hello all!

I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPLOADING SOONER! THIS WEEK HAS BEEN CRAZY! :(
so im quite happy with how this turned out! especially a certain moment that i will not spoil for you all!

Please review on your way out!

DISCLAIMER: i own nothing :(

Chapter 10

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One…"

Ziva clapped her hands to the beat as the couples moved in time to her claps. Some of the couples were shuffling nervously, neither partner knowing exactly what they were doing. They were obviously there on their singing and acting talent, and not their hand eye co-ordination. Or lack thereof. Then there were the others who absorbed the choreography like it was second nature. Absorbed it as quickly as Ziva had been able to choreograph it. There were the dancers drafted in to make up the numbers, or make the scene seem larger and busier in their leotards and hair slicked back into buns. And then there was the real talent. The ones who had actual names, rather than "child 1" and "business man". The couple that made the rest of the room look like a rambling mess. The pair danced with such grace and such elegance, as if they had been dancing for years together. Or as if they should have been dancing for years together. The couple that Ziva really didn't really want to watch, but even so her line of vision was drawn to them due to their talent. That pair. Tony and Jeanne.

Ziva watched Jeanne curve her body around Tony's muscular frame as she twisted and turned, with full faith that Tony would be there to catch her. On the third beat Jeanne jumped gracefully into the air and Tony caught her torso neatly and she bent her back elegantly. Tony turned her around clockwise slowly, as if he felt scared of dropping her. He was perfectly in time with Ziva's clapping and the dancing couples in the background who actually knew what they were doing. As Ziva watched them she should have felt proud. She had taught them this. She had sat in her bedroom, imagining what the scene should look like. She was the one who had patiently walked through the steps with the slower learners, until they were bordering in actually passable. She was the one who had got them this good after only two rehearsals. But she did not feel proud. She felt jealous.

His hands were all over her, under her rib cage, on her tiny waist, their bodies moulded together in a perfect harmonious dance that seemed to have existed since the beginning of time. Ziva knew that it was irrational to feel anything at all. He was her dance partner, and by definition had to have his hands all over her. They were lovers in the play, so they were going to do much more than just dance. So what then? Was she going to throw a childish tantrum and leave the room, because she couldn't stand the thought of Tony with someone else. What was her problem?

She had feelings. For Tony, of all people. She knew that he felt it too, mo matter how grudgingly either of them acknowledged them. But she also knew that he was never going to act on it. She felt envy, hate, anger, a barrage of emotion that threatened to spill. She would never let them spill, she promised herself that much. The best thing she could do was to ignore any stupid feelings she had until they went away, before she did something that both of them regretted…

oooOOOooo

Doctor Mallard was going off on one of his long stories about his childhood times in Scotland. Normally Ziva would find the old man endearing, but today she just wasn't in the mood. But it was a nice break from having to do any proper work. In all her other subjects they were going on about A-levels and careers and other boring stuff. Ducky seemed to be the only teacher who still believed that learning could be fun. And Ziva felt like the was actually learning something through his rambling teaching methods.

He was reaching the ending of his tale when the bell rang, much to the relief of some of the class.

"Errmmm… I will have to tell you the ending next lesson. Now have a wonderful lunch all of you!" he said cheerfully and the class left in a loud ramble of chairs scraping against the flooring and chatter. Ziva was the last out of the room, and was about to leave when Doctor Mallard knocked all of his notes and folders off the side of the lab bench and onto the floor. And no matter how much of a bad mood Ziva was in, she was not about to just leave him.

"Thank you, my dear," he said as they gathered up the papers together. Ziva took an armful of papers.

"Where do you want these?"

"If it's not too much hassle…" he started, but Ziva cut him off.

"I insist."

Doctor Mallard smiled a warm smile back at her, making Ziva smile properly for the first time that day.

"Then I must insist that you call me Ducky," he replied, and he offered her his arm as they walked to his office.

When Ziva entered Ducky's office she was immediately struck by the memories that were encased in those old walls. There were photographs on every single wall, some of them with a young Ducky, and some familiar faces that Ziva did not expect to see.

"Is that Gibbs?" she asked, pointing to a photo with a young Ducky and who looked like a young Gibbs beaming at the camera in a fishing boat.

"It is indeed. We have been friends since Jethro came out of the marine core back in the day. That photo was taken in Scotland when I was 30 years old. Jenny wa-"

"Jenny Sheppard?"

"The one and only," Ducky smiled, "Would you care for a cup of tea. My way of saying thank you."

Normally Ziva would not have accepted the invitation, but Ducky seemed like such a genuinely charming man that she could not resist.

As the pot was brewing Ducky rattled on about the events which had led up to that photo being taken.

"We were fishing in Scotland up in the lakes on the side of the river. With very little success. Jethro decided that it would be of interest to temporarily borrow a fishing boat that was moored off the side of the lake. That is how he put it. And stupid enough as I was I agreed. It was only when we were in the middle of the lake when the owner of the boat turned up. Turned out he had just gone back to his car to pick up his things. That was when Jethro rang his girlfriend, Jenny at the ti-"

"Wait, Gibbs and Jenny?" Ziva said incredulous.

"Yes indeed. She had to come and distract the poor man so we could return his boat in one piece and convince him that he was going mad. At the end Jenny let us have it. She was trying to enjoy her shopping trip when she had to bail us out. We were sent to bed with no partying that night." Ducky smiled at the memory.

