Terri Wood looked down at her watch again. She let out a sigh and wrapped her arms around herself. It was cold, dark, and very, very boring.
The night shift.
She checked her watch again and then looked at the door. Still no DiNozzo. She rolled her eyes and stood from her chair, checking on Corrado, who was sound asleep, she could tell from the loud snoring that was heard through the headphones. She walked to his room and softly knocked on the door. Tony heard it, but decided to ignore it, since Ziva David was currently sound asleep, her body right next to his.
And she smelled amazing.
And she looked amazing.
He didn't want to move a muscle.
Terri knocked again, and when she heard no answer or no footsteps coming towards the door, she turned the handle and walked in. Tony opened his eyes quickly and put his finger to his mouth. Terri rolled her eyes and whispered, "Will you come on? You have a shift right now!"
Tony groaned, "You can handle it. It's the overnight shift. Nothing's going to happen." Terri rolled her eyes and stood there, her hands on her hips.
"I can't handle sitting there, alone, for 8 hours. I'll fall asleep." She whispered. Tony sighed and knew that if he didn't get up from his nice, warm, comfortable, perfect position, and into the cold, dark, watch room, that he would probably be out of a job. He looked down at his sleeping partner, still trying to decide if it was worth it or not.
"Fine." He said softly and carefully slipped out of bed, watching as Ziva curled up into a ball. He pulled his covers over her and walked out of the room, softly closing the door behind him. He followed Terri back to the watch room, groaning when he realized how actually cold it was.
"Sorry to pull you out of that...whatever you were in." Terri said.
Tony laughed sarcastically, "Yeah, well, I was rather...comfortable."
"I bet you were."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Terri shrugged, "Nothing. You just seemed...cozy with Officer David."
"I was warm."
They both sat down, Tony adding the headphones to his neck. "You sure that's the only reason you didn't want to come to your shift tonight?"
Tony scoffed, "Sitting here in the cold listening to some guy snore all night is not exactly on the top of my to-do list."
Terri smiled, "And spending the night with Officer David?"
Tony snapped his head to her, staring right into her hazel eyes, "What are you talking about?"
"I have a degree in psychology, DiNozzo. I know when someone likes, or in your case, is in love with another person."
Tony laughed, "You might want to have that checked then, Ter. I'm not in love with Ziva. We're just...friends." He stopped, "No, I take that back, we're more of...just partners."
Terri laughed again, "Whatever you say, Agent DiNozzo."
"I am not in love with Ziva. Ziva is not in love with me. We're..." He stopped and sighed, "...partners. Now lets change the subject, please."
The subject didn't change for several long hours in the dark room, in fact, hardly anything was said at all. When the sun was about up and he was tired of the silence, Tony finally spoke, "So what about you?" He asked. Terri only looked at him, confused, since the subject was dropped a long time ago, "Is there anyone...'special' back home?"
"Did you just imply that Ziva was someone 'special' to you?"
Tony rolled his eyes, "No. I asked a question."
Terri laughed, but then her expression was serious, "Well the answer to that question is..." she let out a sigh, "...no." She fumbled with the pen in her hands, "I don't really...do to...well in that area." She admitted. She raised and dropped one shoulder, "Guys just...aren't interested."
Tony laughed, "I know what you mean."
"Yeah okay, Tony." Her tone was very sarcastic as she continued, "You have no trouble attracting women."
"It's not the attraction thing I have a problem with." He said, "It's the commitment thing."
"So you're telling me that if Officer David walked in here walked in here and said that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with you, you wouldn't?"
Tony let out a harsh sigh, "Why do you bring Ziva into this? We're just...talking."
Terri put up her hands in defense, "Ok, ok, I'm sorry." She sighed, "Do you want to settle down?"
He nodded, "Yeah, I think I do. But um...I would...have to find a girl first."
Terri laughed, "That is true."
"What about you, do you want to settle down?"
Terri shook her head, "Honestly, I've never really thought about being a wife and a mother. All I wanted to do was be a FBI agent." She shrugged, "I don't know, I guess things change. I suppose, if I found the right guy, then I would want to settle down. And that will never happen."
"Terri, look. Without being all weird, and from a guys point of view, you're a beautiful woman." He put a tentative hand on her shoulder and squeezed softly, "You'll find him. Just...give it a little time." Terri looked at him and nodded, a small smile on her face.
"Thanks, DiNozzo." She said softly. Their chairs were awkwardly close, and for some reason, they began to move towards each other, but abruptly stopped when the door opened, revealing one Ziva David.
"Officer David." Terri said, looking down at her watch.
"Agent Wood." Ziva replied. Tony looked at his partner nervously. Was he honestly about to kiss Terri? Ziva continued, "DiNozzo, Gibbs called. He would like you to call him when you finish with your shift." She looked at Terri, "Or whatever you were doing."
She turned and left the room, leaving the two to sit in a awkward silence.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After Jason and Russell got to the watch room, as if there was a fire in the room, Tony and Terri couldn't get out of there fast enough. Tony walked down to his own room, rubbing his eyelids. He was surprised when Ziva was standing in his room. "Hey Zi." He said softly.
