Now that the Orange Bowl game has finished, I was able to finally finish this off. Thank you all for your reviews, you continue to amaze me with how much you guys are enjoying this.
Hundan.
When he climbed into her bed that night it was such a comfortable feeling. Even though it scared him a little to think where their relationship was heading, what it could do to affect their friendship and partnership, he tried not to think about that too much. All he wanted to think about was the now and live in the moment, he didn't want to dwell on the things that could go bad, on the negative. Because they both deserved to give whatever this was a shot. And he would never turn down an invite to share her bed, hold her in his arms. He was beginning to really like it.
She was already in bed and she watched him make his way under the covers, there was a certain smile on her face.
"What's that smile on your face for?" he asked with a playful ring to his voice. He moved around a little until he got comfortable on his side, facing her.
"Just because" she said, sending him a wink. She was very playful tonight, she had been since they had done the dishes in the kitchen after dinner. He noticed that she had been quite comfortable and cheerful since meeting Dean. Maybe when she realized he truly was a good kid that she had nothing to worry about.
"So you liked Dean?" he asked. Broaching on the topic which he knew they needed to finish discussing, now that they've met him.
"Yes, he is a good kid. And you can tell he was raised in a good family, he has very good manners" she replied "What did you think of him?" she asked. Getting his opinion on what the boy was like. If there was anything she had missed about him, Tony would have seen it.
"Yeah, I agree he's a good kid. I don't think you have too much to worry about him, he seems to treat Maxi right from what I saw" he replied. That got her interested.
"What did you see?" she asked. He watched the interest in her face and the smile it gave her.
"He just has this certain way he looks at her, you know? Not in the sort of way how he just wants to get into her pants but in the sort of way that he likes her, has a legitimate fascination with her" he explained. He'd seen the two of them catching glances at each other, they hadn't seemed to notice him watching.
"Oh, I know that look" she nodded. There was a flicker of something in her eyes that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Yeah? How so?" he asked in reply. Her smile grew.
"There's just this one guy who always gives me that look" she stated. There was no way he missed the obvious hint in her eyes now. She was talking about him. He couldn't say it wasn't true, simply because it was true. He always gave her those looks. He wonders if anyone sees them do it like he had seen Maxi and Dean. He smiled at her and gave her the exact look she was talking about, if it was even possible her smile grew more.
He moved his hand underneath the covers and sort out her body, his hand finding her hip and lightly gripping onto it. She shuffled a little closer to him and her chest brushed up against his. God he loved sharing a bed with her, it just wasn't the same alone by himself anymore. Her face was right in front of his, her warm breath fanned against his lips in an even pattern. He didn't miss the way her eyes kept flickering down to his lips.
He moved his hand up her hip slowly, sliding down the curve in her waist. Then he leant a little bit closer and touched his lips to hers. His heart beat jumped a little and went a bit faster. Kissing her always made his heart pulse in a whole new way. It was just something she does. He moved his hand from her waist and brought it up to gently cup her cheek as he went with it and deepened the kiss, pressing his way into her mouth. She only kissed him with more passion at the movement and pressed herself against him more, slipping one of her legs between his.
They've only kissed a couple of times, both of those times being light and simple. This was different, this was taking them to that next level of intimacy, and he loved every single minute of it. Kissing her like this had his chest tightening and his body thrumming with a whole new energy. It sent gooseflesh across his skin when her hand crept its way up his chest and around his neck. He hadn't been touched like this in a while and coming from her, it was something so different entirely.
He moved and suddenly she was rolled beneath him and he was pressing her into the mattress. Her lips were hungry against his and yet they were so soft, and she just tasted so sweet. Kissing her was literally taking his breath away. He pulled back from her lips when the need for air became a necessity but his mouth stayed busy. He moved his mouth down her jaw and to her neck where he kissed along the skin there. An approval slipped from her lips in the sound of a content hum.
He felt her hands slip underneath the back of his shirt and travel across his back, tracing the lines of his muscles. He was lost in the moment so far but suddenly his mind started to catch up and his kisses along her neck slowed down as he brought his mouth to her ear.
"Zi?" he whispered, giving the sensitive skin just under her ear a kiss.
"Yeah?" she replied back, her voice relaxed. One of her hands found its way into the back of his hair, scratching softly along his neck.
"Are you sure we should be doing this, I mean with the kids in the next room?" he asked, lifting his head to look down at her, holding her gaze. She threaded her hand through his hair again.
