Chapter 15

Musical Interlude

~~Post episode of Stakeout, Sometime in 2008~~

Tony, Ziva, and McGee strolled down a street some distance away from the Navy Yard, enjoying the cool evening. Suddenly, Tony spotted the light of a bar down the street. "Looks quiet. Wanna head on in, wet our whistles after a long day?" Tony pointed towards the bar.

McGee turned his head toward the bar. "I could probably use a bit of de-stress time, I guess," McGee said, shrugging his shoulders. "What about you, Ziva?"

Ziva let out a chuckle. "After a long week of being stuck on boring stakeout duty?" She shrugged and scoffed slightly. "I don't see why not." She walked up in front of the two men toward the bar.

Tony smiled as he caught up with Ziva. "That went better than expected," he said as he glanced over to McGee. "At least you're taking a bit of time every so often to get out instead of being cooped up with all your books and your writing." Tony wagged his eyebrows a couple of times, then looked through the window of the bar that they had just arrived to. "Looks pretty quiet inside."

"Let's go on in, then. Looks like a good place to chill," McGee said as he peered through the window with Tony. He stood up and nodded toward the door and then made his way toward it.

"Oh yeah, I am coming" Ziva nodded once and followed after McGee. When she stepped through the door, she heard the quiet clacking of pool balls near the back of the bar, the occasional clink of bottles against glass, chairs shuffling on the floor every so often. She scanned the interior of the bar and saw only two or three patrons seated inside. One at the bar, and the other two at their own tables each, she noted as she made her way deeper into the bar.

Tony followed behind Ziva, stealthily patting her bottom in a flirty way. "Certainly looks better here than in that bar we were in earlier, right, my little babe?" Tony whispered into Ziva's ear.

Ziva jumped slightly and looked back at Tony, her eyebrow raising and a smile forming on her lips. "Behave now, Tony." She flicked a finger once in his face in front of his nose, then winked at him. She turned back and looked around and sniffed at the air. "Smells cleaner, too."

"Here, let's sit here." Tony stopped at a booth near the bar.

Moments after Tony, Ziva and McGee took their seats, a waitress appeared in front of them. "What'll you have?" As they placed their orders, her pencil flew over the pad she had. "Got it. Be back in a flash with your order," the waitress said as she flashed a smile at the trio, then turned on her heel and walked away.

McGee looked at the waitress' retreating figure for a few moments, then turned back and looked at Tony and Ziva and flicked his eyebrows up, a perfunctory smile flashing on his lips. He placed his hands on the table and said, "Well, I'm looking forward to some good food."

Tony guffawed at McGee. He said, "No, more like you're enjoying the view in here, right?" Tony elbowed McGee and winked at him, a smile on his lips. "Couldn't help but notice you eyeing that waitress over, huh?"

McGee laughed at Tony. "No, well. The view didn't hurt. But I am hungry. Haven't had anything decent to eat while on the stakeout, because someone thought it was a bright idea to take my burrito."

Tony scoffed at McGee. "Well, I preferred my eggs scrambled, not over easy, or shaken. Maybe you'll remember next time, right?"

Ziva put a hand on Tony's and McGee's arms. "Whoa, now, you two. It's over. Let's enjoy our night," she said in a cautioning voice. "Yes, I know it was boring on the job and we got at each other. But now, I'd like to spend some time enjoying the night, okay?"

Tony smiled and reached around Ziva's arm. "And what about making me look like a raccoon? You'd thought that'd look cute on me, huh?" He pulled Ziva closer to him and tapped her nose with his other finger.

Ziva shrugged and chuckled at him. "What can you say? The boredom was getting to me. Besides, it did look funny."

"And boss never told me, either." Tony harrumphed as he sat back in his chair.

"Had to come up with something to pass the time. Couldn't exactly go with notes on the job so I had to come up with another way of having fun." Ziva tilted her head toward Tony and smiled at him.

"Well, that makes better sense. Maybe I'll get you a pet raccoon," Tony needled at Ziva, his eyebrows wagging at Ziva, a smile on his lips.

"No raccoons, please!" Ziva held up her hands, looking away from Tony, but smiling. "You better not!"

McGee chuckled at the conversation. He added, "Why not? They make great pets."

Ziva looked sharply at McGee. "Are you insane? They tear everything apart. I can think of several places where you can put the raccoon, but my apartment is not one of them." She flicked a finger in the air once, then cocked her head at McGee.

Tony looked at Ziva, "Well you made me look like a raccoon. So, I get to tear everything apart in your apartment?" Tony looked at Ziva with a smile on his face, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

Ziva let out a slightly exasperated scoff. "That was different, Tony. And you're not a raccoon. You were a bandit, actually. You know, the bandit mask." She made circles around her eyes and mimed sneaking and stealing. "You did steal my heart, after all," she said in a much softer voice.

