Managed to fix this chapter up today. If there are any errors or mistakes in this one I blame my black eye, it was harder to concentrate and proof read after accidentally getting hit in the face at soccer yesterday :) However all of your reviews continue to light up my day and make me work as hard as I can on this for you all.
Waking up to the chirp of his cell phone was something Tony didn't enjoy. Especially since he had only fallen asleep two hours ago. It had also woken Ziva, nothing that loud would go missed by her ninja senses. He didn't want to but he had to let go of Ziva to retrieve his phone. His hand slipped away from her back where he held her to him and her arms released him as well. He saw her smiling softly at him when he rolled over to get his phone, he took the smile as a good sign. She hadn't regretted snuggling up to him.
His eyes were still half asleep so he didn't bother to check the caller ID, he couldn't wait long enough for his eyes to adjust for that.
"DiNozzo" he answered, followed by a yawn.
"It's Edwards. We got another dead marine, Private Jack Hall. He was found about thirty minutes ago at a park a street down from the bar we checked out the other day" Edwards explained straight away. Tony had to take a minute to process that with his still half asleep mind. He really, really didn't want to get out of bed right now, not when he had had Ziva so close in his arms. She may not let him again. But it looked like he was going to have to get out of bed. He started to wonder if there was any federal agent or detective that got the proper amount of sleep each week.
"Same M.O?" Tony asked, pulling back the covers and standing out of bed. He turned his head around to see Ziva watching him. With one simple nod of his head in her direction she was getting out of bed. He didn't miss the shiver that ran through her as she stepped out of the bed and into the cold air of the room. The temperature tonight had gone down even more while they had been briefly asleep and the heater problem wasn't helping.
"Yeah, same thing, throat slit from ear to ear, hands cut off and body severely beaten" Edwards explained. Whoever it was doing the killings, Tony knew had some serious anger issues. The marines they found were always beaten to a pulp. Tony listened as he picked up his pair of pants from the day before. A quick look around the room and he noticed Ziva had disappeared into the bathroom so he pulled his sweatpants off and pulled on his dress pants. He didn't have time to go hunting for a pair of boxers so he would just have to go without. It's not like he hadn't done it before anyways.
"Evans is on his way over to pick you up. He'll be there in about ten" Edwards replied.
"Ok, we'll see you soon" Tony said before hanging up. As he grabbed a shirt out of his bag and threw it on Ziva emerged from the bathroom. Cargo pants and what he would guess was at least three layers of shirts and on top of that was her big coat. He smiled softly at her effort to keep warm for the day. She yawned as she slid her boots on her fluffy sock covered feet and Tony knew that this was going to be a very long day. He was yawning again too and on the outside he may look rested but honestly, two hours sleep did not do any good for him.
When they arrived at the scene it was snowing softly and they had to get to work before the snow covered too much of their evidence. And for once, Tony missed the NCIS windbreakers. Sure he would normally say he would rather not wear them but on this occasion he missed the small amount of extra warmth it would provide him right now in this weather. He finally decided that even though this was a really nice place, he would never want to live here.
Ziva was next to him taking the photos as he gathered evidence. He looked across at her when she cursed in her native language. Her hands were shaking from the cold and she couldn't get a clear shot with the camera with her shaking. She didn't need to explain it to him for him to understand what was wrong. He could do it with just one look at the evidence in front of him. He was good at reading evidence. He was good at reading Ziva.
He stood up from where he was crouching next to the body and took one step across so he stood at her side. Her eyes flickered to him briefly but she continued what she was doing, trying not to let the weather interfere with her work. She took another photo and sighed. She couldn't get it with the constant shaking of her hands.
Tony reached out and gently placed his slightly warm hands over hers. Hers were ice cold.
"Here. Let me" he said quietly, searching her eyes for an answer of some sort. There was a small twinkle in them that he caught. She was thankful that he was going to take over, he had her back on this. She slowly slid her hands from under his and he took the camera in his grasp. She pulled the strap off her neck and placed it over his head and around his neck.
Her fingers touched the skin of his neck and he felt it when her thumb brushed over his neck once, just once while their eyes locked briefly. Showing him that she really appreciated this. She gave him a soft smile before shoving her hands into her pockets, trying to get that warmth back into them.
