Chapter 17: What You Need to Say

Disclaimer: ...Sigh...I don't own it...it's not really fair, is it?

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long for me to update, I went on vacation then I had to finish my summer assignment. I'm just now getting back into my old routine.

Tony let go of Ziva, stood up and awkwardly backed away. She was setting in the same rigid position, eyes unblinking and out of focus.

What had he just said?

She looked at him and said, "What?"

"What, what?" he asked back, "I'm hungry, let's go find something to eat," he said hurriedly, backing towards the door. She followed him to the car and they drove in awkward silence, the radio was the only sound.

She said, "If we're gonna make this work

You gotta let me inside even though it hurts

Don't hide the broken parts that I need to see"

She said, "Like it or not it's the way it's gotta be

You gotta love yourself if you can ever love me"

He knew that he had acted wrongly on that issue earlier. He had confessed his MOAS to Ziva, then backed off. Who knew what she thought. She might think that Tony didn't really mean it. He might have lost everything that he wanted so badly. But she wasn't acting on it right now, and he was more than happy to give himself a little time to figure out what he was going to do next.

I'll do whatever it takes

To turn this around

I know what's at stake

I know that I've let you down

And if you give me a chance

And give me a break

I'll keep us together, I know you deserve much better

He knew that he wouldn't have much time to act on the moment, however, but he decided to see how dinner went. Maybe they could both forget that for a while and just enjoy some food.

But the minute he got the chance he would let Ziva know that he hadn't just blurted words out, that he really meant what he had said.

But remember the time I told you the way that I felt

That I'd be lost without you and never find myself

Let's hold on to each other above everything else

Start over, start over

He just needed time to think this through, he really didn't want to screw things up with Ziva. He was sure that this was the real thing, he was really in love with Ziva.

I'll do whatever it takes

To turn this around

I know what's at stake

I know I've let you down

And if you give me a chance

And believe that I can change

I'll keep us together whatever it takes

"Pizza?" he asked.

"Sounds fine," she replied distantly.

They pulled into Brick Oven Pizza Co., went in and sat down. Tony looked over the menu, the Bubba's Choice looked good. Every possible meat on one pie, it was most definitely not kosher...but then again, he wasn't even sure that she kept kosher, the night that he was doing surveillance on her they had shared some pepperoni pizza, pepperoni is usually not kosher.

His mind wandered back to the hotel room and what he had said, he couldn't believe that he had said that. Why had he said it then? Why!?

Before he had time to come up with an answer, a tall, thin waiter with a shaggy mop of black hair and an unshaven face came up to the table.

"Hey, what's up? I'm Elvis Carmichael, I'm gonna be your waiter. Want any appetizers? No? How 'bout drinks?"

They ordered their drinks, then Tony said, "Hey...Elvis...what's good?"

"Oh, uh, I'm new, let me get an expert opinion. Levi! Levi Fisher! Get over here!"

A second, shorter boy with a well-groomed Monkees-mop of brown hair joined Elvis.

"What is it Elvis?" Levi asked, exasperatedly.

"They wanna know what's good," Elvis said.

"I like the Favorite, it's got spinach and artichokes and feta cheese and turkey and tomatoes..."Levi rambled.

"You got anything kosher? She's Jewish," Tony cut in.

"Oh, that's cool. Harvey's Jewish," Elvis said as a dark-complected boy with a large nose, short dark hair and thick black-rimmed glasses walked by.

The boy stopped and shouted, "I am not Jewish you asshole!", then walked over to meet some other boys at a table in the corner.

Alarmed by Harvey's outburst, the table of boys looked up, then a larger boy came running shouting, "Tony!"

Two other boys followed and they all piled on Tony in a group hug. Only then did Tony realize that they were Noah, Ryan and Matt.

"Hey, guys," Tony choked out.

"We missed you, man!" Ryan shouted, rubbing his bearded chin on Tony's shoulder.

Tony looked at Ziva, silently pleading for help. She was too busy trying to stifle her laughter.

"Guys, would you mind getting off of me?" Tony pleaded.

Matt and Ryan just grabbed Tony tighter, Noah stood up and looked around the room.

