Hey all... I really have been working on this madly, I really have. I've also been insanely busy. That's why I'm so late. And I've been keeping up with my NCIS. (Anyone see the latest episode? At the end... I was sobbing myself an ocean. Man am I a softie). So anyways, hope you all like it. And believe it or not, this has turned into a Ziva and Tony fic. Thus the character change. Yepp. So, anyways. Enjoy. Love you all! Buon divertimento!
Characters are AU
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. Duh!
Love,
~Very Special Agent Bandit
(P.S. For any of you who want to know... I'm not Italian XD)
Oh, and have any of you ever seen the Amazing Race? Amazing show. Haha, no pun intended. I'm personnaly rooting for the snowboarders, but that's just me. Haha, sorry for my rambling.. :/ Love you all!
Attention
Chapter 11
"Why do you weigh so much?" Ziva teased lightly as she supported the sickly agent into Gibbs' house, her feet crunching in the snow.
"I don't weigh that much," Tony said in fake surprise, as if he were appalled at her words.
"How did I get stuck with the job of helping you home from the hospital?" she stepped over a loose floorboard, "You don't even need helping. I saw you walking perfectly fine in the hospital just the other day."
"Yes, but that was the other day. What if I got worse? You wouldn't know, would you?"
"The doctors wouldn't have let you out if you'd gotten worse," Ziva near threw him onto the couch, and looked down at him with her usual fire.
Tony opened his mouth to speak, but quickly snapped it shut, and looked down, "You make an excellent point there."
Ziva snorted and glanced towards the door way, wondering where Gibbs was.
Tony's stomach rumbled and he leaned back nonchalantly, glancing up at Ziva in an elfish way, "You know what I could use right now?"
"I'm afraid to ask."
"A good, classic James Bond movie and food that's not mushy, like steak or… pizza," Tony licked his lips as he continued to think, "Yeah."
"Like you're going to get that. You won't be able to keep it down. Doctor Pitt specifically said only soup and juice," she winked at him, and went to the closet to get a pillow. "Does something seem to be missing in here?" she called from her location.
"I can't find anything wrong," Tony shrugged, and reached for the remote.
"He hasn't put up any Christmas decorations," she came back and threw the fluffy thing at him, before stopping to think, "Well, he has been incredibly busy with watching you in the hospital, but still…"
"He's Gibbs, he doesn't usually celebrate holidays," Tony caught the pillow with amazing nimbleness for having been stuck in the hospital for a while. He put it behind him and laid back.
"Yes, but…" Ziva paused and sat down in the recliner next to Tony, "How come he doesn't?"
"He's not a real spirited guy, if you haven't noticed," Tony clicked the remote and turned the TV on.
"But still, Christmas is a time for family and friends," Ziva looked at him intently.
"Exactly," Tony pressed the mute button and met her gaze, "He really doesn't like to think about his family."
"That's silly. He has friends, doesn't he?" Ziva questioned lightly.
"Not really. Only people that he hates are his friends. Like Fornell."
"That's sad."
"Yeah," Tony was now flipping through the channels, glancing up at Ziva, who seemed to be deep in thought, every once in a while.
"We should decorate his house," Ziva concluded cheerily.
"Have you learned nothing from the five years you've been here?" Tony arched his eyebrows at her. She gave him a long, puzzled look, "I'd rather not be killed. Again."
"Are you kidding me? He barely yelled at you. I was watching."
"You were watching?" Tony chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair, "Since when have you been so stalker?"
"I was simply making sure you were okay," Ziva said in a protective way.
"Now that's just creepy, Ziva."
"How is it creepy? I was just concerned. I mean you had just woken up from a coma, and we both knew Gibbs was going to kill you. But he didn't. Do you know why he didn't?"
"No," Tony sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Because he cares about you too much to hurt you, Tony," Ziva persisted, looking him sternly in the eye.
"Yeah, okay," Tony said in a bored voice.
"You aren't even listening to me!" Ziva hissed sharply, curling her hands into fists.
"I'm really not in the mood for a pep talk, Ziva," he said in a cool voice, crossing his feet and placing his hands behind his head, looking at her in a tedious way.
"Why are you so damn arrogant?" she spat at him.
He looked at her in an odd way, closing his mouth, his eyes shining. She realized her mistake, and bit her lip, looking away. "Tony… Don't tell me you were hurt by that."
"I wasn't…I think I hear Gibbs coming though," a smile spread across his face. Ziva looked to the door, expecting the senior agent to come bursting through the door, but he didn't. Tony was usually right about these things.
A cough escaped his lips; Ziva cringed and glowered at him, "Don't do that."
"As if I can help it," he retorted.
