Hi, I'm back!
I tried to upload yesterday but FFN wouldn't let me log in, I swear! So sorry to those of you to whom I said that I'd publish the next chapter then, haha.
Okay, more disclaimers: I left in the names of the attractions they visited, but I'm unsure of the whole ... copyright thingy ... regarding businesses, so know that some attractions are public while some are private, some you have to pay for and some you don't, but I don't own any and am not advertising or endorsing any. I am simply borrowing their names for creative purposes.
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
-Soph
Day One
She almost kills him when he tells her that she has only a week to pack for a month's trip, but she spares him out of curiosity when he tells her that he has a surprise for her. He then proceeds to instruct her not to bring anything but clothes and money, because he has everything else prepared.
She doesn't know if that has her more relieved or apprehensive.
He mock-glares her way, and she guiltily swallows back the expression which probably spoke volumes about her confidence in his ability to prepare for anything.
She decides to trust his judgement (mostly because she has no choice in the matter).
xoxo
Wednesday morning has him calling her cell phone at 4.30AM and sounding chipper. "I'm outside your apartment," he tells her cheerfully. "You ready?"
"Yes," she answers, and drags her suitcases towards the door.
"Alright, hang on. I'll be right up to take your bags down."
"Why? I can carry them myself."
"Because I want your eyes closed once you get to the lobby, and even if you can navigate yourself around using bat radar, I doubt you'd be able to keep from walking your bags into a really expensive vase, or something. At least, it's a risk I'd rather not take."
She grunts. "Okay. Suit yourself."
xoxo
Her jaw drops once she's allowed to open her eyes. "Tony … that's an RV," she gasps. She whips around to look at him.
"Yup." He smiles nervously at her. "What do you think?"
"I think it's wonderful." Her voice catches just a bit when she realizes just how much planning he must've done, and so it makes sense for her to engulf him in a hug. "Thank you."
The relief in his voice is evident. "I was hoping you'd like it, 'cause after how enthusiastic you sounded about the road trip, I thought the wrong vehicle might make you cancel it altogether."
Her heart gives a painful thump. "I'd never cancel on you, Tony."
He gives an odd sort of shrug. "Wanna see the inside?"
She smiles. "Well, since we're travelling together, I want to see the inside, yes."
xoxo
The inside having been inspected (and deemed satisfactory after she caught sight of a nice-looking shower and a nicer-looking bed), she settles down into the passenger seat and fastens the seat belt.
"No washer and dryer, but they'll have 'em at the RV parks," he informs her.
"I can live with that." She beams at him. "I love the RV."
"They didn't have many choices, but I picked this one because I figured you'd appreciate the size and the fact that it's probably more convenient than a cabover."
"And a cabover is…?"
"That thingy where they've bed space over the cab, or … something…"
"Oh," she answers, not understanding any better what a cabover is. And then a horrifying thought occurs to her. "Tony, you did not buy this, did you?"
He chuckles. "Nope, rented it. Wouldn't have had anywhere to park it long-term, if I'd bought it. Shoulda heard my angry neighbour complaining last night."
"Hmm."
"The dinette slides out, by the way," he says, his eyes suddenly alight with excitement. "I'll show you later. Ooh! And it can be made into a bed. I figured I'll sleep there, and you can take the bedroom."
"The bedroom is big enough for both of us."
"Yeah, but I'm not going to assume I can just crawl into bed with you. Although," he gives her a quick smirk, "if you say I can, I've absolutely no objection to sleeping with a really hot chick."
She smacks his arm. "No feeling me up without my consent."
xoxo
It's growing light when they stop at a diner off the I-95 for breakfast, and she has to hold in a snort as they pull up next to the trucks. She's driven plenty of big trucks before, but never ridden in an RV; it's an interesting experience.
"I want to drive next," she announces as they exit the vehicle. He looks at her warily.
"You don't even know where we're going."
"So? You can hold on to the map and point me."
"I don't think so. You drive like a maniac, Zi, and the RV is too pretty for you to wreck."
"I'm not going to wreck it. I'll be careful; I promise."
"Is that how you got your parents to let you drive?" he asks amusedly as he pushes open the glass-panelled door and stands aside to let her enter the diner.
"I inherited my mother's car after her death, actually," she replies quietly, and she registers the slight shock on his face just as she brushes past him.
xoxo
She doesn't ask him anymore if she can drive, and he must've noticed, because even though he doesn't hand her the keys as they leave the diner, he does press a kiss to her temple.
Thankfully, he also pulls away before she can ask him what on Earth that kiss is supposed to mean.
They're back to companionable silence now, with jokes occasionally falling from his lips, and inquisitive wonderments occasionally spilling from hers.