"I cannot find my hairbrush, have you seen it?" She asked. Tony shook his head.
"No, I haven't I'm sorry." Ziva only stared at him for a couple of seconds before starting out of the room, when Tony grabbed her arm, "You ok?" He asked.
Ziva ripped her arm from his grip, "No. I am not."
Tony shoved his hands in his pockets as anger filled his veins, "Did that bastard touch you again?"
"No, Tony. But it seems that you let Terri touch you."
Tony furrowed his eyebrows together, "What?"
"You two seemed very...friendly when I walked in to tell you that Gibbs called."
"Why do you care?"
Ziva narrowed her eyes, "I don't."
"Ok then, what the hell is your problem?" He asked.
"The fact that you think you can tell me who to date and who not to date..."
"I don't think that." Tony butted in.
"...and you have some nerve to go around kissing all these women."
"I have nerve?"
Ziva let out a sigh, "Forget it. You do whatever you wish, Tony."
"Ziva, stop."
"What?!" She yelled. She knew this argument was pointless, for Tony was a grown man, and he could kiss and do 'other' things with whatever woman he wanted to.
"I didn't kiss Terri."
"You wanted to, yes?"
Tony shook his head, "No, I didn't. She's not my type."
Ziva crossed her arms over her chest, "She's breathing."
"Yeah, well, so are you." Tony snapped. Ziva turned and started to leave the room, when she heard her name again. "I didn't kiss Terri." He reiterated.
"I do not care if you did or did not, Tony." Ziva snapped.
"Then why are we even fighting?"
"If we were fighting, you would already be dead."
"You know what I mean, Ziva.
"We are not arguing. It does not matter."
Tony shrugged, "So we're good?"
Ziva sighed, "Lemony."
Tony furrowed his eyebrows together, "You mean peachy?"
"Whatever it is called."
"Ok, good. I'm gonna call Gibbs, grab a few hours of sleep, and then we'll go have some lunch." Ziva only nodded as she walked out of his room, closing the door behind her.
As she walked into her own room, she sat down on her bed and buried her face in her hands.
She had to snap out of it.
Before she actually let something slip.
Tony hated wires.
No, he hated technology in general at the moment.
In an attempt to save time and to make sure that Jason didn't screw with his equipment, he had decided to move the laptop to his room, setting it up on the dresser in front of the bed.
Sighing, Tony set up the connection and sent a request through MTAC for Special Agent Gibbs before standing up and exiting the room, knocking on Ziva's door, "Hey, Ziva! I've got Gibbs on the webcam!"
Without waiting, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair before dragging his feet back into the room. He was extremely tired, after not getting any sleep last night for all Terri did was complain about how she couldn't get men.
He scoffed. And she wondered why.
Checking himself in the mirror as he sat down, he noticed that he needed to shave. Desperately. Shaking his head he ignored the scruff and sat down on the bed, pulling the laptop carefully down in front of him, laying out on his stomach, propping himself up on his arms.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs said, surprising him.
"Hey boss!" He grinned, "How's DC?"
"Where's David?"
Almost on cue, Ziva walked in with a water bottle in her hand, sipping it as she narrowed her eyes at him. She looked pissed. Extremely pissed. Even more pissed than before, when they had their little spat in the hallway. Alert, he sat up slightly, using his elbows to support him, "What's wrong?" He questioned, ignoring Gibbs on the MTAC feed.
"Nothing." Ziva responded and Tony just stared at her.
"What did he do, Ziva?" He questioned, his tone low and angry.
"Nothing," She emphasized, taking another sip of her water, "Is Gibbs on the feed?" She questioned and her partner nodded, scooting over as he returned to his spot. Sighing, she copied his position.
Gibbs had to take note of the OSU sweatshirt Ziva was wearing and the scruff that was on Tony's face. Ziva looked at Gibbs, "Shalom, Gibbs." She nodded before glancing at Tony, looking back at Gibbs, and then glancing back at him. She furrowed her eyebrows together
"What?"
She didn't say anything as she carefully reached over and touched his face, pulling back. They stared into each others eyes before Ziva abruptly broke it, "Shave." She firmly said, causing Gibbs to smirk as she dropped her hand, turning back to Gibbs.
"We followed Corrado yesterday." She started up after a rather awkward silence passed between the three NCIS agents.
"And? You find anything interesting David or are you just gonna keep me in suspense?"
Tony laughed and Ziva narrowed her eyes at him shortly before turning back to Gibbs, "We went undercover, all of us except for Agent Johnson. He stayed back and kept surveillance. Tony and I followed him into an alley where he made a drug deal."
"A...drug deal?" Gibbs questioned.
"Yeah, boss," Tony chirped up, "I thought it was a little cookoo as well."
"Well did you get a picture of the drug dealer?"
"Yes, Agent Johnson said he was able to. I requested that he send it to Abby for a proper analysis. Apparently the FBI is having trouble in the lab."
Gibbs smirked again, "Well it is the FBI."
Tony laughed, "Yeah, it is. By the way, how are this with Fornell?"
Gibbs stared at him for a second or two before looking at Ziva, "Smack him."
Taking the opportunity, she whacked him across the face.
Hard.
