Chapter 21

Jealousy

~~Around the time of the episode, Jack Knife. 2010~~

At an Italian restaurant some distance away from the Navy Yard, Tony, Ziva and McGee was sitting at the booth, with some sweet rolls, salads, and drinks on the table, having just arrived there from work. A waitress stepped up to the booth and gave everyone a once-over. She smiled at them and asked, "Ready for your order?"

Tony looked up at the waitress and smiled. "Uh, yeah, I'm thinking that I'd like to try your lasagna." He had a fond appreciation for all things Italian, but the lasagna was his favorite meal above all. He then looked across the table at Ziva and asked, "Ziva, what are you in the mood for?" A smile flashed across his face as he looked at Ziva.

Ziva looked up from the menu and put it on the table, smiling. "I think I'm going to have the chicken Alfredo." Ziva tilted her head at the waitress with a smile.

"Perfect choice, that's one of my favorites," the waitress said as she flashed a smile to Ziva.

"Hey, McGee, what are you having over there?" Tony muttered to McGee. "A single fry? C'mon, I know you, get something a little more substantial before you blow away in the wind there."

McGee chuckled at Tony. "Well, I'll do you better. I'm gonna go with some spaghetti and meatballs." McGee looked up at the waitress and smiled.

"Oh yeah, too bad you don't have a lady elf to be the tramp with, Elf-Lord," Tony guffawed at McGee as he ribbed him.

Ziva and McGee chuckled at Tony's sometimes slightly weird sense of humor. Ziva shook her head shortly as she looked at Tony. "Well, we can always hook McGee up with someone from the secretary pool, or something, so we can do the double date then he plays out his own version of the Lady and the Tramp."

Tony looked at Ziva, his eyebrows bouncing appreciatively at Ziva's suggestion. "Hm, there's an idea. This may work to our favor. I never thought of that." He slowly turned around to McGee, a smile slowly forming on his lips, and his eyebrows waggling up and down. "I think I have an idea who. Someone outside our department, of course." Tony shrugged and held his hands in the air for a moment before he put one of his arms around Ziva's chair back just enough to allow his hand to brush along Ziva's back.

"Ooh, not telling, are we?" Ziva looked coolly at Tony, smirking at him.

Tony grinned. "Nope. Gonna be a blind date, maybe. If they go along with it."

Ziva shook her head at Tony. "Trying to play the match maker, are we here?" A glint shone in her eye and a corner of her lips tugged in a very small smile.

"Yeah, well, maybe. One day at a time," McGee said as he smiled at Tony.

Just then, the waitress came with a tray with their meals. She set it halfway on the table and placed their respective orders in front of them. "Alright, there's your orders. Enjoy the meals, and please let me know if you need anything."

Ziva looked up with a smile. "Thank you. This looks wonderful." She pointed to her chicken Alfredo.

Tony looked at his lasagna, positively oozing with cheese and the meat falling out the sides smiling. He then looked back up at the waitress. "Wow, this looks divine. Thank you."

McGee rubbed his hands together, smiling, as his plate was set in front of him. "Now, that's what I call spaghetti and meatballs. Better than what you get off the store shelves."

Tony chuckled at McGee. "Well, that's why you need a lady to help you finish your meal. End up kissing over the spaghetti. Just like the Lady and the Tramp."

"I take it you've done this before?" McGee muttered to Tony, a slight bemused smirk on his lips.

Tony sat back in his chair and held out his hands in the air. "Maybe I did and maybe I didn't. Try me."

"Oh, Tony." Ziva chuckled at him, shaking her head at him. She knew that Tony was doing his best to wrack McGee's mind just a little, get him out of his shell.

"I'll enjoy it just fine with you around. No need for a lady friend right now. Unless that counts Ziva in as a 'lady friend.'" McGee smiled at Tony as he put air quotes around the phrase. He then looked at Tony's face and smiled as he picked up his fork, his eyebrows flicking upward once, causing Tony to chuckle.

Sometime after they had eaten most of their food, McGee's phone rang. "Great, right when I'm eating, too," he muttered to himself as he swallowed his food and dug through his pocket for his phone. He pulled it out and looked at the display, which showed Gibbs' name. "Boss called," he said, holding his phone up before he answered it. "Yeah, Boss?"

"What's he want?" Tony whispered, more for Ziva's benefit.

