Title: Favourite Friend
Author: Trista Groulx aka dustytiger
Rating: T (same as the show, nothing explicitly naughty)
Disclaimer: I am an unmotived beauty consultant and frazzled barista who does not own NCIS, it belong to its creator, network, writers, actors, actresses and other people who bring it to life weekly, I make no money from having fun with these characters, just some much needed sanity. I also do not own the song which helped this fic to grow it belongs to Katie Rox, and likely SOCAN.
Summary: Tony goes to pick up Ziva from the airport after she buries her father, but she doesn't want to go home.
Notes: Tony can't get his mind off of what happened the night before, and he wonders if Ziva remembers at all. This one ends at an odd spot, the part was longer than the rest and I had to make it into two.
Thank you for the reviews on this, today has been a snowy miserable day and the fuzzies kept me warm. Also, thank you for all the alerts too. It means a lot hearts and hugz to all of you.
"...I need you here, you're my favourite friend, Believe me here, you're my favourite friend..."
Dinozzo had expected the next day at work to be awkward, but it wasn't. Ziva acted as if nothing had happened the night before. Usually he would try to talk problems out with McGee, even if the other agent didn't always want to hear about it but he knew he couldn't do that when it came to Ziva. She was too private, and this was too new, whatever had happened the night before he would have to figure out on his own. No one had been surprised when they had shown up within a few minutes of each other, since they knew he'd picked her up from the airport the night before. He was sure if he told anyone that she had spent the night at his place they wouldn't believe him.
He kept replaying what had happened the night before in his head, not able to forget how good it had felt to feel wanted. He knew that she was a private person and she didn't often show her feelings, and he was glad he had gotten to experience it. He wondered if maybe the whole thing had been a way for her to help heal; if it was he would understand, although he knew no other woman could compare to what she had made him feel with simply kisses the night before.
The whole day he was trying to hide how distracted he was from his other coworkers. Gibbs had known that something wasn't right, but assumed it was because he had had a late night and an early morning since they had to pick up Ziva's car. Tony was glad when they actually got to go home at a reasonable hour and went to leave all he wanted was to go home and have a long hot shower. Part of him thought he might have dreamed the whole encounter but it felt to real. He had seen her leave only a few minutes before, without saying anything, and went to his car.
"Tony?" Ziva called to him as he walked toward his car in the parking garage.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"I would like to make you dinner as a thank you for letting me stay with you, please come over tonight."
"Sure, thanks," he replied, surprised. "I've gotta eat."
His mind was racing, after a whole day thinking that he was losing his mind thinking he had any kind of chance at anything but a strong friendship with her, she did this. He didn't even realise that Ziva cooked, but she knew he would not pass up a home cooked meal. He hoped that when they got to her place she would finally be able to explain to him what was going on between them because she he certainly didn't understand any of it.
"Meet me at my apartment in an hour, that should give you time to get what you will need from home."
"All right I'll see you then, do you want me to bring anything for dinner?"
"No I have everything we will need."
She got into her own car, leaving him standing in the parking garage, mouth agape. Had she really just told him he didn't need to bring anything for dinner, but to go home, and get what he might need? Did that really mean overnight items? He replayed the exchange in his head, not believing it each time he did. He knew that the night before she'd asked to stay with him but he thought it was mostly because she was tired after a long trip. As much as he wanted a repeat of the night before, even the pain of having to stop things from going too far the whole day she acted as if nothing had happened the night before, and now she was inviting him back to her apartment.
"Dinozzo!" Leroy Jethro Gibbs yelled across the parking lot. "Close your mouth you'll let the flies in!"
His boss' voice brought him back to reality. Ziva had invited him over, and had even suggested he bring what he might need, which he could only assume meant overnight. No matter what ended up happening he was happy that he was being given the chance to explore his relationship with Ziva. He got into his car and drove home. He picked up a few things, but decided to leave them in his car as he parked in front of Ziva's building. He buzzed up to her apartment and she let him. When he went inside he was greeted by a warm smell.
"Something smells amazing," he told her.
"I hope you will like it. I made some of my favourite foods, I usually only make them for holidays, but I thought this was a special enough occasion."
"I don't think I've ever had kosher meal before."
She smiled. "You are in for a treat. Whenever I make Kosher meals I remember helping my mom in the kitchen. Tali never liked to help but I always wanted to get in there and do whatever she'd let me."
Tony laughed. "I kind of pictured young Ziva as a tomboy."
"I was a tomboy. My mom would get mad at me because my clothes were never clean at the end of the day. She always said I was conflicted because I loved to play in the dirt as well as in the kitchen. Would you like wine with the meal?"
He liked getting to hear about her mother, since she never really spoke of her, but he didn't want to push her. "That would be great. Can I help with anything?"
"No it is fine," she assured him. "I did not have a lot of time to cook so I made a chicken soup with shkedie marak, and I always have some challah bread around. You are supposed to eat it on the Sabbath, but it tastes so good with the soup."
"I can't believe I didn't know you cooked."
"It helps me to relax, maybe next time I can make you something that is not just comfort food that I always keep ready to warm up if I have had a bad day."
He was glad she said that she would want to do this again. He was starting to feel more comfortable with where this was going between them. He knew it wouldn't be easy but he was going to do this her way, and if that meant keeping quiet while they were at work he would just have to find a way to live with that. Part of him liked the idea of having something that only they knew, but another part of him worried about what the rest might say about their keeping secrets.
End Part 3
Notes: I promise things will be a little more fun in the next part. I hope it's believable that Tony would take things slower with Ziva.