"You can," Ziva paused, "Try not to cough so much."
"What does it do, hurt your precious ears?"
"It worries me!" she snapped instantly, her usually soft brown eyes filled with anger and fire.
There was a long pause as Tony stared at her. She looked down, grinding her teeth together in a heated way, her expression bitter and irritable. "Ziva, I'm sorry—."
At that moment, Gibbs entered the door, his face flushed from cold. He looked at the two in an inquiring way, his eyebrow raised. "Good," Ziva jeered piercingly, "I'll be going now."
Gibbs shot her an odd look, but she deflected it and stormed out of the room anyways, towards the front door, "Ziva," he called lightly. She stopped in her tracks, huffed, and turned towards Gibbs, "Stay."
"Unless you want me to kill him, I'm going," she crossed her arms and stared at Gibbs with an enraged expression plastered on her face.
"He just got out of the hospital, humor him," Gibbs nodded to the sofa where Tony was sitting, wide-eyed and perplexed. "And I can't handle him alone."
"I'm sure you can," Ziva huffed again and strode over to the recliner across the room, glaring at Gibbs as she did so, shot Tony a nasty look, and plopped down in the comfortable chair in almost a reluctant manner. Gibbs sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation, "What do you what me to do?" Ziva slurred the words out adversely, and looked up at Gibbs.
"Make sure he doesn't die," Gibbs replied simply, and turned towards the basement.
"You're just going to leave me here with him, unattended while you work on your boat?" Ziva cried incredulously.
Gibbs nodded, and continued to go down the stairs. Ziva's eyes widened and she threw up her hands in aggravation, "Of course," she muttered, snorting, and placing a hand on her forehead.
"You are really not pleased with me right now are you?" she turned her head sharply to him, growling quietly.
"You are like a child. You can't think before you say or do," she snarled, "And besides, it's your fault we're in this mess anyways."
"How is it my-," he paused, biting his bottom lip to refrain from saying something else. "I'm going to watch a movie. Feel free to join me."
"I have no choice."
"Yeah, okay," he said lightly, indicating he hadn't listened to a single word she'd just said. He clutched the remote in his hand and changed the channels rapidly, until he found something he was pleased on.
"Indiana Jones?" Ziva smirked, her eyes glittering in a childish way.
"How'd you know?"
"He has a whip and it's umm—I think the actor's name is Harrison…Ford?" she looked hopefully up at him, squinting her eyes in concentration.
"Very good, Zee-vah, I'm proud of you," Tony gave a charming smile, while clapping slowly.
Ziva snorted, "Why thank you, I am very good, aren't I?" she laughed and placed both of her hands on her heart in fake acknowledgement playing along.
"I wouldn't say very good…" Tony gave her a huge smile in attempt to lesser her sure-to-come anger. Ziva scrunched up her nose, resisting the urge to punch him in the arm.
"Ha-ha, you're so very funny, Tony, so very funny," she said in a challenging voice.
"So, Zee," Ziva gave a low growl, "Where's my pizza?"
"You're not getting pizza," Ziva gave a fond chuckle, "Abby's bringing soup."
"You failed to mention that," Tony rubbed his eyes tiredly, and glanced at Ziva again.
She just winked, and crossed her legs, pushing a strand of her long chocolate brown hair out of her face and taking a small book out of her pocket. She flipped it open to the page where she'd last left off, and began to settle down to read it.
"Ziva?"
"Go to sleep, Tony," she pursed her lips, not looking up from the book.
"Ziva?"
"What?" she snapped, giving in and shutting her book. Tony looked at her with his innocent green eyes.
"What book are you reading?" Ziva rolled her eyes.
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," she hissed, and opened the blue book again.
"Really?"
"Yes!"
"Okay," she stared at him, rolled her eyes again, and ran a hand through her hair.
Tony shifted on the couch, causing the thing to creak, in a poor attempt to get more comfortable. His eyes were trained on the TV screen. After a few seconds, he continued to shift around, never stopping.
Ziva took a somewhat deep breath, "For goodness sake, Tony! Stopmoving!"
"Sorry," he blushed and stopped.
"Where is Abby?" Ziva muttered under her breath, pinched the bridge of her nose in aggravation.
Tony shrugged, and looked at her apologetically, like a small puppy that'd broken something.
The door burst open, sending a burst of cool wind through the house. Abby stepped in, dusting a light blanket of snow around the house. She smiled warmly, a black ski jacket resting on her shoulders, black pajama pants with evil-looking teddy bears, snowmen, and Santa Clauses on them, and red snow boots with black spider webs covering them. Ziva cocked an eyebrow at her outfit, but said nothing, and instead grinned back. Tony beamed, and sat up, with difficulty, to look over the edge of the couch to see the Goth.