"Right, be there in a few." McGee let out a sigh and dropped his phone hand onto the table, holding onto the phone. He looked up at Tony and Ziva and said, "Gotta be his driver for a while. Wants to go home, I guess. I dunno."

"Right." Tony turned and held up a hand, flagging down a waitress. As the waitress came, he asked her, "Could you please get a to-go box for this gentleman here?" He pointed toward McGee's plate. "I guess work calls you at any hours if the situation demands it."

"Sure thing," the waitress said, then turned on her heels and walked away. She returned a moment later with a carry-out box. "Here you go," she said, handing the box to McGee.

McGee smiled at the waitress. "Thanks," he said as he took the box from her and started ladling what was left of his spaghetti and meatballs into the carry-out box.

~~Tony's apartment, Midnight calling~~

Tony tossed and turned on the sleeper couch, unable to fall asleep for some reason. He lay flat on his back, wide awake, staring at the ceiling, pondering about how things would possibly be when he decided that they would spend their lives together for the rest of their lives. Suddenly, he heard Ziva's voice floating toward his ears. Cocking his head toward her bedroom, he heard her tossing and turning in her bed, and muttering in her sleep. Quietly getting up from the couch, he quietly walked toward the bedroom and stopped just outside the doorway and looked in. He saw her slowly moving around in her bed, and heard her calling out to him.

Ziva tossed in her bed, still within the throes of her dream. "Come to me, Tony!" she said to Tony inside her dream. She had no idea she was actually sleep-talking. She moaned out briefly, then called out again, her eyes tightly closed, "Tony! Mmmm, Tony, come to me please."

Tony quietly walked into Ziva's bedroom and up to the side of her bed and looked down at her. He quietly said, "I'm here, Ziva, it's alright, I'm here." He reached out to turn the night light on as he slowly sat on the bed and stroked her arm and held her hand.

Ziva stirred awake at Tony's touch and his sitting down on the bed. She blinked at Tony a couple of time and smiled. "Oh, sorry about that, I must've been dreaming about us." Ziva shook her head and smiled slightly abashedly at Tony. She reached out and put a hand on Tony's chest. "I'm glad you're here with me, though."

Tony smiled at Ziva and held out a hand. "D'you want me join you in bed and hold you?"

Ziva smiled as she opened the covers with one hand and patted the bed with her other hand. "Mmm, come here and lay beside me," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Tony gently climbed in bed and snuggled up close to Ziva the best he could, considering the size of his bed. "There we go," he whispered to Ziva, smiling at her as he reached out to turn the night light off.

"Just hold me, Tony," Ziva whispered as she cuddled up in Tony's arm, adjusting herself to where she was laying more on top of Tony than on her side of the bed.

"Mm, even better," Tony muttered to Ziva. He bent his head down and kissed Ziva on her head, then put a finger under Ziva's chin and gently raised her face up to his. "Hey. You okay?"

Ziva smiled up at Tony. "I was dreaming of us, making love with each other, actually," she whispered to him, caressing her hands across his chest. "Starting something like this."

Tony looked down at her hands making little trails across his chest and smiled. "Sorry about my bed, but we can see how well it works out in this tiny bed."

Ziva chuckled softly, then leaned to kiss Tony full-on, then came back up, smiling at Tony. "This much works. What about the other?" She ground herself into Tony a bit.

Just then, Tony's phone rang. Tony let out an exasperated scoff. "Not now," he growled at the phone as he reached over and picked it up. He snapped the phone open and looked at the display, then grimaced. He held the phone up and said, "It's the Elf-Lord himself calling," then held the phone up to his head.

"Let me check my phone," Ziva whispered as she quietly got off of Tony and checked her phone on the nightstand.

Tony spoke in his phone. "McGee, what's going on?" He listened for a moment, then clenched his teeth and muttered a curse. "Does that guy even realize what time it is?"

"He doesn't care," McGee replied over the phone. "Got something big going on. I think he suspects you two are spending time together, or something," he blurted out.

"You let it slip, didn't you, Elf-Lord?" Tony sat up straighter in his bed.

"Maybe, when I blabbered on about waking you up in your individual beds, or something like that." McGee sighed. "Can you, uh, see about getting Ziva up, too?"

Tony looked down at Ziva, who was still caressing him, distracting him slightly. "Alright, I'll be there, and I'll, uhh, see what I can do about getting her up." He flipped his phone shut and looked down at Ziva and smiled. "He can wait a few minutes. Blame it on traffic," he said, winking at Ziva and smiling at her.

