A/N: This is a one-shot that I thought of yesterday and figured it would be a fun fic to do for Halloween! For those of you following Blurred, the next chapter should be up in a few days and I thank you for your patience on that. I hope you all enjoy this! Happy Halloween! ~Lynn D.
"Please?" Tony begged to his partner in the quiet bullpen, everyone, even Gibbs, having gone home nearly an hour before.
"DiNozzo, I swear if you ask me one more time I will shoot you." Ziva said, using his last name to show she was serious.
"Come on Ziva. I need someone to go with and you're the only person I can think of," he continued to ask, not one to give up easily.
"No," she said firmly, hoping he would finally drop the subject.
"Why are you so against a costume party anyways? Geez, it's like I was asking you to go on a date with me or something."
Flicking her gaze back to her partner, she frowned, still wondering what his point was. "Why can't you ask McGee to go with you? I'm sure he still has that elf lord costume stowed away somewhere."
"Oh come on," Tony laughed from across the bullpen, shaking his head at her futile attempts to deny him this one night of fun with her. "For one, why would I want to go to this with McGoo and two, I'm sure you have something in your closet. Halloween is tomorrow, Ziva, haven't you been looking for costumes at all?"
Letting out a sigh, she finally put her pen down and put her head in her hands, setting her gaze on Tony. "Growing up in Israel we never celebrated Halloween and in America, I've never had the time nor the desire to."
Resting his head in his right hand, locking his eyes with Ziva's, he smiled. "I can help you pick out a costume! If you'll change your mind about going, that is."
"You? Pick out a costume for me? This could get interesting."
"You mean you'll go?"
"Only if you promise to not make a fool out of me," Ziva said honestly, willing to have fun with him but not wanting to be embarrassed.
Hearing the sincerity in her voice, Tony smiled, "Deal."
A few minutes later, after they'd put away their work for the night, the clock reading half past twelve, Tony took Ziva's arm as they walked into the elevator together.
Wrinkling her brow at this gesture, but nowhere near from protesting, happy to have someone to lean up against after a long day, Ziva shook her head at him. "What are you doing?"
"Escorting you to a new land—the Halloween store, m'lady."
"At this time of night? Are you crazy?"
"Yes, and yes." Tony laughed—his eyes glimmering in the dull elevator light.
"What store in their right mind would be open now?" Ziva asked, clearly knowing she had a lot of learning to do about American customs.
"You'd be surprised how many Halloween stores are open 24/7 and I happen to know of one just a few blocks up," he grinned, looking forward to the rest of their night.
As they walked into the nearly empty store, not only empty of people, but also costumes considering it was the day of now, with it being past midnight. Even with the nearly empty racks, Ziva was still overwhelmed with all of the choices. Seeing her hesitation, Tony smiled softly at her then took her hand carefully, leading her towards the women's rack. "We'll find you something. Just stay with me."
When they reached the desolate rack, Tony took one side and Ziva took the other, both wondering what Ziva would be best as in costume.
A few moments later, Tony let out a gasp followed by a huge grin. "Ziva, I found the perfect costume for you!"
Curious to see what he would have chosen for her, expecting a slinky cat or bunny outfit, knowing at least that much about Halloween, she cocked her head to the side. "What is it?"
Pulling it off the rack, he held it out for her to see—a full ninja-warrior suit, complete with the nun- chucks. Looking at it with a strained expression, she finally shook her head, clearly confused. "I thought the purpose of Halloween was to dress up as someone or something that you are not," she said, giving Tony a hard time.
Nodding after he got her point, he put it back on the rack and continued searching. Flipping past an astronaut, pumpkin, and naughty police officer before giving up on that rack, he moved to the men's rack, hoping he would find something over there.
Just as she was about finished looking through all of the costumes over twice, some aqua blue fabric caught her eye. After wrestling with a few other hangers that were caught up in it, having forced it to the back, she pulled it out. As she eyed it, a huge smile engulfed her face, knowing this was it.
Once she had quickly surveyed the store, looking for Tony, she caught sight of him and began making her way towards her partner, excited to see what he would think. When she reached him, she put the costume behind her back then cocked her head to the side as she stood behind him, looking over his shoulder at a strange costume. "What on earth is that?"
Startling him, Tony jumped faintly but then turned after placing the unrecognizable costume back on the rack. "To be honest, I don't even know." Seeing she was hiding something, he tried to peek over her shoulder but she shook her head, walking back a few steps. "I want it to be a surprise," she said softly. "I do not even know if it will fit yet."
"Well what are you waiting for?" Tony smiled, excited to see her getting into the spirit. "Go try it on! There's a dressing room in the back of the store," he said, pointing her in the general direction.
"Aren't you going to get something too?" she asked, willing to wait for him.
"I already have something at home," he smiled mysteriously, obviously keeping it a surprise as well.
Shrugging, knowing she would find out soon enough, she headed towards the fitting room, hoping the costume she had chosen would fit. Not only because she really liked it, but also because it was her last choice.
After slipping on the outfit and checking to see how it looked, a small smile crossed her face, very happy with the way it fit her. Standing on her tip-toes to see if Tony was waiting for her, she rolled her eyes when she saw him sifting through the left over candy.
