„Hellooooo!" Danny shouted cheerily as Toni opened the door for her and Julia that evening, handing her a bottle of red-wine.
Toni hugged the girls and looked at the bottle. "Wow, that's the wine that ruined Patrick's pants."
"Your favorite." Danny grinned and went to the living room. Kicking her shoes aside and lounging on the couch she made herself home. Julia joined her.
"I'll be right back." Toni said and went to get some glasses and a bottle-opener. When she came back into the living room Julia gave her a stern look, she didn't quite understand.
"You killed it." She said.
Toni was stunned: "I never killed anything!"
Julia pointed to a plant that was standing at the window. Leaves brown and looking sad.
"I did not kill that. I watered it." Toni said in defense.
Julia got up and went over to the dead plant. She pulled it up to see the mass of water in the pot holder: "You drowned it."
"You told me to water it!"
"Yeah, but I didn't tell you to handle it like a fish!"
"Girls! Calm down. Julia next time you give Toni something not living for her "birthday". Toni, try not to murder McTiger, when you watch over him for Christmas for me, okay? Now sit down and let's talk about our trip." Danny said seriously and fished out a sheet of paper from her bag. "The Thalys-Express is leaving at a quarter to six in the morning, so we need to be at the station at maybe half past five. That means we have to leave for the station…"
"At… half past four?!" Julia said: "Danny why do we need to take the Thalys-Express?"
"Well how do you suppose we get to Paris?"
"How about we drive. Or book a bustour?" Julia suggested.
"Or we fly. The airport is not far and it will only be about 45 minutes." Toni said.
Danny drew a face: "I don't like to fly, imagine being in a crash. And the busride is too long."
"If you become a great music-star how are you going to give concerts in America or East-Asia?" Julia asked. They all knew that one of Danny's new songs had made it into the charts last month and was becoming more popular every week.
"I… uhm.. I take a ship."
"You know there were also big accidents with ships. The Titanic and the Costa Concordia…" Julia said.
Toni nodded and added: "The Damocles."
Danny and Julia looked at her: "I didn't hear about that ship. When did it happen? Were many people injured?" Julia asked.
Toni shook her head in confusion. She didn't know, what had happened with the Damocles or what kind of ship it was. The name had just popped into her mind. "I don't know… but I think they all died. I don't remember, I think it was before…"
"That's awful." Julia said.
"Oh great, now I'll never get to America or East-Asia, because I'm not setting a foot onto a ship." Danny muttered.
"Okay… but that's not in question for now anyway. How do we get to Paris?"
The discussion lasted a bit longer and in the end they decided to take a plane. They would both hold Danny's hands and assure her over the 45 minutes. After that they ordered Pizza, Toni showed them the lyrics and played the melody to them with her laptop.
I talk about you now and do without crying
I go out with my friends now,
I stay home all alone
And I don't see you everywhere
and I can say your name easilyI laugh a bit louder without you
And I see different shades now
and I'm almost never afraid now
But when I think I'll be okay I am always wrong 'cause
My hands, don't wanna start again
My hands,no, they don't wanna understand
My hands, they just shake and try to break whatever peace I may find
My hands, they only agree to hold
Your hands, no, they don't wanna be without
Your hands, and they will not let me go, no, they will not let me go
"I need your voices for a few parts." She said.
"You are missing at least one verse." Julia noted.
"I didn't get to that now." Toni said a little impatient, she was glad she had as much.
Danny nodded: "Why don't you sing it all and they cut it so it sounds like different voices?"
Toni shook her head: "No, I want your voices in it. Believe me, it will sound wonderful."
"Who is this person? The one you are talking about in the song." Danny asked.
Toni hesitated: "They are just lyrics, not everything has something to do with my story."
"Oh come on, you want us to believe that?" Julia asked.
"It's Tony. With a Y. Not Antonia, Tony." Toni explained: "I don't know, why I know that but my name is not Antonia and Tony is another person."
"Alright then. Count me in. You can have my voice." Danny said smiling.
"Mine too." Julia agreed.
NCISNCIS
Tony ran into the lobby of the burning hotel. He had come to Paris because Gibbs had agreed that he would assist Ziva on her mission. Of course he hadn't bothered to tell her about it. It should be a surprise. They didn't have time to talk about the latter he wrote to her and he had hoped to find the opportunity to catch up on that.
