Chapter 13

We Start With a Promise

~~At the parking garage, Post episode Family, 2007~~

Ziva stepped out of the elevator to the parking lot, and started making her way to her car. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of McGee driving away and smiled to herself. He's going to have his head stuck in a book or something for the weekend, she thought to herself. She reached her car a second later and unlocked the door and got in, throwing her bag on the seat next to her before she sat down. Sighing with relief that the workday was now officially over, she closed the door behind her and pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked it for any messages. She noticed an unread text from Tony, and opened it. It read, 'Had errands to do. Shouldn't be too long." Then below that, another message read, 'See you later :) '. She smiled at the emoticon on the text message, then tapped out a message and sent it to Tony, saying 'Sounds good. See you then.' She dropped the phone on the seat next to her and started her car up and put it in gear. She was driving down the highway to her apartment a few moments later, and it didn't take too long for her to reach her apartment, thanks to the smooth flow of traffic at that moment.

At Ziva's apartment a few moments later, Tony entered Ziva's apartment and looked around the living room, and called out, "Ziva?" He waited for a moment, and heard nothing but silence. "Now's my chance," he whispered to himself as he smiled. He quickly made his way to the kitchen, tossing his go-bag onto the couch on the way, and set his shopping bags down on the counter and started pulling out the food that he was about to cook, and got out the pans to cook the food in. He hummed to himself as he started preparing the food, smiling at the thought of surprising Ziva with a nice meal after a long day's work. As he started the food cooking in the pans, he quickly went out to the table on the rooftop balcony and set up a dinner setting for two, along with two candles. As he went back to his cooking and used his spatula to move the stir-fry around in the pan, he heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock. He smiled as he checked the rice, and took it off the heat because it had just completed cooking, and looked up just in time to see Ziva step into the apartment. "Hey, Ziva. Good traffic on your way in?"

Ziva looked over to Tony and smiled. "Very smooth traffic. Smells good over there. What're you cooking?"

Tony lifted the wok with the stir-fry just high enough for Ziva to see. "Got a little veggie stir-fry going on here, some chicken on the side over here, and the rice just got done." He flashed a smile at Ziva as he stirred the chicken around.

"Oh, yum." Ziva smiled as she walked over to Tony and stroked his cheek. "Perfect food to eat after a full day of work." She looked over at the dining table, and noticed it empty. "Not eating here?"

Tony chuckled. "Well, thought we'd enjoy dinner and looking out at the cityscape up on the rooftop. Perfect evening for it, too." He put the rice on two plates, then the stir-fry on top. "And some chicken on the side like so," he muttered to himself as he put the chicken on the side.

Ziva raised an eyebrow appreciatively at the dinner and smiled. "That didn't take too long, did it? How long have you been here?"

Tony chuckled. "Not that long. I was able to get everything I needed and thought I'd cook up a quick dinner that was still a nice one. So, stir-fry it is." He flashed a smile and tilted his head toward the door to the rooftop. "Mind opening that for me so I can bring the food up?" He held up the two plates.

Ziva smiled and walked over to the rooftop balcony door and held it open for Tony to walk through. She followed him up to the balcony and noticed that there were two lit candles, and a single rose in a slender vase in the middle of the table. "Tony!" she gushed out. "That's so awesome. You did this after all your errands?"

"Yep, I managed to get the errands done sooner than I thought, like I said, so here we are. Figured I'd spend a little bit of time with you in our own world." Tony walked toward Ziva, smiling at her, and stroking her cheek, then pulled the chair out for Ziva and held it for her so she could sit down.

"Why, thank you, Tony," Ziva said, smiling at Tony. She pulled herself up to the table, assisted by Tony scooting the chair toward the table. Ziva was in awe, a warm feeling of being loved and wanted by Tony swelling up in her heart, the sweet smell of the rose tickling her nostrils.

Tony smiled at Ziva, then pulled the wine bottle out of the ice bucket and held it up a bit. "Would you like some wine?"

Ziva looked up with a smile. "Sure, that would be awesome." Ziva leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands, with her elbows on the table, looking up at Tony, then shifting her eyes to the glass as the wine poured into it. She held up a hand when Tony reached the level that she liked.

Tony nodded with a smile as he lifted the bottle, stopping the pour. "There you go. And now mine," he said, as he poured out his own glass. He put the wine bottle back into the ice bucket and sat down and pulled himself up to the table. "And now, dinner." Tony smiled at Ziva, and reached out and held her hand.

