'Tony, why do you spend so much time in my bar?' Ziva asked him later that night. She watched him grimace and finish off the last of his bourbon.

'Small town,' Tony shrugged. 'What else is there to do?'

'You don't have any other friends or people to spend time with?'

'Well, when I first moved here, me and Abby would spend a lot of time together, but now McGee's trying to get her to take an interest, and the guy irritates me,' Tony shrugged again and held his glass up, Ziva sighed and poured him another shot.

'One of these days we're going to talk about your bar tab, Tony,' Ziva told him as he sipped at the bourbon.

'What are you doing for Christmas?' Tony asked her suddenly, putting down the bourbon. Ziva frowned at the sudden change of topic. 'You got some family somewhere that you're gonna go and see?'

'I will not be seeing my family for Christmas, no,' Ziva replied carefully.

'But you do have one? You never talk about them or where you came from before you showed up here and bought this joint,' Tony didn't sound suspicious, just curious. Ziva figured if she didn't satisfy him with some answer he may well go digging, which was something she really didn't want.

'I have a father and a brother. Eli and Ari. We are not close these days, not since Tali died.'

'Tali?'

'My little sister, truly the best of us all. Although that isn't saying much,' Ziva silently pulled out her own glass and poured herself some bourbon.

'So no Christmas with the family, are you just gonna sit out here with Franks and Dunham?'

'Chad is spending the day with his family, so Franks will have to get drunk somewhere else.'

Tony frowned. "So you're gonna sit here and drink alone?'

'Not all of us need to drink to ease our sorrows Tony,' Ziva replied, gazing at him steadily, Tony looked away.

'Every year, Ducky hosts a Christmas dinner at his house, for those pathetic people with nowhere else to go. It's basically Gibbs, Abby, McGee this year, Palmer and me,' Tony explained.

'And Ducky's mother,' Ziva added, Tony winced and nodded.

'Anyway, it sounds like you fit the bill for this dinner. Pathetic and lonely,' he raised his glass and downed the contents again. 'You wanna come with me to Ducky's for Christmas?'

Ziva laughed and walked away, leaving Tony wondering.


Tony had high expectations for Christmas that year. Christmas had always been something of a letdown before he moved to Glenside. His father never compromised on the gifts when the business was doing well, then everything fell apart and Christmas became just another cold and miserable winter's day. Now he had a place to go, with people and plenty of food. This year promised to be even better than the last, because now he also had Ziva in his life.

As Tony picked out his best white cotton shirt, and matched it with his best navy suit. He knew that today would be the day that Ziva would become more than just a friend to him.

So with all those high hopes, naturally the day turned out to be exactly the opposite of what he'd been expecting. Apparently Ziva didn't realise that this was supposed to be a special Christmas. He realised this when he knocked on the door to the saloon, to get no reply. After five minutes, he gave up and trudged down the road to Ducky's, to find Ziva already there, sipping red wine and chatting animatedly with Palmer and about piano music. On seeing him, her smile brightened and she waved, but made no move to approach him. Tony gave a curt nod and left the parlour to join Gibbs and Ducky in the sitting room.

And so it would be that way for the rest of the afternoon, Tony couldn't get thirty seconds to speak with Ziva. She flitted from conversations about her travels with McGee, to discussions on rifles with Gibbs, and back to Palmer to talk about his chances with the mortician's daughter Breena. If it hadn't been happening to Tony, he'd have laughed at the situation.

He was not surprised to find he was seated virtually at the opposite end of the table to Ziva when it came time to eat.

After the meal that even Tony managed to enjoy, the party migrated to the sitting room, where Tony got to watch as Ziva alternately danced with anyone who wasn't him, or took turns with Palmer on the piano.

As the sun disappeared behind a haze of dark cloud, Tony excused himself to bring in some wood from the fire. He found the wood box on the back porch and sat down, watching the snowflakes that came into the light of the lantern at his feet.

Tony didn't like this Christmas, it was turning out to be a real eye opener. He was beginning to think that maybe Ziva wasn't as enamoured with him as he was with her. Tony was also beginning to realise just how much he liked the woman. Given what he knew, getting jealous because she danced with McGee of all people was preposterous.

It just made him realise how much he would like to have some sort of claim on Ziva. To be able to touch her in a public setting without causing a scandal, to be able to glare at McGee and have the kid understand, respect it and not ask Ziva to dance with him. When he thought about it, Tony realised he was getting dangerously close to some kind of definition of what marriage beheld.

He let his head thump back against the wall. Anthony DiNozzo senior had raised his son to understand that marriage was a trap a man couldn't get out of. It was a series of doors closing, the nails being hammered into his coffin, the end of life as he knew and enjoyed it.

Tony pulled his head forward and thumped it against the wall a couple more times, to see if it would help sort out some of his indecision. All it really served to do was give him a headache on top of everything else.

'Bloody perfect,' he muttered, feeling the back of his head tenderly.

'Let me guess, you are hoping there is a lump so Ducky will send you home to sulk alone.' Ziva approached slowly, pulling a dark grey coat around her body tightly.

'Sulk?'

'You've been in a lousy mood all day,' Ziva told him. 'Tony, it's freezing out here, why didn't you put your coat on?' she scolded. Tony watched as her hands emerged from her pockets and reached for his. 'They're like ice, what were you thinking?'

Then Ziva did something that made him smile for the first time all afternoon, she pulled him off the wood box, opened up her coat, and tucked his arms in around her, she gave a little shiver as he instinctively pulled her close.

'I wanted to thank you for inviting me along today. I had a wonderful time, Tony,' said Ziva as she wrapped her own hands around his waist in an effort to warm him up.

Tony took a moment longer than usual to process her words, foremost on his mind was how close to her rear his hands were, if only she'd positioned them a few inches lower. 'You're welcome, Ziva.'

'Your hands are freezing! You know how uncomfortable this is?' Ziva complained suddenly, Tony's grin grew even more.

'I disagree, I really like it right where I am,' Tony informed her. Ziva sighed up at him, a funny little cross between exasperation and amusement. Then Ziva leant up on her toes and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth, and Tony knew this was the best Christmas he'd ever had in his life.

'So why are you so miserable Tony?' Ziva asked.

'You know, I suddenly can't remember,' Tony replied, before he bent forward and kiss her again.


He couldn't really say why he picked this particular little town. If it had four hundred people he'd be surprised. The takings would be minimal, after his cut the boys wouldn't be getting much of anything.

But then, they'd been running and hiding and skulking all over the damn joint for too long. The boys were getting restless, they needed some action, a chance to let off steam. Hell, who was he kidding? He needed some action.

Glenside was going to burn.


Shortest chapter to date, but if you haven't already gathered, the next chapter starts us off on the big epic story arc, when one of my personal favourite characters will finally make an appearance. Hope you enjoyed this one.