Good day, everyone!
I'm sorry for not posting yesterday but there seemed to be a problem with the whole file uploading thing here at FF and after I tried about 10 times, I gave up and decided to try again today... AND IT WORKED! Aren't I a genius? (readers reply: yes, Angie, you're a genius ^_^)
Anyways... there's something I'm meant to say every time I post but I just can't remember right now... something to do with CBS and a guy called Donald P. Bellisario... whatever ^_^
Enjoy, children!
CHAPTER 7
"So this is the infamous DiNozzo residence…" Liz said while Tony opened his apartment door
"I hope you're ready for it…" He joked as he let her in
It was, in a way what Liz had expected: a typical bachelor's pad with a black leather couch, dark wood furniture, a crystal dining table, practical kitchen and a huge TV screen and next to it an even bigger armoire.
As Tony closed the door, Liz approached to the armoire and opened it revealing the most complete motion picture collection anyone on Earth had ever seen.
"Wow…" She exclaimed after whistling in awe
"Surprised?" He asked joining her in the living room
"Nah, not really… mine is bigger" She said and looked at him daringly "And better…"
"Oh really? How come?"
"Well, for starters, I don't see 'Gone With The Wind' anywhere" Liz said turning her attention back to the collection
"Oh, yeah… McProbie borrowed it"
Liz walked up to him and slapped him once more in the back of the head.
"Ouch! That hurt! What's with you and all the slapping? Who are you? Gibbs?" He exclaimed
"I made a deal with McGee and I can honestly say I'm enjoying it" She replied sitting on the couch
"Right…" He replied narrowing his eyes at her "Would you like something to drink?" He asked
"Uhmm… the ever-so-gentle paramedic gave a couple of painkillers… I don't think prescription drugs and alcohol should mix…"
"Well, how about some non-alcoholic beverage such as… white wine?" Tony suggested
"I might be on medication, Tony but I'm not an idiot"
"Oh, c'mon! An itty bitty glass of wine is not gonna hurt you… or me…" He said and walked to the kitchen
Liz chuckled to herself and looked around, studying her surroundings.
The apartment was, in a way what she had expected, yes but it was cosier than she had anticipated.
She started taking her jacket off but the pain in her arm didn't let her.
"Hey, hey, wait… let me help you" Tony said rushing to the living room and leaving the 2 glasses of wine on the coffee table. He then assisted Liz to strip her jacket off "Better?"
"Yeah, thanks…"
"Here you go" He said giving her one of the glasses
"Thank you, Tony"
"You're very welcome… a toast to… to you" He said solemnly raising his glass
"To me? And why might that be?" She asked amused
"Because you cheated death today and you are here… with me…"
"That's very sweet, Tony. Thank you…"
"No, thank you…" He said and clinked his glass against hers making her smile "So…" He continued "I got you these. I had them on the fridge so you can choose whatever you want to eat"
He handed out 7 different menus for her to choose.
"Whatever you want to eat its fine by me" She said
"I asked you out so you should choose…"
"Alright, alright… let me see…" She said and took the menus "Italian? Nah… Japanese? Nah… Vegetarian? You eat vegetarian food?"
"Uhmm… no… this is not mine… no idea how it got here" He said and threw it away and Liz laughed
"Chinese… mmm… that sounds nice…" Liz said and then her stomach growled "Ow… sorry… I haven't eaten anything since breakfast"
"No wonder your stomach is threatening to eat us all! It would be like in 'The Blob'!"
"Are you insinuating that my stomach is a giant amoeba-like alien?" She asked insulted
"No… of course not…" Tony rushed to say and then whispered "Maybe a little…"
"Ok, you earned it…" She said and slapped him in the back of the head two times in a row
"One day, Liz… one day…" He warned squinting and Liz laughed even harder than before "By the way… what does the M mean?"
"The M?"
"Yes… Elizabeth M. Hadley… I've known you for over 5 years and I still don't know what it stands for"
"'Mind your own business' that's what it stands for" Liz snapped at him
"C'mon, tell me!" Tony insisted
"Not in a million years…"
"Why not?"
"Because I hate it, that's why…" She replied and he kept looking at her as if he had just gotten a brilliant idea "And don't even think of looking it up in my personal file, cause you won't find it…"
"Awww…" He exclaimed disappointed and then laughed with Liz
After deciding, Tony ordered some Chinese not much later they got their food.
They ate and had a very nice evening.
Later, they decided to watch 'The Court Jester' with Danny Kaye. A hilarious film they both loved.
"I love this part…" Liz said as the scene where the jester is forced to march among the soldiers
"Yeah…" Tony said not really looking at the screen. For the past 10 minutes he hadn't been watching any of the film. He had just been staring at Liz whose head was leaning against his shoulder
Liz noticed his distraction and looked up "Tony, that's not the movie"
"I know…" He said and lowered his eyes to her lips
"And those are definitely not my eyes…" She said
"I know…" This time his voice sounded huskier as he leaned forward
"Whoa…" Liz exclaimed scooting away "What… what do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like?" He asked scooting closer to her
"It looks like something you shouldn't be doing…" She replied leaning backwards as he got closer to her "Tony, stop it!"
"Why?" He asked "We're on a date, remember? Don't you kiss your guy on the first date?"