"Where are we going?" she finally asks—she's been dying to know, ever since they drove right through Virginia.
"North Carolina. The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge." He gives her an impish grin. "Thought you might wanna look at some nature. And don't tell me you're not the nature sort of girl, Ziva. You need to know about the flora and fauna of the United States, and I am here to educate you on it."
Her lips twitch as she suppresses a retort about his not exactly being the best candidate to guide a nature tour. "The flora and fauna of North Carolina is hardly representative of the U.S."
"True, but they've enough nice and safe-looking trails for me to consider taking us there. Plus, we pass by it on the way to where I really want to bring you—the Rocky Mount Mills in … well, Rocky Mount."
"And what do the Rocky Mount Mills produce?"
"Cotton, I think, but that was a century ago so I doubt they have any left. They do, however, have a nice historic village … I figured I'd just drive through it and let you see the houses. You seem to like … historic … cultural … stuffs."
She smiles at him, a warm feeling spreading through her body. "I think I'll like the houses."
xoxo
Alligator River turns out to be more fun than either of them expected, so it is already mid-afternoon when they turn back onto the highway. It takes two hours to get to Rocky Mount, and she endures his sporadic laments for the entire journey about the lack of wild animals in a wildlife refuge.
"Tony, it's the afternoon. The animals are probably hiding somewhere darker and cooler," she finally tells him.
He pouts. "So I'm a bad planner. But you'd think the animals would take that into account."
She pats his arm comfortingly. "We still had fun, though."
"Yeah. We did."
"No worries, then."
He gives her a crooked smile and slows down as they get onto the road leading to the Historical Mill Village. "No, I guess not."
xoxo
She can feel his eyes on her, constantly switching between watching the road and watching her look at the houses.
"What?" he asks when a strangled sound escapes her throat.
"I'm just wondering if we'd be allowed to look inside the houses."
He chortles. "Well, people actually live in them, so I'm not sure … I guess it depends on the owner?"
"People live in these houses?" She turns back to him, surprised. "That explains the cars in the driveways."
"Website says they're occupied, at any rate. You buy a house, rehabilitate it, live in it, and treat it real nice or have the government after you." She stares at him. "I'm not kidding! There was a whole list of rules about what you can and cannot do to the house and yard, and this is besides any building codes."
"Well, that makes sense. They are historical buildings."
"Yeah, but it's so much trouble. I think I'd just build a new house and make it look like an old one."
She laughs and shakes her head. "I would agree, but only because I'm too lazy to do any restoration work. I do get it, though. Maybe there is value in knowing that something has a history."
She turns to look out of the RV windows again, and it isn't long before she feels his gaze return once more to her.
xoxo
They check into an RV park further down North Carolina at 8.30PM, and nine-thirty has her stretched out across their vehicle's couch, listlessly flipping through TV channels while he sits behind her in the dinette and busies himself with his laptop. She pushes herself up eventually and turns off the television before peering over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" she asks.
"Checking if I've bad planning for tomorrow," he answers without looking at her.
"And if you do?"
"I don't, but if I do … I don't know. I guess we'll have a lot of free time, because I never came up with a backup plan." His shoulders sag.
"That's okay." She rests her palm against his nape, her thumb stroking his skin. "We can just drive around and talk, yes?"
"Yeah. But this is supposed to be a road trip, not a talk show. I should've planned better." She remains silent, not knowing what to say. He shuts down his laptop. "Come on, we gotta go to bed. Gotta get up early tomorrow."
"How early?"
"Between six-thirty and seven."
"That's not early."
"Yeah, but I was up at three-thirty this morning, and you probably didn't wake up much later than that."
"I was up at three forty-five."
"See?" He gives her a half-hearted smile and slides out of the dinette bench, looping his arm around hers. "Come on."
A/N:
4.30AM and 8.30PM is 04:30 and 20:30 on the 24-hour clock, respectively. (And yes, I know most of you already know that.)
RV stands for "recreational vehicle," or a motor home. It is a large vehicle designed for recreational/living purposes—in Tony and Ziva's case, it has a bedroom, a bathroom with a shower, a kitchen with a fridge and microwave, a slide-out dinette, and a couch which faces the RV door.
I-95 stands for Interstate 95 and is the main highway on the U.S. East Coast.
The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge built with the intention of protecting and preserving, as well as providing habitat for, several endangered and wildlife species. Website: www(dot)fws(dot)gov(slash)
The Rocky Mount Mills Historic Mill Village is a historic village on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places; it grew as a result of the increasing number of people working in the nearby cotton mill, and has now-rehabilitated houses built between 1885 and 1940. Website: rockymountmills(dot)com(slash)