Packing Groceries
Hello! This is only my second foray into the wonderful world of Tiva, but I was missing it and decided to write fluff. Please note, this was written halfway through season 11, and I have not yet seen the rest. Any continuity errors are thus due to me not being up to date. Please enjoy, my lovelies :)
Tony shuffled into his local supermarket with a sigh.
A year ago, he would never have had a reason to cook at him home, something that would have surprised his colleagues and certainly had surprised his father. After all, when they had their get togethers at Tim's or Abby's and everyone was sick of pizza and take out, he and Ziva used to take control of the kitchen and cook, creating strange mixes of vegetable and chicken lasagna with sides of falafel, or one of Ziva's expertly made paneer curries served with risotto. But he hardly ever cooked at home back then.
Now, everything had changed. Almost everyone had paired off by this stage – Ellie and her husband, Palmer and Brina, Tim and Delilah, and suddenly, it was difficult to schedule a get together of any kind without everyone staring at him in pity that he didn't have someone else to go home to.
Except on the anniversary of Kate's death. Everyone, even Tim, managed to get away for a night, and they sat in the cemetery, next to Kate's tomb stone and reminisced about her and told her jokes.
But as the case stood, there were fewer outings, fewer possibilities to eat and cook at his friends places, and Tony had decided it was time to fill the fridge again.
Though, to be honest, it was probably down to the autopsy gremlin. Palmer had suggested that Tony visit them and meet their new addition – the lovely baby they had adopted. Instead, in an out of body experience, Tony invited them over to his, saying there was more space and he could cook.
A short panic later, and he was serving them a homemade Rigatoni with meatballs, while cooing over a baby.
Amazingly, he had discovered a renewed passion for cooking. He started filling his fridge again, and to keep it up, invited other members of the team over. He had film nights with just Abby, and catered to Delilah and Tim one day after she had complained that her favourite restaurant didn't have easy wheelchair access. Ellie finally brought over her husband one evening, and everyone always praised the food.
Tony like to think that it gave him renewed purpose in life.
Today, however, he wasn't cooking for others.
Today, they had closed a case that had carried on for almost 100 hours, filled with broken sleep and pizza and Chinese, and he was really craving something simple and homemade. His fridge was not empty, but he guessed that everything had probably gone off by now.
He selected some easy cook rice, vegetables and a jar of sauce (almost homemade), threw in some cheese and diced chicken and moved to the checkouts.
He would have simply nodded, when the bagging clerk asked him if he needed help, until he heard the voice.
"You would like these bagged, yes?"
"Ziva?"
And there she was, the small woman looking up at him with a look of surprise and joy.
Tony dropped his wallet and enveloped her in his arms.
There would be time later to berate her for not calling him, for not telling him that she was back (it had only been three days and she wanted to prove to herself she could hold down a job), for not coming home to him. But for now it was enough, that she was there, just like they had discussed, packing groceries.
AN: They were my first OTP, my first fandom and my first love for writing and hoping what if. And all i want, for these two amazing characters, is just some kind of simple closure. Also, please note, I am now taking prompts. x