Always Be there
** * ** * ** * **
On Monday morning, Tony was fifteen minutes late to work. This time, he actually had a legitimate excuse, although he knew by now that he would still get a headslap. But the Boss would know and it would be one of his approving, "atta-boy, Tony" headslaps.
Tony was only marginally concerned that he read so much into getting hit by his boss.
"DiNozzo!" Tony made himself wince. Ziva and McGee didn't know that some of the Boss's headslaps were encouraging, and he didn't want them to think he'd gone off the deep end.
"Sorry, Boss. Got stuck in traffic" Partly true. He'd stopped to help an elderly lady change a flat tire, but he knew that McGee and Ziva wouldn't believe that. He'd tell Gibbs what really happened later.
Gibbs glared at him.
Or, he could tell him sooner – that might be better.
"You're late tomorrow, DiNozzo, don't bother showing up at all!" Gibbs barked at him, while simultaneously giving him one of those headslaps. Tony knew his boss would be waiting for him in the basement five minutes after he left for his first coffee break of the day.
"Gotcha, Boss."
It wasn't until after Tony settled down at his desk to pretend to pretend to work (he actually got quite a bit done that way, with no one buy Gibbs the wiser) that he realized Ziva was glaring at him. Actually, Ziva was glaring at him quite intensely.
Oh, shit, did she see me?
That would be very bad, if she did. Suddenly, he was quite thankful for the excuse to leave the bullpen as soon as Gibbs had. He'd leave under the pretense of visiting Abby and stall until Gibbs got back.
Absolutely. He was going to avoid the angry ninja-chick at all costs.
** * ** * ** * **
McGee was having a bad day. For once, it wasn't because of a case, or Gibbs, or even Tim himself doing something to piss somebody (usually Abby) off.
No, this time he was having a bad day because Tony pissed off Ziva. Why they dragged him into it, he didn't know. Tony had been using him as a kind of battle shield all afternoon. And then he had the audacity to say that he didn't know why Ziva was mad at him.
Tim sighed as he stared at the paperclip Ziva was brandishing at him. Tony had promised to buy him lunch for a week if he could get Ziva to admit why she suddenly wanted the older agent drawn and quartered.
"So, Ziva," he started warily, following the paperclip with his eyes. "What did Tony do this time?"
Tony was safely down in Forensics and even Gibbs had escaped to MTAC. Tim would have been in autopsy, himself, if not for the promise of five free lunches.
"Oh-ho. This is good. Tony's sidepunch does not even know!"
"It's sidekick."
"What?"
Oops. He probably should not be correcting the angry woman's English.
"Nevermind. If this is about Tony going through your desk last Wednesday, I told him it was a bad idea. I told him you'd find out!"
Ziva's eyes narrowed. Honestly, the sudden exploration of Ziva's desk last Wednesday was the only offensive action McGee could think of. And, really, it wasn't that bad. Tony went through both their desks all the time – sure, Ziva usually got angry, but not homicidal.
"He went through my desk," Ziva hissed. It wasn't really a question.
McGee grimaced. Not the desk thing then. Whoops.
"Ah – er, yeah, but it was last Wednesday and he didn't find anything. I mean, he just wanted to know what you did on your extended lunches." Maybe he could reason with her? "C'mon, Ziva, you had to know he was going to do it. The best way to make sure Tony finds out about something is to not tell him anything about it."
If possible, Ziva's eyes narrowed more. McGee didn't understand – Tony was nosy. That's just the way he was. Ziva knew this, and had dealt with it many times before. Sure, the nosiness was annoying, but never harmful. McGee couldn't believe that Tony had actually hurt Ziva by trying to find out what she had been doing.
Before McGee could ask any more questions, Ziva turned and stalked off.
Apparently she was done chatting.
It was also apparent that McGee wouldn't be getting any of those 'free lunches'.
** * ** * ** * **
He knew!
If he was curious enough to go through her stuff, then he had to know. She did not know how exactly, but he had not asked her any questions since last week. DiNozzo did not just give up when the comings – er, goings? got rough.
Tony knew about the talent show – and he still had not come.
Somehow, that made his absence much, much worse.
It was Tuesday afternoon and she still had not had the chance to yell at Tony in private. He had been avoiding her like the plague. That meant he knew she knew he knew.
