Sorry for the delayed update- after everything that's happened recently, this chapter was extremely painful for me to try and finish. (by the way, my best friend who I freak out with over NCIS stuff is stuck out in nowheresville on a navy vessel for summer training without cell service, leaving me all alone, so if any of you want someone to cry with, I'm your girl!) I wasn't really sure if I wanted to continue with this story after everything, but then I told myself it might help me make it through things, cause even if Tiva can't happen in real life, I can at least make them happen in my own little fantasy world. Therefore this story will trudge on amid the devastation. Again, sorry this took so long- I made a vow that I could not leave the house today until I finished this! Anyway, I hope it perhaps helps to put a small smile back onto your little Tiva loving faces!


They took a seat on the edge of the curb a short distance away from the rest of the neighbors clustered along the sidewalk.

"Listen, Ziva, about the job-" Tony started.

"It is fine. Really, Tony. I understand," she spoke, cutting him off.

"Please stop saying everything is fine, Ziva. I really hate when you say that word." His tone was not angry, just upset.

"What do you want me to say?" she questioned, her brow furrowed in distress.

"I don't know…" Tony trailed off. "Things just weren't supposed to happen like this… I just want our team back."

"I know. So do I," she agreed in a quiet voice.

"All I know is that I can't live off my savings forever. I was gonna wait until August to make any decisions- you know- and hope that we hear something about Gibbs before then."

"That sounds reasonable," she accepted.

"I feel like all this sitting around isn't like us though. Like we should be out there snooping for clues about where Gibbs is, and McGee should be doing his little computer hacking thingy to figure out what's up, and Abby should be spying from the inside and feeding us secret information..." He took a moment to pause. "But we're not. We're just sitting here, doing whatever this is, and I feel like we're letting the team down or something."

Ziva let out a sigh. "Yes, I have been feeling the same way. But things seem so different this time… You want to do some digging, yes?" she questioned.

"You don't?" he returned.

"That is not what I said. It just seems that whatever is going on is so much bigger than all of us. Perhaps this time we should stay out of things."

Tony took note of the lack of conviction in her voice. "Come on Ziva, I know you don't really feel that way."

"No, I do not," she admitted; he knew her too well. "Let us just enjoy tonight though, okay? And we can think about all this mess another day." As she spoke, her fingers ghosted across his arm before settling above the back of his hand and turning his palm over to allow their fingers to interlock once again that evening.

They sat in companionable silence for a moment before Tony spoke again, softly nudging Ziva's shoulder. "Hey, congratulations."

"What am I being congratulated for?" she questioned with a playful tone.

"It's your fourth Fourth of July as an official American citizen," he explained.

"Oh. Yes, I suppose it is," she agreed with a small smile.

"You know, I never apologized for missing it," Tony added after another brief pause in their conversation.

"For missing what?"

"Your citizenship ceremony. I promised I would be there, and I wasn't."

"It was out of your control, Tony. You had orders. I understand."

"I don't like that I broke a promise I made you," he spoke with a soft voice, his gaze trained downward.

Ziva reached over with her other hand that was not currently clutched in his grasp and cupped his cheek in her palm, forcing him to face her. "I forgive you," she responded quietly before leaning in and placing a lingering kiss to his stubbled skin.

Ziva proceeded to pull back and bring her head to rest on Tony's shoulder, a smile forming across her face as she watched the children run around in the road with sparklers in hand, drawing pictures across the sky in sparks and smoke.

"Wanna do one?" Tony asked, his head turning into her hair and his warm breath grazing her ear for a brief moment before he was beginning to stand and pull her to her feet.

"Tony, no," Ziva started to protest. "There are not any adults participating. They are for children."

"Ziva David, have you never done a sparkler before?" he questioned in shock.

Her facial expression and lack of response were answer enough, and he yanked her up to join him. "Everyone's gotta do a sparkler at least once in their life. It's like a Fourth of July rite of passage!" he exclaimed. He then dragged her over to the firework stash and pulled two sparklers from the pile along with a lighter.

Once the sparklers were lit Tony began to wave his across the air. Ziva, meanwhile, stood still and watched the childlike gleam in Tony's eyes. He glanced over at her and stopped his movements. "Ziva, come on! You gotta be quick; these things don't last long!" He then reached over to gently grab her wrist. "Like this," he instructed, swirling her arm in a careful circular motion. Once he determined she would carry on the motion by herself, he let go of her arm to continue with his own sparkler.

After their sparklers had died, they returned to their spot on the curb just as the first firework exploded in the sky.

"Are these legal?" Ziva questioned.

"Well, not exactly…" Tony replied with a laugh. "Brian's kinda into them though; always goes all out with these things. He's a cop though- not like he's gonna arrest himself."

Ziva chuckled before again resting her head on his shoulder and tilting her face upward to watch the display.

"Fourth of July used to be one of my favorite holidays, you know," Tony's voice tickled her ear partway through the show. "Every year we would go to this big barbecue my mom's family hosted, and Senior would bring along all these illegal fireworks to put on a giant show. I think Mom got into it more than Dad did." He paused and let out a soft, reminiscent laugh before continuing. "She always said fireworks were these bursts of color that lit up the darkness as reminders that even amid sadness we can find something to celebrate." He again paused. "After she died, we stopped going to the barbecue, and Senior always managed to find a way to be out of town. There was this perfect spot on the roof outside my window though that I would sneak out on to watch this big display that was shot off every year about a mile away from the house. It was so far away you could barely make out the fireworks, but they were there." He sighed softly as he finished his story.

