Ziva honestly thought that her partner was going mad. Oh, this was Tony, of course he was crazy. But this just confirmed it. Because who in their right mind decided to do something like this? No one.
Shaking her head, she watched almost helplessly as he continued to talk. Trying to, how did the Americans say it, bump it up. All he was really managing to do was make it sound worse with a far too cheerful expression on his face. Would Ducky be able to use this in a diagnosis for Tony? To prove that he was crazy? She would have to check.
"Tony, even you have to admit that it is too cold for the beach. It is winter. "
Winter. As in the cold season. The extremely cold season. Her most hated season because of the aforementioned cold. Where temperatures got to freezing and there was snow. Snow. She did not do snow. And Tony wanted to go on the beach when it was like this? The sand was going to be freezing, never mind the actual sea.
"I refuse to go to the beach when it is snowing."
There were no remnants of it but it had snowed the other day. And she was not taking the risk of it doing so again.
"It's not going to snow today," he said.
"It might!"
He rolled his eyes at her.
"I thought I was supposed to be the dramatic one?"
"You are the dramatic one."
"You're the one fussing about snow that doesn't even exist!"
"Snow that could happen," she corrected.
"The weather forecast said there was going to be no snow today. I checked."
"Because the weather forecast is always correct," she scoffed.
She had learned that very quickly in America. Sometimes the weather was so variable that they simply could not predict what it was going to be like. Which sucked for her because she liked to have some warning to how cold it was going to be.
"Well, today it is," he said firmly, like saying it like 5hat would make it be true.
"The sand is going to be ice crystals instead of sand," she told him.
Tony snorted. "I don't think that's possible. But that's a pretty cool image."
"I do not want to freeze."
"You aren't going to freeze."
"Yes. I will not. If I stay in the heat of the car or, even better, return to my nice, cosy apartment."
The temperature was set just right there. She just wanted to go home and curl up under a blanket with a good book. Was that really too much to ask?
"Look," he said suddenly, straightening up. "I'll show you that it's not that bad."
Before she could say anything, never mind stop him, he had flung open the door. She inhaled sharply at the sudden rush of cold air which gave Tony the chance to slip out, letting the door slam behind him. Not that that stopped the cold seeping everywhere. She would kill him for that, she had been nice and warm!
Speaking of Tony, he ran around to the front of the car and flung his hands out.
"See?" He shouted, mist spilling from his mouth (oh, what was the word for it in English?)
She was not sure what he was trying to show her except for maybe how fast you can realise that it's cold if his abrupt wrapping his arms around himself and visible shivering was anything to go by.
Tony quickly returned to the car, running his hands together.
"You know what?" He said as he closed the door behind him. "It really isn't a good day for the beach."
She didn't even bother to stop herself from saying, "I told you so."
Tony managed to salvage the day by finding this small coffee shop that turned out to do fantastic hot chocolate. Just the thing to chase away the chill that the horrible weather had inflicted on them.
"No more beaches," Ziva said firmly, hands still around her cup where they hadn't moved since she had got it.
"No more beaches," he said slowly.
Tony felt weirdly disappointed by that. He wasn't sure why; it wasn't like today had been successful. Well, except for this hot chocolate. It was great.
A weird look passed over Ziva's face but it was gone too quick before he could figure out what it meant.
"Until summer."
"Huh?"
What was she talking about?
"No more beaches until summer."
"What?"
She crossed her arms. "You heard me."
"Yeah, but I must have been hallucinating or something because I'm pretty sure you said summer."
"I did."
"Summer?"
"Yes."
"But summer's ages away."
"Six months."
"Exactly. Do you know how many days that is?"
He didn't but that wasn't the point.
"Long enough for the weather to warm up again."
"Come on."
"No, Tony."
Her arms were crossed and she looked like she wouldn't be budged. But he had to try.
"It will be the last one of the years," he tried to tempt her.
It probably wouldn't be. Well, okay, it was December so it probably was the last one of the year. But not of winter! He liked these beach trips and would probably try and find at least one more day in the season to go. There was bound to be some nice, albeit cold, days in January and February that they could go in. Not that Ziva had to know of these plans.
And there would definitely be days in Spring that they could go. He wasn't going to wait until summer no matter what Ziva said.
She narrowed his eyes at him. "I do not believe you."
Yeah, he didn't think that she would.
"You probably shouldn't," he agreed. "How about I buy you an ice-cream?"
"When it is cold?"
"Coffee, then."
She held his gaze for a moment before signing in acquiescence.
"Make it a tea."
"One tea for a beach trip, sold to the lovely ninja!" He said brightly. "Come on, there's a stand just over there. I bet it does a berry tea."
"That would make things a lot better."
"Great, we can check it out now," he said, growing down some change for the tip and heading for the door.
"What? Tony it is still freezing!"