"Hey bubble butt," she called over to him, loudly enough to startle him but quiet enough that he was the only one to hear—the cashier finally having come out of the backroom to sit by the register.
Turning to just see her eyes peeking over the top, he snickered at the sight. "Well, how's it look?" he asked curiously, hoping it fit after seeing her so excited over it.
Opening the door and walking out, she stopped in front of Tony, placing her hands on her hips and looking up at her shocked partner. "Why don't you tell me?"
Tony stood in shock as he took a step back, taking everything in. Ziva had chosen a princess Jasmine costume, complete with the light and airy teal fabric and the gold seaming. Even the puffy pants, he noted.
"Say something," Ziva said, not quite sure how what he was thinking.
"I—I'm not quite sure what to say…" Tony said honestly, never before seeing her in anything like this. The shirt was a cropped top with off the shoulder sleeves, showing off her toned stomach and the pants hugged her hips perfectly before spooling down to her ankles where the material all fell into place.
"Do you not like it?" she asked sadly, moving some hair behind her ear.
"No," he said quickly. "I think it's perfect for you! I just never imagined you…I mean, I never thought you'd pick something like this."
Shrugging, she brushed some lint off the pants then straightened back up. "I have admired Jasmine's clothes ever since you insisted on making me sit through a marathon of Disney movies. She was my favorite."
"Well I'm glad to hear you paid attention," Tony smiled, still not over this costume his partner was in.
"So, are we ready?" Ziva asked a few moments later, the late hour starting to catch up to her.
"Yup, it looks like it. Go ahead and change and I'll meet you at the register."
With so many weird cases on Halloween the years before, Team Gibbs caught a break and didn't have to go chasing after serial killers or kidnappers this year. Even though the day didn't have something particular to keep their minds occupied, it went by fairly quickly and before the partners knew it, it was time to start getting ready for the costume party.
Since it started right after work, they brought their costumes with them to change into right before they left. Thankfully, Gibbs left on time for once and McGee left a bit early since he had a date with Delilah, so no one would be asking questions.
Tony had finished getting dressed fifteen minutes before when Ziva finally exited the women's bathroom in her full Jasmine attire. As she walked to him and dropped her other clothes on her desk, he couldn't help but just stand with his mouth agape.
"Wow," he spoke with a shaky voice. He could have sworn that the costume fit better than the night before and with her light, wavy hair accented with eyeliner and blue eye shadow, he knew she could beat Jasmine herself at a beauty contest.
Blushing from his stunned reaction, Ziva turned their attention to her partner. "You look quite dashing yourself this evening, James."
Smiling, Tony straightened his tuxedo. "You can tell I'm Bond then?"
"Of course," Ziva stated, diminishing his worries that people would just think he was overdressed.
"With the special spy watch and the fancy cuff links I do not think anyone will mistake you for none other than Bond himself."
Even though he was a bit confused by her wording, he knew what she meant and took her arm yet again as they headed into the elevator.
"Ready for a fun night?" he asked hopefully.
After contemplating his question for a moment, remembering her hesitation from the night before, she just shrugged and smiled, "Absolutely."
The party that lasted well into the night proved itself to be a perfect to start to Ziva's Halloween experience, complete with an introduction to scary movies that even made Tony squirm.
As the night went on, Tony caught glimpses of his partner beginning to get comfortable in her surroundings and having fun—something he wouldn't trade for anything. He knew she needed to smile once in a while and if he could help out in that department, that made it all the better.
Finally, at one in the morning, the partners were both tired from being up so late two nights in a row, so they thanked their hosts for the wonderful party and headed home.
On the way back to Ziva's apartment, she fell asleep underneath Tony's suit jacket, completely worn out from the day's events. Once he stopped in front of her apartment building, Tony placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Ziva, we're here. It's time for you to get out."
Whimpering, she just snuggled deeper into the seat, pulling his jacket further around her neck. His attempts to wake her soon became futile when she was either just ignoring him or had truly fallen back to sleep. Shrugging his shoulders, Tony started the engine back up and drove the short distance to his apartment, not wanting to spend the rest of the night in the car.
Once Tony pulled into his spot, she was still asleep and beginning to snore. Chuckling from memories of their first undercover assignment, Tony walked around to the other side, opening her door. As he opened it, he nearly had to catch her from falling out since she had been leaning up against the door. Wrapping a hand around her waist, he stood her up, holding all of her weight as she was only just beginning to wake up. "Ziva, come on. You've gotta walk."
The only response he received was her head falling onto his shoulder and a sleepy, "no."
Shaking his head, he turned to look at his sleeping partner. "Alright, you asked for it."
Pulling her into his arms, he carried her up to his apartment and settled her into his bed, pulling the covers over her, not quite knowing how he even got in the door while carrying her.
As she snuggled into the blankets, he turned off the bedside lamp then backed up to the doorframe, watching her carefully with just the moonlight illuminating her.
While he watched her sleep, he couldn't help but let a peace wash over him—loving how natural it felt for her to be sleeping in his bed. "My sleeping beauty," he thought, hoping that his princess would never leave her prince.