Ziva snaked her arms around his torso and pulled him in close, tucking her head into the crook of his neck, allowing a wave of silent comfort and understanding to pass between them until the grand finale was finished.

"Ready to head in?" Ziva asked against his neck, her lips brushing his skin. "I left my sweater on your couch."

"Yeah," he replied and drew her up with him into a standing position.

...

"Well I was not anticipating staying that late," Tony admitted as they walked through the door into his living room.

"I told you it would not be that bad. I think you had fun," Ziva spoke while she made her way over to the couch to retrieve her sweater.

"The company made it much more entertaining," he reasoned with a sly smile as she turned back to him.

"I should be heading home. Thank you for fixing my sink. I think I perhaps got the better end of the deal- your payment was quite enjoyable," she added with a laugh.

Tony smiled. "I think you might be right." She then began to make her way toward the door.

"You could stay," he offered quietly, uncertain as to if he should be extending such an invitation. She paused. "It's kinda late to be driving back now. I can take the couch."

"Okay," Ziva accepted, her quick response causing a brief look of surprise to cross his face. "But your back is already killing you, I am sure, from spending half the day hunched under my sink. I do not mind sleeping on the couch Tony."

"I'm not gonna let you crash on the couch again. You take the bed. I'll be fine, really," he pressed adamantly.

Ziva debated arguing with him but reasoned her efforts would be futile. Tony was always the perfect gentleman, so she conceded. "Okay. Do you have something I could change into?"

"Yeah, I'll be right back," he replied while making his way into the bedroom.

He returned a few minutes later with a t-shirt and pajama bottoms in hand, having taken an extra moment to change into basketball shorts and a t-shirt of his own. "The bottoms might be a bit big, but it's all I've got."

"This will be fine. Thank you," she said, accepting the change of clothes.

"I'll just get some blankets for this," he said gesturing toward the couch. "Feel free to use the bathroom. I think I might have a new toothbrush in the drawer to the right of the sink you can use."

"Okay," she replied, already making her way into the bathroom.

A few minutes later he heard her soft footsteps from behind him and turned. His gaze slowly drew up her body, noting her bare tan legs and the shirt that barely reached mid-thigh.

"The bottoms kept slipping off, and it is pretty warm in here so I just…"

"Sorry, I can try to find-"

"No. This will be fine," Ziva cut him off.

They stared at each other for a moment before she broke the silence. "Do you need any help with that," she questioned, motioning toward the mess of blankets on the couch.

"Nah, I got it. Thanks though," Tony responded with a smile.

"Okay. Well I will see you in the morning then," she returned, making her way back toward the bedroom.

"Goodnight, Ziva," he called softly to her retreating form.

She paused and drew a glance over her shoulder before continuing to the bedroom. "Goodnight, Tony."

He had been lying awake sprawled across the couch for the past two hours; the lingering summer heat and his preoccupied mind preventing sleep from overtaking his conscious. Yet just as he finally began to doze, soft whimpers emanating from behind the cracked bedroom door jolted him back into awareness.

He slowly rose from the couch and made his way toward the bedroom. The scene was all too similar to that night nearly six months ago, following her father's death, and his heart broke again for her.

"Ziva," he whispered gently while he approached the bed and reached out to touch her arm, hoping to drag her away from whatever dreams haunted her sleep.

"Ziva," he again called, softly shaking her arm.

"No!" she shouted. This time Tony was prepared for her reaction and held her wrist lightly to prevent her from striking out.

"Another bad dream," he reasoned with his voice barely above a whisper.

She sagged back into the pillow and took slow, careful breaths, her eyes closed.

Tony stood awkwardly beside the bed, uncertain as to what to do next. The last time he had offered comfort she had stubbornly rejected his efforts, but things had changed between them since then.

Ziva's breath slowly began to even out, and she reopened her eyes.

"You're okay," he whispered, brushing his fingers along her hairline to remove the sweat-dampened strands from her forehead. He gave her a soft, reassuring smile before turning to leave her in solitude, as he expected she would prefer things.

His movements were stopped a second later however, when her delicate fingers came to wrap around his wrist, forcing him to turn back around and face her.

"Stay. Please," she asked with a pleading look in her eye, releasing his wrist and pulling back thin cotton sheet for him to join her.

Tony took a hesitant step back toward the bed and gripped the edge of the sheet, pulling it back to its original spot around her waist. She gave him a confused stare while he brought himself to lie on top of the covers. She soon guessed his reasoning for his actions; he didn't want to cross any boundaries amid her vulnerability. Ziva then proceeded to curl into Tony's side while he brought his arm around her shoulders to pull her in, the twin bed providing limited mattress space and forcing them into close proximity.

And the soft rise and fall of their partner's breaths quickly lulled them both into a dreamless sleep.


Wow, that turned into a lot longer chapter than I anticipated. Hope the end of their little 'date' perhaps helped to ease the pain a bit. The fact that Tony wasn't at her citizenship ceremony has always kinda stuck with me and bugged me, so I decided to address that here. I'll try to get better about updating more regularly. I have a few other story ideas swimming through my head though that I kinda wanna explore, but this story will remain my priority. Stay strong you dedicated Tiva shippers! Maybe things will still work out in our favor.