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Chapter 4
Tony stood there for a minute. The lyrics coming from behind the door may have been in Hebrew, but he could tell from the melody that it was sombre music. He knew she was there, he'd seen her through the window when he was downstairs. "Ziva, it's me. DiNozzo."
"I am not in the mood Tony. Please, go away."
He bowed his head, ran his hand threw his hair, turned on his feet and took two steps before he stopped, he thought for a second. "Arh. Dam you Gibbs." He growled to himself. He turned back around and rapped his knuckles against the door. "Open up Ziva, I'm not going anywhere till you do."
He waited for what seemed like an eternity, wondering if he had come on a little strong there. Then the door opened. "What do you want DiNozzo?" The dishevelled looking Ziva asked.
"Well, I just wanted to check on you, make sure you were alright."
"I am fine, and now that you have checked on me, I assume you will be leaving."
"You know what they say, to assume makes an ass out of you and me," he joked.
"You are calling me an ass?" she replied, clearly offended by his statement.
"NO! It's a saying it's how you remember how to spell assume."
"So you came here to give me a spelling lesson as well?"
This was not the way Tony had planned or envisioned this evening going. He pulled out his phone, he flicked through the phone book until he found the number he was looking for and called it. He pressed the phone to his ear. "What are you doing?" He put his finger up signifying for her to be quiet, she furrowed her eyebrows then took a step back and began to close the door. He slid his right foot in between the door and it's frame.
"Yeah, hey Gino, could you send over the usual." He paused listening to the voice on the other end of the phone. "nah, I'm at Ziva's. 30 minutes? That's great, yeah, just put it on my tab. You're the man Gino." He hung up his phone and levered the door open. "Ok, so the pizza's on the way"
"I do not want pizza."
"That's fine, more for me!" He glided past her and into her apartment. Parking himself on her couch. "So, what are we watching?"
"WE are not watching anything."
"Arh, come on, you gotta let me stay, I've got to wait for my pizza."
"Fine, you may stay and wait for your pizza, but do not expect me to entertain you while you wait." With that she moved off into the kitchen leaving Tony in her wake. He watched her walk away from him, she was so obviously in pain, and he was astonished at how much pain that caused him. Gibbs was right, he really did have feelings for her, why else would he hurt so much when she did? More to the point... why would he follow a hard core ex-assassin when she was so obviously pissed and wanting to be alone? He walked into the kitchen, he watched her pour a glass of bourbon from a bottle that only had about a quarter of the amber liquid still in it, next to it was a fresh bottle waiting at close reach for when she finished that one. Tony looked at the bottles, concerned as to how much she'd already ingested. "You going to offer me one of those?"
"I was not. But I am sure you will just help yourself to it."
Tony had heard the sting in that comment but at least if he drank some, he was saving her from polishing off the entire bottle herself. He went to the cupboard and took a glass before pouring himself a drink. His eyes hardly left her as he carefully examined every little move she made. Her body language was closed, her left arm folded over her torso and her right arm holding the glass near her left shoulder. She took the bottle Tony had returned to the bench and left the room. Tony went to follow but paused when he reached the bin. He put his foot on the pedal opening the silver cylindrical casing. He pulled out a brown paper bag that was screwed up on the top. He opened the bag and looked at the receipt, his heart sank a little when he looked at the time and date of purchase and saw he'd been right in his thinking that she'd knocked off the majority of the bottle in the last few hours, and he wished that he'd been wrong. He put it all back the way it was and dashed out to see what she was doing. The effects of the alcohol were starting to show as she stumbled over her feet towards the couch, she placed the bottle on the coffee table in front of her and sat back on the couch. He moved forward and sat on the coffee table right in front of her. He rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together between his legs looking at her. "You have to talk about this."
"I do not want to."
"That wasn't a question. What happened today was..."
"ENOUGH!" She raised her voice, "I can not talk about this."
"It's not going to go away. You need to talk about it some time. Vance will send you back to 'Man Hands' if he thinks you're not up to the job." He paused, waiting for her response, but none came. She didn't even look at him. He stretched out one arm and gently placed it on her knee "you're safe..." but before he could finish she had snaked her arm around his and defiantly pushed it out of the way. "HEY!" he roared.
"I can not do this Tony. Not tonight and Not with you. Please, just leave."
TZTZTZTZTZTZTZ
In the ensuing days Tony went to work and when permittitted would return to his home, his life seemed empty as did his heart. Ziva had taken time off which was understandable, but DiNozzo couldn't shake that nagging feeling that it wasn't only her issues with Mullens that was keeping her away from NCIS. He wanted to go to her. He wanted to ease her pain, tend to her physical and emotional wounds. It had been nearly a year since the night that changed their entire relationship. They had been partners and friends, they'd flirted and danced around their sexual tension, but that night changed everything. Trust was lost, feelings hurt, emotions crushed and destinies and dreams changed forever. What he'd done could not be undone. He wished he'd never had to do it. He'd wish that Ziva could have somehow seen it and understood, or that she could have seen Michael for who he really was and Tony needn't have become involved. He couldn't deny that in some sick and twisted way he relished the thought of him protecting her and saving her, it was something he yearned for to a protector for the woman he loved, but Ziva had never needed it, or wanted it. All he knew was that he wanted her to be happy and he was going to see to it that that happened.
