Author's Note:
Hey everybody! So this is my first NCIS fan fiction! I'm a huge fan of the show, and actually have written about three NCIS: LA fan fics so far. This is a series of one shots so please send me prompts and I will most certainly write it. My penname, NavyStrong42099 is dedicated to my brother. Enjoy!
-C
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. Disclaimer applies to all future chapters.
It was any perfectly normal Friday night.
In the early Winter days, night was settling over the city of Washington D.C., casting it in a smoky gloom that was lit up by the building's lights. The air was nipping, car horns honking, and people were milling about thankful that the week was coming to an end at last. Really, it was like any other Friday night.
Except it wasn't.
For the entire population of the nation's capital and the inhabitants of all its suburbs, Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo only cared about one person. And she was halfway across the world desperate to start over. So perhaps this wasn't like any other normal Friday night. Because if Ziva were still state-side, they would be having dinner or watching a movie together.
Instead, Tony found himself on his way to a familiar location, a home away from home. He knew the route like the back of his hand because really, any member of the Major Case Response Team who didn't find the basement of Leroy Jethro Gibbs to be a sanctuary was- well, not part of that team.
Silence of the Lambs. That was the movie they would have been watching tonight. Tony just had that feeling.
He pulled up, parked the car, and approached the door. Tony was about to knock, fist hovering over the wood when he thought better of it and just let himself in. The agent was immediately greeted by the warmer air and the dull glow of the kitchen light. Not bothering to look for the team leader upstairs, he instantly headed towards the basement entrance and began walking down the steps. The familiar creak followed with every twitch of motion.
Tony inhaled the familiar sawdust smell and heard the rhythm of the boat Gibbs was sanding come to a halt.
"About time you showed up," was the greeting.
Typical.
"Yeah well, I was just on my way home when I realized I needed to borrow your tool set. Still doing some repair work after my apartment got impaled by bullets and I lost mine," Tony rambled, leaning against the railing.
Gibbs chuckled sarcastically. He emptied two glasses of their various contents and poured a little bourbon into each. The senior agent approached Tony and handed him a glass, for which he only got a silent nod of thanks.
Tony stared into the amber surface of the liquid, as if looking for the courage to speak up. He sighed and began, "I'm not really here about your tool kit."
Gibbs took a sip of the alcoholic drink before answering, "well, I know that, DiNozzo. I thought by now you'd stop needing excuses."
"Yeah…me too," Tony trailed off, but his head was in a different place.
"Why are you here?" Gibbs deadpanned.
The ex-Baltimore cop finally made eye-contact with his surrogate father. "Ziva."
Gibbs exhaled deeply, waiting for him to continue.
"It's been a month and a half. Don't you think she should have called or at least e-mailed? Let us know she's okay?"
"She's trying to find herself, DiNozzo. It doesn't take one night. Or a month."
"But does it take that much to just pick up the phone and let us know she's alright?" Tony's voice broke with emotion. Every night he dreamt of how he had to turn away from his best friend- and maybe something more- and reluctantly get on that flight back home. Ever since the departure, he really didn't feel like he was home, actually. Like he had said. Hardest 180 of his life.
What an understatement.
"One of these days she might."
"Yeah," he echoed distantly. "She might."
They finished their bourbon in silence. Gibbs was a man of few words- a functional mute. And Tony was didn't really feel like saying anything else. He simply wasn't prepared for the wall of emotion that decided to blow up in his face once he spoke aloud about Ziva's absence.
Finally, Tony broke the silence, "I should go. Goldfish to feed, you know how it is."
He set his empty glass on the table next to the stairs. Before he made it halfway up, Gibbs caught his attention once more.
"DiNozzo."
"Yeah, boss?" He asked, stopping in his tracks.
"Stop looking for excuses."
Tony managed a small smirk before doing a mock salute, "will do."
He made his way back through Gibbs's house and out the front door. Once again, the Friday night air hit him again. He wondered what Ziva was doing right now. Sleeping? Or would she be getting up early for a run? Maybe a walk through the olive tree grove since she was working to repent?
Tony wasn't sure what she was doing right now. But on the Friday night, where he wasn't going to be watching Silence of the Lambs with Ziva, he was going to stop making excuses and figure out what he was going to say exactly what he had been meaning to say the next time she called.
