Kate was lying down, snoozing after lunch. Her stomach was full and content. Ziva's was full and two seconds away from violently emptying itself. She still hadn't popped the question.
There she was, lying on the blanket, eyes closed, biggest smile in the world. Kate was absolutely beautiful. Ziva couldn't take her eyes off of Kate. Ziva put her hand into her jacket pocket, grasping the ring box. She breathed in and out. She turned to Kate, opened her mouth to speak…and heard nothing coming out. Ziva turned back, her hand out of her pocket. Kate never noticed.
This was a common occurrence for the past month: Ziva psyches herself to ask, she gets to Kate, then either clams up or gets interrupted. Kate usually never noticed or, if she did, Ziva makes up some story that convinces Kate, like borrowing a pencil or a piece of candy, but doesn't get Ziva any closer to marrying her dream girl.
Doesn't help that, after the first week, maybe week and a half, her friends thought it was clever to say Ziva and Kate should have a double wedding…with their grandchildren. Ziva didn't laugh the first time they told it and it got less funny with time. They did try to help but no matter what, Ziva's nerve, which held all her life, even during her most dangerous missions for Mossad and NCIS (heck, she always enjoys those missions), was failing her when she needed it most.
This is nuts Ziva thought. She steeled herself, shoved her hand in her pocket, and turned back to Kate, who opened her eyes and looked at Ziva. It was now or never. Ziva opened her mouth. Kate looked on, waiting to her what her girlfriend wanted to say. Ziva was silent for a second, then…
"Do you want some brownies?" Ziva asked.
"That'd be great, thanks" Kate said smiling, knowing Ziva made the best brownies.
Ziva crawled to where the half empty basket was. If there were any mind readers near the lake where Kate and Ziva were having their picnic, they've heard some of the foulest cursing ever to come from a human.
The cursing soon became vocal and loud, startling Kate. She got up and crawled to where Ziva was. Ziva was upset, but not the quiet way only Kate could've saw. Kate put her hand on Ziva's back.
"Hey beautiful" Kate said. "What's wrong?"
"I forgot the brownies" Ziva said, managing not to cry. Kate rubbed her back.
"Oops, guess we'll have to eat them at home, watching some cheesy chick flick" Kate said with a smile. When she saw Ziva smile, Kate went back to the middle of the blanket and lied back down. If Kate herself was a mind reader, she would've known that Ziva's smile was just an act.
Damn Ziva shouted in her mind. It's over. I blew it. Might as well give up now. Way to go David.
As Ziva beat herself up mentally, she realized how stupid she was. Kate wasn't going to reject her because she forgot brownies. Kate understood things can get forgotten. Kate was understanding by nature, and sweet and…Ziva realized she getting impatient. She crawled back to Kate as she felt a raindrop on her neck.
Mother Nature must be getting ready for her late afternoon show Ziva thought, remembering what the weatherman said that morning. She put her hand in her pocket, grasped the box and gently shook Kate, who looked up.
"Yes?" Kate asked.
"Caitlin, will you…" Ziva started, as a raindrop hit Kate in the eye. Just a second after, a rainstorm that would've scared Noah started.
They're dead Ziva thought furiously as she and Kate took the basket, blanket with their trash like a huge knapsack, and Kate's shoes and socks back to their car. Ziva made a mental note to find the weatherman from Channel 7 and kill him slowly, then start being ecologically unfriendly to get back at Mother Nature. It was their fault the picnic was ruined, why she was interrupted when asking Kate…
At this thought, Ziva started crying, her head on the steering wheel. Kate, who was about to put her shoes and socks back on, noticed. She ran her hand through her Israeli girlfriend's hair.
"Ziva the Terrible" Kate said softly. Ziva the Terrible was a remnant from their days as enemies, now a term of affection that usually cheered Ziva up. Key word here is usually.