Even Gibbs was shocked as Tony rubbed his cheek, his mouth slightly agape.
"What the hell happened to you two?" Gibbs finally asked and Ziva just looked down at the computer.
"Tony thinks he can tell me who to date and who not to date." She quickly said and Tony gaped at her.
"Excuse me?! No I don't! I just told you that you shouldn't date him cause all he wants is one thing!"
"And you would know that because you are one of those men, Tony! So what are you saying? That I should not date you, is that it?" He just stared at her, "Then who should I date, Tony? Because obviously I should not date Jason, and I am not good enough for you, so who am I good enough for, hmm?"
Tony just stared at her, "We'll talk about this later, okay?" He questioned, under his breath, but loud enough for Gibbs to hear him.
Ignoring him, Gibbs continued, "Corrado didn't fly out of DC until the day after you guys headed out there."
Tony, letting his eyes move away from Ziva's, looked back at Gibbs, "Well then where'd he go?"
"McGee's checking it out with Agent Larson." He explained, "He-"
Gibbs paused as Tony interrupted him, "Hold on." He put a hand up, "Back up just a second." Gibbs sighed and raised an eyebrow.
"What, DiNozzo?"
"This Larson guy's sitting at my desk? Going through my drawers? Eating the food out of my snack drawer?" He demanded and Gibbs groaned.
"There are more important things like a terrorist, okay?" He all' but shouted and Tony quickly shut his mouth, "Corrado booked a room at the Embassy instead of getting on the flight to Rome. He stayed the night, flew out the next morning. Early."
"Why would he do that?" Tony questioned.
"Could be that he forgot something." Ziva shrugged.
"What? Like his phony passport?" Tony sarcastically spat and Ziva narrowed her eyes at him. She was about to open her mouth to say something when Gibbs interrupted her.
"Ziver, we're looking into what he was doing. McGee ran surveillance-" Tony laughed and Gibbs paused until the laughter died, "-and he didn't leave the hotel. Not that McGee could see."
Tony scoffed, "McGee couldn't see a hot woman flirting in front of him!" He exclaimed, "Actually, no hot woman would want to even approach McGoo much less flirt with him. That's a bad example."
Ziva just groaned and took another sip of her water bottle in an attempt not to insult Tony again. Sometimes he disgusted her, "That's all we've got back at DC." Gibbs finished, breaking Ziva out of her thoughts as she snapped her head towards the screen once again, watching Gibbs stare at her, "You two get along, got it?"
"Yeah, okay, boss." Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair once again.
"Yes, Gibbs." Ziva nodded curtly, once, and once Gibbs was gone from the screen, replaced with rainbow bars, Ziva couldn't have gotten off of the bed faster. With padded feet, she quickly made it to the door, her hand on the handle when Tony stopped her.
"Must not be that bad."
Confused, she paused, wondering whether or not to turn around and demand what the hell he meant or leave the room completely. Furrowing her eyebrows together, she spun around, "What?" She demanded, slightly exasperated.
He had moved to the dresser, setting the open laptop on the dresser in front of the bed before looking at Ziva, his hands stuffed into his pockets. Her eyes scanned over his body. Jeans that fit him just right and his own sweatshirt, a navy blue one with white lettering of their agency on it. Damn him for looking good.
"You're wearing my sweatshirt still." He grinned, "Buckeye."
She scoffed and rolled her eyes, starting towards the door once again, "Ziva, wait." He called and she couldn't help but stop. She hated how she listened to him.
She only turned slightly towards him, "What?" She demanded, this time extremely exasperated.
"You...I...I'm sorry." He finally said, nodding.
Ziva just stared at him before fully turning and crossing her arms, "For what?"
Tony fumbled with his words. He didn't know what to say. He didn't really understand what was pissing her off so much; all he did was make it look like he was about to kiss Terri, even though he honestly didn't know why he was doing that. But why would that set her off? Unless... "You're jealous." He finally said, blatantly obvious about the whole thing. He had just made Ziva David jealous. Of him. Over a girl he wasn't even trying to flirt with, but he couldn't keep a smile on his face for a quarter of a second.
"Just like you were jealous of Richard?"
"No. I wasn't jealous of Richard."
Ziva nodded, once, "Exactly." She turned quickly on her heel and started out of the room, slamming his door behind her.
Groaning, Tony looked at the bed, his head throbbing and his entire body aching. Ziva made absolutely no sense to him; he didn't know why she was even mad, but she was. All Tony knew was that he had to somehow make it up to his partner. Maybe food would do the trick.
And, with that, he jumped onto the bed not bothering to take off his shoes, threw the blanket carelessly over him, and fell asleep nearly instantly.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Several hours later, Tony DiNozzo opened his eyes and yawned, stretching in his bed. He looked down at his watch, that was now adjusted for Italy time, and focused on the numbers, 1136h. He smiled.
Lunchtime.
Stretching again, he slowly got up from the bed, suddenly feeling cold once he left the warmth of the cover he had over him. He ran his hand through his hair at the mirror before walking out of his room and into the hallway, where Ziva was seen walking down the hall. He jogged a few steps to catch up with her. "Hey." He said plainly, but when she didn't stop, he lightly grabbed on her arm, "Where you going?" He asked.