"Hey guys," Abby welcomed, closing the door behind her, and slipping off the gloves she'd been wearing.
"Hello Abby," Ziva got up and hugged Abby quickly, before pulling back, "I…like your outfit."
"Thanks," she placed the huge pot she'd been carrying on the counter. "Hey Tony, feeling any better?"
"A bit," he and Ziva exchanged glances, "Is that food?"
Abby gave a small chuckle, "Yes, home made soup."
"Yeah, Ziva here's been starving me," Ziva playfully punched him in the arm. "Ouch!"
"It couldn't have hurt that bad," Ziva placed her hands on her hips.
"You have no clue," Tony returned the punch.
"Now now, children, it's not good to fight," Abby said in a mocking voice, flashing her bright smile and placing her hands on her hips.
"Oh, you should've seen us earlier," Tony's eyes glinted deviously, "We nearly slit each other's throats."
Abby raised an eyebrow, though didn't look surprised, "Is Gibbs here?"
"Yeah, he went down to his basement. He's working on his boat. Again," Ziva strode over to the pot, and opened the lid to look inside.
"Thanks," Abby bounded over to the stairs, and raced down them.
"Mmm," Ziva closed her eyes in content, "Clam chowder."
"Ugh," Tony rolled his eyes, "Abby knows I hate that stuff."
"Probably why she made it," Ziva gave a light giggle, before taking out two bowls, and ladling soup into them.
"I can't eat that," Tony turned his nose away as Ziva handed one of the bowls to him.
"You said you were starving," Ziva shoved it further into his face.
"I still can't eat it."
"I was once hungry enough to eat a centipede."
"Eww, are you trying to convince me to eat the soup or throw up?" Ziva laughed again.
"Come on, Tony, Abby made it just for you," Tony grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath, but finally accepted the soup.
Ziva sat down in her own chair, and began shoveling the creamy looking liquid into her mouth, having no problem with it. Tony groaned, and leaned forward with a small grimace to place the bowl on the coffee table beside him.
"Come on Tony, am I going to have to convince you more?" Tony leaned back with a small groan, and stared at her expectantly.
"I was just waiting for it to cool down," Tony replied, his voice heavy.
Ziva gave a small, lilting sigh, the ones you barely heard. It was as if she pitied him, "Oh, okay, Tony, I got it now," even as she spoke, she noticed his eyes drooping.
A sudden jolt of realization hit her, but she kept quiet. He was tired, and it'd been a long day for him. She stood silently, and helped him lay down, her touch ginger, and her face almost masking the concern that was raging through her. She knelt by him, and willed him to go to sleep by caressing his hand gently and quickly, her brown eyes turning soft once again. She looked down and stayed crouched down by his side until she was positive he was asleep. She pursed her lips, scolded herself for being so caring, but still had the unusual feeling she'd do it again.
She stood and tiptoed to the recliner, slipped her shoes off, and pressed the mute button once again, so if Tony were to wake in the middle of the night, he could watch the movie. She sighed, and waited for either Abby or Gibbs to emerge from the dark basement steps. When had she started to care so much?
"Take good care of him for me, will you?" Abby whispered from the kitchen, as she made sure the lid to the pot was closed before she set it in the fridge.
"Of course, Abby," Ziva smiled as she gave a yawn. It was well past midnight, and Ziva'd been awake the whole time. Turns out Abby had fallen asleep while she was down in the basement working on Gibbs' boat. He let her sleep.
"And you won't kill him?" She turned off the light to the kitchen as Ziva stood.
"No, I think I'll refrain from that for now," she gave a fleeting smile, before noticing Tony was shivering, a common feat, and bending down to pull the blanket up.
Abby said nothing but watched Ziva's actions with her intense green eyes, her face impassive. They both gave a grin as they watched Tony place a pale hand on the cover, and curl up further inside it.
"Well, goodnight," Abby turned towards the ninja, and smiled, before giving her a gentle hug.
"Goodnight, Abby," Ziva returned the hug. Just seconds after, she gave a huge sneeze.
Abby looked at her warily, "If you give him that cold," she started.
"It's going away, don't worry, I won't."
"Alright, I'll take your word on it," she flashed a grin before stepping out the door.
Ziva crossed her arms, and looked down almost lovingly at the sleeping agent. Though he still had obvious pneumonia, it was fading slowly. Slowly but surely. Honestly. How had she come to care so much? Care. It was an odd word. With four letter. Two vowels. People usually used it to describe how they were doing something. Like, "Don't worry, I'm petting your precious cat carefully," or "She handled the vase with care," It sounded like an alright word to her, but she couldn't imagine using it to describe her, much less how she was feeling about Tony.