Ziva chuckled at Tony and ran her hand downwards. "Let's finish what we started, before we got interrupted," she said. She reached down and gave Tony a gentle playful squeeze, causing him to yelp in delight.

~~After closing out the case at NCIS, a couple of days later~~

At the bar, Tony, Ziva, McGee, and Damon sat at a round table enjoying some pizza and drinks as Damon waited out the minutes and hours until he had to fly out to Ohio.

"Well, glad that's over with," Damon sighed with relief as he took a sip of his drink. "Gotta tell you, though. The way she handled the situation back there, that was pro." He tilted his head toward Ziva. "Things would probably have gone very different if I found someone else to do the job with me."

"Yeah, well, you almost didn't have that backup in time. All because of a lousy tire. Something on the road, I guess." He backhanded McGee gently on his upper arm. "Good thing he was able to hang on as we went off the road, though." He turned to McGee and said, "Seriously, though, you have got to lay off that sugar and coffee. You had way too much then."

McGee scoffed. "You can blame that on Gibbs. I didn't know how Gibbs worked, until then." He stifled a yawn. "Still trying to catch up on my sleep. It's better now, though."

Damon laughed. "Yeah, well, like I said before, us Marines are trained to operate on very little sleep if necessary. The Marine never leaves you, regardless of whether you leave on medical terms or not."

Tony bristled slightly at Damon, but held his cool as he smiled at Damon. "Much as I don't trust you, I have to hand it to you with how you handled that truck out there. You had balls to stand your ground, I hear."

"Actually, well, I'd have to give Ziva the credit. She was out there in the middle of the road staring that guy down. I saw the look on the other driver's face as he jack-knifed his truck trying to stop it."

Tony shot a look at Ziva. "You did what?" He shook his head at Ziva, then looked back at Damon, his eyes boring into Damon's. He saw that he had been telling the truth the whole time. "She stood out there and – wow. Okay, that's nuts. How close did the truck get to you?" He turned back to look at Ziva.

Ziva tilted her head and shrugged slightly to Tony. "Not that close. I'd say about 15 meters away. I had a hunch he would have just enough room to stop."

Tony's eyebrows shot up his forehead, then slowly settled down as he coolly looked Ziva up and down. "Always the daredevil. You learn that over there?" He implied he was talking about her time with the Mossad.

Ziva smirked slightly at Tony. "Of course. You could always have the occasional irrational driver who would want to run a person over, then they would back down at the very last minute. It was fortunate that the truck knife-jacked itself."

Tony winced slightly at Ziva's mangling the phrase. "Jack-knifed, you mean. But yeah. As long as we did our jobs, I think that matters." He briefly glared at Damon and said, "Least this time around, you did something good for a change."

Ziva smiled and nodded at Damon. "Would be an interesting story for you to tell to whoever runs across your path," she said, while batting her eyes at him. "Impress the ladies that way."

Damon chuckled. "Thought I was doing a pretty good job of impressing you on that mission."

Tony bristled at Damon, jealousy suddenly on his face. But he kept it in check, and let out a sigh. "I'm just glad nothing bad happened in the end, especially considering our little predicament with the blown tire. And you with too much sugar and coffee and too little sleep, McJittery." He shot a look at McGee and shook his hands in front of him as if he was wired on caffeine and sugar.

McGee chuckled at Tony. "Blame that on Gibbs. The schedule he has is never the same, except for the wakeup time and sleep times."

Damon scoffed slightly. "Actually, that's my fault for showing up at Gibbs' house very late at night."

Tony glared briefly at Damon, then hmphed in his chair. "And I thought that we were done with you, you know. You still clean, right?"

Damon scoffed. "I've been clean. Doing my best to stay clean, try to be the best that I can. Never the same since they messed me up, though."

Tony nodded slightly haughtily and twirled his finger around his temple. "I don't really know how long the effects would be with that kind of stuff flowing through your veins, the way they've been dosing you with. And those roofies they put you in your drink? How would that affect you with your history, long term?"

"I don't know!" Damon shot back. He let out a sigh. "I have these dreams every so often. Of how blurred things were. Of my mind shattering in millions of pieces every time they dosed me!" Damon settled back into his chair and continued on. "Every day's a struggle for me. Most days are good, but there is the occasional bad day. On those bad days, I just try to sleep."

Tony looked back at Damon, arms folded in front of him, his chin in one hand. "Well, I did see you struggle a little back there. That what you're talking about, your, like, internal struggle to keep what's left of your mind from running away from you?"