"Hey, guys, look! It's Jenkins!" Noah pointed at a large boy about the age of the others with a swoop haircut.

"What?! Where?!" Matt shouted, relinquishing his hold on Tony.

Ryan let go of Tony then ran, in a very comical and over dramatic fashion, toward the other boy shouting, "Dewey! Dewey Jenkins! I love you!"

"So...where were we?" Elvis asked, "Oh, yeah! You were ordering! Hey, I'll let you look over your choices a bit longer while I go get your drinks." Elvis then left Ziva and Tony pondering over their menus.

Just after Elvis had brought their drinks, a large group of teenage boys walked into the restaurant. Upon seeing Tony and Ziva, a boy nudged another boy in the ribs and whispered something to him, this one did the same to another and they continued until the whole group was looking at Tony and Ziva and whispering, then a Latino boy joined the group and listened to the whispers and looked up at Tony and Ziva and shouted, "Hey! It's that hot chick from class!"

Ziva's head dropped to the table, this was not how she had hoped dinner would go.

The boy, Gabriel, walked over to the table, trying to look cool and suave. He leaned on the table and said, "Hey, baby, you still wit' this dork?"

The other five boys had flocked around the table and were looking between Gabriel and Ziva and snickering.

Tony cleared his throat and stared daggers at Gabriel and said, "Yes, she is. Now if you and your friends don't have any more questions-"

A boy with short blond hair and braces asked, "Are y'all secret agents?"

A boy with overbite asked, "Have you ever killed anyone?"

A boy with short dark hair and glasses said, "Do you hate Canadians?"

A boy with a blond military haircut asked, "Do you wanna hear my bird calls?"

A boy with long curly bond hair said, "Have you ever had sex with her?"

"Who are you kids anyway?" Ziva asked, looking at them.

Secret agent kid, "Les Altom."

Overbite, "Colin Nelson."

Canook, "Sean Stimpson."

Bird-boy, "Sebastian Reed."

Pervert, "Errol Abercrombie."

Tony shook his head as if he had missed the past few minutes of the conversation and looked among the boys, "So if I answer your questions, you'll leave us alone?"

The boys all nodded in agreement.

"Okay," Tony began, "Les, no, we're government agents. NCIS, Google it. Colin, yes, we have both killed people. I'd be scared to ask how many she's killed. Sean, I don't base my hate on nationality, but you aren't helping the Canadian people any by ruining my date. Sebastian, no, I would not like to hear your bird calls. Ask David Letterman. And finally, Errol, you are sick and wrong...but, no. Thank you, now please leave so that one day I may have a different answer to Errol's question."

Ziva shot a pointed glare at Tony as the boys leftwhooping and catcalling.

"Thank God that's over with, huh?" Tony smiled at Ziva, "We still haven't even ordered!"

Elvis returned and took their order, they went ahead and had the Favorite. Ziva thanked Tony for being considerate of her religion, but said that she didn't usually keep kosher anyways.

The rest of their meal passed uneventfully and when they left the room shouted out.

Noah, Ryan and Matt shouted out mock-mournful goodbyes and the group of questioning boys shouted out phrases like, "Go get 'em, tiger!" and the like. All in all, the food was great, but they couldn't have been happier to leave.

Tony opened the door for Ziva, but before she got in, they stood on opposite sides of the door. He leaned up against the top of the car door and smiled, "For the record, this was not the way I planned on dinner going."

"It's fine, Tony, it was really nice of you."

"What was nice of me?"

"You stood up for me again. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you were a gentleman," she laughed.

He laughed a little, too, then leaned over the door and kissed her on the cheek.

When he stepped away, they were both smiling.

They got into the car and began the drive back across town to their hotel.

I know there's a place you walked

Where love falls from the trees

My heart is like a broken cup

I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole

Yet still receive your kiss

How can I measure up to anyone now

After such a love as this?

"There is only one thing tonight that I wonder about," Ziva pondered.

"And that is?"

"When that boy, Errol, asked you that...and you answered-"

"Ziva, Ziva, Ziva, I gave him an answer that would make him go away. I'm not really that shallow."

