Author's note: Tony just has to deal with Ziva

Beta: Mike91848 'have a nice day'

Disclaimer: sigh

CINDERELLA Revisited

Chapter 24

It was a dark and rainy night. Outside the alleyway of a decrepit building on a street of decrepit buildings, Ziva sat in the front passenger seat of their car, Tony was the driver. Gibbs and McGee were in a car parked behind them. Their perp Coulter lived a block up the street.

Coulter was a strange man. He never carried a weapon of any kind as far as anyone knew and he didn't make a move without checking his horoscope, tea leaves, cards and beads first. But he was probably involved in some nasty business or had information about that business that they needed and if his fortune cookie was favorable, he might just answer their questions.

Now they were waiting for the signal to go in; apprehending Coulter for interview was their goal if the man cooperated but he was known to have a volatile temper and would rather fight than breathe.

"We want to talk to him Ziva so he has to be conscious in order to do that. No lethal footwork to the head or jaw. We're going to try to take him down and he's going to walk out of there on his own two feet..." Tony began but Ziva interrupted.

"Of course, Tony, I was at the briefing. I know the importance of getting him to talk."

Tony was surprised. Ziva's answer had, granted, been somewhat a little short, but certainly not up to her usual challenging 'if you say yes, I say no', caliber. Gibbs talk must have grounded some sense into her like only a heavy, steel-plated boot in your face named Gibbs could do. It was a refreshing relief.

"Good to hear we're all on the same page for a change, Ms Ninja David." Tony couldn't help inserting that little quip for the good old days that even produced a smile on Ziva's face.

As it turned out, Tony should have kept his mouth shut. They not only weren't on the same page they weren't even using the same book. They got the word that Coulter was driving up the street, but slick Coulter got a psychic word message like Gibbs' gut, and the he-bee jeebies that there were two cars parked in the neighborhood that shouldn't be there. Because his horoscope had said today was his lucky day, he took the chance of getting out of his car and heading for his apartment anyway.

Until he caught one glimpse of the four determined agents headed his way and he cursed the medium liar who had taken his money and wished him a California 'have a good day'. So he ran to his preplanned getaway exit, which was easier to get to with the raining wet sleek streets. He hit the pavement on all fours and slid his weaselly body majestically into the curbside storm-drain along with the dirty urban water and debris runoff.

It reminded Tony of that 1940's film where Richard Basehart was a stone cold cop killer with a little dog, who escaped into the storm drain, ran for an eerie echoing mile to his stash of guns and ammo where he took his stand and lost his breath in cop thrown tear gas, and his life in a hail of bullets.

Slim Ziva skimmed the storm-drain and was gone but she hadn't seen the movie.

"Ziva wait! Stop!" She heard his yell, acknowledged by her sideways glance, but didn't pause and he was considerably bigger than she would ever be so he got caught up momentarily in the narrow opening. When he finally wiggled free and fell the few feet into the muddy puddle, Ziva was long gone.

"Shit, dammit!" Which way, which way? He listened with his 20-20 eavesdropping ears and finally heard the fading footsteps down the long dark tunnel to the right. He was big but fast and he ran like the wind, but cautiously in the dreariness that was eased only somewhat by the dim natural light; a mile, maybe two before the footstep sounds stopped, so he slowed down quiet, keeping to the side of the tunnel next to the wall, the wet underground earthy dampness causing his nose to tickle.

When he came to a blind turn he creeped along and peeked around the corner. Ziva was a couple hundred feet a head standing out in the open holding her gun on Coulter who had his back to her standing quietly in front of a low cement stepping shelf which led to the closed manhole above.

"Ziva, don't move any closer! He may have a weapon!"

"He doesn't carry a weapon, Tony, remember?" Ziva's response, sarcastic and surly had his teeth on edge. She thought if he couldn't keep up with her, that was his problem not hers.

"NCIS you are under arrest, Coulter. Turn around and put your hands on your head!" She yelled at the man's back but at least she had stopped moving forward.

Ziva was pulling out her handcuffs in preparation, focusing on taking the guy down if he became belligerent but she still hadn't seen the damn movie, and she missed the furtive movement of the perp's right hand.