"There is no harm in kissing Tony" she replied. He read her gaze, she was right. He understood that they weren't necessarily going to take this much further tonight, taking things slow would be healthier for their relationship. He smiled down at her, because really he would be satisfied with just kissing her all night to his hearts content.
"Right" he replied before leaning down and once again capturing her lips with his. This time the kiss was a little softer, holding a somewhat different emotion. All he could feel running through his bones right now was love. And he couldn't get enough. His hands dipped under her shirt and moved up her sides slightly as he pulled back from the kiss and leant his forehead against hers. She was smiling up at him.
"This is nice" he said quietly. He didn't know why he said it, he just did. It was a truth that slipped from his lips. She moved her hands down his back until they rested just above his hips.
"Something you could get used to?" she asked. He wasn't sure if she doubted what she thought this was meant to be. Maybe she was thinking he only wanted her for a brief amount of time and then would be on his way. However that was definitely not the case, not at all.
"Yes, definitely" he replied. He watched as the worry disappeared from those beautiful chocolate brown eyes of hers.
"You are always welcome to stay over, you do not need to ask" she told him. Every time he's stayed over he's asked, he asks if it's ok if he stays for dinner when Caleb persists he does. Now he understands that he doesn't have to, because he's always welcome here. No matter what day it is, weekend, school and workday, or whatever. There will always be a place here in Ziva arms for him when he wants to stay and doesn't fell like being alone at night. That was such a comforting thing to have. It's something he's wanted for a while, especially with her.
"Thanks" he hummed in reply as he leant down and gave her one long lasting kiss before he moved his weight off of her and she automatically rolled into his side while his arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. She liked his weight above her but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep all night like that, and she was starting to get a little bit tired. She was absently drawing on the t-shirt on his chest when she felt the need to tell him something that's been on her mind this week.
"I'm thinking of telling the others about the kids" she blurted out. She wasn't sure if he was still awake or not because his breaths were so even and relaxed, when he replied she was grateful he was still awake. She needed to get this off her chest.
"Yeah?" was his reply. His hand slowly drifting up and down her spine.
"Yes. Abby invited me to go out with her tomorrow and I originally said no because I knew I had to look after the kids. But…I miss spending time with her, you know? It's been so long since we caught up and I can tell she's starting to drift away from me because I have been such a cold shoulder" she explained. She really did miss Abby, and the only thing holding her back from that friendship was her secret. If Abby knew that secret, Ziva could be with her friend again.
"You want to go tomorrow?" he asked "I can look after the kids if you want?" he added. She smiled. She couldn't be anymore happier with anyone else in her life right now. He was her savoir, and a lot of the time.
"I would really like that. Thank you Tony" she replied.
"It's ok, you're welcome. I'd do it anytime" he said, he bent his neck a little and place a kiss to her temple.
"I hope it all goes ok, I mean I don't want Abby to get upset about me not telling her" Ziva began. She wouldn't lie, even though she wanted to tell the others she was still nervous as hell. He moved his hand under the sheets and sort out her hand, threading his fingers with hers.
"I know Abby will understand. She may be a little upset at the start but after five seconds that will wear off and she'll be ecstatic, and she'll beg you to let her meet them" Tony assured her. She had to chuckle at the image she got of Abby in one of her overenthusiastic reactions.
"You are right" she admitted. Snuggling down into his side a little more. He kissed the top of her head again.
"Night Ziva" he whispered.
"Goodnight Tony" she replied. She didn't let the smile leave her face one bit. Today had been perfect, with Tony at the park with her and Caleb, then dinner with everyone around and meeting Maxi's friend. And just the steps she and Tony continued to take in their relationship. Nothing could be better.
What woke him the next morning was someone prodding his chest.
"Zeev" the person whispered, poking his little fingers into him again. Tony blinked a few times and could see the little outline of Caleb's figure above him. He tried not to let out a laugh when he realized Caleb thought he was Ziva.
"It's not Ziva, its Tony" Tony said quietly. He could still feel Ziva asleep at his side. He could feel her even breaths from her lungs against his hand at her ribcage. He watched Caleb jump in a slight fright at the sound of his voice, he hadn't been expecting a deep mans voice like Tony's.
"Tony?" Caleb questioned, confused. Tony reached out and switched the little lamp on next to the bed and it brought a soft glow to the room, so he was able to see Caleb and Caleb could see him. He watched as Caleb stared at him for a short moment, taking in the fact Tony was actually in Ziva's bed.
"Why are you in Zeev's bed?" he asked, looking over at the woman in question. Tony knew it wouldn't be hard for Caleb to realize just how close they were in bed, even though he was three he was not stupid.
