Conversations

Tony woke before Ziva. He was holding her in his arms and her back was turned to him. He wanted to pull her tighter. He had honestly never been happier in all his life to wake up with a woman in his arms. This moment was completely worth not having been on a real date in over a year (not that his dates had ever been totally respectable).

Tony had gone through quite a long childish phase of never keeping a woman around for very long and going through women quite fast. He had gone through this phase because he was afraid of commitment after his disaster with Wendy, his former fiancée from before he worked at NCIS. She had left him at the altar, quite literally. He was still afraid of that commitment, but something told him that Ziva was more than sure of herself if she was calling him to come over because she missed him, even if she was not consciously aware that she was more than sure of herself.

Tony knew Ziva very well. He knew that she was serious about things that were important and she didn't let go so easily. He was more comfortable with Ziva than he ever had been with any other woman in his entire life. To him Ziva was his partner, his best friend, and his soul mate. She was his everything, his reason to be, and his whole world. She was the one thing that he would drop everything for, no matter what he was doing. He had learned this when he had travelled halfway around the world to avenge her death and ended up rescuing her.

Ziva stirred in his arms and he smiled and wrapped his arms tighter around her. It was so nice to have a full night sleep with this ninja, since she didn't have a single nightmare that night. She had called him without having a nightmare and that was huge. That was a huge step in the direction that Tony definitely wanted to be going in with her.

"Good morning," she whispered, smiling at him, even though she was not yet opening her eyes and looking at him.

"Good morning to you," he said quietly. "How was Florida, aside from not sleeping?"

Her eyes opened and she glared at him. "Aside from not sleeping it was a humid and nasty place," she replied. "I like the hot, but the humidity is not my friend. I am used to a desert and it is dry and hot in the desert."

He chuckled. "Make any new friends while you were down there."

"No," she said sternly with a determined look on her face.

He wondered what about his comment had struck a nerve. He wanted to ask but he was sure it wasn't his place. He placed his hand on her cheek and looked at her with concern.

"Sorry," she whispered, her expression softening a little. "There was this one guy that kept… flirting…" she shuddered at the thought, "with me. He kept asking me to dinner and did not want to take no for an answer. It annoyed me." She shuddered again.

"You're safe now," Tony reminded her. "Just remind me never to get on your bad side."

She laughed at his comment and snuggled back into his chest. It was a Saturday and they did not have to work. That was the best thing in the world. She smiled into his chest.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked suspiciously.

"We do not have to work," she said quietly and picked her head up again to look at him. "That makes me very happy."

"Me too," he muttered.

Tony spent the entire weekend at her place and they rode to work in separate cars, because they were not an item and were not going to advertise that they were spending too much time together in a less-than-professional setting. They were also not sharing with each other these thoughts or what they really wanted to be, because honestly, that was heavy conversation and they were not really up for heavy conversation right now. They had a playful weekend.

Ziva called Tony Monday night around ten and invited him over to her place, wanted to share more time with him. She decided to change things a little on Tuesday and invite him over before they left work. They both smiled and blushed about it as they had the whispered conversation outside of the NCIS building.

They tried to spend Wednesday night apart, but Ziva had a nightmare and called Tony and he came over anyway, so they had failed at that. On Thursday, Ziva gave into her emotions again and invited Tony over before leaving work once more in another whispered conversation, this time in the conference room when everyone else was still away at lunch.

Friday, Tony had plans with McGee to go to his place with him and play some games. Therefore Ziva was on her own for the night. She knew she could handle it, because she knew that if something did happen she could call Tony and he would come over. That alone was a comfort to her and she decided it was time for her to read another book, since she had not enjoyed reading in a while.

Ziva was beginning to feel and look rested now that she was spending her nights in Tony's arms. She felt much better than she had in a long time and she was genuinely happy with everything as it was, though she knew that it would, at some point, change again. Change was inevitable in life and she was almost looking forward to the change and felt almost ready for that change to come. But, she was enjoying the moment for all it meant to her, knowing that it meant a lot to her.

A/N – So, here we have a conversation and a look at how their week went since Ziva called. I honestly think that since they are beginning to give in they are having a harder tie resisting each other. It's interesting, since they are so tuned to what each other wants and needs. It's almost like they are healing together and growing together as one, instead of two separate people. Let me know what you think!