This event takes place a day after the recent undercover mission Tony and Ziva was on, around November 2005.
Chapter 3 – Balancing Act
Ziva let out an exasperated sigh as she walked down the hallway, shaking her head at what she had just went through. As she rounded the corner and headed toward her desk, she noticed McGee talking on the phone. She sat down at her desk and put her elbows on her desk and massaged her temples with her fingers, tuning out for the moment the sound of McGee talking on the phone. She took a deep breath, composed herself, then sat back and looked over to McGee, who was just finishing the conversation on the phone.
"Yes, I'll tell him. Yes, I promise," McGee said, a hint of tension in his voice, then quickly hung up his phone, letting out a frustrated sigh. "Now, if I can get back to what I'm doing," he muttered to himself as he resumed typing on his computer, running his usual queries on the computer.
Ziva raised an eyebrow, giving McGee a cool look. "Sounds like someone's hounding you to pass on a message?" She tapped a finger on her desktop, a small smirk on her lips. She had an inkling of who was bugging McGee on the other end, but said nothing.
McGee looked up at Ziva and shook his head. "Every time I start doing something it seems like Abby's calling and asking for Gibbs, and I keep telling her that Gibbs' not available right now." Mcgee said, letting out a sigh. "Meeting still going on?" he asked.
Ziva glanced up toward the conference room, then back to McGee. "Yes, Gibbs is still in the meeting with the Director and Tony." She shrugged her shoulders as she sat back in her chair, still trying to relax herself from the long tension-filled briefing.
"Ah, so they kicked you out and kept Tony back for... what?" McGee sat back in his chair, pushing his keyboard back slightly.
Ziva let out a snort. "You were lucky you left when you did. After you had left, the questions started about how exactly we did our jobs. What I had to say apparently set Gibbs off, but I can't help it, it's what we trained to do in the Mossad." She flicked her hands in the air and shrugged her shoulders.
"What exactly were they wanting to kn-" McGee was cut off by the sound of a door slamming in the near distance, startling him. "What was that?!" he exclaimed.
Just before Ziva could say something, Tony stormed into the bullpen and around to his desk, seething in anger, looking around his work space, then letting out a frustrated grunt as he kicked his filing cabinet.
McGee raised his eyebrows as he watched Tony from his chair. After a brief moment, he asked, "Everything alright, Tony?"
"Does it look like everything's alright?" Tony looked up sharply at McGee and let out a sigh as he pulled out his chair and slumped down into it loudly. "You ever wonder why I'm the last one out of the meeting?"
McGee shook his head briefly. "No. I only know that you two were in there a while after I left the meeting. Must be some details they wanted to get some clarification on?"
"Oh, you mean clarifications as to my dress code that night, and exactly how I was supposed to be doing my job? What about it?" Tony muttered as he angrily stuffed some of his belongings into his go bag, and cleaning up his paperwork and stuffing them into his filing cabinet.
"Tony? What did they say to you?" Ziva asked, leaning forward on her desk. "And what did you say to them?"
Tony let out a sigh. "Just not right now, Ziva" he snapped at Ziva, biting off the end of his reply. He held up a hand and shook his head. "Not in the mood to talk about it right now."
"Tony?" McGee stood up from his desk, walking to Tony. "I'm not sure I follow?"
Before Tony could answer McGee, the sound of quick, purposeful steps reached their ears. Tony barely had time to turn his head before Gibbs stormed into view and stopped in front of him and put his finger in Tony's face and brought his face three inches away from Tony's face. "I didn't tell you that you were dismissed. You've got a second strike on you now!"
Tony sat back in his chair, flinching a bit from Gibbs' intense drill-sergeant-like stare. "Just so I'm clear on this, you're still on my case about that one, right?" He had a very good idea about what Gibbs was referring to, but he wanted Gibbs to say it anyway.
Before Gibbs could answer, McGee spoke up. "Boss, Abby's been calling for you for the last -"
Gibbs turned sharply toward McGee, cutting him off. "What's she want now? Can't it wait?" he growled irritably at McGee.
McGee gulped. "Uh, she's been having, uhm..." he started, before sputtering to a stop. Gibbs' stare caused him to gulp yet again. "Uhm, she can wait," he said as he slowly sank in his chair.
Gibbs shook his head. "That's right, she can wait." He turned back to Tony, then looked at Ziva. "And you!" he said, pointing to Ziva. He seethed, trying to come up with the right words to say what he really felt about her.
Just then, McGee's phone rang yet again. He quickly picked it up. "McGee speaking?" He listened to the first few words that squeaked out of the phone, then quickly glanced up at Gibbs and said, "Yes, he's here, but he doesn't have time for you right now."
Gibbs looked back at McGee and let out an exasperated scoff. "Is that her? Go see whatever she wants. I told you, I don't have time for her right now!"