Ziva knew very little about Gibbs, but as she learnt more she found him somehow even more mysterious than he used to be. From what she had seen of him so far he was a stoic man who said very little. But according to Ducky's account he used to be on the wild and crazy side. And then there was Jenny…
Jenny had been in her life for as long as she could remember. Her father had never liked her, but she was a childhood friend of her mother so her father could do very little to stop her seeing them. Jenny had been there at her birth, but when Jenny took the job in England it was difficult for them to meet. Ziva had not seen her in years. Not since the funeral...

"So," Ducky settled himself down in front of her, having handed her tea to her. She blew on the edge of the cup delicately, smiling up at the man.

"You seem, troubled," Ducky started. Ziva looked up in surprise and Ducky just laughed.

"Do not be alarmed. It is not your lack of tact. I am just good at reading the living, as well as the dead."

Ziva chose to ignore the comment about reading the dead. Everyone knew about Ducky's brief stint as a medical examiner, so this was not news to her. She stared down at the cup in her hands. The fine bone china clinked against her short nails as she contemplated on what to do. She could lie to the man, it would not be particularly difficult. But she didn't really want to lie to this man. He seemed so friendly and kind, she would feel forever guilty if she did not tell him the truth. But there were alternatives…

"Nothing that I cannot handle," she said with a fake smile that did not quite ignite her eyes like Ducky had seen occasionally.

"Boy trouble?" Ducky guessed, and judging by the stiffening of her shoulders, he had guessed correctly.

Ziva winced at the choice of words that Ducky used. But it was true. That was all that she was experiencing with Tony at that moment. And yet there was more to it. Rather than something when people are fallen for due to their looks, or the idea of feelings, it was more like actual feelings. And it was not a good thing.

"Who has been so lucky as to attract your attention?" asked Ducky, ever the charmer. But Ziva could not say anything, not until she was entirely certain about what she was feeling, and definitely not certain enough to say anything to anyone.

Ducky just brushed off Ziva's apologies and just smiled. He cut off her rambling quickly but did get a final word in there.

"I am here if you want to talk."

And with that Ziva left, her mood lightening considerably.

She walked into the music school a few minutes late after grabbing her lunch and speed walking to the room. Scribbling her name down on the sign in sheet she smiled sickeningly sweetly at the music teacher who was on duty. There always seemed to be one lurking the corridors, in search of anyone messing around or with the opposite gender. Sometimes Ziva felt like she was in Victorian England rather than the 21st century.

She opened to the door and caught sight of Tony and his smile. And her mood changed yet again. His stupidly wide smile. Was there any reason to be so painfully happy? She was almost too caught up in her anger that she didn't realise how many amps they were setting up. Almost. After a quizzical look in Tony's direction he gave her the answer.

"We wanted to do a song with female vocals in it, and you're a girl," Tony said, in his usual stupidly pointing out the obvious way. Ziva gave him a glare, but this apparently did not put his off. He sent her one of his huge smiles but Ziva refused to smile back. Yes, she knew she could sing, but why should he be able to order her into doing it?

"Who will play drums?" Ziva asked, trying to find a way out of it.

"Palmer," Tony answered quickly. Ziva apparently had no say in this. She could have kicked up a fuss, she could have refused to do it. But when Tony had said it, it was like he was issuing her with a challenge, and Ziva was not one to ever to back down from a challenge.

They set up the rest of the guitar amps fiddling with the volumes and settings until they were all satisfied with the levels. Palmer hit his sticks together and the intro started. Tim kicked in on the lead guitar, and she heard Tony take a breath to start on the first verse. As she listened to Tony singing those lyrics she closed her eyes, the words hitting too close to her current situation. She wasn't in love with Tony. But there was a feeling that he invoked in her, something that she had never felt before. And it was frightening. Frightening how much control he had over her. She opened her eyes and saw Tony staring right at her as he sang the words. She walked over to her microphone stand, eyes still locked with his. She knew her cue was coming and soon she would have to sing those words at Tony, of all people, as he sang the words straight back at her. The thumping of the drums matched the pounding of her heart. She took a deep breath.

It wasn't as bad once she had started. The music seemed to come to her, like it never had before. The song was made for her somehow. She became lost in the lyrics, pouring more emotion than she knew she had into the singing.

The song was drawing to a close and Tony pulled his mike from its stand. Ziva mirrored his actions until she found herself standing in the middle of the room, her face so close to his as they sang every word to each other. The sound of Palmer giving it his all on the drums added to this insanity of the moment. He was actually really good, and Ziva was surprised that Tony had not just made him drummer. She pushed those thoughts aside as her eyes locked with Tony's and she felt a pull towards him, something that she couldn't stop and did not want to stop. He seemed to be feeling the same as the last crash of the cymbal sounded and their lips met is an earth shattering kiss.

She met his lips with such hunger, and Tony was eager to reciprocate. His hand came up to cup her neck as he kissed her deeper and harder, almost to the degree of pain. But Ziva was giving it back as good as she had. She nipped his bottom lip savagely, but he did not seem to mind. He was too busy loosing himself to her, his mind, his body, his soul. She had him now.

They drew apart and rested their foreheads against each other, both taking shuddering breaths, trying to recover from the burst of passion. They room had gone completely silent as the rest of the guys took in what has just happened. Tim and Palmer both had expressions of disgust on their faces, they had both known Tony since they could remember, and did not appreciate the show. Vance looked as blank as ever but gave the impression that he had been expecting some explosion of all that built up emotion.

Ziva opened her eyes and the truth of what she had done dawned upon her. Her eyes widened in horror and she backed away. Not bothering to pick up her drumsticks, she ran out of the room as fast as she could, never once looking back.

EEEKKKK! TIVA KISS! :D

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