A/N: Here I am! Back again! Okay, so to start, to all of you who aren't going to read this because it's a Tiva fic, why did you click on it in the first place and review saying you wouldn't read anymore just because of that? I labeled it clearly enough, so this isn't my fault. It's not quite Tiva yet, but in my head, it will be.
Okay, so I know I said I'd update last week, but you have no idea how busy I was. Life is crazy right now, but hopefully it's looking up now. Please review guys! Do you think I could get 8 reviews before I update with the next chapter? I don't think that's too much to ask, do you? Didn't think so. So please drop a review, even if it's just one word!
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it. I only own this plot. It's all mine.
I walked back downstairs, holding the files and wondering how I was going to tell everyone. We've already learned that when our team is split, nothing good comes of it. The last time that happened, we ended up out in the middle of the desert in Africa. I cursed Vance over and over in my head. He shouldn't be able to have the power to do this.
When I got back down to the squad room, Gibbs, McGee, and Ziva were all looking at me intently, waiting to hear what the director had told me. But I didn't say anything, I just sat down at my desk and started working on a report that I'd abandoned a few minutes ago.
"What did the director want?" Gibbs asked, speaking first.
"Told me to pack my bags," I said, not looking up from the computer. I couldn't look at their faces.
"Wait, you got fired? Jeeze, what'd you do?" McGee asked, sounding shocked.
"I didn't get fired. Far from it. I got my own team," I said, finally looking up at them all. "Don't look so shocked, guys. I'm competent enough. You all know that."
"You are leaving?" Ziva asked.
"No choice," I said, looking at her. She looked saddened by the news. I figured it was because they'd have to break in a new agent.
"Vance didn't even give you a choice?" Gibbs asked me.
"Not exactly. He told me to brush up on my Italian and handed me three folders," I told him.
"You're going to Italy?" McGee asked incredulously.
"I'm Italian. I'll fit right in."
"Wow, Tony, that is exciting," Ziva said.
"When are you leaving, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.
"Tomorrow night," I said.
"Alright. The three of you are cut loose for the day. I'll see you tomorrow," Gibbs said.
I was shocked; it was only ten in the morning now. But who was I to second-guess the boss? I grabbed my backpack and saw Ziva and McGee do the same. The three of us met by the elevator and all got in together. Gibbs was still at his desk.
Ziva and McGee got out of the elevator, but I stayed on. Someone had to tell Abby, and if it wasn't me, she'd be crushed. I didn't really know how to break it to her; she was like my little sister.
When I got to the floor her lab was on, I took a deep breath before leaving the elevator. I heard her loud music the second the doors opened; it came blasting like a wall of sound at me.
I walked into the open door of the lab and saw Abby at her computer in the second room. She looked up, saw me, and smiled while reaching for a remote that turned the music down to background noise.
"Hey, Tony!" she said, coming over to me and throwing her arms around my neck. "What's with the bag? I didn't know you guys had a case today!"
"We don't. The Boss-man let us out early," I told her.
"It's ten o'clock in the morning. What happened?" she asked, her face losing its smile quickly.
"Sit down, Abby," I told her. She retreated the few steps back to the chair she'd just vacated. "I got a call from Vance about ten minutes ago. He wants me to be a team leader for another team," I said, beating around the bush but still giving her something.
"What other team? I didn't know we needed a team leader for another team here. I would have known if someone died. What's going on, Tony?" she asked in a very quick succession the way only Abby can.
"The team's in Italy," I told her.
She gasped; bring her hands up to cover her mouth, her eyes instantly filling with tears. Then she was attached to me, her arms clamped behind my neck. "No! Tony, Vance can't do this again! The last time we lost one of you, you, Gibbs, and McGee ended up in Somalia in the desert trying to avenge Ziva's supposed death! Oh my God!"
"I know, Abby. But he didn't give me a choice. I'm so sorry," I said, hugging her back, trying not to think about how much I'd miss her hugs, or her lab, or the music I'd never really liked but she had and that was enough for me to tolerate it.
"When are you leaving?" she asked.
"Tomorrow night. How about we go out to lunch tomorrow? Just you and me?" I asked her.
"It sounds like a last supper to me, but yes! And I'm buying. Anywhere you want to go."
She let go of me for a second, then threw her arms back around me again. I didn't complain. It was so Abby and I'd miss her and she'd miss me.
I left her lab ten minutes later and drove home, thinking about what I was going to bring with me and where I was going to live. How hard could finding an apartment be? I decided to look for one when I got upstairs, but all thoughts of that vanished when I saw a familiar car parked in my spot in front of my building.
