YAY! WE BROKE THE 250 REVIEW MARK! :D :D

cyber cookies go to Robern, TheRoseShadow21 and Ellie-rae (on her second attempt) who all guessed correctly, that the songs were temptation and bitter and blue! shoutouts also go to aquablue205, Crazy-random-reader of hogwart, ForeignMusicLyrics and never-give-up-hope2, who got at least one of the songs right! :)

here is a belated slightly Valentine's Day themes chapter for you! enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: if I owned NCIS, do you seriously think I would be doing this?

Chapter 25

It wasn't a good day, Ziva grumbled to herself as she catapulted herself from one room to the next, checking that all the windows were shut, and that none of the taps had been left running. And the worst part was the fact that it was only 0600.

"Tali, please wash up your breakfast dishes when you are done. Or at least soak your coffee mug, the strain won't come out otherwise," Ziva hollered down the corridor, pushing her hair back out of her face as she went. She wasn't looking forward to the rest of the day. There was a big audition going on in the city tomorrow, and all her senior dancers were practising like crazy so they had the best chance as possible of impressing their audience. Ziva was aware of how big a deal this was. All it took was one job. That one job was the difference between success and failure, the difference between doing what you love for a living, or just scraping by. She had always wanted to perform as a child, and she knew firsthand what a cut-throat world dancing could be on a good day. And she wanted to help these young men and women achieve their dreams. So she did understand why it was important that they all have lessons the day before the audition. She was just not convinced they all had to be with her.

As she swung open the door to her apartment, bent at the waist attempting to tie her laces with one hand, her head came into contact with a soft piece of material from the other side of the door.

"Woahhh, my ninja!"

Ziva looked up, expecting to see that it had been Tony's shirt clad stomach that she had just head butted. If that had been the case, she would have apologised. But her attention was drawn to the stuffed toy that was in his hands.

It was one of those ridiculously sized toys that looked like they belonged at an amusement park, or in Tony Story 3. The giant teddy carrying an equally enlarged heart, with "Be mine" stitched in loopy writing had a similarly cheerful expression as its owner, whose head was almost lost behind the mass of fur. It was then that she realised that it had been the toy that she had almost ran into head first (looking back, Tony had never been hairy on his stomach…).

And then it hit her.

February 14th. Valentine's Day.

She would be lying if she had said that the day had completely escaped from her mind. In every shop she had visited, the heavily commercialised holiday had been shoved in her face, in the form of half price chocolates and artificially coloured flowers. She had just not registered the date in her mind. In her mind, this was the crazy day before auditions, where she was expected to give private lessons to almost every senior dancer in the company, who wanted her in particular to give them their final words of advice before they walked the plank. But now the date was so very clear.
"Shit," Ziva said.

"Wow, someone's in a good mood," Tony said sarcastically, and yet his good mood seemingly did not waver, as he looked almost as ridiculously happy as his fuzzy counterpart.

"I completely forgot…" Ziva trailer off, closing her eyes. Dammit. Her subconscious had been planning the day for a while, the meal she would cook him, and the ice cream they could eat sitting in front of the television. But clearly her plans had fallen through.

"You do look as if you have other stuff on your mind…" Tony said, tilting his head as if contemplating this new revelation, "let me guess, competition?"

"Auditions. And all my senior dancers want to have last minute rehearsals with me."

"Makes sense," said Tony, and at Ziva's look he continued, "you would want last minute words of advice from the best dancer in the company."

Ziva's smile was all the indication that Tony needed to confirm that it had been worth the struggle of climbing the stairs to Ziva's apartment carrying the furry monstrosity (as it turned out, it was hard to climb stairs when you could not see your feet).

"Have you been into the top drawer of your dresser today?" Tony asked, looking at the small vase of flowers on the hallway table and trying to look nonchalant. Ziva's eyebrows went up, and her eyes seemed to bore into his slightly turned head. Wordlessly Ziva slowly moved into her room, just as Tali made an appearance. Had Ziva turned around just then, she would have seen her little sister send Tony a big thumbs up, and Tony nod at her gratefully.