Ziva looked down at his hand that was on her arm, and he quickly removed it, "I am going to the snack machine." She replied.
"Nah you don't want that junk," He replied, "Come on, lets go to lunch."
"No thank you."
"Ah, come on, Zi." She only shook her head and walked away from him. "Ziva what's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing." She was really tired of answering that question.
"Obviously something is wrong."
She stared into his green eyes. He was wearing his navy blue NCIS hoodie, with jeans that fit him perfectly, and his hair was messy, just the way she liked it. "Nothing is wrong." She said again.
"Great. Then lets go eat."
Ziva sighed and put the dollar in her back pocket before walking the opposite way, towards the elevator. Tony took this opportunity to watch her walk. She never took of his OSU sweatshirt, her jeans fit her ass perfectly, and her hair was down with her natural curls bouncing as she walked. He thought briefly about making a comment, but considering her current mood towards him, he decided that it wouldn't be the best idea.
The restaurant wasn't far away from the hotel, so they walked to it. Once seated, the drinks were ordered and then there was silence. Tony sighed, "So are you gonna tell me what's wrong with you?"
She was going to kill him, "Nothing is wrong with me!"
"Then why are you acting like this?"
"Acting like what?" She replied.
"Like you're pissed!"
Ziva pinched the bridge of her nose, "Will you put a shoe in it?" She snapped.
"Sock." He corrected her. She rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you mad because you still think that I kissed Terri."
"So you did kiss her?" She asked.
"No."
"That is what you just said."
"I said that's what you think."
"Why do you care what I think?"
"Because you're my partner." He clarified. The food was placed on the table and Ziva grabbed her fork, trying her best to ignore him. Tony sighed and put his hand on top of hers, "Ziva, I didn't kiss her. I didn't want to kiss her."
"Why are you telling me this?" She asked. They stared into each others eyes for several seconds until Ziva cleared her throat, "Okay." She said softly.
Tony reluctantly removed his hand from hers and sat back in his chair, taking a bite of his own food. After several minuets of silence, Tony looked up at her again, "So how is it?"
Ziva twirled another bite of pasta on her fork and nodded her head, "It is very good."
"Good." Tony replied. "Mine is delicious. You wanna try a bite?" He asked, and before she could respond, a fork full of his own pasta was being held in front of her mouth. She chuckled slightly and opened her mouth, and Tony fed the bite to her. She put her hand over her mouth as she chewed.
"That is very good as well." She said, and held her fork to him, "Would you like to try mine?" She asked. He nodded and took her fork, quickly disposing of it's contents.
"De-licious."
Ziva pulled up Tony's sweatshirt and looked down at her watch, "I have a shift with Russell in an hour."
Tony laughed, "Ziva's got a shift with the nerd!"
"You gave him a double shift, you realize this, yes?"
"I know. He can handle it. Besides, we need him to fix the computers in case they...catch fire or something." Ziva chuckled, "And that would be bad. Unless Jason was there."
"Tony..." Ziva replied.
"What? I can't stand the dude."
"I do not care for him either. But he just thinks that any woman will go to him. And when I did not, he reacted."
Tony only stared, "When did you become a psychiatrist?"
Ziva smiled, "I didn't. I can read people very easily." She took a sip of her wine, "Especially men."
Tony took another bite and sat up closer to her, "Oh yeah?" He grinned, "Then what do you read about me?" Ziva stared into his eyes again for several seconds, "Are you looking deep into my soul?" He asked, a smile still plastered on his face.
Ziva smirked, "You seem as if you are wanting something that you cannot have."
Tony lost his smile.
Wow, she was good.
He had to cover it up, "Uhh, yeah." He laughed, "A vacation." Ziva smiled and he continued, "Don't stop there, what else?"
She sighed, "I do not want to do this anymore."
"Oh come on! The first one wasn't good enough. I want something deep."
Ziva sighed, chuckled, and then sat back in her seat. "I can tell that something has been missing from your life for a while now."
"Oh yeah?" Tony chuckled and mimicked her position, "What?"
"Love."
Tony lost his smile again. She really did read him like a book.
Either that or it was painfully obvious.
Changing the subject quickly, he stood from the table, "Um, we should probably get back. So you won't be late for your shift." She stood slowly and followed him, waiting for him as he paid the bill.
Tony glanced at her only once as they left the restaurant, heading back to the hotel. Ziva decided to break the awkward silence, "Thank you for lunch, Tony."
"You're welcome." Was his quick response.
One thing was for sure.
If Ziva could 'read' him that easily, he definitely needed to change his habits.
Jason kicked the door to the observation room open, sighing as he saw Russell sitting there, nearly snoring away at the computer.
"Hey!" he barked, setting down the brown grocery bag on the table in front of him, "Brought you some lunch." he pointed a finger towards it as he snatched the binoculars off of the table, staring out the window.
Russell yawned as he looked into the bag, "Pasta again?" He demanded, "Aw hell, Jason..."
"Shut up and eat it."
He turned and looked at him, taking the cap off of the bottle of Coke Jason had bought for him, "What's your problem?" he demanded, taking a sip.