For a moment he just stood there and looked at her. She was gazing into space towards the trees on the other side of the park. The soft park lights and the bright white snow beneath her feet lit up her features. The snow was softly falling around her and her slow, steady breaths came out in a puff of smoky air. It truly was a beautiful sight. He could stand here and stare at that sight all day.
She must have felt his eyes on her like she usually did and turned her head slowly, meeting his eyes. She smiled at him again. It was that same soft smile that she had been giving him a lot lately. He smiled right back. He was about to say something when Evans and Edwards walked over and began discussing the information they had just got from the man who had found the body. And then they were right back into work. Moment lost.
He hated snow right in this moment. How the hell are you supposed to run in Italian shoes in the snow when you're trying to catch a suspect who fled as soon as they saw you coming? Tony wish he had one of those snowmobiles right now. Evidence had been found at the scene involving a man named Bobby Grey. They found out he worked at an auto shop in town and went to bring the guy in for some questions.
However as soon as he saw the two cops approach he bolted out into the street. Tony and Evans right on his tail. Sure, Evans was younger than him and was more athletic, and had healthy lungs, and shoes that actually had some sort of grip to them, and… and he was just going to stop comparing himself to Evans. He was determined to catch Grey, even if it killed him. He wasn't letting pretty boy Evans take the perp and get the credit for it. Well he didn't really care what Edwards thought but if Evans caught the guy he would definitely show off to Ziva about it.
He admits that he is jealous about the nothing that Ziva assured him was there. He didn't like the way Evans flirted with Ziva. He had already done it eleven times today. Yes, he had counted. Evans and Grey already had a bit of a distance in front of him but who was he kidding? He wasn't as young, fit or had healthy lungs. He wasn't going to lie in saying Evans didn't have those things to his advantage right now.
Tony was sure they chased the guy a good mile or two before Tony was about to give up. He hadn't stretched before this 'run' (more like a sprint) and the pace was much to fast compared to his normal jogs he went on. His lungs were straining in the cold air. Cold air like this was never good for his weak lungs when he pushed them hard out like he was. However just before he was about to give up, he saw a plan.
Just as they were coming up to another corner there was an alleyway. Deciding to risk it and take a gamble that the perp would head to the right and not the left, Tony turned down the alley. He ran with all the last of his energy to the end of the alleyway. And lucky for him, just as he was coming out of the alley Grey was running passed. Tony wasn't going to just whip out his gun and yell at the guy to stop, that wasn't going to work. So in the next nanosecond he decided to just take a page out of his college days. When he played football.
He knew it was going to hurt before he lunged himself at the guy. But how much worse could he get than how he already felt? He tackled the guy and they both went crashing to the ground in a heap. As soon as they were to the ground Tony grabbed the guy's arms and pulled them behind his back. Roughly. With ice covered hands from the ground one of his hands slipped and Grey ripped his arm away. Successfully elbowing Tony in the head in the process.
Evans joined him on the ground then and they managed to get the guy in handcuffs. Tony then noticed some blood on the snow. So did Evans.
"DiNozzo, your heads bleeding" Evans pointed out and he left Grey face down on the snow for a moment. Tony lifted his hand to his head and when he pulled it back in front of his eyes he had blood on his hands.
"Dammit, how bad?" Tony asked. He hoped he hadn't got any on his suit. Evans leant in a little closer.
"You banged your eyebrow up, may need a couple stitches" he concluded. Tony hated having to go to hospitals. Tony just nodded and stood from the ground. His suit slightly damp now from some snow he had on it. He held his hand to his forehead, pressing down, hoping to slow the blood flow before they got back to the car. Which they had to walk all the way back to.
Evans had lifted Grey to his feet and they started their trek back to the car. A while later when they finally got to the car they put Grey in the backseat and then they went to the trunk and Evans gave Tony something to hold against his cut, so it wouldn't bleed everywhere. Then Evans had looked up at Tony. He had realized how the older man was still breathing deeply, and he had calmed down from the run a long while back.
"Too hard for you DiNozzo?" Evans smirked. Tony wanted to smack the smirk off his face. No it wasn't too hard, his scarred lungs just weren't capable for handling the task, a task he had achieved if he might add.
"No. I have badly scarred lungs and the cold air upsets them and makes it harder for me to breathe when I stress my lungs like that" Tony replied. And the slight sharpness to his tone had got the reaction he was looking for. Evans felt guilty now.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-" Evans began, feeling stink for irking him now. However Tony cut him off. He wasn't a total basted.