Ziva emerged from her bedroom a few moments later, this time carrying a white envelope with her name hastily scrawled on the paper. She was surprised that it had ended up there. How had Tony managed to get the envelope in her house without her noticing? His window would have been only the few minutes she was in the shower, and even then she would have noticed. It was amazing the lengths he went to, just to surprise her. And for that, she was eternally grateful.

She calmly secreted a knife from her being (Tony was trying to work out whether he found that really scary or just hot), and sliced open the envelope quickly and efficiently. Sliding her fingers in, she pulled out the piece of paper she found inside, and read it aloud.

"Pizza Express?"

"You and me. And pizza!" Tony said, as if it were the most earth shattering revelation that was known to man. But Ziva was looking slightly confused, so he felt the need to expand, "everywhere else is going to be full of loved up serious people. I figured we could do something different."

Ziva's smile told Tony everything that he needed to know. That she appreciated it. That she wanted it. That there hadn't been reason to smile lately, but now he had given her a reason. She had initially been surprised at his choice in restaurant. She had always pictured him as the type who would go all out on Valentine's day to impress the ladies. But then again, he had clearly impressed her. She was marrying him, after all…

"Tali, will you be alright on your own? And are you doing anything this evening with Finn?"

"I am twenty three, not three. And don't you think that Valentine's Day is merely a commercialised, overly glamorised holiday that gives corporations the opportunity to exploit the insecurities of the masses who are led to believe they must have toys and flowers if they want a fighting chance of achieving something as abstract as love?"

Tony looked over at Tali, trying to work out whether she was joking or not. He remembered commenting early on that Tali had both looks and the books, but in the time that he had got to know her, he had forgotten that fact. It took moments like these to remind him.

Ziva fixed Tali with a look, and Tali sighed.

"And yes, Finn is taking me to dinner."
"Don't sound too happy about it then," Tony said.

"She loves it really," Ziva said, turning to Tony, but still able to see Tali send her a glare at the back of her head.

"So, I'll pick you up at six?" Tony said.
"Sound good!" Ziva said smiling.
"And one more thing," Tony said, and he lifted his arms, that were still full of fur "where should I put this?"

oooOOOooo

The evening drew nearer, and all around the city the flurry of activity was almost tangible. Singletons arranging girls nights in, bars full to the brim with men and women wishing to escape the dreaded holiday. But for some there was the flood of movement, as they attempted to surprise their loved one with a new dress, or a new pair of earrings to round off their outfit. And then there was Kate.

Kate sat in her living room, idly flicking through the channels, whilst balancing a plate of pasta on her lap. Cooking had once been something she took great pride in, but as the years dragged on and she became more and more single, the quality of her cooking slowly dropped until it was the bare minimum. Yes, she still prided herself in eating (fairly) healthily, with fresh ingredients that did taste good. But now she looked less for food that would taste good, and more at food that would fill her and not taste bad. There was a big difference then.

Kate had never been big on the whole Valentine's Day thing. She had never had a Valentine at school, and as she grew up she learnt that men didn't really have the romantic notions that her inner high school girl craved. So more often than not, she found herself wallowing in self pity.

Kate was roused from the cheesy predictable plot line by a knock on her door. Grumbling she set aside her plate of lukewarm pasta and slipped her feet into her slippers (a gag gift from Abby one year for Christmas). As she padded towards the door, she internally made a list of who may possibly be at the door, crossing each name off as they came to mind. By the time she reached the door she was none the wiser to who the presence behind the door was. So when she opened the door, she was surprised by her surprise.

"Ari?"

"Surprise?" he said sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders. This only drew attention to the bottle of wine and the chocolates that weighed down his arms.

"Come in," Kate said, sounding a little shell shocked. But then again, she had crashed his apartment earlier that week. She supposed that it was only fair that he did the same. The next questions was, why did he assume that she would be home alone on Valentine's Day?

