I didn't think I would get the response that I did, and I don't think I've ever seen so many people go trigger happy with the caps lock :P, its all good, any response is good. I hope that this chapter lives up to the same standard.
Just a reminder, this is a Tiva story, but they are not actually together... maybe, Yet... So don't hate me too much after reading this chapter. The first chapter was stating the problem and this chapter goes into the actual relationship between the three a bit more.
There is no real interaction between Tony and Ziva in this chapter, but there will be in future chapters. I have something planned now, so I have direction which will make it more easier to write.
Disclaimer: I Don't Own NCIS
In the morning, Ziva woke up and quickly got ready. She had missed her run because she over slept; it was the first full nights sleep that she had in just over a month. She was the first in after Gibbs. Who she could tell was there because of his belongings on his desk. She sat down and began working on the never disappearing pile of paperwork on her desk, although, she should be thankful – it wasn't as high as some of her co-workers paperwork. It wasn't long before everyone else began to arrive.
"Ziva, Ziva," Abby said as she came from the elevator. She stopped in front of her desk, "Ziva, Ziva," she said again.
"Yes, Abby?"
"I have tickets; I got them off a friend. I have two!" She exclaimed excitedly, "It includes dinner at a restaurant too," she added.
Ziva looked up at Abby with a smile. They didn't usually enjoy the same type of music, but Ziva did enjoy going out for a night every few months to a concert that might not be her favourite with Abby. Ziva's face fell a little, "What day is it?" She asked.
"Next month, uh, seventeenth," Abby said.
"What's the seventeenth of what?" Tony said walking in.
"Next month, I am going to a concert," Ziva stated.
"Oh, really. With Ray?" Tony asked, jealously heavy in his voice.
"No," Ziva said. He knew the situation; why did he keep asking? She didn't have to check with anyone if it was okay for her to go to a concert. With anyone. Abby looked between the two as they shared a moment. She had to be missing something, Ziva told her a lot of things but the relationship between her partner and herself had been moot lately. The conversation would begin and end in the same sentence.
"She's going with me!" Abby exclaimed. She saw Gibbs, "Got to go," she said hurriedly, walking out.
"Where's she goin' in a hurry?" Tony asked.
"To her lab. She has a high priority case for another team. She's not meant to be up here," Gibbs said, "Grab... Where's McGee?" He said looking around the squad room.
"Don't know," Tony said.
"'Don't know'?" Gibbs asked.
"But we'll try to find him," Tony added. This earned him the full on 'Gibbs glare'. Tony shied away from his boss before picking up his desk phone and adding, "No trying. Got it boss,"
"On the way. Grab your gear, dead marine," he said.
Ziva and Tony quickly grabbed their gear - Tony swapping his desk phone for his mobile - and went to the elevator ringing McGee on his home phone and his mobile phone.
"McGee," he greeted.
"Where are you McGee," Tony said.
"Home, I didn't sleep 'till later then usual," he told Tony. Gibbs snatched Tony's phone from him.
"Where the hell are you?" He yelled, "I don't care, get your ass to the crime scene," he said not giving McGee a chance to answer, before telling him the address and hanging up.
"Hate to be McGee," Tony murmured to Ziva.
At the crime scene; McGee was getting the third degree from Gibbs for being late. Tony and Ziva - having both been on the receiving end of that conversation with Gibbs at one time or another - half watched and listened while doing their jobs, glad that it wasn't them.
After a few minutes of this Tony turned to Ziva, "Are you coming over tonight?" He asked.
"I cannot, I already have plans," She stated, looking through the camera she held for dodgy photos before moving to take photos of angles she hadn't get yet.
"With CI-Ray," He stated bitterly.
"Yes. He came home last night, I told him I could not see him then because I was busy," She snapped in frustration at his persistence on the topic of Ray and in reaction to his tone.
"You weren't with me," he murmured. Ziva rolled her eyes. Honestly, what had she started?
"Believe it or not, Tony, I do have a life outside the two of you. I needed some time to myself," She said.
In that moment Gibbs walked over to them, "You two finished bickering?" he asked, but before they could answer, "Good, get back to work," he demanded.
