. She didn't even bother to wipe them away before he saw it.

He took her cup out of her hands, placed it on the table next to his and sat closer to her as she looked at him for the first time since they were in the Olive Garden. He put his left arm around her shoulders and used his free hand to wipe her tears away for her, first quickly and then he slowed down on the last tear. He traced it's path down her face and his fingers lingered on her lips. All the while, she kept her eyes locked with his, and a certain longing appeard in them, a longing he knew all to well. He moved the hand that was around her shoulder to the back of her head and framed her face with the other one. He pulled her face closer, their noses touching. She didn't hesitate as she closed the gap. She pressed her mouth hard on his while her tongue roughly scraped his and then she proceeded to push his jacket off his shoulders. He let her push of the jacket, but he bit her tongue, first softly and then slightly harder as she didn't slow down. She then got the message and gently stroked his palate. This gave him a feeling of power over her, and it gave her a feeling that a man could finally handle her. He had made up his mind about how this was going to go. He broke off the kiss, even though she clearly wasn't done yet. She smiled because she knew what he was doing. He was teasing her. This was going to be interesting.