Jason lowered the binoculars and walked towards him, grabbing the paper bag roughly, "None of your business."
He grinned as Jason yanked a plastic container filled with tortellini out of the bag and his own bottle of soda. He plopped down in his seat, "It's that Ziva woman, isn't it?" Russell grinned and Jason rolled his eyes.
"You are one annoying little geek, Russ."
"Thanks." He sarcastically said, rolling his eyes as he poked at the spaghetti noodles.
"The two lovebirds went out to get some lunch." Jason scoffed, "Didn't bother to take me with them."
"Probably because you tried to seduce a woman that is clearly taken."
"Not true." The two men whipped their heads around to see Terri Wood standing in the doorway, her arms crossed, "They obviously have some sort of 'thing' for each other, but they are not together." She uncrossed her arms and she walked towards Russell, where the bag of food was, "You bring me anything?" She asked Jason and he nodded, pointing towards the bag with his plastic fork.
"There should be another thing of pasta in there."
Silently, she pulled it out and walked towards the bed that was in the corner of the room, sitting down on it, reclining as she started twirling the noddles with her fork.
"Oh yeah, you had that shift with that bastard earlier today, didn't you?"
She nodded, "Yes, but he's not a bastard. He's actually rather...nice."
"Aw, Terri, don't tell me you're falling for him!" Jason wined.
"Jace, we're over." She slowly said, "We haven't been together for about a year now, so, even if I was falling for him, why would you care?" She demanded.
"Whatever." He sighed, moving back to his noodles, "I still think he's a bastard. He nearly broke my arm the other day just cause I was trying to show Ziva...why she should be with me."
"So they went out for lunch?" Russell questioned and Jason nodded.
"Yup." He nearly spat as he shoved a forkful of noodles into his mouth.
A rather large amount of silence passed between the three FBI agents as they all stuffed their faces with the noodles that Jason had brought.
"Hey, he's moving." Russell suddenly announced as he set down his lunch onto the edge of the desk, pulling the headphones from around his ears up on top of them.
Jason shared a look with Terri and they booth stood up and walked towards Russell, Jason grabbing the binoculars, fixing them on the building Corrado was staying in. He managed to pick him up, looking out the window. He moved away from the window and sat down at his desk, typing on his laptop.
"Hack it." Jason said and Russell moved towards the computer.
"Already doing it."
Terri watched as Russell's hands moved across the keyboard, her hands on her hips. Jason continued his watch, focusing the binoculars closer on him.
Russell paused as the computer beeped, "Uh...we might have a problem."
"Why?" Jason demanded, glancing at him for just a second or two before looking back through the binoculars.
"He's...looking up NCIS."
The three stopped and looked at each other before Terri bolted towards the window. She snatched the binoculars out of Jason's hands and scanned the streets, stopping as she noticed Tony and Ziva smiling and walking down the street together, "It's Tony." She suddenly said, shoving them back to Jason, "Look at what Tony's wearing."
He focused the binoculars onto the street, where Tony and Ziva were and he paused, "NCIS sweatshirt."
"He knows we're following him." Terri finished, quickly, "We must inform him." She flipped open her cell phone and dialed Tony's number.
"So are you going to visit your...grandparents?" She questioned as they walked slowly down the road to the hotel. Ziva shoved her hands into her jean pockets in an attempt to make them warmer. She really, desperately, wanted Tony's hands to be the ones holding hers, warming them up, but she decided that that was one...fantasy...she would keep to herself.
"Yeah, probably." He said, nodding, looking down slightly at his feet, "I don't really..." He sighed, "Visit them often. I mean, I'm always busy doing something else."
She nodded and laughed slightly, "Do they know that you are a womanizer?"
He turned abruptly on her, stopping her in her path, staring into her eyes. His serious look made the smile she had on wipe off of her face, "I'm not that anymore, Ziva." She just stared at him as he ran a hand through his hair, "I've found someone." He said, his tone low, "I just...don't know if they feel the same way."
She nodded, her heart sinking, "How come I have never heard of her before?"
He stared at her for a second or two longer before starting walking again, this time faster, "Trust me, Zi, you have."
Confused, she furrowed her eyebrows together but followed him anyways, the awkward silence broken by Tony's phone ringing. He pulled it out and checked the caller ID: Terri Wood.
"Yeah?" He questioned into the phone.
"Corrado knows."
He stopped in place, his heart rate accelerating slightly. Ziva stopped as well as he continued, "Knows what?" he questioned, slowly.
"Russell managed to hack into his computer...he was looking up NCIS. He knows you're a cop, Tony. Look at what you're wearing."
He already knew what he was wearing; he didn't bother looking down, "What about Ziva?" he questioned and Ziva took a step closer to him.
"I don't know." She admitted, "Though he knows that she's with you. He probably thinks she's either working with you or...your girlfriend."
Tony had to stop himself from grinning at the thought, "What am I supposed to do?"
"Get back to the hotel. He's calling someone now, we need you to translate."
"Great." He broke into a light jog, Ziva catching on as she did the same, following him. He shut the phone and Ziva turned to him.
"What was that about?" She questioned and he stared at her.