For the rest of the time they didn't say anything to each other, but the tension that had been building between them for the past few weeks was thick in the air.
When Ducky walked in to examine the body, he sensed it but acted as if nothing was different. But when Palmer walked in he became awkward and began tripping over their feet and his words in the effort to avoid the two agents' bad book.
The crime scene consisted of one dead unidentified man who looked around his early to late thirties. He was killed by what looked like a gunshot to the chest.
McGee returned and was still getting Gibbs' deadly death glare for being late; he avoided looking at him at all costs - except when he had too.
"The person who called it in said that he didn't hear anything, but when he walked out he saw John Doe trying to breathe. He called the Ambulance which is why the body isn't where it fell," he said.
Gibbs listened to McGee but other than barking at him to talk to the paramedics he went back to ignoring him.
Tony drove on the way back. Ziva was sitting between him and McGee; they were trying their hardest not to touch each other. It was hard to do. Every time he moved the steering wheel his arm would touch hers then she'd move over more slightly, toward McGee. If she didn't he would have hem tempted to ditch her boyfriend that night and stay with her partner. But she needed to keep the part of her life which would help keep some of her sanity.
She had grown up knowing that cheating on someone was and is bad. Her father did it to her mother. Since coming to NCIS she wanted to become less like her father, but now she was committing one of the same sins as him.
She didn't realise that they had arrived until Tony tapped her on the shoulder.
As they began doing their background research into missing people against Ducky's time of death for the victim, Ziva's phone rang.
"David," she said into the phone.
"Hey, you at work?" She heard the familiar voice of Ray say on the other end of the line.
"Yes," she replied carefully, "Why?"
"Are you busy?" He said ignoring her question.
"If you are asking if we have a case; yes," she replied.
"What if I'm not?" He said a slight taunting tone in his voice.
Ziva laughed lightly. She stood from her desk and walked towards the other side of the stair case - which, in the time she had been at NCIS, had always been used for private conversations and personal phone calls. She was using it so she didn't feel Tony's presence as she talked to her committed boyfriend.
"I don't know. Why are you not asking if I have a case? I can't get time off if I do. I will not have a lunch break. I will be lucky to even knock off before ten," she aid in a low, playful voice. Her head was talking - saying what had to be and should be said - but her body was screaming at her: wrong, wrong, wrong.
"Maybe I should come into your work. Perhaps I could convince your boss to have a few hours off," he suggested.
"Hours?" She asked.
"That's not fair Ziva. You never know what will happen," He said, "Are we still on for tonight?"
"We should be," Ziva replied.
"Okay, I will see you then. Bye,"
"Goodbye," She replied. When she heard the dial tone she took a breath and brought the phone from her ear. She felt the guilt flood throughout her. She walked back to her desk avoiding looking at Tony.
"Who was that Zee-Vah?" He asked, "CI-Ray?"
"Yes, is that a problem Tony? Do I need to ask your opinion or for your permission before I talk to my boyfriend," She said. She could almost see the daggers he was throwing at her through his eyes. She diverted her eyes away from him.
"What do we have?" Gibbs demanded as he walked into view. They took it in turns telling him what they had found - which wasn't much because they still didn't have an ID on the guy.
Since they had got no where on the case, Gibbs let them knock off earlier than he usually would while they were working a case.
When Ziva arrived home, he was already waiting for her. She smiled when she saw him, "Hello," She said.
"Hi, how was your day?"
"Okay, the case is going no where. The guy doesn't have a name. It is taking Abby forever to run his DNA through the database," She said.
Ray wrapped an arm around her waist as she unlocked her door, "What's on the menu?" He asked.
"Take away. I cannot be bothered cooking now," She stated.
"Okay, I will order while you get changed?" He suggested.
"Sounds good," She stated as she walked down her hall to her room.
When she returned Ray was sitting on her lounge watching TV, she sat down next to him.
"Are you okay? You look stressed," He told her, kissing the side of her face.
She gave him a half hearted smile, "Yeah, I am fine," she said.
"Really?" He asked skeptically.