"Ziva, hold on, dammit!" He said urgently as she started to walk towards the perp. He ran to catch up with her, his gun pointed at the man's back. He had to divide his attention between Coulter the unknown and Ziva the unknowing.

Sounding impatient, Ziva at least kept her eye and her gun trained on the perp. "Tony, what is it? Now is not the time for this. Coulter has..." The man in question turned swiftly with a gun in his hand.

Tony reacted just as swiftly because he was expecting it. He pushed Ziva aside before firing his gun or before she could fire a fatal shot. They needed this guy alive and talking not dead with an assassin's bullet in his brain.

Coulter dropped his weapon and screamed having suffered Tony's gunshot wound to the shoulder. He went down on his hands and knees writhing in agony, blood spurting quickly from the shoulder wound to mix with the already muddy water on the wet, dirty ground.

Through the man's moaning groans, Tony heard Ziva's cursing under her breath, her shocked reaction to what he had done. His hard body shove, causing her to stumble and her shot to go wild was incomprehensible. Granted, she had not seen the gun 'til the last minute but she had had the situation under control. A quick double tap to the heart would have ended the threat and kept her and Tony safe.

...And lost the only advantage they would have had by keeping this man alive. She realized what a mistake she had almost made if not for Tony's quick thinking and actions. After her talk with Gibbs or rather her scolding from Gibbs, she had tried to be on her best behavior, agreeing outwardly with Tony when it seemed prudent but doing her own thing when Gibbs was not around.

If she had killed Coulter because she had let down her guard believing the assumption that the man never carried a weapon that would definitely have not looked good for her. Yet it seemed Tony had known the man had armed himself. Was that what he had been frantically trying to tell her as she scoffed at him and proceeded with her own agenda?

She calmed down considerably and thanked her lucky stars cereal she had had that morning for breakfast. Ready to forgive him for his heavy-handedness, she believed Tony was so exceedingly distractible that she could make him overlook her blatant rookie blunder if he had even picked up on it at all.

Tony had removed Coulter's jacket and was pressing it into the perps wound with one handas the man had finally passed out from the pain, and was attempting to make a cell phone call with the other.

"Instead of standing there figuring out a way to kill me for daring to touch you, would you mind trying to get a signal out while I attempt to save this man's life? We need paramedics here now before he bleeds to death. Also, secure this guy's gun and ammo, and that canvas bag and the gym bag he has hidden behind that broken bicycle over there!"

Tony issued his orders succinctly as he threw her his cellphone and was no less surprised that she actually carried them out than if Coulter got up and did backwards handsprings. His somber demeanor belied his inner fury. He couldn't overlook her actions tonight, not this time even if he wanted to. He realized that if she'd pulled that 'I'm too good to need a partner, you're on your own' stunt with a Probie or any other agent for that matter that she partnered with, that agent could be put in danger, plus it set a very bad example of going off on your own. They had enough of that from Gibbs although the man had toned down his disappearing acts over the years.

As Tony continued to apply pressure to the wound which had stopped actively bleeding he kept thinking about what had just happened. Ziva had virtually thumbed her nose at NCIS, its laws and bylaws, dammit, its rules and regulations as though she was exempt, those rules applying to everyone else but her.

He had been given the authority, regardless of how she personally felt about it, to act as her supervisor when Gibbs was not present. He had issued her an order tonight, which Tony knew she had heard to wait, but she had flagrantly ignored it and instead, she took off without proper backup and left no clue as to which way she had gone. It was a good thing he had exceptional hearing as he followed her footsteps that way. He found her standing in the open with insufficient cover to protect herself from the man in case he had a hidden weapon.

And a little something she didn't know was that from where Tony was standing, he could see a small canvas bag on the shelf in front of Coulter that she couldn't, but instead of listening to him when he asked her not to take another step because Coulter probably had a gun, she again ignored him to do her own thing, pulling out her handcuffs with the idiotic intention of handcuffing this guy, who had a loaded gun, in case Tony hadn't already mentioned that, and proceeded on her merry way as though she were working alone. Tony had been there but not as her partner and certainly not as her boss.

A sudden noise interrupted his new understanding of the dynamics between him and Ziva. The manhole cover above began to move, grating and irritating sounds emanating from the effort, and the clatter of the cast iron cover on the street added to the din.