"Corrado knows I'm a cop." He whispered and she just stared at him.
Nothing was passed between the two as they hurried up into the hotel.
Tony shoved the door to the observation room open, Russell immediately handing him the headphones, which he slipped onto his head, "What's he saying?" He questioned and Tony listened carefully, furrowing his eyebrows together. Ziva stood in the doorway, her arms crossed as she watched Tony, letting her eyes linger up and down his body.
"He wants to meet with our drug dealer again..." he paused, "And they're...renting...a...yacht?" He questioned, confused.
The four agents looked at each other, "Rent a yacht?" Terri repeated and Tony nodded.
"Yeah.."
"What time?" Russell piped in and Tony put a finger up, meaning silence as he listened again, pressing the muffs of the headphones up tighter against his ears.
"Tonight. For dinner. Around 1900h."
"A meeting?" Ziva questioned and Tony shrugged his shoulders.
"Don't know." He admitted, "But we do know one thing."
Russell nodded, "Yeah."
"We need to rent a yacht." Terri finished.
Renting the yacht was harder than expected.
They had all voted Tony, Ziva giving him the most reassuring smile she could muster, to go and rent the yacht. Unfortunately, the man wasn't very...friendly, even when Tony spoke fluent Italian to him.
All Ziva could understand was that he said something degrading about Americans.
That and something that made Tony want to jump across the counter and strangle the man after he gestured towards Ziva.
Finally, Tony managed to get the man to rent them a yacht, Terri and Jason noticing the yacht that was getting ready to debark from the dock, "That's Corrado." Terri muttered as they started towards their yacht, Russell managing to crawl up first with the paper bags that contained what they needed for dinner. Jason and Terri were next, followed by Tony. Ziva was last, and she started climbing up the ladder when she felt two warm hands on top of hers.
"Here, Zi, let me." Tony smiled sweetly down at her as she looked up at him, some of her straightened hair in her face.
She moved her hands to his without one complaint, and he pulled her up, Ziva tripping on the last one, falling into Tony, her face rammed up against his chest. Subconsciously, he wrapped his arms around her and helped her stand upright on her own two feet, brushing the hair out of her face, carefully, "You okay?" He questioned and she nodded as she pulled slowly away from him, her eyes never leaving his.
"Hey, come on!" Terri called, "Jason's getting dinner set up. Russell's up working the controls," She motioned for them to come as Tony and Ziva looked at each other, the yacht slowly leaving the dock.
Tony groaned as they walked across the deck, "I just realized something." He commented and Ziva looked at him.
"What is that?"
"This is a boat."
She chuckled, "Very good Tony." They entered the 'dining' area of the yacht, where Jason was pulling out the food from the bags that Russell had brought on board.
"I hate boats."
"Why?" Jason grinned.
"He used to be an agent afloat." Ziva explained, noticing Tony's look. Terri took the moment to walk in, "We were separated for four months."
"Four months." Jason commented, nodding, as if he was thinking to himself. Out loud.
"You know what they say." Terri said, reaching over and pulling out a couple of wine glasses and a bottle of wine from one of the paper bags, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder."
Tony and Ziva just looked uncomfortably at each other and Ziva picked at her fingernails as Tony just stood there. He quickly moved towards Terri and Jason, "Here, let me help."
Once Russell finally found a good place to anchor the yacht, he joined the rest of the two teams down in the dining area where they were finishing setting up dinner.
Dinner was fairly quick since most of them were starving. They had managed to find a Chinese place down the road from the hotel, about a block away, and they had bought several cartons of that.
The two teams all sat around the table now, sipping their third bottle of wine. Everyone hadn't even finished one glass, except for Jason who was now starting on his fifth or sixth.
Tony stared disgustingly at him as he looked around the room at everyone else, who shared nervous glances as Jason finished pouring himself another glass of wine. Tony nearly decked him across the face when he leered at Ziva, but she, rather rudely, snapped at him and told him off, causing Tony's frown to turn into a grin.
He scanned the people in the room as he took another sip of the burgundy liquid in his glass, looking around for Ziva.
Where'd she go?
Excusing himself politely from the group, he ducked out of the dining room and onto the deck, the cold Italian breeze hitting him. It was cold, but it felt rather...good on his skin. Crossing the deck, he paused as he noticed Ziva leaning up against the railing, staring down into the water, her nearly full wine glass in her hand. She took a sip as he stuck one hand into his pocket, the one that wasn't holding the glass of wine, and walked over to meet her, silently.
Without saying a word, he stood next to her, following her gaze. He sighed and she glanced up at him, "Shalom."
"You okay?"
She nodded, "Yes. Just needed to..." She took in a deep breath and looked around, glancing at Tony once again, "...get a little fresh air." She finished.
It was silent for a while, Tony staring down at the wine in his glass, swirling it around before looking back up at her. The breeze was blowing back her straightened hair, revealing her flawless face...she was so damn beautiful, he honestly believed that he wasn't good enough for her.
He wanted to be.
Oh so badly.
He wanted to reach out and caress her cheek with his hand, kiss her neck...her lips...just hug her body tightly to his own.
His body hurt and ached for her, but he knew that now wasn't the time.
