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: I added this part because I realised this fic was very heavily focused on Ziva. I know it was a tiny bit evil to stall what happens after the dream but Tony's feelings about everything had to written.

Thank you as always for the support on this, keep the happies coming.

"..You should know that I need you her, You're my favourite friend..."

When Tony got back to his apartment he went into the kitchen and warmed himself a frozen entrée. After taking only a few bites he threw it in the trash it wasn't as good as he remembered; or maybe he was getting used to homemade meals. He was going to watch a movie but realised most of his favourites were at Ziva's and would not be able to get his mind off of his empty stomach. Even his goldfish, Kate had been moved to Ziva's so he was truly alone in the small apartment.

For a few minutes he tried to tidy up, but since he was rarely there for more than a few minutes there wasn't anything to clean. He looked into his fridge hoping there would be something in it, but he didn't even keep the basics there anymore, no milk, no eggs, and no bread. He didn't want to go to the store and buy fresh food for one.

A part of him contemplated going over to Ziva's but he knew he needed the space. After a few minutes of thinking about the pros and cons of going over to her place anyway, he decided he should call McGee. The two men hadn't done anything in weeks, and even if he went over with a pizza and gamed for a good part of the night it was better than staying at home wondering about how he should go about the situation with Ziva. He picked up his phone and called his co-worker

"McGee," Timothy McGee answered his phone.

"Hey McGamer," Dinozzo greeted. "I was wondering if you'd be up for pizza."

"Yeah sure, I told you that you might enjoy games more than you thought if you would just try it. Today's games are a lot like movies."

"I know, I know you were right. What kind of pizza do you want?"

"Meat lovers, the last few times I've had pizza and game nights lately they've been with Abby I need to balance out the vegetables."

"Great see you soon."

Tony left the apartment stopping at his favourite pizza place before heading over to McGee's. Usually he would have picked up some beer but he wasn't in the mood. He didn't want to have to figure out how to get himself home if he drank one too many. He was also afraid that the beverage would live up to being a truth serum and accidently spill the beans about his new relationship before he knew what it was. He buzzed up to McGee's and went up and inside. He set the pizza down.

"Which game do you wanna play?" McGee asked.

"You chose I don't know any of them," he told him, getting plates from the cupboard and getting a slice of pizza for himself then passing a plate to McGee.

McGee looked at Dinozzo quizzically. "Who have you been hanging out with, who has taught you how to share."

"I've been over to Ziva's a few times since she's been back."

"Maybe it was Ziva." He took the plate. "How's she doing?"

"Better."

"Good."

Dinozzo was glad that McGee didn't seem to suspect anything had changed, and that he was only there as a friend helping another friend to heal. As much as he wanted to tell his friend the truth he knew that could make things more complicated between he and Ziva and he was already confused enough. He knew he was doing the right thing by taking a break and stepping back from the situation in hopes of figuring it out.

"You need to be careful about that," McGee warned.

"About what?" asked Tony.

"Being friends with Ziva, it makes it difficult when you want to date someone."

"What are you talking about?"

"A lot of women won't understand your friendship with her, they'll assume that when you say you need to leave because your friend needs you that is code for I'm leaving to go hook up with my best friend."

"You're speaking like I date women."

"One day, even you will find a woman who you will want more than casual sex with and it's not going to be easy to make that woman understand Ziva."

"If I was to find a woman who I wanted to have something serious with she would understand me enough to understand Ziva. Besides it would be a little different than you trying to explain Abby to the ladies; you actually dated and saw Abby naked. Ziva is just my friend."

"No one believes that, hell there are days that even I don't believe it."

Tony shook his head. "You can believe what you want to McCracked, but I don't think that's going to be an issue so I'm going to continue what I'm doing with her. Now which game have you picked for tonight?"

McGee knew that it was time to start playing. Dinozzo was having trouble focusing on the game after what McGee had just told him. He hadn't realised before that changing his relationship with Ziva would make things so difficult for him if things didn't work out; which he was starting to think they weren't. No woman would understand why he would leave in the middle of the night no questions asked if Ziva was to call if she needed him. If he was in a relationship with someone he would need to be honest about her, and that would make things even more awkward. He knew he had to talk to Ziva about exactly what she was looking for from him and where he wanted it to go.

After he left McGee's he almost drove to Ziva's but decided he needed a good night's sleep and a clear head to be able to talk to her about this. He knew it wasn't going to be an easy subject but he needed to know if there was a point in continuing or if they should cut their losses before their friendship could not ever be repaired. He knew he would rather have her in his life as a friend than let her go and at least where they were now he felt like that could still happen. It would be hard to forget about how sensual her kisses and caresses were, but as long as he didn't take that last step he could, if he had to, walk away.

If they were to take that last step he knew he would be fully addicted to her and if she was not as serious as he was that would be a problem. He could accept that the past month was just a way to help her to heal, she had suffered such a loss he would have done almost anything to help her move forward. He had a lot of mind as he pulled up to his apartment. He went inside, again looking for something to delay going to bed, but he couldn't find anything.

He went into his bedroom, and sighed seeing his small single bed. Even sharing with another person he had more room in Ziva's bed. A part of him thought he should invest in a larger bed, and he decided if things did not move forward with her soon he would do just that, even though he was sure he would not find another woman he who he would want to share his bed and space with if things didn't go as he hoped they would.

He stripped down to his boxers, without thinking, as if Ziva was going to be there at some point and he needed to keep covered in order to stop himself from waking her up and sliding inside of her. He shivered at the thought of what it might be like to wake Ziva up with sex. He fell asleep almost an hour later, into a slumber that was filled with many naughty images of his best friend, knowing he would not have to worry that night about his moans giving him away in the middle of the night.

He was awoke from a particularly dirty dream by the sound of his buzzer buzzing. He knew that there was only a few people who would show up at his apartment that late. Although he wished that it would be Ziva who was there he knew it was more logical that it would be Gibbs. He hit the button on his phone to see who was there, barely coherent in his greeting and was surprised by the voice at the other end, knowing they needed to talk.

End Part 6

Notes: I promise the next part things get resolved, sorry for being evil. Let me know what you think, I love to know if people are liking where I'm taking things.