She blushed at her thoughts, and gave mighty yawn, stretching far out, before slowly shuffling to the recliner she'd been in earlier. She thumped down heavily into the comfortable cushions, letting herself sink away into the blankets and pillows, until she finally found an uncomfortable position. She smiled as she closed her eyes. She didn't carefor Tony. She was… fond of him. Yes, that was it. She most certainly didn't care.
Ziva awoke to a sharp, shooting pain in the back of her head that disappeared almost instantly. She was covered in blankets, and even though she knew her cold had grown gradually worse overnight, she was glad she was awake.
She opened her eyes slowly and drowsily, sliding down in the chair as she did so. She met Gibbs' eyes and smiled, "What was that for?"
"For not making sure he," Gibbs jerked a finger at Tony's sleeping form, "didn't die."
"Come on Gibbs," Ziva chuckled, "He didn't die."
Ziva sunk back down into sleep, her eyes closed, and her body finally telling her it was beyond fatigued. She heard a soft chuckle, and then a familiar smell waved under her nose. She could feel herself perking up, but she didn't move. It waved under her nose again. This time as she smiled, she didn't open her eyes. "Tempting me with coffee, Gibbs? That's harsh. Real harsh."
"It's not tempting if I give it to you," Gibbs replied calmly. Ziva's eyes snapped open.
"What? You're going to give up your coffee?" she was awake now. Something was really off.
"Yeah, it's yours," he handed it to her and flashed a fleeting smile, before it melted off his face and he walked into the kitchen.
Ziva raised an eyebrow, yawned again and took a cautious sip. She smiled and glanced at Tony once again.
"Want leftover soup?" Gibbs called from the kitchen.
"Actually, I think I'm going home. I'll come back later maybe," she stood with difficulty, "And I'll call Ducky about this cold. How many weeks has it been? Anyways."
Gibbs smirked and pulled out two bowls.
"He won't eat the clam chowder, you know," she grimaced.
"Ah, he won't disobey a direct order."
Ziva nodded as she smiled, pulled on her jacket, gave a huge sneeze, and headed out the door.
Ziva entered the door, engulfed by the darkness the house held. She paused for a moment, closed the door, which held a freezing blizzard beyond it, and put her hands on her hips. She shuffled in her thick jacket to the light switch, and flicked it on. It took a second for the poor thing to flicker on, but when it did it cast full light through out the hallway and living room. Tony stood just feet away from her.
She gave a small yelp, pulled out her gun and pointed it at him, before she realized a smile was sliding on his face and he was restraining from laughing, it seemed pretty hard for him, and put her gun away, "Geez, Tony, don't do that, I could've planted a bullet in your head."
"Sorry," he grinned, and stepped back some so she could actually enter the living room, "I've been waiting all night for you."
"Aww," she said in feign admiration, placing a hand on her heart in thanks, "I feel so touched. What are you doing out of bed anyways?"
"Waiting for you," Tony seemed to grow excited at the thought of it.
"Well get back in bed," she pointed sternly at the couch. Tony's shoulders sagged.
"But—."
"Bed," Ziva's face grew rock hard and she cocked an eyebrow at him as if saying, "Do you really want to play this game?" Tony moaned in protest, but never-the-less obliged and shuffled half-heartedly towards the couch.
He climbed in, a rebellious look on his face. Ziva pushed his head down and pushed his legs up so he was lying all the way down, "Zi-iva," he whined.
"So why were you waiting for me?" Ziva sat down in the recliner once Tony finally stayed in the lying position.
Tony crossed his arms and huffed, avoiding her gaze like a stubborn child. Ziva snorted in amusement and smirked, "Come on, Tony, I know you want to tell me."
"Come on, Tony, I know you want to tell me," he mocked in a high girl voice, finally casting a look towards the ninja. The cold look she was shooting him made him give in, "Gibbs was… actually nice to me. Like he cared!"
Ziva groaned and buried her head in her hands, "Tony," her voice was muffled and exasperated, "We've been trying to tell you all along, we allcare-."
"I know, Ziva, I know, I'm just pulling your hair," Tony deflected the slightly confused look Ziva sent him, and smiled goofily.
"Pulling my hair-? Anyways, that's all you wanted to tell me? You just wanted to play a joke?" Tony nodded his head vigorously. Ziva pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, "You are retarded."
