Picture

Ziva's expression the moment Tony stepped into their bedroom made him nervous, but what made him panic was the photograph she held in her hands. She had seen the picture he had taken of her in Paris before, of course, but he'd assumed that she'd forgotten about it, and never in a million years had he imagined that she would find it so craftily hidden inside the cover of a DVD.

"Tony," she said, her voice almost a whisper as she barely lifted her eyes from the picture, "Yo- … what is this?"

He swallowed and put on his best playful expression. "It's a picture, Ziva. What else did you think it was?"

"I know it is a picture, but it is a picture of … me."

"Well, I'm glad to know you can recognize yoursel—"

"Kept inside the covers of the Sound of Music. In your bedside table."

"Oh, yeah, so that's where the DVD was! I've been lookin' for it forever…"

The look Ziva gave him suggested she was calling him on his lie, but at least a small smile curled the corners of her lips. She patted the spot next to her on the bed invitingly. "Come here."

He approached slowly, hesitant in his movements as he sank down onto the bed and took the picture from her hands. "Are you mad?"

She looked surprised. "No. Should I be?"

"I don't know, Ziva. I keep a picture of you in my bedside table. It's kinda creepy; you should be calling the cops and getting as far away from me as you can right now."

She laughed, and her amusement irked him a little because he was actually being serious, here. But then she kissed his cheek as she gently extracted the photograph from his hands, and the irritation in him abated. "It is not creepy, Tony."

"Really?"

She tilted her head. "It is … touching. And perhaps a bit surprising. But not creepy."

He didn't want to tell her that he'd kept that picture of her in its current place since the night he'd returned to his own apartment from Paris, but he thought that from the way she was looking at him, she probably knew, anyway. He kept silent until she searched his eyes and asked her next question.

"If you think it is creepy, why did you do it?"

He shrugged and, trying to sound as innocent as possible, answered, "I've had a crush on you for the longest time."

She chuckled. "A crush?"

"Well … there's no other way to put it."

She searched his face some more, but he averted his eyes. Then she leant in, laying a hand on his shoulder and whispering into his ear, "Just so you know … I do not have a picture of you. But before I moved in, I did keep that Christmas gift you gave me in my bedside table."

That gave him the courage to look at her and grin playfully. "Really, David? Did you have a crush on me then, too?"

She smacked his arm lightly, but her eyes twinkled. "You are an idiot, DiNozzo. And stop calling me 'David.'"

"Oh, you're right. I should get used to calling you 'DiNozzo' instead."

Her lips twitched. "We're not married yet. And that would be like calling to yourself."

"Huh. Guess I'll have to settle for calling you 'Zi,' then." He pretended to wrinkle his nose, but the half-adoring, half-exasperated look on her face as she gazed at him made him forget all about the jokes. So he bent down to press a kiss to her lips. "I love you, Zi."

She hummed in response and carefully returned the picture to its DVD cover. Only when she had put the DVD back in his bedside table drawer, assuring him that she didn't mind what he'd done in the least bit, did she turn back to him with a fond smile. His skin tingled when she stroked his cheek.

"I love you very much too, Tony."