Trying to keep his mind off of her, he changed the subject, "So..." He chuckled, "I wonder what Richard and Michelle are doing right now."
She continued to stare out across the water before she too chuckled, "That is an easy question." She glanced at him before looking back out at the water once again, nodding slightly, "Each other. it was love at first sight, Tony." She looked back at him, keeping her eyes fixated on his form for just a second or two longer before looking back out at the water.
He looked back down at his wine, "I...I wonder what it's like."
"What what is like?" She questioned, furrowing her eyebrows together slightly and putting on a confused face that he came to love. Not allowing himself the urge to smile, he leaned forwards, up against the railing as she did, looking at his wine glass.
"Falling in love with someone." He sighed, "That...fast."
Ziva turned and looked at him, waiting until he looked at her, their eyes connecting as she searched them for his emotions. Somehow, she found love. And sadness. Did he truly think of Michelle that way? "I...do not know." She admitted, finding herself unable to tear her eyes off of his own.
He moved just slightly towards her, their shoulders and legs now touching each other, their faces no more than a foot away from the others. One corner of his mouth turned up slightly, "I do." He whispered and she stared at him, her heart thumping in her chest as he carefully, slowly, moved closer to her, his breath hitched in his throat. Ziva took in a deep breath, holding it in as she realized that his face was getting closer and closer to hers.
Her heart rate kicked into overdrive; it was so loud that she swore that Tony could hear it as well.
Her grip tightened on her wine glass as she felt his nose brush up against her own. Involuntarily, she shivered, smelling the wine and Chinese food of his hot breath on her lips. He pulled back slightly, their noses touching once again before starting to go back in when they were suddenly blinded by a pair of headlights.
"Hey!" An unknown voice called and they jumped away from each other as if they were on fire, both of them dropping their wine glasses. They broke on the boat before falling into the water underneath them.
A yacht was now next to theirs, the headlights shining on them as they shielded their eyes, the two men on the other yacht pulling the spotlights away from them. Tony and Ziva looked at each other nervously, Ziva's heartbeat still rather erratic.
"Do you two speak English?" One man said, his accent thick as he leaned up against the railing on his own yacht.
Tony recognized the man as Corrado and he shared a look with Ziva before stepping slightly in front of her, "Yeah..." He started, carefully as he leaned up against the railing of his yacht, "Why?"
"We just need directions back to port."
"The nearest port's in that direction-" He guided, pointing to the right. Corrado smirked at the man next to him, whom Tony recognized as the drug dealer. Perhaps Ziva was right. Perhaps they were working together in something more than a drug deal.
"One more thing." Corrado smiled, "Young lady?"
Ziva raised an eyebrow as she stepped towards them, standing next to Tony, "Yes?"
The drug dealer watched Tony's reaction, which was rather pissed off looking, "Would you mind if we got to know each other-"
"Yeah." Tony cut in, spitting, "Yeah, she would mind."
Corrado and the drug dealer shared a look as he nodded, "That is all. Thank you."
Tony just stared at him before putting a hand on the small of Ziva's back and leading her back towards the dining room, where the others still were.
One thought ran through Ziva's mind: I almost kissed Anthony DiNozzo....Anthony DiNozzo almost kissed me! And did he just insinuate that the woman he was in love with was...me?
Her world was spinning.
On the other yacht, Corrado turned to the other man who started back towards the controls with him.
The drug dealer spoke first, "We know he is definitely a cop." He pointed out and Corrado nodded.
"Yes. We do. But we also know one thing."
"What's that?" He questioned.
"If we ever need something...take the woman. Then he'll talk."
He chuckled darkly, "Love is a horrible emotion."
"These two will find that out the hard way now, won't they?"
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tony pulled the car into the hotel's parking lot, stepping out into the now very cold air. The temperature dropped drastically in the last hour, and was now below 30.
Terri and Russell got out of the backseat first, and then pulled Jason out, holding his arms over their shoulders as they dragged him into an elevator. Tony scoffed and spoke for the first time since he stupidly almost kissed Ziva, "You'd think a federal agent would know when he's had enough to drink."
Terri nodded, "Yeah, well..." She started, "...He's not much of an agent." Tony let the corners of his lips pull up, but then caught a glance from Ziva, who was standing across from him. He turned away from her quickly. Ziva pulled the sleeves of Tony's sweatshirt over her hands.
Once the elevator got off on their floor, Ziva immediately retreated to her room. Tony helped Russell get Jason into his room, and then he went to his own, relieved that he didn't have a shift. He lay down on his bed, not bothering to take off his jeans, button up shirt, and brown jacket. He was disgusted with himself.
He was about to kiss Ziva David.
On the lips.
Passionately.
He started to doze off to sleep when he heard a soft knock on his door. "Yeah?" He said into the pillow.
Russell Johnson opened the door and walked in silently, holding Tony's brown wallet in his hand, "Oh, I'm sorry, DiNozzo, I didn't know you were asleep." Tony sat up, his legs hanging off the edge of the bed, and took it from him. "I uh..found that. You must've dropped it when you were helping us with Jason."
Tony nodded, "Thanks." He replied softly.