"Yes, boss, heading down there right now." McGee gulped as he quickly vacated his chair, leaving it spinning, and sprinted toward the elevator. He knew all too well what staying beyond what was necessary was open territory to inviting some of the boss's wrath upon him.
As soon as McGee left the bullpen, Gibbs turned and walked toward Tony. "Tony, I know what I saw on that tape. I know what I saw on that camera, live. That's why I'm giving you a 2nd strike." He shook a finger in Tony's face. "Consider yourself lucky that she's an officer. If she was another special agent, I'd be firing you both on the spot so fast you wouldn't know where the unemployment line came from!" His voice was menacing.
"Boss..." Tony held up his hands, trying to bring down the temperature in the room. "Nothing really happened between us two. You did tell us to make it look believable, after all. We were just doing our jobs."
"Tony, You think I didn't know? Wrong! I watched that tape and that looked like you were in clear violation of policy, it looks too real!"
"But that's -" Ziva tried to answer, but she got cut off.
Gibbs turned sharply to Ziva and held a finger in the air in front of her. "Ziva, you get a strike too! One more time, and you're on the next plane home!" He whipped the finger he was holding in front of Ziva out to the side, as if he was pointed over the ocean toward Israel. He seethed inside, because he had been struggling with his own past memories that kept coming back to him from time to time.
"Gibbs!" A loud female voice sounded over the bullpen. Director Shepherd stood at the railing on the 2nd floor looking down, a stern look on her face. "Ziva is off limits to you. You are not to do anything to her. Remember, she is here at my request." She stared down at Gibbs, reading the anger on his face, knowing exactly what he was thinking about, how he felt about how the mission was handled.
"Oh, come on." Gibbs retorted at the Director, walking toward his desk a little, and looking up at her. "I'm team lead, I can give out strikes whenever I feel like it! And right now, she deserves one!"
Director Shephard sighed and shook her head. "In my office now, Gibbs," She said, leaving no room for argument, and turned and walked off to her office.
"Alright, I guess she has spoken," Gibbs muttered under his breath as he grabbed his coffee off his desk and stormed out of the bullpen, leaving Tony and Ziva a bit stunned.
Tony sighed. "Jeez, he could lay off on the caffeine a little bit, he seems to be a little... on edge lately." He slowly sank back in his chair, breathing out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, I noticed that. Is he always that way?" Ziva asked, but before Tony could answer, she spotted McGee walking into the bullpen. "Oh, McGee, you're back. What did Abby want, McGee?"
McGee let out a short chuckle. "Oh yeah, one of her computers was misbehaving, and I traced it to a bad memory stick. She's back on track on that front. Still wants to talk to Gibbs, though. He around?" He looked around the bullpen. "Guess not," he muttered to himself as he walked to his desk and sat down.
"Nope. The Director called Gibbs to her office for a little talk about how we handled our mission," Ziva said. She leaned back in her chair and laced her hands behind her head as she crossed her legs.
"I don't understand why Gibbs still has an issue with me. What did I do exactly to warrant that second strike? Was it me slamming the door, or me storming out of that meeting?" Tony said sardonically, then let out a derisive snort. "Whatever it is, he could loosen up a little and not be so rigid in his mindset."
"Well, I don't think he'll be forgetting what he saw on that camera any time soon. Plus the fact that you two were in the same bed, and you made it look all too real," McGee said, struggling to keep his face neutral. He gulped, seeing the look on Tony's face.
"McGee, you really think we really did the deed?" Tony stood up from the desk and walked slowly to McGee, chuckling gently, pushing down the frustration and angst within him. He knew that McGee was right, but he wanted to play it cool, and so he put on a bit of a charade. "The man here wants to know if we really did the kinky deed, doesn't he?"
McGee gulped, trying to find the right words to say to Tony, "Well, uhm, no, but... you were visible to the whole team on that camera. Everything was right there, out in the open," McGee said. "I can't imagine myself doing that, to be honest."
Ziva let out a short chuckle. "In the Mossad, we are trained to use any means possible to catch our prey. Even if we slept together and looked like we were making love, like the last mission." Ziva flicked her eyes over to Tony for a just a second, and her eyes told him to cool it, that she got his back. She got up from her chair and walked over to Tony's desk. "Can't say we failed on this one, can we?"
"She's right." Tony looked at McGee, then turned to Ziva. "I still don't quite understand why Gibbs has to be such a jerk about how we handled things. I mean, look, I had my nose beat into a different shape by that guy back there for crying out loud." He pointed to his still-sore nose; he was just now starting to be able to breathe easier through his nose. "It's easy for him to say because he's not the one getting his nose beat in."
"Your nose still bothering you, Tony?" Ziva turned to Tony, a concerned look on her face. "You seemed okay earlier."
Tony scoffed slightly. "Yeah, it's better, but sometimes it hurts. I wanna blow my nose but it hurts to do that. If I tilt my head back at times, it gets a little better."
