Open Hearts

Take you away from that empty apartment you stay...

-Empty Apartment, Yellowcard

DiNozzo and McGee pulled up outside Ziva's apartment in the removal van and beeped the horn. Ziva looked out of the window and smiled at her boyfriend as he winked at her.

"They're here, let's start taking stuff down." Ziva pointed to the boxes closest to the door as Abby began to grab one and head down.

"Let's open the van up and wait until they bring the first boxes, then we'll all go up together." Tony suggested.

"Sure." McGee answered softly. "Are you nervous about Ziva living with you?" McGee had been wondering this ever since their relationship started to get serious. He knew DiNozzo wasn't a player anymore and that he was crazy about Ziva, but moving in together was a big commitment. DiNozzo looked as if he was thinking of all the scenarios that could happen, and took a while to answer.

"Yeah, I guess I am. It's definitely a step up in our relationship but it's what I wanted. We spend every night with each other now anyway, so it probably won't be much different." DiNozzo explained, sounding very mature for his usual personality.

"Wow." McGee knew Tony felt this way but it still came as a shock to hear it from him directly. "Well, I'm glad you're taking that step. It'll all be great!" McGee and Tony exchanged a 'bro hug' as they called it. Ziva and Abby were just walking out of the building when they looked over to the van and saw them hugging.

"Awwww!" Abby let out. "They're so cute!" Abby nearly dropped the box from jumping up and down in happiness.

"Brotherly love." Ziva commented as they walked over to the van.

"Do you two need a moment to compose your feelings for each other?" Ziva teased.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tony answered as he grabbed the boxes and started loading the van.

"Right, let's get you moved out!" DiNozzo yelled and ran up the stairs to Ziva's apartment. They all laughed at his playfulness. The following three hours consisted of back pain, frustration and silly arguments, but resulted in an empty apartment. Abby saw the saddened expression of Ziva's as she stared at the bare apartment.

"We'll go and wait outside." Abby decided collectively for the group so Ziva could be left alone for a few moments.

"I'll be down in a bit." Ziva said, almost in a whisper. DiNozzo put a hand on her shoulder and gave an understanding smile, then headed downstairs. Ziva sat down on the wooden floor thinking about all the things that had happened while she'd lived here; her first kiss with DiNozzo, many nights spent crying herself to sleep, arguing with her dad on the phone, drinking wine with Abby. This apartment covered all the emotions. She sighed and headed for the door, looking back briefly and continuing outside.

Tony left McGee and Abby at the van and walked over to Ziva.

"Hey." He held her chin up. "You alright?" He embraced her tightly. She loved his hugs. She felt so protected and happy when she was in his arms.

"Just looking back at the apartment brought back a lot." She started sniffling as if she was about to cry.

"You absolutely amaze me with how well you cope with things. I'll never stop trying to make you happy, so you won't need to worry about bad memories at my apartment." He kissed the top of her head and felt her squeeze him tighter. She tried ignore all of the bad thoughts and just focus on life she lived now.

"We had our first kiss in that apartment." Ziva reminded him with a smile on her face that he felt against his chest.

"Oh, you're right, we did! Then I passed out." He chuckled thinking back to it.

"It was still a great kiss." She pulled her head back to look at him.

"Oh yeah, it was totally worth the passing out." They stared at each other for a few seconds, both thinking back to the time since they'd first met. DiNozzo leaned down and slowly kissed Ziva with as much love as he could.

"Do they ever stop being cute?" Abby asked McGee as she grinned. He wrapped his arm around her waist.

"They're definitely good together." McGee kissed Abby on the cheek, and Ziva and Tony walked over.

"Abby and I shall drive in my Mini and meet you two there with the van, sound ok?" Ziva walked round to the drivers seat.

"Yep. See you soon." They all waved to each other and drove back to Tony's place.

"That's the last box." DiNozzo announced as he placed it on the floor. They'd created a system; McGee and Tony brought in the boxes while Ziva and Abby unpacked them. It had sped up the process by a few hours. Ziva didn't actually own that much. Like she said, her home wasn't very home-like because she didn't spend much time there which meant there wasn't much need to buy things for it.

"Pretty much everything's put away." Abby declared.

"Thank you so much for helping me move. I appreciate it so much." They all had a group hug. "We'll go out next weekend, and drinks are on me."

"I'm not arguing with that." Abby winked as she headed for the door. "You know where we are if you need us." She patted McGee's chest.

"Thank you. Same to you as well." McGee and Abby headed out.

"So..." She looked at DiNozzo with a smile. "We're living together!" Her smile turned to a grin. Although she'd been opposed to it at first, she'd got excited after they'd talked things out.

"It seems that way." He walked over and kissed her. "It's going to be great being able to do that whenever I want." He smiled at her.

"You could before, we were always with each other." She laughed at his pointless comment.

"Yeah, but it's different." He couldn't help but smile.

"How so?" She teased him.

"It just is! Just accept it or we'll be having problems on a first night of living together!" He plagued her.

"Will we now?" She raised her eyebrow at him as she played with his shirt collar.

It was 10:30, Ziva and Tony were in bed after the tiring day they'd had.

"See, real isn't as scary as you thought." Tony pointed out as he trailed his fingers up and down her arm.

"What?" Ziva didn't understand what he was on about.

"You didn't want to move in because it made things real, but it's not so bad is it?"

"Oh, I see. No, it's not, you're right." She looked up from his shoulder and smiled.

"Do you think Gibbs will be in a bad mood tomorrow?" DiNozzo questioned.

"When is Gibbs not in a bad mood?"

"Well, that's a good point but he just seemed a lot worse last week." Tony thought back to how Gibbs had been at work. He made a mental note to possibly take a visit to Gibbs' basement at some point in the week.

"I suppose we'll see." Ziva's voice sounded sleepy as her eyes started to close.

"Night, Ziva. I'm so glad you agreed to move in with me." He kissed her neck as he spooned her.

"I'm glad you persuaded me. Goodnight." They both drifted off to sleep within minutes.

I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. Please leave a review; let me know what you think or talk about NCIS! Anything at all! I answer everything!

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