Synopsis: "I think that we should, probably... stay friends."
Canon: Set after You Better Watch Out and before Shabbat Shalom.
Disclaimer: Disclaimed.
Ziva has been feeling agitated all day, and she has done everything in her power to avoid her partner as much as possible. It's not so much as something he or she has done, well it is, but it's more about what could happen next; and that is a terrifying prospect to even consider.
She may have been able to keep a personal distance all day, but there's nothing to do on a late dinner break whilst Gibbs and McGee are busy in MTAC, and she escapes to the break room praying to god he doesn't follow her.
She feeds the vending machine a dollar and punches in the number for a candy bar. She's not one to go for sweet and sugary stuff often, but she guesses Tony is rubbing off on her. Speak of the devil...
Tony wanders over to the coffee machine and makes them both a drink, and Ziva watches his movements silently from the vending machine. "Here." He hands her a plastic cup and leans back against the machine beside her.
She takes a sip of the hot drink and it warms her body; it's a nice change to the cold feeling she has had for the past few days, and she soaks it up greedily.
The entire NCIS building has been off for the past three days after Christmas. Now everyone was back and settling into work life once more, ready to catch criminals into 2013. They had had a Christmas office party; and alcohol was consumed, and things happened and a naked Dorneget sprinted through the halls in a blur at one point. It really had been an interesting night, not that either Tony or Ziva would admit to remembering much of it, apart from one thing maybe.
"You been avoiding me?"
Her cup pauses midway to her mouth; "What makes you say that?"
"Because you've been avoiding me." He swallows and takes a large swig of his coffee, and he gratefully accepts the piece of chocolate that Ziva passes to him.
Ziva shrugs; she's not exactly doing it to hurt him, its better this way to keep some distance between them and be professional. "I have been busy with the case, that's all."
It mustn't have been a decent enough lie because Tony calls her out on it almost immediately, and she's beginning to feel more guilty than she did before she decided to avoid him. "Cut the crap, Ziva. We're working the same case."
She takes another bite of her candy bar and mulls over what to say next. She's not sure what to say, what happened is done, and there's nothing else. She will pull back if it helps to control the desire.
"Is this about what happened at the par-"
She cuts him off, and replies tightly; "Yes. That."
Tony smirks behind his cup and takes another sip; "Whether or not you want to avoid it sweetheart, it happened... We kissed."
Her lips tighten into a hard line. She knows what happened, and she hasn't forgotten it. She never will. "Thank you Tony, I was not that intoxicated that I do not remember you kissing me!"
He scoffed and turned his whole body to face her, leaning his right side against the machine, Ziva mirroring his actions. "I recall a certain excitable Israeli pulling me into the closet."
"I did not pull you anywhere. We went into the copy room together!" She hissed.
He leaned in; "I beg to differ."
"That, kiss... It shouldn't have happened." Her voice is soft and she pauses before finishing her sentence, and her voice drops slightly causing Tony's gaze to drop to her lips.
"No." Tony suddenly feels a shift in the conversation, and even though they just agreed the drunken kiss between them should have never occurred, it feels as if they completely don't mind at all. "You're right. It was a..."
"Mistake."
Tony grunts in response as Ziva's eyes travel down from his lips to his crotch, very slowly, very deliberately, and he can't fight the urge to briefly brush his finger along the length of her hand, and her breath hitches when his does, and the sensation is enough to make him do it again to hear that noise spill from her once more.
Her eyelids flutter as she fights the urge to pull him to her and kiss him with everything she has. She's certain he wouldn't stop her; "I think that we should, probably... stay friends."
He nods in agreement and takes another step towards her, his nose brushing hers. He loves being friends with her, but after the party the other night, it's no longer enough for him anymore. He's been fighting his feelings for her for so long, and he'll take a stab in the dark that it's not enough for her either after recent events.
"We should... be friends."
Her eyes darken momentarily and she hums her agreement; "Very, good friends that are..."
"Sensible."
She raises her eyes to meet his as her breath comes in short little rasps that shoot him from half-hard to pretty hard in a flash. "Yes."
"Being sensible isn't always the best thing."
She gasps when his fingers graze some visible skin on her hip and the touch is feather-like and so very hot on her flesh, that she finds it difficult to respond to him, instead a small cry falls from her lips when he drops his cup and pushes his hand under her top.
"I... Screw sensible." Tony knocks the cup out of Ziva's hand and grabs both her cheeks hurriedly crushing his lips to hers. She responds in kind, her arms automatically coming up to push on his back, bringing him closer to her. He tastes so good against her lips, coffee, chocolate and Tony.
He presses her into the vending machine and roughly parts her thighs shoving his knee between them; and Ziva gasps and kisses him harder, bringing her hands up to tug on his hair. They are so busy caught up in each other, that neither hear McGee entering the break room on the opposite side to where they stand.
McGee's eyes widen in shock at the sight before him; Tony looks to be eating away at his partner, while Ziva clearly doesn't care to stop him. Tim isn't sure when or how this situation came to be, but he hates feeling like he intruded on an incredibly intimate and what should be private moment.
That's what causes him to make a beeline for the exit; however, fate doesn't seem to agree and McGee crashes into one of the plastic chairs that was left out and he topples to the carpeted floor.
Tony and Ziva leap apart like a pair of deers caught in the headlights. Tony quickly tucks his shirt back in where Ziva had crumpled and tugged at it, while his partner is too stunned to do anything but touch her lips in shock and watch McGee awkwardly twitch with nerves and almost as much embarrassment as the partners have.
"McGee." Tony aims for the tentative approach, but Tim is already stuttering and backing out of the room. "I-I, sorry. I didn't mean to stumble into that. I-I mean, I'm gonna go. You're both needed in the squad room."
Tony and Ziva silently watch the probie run away, and Ziva is certain her partner is having similar thoughts to her own. What the hell will McGee do next?
"I think we just scarred the poor Probie for life."
This idea came to me whilst watching Hotel Babylon (British drama) with two other characters in a similar situation. Wanted to see how it would work with Tony and Ziva, and suffice to say, I'm very pleased with the result despite fretting for hours on end about it.