But it didn't really surprise me that she was here. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I'd be seeing her sometime today. I parked in a different spot, grabbed my bag, and got out of the car.
I walked up the flight to my apartment, not surprised even now when I saw my door open slightly. Ziva didn't have a key, but she could pick a lock blindfolded with a hand tied behind her back.
I pushed open the door and closed it behind me with a little more force than was necessary, letting her know that someone else was here. She walked out of my living room, hand on her gun and smiled shyly when she saw me standing there.
"Hi," I said. "Thinking of buying a new apartment? I can give you a tour if you want."
"I needed company," she confessed, "and I thought maybe you would as well."
"Company would be appreciated, but only if they agreed to help box some things," I said, smiling at her.
"I would be happy to help," Ziva said.
For the next two hours, Ziva and I started boxing things that I was going to bring with me. I was bringing most of my clothes, some kitchen stuff, bathroom things, and only one box of movies. The rest of my movies and everything else that wasn't furniture was going into the spare room at Ziva's house. As for the furniture, it was going into storage in a box that was now paid off for a year and I could pay for it as long as I needed. I didn't trust my large collection of movies and other personal things going in there. I trusted Ziva a lot more than that place, but she couldn't take everything.
We stopped for lunch around twelve thirty when the pizza arrived at the door. I gave the kid a twenty and told him to keep the eight dollars in change and brought it into the living room where Ziva was collapsed on the couch. I put the box down on the coffee table and then crashed down next to her. She bounced a little and that slid her closer to me on the couch and she laughed at me.
We each grabbed a slice of the pepperoni pizza and then sat back on the couch, not using plates. It was quiet for a little while, but it wasn't uncomfortable.
Ziva spoke after a few minutes, breaking the silence. "So, what part of Italy are you going to?" she asked.
"Rome. I didn't even know we had a base there, to be honest," I told her.
"I have been to Rome. It's beautiful," Ziva said.
"I've seen pictures, but I've never been," I said.
"You will like it," she assured me.
"Not as much as I normally would, if I wasn't going to work there. I won't know anybody and I won't be working as many cases and I won't be here, with you, McGee, Gibbs, Abby, and Ducky. It won't be the same," I said. I turned my head to look at her. Though the whole conversation so far, I'd been studying the slice of pizza in my hand, she looked sad and her eyes were darker today than they usually were. "Are you okay?" I asked her, turning my body on the couch so that I could face her completely.
"I am fine, Tony," she said, turning her body to mirror mine.
"Then why do you look like you just ran over a puppy with your speed demon car?" I asked, smiling a little.
"I have never hit a living thing. I may have caused a bumper-bender or two but…" she said, trailing off.
"First of all, it's a 'fender-bender'. And secondly, I wasn't accusing you of hitting anything, it's an expression. You're my partner, I know when something's wrong, wrong, so just tell me, please," I said.
"That is just it. You are my partner, you are supposed to be dispensable," she said and I started to protest, but she cut me off, "but you are not. You mean more to me than that. You are my best friend."
I didn't know how to respond to that. It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me. I studied her face, memorizing it again, the widow's peak in the middle of her forehead, big brown eyes that crinkled up when she smiled her real smile, her small nose, thin lips, wavy brown hair that framed her beautiful face. I was going to miss her more than she knew.
"Strange as it is to say it, you're my best friend, too. And you've never been dispensable to me," I told her.
She gave me a smile then moved to get another slice of pizza. She grabbed two and handed one to me. Only then did I realize that I'd finished the piece I'd had in my hand before. "Thanks. So, what are you guys going to do without me?" I asked, not all joking.
"Gibbs will have to train a new probationary agent," she said. "And McGee will be Senior Field Agent."
"Kid's growing up. And you won't be a probette anymore. You happy about that?" I asked. She hit me on the arm.
"I was never a probie, and especially not at NCIS. I have been in this game longer than you have," she told me.
"Really? And how long would that be?" I asked.
"I have been… involved… with the Mossad since I was fifteen," she said.
"Jeeze, that would have made me nineteen," I said, not imagining how she'd done it.
"Yes, I was young, but never stupid. That is how I am here today," she said.
Looking at her, sitting there on my couch on my last day in America, I had a weak moment. "I'm really gonna miss you, Zee," I told her.
"I will miss you as well, Tony," she said, looking me directly in the eye.
It was quiet for another minute while we studied each other's eyes. I broke it. "Let's get back to work, okay? I'm getting deported tomorrow." I smiled at her and she smiled back, but neither of our smiles really met our eyes.
A/N: So, what did you think? Worthy of a review? Please drop one, guys! I want 8 before I update this again! Thanks! Just please tell me what you think of this or anything you'd like to see or something like that. Talk to me people!