Stormy Nights.

It was a dark and windy night, yet the temperatures had not fallen enough to send chills through her body as she made her way through the lonely streets of this small town she had ended up in. Israel had quickly become a place that she was not comfortable in anymore and going back to America had turned out to be her preferred choice.

Somehow, Ziva David had not yet reached the point where she could simply go back to D.C. She had severed the ties to her new family – the team that had always had her back, even when she would have preferred otherwise – and going back just was no option at this point. Instead, she had settled for a small town she had grown to love quite some time ago. A small town that had once been the home of a certain Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Jackson Gibbs had promised not to tell, but Ziva was sure that there was no way in hell that Jethro did not know where she was. Gibbs always knew more than he led on and he had made a point of watching over his team, no matter what. However, even if he did know of her whereabouts, he did not contact her. In fact, he had not contacted her in months.

The rest of the team had all tried to call and Abby and McGee had always made sure to have her number, no matter how they got it. Once or twice a week, one of the team would call and they would talk for hours, catching each other up on any new developments in their lives. Her move to Stillwater, however had been kept secret. Living so close, her friends would surely try and visit about as often as they called and she was just not ready for that yet. She suspected that McGee and Abby had tracked her phone and found her rather quickly, but they knew her well. If she did not tell them where she was, she obviously did not want them to know.

For a short while, she had considered seeing a psychologist, but speaking to the team every once in a while had really helped put things in perspective and she had never been someone who liked sharing problems with strangers. Besides, she had gotten quite good at helping herself.

Stillwater had been an obvious choice for her. No other small town had ever drawn her attention and a city did not seem like a good idea yet. Of course, Stillwater was Gibbs' childhood home, which gave her the opportunity to take a closer look at some feelings she had been developing for the silver haired man without having to actually face him every day. Besides, Stillwater gave her a whole new perspective on Gibbs' life and by extension her own. They were, after all, very similar when it came to certain things.

Nights like these, she wondered if he would ever try to contact her. There was only a limited amount of reasons that she could come up with, why he would keep his distance. Of course she had asked them all to keep their distance and he had been the only one to really listen – she could not decide if that was positive or negative. He probably just wanted to give her time, yet three years were a long time and she would have expected him to contact her earlier. Maybe he had forgotten her, or moved on. The new team member might be closer to him than she ever was. Or he could be angry at her. After all, she had kissed Tony and he had only gotten a call. Gibbs had never been one to hold a grudge – not for something like that – but she could not be sure.

Most times, she chose to believe that he really just wanted to give her time and that he was waiting for her to make a move. Or maybe he knew that the team was in almost constant contact with her and did not feel the need to do so himself.

ZIBBSZIBBSZIBBS

Walking into the house she had been living in for the last few months, she shrugged off her coat which had gotten wet once the rain had started just a few minutes ago. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed the blinking light of her answering machine and decided to listen to the two messages while drying off a bit. Abby had a habit of leaving multiple messages when she could not reach her, since she got worried easily and McGee could not always calm her down.

'Hey, Ziva. I thought I should tell you, because you two seemed to be close. Jackson Gibbs passed away earlier today. We called his son and I hear he's on his way to make the funeral arrangements and such. I'm sorry for your loss.'

The message rattled her. One of her neighbors had once tried to introduce her to Jackson and they had shared a good laugh about the whole thing. Said neighbor had a little shop right across the street from Jackson's and had apparently been the one who found him.

Tears where filling her eyes as the message ended with a beep and the second one started playing.

He caught his throat. Her eyes widened. Gibbs.

'Ziver. I'll be in Stillwater in an hour or so. Mind if I crash on your couch tonight? Not sure if I want to stay at Dad's place tonight. I'm sure you heard by now... See you in a bit.'

Ziver. He had used the nickname he had given her long ago. She loved it when he did that.

He sounded so broken. She was not sure what made her sadder. The news of Jackson's death or the sound of Gibbs' voice like that. A mixture of both quickly had tears running down her face and she had to sit down for a moment.

He must have called almost 45min ago. He would be here soon. A drive of an hour was never an hour with Gibbs. Never.

The knock on her door startled her slightly, but did not come as a surprise. He was Leroy Jethro Gibbs after all.

