Divergence/Convergence
Disclaimer: All characters property of CBS, not mine, alas.
Thank you for your reviews!
For the reviewer who asked about the season 13 finale in the UK, it's on Fox at 9pm tomorrow (Friday 10th June). Channel 157 on Virgin; don't know about other providers' channel numbers.
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Chapter 5: Reconnection
Tony enjoyed the dinner; Adam was an excellent cook and his friends were decent people, all of whom spoke very good English. Kevuda, the wife in the couple, offered to give Tony private Hebrew lessons and he gratefully accepted (he was certain Ziva's eyes lit up at that) – she was a language teacher and regularly gave crash courses to English-speaking Jews making their aliyah.
One by one the guests left and Tony found himself in the apartment with just Adam and Ziva. Glancing at the clock, Adam noted that it had gone nine o'clock and that he needed to get to bed soon.
"How do I get back to my apartment?" asked Tony, aware that the wine Adam had consumed would probably put him over every drink-drive limit in the world.
"I can drive you," offered Ziva, who had not had more than a sip of the wine because it was one she disliked.
Tony paled; Adam snickered when he saw and patted Tony on the shoulder. "Or you could stay here and I will drive you tomorrow."
Ziva glared at both of them, though her primary target was Adam; her reaction served only to amuse the Mossad officer. Torn, Tony considered his two options. Adam's offer was extremely tempting, but as he had work the next morning it would entail not enough sleep for Tony. Yet Tony had had more than his fair share of Ziva's driving and after over two years of being back in Israel, he doubted it had improved – and had probably deteriorated. He closed his eyes and internally winced: he needed many hours of undisturbed sleep, which left him with only one option. How bad could it be? He opened his eyes and turned to Ziva. "Fine. You can drive me."
Ziva smiled. "Then I will put my shoes on." She headed into the hall, leaving Adam and Tony together in the living room.
Adam arched an eyebrow and leaned in close to Tony, his voice low. "You are a brave man, Agent DiNozzo."
"Well, it was good knowing you," replied Tony, offering a wry grin.
Chuckling, Adam patted his shoulder. "I hope you have had a good time and I apologise for the way I set you two up, but it seemed the easiest way of doing things."
Unconvinced, Tony made a noncommittal noise. "I'll admit I wasn't expecting it. Was she in on it?"
"Only once she arrived. Devorah let her in while I was collecting you and then let slip, but she has in the past said that she hoped to see you again." He shrugged. "She has missed you."
Tony put his hand on Adam's shoulder and met the Israeli man's eyes. "Thank you. For everything – including her."
"You are a friend; I am happy to help. On that subject, I will pick you up at one o'clock tomorrow after I finish work."
"See you tomorrow." Tony shook Adam's hand and went into the hall to put on his shoes and leave. He smiled at Ziva, still a little stunned that she was here, that they had kissed and now were tentatively at the start of a relationship that, if he was honest with himself, had been hanging in stasis for years, and stunned that Adam had set them up like this.
She already had her shoes on and was standing by the front door; when he smiled at her, she returned it with a small, nervous one. She waited for him to put his shoes on and then jingled her keys in her hand. "Shall we?"
Clearly I have a death wish. He straightened up from his shoes, his movement a little stiff. Man, are the effects of that flight starting to hit. "Sure."
Ziva wrapped her fingers around the door handle and called out, "Laila tov, Adam!"
"Oh, yeah, laila tov!" added Tony, determined to speak Hebrew as much as possible. He followed Ziva out of the apartment and down to her car on the street. It amused him that she had another Mini.
"You look exhausted, Tony," she observed as she unlocked the car.
"Jetlag's starting to hit," he confirmed, getting into the car. "I'm supposed to call Senior but I might have to leave it till tomorrow."
Ziva settled into her seat and closed her door. "How did he take the move?"
"Better than I expected, actually. A lot better." He secured his seatbelt and mentally prepared himself for what he knew was coming.
"I am glad." She turned the key in the ignition and jerked out onto the road.
I definitely haven't missed this, Tony thought as the force of her rapid acceleration pressed his body into the seat. "How did they ever give you a licence?"
"There is a difference between learning to pass a test and learning to drive," Ziva informed him, checking the road before pulling out into the traffic.
"Of course there is," he muttered.
"Trust me, you did not want to be a passenger when my uncle was driving."
"You mean there are people worse than you?" He couldn't help it, the teasing flowing naturally, just like it used to. "Watch the road!" he added in panic when her glare lingered on him.
They spent the rest of the drive in a comfortable near-silence; Ziva paid attention to the directions her phone barked out in Hebrew, only missing three turnings, and Tony fought the urge to sleep from the now-oppressive jetlag – not as difficult as he had thought due to the driving style of the woman behind the wheel. He was relieved when the car stopped outside his building and Ziva turned off the engine.
"This is the place?" asked Ziva, gesturing to the building. When Tony nodded, she visibly relaxed. "I am not used to the sat-nav thing on my cell. It does not give you enough warning." She jabbed her finger at the offending device, glaring at it.