"DiNozzo, Ziva?" Gibbs strident voice called as he carefully scanned the area below from the street, catching site of his two agents as they stooped over the downed criminal.

"We need an ambulance, Boss." They waited in silence for the posse to show up and shortly thereafter two medics pushing a gurney appeared and took over CPR.

Ncisncisncis. Ncisncisncis. Ncisncisncis

Coulter survived his wound and probably wouldn't even need surgery for his through and through to the shoulder according to paramedics. He was scheduled for interviewing at the hospital the next day and Gibbs would get the info they needed if he had to insert a urinary catheter in the man blindfolded.

Driving on the way back to the Navy yard, Tony was unusually quiet which was good because Ziva was annoyed at him and not in the mood for his idle chatter because once again she had been shown up by him. But this time there were no witnesses or nosy neighbors.

She would go on the offensive, distracting and diverting attention away from her mistake and accusing him, and as usual, he would back down and do nothing to get her into trouble because even though he didn't like to admit it she had him wrapped around her little finger.

"You shoved me out of the way."

"We needed him alive and talking."

"I am certainly capable of delivering a non-lethal shot, Tony. Are you trying to make me look bad?" She accused him in annoyance.

"No, Ziva, you generally do that on your own. Plus being taken by surprise the way you were instincts might have made you aim for the head or heart. Couldn't have that now could we?" He spoke with the hard light of truth in his voice when he said she made herself look bad.

"You're saying I look bad? Taken by surprise?" He infuriated her so, she sputtered in outrage.

"I was not taken by surprise. You are only upset because I was able to..."

"You were able to what, David? Almost get yourself killed?"

"Able to keep up with Coulter, to..."

"Let me tell you about this film I once saw about a..."

"TONY! I am not interested in listening to one of your ridiculous, inane movie references that has no bearing..."

"This...film is about a cop killer who made a forte in the sewers from guns and ammunition he stole as a common thief in the night. So this guy is always thinking and planning cause he trusts no one except the sewer is his friend. He makes his escape..."

Ziva's choice was to ignore him as she turned on the radio and blasted the music. He reached over and slammed his hand on the knob so hard it broke off but the noise abated.

"Now that knob is coming out of your next paycheck, Ziva, but anyway, the point being, this guy was well armed and took the cops by surprise when he reached his arsenal and started shooting at them because who would of thought that he had planned that well in advance..."

"Tony, no one else but you would find this story worth any value at all. I must insist that you stop, now!"

"No one else may find this story interesting Ziva but you should. Our Mr Coulter was obviously a fan of this movie. Now if you had followed proper procedure and waited for your partner, me that is, I could have told you that this guy was not down in the sewer for the fun of it. He had a plan..."

"Tony, enough!" Ziva turned on him sick of his prattle. She did not want to hear about her faults, she wanted him to fall in line.

"I know procedure as well as you do and followed it to the best of my ability, we got him didn't we? And when will you get it through your thick skull that there is nothing you of all people can teach me? About anything!"

"Okay, okay." Tony releases the steering wheel at a red light and holds up both hands in surrender. "I have been duly informed. There is nothing I can teach you. I will cease and desist any further attempts."

Tony puts both hands back on the steering wheel and starts driving again as soon as the light turns green. After a couple of minutes of uncomfortable silence on Ziva's part, she tries appeasing, making amends for her harsh statement.

"Tony, why must we always have these...skirmishes? We are partners are we not? We work together well, solve cases and Gibbs is satisfied with our performance. I have also made my position clear on..." She had seized the opportunity just thrown in her lap to confess once again her willingness to pursue a relationship with him that had been on hold since Michael Rivkin but Tony's mind, as usual, went off on a different tangent.

"Wait wait, Ziva. You think we work together well as partners?" He glanced over at her briefly while driving, an incredulous look on his face.

"Because I think we make lousy partners. We suck at being partners. Are probably the worst two people to be put together as partners. Matter of fact, I don't think you've got what it takes to be anybody's partner."

He waited for the expected outburst and he wasn't disappointed.

"If you are attempting to provoke me Tony, do not. I also have derogatory remarks I can make about you..."