But when he arrived he saw the building going up in flames. Firefighters were rushing in and rescued whoever they found. Tony had made sure Ziva wasn't already in an ambulance and then ran inside. The heat was intense and hit him like a truck. He made his way up to the stairway. A Firefighter, who was carrying an old man, shouted something at him. It was French, and he didn't understand and hurried on. He made it to the third floor, where he knew, was Ziva's room. The corridor was blocked by parts of the ceiling that had come down. Tony caught the smoke was making its way into his lungs; the heat was almost too much to bear.
"Zivaaaa!" he shouted and inhaled even more smoke.
Behind the barricade he saw a face: "Tony! Get out of here!"
It was Ziva and of course he wouldn't do as she said and tried to get through to her. Pointless. The building suddenly trembled and more parts of the ceiling came down whirling up sparks of fire. He knew he had to get her out; the statics of the construction was damaged. But there was no way. A window was not an option, because they were still on the third floor and this building had no fire escape on this side. They were all on the backside… on his side. With a sudden horror he realized she was trapped.
"Get out, Tony!"
The floor trembled again and all he could remember was her cry: "TONY!"
Tony shook his head. He was at work but ever since that day he could hear her scream whenever it went silent around him. He had suffered from insomnia and was unable to stand being alone. So he did what he always did, he filled his loneliness with random girls. It was never the same girl even though they all looked alike. Tall, blond, blue eyes, none of them reminded him of Ziva and that was good. Another way to distract him was hard work-out so he would fall asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
Ducky had tried to make him talk about what happened but Tony had turned him down. He had once tried to talk to Gibbs. But his Boss was fighting with his own demons. Whenever Abby asked Tony if he was okay, he always answered: "I will be, as soon as Ziva is back."
Abby on the other side was scared. She had lost her best friend, again and this time everything had changed. Tim had tried to cheer her up whenever it was necessary. But it didn't work very well. Tony became stern and focused on forgetting, even though he pretended not to. Gibbs tried to keep a brave face and to be the same as always but she knew, that loosing another team member was nothing he could handle easily. Whenever Tony told her, that Ziva would come back, she grew first excited. Hope rose, after a day she felt depressed and then angry with herself, for believing him. Angry with Tony for rising her hope and angry with Gibbs because he never mentioned Ziva with a single word. She wanted to have her friend back and Tony and Gibbs and Tim. Everything should be back to normal. Loosing Kate had been worse enough but loosing another friend was unbearable for the whole team.
NCISNCIS
The girls met at the airport. They just had their hand baggage with them. All they needed, they would buy in Paris.
Danny was surprisingly calm when they entered the plane and when they had landed in Paris she confessed to them that she had taken a lot of sedative and now was tiered.
The Novotel Paris Les Halles was a nice place to stay. In fact it was more expensive then Toni or Julia could ever effort. But Danny insisted on paying for separate bedrooms for the three of them. Her friends didn't argue. Maybe Danny was not yet a star but she sure had ambitions. After checking in and freshening up they took a taxi to the Louvre and took off to the Arc de Triomphe. It was a long walk but they enjoyed it and then they tried to find the way to the Eiffel-Tower just but seeing it appear from time to time behind other buildings. Toni stopped when they went past a construction site in a small ally. The builder's fence was not covered and she could see the workers. Danny stopped when she noticed that Toni was left behind. "Hey Toni, come on!" she called and when her friend didn't move she went back: "My feet are hurting when I stand still, so please come on…. What's the matter?" she asked. Toni didn't seem to hear her. Her hands were cramped with the fence and she was just staring to the construction. Danny touched her arm slightly: "Toni? What's wrong?" Toni was pulled out of her thoughts as her friend touched her arm: "What is this place?" she asked confused. Danny looked up at a sign: "It says, they are rebuilding a hotel, which had burned down last year."
Tbc
Why? Why did I send them to Paris? I could have sent them to every european city. London is nice but no, I had to choose Paris. Why I'm complaining now? Because I don't speek French and it's not easy to write those French names for streets and so on. So please forgive me if I write something wrong.