Just then, the waitress came to the table with their meals. She set the plates out in front of the trio along with their drinks, and over their meal, they continued to have a laughter-filled conversation.

After they had polished off their dinner, Tony sat back, satisfied. He turned and looked over at the pool tables toward the back of the bar. He raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that he'd try his luck at pool. He pointed toward the pool tables. "I'd like to see how good the McGeek over here with pool. Wanna play some pool over there?"

McGee looked over his shoulder at the pool tables, then back at Tony. "I don't see why not. I'll play a couple games, maybe," McGee said as he nodded at Tony, then got up from his chair.

"There's a table available," Ziva pointed her finger toward the nearby empty pool table.

"How convenient," Tony said, a smile on his lips. He walked over to the rack of pool cues and picked one out and sighted down it, checking it for straightness. Satisfied with his choice, he walked over to the table and started setting up the table. "Standard eight-ball rules, right?" he said.

McGee picked out a pool cue for himself and nodded. "It's what I know best. I know a little snooker also, but it's not my thing."

Tony looked at McGee across the pool table and chuckled. "Snooker? Pool game for the fancy people?"

Ziva chuckled as she stood watching the two men walk around the table, looking at their potential angles of play. "No idea," she said, smiling at Tony.

McGee chuckled. "Just a different form of pool. No, eight and nine-ball are the two I know the best, that's all. Don't get too much chance to play it, though."

A few moments later, after McGee and Tony had settled into a sort of routine playing at the pool table, the two alternating between each other taking shots, Ziva watched them play. Her attention drifted over to the empty stage and the karaoke machine. She walked closer to it, and noticed the TV on the karaoke machine, the words scrolling along the bottom as the music played quietly on the machine. Fascinated, she watched the words scroll across and listened to the music.

"Ever done karaoke?" Ziva's eyes snapped to the waitress who had appeared nearby without her noticing. "It's pretty fun," she said.

Ziva smiled and shook her head. "I don't even know what that word is. What's the words for?"

The waitress picked up the mic and turned it on, turning the music up a little more, then as the next verse came on, she sang along to the words, a bit off-key, to demonstrate. "See? Nothing to it." She handed the mic to Ziva, then said, "You try, then."

Ziva winced slightly at how off-key the waitress was, then as she took the mic from the waitress, smiled, and said, "I'll try." She stepped up and watched the words scroll across, listening to the music, picking out the rhythm. Once she had timed herself, she started singing along with the words on the screen.

As she ended the song, Ziva looked up and noticed that Tony and McGee were standing in front of the stage. "Whoo! Good job, Ziva!" Tony called out to her.

"Yeah, that sounded awesome!" McGee followed immediately after.

Ziva blushed slightly, noticing that they had been enthralled by how beautiful her voice was when she was singing along to the music on the karaoke system. As the music started up again, she started singing the song. She recognized the song, and so the words came easily to her lips, as she continued looking at Tony, as if she was singing only for him. After the song had ended, she smiled and put the mic down and walked over to Tony and McGee, still looking at Tony.

Tony smiled and took Ziva's hand. He said, "I didn't know how beautiful your voice sounded when you sang until now. Certainly better than hers." He nodded his head vaguely toward the waitress who was busy cleaning the bar top.

Ziva chuckled. "I've always wanted to sing, Whenever I get the chance, I sing." She shrugged her shoulders. "It helps calm me sometimes."

"That's right," Tony said. "You haven't sung in a while, have you?"

Ziva shook her head. "Not in years. I sometimes miss singing like my Ima." She let out a sigh, then smiled. "So, whenever I get the chance, I do not let it slip from my fingers."

McGee smiled at Ziva. "Wow, you did great. That blew me away with how well you sang those songs."

Tony smiled at Ziva. "Well, Ziva, now that you're here, no one will stop you from your singing. Not like your father does." An eyebrow raised on Tony's forehead, and his eyes told Ziva that he meant it, that he would fully back her up with her singing aspirations.

Ziva smiled at Tony. "That's a small part of why I want to stay here, in the United States. But only time will tell," she said, lowering her voice with the last part.

McGee smiled at Ziva and said, "Well, don't let anything stand in the way of your singing. Just like I try not to let anything stand in the way of my writing." Suddenly, as if he realized he something, he looked down at his watch. He looked back up at both of them and he said, "Well, I need to be up early tomorrow morning. Gotta be at my publisher to talk some details about my new book."

Tony looked at McGee and scoffed. "Seriously? The night's still young, and you've gotta bail? Obviously this is not your idea of 'fun', is it, McTypewriter?"

McGee chuckled. "My nightly ritual is typing out a few pages on my trusty antique typewriter, so, yes, this is my form of relaxation." McGee shrugged. "Not that I didn't have fun with you two. It was good to spend some time with you out here."