"We had a sleep over last night" was all Tony could think to reply with. Caleb looked back up at him before frowning.
"How come I was not at the sleep over?" he suddenly asked. Tony chuckled lightly because Caleb actually looked adorable when he pouted like that.
"You fell asleep and we didn't want to wake you up" Tony replied. He was sort of getting good at this whole making up entirely nonsense reasons thing.
"Can I join now then?" he asked. Tony looked across to the clock and realized it was only four in the morning. He wondered how often it was that Caleb crawled into Ziva's bed like this.
"Sure" Tony replied. He didn't know what to really expect next but he watched as Caleb lifted up the covers and climbed under. He began climbing over him and when he did his little leg slipped and smacked Tony in the one place a man should not be hit. As Caleb got in between him and Ziva and made some room Tony groaned as he could really feel the effect of that hit right where it mattered.
Caleb looked up at him in confusion and then he felt Ziva move too, she must have been woken up by either Caleb's pushing around or his groans.
"Tony, are you alright? What happen?" she asked as she saw the pained expression on his face.
"It's alright. A small leg accidentally kicked me where I would rather it not have" he mumble out. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been hit there, because it hurt. Ziva finally registered where it was he meant and she had to stifle her laugh.
"Hey, it's not funny ok? It hurts" he complained as he watched her threaten to laugh. There was a grin in her eyes, he could tell she found this very amusing.
"Aw I'm sorry, are you ok? My poor baby" she cooed as she brought her hand up into the side of his hair, not actually taking this serious at all. He knew she was joking around and poking fun at him right now. Caleb was squashed in between them, watching on.
"No, I am not ok. What if this affects the little DiNozzo's?" he asked. Not even serious one bit but he made his expression look as though he were. She didn't believe him for one second.
"Would you like me to kiss it better?" she asked, sending him a wink. God damn that smirk on her face was going to kill him along with that comment. If Caleb hadn't been in between them right now he would have grabbed her and kissed her breathless. He looked down at Caleb and then back at Ziva.
"I will save that proposition for another time" he grinned back. She raised her eyebrows at him.
"Oh really?" she replied.
"Yes, really" he smirked. She chuckled lightly before lying back down on the bed. Caleb automatically curled into her. Tony turned on his side and watched them, looking at Ziva overtop of Caleb's head on her chest. He could tell Caleb does this a lot, just by the look on her face right now. He didn't need to ask her to understand her gaze.
And she couldn't help it really, when she reached over Caleb and placed her hand on Tony's cheek before she leant over Caleb and gave Tony a light kiss on his lips. Right now kissing him was starting to get hard to refrain from doing. Caleb didn't seem to notice because his eyes were closed and he was snuggled into her tight. Tony's face spread with a smile and his hand found hers and he laced his fingers between hers before he let his eyes close and go back to sleep.
Maxi wouldn't say she didn't expect to see Tony here when she got out of bed in the morning, he was in the kitchen making pancakes. But she couldn't see any sight of Ziva so that's what made her a little confused.
"Morning Maxi" Tony said as she walked into the kitchen and went into the fridge to get a drink of juice.
"Good morning Tony, I see you stayed over again last night" Maxi said with a smirk. Tony looked at her for a moment. She definitely was thinking something. He knew exactly what she was thinking too.
"Who said I didn't sleep on the couch?" he challenged. Not really serious, he just really loved messing with Maxi.
"Because Tony, I am not that stupid" she grinned back. He had to laugh.
"There is nothing wrong with sharing a bed with your friend" he pointed out. He didn't really know what he was meant to tell her, was she meant to know he and Ziva had a thing going on? Did she even know? He wasn't really sure what Ziva had told her.
"So there would be nothing wrong with me sharing a bed with Dean?" she shot back. He turned his head back towards her and narrowed his eyes. She was still smirking.
"You better not be" he said in a stern voice. He didn't know where that sudden protectiveness had come from. Sure Dean was a good kid but he didn't know if he would trust the two teenagers to be sharing a bed.
"What's the difference between that and you and Ziva sharing a bed?" she asked. There was still a glint of mischief in her eyes and he realized she was entirely kidding about the sharing a bed with Dean thing. That was a relief, not only would he have a problem with her sharing a bed with a boy, but he knew Ziva would too.
"Because Ziva and I are adults" was the only lame excuse he could think of. Maxi let out a laugh.
"Ok, whatever you say Mr Adult. Where is Ziva, anyways?" she asked.
