AN: This is just something I couldn't get out of my head after last nights finale...Ahhhh I mean could they have left it more open ended? No I really don't think they could have. For anyone reading my other story, Mutual Nightmares, don't worry, I have not abandoned it, I just have not had time to update it recently. So anyway I'm not sure if this is going to be a one-shot, or something more, so feel free to review and tell me what you think I should do! Also if you have any ideas, they are always welcome:)
Tony sat on his couch drinking a beer and reflecting on how the whole Parsons thing had turned out. He, Ziva, and McGee had quite to save their boss, who was now on some top secret undercover mission. He sighed. He didn't regret quitting; it was the right thing to do. Gibbs had been completely willing to take the blame for them, so they needed to step up and do the same for him. Did his boss even know what they had done? Vance had said that he was already on the mission when they quite, but Tony knew that they were they only thing standing between Gibbs and Parsons' witch hunt. God he hated the lying, cheating bastard! What right did he have to come in and question Gibbs at a time like this?! Maybe that was what he was really angry about. Tony wasn't dumb; he knew that there was something bigger going on, and that the Bodnar fiasco had merely brought it to the surface. It was probably the CIA's fault, the bad stuff usually was. He sighed again wondering how he could possibly fix the mess they were in now.
Ziva and McGee were coming over at 8:00 am tomorrow to try and form a plan. He wondered what they would really be able to accomplish though, considering they had just lost their access to basically all of their resources other than Abby. Deciding he couldn't think about this anymore, because it was actually making his head hurt Tony got up and popped in the latest James Bond movie. He couldn't help but think of Ziva when the exotic beauty showed up and saved Bond. How could he accept her friend-zoning him so easily? He knew that now wasn't really the time to be worrying about what Ziva had said to him, but he couldn't get her words out of his head. She had apologized and said she didn't mean to hurt him. Tony hadn't been able to look at her when she said this, he still felt betrayed. But what she said next forced him to look at her. She had said she didn't want to ruin… and then she trailed off and studied his face before shakily saying friendship. In that moment he had forgiven her, he knew it wasn't his place to be mad, and her eyes told him that she was truly sorry. He had leaned down and kissed her head, when all he really wanted to do was kiss her.
Ugh! Why did she have to make everything so complicated? He loved her, but he was pretty sure that she was trying to nicely tell him that she didn't feel the same way. It had gotten to the point that he didn't really know what to do anymore. He tried to show her that he was there for her that she wasn't alone, and they had grown closer. But then when things got tough again she pushed him away and shoved his words back in his face, as if they, as if he meant nothing. Tony was completely lost in thought, so when he heard a knock on his door he jumped. At first he thought it must have come from the movie, so he just leaned back on the couch and tried to calm his racing heart, but then he heard it again. He wasn't expecting anyone until tomorrow, so he grabbed his gun and headed to the door. Looking into the peep hole he was shocked by what he saw. Tony set down his gun and bravely opened the door; soon he was standing face to face with a soaking wet Ziva. He cocked his head and waited to see if she was going to say anything, she did come to him after all. She raised her head, and he realized that she had been crying. Without thinking he reached out and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her; shielding her from the outside world.
He wasn't sure how long they stayed standing there like that, wrapped in each other's arms before she spoke. "I'm scared Tony" she whispered so quietly he almost missed it. Scared about what? Ziva was never scared; okay so even he knew that wasn't true, but she ever admitted it to him until now. Tony knew this had to be about something bad, maybe she was scared about what would happen to Gibbs? He was basically her father after all… "Gibbs will be fine Zi. Don't worry he is tough, and he wouldn't mess up the opportunity to wipe his slate clean, trust me." Tony tried, hoping this would comfort her. Ziva pulled away and looked up at him "that is not what I'm afraid of" she said as she walked over towards the couch. Tony closed the door and headed over to sit down next to her. He studied her, trying desperately to read her and find out what the real problem was, but it was very hard without being able to see her eyes. Finally he gave up, reaching out he tilted her chin so that she was looking at him again, and he could see the fresh tears running slowly down her cheeks. " Shhhh. Don't cry." He said quietly as he wiped away her tears.
"I do not understand you." Ziva said after a long pause. "What?" Tony asked, unable to mask his obvious confusion. "I do not understand how you can be this nice to me after everything I've done to you. You realize you should hate me right?" "I could never hate you Ziva" Tony says honestly. "But you should. I have caused you so much trouble. All the other men in my life that I have lo-cared about or gotten close to have either betrayed me or ended up dead, why are you different? What do you see in me that they didn't, or are you just waiting for the right moment to tell me you are going to leave too?" She said through her rapidly falling tears.
Was that really what she thought? Tony wondered in disbelief. She thought she wasn't good enough for him, and that he was just going to leave her. Suddenly all her actions were beginning to make sense. She did care about him, she cared so much that she would do anything to prevent him from getting hurt, even if that meant taking herself out of the equation. That's why they would have those moments and creep closer, but once she realized what was happening she would stop it, as a way to try and protect him. Tony let out and exasperated sigh. How could he tell her what he was thinking? "I would never leave you Ziva" Tony finally said, still not thinking this was enough. "Really?" She asked, clearly expecting another answer. "Of course not Ziva, I will always have your back. I know that it isn't easy for you to trust me, but you need to know that I'm not going anywhere. I will be here for you when ever and how ever you need me; that is what friends do."