"I am sorry I did not ring in advance. It is just a reliable source informed me that you would be alone tonight."

Well that answered her unasked question. Ari seemed to realise how creepy that sounded as soon as the words left his mouth.

"McGee. He tracked you cell."

"I am going to strangle him," Kate said deadpan. Every time Kate began to feel sorry for him, he would do something like that, and Kate remembered why she didn't like the kid.

"Please don't. He only told me because I threatened to tell Gibbs that I caught him and Abby making out on Gibbs desk."

Kate's eyebrows shot up.

"You caught them doing what?"

"I didn't but his reactions only confirmed it," Ari replied, and Kate laughed. This man was definitely a lawyer.

The two of them were settled in the living room with the television playing softly in the background. Ari had refused a plate of pasta (Kate was secretly pleased that he had, what with his kitchen and her not well exercised culinary skills), and now they sat, with a glass of wine each sharing his box of chocolates.

"I don't want to sound ungrateful," Kate said, between sips of wine (she had been shocked at the brand, and the price tag she knew would have come with it), "but why?"

"An old friend once told me," he started, picking a chocolate out of the box, "that Valentine's day in not a reason to treat a beautiful woman, but merely an excuse."

Kate was surprised at his answer, but in her mind it made sense. The profiler in her had already painted Ari as a family man, whose old fashion values were as clear as day. The woman in her revelled in these traits. Men, she had learnt very early on were pigs. Or at least, the ones she attracted. At a young age, she had always thought that it was her that was the problem. She repelled men, or she only attracted those types. But as she grew up she began to realise there were a number of combining factors that led to her relationship status. And that the lack of men like Ari were the reason for that.

"You should really stop doing that," she said, changing the topic a lighter one.

"Doing what?" Ari said, raising a quizzically brow. The skill of raising on eyebrow and one alone was not lost on Kate, who caught herself giggling at the sight.

When she caught her breath, she spoke again.

"Saying stuff," Kate said, waving her hands abstractly, as if those motions alone would clarify her words.

They didn't.

"You are going to have to be a little more specific," Ari said, bemused.

"Throwing compliments around," Kate said composing herself.

"And why would I do that?" he said jokingly.

"Because..." she said, but couldn't finish her sentence.

"How eloquently put," he said, and Kate heard the sarcastic wit she heard in Ziva on a number of occasions.

"We can't all be law school graduates," Kate shot back, tipping the last of her wine into her mouth. Over the rim of her glass she could see Ari's vaguely amused expression.

"Lawyers are more than smooth talkers," Ari said defending his profession.

"Oh yeah?"

Kate felt like she was spending too much time around Gibbs, because in true Gibbs fashion, she hated involving lawyers. She had learnt a long time ago that red tape might have the best of intentions, but there was only so far it could get you.

"You do not agree?"

Kate had to admire the way he asked things, gently probing, but never outright asking the question, giving her the option to get out of the situation if she so desired. She mused to herself ironically that it was probably that trait made Ari the lawyer he was.

"Lawyers are not bad people. They just get in the way."
"Because we try and make sure everyone is equal?"

Kate was silenced momentarily by his words. This was a glimpse of the man she could picture as standing up for what was right and good in a court full of cynics.

"Surely we must not let one person decide the law. Surely we must give people a chance, no matter where they have been, or what they did. If they are willing to make amends, then why should we hinder that change?"

"And what about the lowest of the low who have no shame in what they did?"
"But if we give them no legal representation, then what does that make us?"

Kate thought for a moment, masking her hesitance by plucking another chocolate.

"But this is getting too deep. How about a refill and a lighter topic?"

Kate nodded in consent, smiling at Ari's desire to remain peaceful. This man clearly had boundaries and a strong moral code. But his laid back attitude balanced out the intensity, and Kate found herself relaxing. Almost too much. She was scared about how open she could be with this man. Was it too much, too soon? But somehow she felt that she could trust this man. But was it the roaring of her heart engulfing the sounds of any sensible thoughts in her head?

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