I know it's been a little while, sorry about that. I had some trouble with this one, I needed a break but it's all good I was hit by inspiration last night (at quite an inconvienient time really, I was trying to sleep and my brain refused to shut up!) so here's the next chapter. If it helps I uploaded a little one shot while I was waiting for this one to come back to me? Anybody interested? I'd like to know what you think. Go. Look. Review. Okay you can read this first if you must :)
A bit of a short one but I hope you like it. Thinking of wrapping this one up soon :) enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
It was torture waiting for her to arrive and he couldn't seem to drag his eyes away from the elevator for more than a few minutes. He knew he was on edge, jumping each time the elevator dinged, but if McGee noticed he didn't say anything. When she finally stepped through the doors, after what seemed like hours, he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. As Ziva made her way to her desk and dropped her bag beside her, he searched her face but her eyes never met his and her expression was blank.
The next few hours were tense as Tony watched for any sign that she wasn't okay, but the mask was back, better than ever. She didn't falter as they drove to a crime scene, didn't slip as she sat at her desk filling out paperwork, never wavered as they stood watching Gibbs interrogate a suspect, there was nothing that would tip anybody off to the fact that she was hurting. At least not until they were alone.
Once he got her alone it was as if it just fell off, in 30 seconds her walls had crumbled and he watched her shoulders drop. He couldn't help but step forward and put his hands around her, endangering his limbs in the process. But she didn't go ninja on him, instead he felt her relax into him as though he was all that was standing between her and the ground and he wondered how long he could get away with this before she decided she had given away too much and pulled away.
As it turned out they stood there silence for about a minute before she carefully extracted herself from his arms and, recovering herself, turned to leave. Looking back only to give him a nod of thanks and a little smile- presumably meant to be reassuring- that just about broke his heart. It had only been a moment but it was enough to remind him that she wasn't okay, that she wasn't untouchable. But it was also enough for him to realise that she trusted him, enough to show him her feelings, her real feelings. In Ziva's world, that was everything.
Pulling away from his embrace was hard but Ziva knew they couldn't stand there forever. As she took a deep breath and walked away, she paused to thank him. Turning back to him, she couldn't seem to find the words so she just nodded and hoped he would understand. Then she summoned up a small smile to tell him she was okay and headed back to work.
It had been a long morning but she had kept busy, throwing herself into work and had somehow managed to hold herself together. It was actually a relief to be able to let go of the facade, even if was only for a moment. Never before had she opened herself up so fully and let someone in. She couldn't help but wonder if it would have been the same had it been McGee who had driven her home that night, or Abby who had found her in the park. Even now she knew the answer, no. She loved Abby, McGee, and even Gibbs, like family but there was something different about Tony. Something that made her want to let go and just be with him. She wanted him to know her and to know that he didn't care about her past or about the parts of her that were broken. She wasn't sure that could ever happen but that small moment of comfort had been enough to reassure her that he wasn't going anywhere and the feeling of his hand on hers as he walked past her to his desk, a brush small enough that nobody else noticed, was enough to make her think that maybe things were going to be okay.
When he sat down opposite her she smiled across the room, a smile that came a lot more easily than the one she had given him a moment ago, and his replying smile was enough to give her butterflies, a saying she had never really understood until now. When she finally looked down at her computer screen again, still smiling, she felt a little piece fall back into place. Maybe one day the puzzle in her head would finally become a picture.
Sooo? what do you think? :)