Russell nodded and stuffed his hands in his pocket, "What's with you?" He asked.
Tony ran a hand over his face, "Nothing."
Russell chuckled, "You and David seem...awkward around each other." Tony stood from the bed and walked over to him, guiding him out of the door.
"Thanks for bringing my wallet back." Tony said, and then closed the door behind him. Walking back to his bed, Tony only knew one thing.
He was an idiot.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ziva couldn't take it anymore.
It was cold, very cold, and she lay in her bed, with Tony's sweatshirt and two covers over her. She sat up quickly in her bed and stripped the red item of clothing from her body, leaving her in one of her sweaters. Tony's sweatshirt was very warm, but it had one negative trait.
It smelled like him.
And his cologne.
She lay back down in her bed and pulled the covers up to her neck, shivering as she tried to sleep. She turned over in her bed, and her eyes fixed on the sweatshirt that she just disposed of.
Sighing deeply, she threw the covers off of her and grabbed it, turning it inside out as she opened her door, walking down the hall to Tony's room. She knocked softly.
Tony groaned and stormed over to the door, for he was really tired of being interrupted.
Not that he was getting any sleep.
"What?" He practically yelled as he flung the door open. His voice softened immediately, "Oh, hey Zi." He mumbled. He moved out of the way so that she could walk in.
Her stomach flipped, "I just wanted...to return your sweatshirt. Thank you for letting me use it." Tony furrowed his eyebrows together as he took it from her slowly. He studied her wardrobe.
"No, Ziva, you need this. It's freezing in here." He held it back to her.
"No, I am fine." She said.
"Is this all that you have?" He pulled a part of her sweater.
She had to think of a lie, "No, I have my NCIS jacket and a few other warm things."
"Oh." Tony replied. He threw the sweatshirt on the dresser and sat down on his bed, "Thanks I guess."
Ziva nodded, "No problem." She started to leave the room when he called her name. "What?" She asked.
Tony stood again and walked over to her, his body only inches from hers, "I um...wanted to say that I'm sorry."
Ziva crossed her arms, "Sorry for what?"
He sighed, this was harder than he thought, "For...um...that...thing."
She was confused, "Thing?"
"Yeah...on the...boat."
Now she understood, "Oh." She looked into his eyes, "It is fine, Tony. We will just...pretend it never happened, yes?"
He chuckled nervously, "Yeah, good idea."
"So goodnight, and I will see you on our shift in the morning."
Tony nodded again, "Okay." She started to leave again when he called her name, "Why don't you sleep in here? It's warmer. I'll sleep on the floor."
Ziva sighed. Tony was right.
It was warmer.
"Very well." She said, walking over to the dresser and slipping on his sweatshirt before crawling into his bed, pulling the covers over herself. A few minutes later, she was almost asleep, when she heard Tony groan as he turned over. "Tony, come up onto the bed." She moved over to the edge so that he would have plenty of room.
Tony chuckled, "No, I'm fine." He lied.
"We are adults, DiNozzo, we can share the same bed."
He sighed and got onto the bed and under the covers, pulling them up to his chin. To be more comfortable, he changed into his NCIS sweatshirt. It became very quiet until Tony heard Ziva's teeth chattering. "Ziva?" He questioned.
"Yes Tony?" She asked.
"Are you still that cold?"
"I am fine." She replied.
Trying to fall asleep again, the noise echoed in his ears, and he made a decision. "Come here." He said, pulling her body close to his own. She turned into his chest and he rubbed her arms quickly in effort to warm her up.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Trying to warm you up, Zi."
If it was possible, he pulled her closer, "Thank you, Tony." She mumbled. She looked up at him, and through the darkness he looked down at her. She could feel his hot breath on her lips, "Why are you doing this?"
"You're my partner." He returned. Not able to take it anymore, he closed the small gap that existed between their lips. It was short and sweet, but Ziva failed to understand why a ripple of passion ran through her body. "Ziva I'm..." Tony started, but she cut him off with her lips, this time the kiss was passionate. Tony threw his leg over her and got on all fours, so that his body was hovering over hers. He broke the kiss from her lips and began to trail kisses down her neck.
Ziva slipped her hands under Tony's NCIS sweatshirt, pulling it off of his body quickly, leaving him in his t-shirt and sweat pants. She moaned, because he was doing amazing things to her.
Soon after, Tony's body collapsed on top of hers, both of them breathing hard as a thin layer of sweat covered their bodies. He rolled off of her, but then pulled her body close to his. He smiled and pressed a kiss against her forehead, "You warm now, sweetcheeks?"
Ziva chuckled, "Extremely."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Back at NCIS, Special Agent Timothy McGee and Forensic Specialist Abigail Sciuto stared at her computer monitor in shock.
"Did you see..."
"Yeah." McGee interrupted.
"They actually..."
"Yep."
"And they..."
"Yep."
Abby grinned and then jumped up and down in excitement, "McGee! They did it! They had sex!"
McGee furrowed her eyebrows together, "Abby that's not a good thing."
Abby lost her smile and stared at the monitor again, that was now black and completely silent.
Abby sighed, McGee was right.
"Yeah McGee," She started, "Gibbs is going to kill them."