"Na its fine. Don't worry about it" Tony replied. He didn't mind the guy, he was ok. He just didn't like how he came onto his partner and he saw that as competition. That's all. He was a nice bloke. Evans just nodded at him.
"Lets get Grey back so we can get your eyebrow looked at" Evans announced. Closing the trunk and heading for the front of the vehicle.
"Alright" Tony replied, going to his seat on the passenger side.
They put Grey into a cell before heading to the team's office. Tony didn't miss all the looks he was getting as they walked through the police station. He had blood all over a part of his face after all. When they walked into the office Ziva and Edwards were looking at some papers and discussing something on the case. That was until they looked up and saw Tony. More pacifically Ziva saw Tony.
"Oh my god, Tony what happened?" she asked, putting the paper in her hand down and walking around the table to get to him. Stopping right in front of him.
"I just got an elbow in the face, nothing major" Tony shrugged. Ziva brought her hands up to where his held the cloth to his head to stop the bleeding. She pulled his hands away gently and observed his injuries with her own eyes. She needed to know with her own opinion that it was 'nothing major'. There was a split at the end of his eyebrow where he had been bleeding and she could also see the start of a bruise beginning.
However with her Army/Mossad trained injury knowledge, she knew he would need a few little stitches to the split. Nothing major yes, but still it was something that needed to be fixed.
"You will need two, maybe three stitches Tony" she stated. He knew whatever she concluded would be right, he knew she had had training in the Israeli army for that sort of thing. He groaned. He did not want to take a trip down to the ER and wait for hours to get a few stitches. Plus he hated over crowed public hospitals. She knew that and she could tell he really resented going.
She brought her hand up to the side of his face and softly touched her fingers next to the injury, having a slightly better look.
"If there is a good enough medical kit here I could do it" she stated. He looked down to meet her eyes with his. She was serious about it. He was slightly hesitant about her doing it.
"I dunno Zi…" he said. It's not like he didn't trust her or anything, of course he did. It's just that this was on his face, so that was a big deal. His face was important to him. She gave him a reassuring smile none the less.
"I have done it many times before Tony, I will not disfigure your pretty face" she smiled. Even though there was a playful ring to her answer, he knew she was serious. It was all in her eyes. He was truly safe in her hands. Anyways, he knew her hands were very steady when she did most things, and what makes a good doctor other than having steady hands?
"Ok Dr David" he said, returning her smile. It was then Tony noticed he and Ziva had gone off into their own little conversation while Edwards and Evans watched. And was that some sort of jealousy he saw in Evans eyes? Whatever it was he chose to ignore it and bring the detectives into the conversation.
"So, do you have some sort of medical kit around here somewhere?" Tony asked smiling. Edwards smiled back.
"I don't think I could let Evans stitch me up, I wouldn't trust him" Edwards laughed as he walked out of the room to retrieve the medical supplies. Tony wouldn't either, but Ziva was different, she had much more training across the field then Evans had. Ziva knew what she was doing, and he truly trusted her.
He couldn't say that even though this was a bad thing he wasn't enjoying it. True, he had a killer pain in his eyebrow, a bruise that was beginning to show and he was still bleeding slightly but right now he wasn't paying attention to that. What he was paying attention to was Ziva's hands on his face right now, and the way she was concentrating on her task. On him.
They had retreated to the women's bathroom (it was so a them place it wasn't funny) because there were a lot less females at the police station and Edwards wasn't sure how well a female would go down being in the men's bathroom with every male that walked in and out of there all the time. She had sat him on the basin and she took her place between his legs, best spot so she could get her hands where she needed them.
He was slightly nervous by how close she was actually standing to him. Her body was only about a fraction away from touching his. If she did move any closer she would touch him right between the legs where-
He stopped thinking that right away before he got himself in trouble or did something stupid. He wasn't going to distract her when she was meant to be stitching up his precious face. She was cleaning the blood off his face right now, running a damp cloth down his cheek, his neck, through the very edge of his hair. And if she was bothered by the fact she was getting his blood on her hands she didn't seem to show it. She seemed very unfazed by it.