"Not at all, Ziva. Speaking philosophically, I'm just saying that being trained in Mossad as an assassin, and the word itself connotes solitariness, it's probably quite a jump for you to totally rely on another person as a partner, especially one who you consider inferior in intelligence and skills."

"Tony, that is not true. I know that you are a very capable investigator and that your skills are certainly adequate."

"Well, thank you, Ziva, for at least acknowledging my mediocre accomplishments." His sarcastic gratuitous expression of gratitude went right over her head at the bone she tossed him.

"You're welcome, Tony."

He had pulled into the yard and parked and turned to face her instead of getting out of the car. He had decided on his course of action, the only course left open to him.

"Let's be honest with each other for a refreshing change, Ziva. You've made your feelings perfectly clear by your words and actions and believe me I don't take offense, at least not any more. You may not have learned anything from me but I picked up a few good points from you. Now, with that being said, I debated with myself driving back here whether your actions tonight could be overlooked but..."

Zivaremoved her seatbelt and also turned in her seat to face him

"My actions tonight? Overlooked? What are you talking about now, Tony? Is it that I show initiative and can work without supervision, and do not need Gibbs holding my hand for every decision I make? Your jealousy is not pretty, Tony." She reeked of triumph and self-satisfaction.

Angry and more than exasperated at her one track mind Tony relieved her of that notion and stuck another one in her head.

"Geez, Ziva, your ego has gotten really tiresome and boring. This is not about jealousy, Agent David it's about insubordination and your refusal to follow the chain of command. I will be filing an incident report about your basic lack of knowledge or unwillingness to conform to NCIS rules and regulations that will go into your permanent record. I am recommending that you be enrolled in the next FLETC class to rectify your lack in those areas. It'll be up to Vance and Gibbs to follow through or not."

He made to get out of the car when she reached over and grabbed his arm.

How many ways could she show her fury? Well, she hadn't tried physical violence yet like Abby or maybe she'd just shoot him.

"This is a joke, Tony? A cruel vindictive joke? And if it is I will not stand for it."

Ziva's face had gone from smirking to icy coldness as had her voice. It was reminiscent of his time on his back on the shiny hard embassy floor during his one and only visit to Israel, but then instead of icy cold her voice had been burning hot.

Tony's eyes narrowed as he stared at her hand on his arm.

"Don't, Ziva." He said it quietly enough but she heard the menace and released his arm not out of fear but for their relationship as partners.

Trying to get her temper under control and only partially succeeding, she growled, "Why, Tony? Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends. This won't look good on my record especially after that meth explosion case."

She sucked in her breath and blew it out calming herself down some more as her voice became cajoling, familiar. "I have even indicated to you that I would like to be more than friends, Tony. This will not help our relationship grow if you do..."

Tony showed what kind of contempt he felt for that idea when he grimaced in distaste. He then said something to her in vivid detail that shocked her and startled any previous thoughts she may have had that they could ever get together in a relationship entirely out of her mind, forever.

"Oh God Ziva, you're like a broken record, a damn twirling yoyo back and forth. Please, for your sake, get some pride, some self-worth or just get a life and leave me the hell alone.

"Cause you're acting like some sicko, weirdo stalker standing at some poor victim's window and just staring in. It's creepy. As far as a relationship between you and I, there is no relationship and there never will bea relationship, Geez." He looked like he wanted to spit a bad taste out of his mouth.

"I just wanted to discuss this with you first as to my reasoning behind the report I am going to file about your performance today. However it goes, I refuse to work with you again. As I said, it will be up to those with a higher pay scale than me to decide what to do about it. I'll see you in the bullpen."

He opened his door abruptly and got out walking quickly away. When he didn't wait for her or even turn to see if she was following him she knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a turning point in their dealings with each other.

She was so shocked at his hostility and his look of repulsion at the mere mention of having an affair with her that none of the other things mattered; not being reported as incompetent or having the threat of attending FLETC when she had been able to skip the class because of Director Shepherd's intervention, not even being told he would not work with her again. No, she had to swallow the bitter pill, the look on his face...she knew it was real and she had been deceiving herself. Worse, deceiving herself that she was not the superior investigator she thought he thought she was.