"I noticed." He undid his seatbelt and turned to face her. "Want to come in? Or do you have somewhere to be?"
She shook her head. "Nowhere to be." She remained where she was, tense and alert, as Tony got out of the car.
"What's up?" His hand rested on the still-open passenger door as he bent down and peered into the car.
Ziva shook herself, then undid her seatbelt. "I don't know. I am not sure what to do or think. Things have changed suddenly and there is just so much to process."
"Rain check?"
Frowning, she squinted up through the car window. "It is completely dry, Tony."
He snickered. "Man, I've missed your mix-ups. Rain check? As in, do this some other time?"
She shook her head and undid her seatbelt. "No rain check; I will come up."
Smiling, he closed the car door and fished out his keys while he waited for her to join him, holding out his arm for her to slip her hand through, which she did. He raised his eyebrows when she rested her head on his upper arm, but decided that silence was the best option. I could definitely get used to this.
Once inside the apartment, he let her wander through it while he shut the door. "What do you think?"
"I am impressed," she replied from the kitchen. "Have you brought all your movies?"
He followed her voice. "Just a few in my suitcase. I'm having a lot of them shipped over. I've got to check whether the DVD player is multi-region or if I need to get one."
"Movie nights – that sounds familiar." Her expression was a mix of wistful and nostalgic.
"We could start doing that again," he suggested, hoping she would agree.
She nodded slowly. "Yes. Yes, I would like that." She turned away from him and began rummaging through the cupboards. "Do you have any tea?"
He stared at her, open-mouthed. He'd only moved in a mere few hours ago and she was already acting like she had been there a hundred times. "I, uh… I have no idea; I've spent less than an hour here. Is there anything even in there?"
"Aha!" She held a box aloft as though it were a trophy. "You have… Let me see…four, five, six, shiva varieties of tea."
"Shiva? That's…seven?"
She turned around, one of her warm smiles on her face. "Very good, Tony. Yes, you have tea. Lots of it." She set about preparing it while he watched, a little stunned at her bolshiness. "Do you want anything?"
"I'm good." He decided to familiarise himself with the contents of the kitchen while they waited for the kettle to boil, and found crockery and cutlery (nothing fancy, but perfectly adequate), a variety of utensils, pots and pans, and some cereal, porridge, milk sugar and three kinds of coffee. "Guess I'll need to go grocery shopping tomorrow."
"Yes, you do. You cannot live on just takeout."
"Wanna bet?" Her arched eyebrow silenced anything else he was thinking of saying, so he got himself a glass of water and went over to the sofa, which was in the living-room area of the open-plan layout, waiting for Ziva to finish.
When she had made her tea, she joined him on the sofa, sitting at the opposite end and wrapping her hands around the mug. They sat in companionable silence for several minutes; Tony regarded her surreptitiously and she focused on her tea.
Eventually he decided to break the silence. "So where do we go from here? Us, I mean."
"You were serious earlier?"
He reached out and put one hand over hers. "Never been more serious." He meant it, too, and hoped she realised that.
She took a deep breath and met his eyes. "I am willing to try but I do not want to rush things."
"I can understand that."
"Thank you." She smiled in amusement as he attempted – and failed – to stifle a yawn. "Perhaps for now, though, you should get some sleep? You are clearly exhausted and tomorrow will be busy."
He wanted to disagree and tell her that he was fine, but there was no way she would buy it, so he reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. What are you up to tomorrow?"
"Classes ten until three, and then I would like to spend an hour or two in the library." Earlier, she had told him that she had taken the opportunity to finally go to university – she had gone straight from school into the IDF and straight from there into Mossad, and then to NCIS, so she had never had the chance before now.
"Wanna grab dinner after? My treat. I'll even pick you up."
She was quiet for a moment while she considered his offer, then nodded. "Yes, that would be nice. Shall I text you when I have finished at the library?"
"I like your thinking, David." He yawned and rubbed his eyes. "I'm gonna have to kick you out now, though – a guy as good-looking as me needs his beauty sleep and these looks don't keep themselves."
She snorted and threw a cushion at him before writing out her mobile phone number on some paper and handing it to him. "Text me when you have your new phone."
He took the paper from her and escorted her to the door; overwhelmed with the urge to kiss her, he did so, enjoying the brief, tender moment before she left. When he shut the door, he yawned again. "Time for bed," he announced to the hallway, heading for his bedroom. Sleep was the only thing he cared about now and it was not long before he sank into the wonderful embrace of the bed.
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Tony slept for twelve hours solid, exhausted from the journey and from what he couldn't decide was one long day or two days blended together. Either way, he awoke at eleven o'clock on Tuesday greatly refreshed and somewhat adjusted to the new times zone. He had a leisurely breakfast and a quick shower and, seeing that he had around forty minutes until Adam was due to pick him up, began the process of unpacking.
At one o'clock exactly, Adam rang the bell; Tony grabbed his things and headed out.
"How are you today?" inquired Adam as Tony checked the door was locked.
"Way better. What's the plan?"
"We collect your work phone and then I will take you to collect your car. Do you have the paperwork?"
"Triple-checked."
