Chapter Six: The Morning After
Ziva's eyes opened instantly at 4:00 am, well trained from years of Mossad teachings. Yawning and stretching slightly, she tried to roll out of bed, but felt herself being restrained by something. Immediately, her senses were on alert. The something was warm and…comforting in a way. Suddenly, the events of the day before popped back into her brain. The funeral, the news, the packing, and…Tony.
Slowly, she stopped her unconscious struggling and turned to face him. He was spooned up against her back, one arm flung over her stomach and the other above her head, wrapped around her hair. Moving her legs experimentally, she affirmed her suspicions about them being firmly tangled together. Sighing, she started to inch her way out from beneath his arm, trying not to wake him as she fumbled with the knot that had been made by their lower limbs.
Just as she was almost out of the bed, Tony's sleepy voice murmured, "Where'ya goin'?"
Ziva froze, one leg on the floor, the other still halfway on the mattress. Biting her lip, she considered the possible answers quickly.
"Coffee," she finally whispered, removing her other leg from the bed and wrapping the sheet around her, moving toward the doorway.
Tony sat up and glanced at the clock before he groaned and ran his hand over his face. "'s only four Ziva. Go back to sleep."
Ziva stopped and turned back to face him. Before she could stamp down the thought, it registered in her mind that he looked incredibly young when he was waking up. One cheek still bore the red imprint of the pillow and his hair was tousled and sticking up at every possible angle. He rubbed his eyes with one fist, just like a little boy, and his lips were turned down in a slight pout. She couldn't help but giggle.
At the noise, Tony looked up and really saw her for the first time that morning. Her hair was incredibly bushy, tiny, frizzy curls framing her face. Even at the ungodly hour at which she'd woken, she looked gorgeous. The remaining laughter on her face made crinkles around her eyes and a slight dimple in the left corner of her mouth and Tony couldn't help but smile back at her.
"Com'ere," he said, patting the bed.
Ziva walked slowly to the bed and sat down, the smile leaving her face. Playing with the edge of the sheet, she didn't speak or make eye contact with the man behind her. Tony, sensing her discomfort, waited patiently, or, as patiently as he could.
Not long after three minutes had ticked by, he blurted out, "Ziva, what's wrong?"
She sighed heavily, still picking at the threads on the sheet she had wrapped around her. "I am leaving Tony," she finally said, as if it explained everything.
Tony crinkled his brow. "Yeah, and?"
She looked up at him and he could see that there were faint traces of tears beginning to well in her eyes. Slowly he reached out and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into him almost immediately and whispered softly into his chest.
"I did not want this to happen. I did not want to get closer than necessary. Three years ago I promised myself that."
Tony let out a breath. "Ziva," he began, but stopped, not knowing what to say. He would have never imagined something like this, ever. He'd known that Mossad was different from NCIS, but being afraid to care? His heart melted for her.
After a moment of just holding her, feeling the small tears seeping quietly out of the corners of her eyes against his chest, he finally knew what to say.
"I'm not going anywhere."
oOo
The first thing Abby heard when she woke was the sound of McGee's light snoring. The first thing she felt was the cold hard floor beneath the thin layer of sleeping bag currently causing her back to knot up. Groaning and moving one hand to her face, she rubbed quickly and glanced at the clock on the wall. 7:00 am. Good God.
Slumping back against the still-sleeping man beside her, Abby once again turned her face into his chest and thought about the day prior. It had been painful at best. But now that she had passed the hysterical crying stage, she could think rationally and knew that she would help Gibbs in anyway she could to get the team back. She knew it might be better for them to be apart, but she conceded that she was a selfish person and wanted the people she loved most beside her.
"Hey, Timmy," Abby whispered into McGee's ear. He twitched slightly, but didn't wake up.
"McGee!" This whisper was louder and McGee sat up quickly, pushing Abby off of him and almost knocking her head against the table.
"What!" he sputtered, still half asleep.
Abby giggled softly. "You're up," she stated unnecessarily.
"Is that all?" McGee groaned tiredly, trying to stretch his aching back. 'Sleeping on floors is definitely not my thing,' he thought to himself.
"Yeah, I guess," Abby said, chewing her bottom lip with a suddenly somber expression on her face.
Turning up green eyes huge with worry she asked McGee, "Can we go to the airport and say goodbye?"
McGee thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know about you Abs, but I don't think I will. I said my goodbyes yesterday and I don't think they'd appreciate it if we showed up in tears. Especially Ziva. It would just make it harder."
Abby's shoulders slumped. "I know that McGee. I just don't want them to go so bad."
"Abbs," McGee reassured her, reaching out and pulling her into a hug, "They may be really, really far away, but it's not like they don't have webcam. Well, I'm not really sure about Tony," he added thoughtfully, "I don't know if they'll allow him to bring one on board, but I know Ziva definitely will and you can IM them any time you want. We'll send pictures and they'll send pictures and it'll just be like they're on a really long vacation, ok?"
Abby nodded her head against his chest, but McGee could tell that she didn't believe him. He winced as he ran over his words in his head. He hadn't even managed to convince himself.
After a few minutes of just holding each other, Abby pulled back. She wiped her eyes quickly as McGee turned away and pretended not to notice. The she reached out a poked his bicep.
"Go," she said in a no-nonsense tone, "It's Friday. You start Monday. You have to get your desk cleaned out. And you have to say something to Gibbs."
