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Chapter 12

"Hey Ziva, sorry I can't make it for our tutor session, I'm going on a date with Jeanne," Tony said, standing out of the mirror in the men's room and staring at his reflection. He winced at how the words came out and tried again.

"Hi. Ziva. I can't make this Thursday."

No it all sounded too casual. He had already decided that he had to confront Ziva before she heard Jeanne's news from someone else. He was not going to make any mistakes. He ran the risk of coming to a very sticky sudden end. Why had he even asked Jeanne out in the first place? Sure she was smart and funny and kind of hot, but in comparison to Ziva. Ziva had kissed him and what had he done? He had asked Jeanne out. Sighing he turned back to his reflection.

"Hey Ziva. I'm so-" but he was cut off by a presence behind him,

"Sorry you can't make it for out tutor session as you going on a date with Jeanne."

Tony spun around, his heart stuttering for a moment, beating faster than normal. Ziva stood behind him, leaning casually against the wall. Her expression was as unreadable as ever as she tilted her head slightly to one side. If anything she looked just mildly curious.

After Tony had regained his breath and some of his dignity he spoke.

"I have heart palpitations, you really scared me! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear several versions of your little… speech. Do I really scare you so much?"

"Me! Scared of you? No…" he quickly started denying it. But Ziva just gave him a look.

"We could reschedule our tutor session," Tony said, and he winced at the words as soon as they left his mouth. They sounded so lame, even by his standards. Ziva just gave him a look and continued.

"So," she said, pushing herself off the wall to come stand closer to him, completely ignoring his statement, "You are going on a date with Jeanne," she stated. It was not difficult to see that she struggled to keep the indifferent tone in her voice. It was clear that she wanted him to think that she was unmoved, but he could tell that there was something that was bothering. It was amazing how well he could read her, even though they had only known each other for a few weeks. With those green eyes he could stare at her as he tried to look into her soul. He did this now, and Ziva felt a strange rush of emotion going up her spine. She pushed it to the back of her mind and refused to break his eye contact, despite the strange emotion that he was evoking in her. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her made uncomfortable.

"And if I am?" he asked, his voice dropping to a lower pitch.

"Then…" Ziva chose her next words carefully, "I would say that you are considerably less intelligent that I had previously thought you were."

Tony tried to knock that off, but he found that his response came out before he could sensor his thoughts. It was a direct connection from his brain to his mouth, making him say something that he would regret for a while to come.

"So do you consider kissing someone then running off an intelligent thing to do?"

There. He'd said it. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted it. A flash of hurt crossed Ziva's expression, before she quickly covered it up with a stony glare. She took one step towards him, crowding his personal space. He tilted his head back, as if trying to avoid her glare physically.

"Are you looking for an apology?" she said quietly and menacingly.

"No, just maybe the acknowledgment of my existence, maybe?" he said. Now he had started with the anger he couldn't seem to be able to stop himself. He was angry with her, and was letting it all out in the most painful way possible. For the both of them.

"I was going to come talk to you, it was you who went and hooked up with the first slut you came across!" she yelled, her hot angry breaths hitting his face.

"Jeanne is not a slut!" he said, not particularly interested in Jeanne's pride but his being wounded by the idea he was dating a slut.

"She is if she went out with you!"

"I have standards!"

"That are clearly extremely low!"

"I don't have to listen to this!"

"Coward. You're all as bad as each other, you, your fathe-" Ziva did not have time to finish her statement when walked over to her, forcing her back into the wall. Ziva felt his power radiate off him, as she first noticed how strong he was. Sure, she had training on her side, but if it was down to brute force Tony was favoured.

"You crossed the line," he muttered dangerously, staring at her in the eye. She narrowed her eyes back at him.

"You did that as soon as you asked Jeanne out," she said, and she pushed him out of the way and left the bathroom.

Tony pressed his head against the wall and hammered his fists into it, his eyes screwed up in rage. How dare she! She insulted him, and yelled at him. But a small voice in the back of his mind told him that he deserved it. He was the one who asked Jeanne out, in the spur of the moment. He hadn't even talked to her before he did, after the kiss. Why had he done something so stupid! But then she had said that about his father and he had just lost it. He really had to work on his temper. He came this close to taking out his anger on Ziva, and he was not worried about whether Ziva would take it but what the outcome would have been if he had tried to throw a punch.

And then he felt another emotion. Guilt. Guilty that even though he was officially going out with Jeanne as of last night, he still felt something for Ziva. Lust or love? He thought it was both. Past the lust for her, he felt some kind of strange emotional connection. Something that sounded like it was out of some awful period romances with women in corsets and men in tights. Tony shuddered at the thought and walked over to the sinks to splash his face with water.

Ziva stood outside the men's room, her back against the wall and let out a deep breath. She felt tears burn the back of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. He was not worth her tears, she thought to herself, but she knew that really, he was. The amazingly irritating stupid juvenile handsome funny stupid man! He cockiness made her want to slap him and kiss him all at the same time. And now he was dating Jeanne. Now he was someone that she couldn't have. And that made her feel an overwhelming feeling of sadness and longing. She hadn't felt like this since the last time she had lost something dear to her. And that was her mother and her sister… she mentally shook herself before she was dragged into the past…

Ziva mentally scrolled through her timetable, praying to anyone that was out there that she did not have English where she was forced to sit next to the girl who had caused all of the argument between her and Tony. But no such luck. Maybe someone out there really disliked her. Or maybe she had worn too many pairs of heavy army boots in her time and killed off a large populous of carpet mites, and their soles had come back to haunt her for their untimely demise. Either way the world had given her a triple period of English Literature. With Jeanne. Great.

