A/N: Hey guys! Okay, you people are the best! I asked for 10 reviews and I got almost 20! Wow! You really surprised me! I was so happy yesterday guys, you have absolutely no idea! So that's why I'm updating today! I'm also hoping to update again on Wednesday, but I need reviews to do that!
So, in the last chapter, we saw how Alyx and Ziva interact. In this chapter, we see Tony and Alyx! Yay! Okay , so, here we go guys! I want 15 reviews before I update again! I know, I upped the number, but I believe in you people! Thanks guys! Keep it up!
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it or anything recognizable in this fic. I do, however, own Alessandra Daniela DiNozzo. She's all mine.
Surprisingly, Bickford's wasn't completely empty at eleven thirty on a Friday night. There were some old men in the far corner and a couple in their twenties with cups of coffee in front of them sitting by the front windows. The three of us took seats at a semi circle booth in the corner, Tony and I on either end, Ziva in the middle. Right now, she was our only common ground.
A waitress came over and handed us all menus and then took our drink orders. I went for a sugar rush and got a Sprite and Tony and Ziva both got coffee. The waitress walked away after that. We all studied our menus in silence, waiting for her to come back. Ever since Tony mentioned we were going out for pancakes, I'd been craving them. I hadn't had them in a while, so they sounded amazing right now. I decided on just plain with strawberries and apples.
"Hey, Alyx, get anything you want, you too, Ziva. This one's on me," Tony said. I nodded, closing my menu. "You picked already? That was fast."
"Yeah, well, you said we were going out for pancakes, and they sounded really good. I'm getting plain pancakes with strawberries and apples," I told him.
Ziva closed her menu too. "I am getting an omelet," she said.
"That leaves me then… Um, okay, I think I'll just go for chocolate chip pancakes, always a crowd pleaser," Tony said, smiling and closing his menu.
The waitress came over with our drinks and we put in our orders and then she left again. She didn't seem very enthusiastic about working the graveyard shift, I noticed.
"So, Alyx, I have to ask a very important question," Tony said.
"Um, what?" I asked, getting a little nervous. Ziva just shook her head and smiled, as if she knew what was coming.
"Do you like movies?" he asked.
I started laughing. I thought it was going to be a serious question, the way he'd asked it. "They are alright. I like them, but they are not my favorite thing. I'm more into music. Why?" I asked.
"Your brother is the biggest movie freak that has ever walked the planet," Ziva said, laughing.
"Hey! Not fair! I am not! I just like them," Tony defended himself, seeming a little put-off at my answer.
"I watch them, sure, but not more than anyone else," I said.
"What's your favorite?" he asked, seeming like he was ready to drill me on this.
"American or Italian?" I asked, knowing movies in both genres.
"American, my Italian movie skills need some work," he said.
"Well, there are a few. This really good movie came out the year I was born and I have seen it many times. Do you know Speed?" I asked him.
"Do I know it? Kid, I've lived it!" he said, a little too enthusiastically. Ziva hit him on the arm to make him be quiet. "Ow!" he said before shutting up for a few seconds.
"What do you mean, you've lived it?" I asked. "Are you saying something like that happened to you? Was it when you were working a case?"
"Kind of. We used the same methods to get… a friend of ours… out of trouble," he said, clearly omitting details.
"I knew you had stolen that from that movie! You refused to admit it that night!" Ziva exclaimed.
"I didn't refuse to admit it. If Probalicious hadn't been there, I would have said that myself. But he already thinks I can't think for myself, that every idea I have comes from a movie. I just didn't want to prove him right, the one time. You have to understand, Zee-vah," he explained, giving her puppy dog eyes and calling her by a nickname he'd probably given her himself.
But I was confused. "Who's Probalicious?" I asked.
"His name is Tim McGee, but Tony here insists on calling him, and now myself, 'Probie' or 'Mc'-something. It is quite annoying," she said.
"But it's funny! I make some of those up on the spot! I could be a stand-up comedian," he said.
"I think Gibbs would disagree," Ziva said.
"Gibbs?" I asked. There was yet another person I didn't know.
"Our boss, the infamous Leroy Jethro Gibbs," Tony told me.
Before anyone could say anything else, the waitress came back with our food. We all dug in right away, it all smelled so good.
"Hey, Alyx, you wanna go half-sies on pancakes?" Tony asked me.
I thought about it for a second, his did look really good and chocolate was good at any point in time. "Yeah," I said, stabbing the pancake I hadn't started in on with my fork and sliding my plate closer to his across the table while he did the same. I also put some fruit on top of it, so he could get the full effect of the awesomeness that was Bickford's fruit pancakes.
Ziva shook her head, smirking at the ordeal. "What?" I asked.
"You DiNozzos, you are all the same. Movies and food," she laughed.
"What? Hers looked good. And I am her brother, which means I'm allowed to share food. And neither of us is sick. You're not sick, are you?" he asked.
"Nope. One hundred percent healthy," I said.
"There ya go, Zee-vah. It's fine," he said, making his point by taking a bite of the pancake I'd given him. The pancakes were almost as big as the plates, so I doubted that I'd finish mine, but they were so good. "Do you want a bite?" he asked, his mouth still full of pancakes, pushing his plate a little towards her, probably knowing her answer.
"Are you sure you want to share, Tony?" she asked.
"Of course, Sweet cheeks," he said. Yet another nickname.
"Okay, guys, I have to ask. Are you two dating?" I asked. I figured it was easier to just get it out rather than beat around the hedge, or is it bush? American idioms mess me up. They don't make any sense.
In reaction to my question, Tony chocked on the bite of pancake in his mouth and Ziva's fork stopped halfway from her plate to her mouth. They looked at each other then at me.
"Um, no, why do you ask?" Ziva asked, as she'd recovered first. Tony was coughing a little next to her and she hit him on the back, with a little more force than was necessary.
"Well, the nicknames, the sharing food, the way you two act around each other, how you came with him to come get me. It just seemed like you were," I said. I'm not one to shy away from a question or 'um' and 'ah' my way through it. I'm very direct.
"Tony has had that insufferable nickname for me for almost four years now. And we are partners at work; we know each other almost as well as we know ourselves. Well, I know him, anyway. He does not know me quite as well," she said, sending Tony a sly smile.
"And she only came with me because I asked. Dad and I… we haven't been known to get along very well, as you may have noticed," Tony added, now having chewed and swallowed the pancake that had been stuck in his throat.
"Yeah, I noticed," I said. "You okay, Tony?"
"Oh, yeah, just peachy. I do love chocking on pancakes," he said, smiling.
"Sorry," I said. "I did not mean to surprise you."
"Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness," he said, like it was an automatic response.
"Huh?" I asked, confused.
"Our boss, he has Rules of Life, I guess you could call them. That is one of them," Ziva explained.
"How many does he have?" I asked.
"Only about fifty or sixty more," Tony said. "Don't worry, you'll learn them all."
A/N: Okay, guys, what did you think? I know, it was early, but I was so happy with all the reviews you all sent me, I decided to do something nice in return. So, what did you think of Tony's and Alyx's relationship so far? Please tell me something! Anything!
Again, guys, 15 reviews before the next update! Feel free to review more than once if you really want to!