When she opened the door, she was greeted by a soaking wet Gibbs. He must have parked in front of his dad's store and walked the rest of the way. It was not far, but in this weather, he might as well have gone for a swim and he would probably be dryer.

Neither of them said a word as she stepped aside and let him enter. Her own hair had not completely dried yet and she handed him the towel she had gotten before listening to the messages, then went to get another. She also ended up getting him a shirt and sweatpants, which had both been his at some point. He had given them to her when she had been thrown into a pool on a case and Tony had hidden her change of clothes somewhere as revenge for her screwing up one of his dates.

ZIBBSZIBBSZIBBS

They sat in silence for a bit, staring at nothing and simply being miserable together.

'I am sorry for your loss.', Ziva finally said, breaking the silence.

Gibbs did not cry – not yet anyway. 'He called me last week... said he wasn't feeling too well. Some friend of his was checking up on him quite often and telling him to call me. Guessing that friend was you.'

'I did not know he was going to... going to die. I would have called you, if there had been something serious.'

'I know, Ziver. He was old. He was feeling old, he said. Nothing specific. He wanted to see me and I told him I wouldn't be able to make it until next week. I should have taken it more seriously. I probably could have made time... last weekend wasn't too busy...'

'Double homicide. Sure, not too busy...'

'Been checking up on me, David?'

'Abby called. And McGee. Tony had a date, he called the Monday after. They worry about you. You seemed distracted.'

Gibbs was silent for a moment. 'They know you life here?'

'No. At least I have not told them. They only called because they were worried about you. Somehow, they consider us to be alike and sometimes they ask me things.'

Again, there was silence.

They were sitting besides each other on her couch, knees almost touching but not quite. The rain outside was getting stronger – if that was even possible – or at least that was what it sounded like. Maybe it was the silence between them that amplified the sounds of the storm.

'Dad liked you. Didn't mention you lived here though...'

'I asked him not to. I am sorry. I was not ready to see any of you again just yet.'

'Sorry for just dropping by. Basically sprang this on you without even asking first.'

'It is okay. I do not mind... Would you like something to drink? Tea? Coffee? Whiskey?'

'Whiskey sounds like a plan.'

Ziva got up and made her way into the kitchen, her hair still slightly wet. Jethro followed her. He was not about to barge in on her unannounced and let her wait on him.

Her kitchen was small, but comfortable. Two or three people could easily cook together in this kitchen, as long as they did some planning. Ziva and Gibbs, however, bumped into each other as they reached for the glasses and later as they both reached for the bottle on the shelf behind them. A few quick apologies were muttered by both of them and on their way back to the couch, they almost bumped into each other again, which brought a bitter smile to both their faces.

Sitting down again, they ended up slightly closer than before. Their knees were touching now and as they leaned towards their glasses on the coffee table, their shoulders brushed against one another.

A slight shiver went through Ziva as she remembered what it used to feel like when they were working together. This was not the right time for thoughts like that. Gibbs' father had just died. This could wait. It already waited for years. It could wait longer.

That had, however, never been the plan. One of Ziva's reasons for leaving had been the fact that she needed to get over Jethro. Her attraction to him had been growing over the years and the kiss between her and Tony had brought things into perspective. She would not be the person who kisses a coworker to work out some kind of emotional issue, while that coworker is not interested at all. She had giving Tony enough hints – he should have known that she was not interested. In return, Gibbs had never shown any affections towards her – at least none that could not be explained away by her seeing what she wanted to see. She was not going to end up kissing him and making a fool of herself. Hoping those feelings for Jethro would go away, Ziva stayed away from him as best she can. Except of course, for moving into his hometown and living just down the street from his father.

ZIBBSZIBBSZIBBS

TBC

A/N: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I kinda spilled wine over my laptop a few months ago and got a desktop PC. My desk chair is the most uncomfortable chair in the history of chairs, so I usually don't write there... Today, I got a new laptop, because I have to write my BA paper of 40 pages in the next two months, so yeah. Of course, instead of starting those 40 pages, I ended up writing fanfiction. Story of my life.

Please read and review. I'd love to hear your opinions and as always, all my lovely reviewers get imaginary cookies sent to them. :)