He had not gone to see her.
Tony always went, especially when he was not wanted. So why had he not gone?
Ziva was furious with Tony, but also with herself. Why did she even care that he had not gone?
If Tony had been at the talent show, he would be tormenting her with lewd comments and inappropriate questions. She knew that he would be insufferable and she would be hard put not to throttle him.
She glared across the bullpen. There he was – sitting quietly and still driving her insane. She finally got used to him, finally knew what to expect from him.
Then Tony changed the rules.
It had taken Ziva a while to realize that Tony's teased his friends. He did not tease his not-friends, he taunted them. There was a difference.
But now Tony was not teasing her, nor was he taunting her. Actually, he was avoiding her. It was like she did not exist for him.
And for some strange reason, Ziva knew she wanted to exist for Tony. She wanted him to tease her – especially about those stupid little things that he was not supposed to know about. It meant that he cared enough to elbow, er, nose around in her business instead of spending his evening with some skank.
Tony had stopped caring and Ziva would never, ever forgive him.
** * ** * ** * **
Tony sighed. It was late Tuesday evening and he and Gibbs were the only two still in the bullpen. They were both tired and cranky.
Both men knew they needed to talk – usually they took this kind of discussion to the privacy of Gibbs' basement. The bourbon usually helped, too.
Now, however, they both worked feverishly, hoping to burn off some of their frustration before one of them blew up.
Deep down, Tony knew it was his fault. He just didn't know what he did. Ziva was absolutely murderous, and he was the main target. He'd had time to think about last Friday, though. He was positive that Ziva had not seen him in the audience, nor did he see anyone that might have recognized him. There was no way see could have seen his car in the parking lot – he'd arrived late and left early with just that in mind.
McGee had told him that she hadn't even known that he'd gone through her desk. He hadn't needed to go through her purse – not after Gibbs' clue about the flyer…
Gibbs' clue. Gibbs was the one that convinced him to go to the talent show in the first place. Tony looked up from his current form-filling activity and observed the older man through narrowed eyes. After a moment or so, Gibbs let out a huff of breath and looked up.
"What, DiNozzo!"
"Why is Ziva mad at me?" Gibbs rolled his eyes causing Tony to snort lightly. It was always funny to see the older man display emotion in such a teenage fashion.
"Well, I don't know, DiNozzo. Ya'think maybe it had something to do with your attendance on Friday?"
"If she'd seen me!" He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm positive she doesn't know I was there!"
Gibbs' eyebrows rose a few notches. "You're sure, DiNozzo?"
"Yeah. She didn't even know I went through her stuff until McGee told her. I mean, I know I'm annoying, but I haven't been any worse than usual." So why the hell is Ziva mad at me?
"You try asking her?"
Tony stared at Gibbs, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Yeah, sure, I walked up to the angry ninja chick and said 'Hey, Z, what's up? Just wondering why you are mad, is all'" He used his best I'm-an-idiot voice, before melding back into scathing sarcasm. "Yeah, that'd go over just swell. Jeez, Gibbs. I'd be walking funny for a week."
His boss just snorted and shrugged. He didn't have any more ideas.
"Boss-"
"Not my problem, DiNozzo."
Tony was just going to suck it up and confront Ziva.
Wonderful.
Well, maybe tomorrow.
During lunch.
Or maybe after work?
Nervous much?
** * ** * ** * **
Ziva spent most of Wednesday morning in Abby's lab, letting the loud music drown out her thoughts as she helped organize and catalog the physical evidence from last week's case. She was actually grateful they had not gotten a new case this week. She doubted that she could work with Tony like this.
Not without causing him serious physical injury, that is. Gibbs would probably be angry if she broke his senior field agent.
It was nearly lunchtime when Abby finally turned off the music and hauled Ziva into her office, locking the door with the little remote thingy she liked to use.
Ziva glared balefully at the goth. She was not impressed.
"Okay, Ziva, I don't know what's going on with you and Tony, but it has got to stop. He doesn't even know what he did!" Ziva's eyes narrowed of their own accord.
"He knows exactly what he did!" Ziva snarled, leaning forward against Abby's desk. The goth leaned back, glad the desk was between them.
"Okay, what did he do?" Abby tried to keep the nervousness from her voice, but she had never seen Ziva this mad before.