"So...you wouldn't like to-"

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant at all! I'd love to! But, you know, I thing that if we want to have a relationship, we should take it slow."

"You want to have a relationship?" she said slowly, looking at him.

"You don't?" he asked, worried.

"No, I mean, yes, I mean...I want to have a relationship with you," Ziva smiled, figuring out what she meant to say.

"You don't mind taking it slow?"

"I'd love to take it slow."

When they got back to their hotel, they sat in the car together for a moment, listening to the radio.

Have no fear for giving in

Have no fear for giving over

You better know that in the end

It's better to say too much

Than never to say what you need to say again

She remembered what he had said earlier and how she had reacted. She was afraid that her actions might have made him think that she didn't feel the same. She knew that now would be the best time to say what she needed to.

Even if your hands are shaking

And your faith is broken

Even as the eyes are closing

Do it with a heart wide open

Her hand started shaking and he reached across the console and took one in his hand. She was so afraid of what she was about to do.

What if he hadn't meant it?

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

"Ziva?" Tony asked, looking at her strangely.

She turned to face him, and shakily said, "Tony."

He squeezed her hand and replied, "Yes?"

"I...I...wow, this sounds so milky-"

"Cheesy, Ziva, cheesy."

"Whatever, it sounds so dumb."

"It can't be that bad, Ziva."
"It's not what I have to say that's bad, it's the timing."

"Spit it out, David," he laughed.

She smiled back at him, suddenly it was so much easier to say, "I love you, Tony."

"You do? F'real?" he was in shock.

"Yeah, I do," she smiled big.

"I love you, too, Ziva," he laughed.

They leaned over and shared a kiss over the console, it felt so good for them both to have that off their chests.

Tony ran out of the car and over to open Ziva's door, once she was out of the car, he scooped her up into a tight hug. They held each other for a moment, then they kissed again, then they held each other again.

She rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his on her head.

"I love you, Tony," she laughed.

"I love you, Ziva."

Say what you need to say

A.N.: Well, there you go. It's sappy, but it starts out funny, right?

Did I do good on this chapter? I was a little afraid about introducing so many new people, but I wanted to give the image that the restaurant was full of teenagers and they were being rowdy.

The songs were:

1,2,3 & 4: Whatever It Takes by Lifehouse

5: Who Are You by The Who

6,7 & 8: Say by John Mayer

I would like to say that, yes, Brick Oven Pizza Co. is a real restaurant in Searcy. In fact, it's one of my favorite places to eat. (They'll visit another of my favorites later in the story...after the next big shocker) The Bubba's Choice and The Favorite are both types of pizza that they serve, my favorite is The Favorite.

So, what do you think? They're finally together! Yay! They even kissed! Aww...I really liked this chapter, especially how I got to include so many of my friends.

Speaking of whom, I'd like to give props to my friends that inspired these characters.

Elvis Carmichael – Evan

Levi Fisher – Jordon

Harvey – Kaleb (who they really call Jewish, even though he isn't, he's gone along with it a few times and really confused some substitute teachers)

Dewey Jenkins – Matt C. (I love this name, Dewey Jenkins)

Gabriel Luis – Adrian (aka Rico, the Costa Rica Kid)

Les Altom – Chad (aka Drunk)

Colin Nelson – Eric ( aka Money-Guy)

Sean Stimpson – Sean (aka Canook, Moose, Canadian, Canada, Crackhead)

Sebastian Reed – Matt R. (aka Marvelous Matthew, Pigeon-Boy, Druggo)

Errol Abercrombie – Terence (Who actually would ask something like that)

Oh, and I'd like to thank everybody who thought of my friend, Shelby, she's doing much better. She's back at school and everything, the only downside is that she's in a wheelchair, but she's got plenty of friends to push her all over school. Yay for Shelby! Stomp, stomp!

Hey, Evan, Jordon, Kaleb, Matt C., Adrian, Chad, Eric, Sean, Matt R. and Terrorence all want you to review this chapter because they were in it...and so do Blake, Jon and Anthony (the inspiration for Matt, Ryan and Noah), but they've been in the story before.

Tony and Ziva want you to review this chapter to because they are in love! Yay!