Ziva sat there, taking in the typical banter and interaction of the team with a genuine smile plastered on her face. It was far more beyond great to be back.
The rest of the day rolled by fairly quickly. She caught up on their current case, something about bomb hoaxes that was somehow linked to somebody in the Navy. She embraced the feeling of working on cases once again, reveling in the joy of having the case run down in order for her to comprehend.
Tony was exhilarated to say the least. Things had gone even better than what he had prepared himself for. Oh praise the lord for someone with a heart like Ziva's. She was one hell of a person. He stared at her throughout the day, when she wasn't looking. The joy on her face just by being back here with them brought radiating warmth to his chest.
She caught him staring a number of times though, after which she sent back amused looks. In return he'd shrug his shoulders innocently.
The time to knock-off from work had come, too fast in Tony's opinion. He'd have to wait one whole night before laying his protective eyes on his partner again. He was reluctant to have her out of sight.
He was surprised when she left for home on time, something she rarely did before. This piqued Tony's curiosity very much so. Giving her a leeway of fifteen minutes, he bid a hasty goodbye to the rest of the team before setting off for Ziva's house.
Huh, Ziva's house. He hadn't been there for three months because she hadn't been there for three months.
Pulling up by the sidewalk, Tony cut the engine as he came out of his car and came to lean against it. He peered up at Ziva's apartment through squinted eyes, receiving a perfect view of her front door. Exhaling a single puff of air for courage, Tony started towards the elevator inside the building when something caught his eye.
He saw the back of someone. A man, A man who was knocking on Ziva's door.
He frowned, redefining the lines on his forehead. He watched closely as Ziva opened the door with a twinkling smile on her face, greeting the mystery guy with a peck on the cheek.
Damn, all Tony could see was the guy's back. Well he'd work with whatever he had and had the image of Mystery Guy's back committed to memory. He didn't realise he had fisted his pants, creases now marring its previous neatness. He couldn't help the pang of disappointment he felt inside, even though there was nothing to be confirmed from what he just saw.
People greeted other people with pecks on the cheek all the time. All the time. There was nothing to be upset about. Clenching his jaw subconsciously, he got back into his car and drove home. He was annoyed at the thought of someone whom he didn't know, or rather someone that Ziva had conveniently failed to tell him about, was spending time with her. Instead of him. That was his partner. His partner!
But he trusted her.
The jealousy was just clouding his judgement. Jealousy…now where did that come from? Ultimately giving her the benefit of the doubt, he let the matter slide. About those inopportune feelings, he'd explore them some other time. He just appreciated the fact that Ziva was back in his life.
"Good morning!" A perky voice greeted the ears of McGee.
A smile promptly fell upon his lips. It never failed to amaze him how nice it was to hear the voice of his Israeli friend. This just went to show how important she was in every person's life she of which she was involved in, especially the teams'.
"Morning Ziva. Pumped for the day?" McGee asked politely with the same smile.
"You bet. I am ready to work, even more than yesterday. You have no idea what three months of no work can do to a person." Ziva explained animatedly.
"What three months of no work can do to whom?" Tony piped up as he strolled into the bullpen like usual.
He looked at both the more early-coming agents expectantly.
"What are we talking about?"
"Just about how excited Ziva is to be back on the job." McGee shrugged.
"Yes that much is pretty obvious." Tony hummed, replaying in his head the child-like excitement Ziva displayed at work yesterday.
"It sounds sadistic, but I hope we get to go out on the field today. I miss it." Ziva said sheepishly.
"Speaking of missing, where did you go off to so quickly yesterday? You actually left on time." Tony asked, trying to pass it off as a random question.
If Ziva was surprise by his question, she didn't show it. She didn't think that anyone would notice. Well, she received a text from Uziel saying that he had taken the liberty of letting himself into her apartment, and was awaiting her return straight after work so he could check on her.
She remembered shaking her head slightly when she read the text. Another typical Uziel gesture. True to his word, Ziva found him lounging on her couch with his legs propped up on the table before him like he owned the place. The surprise of her evening was a friendly 'doctor's' visit from Caleb though, whom she kindly received impromptu since Uziel had also taken it upon himself to invite the lonely guy over for dinner without telling her.
"Did I really leave on time? I think your watch is a little bit behind time." Ziva expertly brushed off.
Tony frowned in return. Was that so? He pulled back his sleeve slightly to check the time on his watch when Gibbs appeared from some unknown place yet again.
"Another bomb claim from an anonymous caller."
"Can I go Gibbs? Please let me go." Ziva shot out from her seat she occupied not seconds ago like a pre-school kid eager to answer a question.
Gibbs looked at her in contemplation. Honestly, she was the best bet they would have if there was really even a bomb there to begin with. Nonetheless he hoped it was just another hoax. He wasn't really thrilled in having his agents being involved in explosions anytime soon.
"DiNozzo, take David to check it out. I'll get McGee to send you the exact address of the place." Gibbs decided.
"On it boss!" Tony answered enthusiastically, ushering his partner towards the lift.
DiNozzo and David were back in business!
"Although I can swear that my breakfast is somewhere in between my throat and my stomach, I actually missed your crazy driving." Tony stepped out of the car looking a little green.
"You miss everything Tony." Ziva emitted a short laugh as she came around to give him a soft rub on his back.
"Yeah? They're things worth missing." He flashed a sincere smile at her, at which she smiled back with a real smile of her own.
"Well what do we have here? The typical 'bomb in the warehouse' scenario." Tony spoke as he stopped at the entrance of a relatively small warehouse.
"How many hoaxes have we gotten?" Ziva figured it had to be quite a number for him to sound so nonchalant about bombs.
"A lot, I can't remember. But I do remember having to check out every one of them. Always nothing."
"No harm checking another." Ziva added thereafter, as she picked the lock to the entrance.
Both agents walked in, still minding to be cautious.
"Well, there's barely anything here." Tony stated the facts.
"Search the place more closely. You can never be too careful." Ziva advised, having had too many unwanted experiences with bombs.
The perimeter of the warehouse they were in wasn't that big at all. The warehouse looked fairly empty at first glance to be honest. But it was always better to be thorough in their search. Ziva just knew somehow that things were never simple.
Eyes scanned the place. Their gazes swept across the top of the wooden table in the middle, as well as the few chairs scattered randomly about the small-scale warehouse. Boxes were stacked to a towering height along the walls. Every crack and every cranny, they searched for something.
But nope, nothing.
"There's nothing, I told you so. Can we go back already? There's a reason why they're called bomb 'hoaxes' you know?" Tony suggested.
"No, I want to keep looking. Nothing is ever that simple." Ziva explained as she continued scouring the entire place inch by inch.
"Well do what you want then, me and my unstable stomach contents shall wait for you and sit right...here." Tony informed, as he sat down on one of the chairs.
And he heard a beep.
TBC
Okay I have exams for the whole week, farewell for a while :) Wish me luck!
And as always, thank you all for the reviews. You've made me a very happy kid :P