"Nothing!" Well, okay, he had done something, but not what he was supposed to. Therefore, going on a nice date, romancing and boozing and sleazing and whatever else he did could count as nothing. It had better have been nothing.
"Er, right." Abby coughed. "That makes a whole lot of sense. Why don't you tell Tony what he did, or, er, didn't do?"
"Because." Ziva groused. How could she explain this to Abby? "You know that thing Tony does?"
"Annoy?" Abby seemed perplexed, but up for the challenge, as always.
"No, I mean that other thing." The goth chewed on her bottom lip for a minute before answering brightly.
"Oh, you mean care!" She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I know that. What about it?"
"He stopped." Ziva had a hard time admitting this to Abby – well to anyone really – but Abby was her friend. She knew she could trust her with her secrets. She'd even told Abby about the talent-show. The goth would have been there, if she had not had a bowling tournament that same evening. She had, however, made Ziva promise to teach her how to belly-dance.
"Ziva?" The scientist was wearing her I'm-worried-about-your-sanity look. "You know, I don't think Tony can just stop caring, even if he wanted to." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "What made you think he did?"
"Argh! Abby, I do not think. I know." Abby motioned for her to continue. "He did not come."
"Where?"
Closing her eyes, Ziva turned around and leaned against the table, gripping the edge tightly with both hands.
This is completely ridiculous, she thought. And it was. She was angry at Tony and at herself and she knew why – she just did not know why. Why did it bother her so much that Tony did not care? If anyone had asked her how she would have felt before Friday, she would have claimed to be ecstatic that she would not have to worry about Tony going through her business all the time. She should be happy to have her privacy back.
"You mean the talent show, don't you?" Abby inquired gently. Ziva just nodded – she did not trust herself to speak, afraid she might start yelling in her anger. "You think he doesn't care because he didn't find out about it?"
As always, Abby proved to be surprisingly perceptive.
"Did you never think that maybe you just out smarted Mr. Smartypants? I mean, come on, you were so careful, maybe you just didn't give him enough to work with?"
"No, he always finds out. It does not matter how careful I am, he is like a moth to the light – always drawn towards secrets."
"Moth to the flame, Ziva. And, while I sometimes have my doubts, Tony is human. He doesn't just automatically know everything you don't want him too. He has to work for it, just like you do." Abby moved around the table to face Ziva. "C'mon, I'm sure Tony still cares. I bet if you went up there right now and made a personal phone call at your desk, he wouldn't stop until he knew all the w's!"
Ziva smiled weakly. "Maybe you are right, Abby. I am over-reacting." Her smile turned grateful. "Thank you for listening, Abby."
With that, she left the lab. She could not stay in the basement all day.
Despite Abby's confidence in Tony's caring nature, she could not make herself believe it. Even if Tony did still care, something had changed. He stood her up, and that made her angry.
She outright refused to believe that he had not figured out the secret to her Wednesday lunches – especially not after what McGee said.
Tony was still in the birdhouse.
** * ** * ** * **
Tony rubbed his arm and winced. Ugly bruises were already forming, courtesy of Ziva's rather unwelcome attention. He was doubly glad that they still hadn't gotten a case; Ziva was more angry and violent every hour.
Granted, she'd been in the basement most of the morning. Still, all he had to do was look at her the wrong way, and he'd get hit. She may be small, but she certainly threw a good punch. He glanced over at her desk.
She looked up and growled.
"I can't take this anymore," he muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, "Hey, Boss, I'm gonna go see Abby … if she needs any, er, help."
He held his breath. He was half afraid his boss would throw him and Ziva in the elevator until they either worked it out, or she killed him.
"Don't forget the Caf-pow!" DiNozzo let his breath out in a relieved whoosh. Then again, he supposed Gibbs might be having a little sympathy for him right now – God knows he's been on the wrong side of a woman's temper more than once, considering he has been divorced a grand total of three times.
And at least one of his marriages ended in violence – one of Ducky's favorite stories involves Gibbs' head, a nine-iron, and stitches.
Still, he hastily made his way to the elevator, just in case Gibbs decided to change his mind.
"Tony!" Abby greeted him enthusiastically as he entered her lab. Surprisingly, she had her music turned down to a dull roar today. He grinned just a little as the goth bounced over for a hug. If anyone could help him solve the Ziva Problem, it would be Abby.