"N---not usually…" She stammered nervous because of Tony's proximity to her
"Let me change your mind…"
And then, he pressed his lips against hers. At first, Liz kept her eyes open and the tension in her body was evident but as the kiss progressed, she gave in and while Tony surrounded her waist with his arms, she passed her own around Tony's neck, closing her eyes.
They both deepened the kiss and after a moment… or two Tony picked her up and took her to his bedroom.
She didn't protest and had the best night of her life.
The next morning, Liz woke up and the first thing she saw was Tony's face. He was sound asleep, thankfully.
She sighed and ran her hands through her hair.
"This is so wrong…" She whispered
Next thing, carefully, she pulled the sheet from under Tony and wrapped herself in it after standing up.
She looked for every item of clothing she had been wearing, the only problem was that she couldn't find her bra and the last thing she wanted was to wake Tony up and having to face the awkward 'morning after' discussion.
"Oh, what the hell…" She cursed under her breath and decided to leave with anything she found which, fortunately was everything… well, except for the bra
Just as she was zipping her pants up, Tony seemed to be waking up.
"Don't wake up… don't wake up… please… don't let him wake up" Liz prayed in a murmur
He didn't wake up. He just mumbled some unintelligible words and stretched towards the spot where Liz had been lying minutes earlier.
She sighed in relief and continued gathering her stuff.
Once in the living room, she called a cab and less than 3 minutes later it arrived.
She gave one last look at Tony before leaving.
"I'm sorry…"
And then she exited the apartment, went downstairs, got on the cab and left.
"What?" Tony asked suddenly waking up hearing a car machine starting "Liz?"
He got up and noticed Liz's absence.
"Liz?" He repeated walking out of the bedroom in nothing but his boxers "Are you in the bathroom?" No answer
He searched high and low but she wasn't there. He returned to the bedroom and saw the strip of her bra sticking out from under his pillow. He picked it up and sat on the bed.
"Liz…" He repeated once more sighing with sadness
At Gibbs' house, Kirsty and Gibbs himself were ready leave for the office. They had agreed to stop at Kirsty's motel to give her the chance to get her clothes and change them.
After getting what they needed from the motel, they drove to NCIS but she noticed that they had taken a different route.
"Are we still going to NCIS?" She asked
"Not yet… I need to see… a friend at Meridian Park… it won't take long" Gibbs replied and kept driving
Ten minutes later they arrived to the park.
"It'll take lees than 2 minutes" He reassured Kirsty and got out of the car
Gibbs approached to the bench where he had agreed to see Trent Kort the day before; he was already there.
"Do you have them?" Gibbs asked sitting on the opposite end of the bench from Kort
"All three of them…" He replied dryly
"Thanks" Gibbs said and stood up
"Wait, Gibbs…" Kort said standing up as well and Gibbs turned around annoyed by the CIA agent "I got you this too…"
He then handed Gibbs another yellow envelope, just like the other 2 he had given him before and Gibbs read the name on it.
"I didn't ask for this"
"I thought you might want to take a look at it… after all, agent Hadley hasn't been all that honest with you, has she?"
"I don't see how that's any of your business, Kort"
Gibbs turned around and left with the four files: Kirsty Randall's, Ilya Smirnov's, Dmitri Vasiliev's and Elizabeth Hadley's.
Inside the car, Kirsty saw Gibbs talking with the man and suddenly, her cell phone rang.
She glanced at the screen and the 'Private' tag confused her.
"Hello?" She answer hesitating
"Hello, Kirsty, do you remember me?" A familiar voice asked with a perfect English and yet a light Russian accent
"Who is this?"
"Don't you recognize the voice of your ex-fiancée?"
Kirsty widened her eyes in fear.
"How did you get this number?"
"It wasn't easy, I can assure you that…" The man paused "I know you've been talking to the feds, Kirsty"
"You sent Smirnov to kill me, what did you expect?" She said closing her eyes
"Oh, Милая (Sweetheart), do you seriously think I would do anything to hurt you? No, no… you were not the target. I grew sick of Collins' demands for more cash in exchange of his services. Believe me, Smirnov's services were cheaper than Collins'… Smirnov, on the other hand, was a lamentable loss" He paused again "Kirsty… I want to see you…"
"I don't, Dmitri…"
"Don't say that… you know you want to…"
He was absolutely right. She wanted to see him. She wanted to finish what she had started 5 years ago when she had met him.
"You're right… I want to see you… but you're gonna have to give me some time to figure out how to get out of NCIS' constant surveillance" She said and noticed that Gibbs was walking back to the car "I have to go… text me the address of the place you're staying in and I will call you as soon as possible"
"That's my girl. I will send you the message right after we hang up" Kirsty could hear the smile in his voice "Я тебя люблю (I love you)"
Kirsty gulped before responding "Я тоже тебя люблю (I love you too)" And then she hung up. She put her cell phone away before Gibbs noticed she had been talking
"Ready?" He asked closing the door and placing the files on the back seat
"Yep… ready" Kirsty said half smiling trying to suppress the nervousness
Gibbs started the car and drove away.
Sooooooooo.... that was it for now... but I don't think for today... I think I'm gonna be posting some more later today since I didn't give you guys anything yesterday... I'm in a giving mood today... even though I have a cold and sore throat and a bit of a fever and I feel yucky as hell and... *sighs* oh, well... whatever :p
Keep reading, keep R&Ring and just so you know, we are not all that far from knowing the truth about everything :D
Koo Koo Kah Choo, children! xoxo