Friends. Ugh he wished desperately he could tell her that it was because of something more, but he knew he shouldn't push his luck. It was rare that Ziva ever opened up like this, and he was not going to be the one to ruin it. Ziva leaned into his shoulder "Toda Tony." She said with a smile. They sat there in content silence for a while watching the rest of Skyfall. As the movie was nearing its end Ziva finally spoke. "Are we still coeworkers?" she asked. Tony looked at her confused, what did that have to do with anything? "Um… well since neither of us have a job at the moment I don't really think so, but why does that matter?" Tony asked in bewilderment. "Just wondering" she said in an absentminded tone. They sank back into silence and finished the movie and when it ended Tony go up to change the disk. "You up for another James Bond?" He asked, already putting one in. " Mhm" she smiled. Tony popped in the disk and pressed play. Five minutes into the movie Ziva broke the silence again.
"Do you think Gibbs knows that we resigned?" she asked with a look on her face that Tony couldn't quite read. "I don't know." He replied honestly. "Knowing Gibbs he can probably sense it, but I don't think anyone has told him yet. Why are you having second thoughts?" "No." She said firmly. "Just the opposite actually. I was thinking about what we did, and it was the right thing. Gibbs would have done that for us in a heartbeat, and I owe him so I would have done it anyway. I was just thinking about how everything is going to change. I mean even if we get our jobs back it is going to be different." "Yea" Tony said, not liking where this was going. "It will be, but different doesn't have to be bad. It could be great, even better than it was before; we are the ones that decide that." Ziva smiled. "I think I know what I need to do now." She said quietly. " Ziva. I am not letting you go off to find him. Especially not now, and not alone. I don't care about your pride, or what you feel you owe him, you are not, let me repeat that YOU ARE NOT allowed to go off without me on some crazy mission that you think is going to fix everything when we don't even know what is going on!" Tony was firm. He was not going to budge on this.
Ziva smiled. "Yea you definitely just made up my mind for me, the only problem is that my decision breaks one of Gibbs rules. Do you think he will mind?" "That depends." Tony said, treading lightly because he didn't want her to shut him out again and not tell him what her plan was. "Depends on what?" "Depends on which rule, why you're breaking it, and how it will affect you and those around you." Ziva was silent for a little while, thinking about what Tony had said. She decided it was now or never. "I'm breaking it because if I do not I will be breaking many other more important rules. It will hopefully turn out to be great for me, and those around me, but honestly I don't know." "Which rule is it?" Tony asked trying desperately to figure out what she was saying. "Guess" she whispered as she leaned in and kissed him.
He resisted only a moment, and even that was out of pure shock. It didn't take long before he had his hands in her hair and was kissing her with all the passion he had tried to hide for the past seven years. Her lips parted to allow his tongue entrance, and her hands found themselves at the base of his neck, twisting his hair beneath her fingers. She could not believe she had waited so long to do this. When they broke apart for air Ziva's cheeks were flushed and her lips were swollen, and Tony couldn't wipe the smile off his face. He could still feel her lips on his. "I don't think he will mind" Tony finally said with a small shrug. Ziva laughed "I should hope not." Tony looked down at her and smiled. He pulled her closer to him, so her head was resting on his chest. They sat like that for a while as Ziva absentmindedly ran her tongue over her lips.
This time it was Tony who broke the silence. "Before, you asked me why I didn't hate you, why I didn't just leave, and this is why." He said quietly, still terrified of scaring her away, but knowing that if she could be brave so could he. "So that you could kiss me?" She asked with a smirk. "Well I will admit I have wanted to do that ever since we first went undercover, no that's not it." Ziva propped herself up and looked at Tony. "I could never leave you because I… Love you Ziva, I have for a very long time. And I know that you might not feel the same way about me, and that you are scared. I think I finally figured out why you kept pushing me away. You didn't want me to get hurt, and yea I know you told me that, but it didn't really hit me as to why until you came here. You didn't want to lose me like you had every other man in your life. You thought that if we got close something would happen..." At that Ziva cut him off, tears once again threatening to fall. "What you don't see is that it did happen. I tried so hard to protect you from Bodnar, and then just as we are have a moment… BAM! We get hit by a car, and if that is not the universe sending me a sign I do not know what is."
"But you didn't have to protect me Ziva, I can fight for myself, and as you saw I am more than willing to fight for you." "But you shouldn't have to Tony, you don't understand. I cannot lose you. I cannot lose someone else that I love." Now there really was no going back. As soon as those words left her mouth she gulped and looked up at Tony hoping that she hadn't just made a huge mistake. But the look in she saw in Tony's eyes told her she hadn't. It was a look of pure love and joy. He smiled down at her "Ziva David, did you just tell me in a rather roundabout way that you love me?" He asked, he eye full of hope. At that Ziva smiled, and let out a small laugh. "I guess I did". "Well then even though you already know this: gam ani ohev otach (I love you too)" Tony whispered as he once again pressed his lips on to hers. After they broke apart, they sat there foreheads touching staring into each other's eyes and smiling. "You know what, I just thought of something" Tony said happily. "And what would that be?" Ziva asked. "Maybe we should come up with our own rules while Gibbs is gone; you know rules to live by." "Okay" Ziva replied after a moment's thought "that sounds like a wonderful idea, I'll go first." "Okay." Tony said smiling, happy she was willing to play along. "Let's add them to Gibbs rules, and we can eliminate ones that we don't like, and keep the ones that are important." "Deal." She said as her smile became a little devilish. "I know just the rule to change…"