Hey again! Twice in one day… not gonna happen often, but I've got some free time, so, here's chapter 2. This chapter is kinda a filler, but I promise the next one will have some action. Buen provecho!
Tony looked over to check on his partner again. Ziva didn't even notice as she kept her eyes trained on the forest floor in front of her, trying to maintain an even breathing pace to ease her discomfort. Tony noticed she was sweating bullets and was beginning to look a little pale in the face, a clear indicator that the tough assassin was indeed in pain, despite what she wanted him to believe.
"Ziva, why don't we take a break? We've gone a little over a mile, and we're making good time. We can afford to stop and breath for a sec. Plus, I'm gonna see if we have cell reception yet," suggested Tony, knowing that the Mossad officer would never suggest doing such a thing herself, although the relief in her eyes at the suggestion clearly demonstrated her need to rest.
Ziva simply nodded wearily in response, hissing loudly as she eased herself to the ground to sit against a large boulder with Tony's assistance. He pulled out his cell phone and waved it around, failing yet again to get a signal in the area. Tony snapped it shut and replaced it in his pocket.
"How ya doin' Zi?" questioned Tony, trying to start conversation to distract his partner.
"I have been better, Tony. But it is not so bad. The aspirin seems to have taken the point off."
"The edge. And good, I'm glad it's working. Do you want some water?" he asked, holding out the half-full bottle.
"Tony, I think we should save it for later. We still have 6 miles to cover. I will drink some later." Ziva replied. "Always the rational one, even hopped up on aspirin and clearly hurt," Tony thought.
"Alright, then. Let's get movin'. I don't want to have to resort to ludicrous speed later on," he joked, trying to get Ziva to smile, but the Spaceballs reference was clearly lost upon her confused face.
As they set off again, Tony noticed Ziva putting slightly more weight on his shoulders, a subconscious indicator that the trip was taking more of a toll on her tired body than she let on.
Tony decided to try and distract her with some sort of activity that would keep her focused on something other than her leg and the distance they had yet to cover.
"Zi, let's play a game. Would you rather—you have to come up with two options and the other person has to choose one of the two. It's easy. Only rule is, you have to choose one."
"Fine. You start." Ziva welcomed the distraction as her leg and wrist started to throb more as they covered more territory at their tortoise-like pace.
"Would you rather have to deal with Gibbs the day Starbucks goes out of business, or sit through a 3 hour lecture given by McNerd on the complexity of webcode?"
"Gibbs. First, Starbucks will never close. Not as long as Gibbs is around. And even if it did, Gibbs has other methods of retrieving his lifeblood, DiNozzo," Ziva shot back. "Would you rather kiss Jenny in front of Gibbs or be forced to go on a double date with Palmer?"
After much pondering, Tony replied, "As much as I would love to kiss Jen, I'm pretty sure Gibbs would snipe me in my sleep if he knew. I'm gonna have to go with the Autopsy Gremlin." Tony grimaced at the thought. "Would you rather go to a Brain Matter concert with Abs or spend the right watching every single John Wayne movie ever made with me?" he asked, expecting Ziva to chose Abby knowing her partiality towards the goth and her impartiality towards long periods of time spent with himself.
Thus, when Ziva replied, "You," he looked up at her trying to hide his surprise and quirked a half smile. Ziva simply raised an eyebrow and met his eyes with a tired stare.
In that moment, Ziva lost her footing on the slippery, moss covered ground and stumbled, stepping heavily on her right leg, eliciting a small yell as jolts of pain shot all the way up her thigh and down to her toes.
Tony caught her around the waist and righted her again, allowing her to hold onto him with both arms and lean against his chest as she tried to catch her breath and block out the pain once more. As tears filled her eyes she quickly thrust her face into Tony's shoulder, unwilling to release her grip around his neck to wipe them away.
"You okay there, Sweetcheeks?" Tony asked, concerned for his partner, and kicking himself for not being more careful to look out where they were walking.
"Fine, my Hairy Butt," Ziva hissed. "Let us keep walking. We still have 5 miles to go."
The pair continued on in silence, Tony keeping a watchful eye out for any other disturbances in their path, Ziva fighting to ignore the stabbing pains that arose every time she took as step.
About 30 minutes and one mile later, the two heard an ominous clap of thunder and looked up to see angry dark clouds, swirling overhead, ready to let loose what looked to be a monsoon's worth of rain.
"Shit, we'd better find somewhere to wait out the storm. We don't want a Twister reenactment," Tony said as he glanced around, looking for somewhere to sequester themselves from the already quickly falling droplets of rain.
"Tony, that is unnecessary. We shall continue. It is simply a little rain," retorted the stubborn assassin, clearly wanting to return to the car as soon as possible.
"Sweetcheeks, it's too dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt any worse. Come on, I see a small cave over there. The storm should be over in less than an hour, you could use the rest anyway."
Ziva grunted and nodded submissively as the pair made their way over to a small, dark cavern embedded in the side of a cliff-like overhang of sheet rock and lowered themselves to the ground, leaning against the far wall of their asylum.
"Zi, why don't you try to sleep? I'm sure you'll need your strength for the rest of the trip. I'll keep watch." Tony patted his legs, signaling Ziva to lay down and put her head in his lap. Tony grabbed his backpack and reached over Ziva's slender torso, gently lifting her injured leg and resting it upon the knapsack in order to elevate it slightly.
Ziva closed her eyes, trying to block out the dull throbbing in her leg, chest, and wrist, and listened to the rain, not falling in steady, hard cascades. She thought of the situation she was currently in… "Tony is being awfully considerate to me. Very out of person… that is wrong. But I am too tired to care. I hope the rain stops soon." And with that, she drifted off into a light, but deeply needed slumber.
Meanwhile Tony worried over his partner's appearance. She was still sweating, despite the slight chill in the air and her face had even less color than before.
Tony checked his phone once more, and was once more disheartened by the lack of bars present in the upper left-hand corner of the small screen.
He carefully unbuttoned his light blue button down shirt, not wanting to disturb his partner, and laid it across her torso, trying to protect her from the wind as best he could. Though it left him in nothing but a white v-neck undershirt, Tony did not mind. "It's Ziva," he thought to himself, "of course she's worth a little chilliness. When we get back, I'm so looking forward to a slice of steaming hot pizza. Mmmmm…. Damn, this rain better let up soon."
Please REVIEW!! Flame if you must, just lemme know what you think!