Author notes: Left My Heart In Paris kindly wrote this chapter for all of you; if you don't know who she is; she is one of the best Jibbs writers around, please check her out! All praise for this chapter should go to her! :D
I apologise for the extortionate wait for this update.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. LMHIP wrote this chap.
An hour later into the party Tim McGee was still alive, Ziva hadn't killed him….yet.
The Israeli smirked at the thought, as she leered over her glass of berry mango madness that Kate had gotten her to cheer her up; it was working a little bit.
But what wasn't helping was the fact that Tony and Wendy were sitting on the sofa, Wendy snuggled into his side and his arm wrapped around her as they spoke with Tim who sat with Abby on his lap as she slurped a caf-pow she found at the drinks table, presuming that Ziva had remembered her craze. Ziva wished she was the one it Tony's arms, the one who he was holding ever so tightly.
"You ok?" Kate asked coming up behind Ziva, she had been so absorbed at staring daggers at Wendy and Tony that her Mossed senses had been weakened so she hadn't sensed the brunet approach her and so jumped a little when she spoke.
"Yes, I am fine" She gave her friend a weak smile.
"Really, 'cause I never knew the back of Tony's head could be so interesting" Kate commented at the fact that Ziva had been staring at the back of the Italian's head.
"Hey, why don't we put some music on?" Tali suggested going over to the stereo and pressing play.
Ziva's eyes went wide when she realised the last song she had played on it.
I've got to break free
God knows, God knows I want to break free
I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love for the first time
I want to break free by Queen, it had been their song.
Tony immediately recognised the song; they had danced to it at Jenny and Gibbs' on Ziva's birthday. It was the moment he was sure that he was in love with her, slowly he turned to face Ziva, he couldn't get over how upset she looked, how the song seemed to cut through her hard Mossed exterior, her brown eyes that he loved so much looked uncharacteristically watery, it hurt him more than he'd liked to admit.
"Sorry" Ziva mumbled before going over and stopping the music before replacing the CD inside with another.
While everyone else was distracted by the music Ziva quietly slipped away, she needed some time alone to collect her thoughts.
Ten minutes later Tali went to grab a caf-pow but someone grabbed it first, she looked up to find Abby, she eyed the older girl for a moment and wasn't fazed by the tattoos or dog collar that adorned her "I saw it first" the Goth was adamant.
"I'm Mossed trained" Tali almost growled at the girl to give her the drink.
"You wish" Ari snorted as he leant across the table between the two to grab a handful of cheese puffs "Tali? Have you seen Ziva?" he asked as he shoved a puff into his mouth.
"No" Tali said with an annoyed look and shake of her head that made her pony tail swish.
Kate all of a sudden caught Ari's eye "You go find her yeah" he patted his youngest sister on the shoulder before going over to the brunet who smiled at him.
Tali huffed before turning on her heels to Ziva's bedroom, but she didn't find her in there, only the empty room.
Frustrated, she ran a tired hand down her face before going back into the kitchen and pulling down the ironing board to reveal the secret stairs.
Tali stomped down the spiral staircase and sighed when she found Ziva punching the punch bag with such force Tali wouldn't wish on her worst enemy.
"You ok?" Tali asked although she felt like she was treading on hot water, she knew that Ziva didn't like to talk that much about her feelings, she never really talked about her last time in America with these people, she also knew that Ziva liked to have time to herself, she always liked to go for a run in the mornings to clear her head, but Tali had a feeling that her big sister needed to talk even if she didn't know it yet.
"Yes. Why?" Ziva asked taking a swing at the punch bag before stepping back and coming to sit on the floor where a tub of Ben and Jerry's baked Alaska sat, she popped the lid off before scooping out a large amount with a big spoon and shoving it in her mouth.
"You seem upset" Tali sat down on the floor beside her sister and grabbed the ice-cream before having some herself.
"I don't know what you're talking about" Ziva grabbed the ice-cream back and glared at her.
"Well you're sitting in the dark, eating ice cream and would rather be with a punch bag than be with your friends upstairs who love you" Tali regretted the word love the minute it had tumbled from her lips.
Ziva just glared at her little sister for a moment as she didn't have a comeback or more like she didn't want to say something she would later regret. So they both sat for a moment on the floor taking turns at eating ice-cream "I'm thinking of getting a dog" Ziva stated after a moment.
"Really?" Tali grinned, she'd always wanted a dog but Eli had always told her that love was weakness and she couldn't get attached to a dog so couldn't have one.
"For me, not for you" Ziva reminded "We should go back" the older Israeli teen got up from the floor leaving Tali with the ice cream which made her smile.
Five minutes later Ziva walked into the lounge and began to look around for a place to sit, her gut sunk when she saw that the only space left was next to Wendy, and Tony was nowhere to be seen.
"Ziva, sit next to me, I can get to know you more" the blond smiled at her "Tony has told me a lot about you" she added warmly.
"Really?" Ziva replied in surprise as she sat down next to her.
"You have something on your nose" Wendy motioned to Ziva's nose.
"Thanks" Ziva mumbled slightly embarrassed before wiping her nose where a blob of ice-cream sat. How could she hate someone who was so nice?
Meanwhile Tony was coming back from the bathroom when he stopped outside Ziva's bedroom; the door was wide open from when Tali had been looking in there. Tony couldn't help himself so he walked in.
It reminded him a lot like the room that had been Ziva's at Jenny's, it was simple but it screamed her or at least he thought it did; in their year apart he wondered if she'd change at all.
He looked around for a moment and decided this wasn't his place to be, until something in the draw of her beside cabinet caught his eye, he peered into the draw and found an old, warn looking box, he lifted off the lid to reveal all pieces of paper, envelopes, every single one with his name on the front.
The Italian picked one at random and began to read the letter inside 'Even though you'll never get to read this as I cannot send this to you, Tony I want you to know that I miss you, I miss you so much, what I wouldn't give to be in your arms…..' he'd read enough, he shoved it back in the envelope and traced his name on the envelops written in her curly scripture.
Never had he felt more like a bastard than he did right now, she hadn't moved on, she had stuck by the saying on the bracelet 'even though we may not be together our love will last forever, but he, Tony had given up, tried to move on only to end up with Wendy, he liked Wendy, she was pretty, funny and one of the nicest people he would ever meet but she was no Ziva David. Ziva was…..Tony couldn't even begin to think about Ziva without having butterfly's take flight in his stomach and a grin spread across his face, that just made him feel more of a bastard, he still love her, only he had broken her heart and there was no way he could ever fix that.
After putting the envelope back in the box Tony left the room, feeling rather angry with himself "Everything alright?" Wendy asked as Tony walked back into the lounge Ziva was now talking to Tali over at the drinks table.
"Yeah, you've got work tomorrow we should go" Tony said as he helped her off of the sofa.
"Bye Ziva, Ari, Tali it was nice to meet you" Wendy smiled at them, Tony just gave Ziva a weak smile one that she had to resist returning having found his smile infectious.
Not long after the others left too with Tali and Abby having made plans to meet up after finding out they had so much in common as well as their affinity for caf-pow and Ari and Kate had decided to go out sometime just the two of them.
The three Israelis were all tired especially Ziva after such a busy and emotional day, all the cleaning up could wait until tomorrow. Ziva went straight to her room and collapsed on the bed but couldn't sleep; she had something or more like someone of her mind. Why did Tony torment her so?