Ncisncisncisncis. Ncisncisncisncis. Ncisncisncsncis.

Back in the office. It was late, they were wet and uncomfortable, but an incident report for weapons fired was needed from Ziva and Tony tonight. Gibbs came back from the coffee shop with cups of the hot brew for everyone as they got down to business. Abby sat at an empty desk idly chatting while waiting for McGee so she and Ziva could have a late dinner with him. Tony had declined the invitation, not noticing the sad look of guilt that passed across Abby's face at his refusal to join them.

After he finished his report and the other's had left, except for who knew where the heck Gibbs was, Tony started on the disciplinary action report for Ziva. He was as thorough as he could be and explained his reasons for such action. He said he could not work with her again because she worked better alone than with him, especially if Gibbs wasn't there, and she might not be there to cover his six or any other agent if she went 'lone ranger' again. His preliminary recommendation for her was a stint at FLETC.

He was just finishing up and sending copies of his reports to Vance and Gibbs when the elevator dinged. He thought it was the night staff or even Gibbs the night owl but then McGee came out of the box with a pizza box in his hand

"McGee. I'll give you one hundred dollars for whatever's in that box. I don't care if it's left over crust or chewed on bread sticks just..."

McGee thrust the box at Tony and held out his hand for the money. Tony snatched the box and had it opened and was inhaling the tantalizing aroma of the hot cheese, sauce, pepperoni and sausage pizza and enjoying the first succulent bite before Tim could pull his hand back.

"Where's my money, DiNozzo?"

"grmb mmmmpay tmrow, McStingy."

"What?"

Chewing and swallowing, Tony repeated. "I said this is good and I'll pay you tomorrow. What're you doing back here anyway, McGee"

"Forget the money, we took up a collection and bought your dinner."

"What? A whole ten bucks on this mini pizza here is all the three of you could spare on..."

"It was just the two of us Tony. Ziva changed her mind and didn't go with us."

He and Abby were both concerned at Ziva's behavior tonight.

"Something's going on there. She was a little...vague, sad, somber...I don't know. What happened out there Tony? You two disappeared down that storm drain so fast then Gibbs had me trace which direction you were headed by your cellphone signals and where the signal stopped. We drove over there and were finally able to get that grill loosened up so we could pull it off. Then you're out in the Navy yard parking lot where you two were parked for half an hour. Gibbs saw you and just said to leave you two be. What's going on, Tony?" Tim repeated the question.

Tony looked at his future SFA. There was one thing he would change about Gibbs leadership and only one, or maybe two but no more than three, and that was, he would not keep secrets from his second in command regarding NCIS business unless it was specifically for his eyes only. He handed Tim the incident report on Ziva and watched as the man made his way to his desk, sat down and started to read. Tony finished off the mini pizza and threw away the trash and waited.

McGee did his inner brainy research and outward focused stare. Finally, he gathered the papers and returned them to Tony still without making a comment.

"Well, McSlowpoke?" Tony inquired trying not to get annoyed. "Don't tell me you've had your head in that damn computer so much that you never noticed anything 'hinky' as Abby would say going on here?"

Tim pursed irritated lips and glared with impatient eyes. "I noticed, okay? I just didn't know what I was noticing. I still don't. You kind of avoided working with her, and it had gotten to where she never had anything good to say about...well, but she was always getting in your face. I don't get it."

Tony didn't even try to joke about it. He had made himself perfectly clear to Ziva that he did not secretly love her, did not want a relationship with her and did not want to work with her. He needed to make it clear to Tim also if they were going to be able to work closely together. No secrets.

"Pull up a chair, Tim. This is for your ears only, I'll be right back." Tony went to get two vending machine sodas while Tim pulled an extra chair to Tony's desk.

"Tim, this is mostly my fault. I let it go on too long out of my own insecurities."

"Let what go on?"

Tony laughed at himself. "My insecurities? I was recently told that I was giving Ziva mixed messages by never reprimanding her and making it stick, even though what she was doing was wrong. She wouldn't take any kind of instruction from me and I made a joke out of it.