Lunch could not have gone any quicker, much to Ziva's disdain. Both Sarah and Abby noticed that something was wrong, but both chose not to say anything. Instead, Abby whipped out her phone and sent off a text.

You ask her what's wrong.

A reply followed quickly.

I value my life, Sarah texted back and gave Abby a pointed look. Ziva was right in front of them, and knowing her ninja powers she would detect what they were talking about. And who they were talking about.

But she's our friend! Abby asked, and Sarah could almost hear the whining voice through the message.

I'll rock paper scissors lizard spock you for it? Sarah asked. She was, after all, a McGee. And McGees were not renowned for their "cool"ness. Period.

It's on, Abby texted back.

The game was quick and silent, almost like a silent movie, with elaborate gestures and facial expressions being made by both of them. It was amazing that Ziva had not yet noticed, showing how off her game she must have been. Her ninja skills were getting a little rusty. In the end Abby reigned victorious, and Sarah had to be the one to talk to their ninja.

Sarah sidled up to Ziva who was staring off into the middle distance with a blank expression on her face. When Sarah put her hand out to rest on her shoulder Ziva jerked out of her daze, pinning the hand down against the bench where they were both sitting. There was an awkward pause as she realised what she had done. She quickly retracted her hand, with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Sorry, I really have to go," she muttered under her breath, not looking either of them in the eye. She gathered up her things and practically ran out of the dining hall. Sarah raised her eyebrows and turned to Abby.

"Something is really up with her…" Sarah said, stating the obvious. Abby followed Ziva retreating figure with her eyes, trying to figure up what was wrong. She was about to turn away when she saw Tony entering the dining room, which was odd in itself seeing as they were in an all girls school. And Tony clearly was not a girl. Tony went to talk to Ziva, but she just brushed his hand away and walked off. Now that was interesting. Abby stood up to talk to Tony, not giving Sarah enough time to stop her. Sarah lent back in her seat, put off her meal now. How could she feel like eating when one of her friends seemed to be in some kind of trouble, and another seemed to think that Tony had the answers? This was going to be interesting…

Tony was retreating back to his school. He had had the audacity to turn up at the girls school, but he had learnt early on in his high school life that if you look like you're supposed to be there, no-one asks any questions. He heard the loud pattering of footsteps behind him. But someone was apparently going to question him.

He mentally ruled out Ziva as the owner of the footsteps. She was still mad at him. And even if he had wanted to talk, she probably would have used her freaky ninja skills to sneak up on him and scare him to death.

He turned to see Abby running towards her. He smiled widely at her, then realised the expression she had on her face.

"What the hell is going on?" she yelled, and Tony was startled by her tone. This was the easy-going, happy bubbly Abby. Who was currently yelling at him. He stared blankly at her for a moment. Then the truth dawned upon him. And Abby noticed.

"Yes, I'm talking about Ziva. What is going on? She's really upset and I swear if you were the one who made her that way you are going to regret it," she said fiercely. Sure, she loved Tony, he was practically his brother. But Ziva was her friend. And any guy who hurt her friends was something she was not cool about.

"We had a bit of a misunderstanding…" Tony said, running his hands through his hair nervously. He was not looking forward to this conversation.

Abby just glared at him, yelling at him with her eyes.

"I'm dating Jeanne," he stated. Abby's eyebrows shot up.

"Jeanne? You like have nothing in common!"

"…and Ziva and I fought."

"Because you are dating Jeanne?"

"Because I said some things that I shouldn't have."

Abby could hear the remorse in his voice and she was forced to look at the turn of events from his point of view. She had to admit, Tony did seem like he regretted it, and he did feel bad. She reached out and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. This surprised him for a moment, as moments before she looked about ready enough to kill him. But he soon relaxed into the hug and put his arms around her. Abby closed her eyes and told him the motto of her life.

"If it's meant to work out, it will work out."

oooOOOooo

Ziva walked into English, where Jeanne was already sitting staring off into the middle distance. She had this serene expression on her face, and Ziva could already guess why.

She sat down, hoping that Jeanne would be too involved in her own romantic Tony-centred thoughts to notice her. No such luck.

"Ziva!" Jeanne said overly brightly. Ziva pretended to smile at her, and Jeanne seemed too happy and overexcited to notice.

"So Tony asked you out?" Ziva said. It pained her to say it with such a bright tone. But she felt bad for Jeanne. She hadn't thought much about how Jeanne may be feeling as a result of Tony. If Jeanne had been a slut as Ziva had called her earlier, then she would have had no qualms about hating her. But Jeanne was just another girl. She just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. She had not done anything in particular to hurt Ziva, just be herself. And Ziva was never going to hate someone for just being themselves. But then again there was the pain that she was causing her. She had dealt with physical pain. But this type of pain?

"Yes!" Jeanne said. Then she realised who she was talking to. Her brightened expression dampened a little.

"You are OK with this, aren't you? I don't want it getting weird between us…"

Ziva smiled tensely and forced the next words out of her mouth.

"I already told you I have no issue with it. I hope you two are happy!" she said. She hoped that Jeanne didn't hear the false note in her voice. Or see the tears burning in her eyes as she said those words…

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