"You haven't been here in a while," he said, not looking up from the sandpaper in his hand as he fashioned a birdhouse for his Goddaughter.
"I've never been here before, Agent Gibbs," Ray replied as he descended the steps. Gibbs looked up, startled.
It's very seldom that someone can surprise Gibbs. This was an anomaly.
"Agent Cruz," he acknowledged, setting down the paper on the table and turning to face the younger man, "What do you need?"
Ray fiddled with the box in his pocket.
"Look, there is something that I need to ask you..." he trailed off. Ray was not the kind of man to be intimidated easily, but there was something about Gibbs' steely gaze that made his confidence wean.
"Spit it out, Cruz," Gibbs prompted him, impatient.
"I love Ziva, Agent Gibbs. She is an amazing woman, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. But... I wanted to do it right."
"Are you asking for my blessing, Cruz?" Gibbs inquired. Ray nodded affirmatively.
"I went to Eli David first, but he told me that I should come here," he replied. Gibbs smirked. Despite his obvious disliking of the man, he appreciated that he had waved his rights to his daughter and placed them in the hands of the rightful party.
"Smart man," Gibbs acknowledged, giving a small nod.
"So, uh… Do I have your blessing?" he probed. A pensive Gibbs turned back to his boat.
He really hadn't been expecting this and to be honest he had no idea what to say. His automatic reaction was to tell him no. Gibbs may not be her real father, but he still loved her and, like any father, he did not want to see his daughter move on. It was silly, he knew. He would still see her at work everyday, nothing would change. It was not like she was moving out of his house or anything so drastic. His gut was screaming at him that it was the wrong decision, and his gut had never failed him before. Going against his gut was something that was completely foreign to him. There was something about this man that Gibbs simply did not trust. However, when Gibbs opened his mouth to deny the man his blessing, he couldn't seem to get the words to come out.
What did his opinion matter? This was Ziva he was talking about. Ziva could take care of herself; she could make her own decisions. It was most definitely not his place to make this decision for her. Despite the fact that he knew Ray would go through with the proposal with or without his blessing, he still felt that he was making the choice for her.
He couldn't do that. She would be furious. It is her life.
Gibbs sighed and ran his hands down his face. He knew that there was only one answer that he could give without incurring the wrath of Ziva. This was her choice, not his. It was only fair to give the man a shot. Of course, Gibbs would never forgive himself if Ray ended up hurting Ziva, but he needed to take a leap of faith here. He wasn't going to be an Eli here and try to run Ziva's life as he saw fit. He may not like Ray, but Ziva obviously does. Ray seems to make her happy, and he had to respect that.
"Alright, Cruz, here is the deal. You have my blessing-"
"Th-" Ray tried to interject, but Gibbs held up his hand.
"I'm not finished yet. You have my blessing. This is Ziva's life and I am not going to dictate it. But you have to swear to me on your life that you will never hurt Ziva. I know that if she says yes, you will have your share of fights and difficulties. But so help me, if you break her heart-"
"I won't, Sir! Thank you so much, Agent Gibbs! I won't let you or Ziva down!" Ray replied, dashing up the stairs and out of Gibbs' house. Gibbs turned back to his woodwork.
"You had better not, Cruz," he mumbled to himself, "You had better not."
…
Light flashed and filled Gibbs' basement as the headlights of a car pulling into his driveway shone through the windowpanes. The motor turned off, and Gibbs waited what seemed like forever to hear his front door open and the floorboards above his head to creak. These sounds never came, however, and he soon decided to investigate. He sat his bourbon down and ascended the stairs. Upon peering through the window in his front door, he was able to see the dark form of a person with long dark hair sitting on his porch steps in the pouring rain. He sighed; he should have been expecting her.
She whipped around when she heard the front door open.
"What are you doing, Ziva?" Gibbs asked, sadness in his voice. He reached out and beckoned for her to come inside. She stood up shakily and entered into the house. In the light, Gibbs could see the water that ran down her face. He was unable to distinguish if they were tears or raindrops. Judging by the redness of her eyes, he assumed that they were the former. He ushered her in, wrapping an arm around her upper back. He sat her down on the couch in front of his fireplace and then grabbed a pack of matches, lit one, and tossed it into the heap of wood and ashes already residing there.
"I wanted to talk," she replied, her teeth chattering.
"If you wanted to talk, you wouldn't 've been huddled up in the rain on my front porch."
"I… I just need you to hold me, Gibbs," she replied, trying very hard to no avail to keep her voice from cracking and more tears from cascading down her cheeks. She wiped at them furiously, but they were coming down too fast. It was no use, so she stopped and simply let them come.
"I can do that, Ziver," he replied, sitting down next to her and wrapping his arms around the shaking frame of the woman he considered to be his daughter. He wasn't sure if she was shivering from cold, or trembling from her tears. She buried her face into his shirt and sniffled a few times. She hated being like this. She was so weak… "I'm sorry about Ray," Gibbs said softly. She gathered up her courage and pulled her face up to look at him.
"I trusted him," she told him, the pain she was experiencing evident in her voice and her eyes. Tears ran down her face.
"I should never have given him my blessing," he sighed.
"This isn't your fault. How could I have not seen this coming, Gibbs?" she questioned. Gibbs shook her head.
"None of us did. He's lucky he's going to prison, where he can be protected from me…"
"I do not know why I bother with love. All that it ever ends in is betrayal. Eli, Michael, Malachi, Ray… There is simply no point," she told him.
"Ziva, do you trust me?"
"Of course, what kind of a question is that?" she wondered.
"Do you love me?"
"How could I not? You are like a father to me, Gibbs."
"And have I ever betrayed you?" he asked. Ziva bit her lip.
"There have been times… when I felt… that you had. But in the end, you always ended up at my side, fighting for me."
"And what about Tony?"
"Nearly the exact same thing. I thought that he had wronged me with… Rivkin… But he was the one who orchestrated the mission that rescued me from the desert, was he not?"
"And Tim?"
"He has always been there…"
"And Abby?"
"Okay, okay, I see your point," she surrendered.
"Ray was a bastard. But there are plenty of guys out there who aren't. One of them is your soul mate… if you believe in all that crap. Who knows, maybe he's not as far as you think he is," Gibbs advised, wiping the tears from her face. She smiled.
"At least I know that I will always have you and the team," Ziva told him.
"We're not going anywhere, Ziver. Don't you ever worry about that," he assured her, pulling her tighter to his chest and rocking her back and forth as they stared into the dancing flames of the fire before them.
A/N: I do hope that this was acceptable and not too OOC. I don't think that Ziva could have POSSIBLY remained as indifferent as she pretended to be at the end of the episode forever. I know most of you wanted Gibbs to kick Ray's ass, but I just can't see Gibbs doing that. He values Ziva too much, and doesn't want to be anything REMOTELY like Eli. Plus, he didn't seem all that surprised when he found out that Ray had proposed in the episode, so I figured, hey, why not play off of that? Thanks to my reviewers, Teeny, Alice, Violet, HAZMOT, Zivafan2481, and Rebecca. I appreciate it!