"I just wanted today to be special" Ziva said through tears, her head not leaving the comfort of the steering wheel. Ziva felt Kate's hand leave her hair and heard the door open. She heard Kate get out and the door close. It took Ziva to realize what happen. She looked up to see Kate dancing in the rain, like a child with no cares in the world. Ziva smiled as Kate's sundress soaked and showed off Kate's figure. Ziva smiled as Kate turned around and motioned for Ziva to come out and join her. It took Ziva a second to realize this and, taking off her coat, joined Kate. They were soon soaking wet and looking like drown rats…happy drown rats. They chased each other and danced. In all this, they managed to get to the edge of the lake. As Kate dodged a playful advance from Ziva, she slipped and felled backwards into the lake. Ziva ran to the edge where Kate had been and looked for her, finding Kate when she bobbed up, laughing her head off. Seeing Kate obviously not in distress, Ziva jumped in to join her. They swam around and splashed each other. They had a mock fight, which ended with Kate pinning Ziva to rock in the lake. As Kate let go Ziva, in a moment of passion, kissed Kate and hugged her. Kate would've enjoyed it had Ziva not accidently hit the still hurting wound from yesterday.
"AH!" Kate exclaimed. She grimaced as Ziva let go, figuring out what caused Kate pain. Ziva took Kate's other shoulder and took her back to the car, where Ziva had a first aid kit.
As Ziva re bandaged Kate's wound, to the sound of rain and Kate saying she was over-reacting and that her wound wasn't that bad, Ziva thought about what happened that day. She remembered seeing Kate on the bed, her shoulder bandaged, Kate's wince when a nurse touched it during a check-up, something that almost got the nurse killed (Three guesses who the killer would've been). Kate getting shot, admittedly just a minor one, opened Ziva's eyes. She realized how dangerous their work was and how easy either of them could get killed the next day. Ziva realized that Kate or herself could die without Ziva ever getting a chance to tell Kate how she felt. If it was Ziva who died, Kate just wouldn't know unless another member of Team Gibbs said anything, something Ziva knew they wouldn't do. However, if it was Kate who was killed, Ziva would have to live the rest of her life knowing she never had the courage to ask Kate and find out what she would've said. That's why she wanted a picnic, although that's not working.
Ziva was so deep in thought that she didn't notice Kate was talking to her. She snapped out of it. "Huh?"
"I asked are you okay?" Kate said, concerned. "You've been acting strangely. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything is fine" Ziva lied. Kate wasn't entirely convinced, but turn to face forward.
Ziva did the same, hating herself for lying to Kate. Of course she's not fine. She had set out to ask Kate to marry her and she hasn't gotten closer than she did yesterday or the day before, the week before that, the month before…
"Kate" Ziva shouted, grabbing her coat and putting her hand in the pocket with the ring box, the latter Kate didn't notice.
"Yes?" Kate asked, visibly startled by Ziva's abruptness.
This is it Ziva thought. Now is my chance. Ziva psyche herself, looked at Kate…and got that rolling and pulling in her stomach.
Oh please, no Ziva pleaded to herself. Her stomach was not listening. Ziva tried to ask, but her nerve was keeping her silent. Kate grew curious.
"Ziva, what is it?" Kate asked, a small tinge of impatience in her voice. Ziva heard it. She forced her voice to work and pop the question. Ziva was partially successful.
"I love you" Ziva finally said.
Kate looked taken aback by this, then she smiled. Her eyes grew shiny and she blinked back a few tears as she leaned towards Ziva to kiss and hug her.
"I swear, I never get tired of you saying that" Kate said, nuzzling her face into Ziva's neck.
"I never get tired of saying it" Ziva said, her voice showing no hint of the fury at her latest failure. "We should get home and change before heading back to work. Gibbs will kill us if we're late"
Kate nodded and settled back. As they drove away, the two lovebirds both stole glances at each other. The only difference was that Kate wasn't crying her heart out. Ziva, as you may've already guessed, was.