It was late Friday night, and Ziva lay in bed next to Tony, who was now fast asleep. He held her tightly to his bare chest. Ziva just couldn't get sleepy. She looked around the bedroom, and then she saw it. She saw that shirt with the purple stripe in the middle lying on a nearby chair– and suddenly she remembered.
Ziva remembered when she wore that shirt. They had to do a 'war game' at work, to test the security of the building and 'Domino'. It turned out that they hadn't been fully informed about the mission, and that they were just using them. Most of all, she remembered that conversation she had in the elevator with Tony.
"I'm tired of pretending."
"So am I."
She had never really remembered this before – at least since she and Tony had started dating. As she thought back to this moment though, she couldn't help but wonder.She couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if she…if they had clarified what they were talking about She knew that she was really talking about pretending with Tony…and she thought that Tony was talking about the same thing. Instead though, he just covered it up. And she didn't stop him.
It's dinner theatre for an audience of one.
She couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if she'd stopped him. Or if he confronted the truth. Or if they'd just kissed in that elevator. Suddenly she heard Tony shift and groan.
"Zi, why are you still up? What's wrong?"
She turned to face him and his grip on her relaxed. "I was just thinking. Do you remember our elevator talk after the war game with Domino?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Well…" she played with her hands intertwined in his before looking back up at him. "What do you think would've happened if we had both said what we were really thinking?"
He sighed. "Ziva…honestly…I don't know. Maybe we would've started dating, maybe we both would've been killed in an accident going on a date. All I know is this." He looked at her straight in the eyes and smiled at her. "All I know is that I love where we are now. I love you, I'm in love with you, and there's absolutely nowhere else I'd rather be."
She smiled at him. "I guess you are right."
He smiled back and kissed her lovingly. "I almost always am. Now go to sleep."
She nodded and snuggled back up against his chest, finally drifting off into a peaceful sleep with Tony's arms wrapped protectively around her.