At McGee's protesting noise, Abby shook her head firmly.
"I know he's private. I know he's going to dislike the fact that you were there to witness his little private tantrum-like thing, whatever that was, but you have to at least say bye. Even if you are only five minutes away. He cares Timmy," she said passionately. Her eyes shone a brighter green that normal and McGee could tell that she was trying not to cry again. "Please," she choked.
McGee broke.
"I'll talk to him Abby," he promised and, even though he didn't particularly want to, he knew he would. He knew that every time his traitorous body would make him want to back out, his mind would never let him forget the woman he still loved standing in front of him with tears in her eyes. She cared, and she knew he cared, and so he would do it.
oOo
The bright yellow cab pulled up at the airport curb with plenty of time to spare before the nine o'clock plane that would be transporting a certain Israeli back to her homeland was scheduled to leave. Opening the door and placing one booted foot on the sidewalk carefully, Ziva hauled herself out of the car door, smiling slightly as she heard Tony grumbling about the price of the damn ride.
Slamming the door shut on his face and grinning sweetly as he gave her a death glare, she headed around to the trunk to grab her bags. Seeing her things mixed in within his made her stomach clench with the same doubts she had been feeling that morning, but unlike during the few hours prior, they went away quickly. Though he hadn't exactly promised anything, Ziva now knew that Tony would remain in touch with her as best he could. It was all any of them could do.
"Hey Zee-vah!" Tony whined from behind her, "Hurry up! You're blocking all the traffic."
Ziva glared pointedly at the empty street behind them.
"Yeah, well," Tony shrugged, reaching around her to grab his three large suitcases and duffel bag. He, like Ziva, would be bringing only what was necessary and have the rest of his things shipped out to a small apartment on the California coastline where he could crash whenever he was allowed shore leave. "If there was any traffic, you and your humongous butt would make sure they were stuck way behind us."
"Yeow!" he yelped as Ziva punched him hard in the arm, trying hard to keep an offended expression on her face but failing miserably.
"Do not make me injure you severely Tony," she growled in a mock angry tone.
"Besides," she called over her shoulder as she strapped her suitcases to the rickety silver trolley the airport graciously provided for its passengers, "You weren't complaining about my butt last night. Or this morning for that matter," she added thoughtfully.
Smiling at his slightly stunned, adorably goofy expression, she gave a little wave and stepped through the revolving doors, leaving him standing outside as the cab that had taken them there peeled away.
"Hey!" he finally yelled as he snapped out of the memories she'd evoked in him. Placing his bags on a trolley, he ran after her.
He found her waiting in line to have her luggage weighed and stored and rushed to stand beside her. She said nothing, only smiled softly at him before she resumed tapping her fingers against the handle of her trolley. He smiled back and fiddled with her hair, which she'd left down today as per his request. They waited as the line moved on, pausing their unconsciously nervous movements every now and then to step up a place and continue their journey through baggage check. They didn't say a word to each other as they stood comfortably close together, each reminiscing over the past few years and cursing each other, and themselves, for not having broken Rule #12 sooner.
Finally, they made it to the front of the line. After a headache-filled half-hour long explanation to the extremely ditzy-looking blond at the counter that no, they weren't traveling together, and yes, they realized that they were in line together, and yes, they knew plane to San Diego would not be leaving for another 5 hours, and no they were not married for Chrissake, they got their luggage sorted onto the appropriate planes and headed off, much to the relief of the young mother with the crying baby who'd been four places behind them in line.
As they headed toward customs, Tony rubbed his head absently and wished he'd thought to bring Tylenol with him.
"God that was a nightmare," he groaned.
Ziva sighed and shook her head. "Sadly, I have been through worse. Once, when I was undercover for Mossad, I almost missed my plane because the man at the counter was too busy oogling me to weigh my baggage properly."
"Ogling, Ziva," Tony corrected her, then couldn't help but asking, "What did you do to him?"
Ziva merely smiled enigmatically and said, "Oh nothing. I just helped him realize that I most certainly am not the kind of person he would want to sleep with."
Tony winced sympathetically…for the airport guy.
"Hey, here it is," he said, pointing to the terminal they'd been searching for. The terminal that contained the plane that would take Ziva away from him.
Hoisting the black shoulder bag that served as her carry-on higher onto her shoulder, Ziva turned back to look at her former partner.
"Come on Tony," she said. "Can we just sit for awhile? I still have almost half and hour until my plane leaves."
Tony nodded, not at all ready to let her go yet.
They sat down on a pair of uncomfortable yellow plastic chairs and watched various people place their bags on the conveyor belt and walk through the scanner for several minutes before Ziva spoke.
"Tony I—," she broke off and snapped her mouth shut.
"What is it sweetcheeks?"
Ziva felt herself smile despite the tears welling in her eyes. Without a word, Tony reached over the armrest and pulled her into a hug. They sat like that for a while, not saying anything, until Tony glanced up at the clock and noticed the time.
"You'd better go Ziva," he said quietly, releasing her reluctantly. She looked at the small wall clock, then stood up slowly. Tony stood up with her and together they walked toward the scanner.
"Bye Tony," Ziva whispered.
She put her carry-on down on the conveyor belt and gave Tony one last hug before stepping through the doorway.
Once she was through, she grabbed her bag and turned around to face him, giving him a small smile and a wave, which he returned.
Then she was gone.