A Private Beach

They rode in the car together late on Friday morning. They were silent and holding hands. Ziva glanced down at their hands and instantly got lost in her thoughts.

This was not something that normal friends, coworkers, or partners did. They did not plan a vacation together and hold hands on their way there. They did not call each other nearly every night and kiss and cuddle through their times alone. She knew that whatever her and Tony were it was more than undefined and yet at the same time they were more defined than every before.

The lines were no longer blurred. They were solid and clear. They were to each other as they always had been, but they knew what was okay to do and what was not. They were reading each other better than ever and feeling more than ever. She was okay with this. But, she knew that soon it had to be talked about. She knew that she wasn't the only one who was thinking about the next step in their strange partnership/relationship.

Relationship, she thought to herself. She had never thought of it that way, but if she had to put a word to what her and Tony were she would have used the word relationship. She smiled to herself and continued to think.

It was like there was a damn with water behind it. Paris had been a tiny crack in that damn. It was the crack that allowed no more than dripping water to seep through, but it was still a crack that allowed them to get a little closer together and a little more normal, or as normal as they had been before Somalia.

Her text message about her nightmares changing was another small crack, making that dripping a little faster, but not even a trickle. It was when Ziva nearly got both of them killed that the water was trickling through. She was opening up her mind, her heart, and her fears to Tony and she couldn't stop. There was nothing to be done. But, it was slow, like trickling water through the crack of a damn.

The night that Tony had come over willingly it had sped things up. She was sharing more and she was asking him for a run more. She was spending more time with him and therefore the crack in their damn grew a little more.

When she called him about her nightmare that crack then allowed a steady flow of water to go through. It was slow, but it was going to go, no matter what she did. But, then when she called him for a different reason the dam broke altogether and the water poured through. She figured this, because even one night away from each other was enough to send them both out of whack, not sleeping, not wanting to eat, and only thinking of each other. She smiled. What happened when the water ran dry? She almost didn't want to think of it, because she didn't know what was going to happen then.

They arrived at the private beach in the evening, right before dinnertime. Tony whispered in her ear to go put her best dress on, because they were going out to dinner. Ziva did as she was told. When she came out, Tony was standing, wearing a nice suit and holding a bouquet of flowers for her. He handed them to her and kissed her cheek as she blushed and smiled at him. This felt oddly like a date and she was going to go with the flow of it, because it was everything she ever wanted.

They ate dinner silently and returned to the cabin that they had rented with Tony's money for the weekend. They were content and happy.

"How about a movie?" he asked, pulling out a romantic one, which caused Ziva to blush again.

He is treating this just like a date, she told herself. He was really treating this like a date and she was enjoying every second of it and never wanted it to end. She knew she had a whole week in this place with Tony and she was completely fine with that and whatever came with that. She had decided in the car on the way there that whatever happened here was going to stay with her forever and she was going to hang onto it for all it was worth, because this was what she wanted to do.

"Absolutely," she said.

God! She looks gorgeous! Can't believe how lucky I am… I wonder if she realizes that to me this is a date… a very long date, Tony questioned himself as he put the DVD into the player and brought Ziva over to the couch, holding her in his arms.

They watched the movie together without words. By the end of it they were half-asleep in each other's arms on the couch. Tony turned his head toward his ninja and looked. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing was not yet evened out with sleep. He smiled at her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Tonight was great, ninja," he whispered as he picked her up from the couch and walked to the bedroom with her.

She nearly chuckled, but she was really too tired to laugh fully. She snuggled into his chest, hoping he got the message that she enjoyed it too. They spent the rest of the night in each other's arms, feeling happier than they had in a very long time.

Great is an understatement, she thought to herself as she drifted off into an easy and restful sleep. Fantastic; a dream come true; perfect is more like it.

A/N – Okay, so Tony and Ziva finally got to go on their vacation, not too far away, but far enough away from everything and they are allowed to be themselves, fully and completely. We will see some fluff before we get to the important conversation, but I think they are both more than aware of what this is. Leave a review and let me know your thoughts!