In fact, judging by the megawatt silly grin on her face, she already knew something.
"Okay, Abbs, spill." Abby looked at him in mock surprise. "What did Ziva tell you?"
"Hey! I was gonna surprise you!" Abby pouted. "How'd you know."
Tony just raised his eyebrow in what he hoped was a Gibbs-like manner. She sighed. He handed her the Caf-pow and she perked up considerably.
"Oooo-kay. Anyway, you're right. I do know why Ziva is mad at you!" Abby's triumphant expression morphed into a grimace. "But you aren't going to like it. You know that thing you do?"
"Um, annoy?" Tony scratched his head – where was she going with this?
"No, the other thing!"
"Sean Connery impressions?"
Abby shook her head.
"Solve crimes?"
"No!" She gave an exasperated eye roll.
"I give up. What 'thing' do I do?"
"You care, Silly," she responded, as if it had been obvious all along.
"Ah."
Well, ok, yes, Tony did care. While most people never recognized that he did, it wasn't like a secret or anything. Still, what did caring have to do with Ziva being angry?
"Well, it backfired."
"Pardon?" Tony's eyebrows rose to his hairline. How does caring backfire? Weren't people supposed to be glad that you care? He shook his head. There was no way around it – someone was just going to have to spell the whole thing out for him. He was lucky Abby cared enough to do it for him.
"Well…" Abby bit her lip as she tried to figure out the best way to approach the heart of the matter. She obviously sensed that Tony was going to need a lot of help. "What exactly do you know about Ziva's Wednesday Lunches?"
Right. He knew it had something to do with that blasted talent show. Damn. He'd already sworn to himself that that was the absolute last time he would ever stick his nose in Ziva's business. He'd even been making the effort to back off during the last few days – not that he expected anyone to notice, what with Ziva's current antics.
"Ahhh….well." Tony fidgeted. He knew what ever was going to come next would be bad. "I kinda guessed that she was rehearsing for the talent show last Friday."
His nervous statement was met with a reproving glare.
"You knew." Despite what she had told Ziva earlier, Abby was unsurprised. "Did you go?"
"Well…maybe." The glare got stronger. "Okay, yes, I went! I mean, you know I don't like it when they keep secrets from me!" Abby opened her mouth to respond, but Tony held up his hand, effectively forestalling whatever judgment he was sure she had to offer. "But I swear Ziva didn't see me. I know she worked really hard to keep me from finding out – and, well, I thought it might be sensitive material, you know? And know that I know what it was, I can understand why she didn't want me to know – so I decided to do that thing that you say I should do more often."
"Show discretion?" Abby quirked an eyebrow – and Tony didn't blame her. It wasn't that he couldn't be discrete, or that he never was, but it was pretty unusual.
"Yes. I decided not to say anything." Tony shrugged. "I thought I'd let Ziva win this one."
"Oh, Tony!" Abby bounced on her thick soled shoes and leaned forward for another hug. "I'm so proud of you!"
"Um, thanks." He gave an awkward little grin. No matter how many times it happened, he would never be comfortable with being praised for doing something nice. His father always told him that compassion and kindness were weaknesses that DiNozzo's didn't have. "So, why's Ziva mad at me?"
"Oh." Abby leaned back and grinned mischievously. "She's mad because you didn't go see her belly dance."
"What?!?"
Abby laughed at him.
The field agent groaned and lowered his head into his hands.
Of all the things… Tony was pretty sure that he'd never had someone get mad at him for not being a jerk – except for maybe his father. How did he get himself into this mess? Better question: How was he supposed to get himself out of it?
He sighed and thought back to all the occasions where he had teased Ziva, trying to get her to tell him what the longer lunches were for. He couldn't remember her sending any mixed signals or even showing more than a slightly unusual reluctance to talk about the subject at all. He'd ask her an unwelcome question or two, she would brush him off. He'd ask a few more, and she would resort to threatening him with office supplies. If he went too far, Gibbs would always be there to deliver a warning slap to the back of his head.
And now she was mad that she got her way?
He looked up at Abby mournfully.
"I will never understand her."
Abby's amused giggles followed him all the way to the elevator.
** * ** * ** * **
A/N: Okay, there you go. One more chapter to go – the conflict! Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!