Damon nodded. "I guess the best way for me to deal with it is do what I know, the Marine structure. You know, up at oh-four in the morning, exercises, then the daily routine of work. Better doing than thinking."

Ziva smiled and nodded. "Structure helps those with past trauma, regardless of type. Helps you find order in the daily chaos of life." Her eyes smiled at him as she looked at him.

"Yes, ma'am," Damon replied, smiling back slightly at Ziva. "Having the right group of people helps also. Been workin' on that front as well. Finding the right people to trust."

"That why you turned to Gibbs that night?" Tony asked across the table as he picked up his glass and took a sip and stared at Damon.

Damon shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, well. What do Marines do when they know they've screwed up somehow? They try to find fellow Marines for help."

McGee smiled as he followed the conversation. "Common trait among the different branches. Marines really show their bond, though." He twisted his index and middle fingers together. "Tight, like that."

"Who you gonna trust in that foxhole when things hit the fan? Your buddies next to you. We always try to take care of each other," Damon said as he took a sip of his drink and set it down on the table in front of him.

"That include participating in experiments that have the great potential to mess with your brain in ways you may not know or understand? You know how that ended up. Me, broken nose, her, black eye. McGee over there, with his shoulder messed up. How would we know that you're not gonna snap one day and take people out again?" Tony scoffed at Damon.

Damon stood up instantly from his chair and stared Tony down. "Every day, I tell myself I'm not in there, I'm not going in there. I try, I try to..." He took a deep breath and sighed. He shook his head once, then said, "I try to think what positive thing I can do and try to achieve that little mission. Treat it like a mission: always achieve positive every day. Make myself a better person each day, you know?"

"A little trouble adjusting to civvies' life, right? I hear it could take a while," Tony shot back.

"Boys, boys!" Ziva stepped in and put her hands on Tony and Damon's arms. "Enough with the testosterone in here! No need to have a big blow-out here, please!"

McGee jumped in as well. "Hey, Ziva's right. Damon's proven himself this time. Give 'im a chance. He's headed out to Ohio, anyway, right? His real test's out there, not here."

Tony glared at McGee, but only for a moment. He tilted his head at McGee and asked, "Give him a chance?"

McGee nodded and replied, "Yes, I think he deserves it this time. He's tried, and did pretty decent this time."

"Yeah, well, if that tire hadn't blown out -" Tony scoffed and sat back, shaking his head a couple of times. "Can't change the past, I guess."

Ziva nodded. "What's happened, happened. The whole mission was a success. We accomplished what we set out to do, right?"

"She's got a point there," McGee said. "Even if Damon showed up and was part of the mission, it still turned out okay."

Damon nodded. "Whole point of it. I wanted my name clean, as well. My personal mission as well."

Ziva smiled and nodded at Damon. "That's the spirit. You basically were working on two missions at once. One investigative, and one personal. You've succeeded in both. That's something you'll take with you, wherever you end up in Ohio."

While Tony smiled at Damon, he stealthily reached under the table and caressed Ziva's leg, sending her a message to knock it off with the flirting already. "Maybe you'll find the right person to spend the rest of your life with, settle down, have a family," he said to Damon.

Ziva reached under the table and squeezed Tony's hand, giving him acknowledgment that she had received the message. She looked alternately at Damon and Tony and said, "If you so choose. Entirely up to you how you travel the path that lay in front of you."

Damon cleared his throat and looked at his watch. "Speaking of, it's about time for me to head out to the airport. Flight leaves in a couple of hours." He pushed his chair back and stood up. "It's been nice working with you all. Hope to maybe see you in the future. Under better circumstances, of course."

Tony bristled again, but instead of retorting to Damon, he sat back and casually draped his arm around Ziva's chair back and looked at Damon. "Enjoy your flight out to Ohio. Hope things turn out well for you."

Damon saw the obvious message behind Tony's gesture, and nodded. "I'll do my best." He turned to Ziva and smiled. "You'd be a good Marine, you know that? The way you carry yourself."

Ziva smiled back at Damon. "IDF. Long story." Just then, she felt Tony gently squeeze her hand and her eyes flicked sideways to Tony, then back to Damon. "Well, you don't want to be late for your flight."

McGee stood up from the table. "I'll take 'im to the airport. Quicker than him having to find a cab out there."

Damon turned to McGee. "Really, you'd do that?"