"She resisted accepting she works with a team now, that she's not a Mossad agent any longer working by herself and I tried to tell her that but I could never make her accept that she was putting herself and her partner, mainly me, in danger, and I didn't force it. An example of that is Rivkin. It could have been me dead with a broken neck cause that's what he was aiming for. But the only person she'll listen to is Gibbs.

"And this is no excuse mind you, but my family life...my father and stepmother made my life a living hell. It was pretty bad. I've been running from the stepmother since I was three years old. During that time, she'd tried to kill me or have me killed at least a half dozen times, probably more.

"I finally found a family here with Gibbs, and by extension, you, Kate, Ziva, and all the others. Apparently, I overcompensated wanting to keep the family I had together by, for one thing, turning a blind eye to what Ziva was doing so as not to rock the boat. It was an injustice to her making her think there was something there that wasn't.

"Are you getting the picture, McGee? Is this making any sense? I couldn't even convince her that I really love Margret and I want to be with her like I never wanted to be with anyone else. And I'll admit, years ago, Ziva and I flirted a lot and I thought about having sex with her but even then a relationship based on that alone would have been just asking for trouble.

"But my mixed signals again created a vicious cycle. I didn't do anything about her defiance of my authority hence I must have feelings for her."

McGee looked intrigued. "That's pretty screwed. So tonight you straightened her out, right? That's the reason for her long face and skipping dinner. Did you tell her about your promotion?"

"No. And there's no way I want her on my team, either, that's the way it is. So now you know. The bad report I'm filing is because she may not have covered my back but I refuse to allow anyone else to be put in danger because she took off on her own."

"And you say she only did this taking off thing when Gibbs wasn't around?

"Yep."

"Well, there you go."

"There I go? Where? Where am I going? What're you talking about, McGee?"

"You can quit blaming yourself for most of this conundrum. Ziva knew a lot more about how to pull your chains than you knew about what made her tick."

Conundrum? Tony drummed his fingers on the table while glaring at McGee sorely tempted to reach over his desk and throttle him if he didn't explain.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Aw, come on Tony. She didn't do any of this in front of Gibbs and if she did it in front of me, I was obliviously unaware. She knew what she was doing. She wasn't fooled. She was in the running for you and your job. She saw that you were being pulled two ways but she just mistook the reason for it and she chose to believe it was out of infatuation with her and her superior abilities rather than you trying to keep your surrogate family together and not squeal on her. That's her own fault. Face it Tony, she tried to outplay you but it backfired. She's now not a happy camper and you're sitting here blaming yourself."

"So what are you saying, McKnowitall?"

"I'm saying it wasn't all your fault, quilt blaming yourself and move on."

"Oh." Tony looked at the younger man in awed respect. That sounded reasonable. Telling a woman you weren't interested usually had her fleeing to greener pastures if just out of hurt pride alone. Ziva chose to believe what she wanted to believe and too bad for her. His non-action didn't put him in too good of a light either. Yeah, about time to move on.

"You're right, McGee." Tony started buttoning down ready to get out of there and hit the sack. When Tim didn't move, he paused and leaned back in his chair.

"Okay, now what's on your mind, McGee?"

Tim got up walked away then came back and sat down. He placed his elbows on Tony's desk and peered at him intensely.

"You and Abby haven't had your talk yet."

"Gosh, McGee you know how busy we've been. I..."

"Abby and I have started dating again. We're even talking about...well getting married, having a couple of kids before she gets too much older..."

"I understand, Tim. And of course, I wouldn't ask you to choose. I'm glad for you...I'll start looking for another SFA and..." The disappointment in his voice was only just barely hidden.

"Would you shut up! Shit!"

"McGee!" Tony was completely flummoxedbytheprofanity. "You need to have your dirty mouth washed out with an industrial size bar of soap. What in the...?"

"Tony, I'm your SFA that's not the issue. Nor is it for Abby, she couldn't be happier. Now set up a time and talk to her that's all I'm saying!" When Tony looked at him like he was off his meds loony, Tim was more than mildly irritated.

"Just do it, dammit! And quit with the McNicknames! Good night!"

Tony sat with his mouth open while McGee stormed out bypassing the elevator for the stairs and figuratively slamming the door.

Ncisncis ncisncis. Ncisncis ncisncis. Ncisncis ncisncis

A/N thank you readers for reading