"Well actually," Tony paused and tapped his lips in thought, "Now that I think about it… I thought it was kind of strange. I know Gibbs cares about me and such, but the fact he was actually being nice was kind of freaking me out. Like he head slapped me about eight times in the period you were gone. But they weren't very hard," Tony heaved himself to his feet and paced the room. Ziva made a sharp hissing sound in protest.
"I told you so," Ziva said in a singsong voice as she stood also.
"Hmm?" Tony turned towards her. She was edging closer, slowly, but surely.
"I told you he doesn't want to hurt you," she flashed a triumphant grin at him.
"And a partridge in a pear tree," Tony hummed, grinning at her with a winning smile.
Ziva glowered at him, her eyes filled with incredulousness, "Is there a reason you're singing a Christmas carol?"
"I'm in a Christmassy mood. Can't you just feel the spirit bouncing off the walls?" Tony gave Ziva a sarcastic grin.
"Yes," Ziva clucked her tongue as she looked around the plain walls, "it's filling the air."
"This reminds me of the last Christmas I had with Evie," Ziva gave a fond chuckle as Tony turned towards her. "She was my dad's last wife, my fifth step-mother. She was actually okay. So anyways, it was three days from Christmas day, and Evie wanted me to come to church service with her. So I agreed, but only on one condition-."
"Tony," Ziva looked into his eyes, but he continued.
"—So, she agreed. She'd get me the bike I'd been asking my dad to get me for seven years, as long as I went to the service with her. So the day comes-."
"Tony," she tried to interrupt again.
"And guess what? The bike was sitting under the tree. But my dad claimed that he got it for me. So Evie kissed him on the cheek, to try to convince him to give in, 'cause she was actually the one who had gotten it for me. He was all happy about the kiss and all, but he didn't give in, as always. So Evie went out and got me a motorcycle to beat 'his' bike. I was thrilled of course, so I-."
Ziva raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Tony!"
"Hmm?" he finally looked her in the eye, "Yea, Ziva?"
"You're turning into Ducky," she gave a soft chuckle.
"Oh well, he does always charm the ladies," Tony wiggled his eyebrows. Ziva burst out laughing, bending over as her shoulders shook hard.
"Oh, stop it, Tony," Ziva beamed at him, but some of the color drained out of her face as Tony wheezed. She looked down at her feet, eyeing her shoes.
"I can't help being so amazing, Zee-vah," Tony chuckled.
Ziva strode forward and caught his upper arm as Tony swaggered in pain, so they were only a couple of feet apart, their noses almost touching. She looked him up and down as she shifted uncomfortably.
"This isn't the first moment you've kept me from falling," he almost whispered.
"And it certainly won't be the last," she muttered, her eyes darting around frantically.
He gave a small grin. She leaned forward, going onto her tiptoes, as if to kiss him, but she instead planted a firm kiss on his cheek. She back away plaintively, releasing her grip, and striding around him. She turned around slightly, before opening the door and heading out into the storm.
A/N: Aww man is there some tension between Ziva and Tony in this fic. ;) So, hope you like it. Love you all, really, I do :) Thanks for all of you who read and review. You're amazing. :) Here's a sneak peak for Chapter 12 (Yes that means this fic isn't over):
"Wait, hold on, McGee, what's going on?" Tony turned sharply towards his probie.
"I don't know."
"Why did she cut off the connection?" Tony near screamed at McGee.
"Well, I can't tell you, so you're going to have to hold on," he looked trouble. McGee clutched the remote in his hands and clicked once to get the camera up on screen.
"Go back to the part where Ziva cut off connection," Tony flapped his hands in annoyance.
"Hold on," McGee muttered, "I'm getting there."
A sudden light flashed on the screen of MTAC. Tony's eyes widened.
"No," he muttered, "Ziva."
Haha, Tony's back at work (apparently). Anyone else freaking out in anticipation?
Chapter 3
: Umm, this is my story, thanks. I'll write any way I want. So buzz off.
Chapter 10
Glow60: Aww thank you. I love the family side of NCIS, thus why I wrote this fic. :)
Long Live BRUCAS: Haha, I know. I hadn't planned on making Ziva so weak and sensitive, but it just happened. Blame my writing dragon ;) Later... hopefully. If I feel up to it. Yeah... it kind of was *sheepish grin* ;)
NickTonyK: Thanks you :D
Meilea2010: Thank you so very much :D As soon as I can. Sorry for the lateness.
DS2010: Haha, thank you, glad you enjoy my way of writing it, haha :)
luzma: Thank you so much :) Thanks for reviewing :D
EVERYONE WHO READ, REVIEWED, OR SIMPLY GLANCED AT THIS STORY IS SO AMAZING! I LOVE YOU AND YOU ALL DESERVE CAF-POW AND SNICKERS!
XD