"Oh, I get it. Instead of enjoying the view in here, you'd rather be going about your nightly ritual of banging out your story on the typewriter." Tony ribbed McGee as he mimicked typing and ripping the paper out of the typewriter and putting a new one in.

Ziva stepped up to McGee, a smile on her lips. "It's no worry. Thank you for spending some time with us here and having a bit of fun. We enjoyed spending some time with you." She patted him on his shoulder.

McGee looked at Tony, noticing how Ziva sidled up with Tony and leaned on his shoulder. A smirk formed on his lips as he flicked his eyebrows up once. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he said, then stopped himself. He shook his head and screwed his face up and shrugged, waving it off. "Never mind, you two do whatever you want. You're adults." McGee chuckled at the two, then turned around and left.

Tony chuckled at McGee's retreating figure. "We've got to find that guy a woman, I'm telling you, Ziva."

Ziva laughed at Tony and leaned on his shoulder. "Now, it's just us, right?" She looked up into Tony's eyes. "Let's enjoy a few minutes together, shall we?"

Tony smiled and turned to face her, and took her hands. "Would you like to dance with me?" He let go of one hand and held his hand out toward the stage. "Music's still going, you know? They haven't stopped the machine."

Ziva smiled and said, "Maybe my dancing will be as good as my music. Care to find out?"

Tony chuckled and led Ziva up onto the stage and started dancing with her to the music. "This is good," he said after a few moments. "A little Italian piece. I recognize this one." He pointed toward the karaoke machine.

"Can you sing it?" Ziva asked Tony.

Tony chuckled. "I'm not that great -"

Ziva shoved him toward the karaoke machine. "Try! Doesn't hurt to try, right?" Her eyes twinkled at him as she smiled and stepped back and waved her hand at Tony, encouraging him to pick the mic up and start singing.

"Okay, let's see if I remember the words," Tony said as he stepped up to the karaoke machine and took the mic from the stand. Clearing his throat slightly, he started singing in a baritone voice. After a couple of lines, his ears picked up a feminine voice lending a beautiful counterpoint to his singing. He looked over at Ziva, who was singing with him. The duo harmonized with each other until the song was finished, their eyes never leaving each others'.

Scattered applause reached their ears as the song ended. They looked up and saw that the patrons and bar staff was applauding them. "That was good, wasn't it?" Tony asked Ziva.

Ziva smiled and nodded as she said, "Wonderful. I always thought that it was better this way."

Tony nodded and replied, "I agree. Should we try with a little Bolero at your place, maybe?"

Ziva's eyebrow raised in a question mark. "Bolero? Who's that?"

Tony chuckled. "You don't know Bolero? Only the most-played romance music around the world, ever. I'm surprised you haven't heard it by now."

Ziva smiled at Tony. "I'll have to give it a listen."

"Oh, trust me, it's better with two than alone." Tony put an arm around Ziva's shoulders. "What do you say we get out of here and spend some more time somewhere quieter? Like your apartment, maybe."

Ziva laughed. "Somehow I knew you'd say that. I had actually thought about the night alone, but spending time with you sounds better." She looked into Tony's eyes and could see his desire to be with Ziva, and the happiness that was there every time she was in his presence. "Let's get out of here," she said, nodding her head toward the door. She took a couple of steps, then turned and waited for Tony.

"Right on. Let's go," Tony said, his voice barely above a whisper. He took Ziva's hand and walked with her toward the entrance-way, then held the door open as Ziva walked out. Letting the door close behind him, he fell into step beside Ziva as they walked toward their cars. "See you there in a few?"

Ziva turned to Tony as she reached her car. "You're following me behind, right?"

"Yeah, I gotta get some gas on the way in, but yeah, I'm coming." Tony opened the door for Ziva to get into her car. "Here you go, my dear," he said as he held the door open for Ziva.

Ziva smiled as she got into her car and looked up at Tony. "I just realized I need gas also. Might as well go together and get some gas on the way to my place." She reached out and pulled her car door closed, then rolled the window down.

Tony chuckled. "That's convenient. Tell you what, when we get there, fill your car up first, then pull up. I'll pull up behind and fill mine up, and it'll all go on my card."

An eyebrow raised up on Ziva's forehead as she smiled. "Oh, that's sweet of you,' she said. "Let's do that."

Tony nodded and smiled. "Righty-o," he said as he turned to his car and got in and started the engine.

~~A/N:~~

Dear Readers: I was trying to take a risk of placing the story somewhat outside canon, but it appears that the story was a little close for comfort. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I take this as a learning experience, that helps me to see what works and what doesn't. My intent was always to springboard my story line off of the episodes, but not to directly mix canon and AU together.

Thank you for those awesome reviews, tweets, messages and kudos, like I say I will be doing my best with upcoming chapters, more seasons of post episodes to come, also keep in mind, there will be many full on Au in near future, thank you for enjoying the story.