His eyes followed her face, the way she was carefully looking just to the side of his eyes where his eyebrow was, every now and then she would quickly flicker her eyes to meet his because she could feel him staring. And he was staring, he wasn't going to deny it, and she knew this. Ever since the first day she had walked into the bullpen he had stared at her any chance he got, she was just so pleasing to look at and watch. The way she did things would amaze him sometimes, that and she always looked good while she did it.
Maybe it was just because she was beautiful that he couldn't keep his eyes off her. Maybe it was because he was just so attracted to who she was, what she really meant to him. God, he was damn sure he was having those deep feelings about his partner again, and right now they were all running through his head at full speed.
They had been circling in his head a lot more in the past few days now that he thinks of it. Maybe it was because he was spending all of his time with her, in and out of work because they were sharing a hotel together. Maybe it was because someone wasn't around to monitor him and deliver those head slaps every time he thought he saw something inappropriate.
Ziva put the cloth down and picked up a small bottle. She put some of the liquid from the bottle onto a clean little cloth. When her eyes caught his again he knew what was going to happen next. His head was going to burn. She softly placed the cloth to his head and that goddamn antiseptic crap stung. Why the hell would something that was supposed to help, hurt so much? He hissed in pain and Ziva pulled it back slowly.
"Sorry Tony, but I need to clean it properly" she stated softly. She knew she was meant to be playing doctor right now but she didn't like to hear him in pain like that. Tony nodded gently.
"No, I know. Its fine" he replied. It was going to happen anyways, at the hospital or not, it had to be done. He would get over it. Ziva put the antiseptic down and picked up the small needle and wire thread. A surgical suture, or that's what Ziva told him it was. She said he was lucky it happened to be in their medical kit, you wouldn't normally find them in the classic medical kit, well unless you were in the armed forces or Mossad, that's what she had explained anyways.
She brought it up to eye level as she approached his eyebrow. Heck, he really didn't want to see that thing so up close and personal, he actually didn't like needles that much. Ever since he was forced to have an injection by his doctor as a kid. She stopped just above his eyebrow and her hand that wasn't holding the needle went softly to his jaw, holding his head in place. She locked eyes with him again.
"This is the bit you're not going to like, but all I really need you to do is keep still, ok?" she said. As serious as she would ever be.
"Ok, I'll try" he said quietly in return. Now, all he needs to do is keep still. That's simple enough, right? Her hand moved again and it got closer. She wasn't paying attention to him anymore, well not his gaze anyways. She was solely focused on that needle. Oh god, oh god, that needle was pressing into his skin right now and it did not feel ok. Well he was the one who didn't want to go to the hospital and have the benefit of him being numb when they did it.
He guessed this was worth it, as long as he got to have a nice strong alcoholic drink later he would be ok. When she went in a second time he closed his eyes tight. Maybe he should have had a drink before she did it. No, he was on the clock and he shouldn't drink on the clock. God dammit, he needed a drink, on the clock or not.
However by the third time that horrid needle pierced his skin, it didn't feel so bad. The pain of it all was beginning to numb him. He opened his eyes to see her still concentrating away on her task, which was a good thing really. If she wasn't concentrating he might be in trouble. He felt her rise up a bit more on her tippy-toes so she could get to his eyebrow better. He found his hands reaching out and gently taking her by the waist.
She didn't seem to notice, that or she just ignored the fact his hands were holding onto her waist right now. He found himself beginning to forget what was even happening. The fact he only just realized now that her body was even closer to his then it was before. Is that even possible? If she were to move a hair of a step closer she would touch him. His hands twitched at her sides, he could easily pull her that little step closer.
Before he realized it, it was more than just a thought. His hands gently pulled her closer and she pressed into him. He ran his hands lightly up the sides of her waist, heading back down again slowly. Whatever stupid move he was about to do next was stopped by Ziva's voice filling his ears.
"Tony, you are distracting me. I need to focus on this if you want it not to be noticeable when you're healed" she replied. Her voce wasn't angry or upset. It was very neutral. And yet she didn't make a move to step back at all. She stayed right were she was. Maybe he would be allowed to hold her in his arms again tonight. Maybe she had deeper feelings about him than he thought she did.
"Ok, sorry" he replied. He didn't remove his hands though, he left them softly at her side. But he didn't move them, that may end up in one of his appendages being dismembered, because after all she had given him his warning. You don't get a second one when it comes to ninjas. He had learnt that a long time ago.
Hope you enjoyed this one :)
Hundan