Ziva smiled at Tony, searching his eyes for answers, wondering why the sudden mood that Tony was in, after what had happened earlier in the day. She grasped her napkin and spread it out on her lap. "Looks delicious," she said as she watched her food being set down in front of her.

Tony smiled. 'Yeah. I figured you'd like that. I knew this is one of your favorites." He pointed to his plate and smiled. "Steak stir-fry for me, and chicken for you."

Ziva smiled and picked up her fork and picked up a bite of food. "Perfect food for a night out on the rooftop. What made you decide to cook us a good meal?"

Tony chuckled. "Well, I thought, why not after a long and hard day? I mean, what better than to come home to a nice meal to wind down after work?" Tony smiled as he cut his steak into bite-size cubes.

Ziva tilted her head at Tony. "I can see it in your eyes. Something's on your mind," she said quietly, a small smile still on her lips.

Tony didn't answer immediately. Instead, he chewed on his bite of steak slowly, framing his thoughts. After a moment, he took a sip of the wine and looked up Ziva and said, "The reason I did this nice dinner is this. I've been thinking a lot lately, when I finally had the chance to actually think and not have to run around and doing my job, you know." He chuckled at that last remark. "That recent day off I had sure helped a lot."

Ziva took a sip of her wine and set her glass down and looked at Tony. "I'm glad it helped. Were you able to figure out what you want to do?" Ziva tilted her head at Tony as she gazed intently in his eyes, reading a pool of emotions, thoughts, feelings behind those eyelashes of Tony's.

Tony blinked under her intense gaze. "Stop doing that, it feels like you're boring into my mind." He let out a short chuckle to Ziva. "No, seriously, though. That's why I really like you so much, knowing how I feel, and how easy it is to talk with you about anything, even the difficult stuff."

Ziva took a bite of her food and smiled at Tony. After she swallowed it, she asked, "Alright, what is on your mind?" Ziva rested her arms on the table, leaning forward over the table a bit.

Tony took a sip of his wine and sat back and slowly said, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. Sorry for being a bit of a jerk to you lately. This case was getting to me, pulling me where I didn't really want to go." He reached out and put a hand on Ziva's. "If I ever hurt you with what I said or did, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."

Ziva looked at Tony and a small smile formed on her lips. "I understand. It was the mission that was changing you in a way that was not part of the script. Affecting your work also. When that happens, it can have serious consequences." Ziva held out a hand toward the cityscape in the general direction of the NCIS building. "I suspect that's what the Director is dealing with, right now."

Tony scoffed. "Right. It almost blew up in her face, literally and figuratively. I'm done with these kinds of missions anyway. Consider that my first and last time ever of doing that – what did you call it? Honey something?"

"Honey-pot missions." Ziva nodded. "Right. Too much chance of it going wrong sometimes. That's why I never did those kinds of missions again, not to that level. I can imagine that woman still waiting for an answer from you."

Tony laughed. "Well, she's gonna be waiting for a long time. Threw that card in the fire. I'm done with that woman." He let out a sigh. "Every other woman out there, for that matter. I think I'm most at ease with you."

Ziva sat back and looked at Tony, touched by what Tony just said. Suddenly, thoughts flew through her mind: flashback cutscenes from her past trips to New York City and Rome. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small gift box in front of Tony. She let out a small gasp, then looked up at Tony. "What's that in front of you?"

Tony smiled and picked up the box and handed it to Ziva. "Thought I'd get you something on the way here also," he said.

"For me?" Ziva gasped and smiled as she carefully opened the gift, then the box inside. Nestled within a box was a shiny delicate-looking object, and she reached in and carefully pulled it out, revealing a charm bracelet. "Oh! Shooting stars and hearts!" she breathed out.

Tony moved closer, smiling at Ziva. He pointed a finger to one of the shooting stars. "Look inside that star there. What do you see there?"

Ziva took a closer look at the shooting star and noticed that it had a birthstone embedded within. "Oh, my birthstone!" She turned the star over and noticed a different-colored birthstone on the other side. "And yours too?"

Tony nodded and smiled. "Yeah. The reason I got this for you, is this. I really like being your friend. More than your friend." He let out a sigh. "Jeanne? She wanted everything now, now, now. Family, house with a nice picket fence out front, two point three kids, two cars, and a hen-pecked husband." He smacked himself in the back of his head. "I don't think I can handle that, you know?"

