Title: Opportunity
Rating: T, I suppose
Spoilers: Anything up until "Truth or Consequence"
Summary: An opportunity presents itself to Tony and Ziva, will they take it?
Pairing: Tiva, of course.
Disclaimer: If I owned them, Tiva would be a reality and not just something I'm writing about.
Chapter Two
They stood on the sidewalk outside of the Colonial Inn at Bridgeport. The building was white with navy blue shutters and Ziva noted that it looked more like a home than a hotel. The windows were dark and she sighed.
"This does not look promising, Tony."
He shrugged, moving toward the porch, "You got a better idea, Probie?"
She smirked at his back, glad that he could not see how happy it made her when he called her that, before following him onto the porch.
"No, I suppose not," she said.
Tony held the door open for her and Ziva stepped out of the cold and into the darkened foyer. There was a large secretary's desk just beside the stairs and Ziva stepped up to it, ringing the small bell that sat there. Tony closed the door and dusted snow from his hair as a woman appeared from what he assumed was a sitting room.
"Hello," Ziva said politely, "We are in need of a room for the night. Julie from the diner suggested your establishment."
"Stuck by the snow, huh?" the woman asked, sitting down behind the desk, "I have a feeling we'll be seeing quite a few stranded motorists today. Anyhow, I'm Mable, and we have plenty of rooms available. I must warn you though that we've lost power and I'm not sure that we're going to get it back tonight so it is going to get awfully cold in here. I do have one room with a fireplace available and there's plenty of wood to burn. Were you in need of one room or two tonight?"
"Two," Tony said, at the same time that Ziva said, "One."
They looked at each other. Tony opened his mouth to argue but it was Ziva who spoke first.
"My partner and I will take the room with the fireplace," she told Mable, "We are adults, Tony, are we not? I believe we can share a room for one night. Besides, there is no point in one of us freezing when we can both try to stay warm."
Tony didn't argue but Ziva could clearly see that he was having an internal debate over whether the two of them sleeping in the same room was a good idea. She was having the same debate however she was able to put her feelings aside and see the bigger picture. If the snow continued through the night, it would only become colder and if they could both manage to stay relatively warm then there was no point in not sharing a room.
"All right, I'll just need a credit card and some identification," Mable said, "You'll be in room number four, top of the stairs and to the right. I'll have some fire wood and extra blankets brought up for you. My husband has set up our gas grill out back and he'll be making hamburgers for supper if you're hungry."
Ziva shook her head, "We ate at the diner, but thank you."
Tony handed over his credit card and driver's license and Ziva wondered briefly if he thought that she would not be able to pay. He would have been correct, of course, because when she'd decided to stay in Tel Aviv she'd cancelled all of her credit cards and had not had a chance to apply for any new ones since returning. But she new that Tony was simply being polite by paying and she also new that he would be reimbursed for the cost of the room. She waited as he signed the paperwork and accepted a key from Mable.
"You two are all set, if you need anything, feel free to come down and ring the bell."
And then Mable was gone again, leaving Tony and Ziva alone at the bottom of the stairs.
Their room was exactly where they'd been told it would be, on the right at the top of the stairs. Ziva allowed Tony to open the door for her and she stepped in, smiling slightly at the sight before her.
Their room seemed to have a nautical theme with blue-gray walls decorated with ornamental life preservers, paintings of stormy ocean scenes and even a large net that had plastic seaweed attached to it. The bed in the center of the room was large, with a heavy wooden headboard and clean white linens. Ziva imagined that it would be quite comfortable and she dropped her backpack onto the bed.
"Why do I have this horrible feeling that Gibbs would love this place?" Tony asked, stripping off his coat and leaving it draped over the chair in the corner.
Ziva laughed, "I believe you are correct, Tony, Gibbs would enjoy the décor."
Ziva's laughter died as she watched Tony standing motionless on the opposite side of the bed. The tension between them had been increasing daily since she'd returned and she now felt that they had reached their breaking point. They would have to talk about this eventually and since they had nothing better to do, now seemed as good a time as any.
"Tony, we –"
But the knock at the door interrupted her and she sighed as Tony moved to answer it. This was going to be like pulling toes… or was it teeth? She shook her head, rummaging through her bag as Tony answered the door. She heard snippets of the conversation going on behind her as Tony accepted fire wood and extra blankets for their room. The door shut and he was moving back toward her when Ziva turned around, arms crossed over her chest.
"Tony," she began again, "We need to talk."
Tony didn't say anything as he handed her the stack of blankets. He moved to the fireplace, building a modest fire with the wood he'd been given before turning back to Ziva. She hadn't moved, still holding the extra blankets in her arms.
"Okay," Tony said, "Talk."