"Yes. How was your day?" She asked.
"Good, just had paperwork to file. Nothing interesting," He said.
"You see at Mossad we used to have people who did that for us," She stated smartly.
"Really?"
"Okay, that is a lie, but unlike you, I would not wait until last minute to file everything," she said.
"Mmm, sure you did,"
"My father would punish me if I did not," She said.
"How?"
"When I first joined when I was living with him; if I did not file my paper work when it needed to be filed, I had to do his too. That is why if you go to my desk at work, look at my desk, and compare it to Tony's; mine is empty," She answered.
There was a knock at the door, "I will get it," Ziva said. She opened the door and was faced with the delivery guy, "Thank you," She murmured after giving him the money and his tip.
She closed the door and returned to the lounge where Ray had begun moving things from the coffee table in front of them to make way for the food.
They ate in a peaceful silence, but it felt awkward to Ziva. She didn't understand why she hadn't felt all that guilty until now. She didn't understand herself anymore – her thoughts or feelings. She didn't understand because in the two months that she and Tony had been sleeping together, this wasn't the first time that Ray had been home. He was there more times than he was away lately; he was just away for longer periods of time.
"I have to go away again next week," He told her once they had finished eating. They were in the two seated lounge. She was leaning into his side with her eyes closed, trying to forget what she had been doing behind his back, and he had his arm around her - clueless.
She breathed in deeply and slowly before opening her eyes and answering, "How long?"
"About two weeks, it depends on what happens," he replied.
"Why do you have to go away?" She asked like a small child.
"Well, you could take that up with my boss. You can be very persuasive when you want. Maybe you can convince him to let me stay and finish my paperwork," he said adjusting their position so he could see her.
"What would I get out of that?" She asked playfully.
"Me," He stated.
"And if I do not want you?" She asked in the same light tone.
"I'm hurt Ziva," He said mocking hurt as he lent in and kissed her, "You don't want me?" He whispered, before kissing her neck. She tilted her head back - allowing him all the access he needed.
"I want you," She stated. When he lifted his lips from her neck, she brought her head so it was straight again and looked at him before she kissed him. Everything she was thinking about earlier forgotten as he pushed her backwards on to her lounge.
She began feeling his back through his top and bringing herself closer to him - her desire taking over...
Tony walked into his empty apartment alone after he was allowed to leave work. If CI-Ray wasn't in town, Ziva probably wouldn't have been too far behind him.
He walked to his fridge and grabbed the other night's left over pizza and put it in the microwave to heat up while he got changed.
He knew there would have to have been a better way to deal with the thoughts that he was having of Ziva in his arms. He got into something more comfortable and walked back to the kitchen where his left over pizza was almost finished reheating. He watched the green numbers on the timer count down to one.
If this were three months ago, before they had slept together he would have gone to the bar down the road from where he lived at the thoughts of her with another man. The annoying buzzer of the microwave went off and he pressed the button to open the door. But before he pulled the plate from it he paused.
If she was allowed to sleep with another man; why couldn't he sleep with other woman? If it she was anyone else and he didn't see her everyday he would have only slept with her once – or at the most twice – why is it any different? They hadn't really made any rules, they just did it,
He knew the answers to these questions but didn't admit anything to himself. She wasn't just another woman. She was his partner, his friend – it didn't seem right to sleep with someone else. But if she was going to; so was he.
Maybe next time they were together they would have to discuss what their rules would be in regard to it.
He closed the microwave's door and returned to his room; changing out of his trackies into his jeans and a neat causal button up top, before grabbing his keys, phone, and wallet and leaving his house.
It didn't take him long to walk to the bar. He sat a little way away from the bartender who asked him what he wanted to drink, Tony ordered a beer.
After another drink, he began to loosen up; he walked over to a blonde girl and began talking to her – using his pick-up lines to impress her. After about an hour and a few more drinks of stronger alcohol, she was accompanying him home. Stumbling and giggling as she walked due to her more drunken state.
I know that this isn't probably the kind of chapter you wanted to read, but it is a story talking about her cheating - so it's not going to be all about Tony and Ziva.
Reviews Please :D