"She's spending time with her friend Abby today" Tony replied. He wasn't sure if Maxi knew who Abby was.
"She's the happy Goth one, right?" Maxi asked. He turned to her a smiled.
"Yeah, that's the one" he replied.
"Ziva showed me pictures of all her friends in her photo album one time" Maxi explained.
"You'll meet them all soon" Tony assured Maxi.
"I know she hasn't told them about us yet, she told me one time that it was a hard thing to explain to her friends but I just knew it was because she would struggle. She doesn't like to be smothered all at once by so many people so she put it off when me and Caleb first came, and then she was just finding it hard to tell them. I mean it's not something you just casually tell people" Maxi stated. Tony didn't know Maxi understood Ziva this well, he'd underestimated what Maxi could tell about Ziva. She was very observant about Ziva, he wondered if that was the same with other people.
"You understand her well, don't you?" Tony asked as he watched the younger girl for her reaction.
"Yeah I guess" she shrugged "I've just known Ziva since I was a baby and she's just like my mother" Maxi explained. Tony understood that that could be the reason to why she understood Ziva so well, but she was also good at reading people. It was a good aspect to have.
"She's always been a hard woman to read, but once you understand her, it's so much easier" he explained. When he first met Ziva she was hard to read, he wasn't quite sure what to think of her sometimes. But now, after all this time, how close they've gotten, it was so easy for him to read her. He understood her so well after all these years.
"I still find it hard to read Ziva sometimes" Maxi admitted. Tony looked at her and she was staring at him "I guess I just haven't spent as much time with her as you have" she added. He held her gaze. She was insinuating that he knew her really well, and he did. There was no lying in saying that.
"Ziva and I have been through a lot together, it's hard to not understand her after all we have been through" he admitted. He didn't know why he was admitting all of this to her, he's never admitted this sort of thing, about his relationship with Ziva, to anyone. And he stood here right now cooking breakfast for Ziva's two kids while he looked after them and he was admitting things to a fifteen year old that he never thought he would.
"But it's not always been good between you two, right?" she asked. She's overheard something's that Ziva and her mother used to talk about. Tony looked at her, slightly confused.
"Yeah, we've had our ups and downs over the years" he said.
"Like when you shot her boyfriend, Michael?" she asked. How the heck did she know about what happened with Michael?
"Yeah…how do you know about that?" he asked her.
"Ziva and my mom used to talk about everything. When she came back to Israel after leaving NCIS she stayed with us for a few days before going off on a mission. She was really upset and emotional when she stayed, a few times I heard her talking about how her partner had shot her boyfriend, from what I remember your name came up a lot" Maxi told him. He'd never heard this from Ziva before, he never thought she had broken down after leaving NCIS, it had been her choice after all.
"I was hurt when she left, not only because I lost my partner but someone who was my best friend" he blurted out. His eyes widened momentarily when he realized what he'd just said. He didn't look across at Maxi because he didn't want to see the expression on her face.
"She was hurt too. She hated leaving you behind" Maxi whispered. His eyes left the pancake in the pan that he was trying to focus on and looked across at her. There was honesty in her eyes.
"How do you know that?" he asked. Had Ziva really thought that? Had she been as broken as him?
"She told my mother about you, how much she cared for you and how much it hurt when she had to leave. She was hurt by you because she was confused, she didn't know who to trust and all the men she's ever cared for have hurt her. She didn't want to be hurt by you, so she hurt you, she left" Maxi told him. She doesn't know why she remembers this stuff, it's just she's always had a good memory. She could tell you about stories when she was only two years old if you asked. She watched as the man eyes in front of her went a bit glassy. This obviously was a touchy subject.
"We've come a long way since then" Tony said, moving the conversation along from some of the things he was finding hard to hear.
"I can tell" Maxi said. He looked over at her and found her smiling softly. She definitely saw more than he thought she does. She definitely knows more than she's probably meant to, but he's starting to get the feeling Maxi knows more about a lot of things that she might not meant to.
He went quiet after that and she realized that for now this conversation was over, but she felt like she should point out one thing. So after he called out to Caleb who was in the lounge watching television that breakfast ready and little feet could be heard across the floor she spoke up.
"You know, I don't think I've ever seen her this happy" Maxi stated as he handed her some breakfast.
"I don't think that's just because of me" he replied. She knew he meant them.
"I do. I think a lot of what makes her truly happy is because of you" Maxi then said. He looked at her and didn't know what to say. Did he make Ziva that happy? A smile stretched his lips. He knows she's the one who makes him happy everyday, was it too much to think that she felt the same?