Chapter 3, The NCIS Years: 2005 - 2016
A/N This chapter is not in chronological order. It is just hitting some of the "highlights" of the thirteen years that pertain to the story line.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about Ziva David to Tony was that she both annoyed and intrigued him. Her driving scared him; more than once, he arrived at a crime scene and retched in the perimeter after Ziva drove. What intrigued him was the way they clicked. They got to where they could complete each other's sentences when discussing a crime. They developed a non-verbal communication with their eyes and body language that was uniquely their own. He often teased her that her eyes never shut up and that he could read them whenever he wanted.
Ziva, from her viewpoint, was also annoyed and intrigued by Tony DiNozzo. He could act like an idiot at times, using humor or even childish pranks to deflect or diffuse. At first, she would smirk when Gibbs administered a head slap to Tony, but in later years, she felt sorry for him. They could argue about the stupidest things, as Gibbs said, just like an old married couple. Neither held a grudge, and often they ended up laughing it off after work over a movie and popcorn at one of their apartments. But, no matter what else was going on between them, as soon as they were working, it was all business and they became a precision instrument. As both said in later years, they were like one mind in two bodies when working as a team.
Both Tony and Ziva dated others; one serious relationship each. Tony worked undercover and fell head over heels for Jeanne Benoit, but it ended badly when she accused him of killing her father in revenge for lying to her about his identity. The whole Jeanne op had also resulted in a brief time when the team thought that Tony had been killed in an explosion of his car. Ziva's heart had skipped a few beats as they watched the explosion in real time. Working the scene had been one of the hardest crime scenes for the entire team. Ducky had been the one to discover that the victim was not Tony, because the lungs were not scarred, as Tony's were from the plague.
A new director split the team, with Ziva going back to Mossad, and Tony assigned as Agent Afloat on the USS Ronald Reagan. After time apart, both realized how much they missed the other.
Ziva had two proposals from Ray Cruz, CIA agent fallen from grace, that resulted in a confrontation between them. Ray was arrested for killing another agent and covering it up in an op gone downhill fast. Tony denied it, but he was jealous of Ray and was secretly glad that CIRay turned out to be a "bad guy."
An incident with another Mossad agent, a friend of Ziva and one she viewed as a potential boyfriend also ended badly. Tony killed Michael in self-defense and set off a series of events that resulted in Ziva staying in Israel and being sent on a suicide mission by her father. The NCIS MCRT believed her to be dead after the ship on which she had been traveling was reported missing. Tony made it his mission to avenge her death when he found out that she had been taken hostage by terrorists in Somalia. He, Tim and Gibbs went to Somalia, and found her alive. When Saleem removed the hood from his captive to show to a bound Tony, Tony's heart leaped to see Ziva across from him. Having been shot with sodium pentothal, when Ziva asked why he was there, he replied honestly and from the heart, "I couldn't live without you, I can't…" Ziva was bothered by nightmares afterwards, and Tony slowly and gently helped her by being a friend.
Ziva eventually forgave Tony for killing Michael and thanked him for having her six. They agreed to move forward as friends, and started trusting each other even more. Movie nights became more frequent and they rarely spent time apart unless work required it. Most nights, they were at her apartment. They would pick a movie and curl up together on the couch, Ziva resting her head on Tony's shoulder or lying back against him. More than once, they fell asleep that way, and were late to work the next morning. They would drive in to the Navy Yard parking lot together, but would enter the building separately. Both were still worried about how Gibbs would react if he knew how much time they were spending together outside of work. His infamous Rule 12, "never date a coworker," had them a bit nervous that he would somehow find out. But neither one thought of it as "dating."
At first, Ziva would ask Tony to stay, but soon the couple fell into a routine. They would snuggle together in her bed. When the nightmares hit Ziva, Tony would hold her and rub her back to calm her down. She would take comfort in his warm embrace. They would wake up either spooned with his arm protectively over her or with Tony on his back and Ziva's head on his chest, over his heart. To the casual observer, they were living together, although neither would admit it.
Peace was shattered by the assassination of Ziva's father. As a casualty of the shooting, Leon Vance's wife Jackie was also killed. Ziva, although estranged from her father, vowed revenge. Tony pledged his support, telling her that he wanted what she wanted. As she left to bury her father, he told her "At lo levad," as she spontaneously hugged him at the airport. You are not alone became her mantra to get through the events in the aftermath.
The love between them grew, but neither one would verbalize anything about it. Abby later called this time period their "dance around the feelings" time. They shared bits of their childhoods with each other, both good and bad memories. They learned to open up to each other and to share feelings, a difficult process for both. Together, they grew. Together, they shared. Together, they became closer than either had been to anyone ever.
A trip to Berlin to find the rogue Mossad agent responsible for Eli's death became more than work. An intense dance, looking deeply into each other's eyes, revealed the love each felt for the other. Tony had just worked up the courage to tell Ziva how he felt, and Ziva started to tell Tony how she felt, when the car in which they were riding was deliberately struck by another vehicle.
Things got ugly at NCIS with an investigation into Gibbs and his team for using "unorthodox" methods and resulted in Tony, Tim and Ziva turning in their badges. Ziva chose to take a trip to Israel and Tony, missing her terribly, set off to bring her home.
Two months off the grid for both of them, working out feelings and who they were (no longer NCIS agents) were both happy and stressful. They explored and reveled in the physical aspect of their relationship, with no "Rule 12" interfering. Ziva went through a crisis of identity, no longer wanting to be associated with her past and her life as a Mossad assassin.
Tony ruefully left Israel and Ziva to return to DC and give them both a chance to figure out what they wanted from life and what direction each needed to grow. Despite the huge hole in his heart, Tony continued at NCIS for another two and a half years, leaving abruptly when a major change in his life shattered his world as he knew it.