"Then I will leave you to do whatever you want. You need food?"
"Yeah. Anywhere you recommend? I don't really know anything about supermarkets or anything here."
Adam unlocked his car. "Then I will point some out to you. What about banks?"
"Gonna look through the stuff you gave me yesterday and get it sorted tomorrow."
"And the rest of today?"
Tony offered him a bashful smile. "Pick Ziva up from the campus library, then who knows?"
"I see." Turning the key in the ignition, Adam kept a neutral expression, but there was, Tony thought, a faint hint of satisfaction.
"It did not take long for Tony to collect his new work phone and even before he left the NCIS office he had saved Ziva's number into it and texted her so that she had his. Back in Adam's car, Adam entered his and Tony gave him a missed call. "I wonder if I'll ever learn my new number," he mused, doing up his seatbelt.
"Sooner than you think," replied Adam sagely.
Then it was on to collect the car, from a garage that NCIS had an arrangement with. Tony was a little disappointed that it was a "boringly functional" (as he quietly complained to Adam) Ford Focus, but he was visibly relieved to have his own ride. "And after all," he said, "I can always buy myself a decent car once I've been here a while, or arrange to have mine shipped over."
"Precisely. Now, I will leave you to do your grocery shop. You have the map I drew?"
Tony held it up.
"Then I shall perhaps see you at the weekend?"
"Sounds good to me." Tony returned the hug and then watched the Mossad officer leave before heading to his own car, jingling the keys as he went. Having an apartment in which he had now slept and put out some of his possessions, a local phone and a car, the move now felt much more real and permanent, it was just after three o'clock, so he decided to head to the supermarket and then home where he would play around with his phone so it was set up just how he wanted it.
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At five o'clock, Ziva called to say that she was just finishing at the library; Tony immediately set out to pick her up, grinning like an idiot at the prospect of seeing and spending time with her. He did not have long to wait after he texted her to let her know his precise location and she appeared with a pile of thick, heavily books in her arms, some in English and some in Hebrew, which she deposited on the back seat of the car. "I have an essay due in on Monday," she explained as she got into the passenger seat beside him. "Do we have a plan for dinner?"
"I'm cooking. DiNozzo family special spaghetti."
She secured her seatbelt and leaned back. "That does sound good."
He smiled as he turned the engine on and drove off. "The DVD player's multi-regional so we can watch something with dinner if you like."
"Perfect."
During the journey, they chatted about a variety of things and they arrived at Tony's surprisingly quickly, not getting lost once. At the apartment, Tony immediately went into the kitchen, leaving Ziva to her own devices – university work – while he prepared dinner. He enjoyed being able to cook for her again and hoped this would be the beginning of something long-term; there was something cosy and wonderfully domestic about the scene. It certainly seemed to be something long-term and he was keen to do all he could to make it work. He couldn't stand the thought of being without her again.
Dinner and the movie – the newest Bond, which she had not seen – went very well and though they did not speak much, it was comfortable. Once they had finished eating, they put their plates and trays aside and Ziva snuggled into him on the sofa, his arm around her. He felt thoroughly relaxed, enjoying every aspect of the evening.
When the movie's end credits rolled, Ziva sat up and tucked a wayward lock of hair behind her ear. "Thank you for a lovely evening, Tony."
Tony immediately tensed, anticipating the but that was sure to follow. "You've got to go?"
She nodded, her face sad as she stood up. "You saw all the books I have to work through, yes? The ones in the hall?"
"Uh-huh." There were three.
"I need to have finished with them by tomorrow – only the twenty-four-hour-loan ones were available."
He visibly winced. "That sucks. Are you gonna manage it?"
"Yes. But I need to spend two hours with them before I can go to bed."
He thought back to his own university days. "You pulled an all-nighter yet?"
She let out her familiar scornful "Hah!" and shook her head. "Do you honestly think I am so disorganised? Now, you on the other foot –"
"Hand," he corrected, earning a glare for his troubles. "And yeah, I may have pulled a few. I bet McGee did, too."
She nodded. "That is because he is a perfectionist and will have spent a lot of that time making tiny little adjustments that nobody would have noticed and that would have made no difference to his final grade if he had just left them." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I must go. Can I see you on Friday?"
His face fell. "Not before? That's three whole days away!"
"I have to study."
Knowing she was right, he sighed and nodded. "You'll call?"
"Of course." She went into the hall and put her shoes on; Tony watched her closely, committing everything to memory, not wanting to lose a single precious moment.
When her shoes were on she stood up and took his hand in one of hers while her other hand gently caressed his cheek and her dark eyes searched his face. He leaned into her touch and then dropped his head, capturing her in a long, tender kiss that she returned. Eventually they broke apart, smiling softly at each other.
He needed to say it, before she left. "I love you, Ziva."
She nodded. "I know. I hope you will forgive me for not saying it in return just yet; I need some more time to get things right in my mind. There is still so much…"
He squeezed her hand. "Take all the time you need."
"Thank you," she murmured. I will see you on Friday." And then she was gone, the door shut behind her and leaving Tony alone to ponder things.
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TBC