Ziva nodded. "That's the one thing we noticed about her, how pushy she was. Always the push, push, push to get married and settled down. For what? All the wrong reasons, I think."

Tony laughed. "I don't know, it's something. Anyway, I'm done with her. I made that decision when I went out to the jewelry store earlier. Had something in place for her, but I just said, nope. Not gonna deal with her, so dropped that order. That bracelet is what took its place." He pointed to the bracelet.

Ziva let out a gasp and smiled at Tony. "Tony! That's so sweet of you." She held up the bracelet as she put it on her wrist, then held her wrist up and looked at the charm bracelet closely. "This means a lot to me."

Tony nodded. "I was standing in that jewelry store, trying to imagine myself with a couple little DiNozzos running around, and realized, do I even want a family with this high-maintenance woman?" He twisted his face up and shook his head. "Nah. I just can't see myself doing that. But you, on the other hand..." Tony trailed off and smiled at Ziva.

"Oh my, Tony." Ziva saw the look on his face. "What are you trying to say?"

Tony tilted his head to Ziva and smiled at her. "You know, when I saw you holding that baby while Ducky was finishing the paperwork up, I thought, wow, what if that was a baby that you and I created together?"

Ziva blinked her eyes at Tony in surprise and shook her head slightly, the words catching her off guard. "Me, have babies with you?"

Tony nodded and smiled at Ziva. "Yeah, one day, maybe. What do you think?" He held up a finger before Ziva could say anything. "Not now, I mean. When the time is right, I mean."

Ziva gasped at what she just heard what Tony said. "I'd love nothing more than to have children with you. But," she paused and held up a finger and thought about what she wanted to say next. "What about Gibbs, and our jobs?"

"As we've always been doing it on the job." Tony smoothly replied. "The right time will tell us, like I said." He pointed to the bracelet and said, "This is to remind you of our bond, that we will always have each other in our lives. I'll always be there for you, no matter what. Time will tell us when it is right for us start."

"You're worth waiting for. I'm willing to wait for the day we live our dream together for all time. Ever since Rome, I've had my mind made up, and I've decided that you're my soulmate." She smiled at the memory of their intimate weekend that they spent in Rome. She reached across the table to kiss Tony on his hand.

Tony smiled and got up from his chair and walked around to Ziva, and helped her up from her chair and guided her to the railing to look out over the cityscape. "Nice out here, isn't it?" he looked at Ziva.

"Beautiful night out," Ziva said.

As he walked with her over to the railing, he said, "I'll tell you something. Balancing two lives is pretty difficult enough, but manageable. Look at us." He held out his hands and looked at himself, then at Ziva. "Certainly better than trying to keep three lives balanced. I really hated it. Always made me feel... dirty." He shook himself off as if to shake the slime off of himself and wanting to forget the whole experience. "Glad that's over with." He let out a sigh, as his eyes told Ziva a lot more about how much he loved her and wanted to be with her every moment.

Ziva reached up and planted a full-on kiss on Tony's lips. After a few moments, they came up for air, and Ziva said, "Right now, at this moment, I want nothing more than to spend time with you." She hugged Tony some more. She lowered her voice, and whispered in Tony's ear, "I love you."

Tony's eyes went wide as he hugged her, then a slow smile formed on his lips, a peaceful kind of calm joy building up in his heart. He swallowed, then whispered into her ear, "I love you too, Ziva."

Ziva stepped back slightly and looked up at Tony, stroking his cheek. "I have always loved you ever since I was a child. To hear you say that you love me, blows my mind away. Shows me that your heart is true."

Tony smiled. "Not made to say those words. You're right. True love does exist. Just in the most unexpected places."

Ziva laughed. "You can say that again. No one knows about this, right?"

"Right, only McGee has an inkling of that we are more than friends. We'll just leave it at that for now." Tony smiled at Ziva.

Ziva smiled back at Tony. "Sounds good." She pulled Tony close to her and hugged him, putting her head on his shoulder, and smiling.

Tony smiled and hugged Ziva as he kissed the top of her head. "We're always there for each other. For better or worse, right?"

Ziva nodded her head on his shoulder. "Mm. You're my rock, did I ever tell you that?"

"Oh, yes, you rock my world daily," Tony said, chuckling, hugging Ziva close to him. He leaned down and lifted Ziva's face up with one finger and kissed her on her lips, full-on.

A/N: Dear Readers, Wanted to say thank you for enjoying this, more to come. Also in the advance, Thank you for the Reviews, Tweets, Messages and Kudos.