"Hey, it's not a problem for me." McGee smiled at Damon. "I need to leave as well, anyway. Run some errands afterwards."

"Awesome, then I'll go with you," Damon said to McGee.

McGee smiled and took a couple of steps away from the table. "Let's go, then."

Damon and McGee both started walking away. McGee turned to look back at them and said, "See you later, I'll keep in touch with you later, maybe."

Tony nodded and smiled. "Alright. Don't get abducted by little green men, now, McGeek."

McGee chuckled as he walked away with Damon.

Ziva turned to Tony and put her hands on the table. "What was that all about back there with Damon? Why did you have to act like a jerk to him?"

Tony scoffed and held out his hands. "You know why. After what he did that time when he nearly took out the entire team? Especially giving you the black eye. No way I was gonna trust him any farther than I could throw a house," he said as he slumped back in his chair.

Ziva scoffed at Tony. "He was doing fine back there on the mission with the truck and catching the two hijackers. He's a changed man. I saw it in his eyes. He's trying his best."

"Oh, the truck. Tell me about why you decided to stand out there in the middle of the road and just stare the trucker down like that," Tony shot back at Ziva. "I'd really like to know why."

Ziva gulped at the sudden outburst from Tony. "Because I wanted to prove to Vance that I'm not damaged goods. That I can be as capable agent as you are. As everyone else on the team are."

"Wait, he said that?" Tony looked at her, taken aback by what he just heard. "He said you were damaged goods?"

Ziva sighed and shook her head slightly. "I had to choose between the Mossad and NCIS. After Somalia and what I learned of my father, I chose NCIS."

"Hm." Tony sat back, looking at Ziva. "So, how you were with Damon, that's just you doing your job, right?"

Ziva nodded briskly at Tony. "Yes. The important part was to keep him contained just enough not to blow the mission. He had to be calm enough to convince them to fall into our trap."

"Right, them. The bad guys. He did a good job acting, though. Thought he was a little macho around the edges, but I guess it kept them off guard just enough for us to take 'em down." Tony sat back, a bit more satisfied.

Ziva nodded. "Right. Whatever you thought of as 'flirting' wasn't really serious. I was just being nice to him. I could see in his eyes that he had been making the effort to improve."

Tony sighed, then encircled his arm around Ziva's shoulders. "Sorry if I was a bit of a jerk earlier. I shouldn't have been so hard on you and Damon back then. Him especially. I didn't see it in his eyes, because I was, well, I remembered who he was and how he was the last time we saw him, and I just wanted to protect you, is all."

"I know," Ziva said. "And I appreciate you being there for me. Just let me do my job the best I can, please."

Tony chuckled at Ziva. "I think I can do that." He reached out and rubbed her back gently.

Ziva smiled at Tony, feeling reassured at the warmth of Tony's touch on her back. She quickly scanned the surroundings of the bar, then leaned over and kissed Tony on his lips.

Tony's heart soared at Ziva kissing him. When they broke for air, Tony asked her, "What do you say we get outta here and head to the beach house?"

Ziva smiled at Tony, happy that his jealousy was no longer so obvious on his face. "That sounds wonderful. Just to get away from work for the time being."

"Right." Tony got up from his table, and held his hand out for Ziva. "Let's enjoy the fresh salt air of the beach and just think about a whole lot of nothing for, oh, forty-eight hours?"

Ziva smiled and took his hand as she got up from the table. She retrieved her purse with her other hand and stepped up to Tony and looped her arm around his. "Lead the way," she said, holding out her other hand in front of her.

Moments after they had gotten into the car, Tony turned to Ziva and holding her hand, he said "Now, off we go on our weekend getaway."

Ziva chuckled. "A mini-vacation of sorts. Gives us a chance to de-compress. Hopefully the weather holds when we're there."

As Tony pulled out into traffic, he waved the concern away. "Ah, who cares about the weather. Rain or shine, that's our getaway from the rat race. Away from the phones, away from the endless paperwork."

Ziva leaned onto Tony's shoulder as he drove and smiled. "Just enjoy the simple parts of life. No worries for the weekend. Just us in our arms."

"Mm," Tony smiled as he drove on to the beach house. "Got that right." He brought her hand that he'd been holding up to his lips and kissed it, before putting it back down on her leg and holding onto it.

A/N: Dear Readers, Wanted to say thank you for enjoying read this chapter, more to come soon. Also Thank you in advance for the reviews, tweets, messages, and kudos.