Ziva shook her head slightly, looking at Tony. "Yeah, I can see your nose isn't there yet." Ziva said as she looked at Tony. As she took a deep breath, she realized what the whole issue that Gibbs was upset about, was that sometime in the past, something had happened with Gibbs, and Gibbs had some amount of jealousy that Tony and Ziva were able to pull this mission off, where Gibbs had failed in the past doing this type of mission. She shot a look at Tony, that said, I think I understand everything now, what's going on between Gibbs and Jenny.
Tony saw the look in Ziva's eyes, and searched her eyes, and it was as if he could hear her thoughts all of a sudden. "Yep, mirror image of himself, it seems like," Tony said softly, under his breath, as he came to the same sudden realization that Ziva had.
Ziva looked at Tony and nodded in agreement. "That's the whole point there, Tony," Ziva said as she folded her arms in front of her. She turned to McGee and said, "Some agents can pull it off better than others."
Just then, Gibbs briskly walked into the bullpen, startling Tony and Ziva, and stood in the middle of the aisle, looking at the three agents. "You three still here? What'd Abs want, McGee?" he turned to McGee, who was looking up at Gibbs.
"Yeah, fixed the problem on her computer, but she said she still needs to see you." McGee said to Gibbs, picking his words carefully, still a bit unsure of how Gibbs would react, knowing how unpredictable Gibbs can be.
"Great." Gibbs threw the paperwork he was carrying onto his desk and started off for the elevator. "Alright I'll go down and see what Abby wants. You're all dismissed for the weekend." Gibbs shot a look at McGee, Tony and Ziva before he walked away.
"Did I hear right? We are dismissed for the day?" McGee raised his eyebrows as he sat back from his computer and muttered to Tony and Ziva.
"Don't need to be told twice," Tony muttered as he hurriedly finished stuffing his things into his go bag and locking up his file cabinet. "Let's get outta here before he comes back and changes his mind," he said under his breath.
"Yeah, I guess I'm gonna clean up here and finish for the day," McGee said as he started getting his things and putting them in his go bag with one hand and locking his computer with the other.
Ziva leaned over to make sure her go bag was ready, and cleared her desk of paperwork. "The weekend beckons, and I am so ready." Ziva said as she picked up her bag and set it on her desk so she could put her things in.
"Tell me about it," Tony got up and set his bag on the desk, flicking his eyes toward Ziva as he stealthily flipped his phone open and sent a brief text before stuffing his phone in his go bag.
McGee nodded as he shouldered his go bag. "A weekend of gaming, or working on my story. I haven't decided which yet."
Tony chuckled at McGee. "Only you would be doing those things. Look, I'm sorry for being a jerk earlier." He reached out and clapped McGee on his shoulder. "It's been a trying couple of days for me."
"Oh that's okay, totally understandable." McGee nodded as he double checked his go bag, making sure everything was closed on it. "Well, wanna head on out now?" he asked as he pointed toward the elevators.
"You go ahead, I will catch up with you in a second," Tony said as he smiled to McGee. "Just wanted to make sure I haven't forgotten anything." He made a show of double-checking his desk to make sure there was no loose paperwork sitting out in the open.
"Alright," McGee said as he walked away toward the elevators. As he passed Ziva, he said, "See you on Monday, Ziva," flicking a smile at Ziva.
"See ya on Monday" Ziva replied to McGee as Ziva zipped her bag closed. She heard her phone ding from somewhere inside the go-bag. Her eyes flicked up to Tony as she dug for her phone. She pulled her phone out of the bag and looked at the phone display.
"I'll catch up with you in a bit," Tony said as he shouldered his bag and walked toward the elevator, pausing by Ziva's desk to look down at her.
Ziva read what was on the display. "Ziva, How does it sounds if I pick you up at your your place for dinner and talk?" Ziva looked up at Tony and smiled at him. Her eyes said that was the most perfect idea that Tony had at that time. She didn't have to say anything out loud, because Tony read her loud and clear.
Tony clicked his tongue, winking at her and holding a thumb up to her, where only she could see it. "See you Monday," he said out loud and rushed after McGee to catch the elevator.
A few hours later, Tony and Ziva sat facing each other at a table nearby the large picture window that provided them with a beautiful, unobstructed view of the evening sky. Ziva glanced out the window, smiling at the view, then looked back at Tony. "I've got to hand it to you, Tony. This is a very nice place to eat out at," Ziva said to Tony, her eyes sparkling in the light as she reached out and placed her hand on top of Tony's.
"Yeah, this place is nice," Tony said as he nodded at Ziva. "I drive by here every so often, when I go do my shopping. Figured that I'd take you out here one day. I hear that their steak and chicken are very top-notch here." He reached out with his other hand and placed it on top of Ziva's and looked deep in her eyes. "Plus, you've got to admit, the music's very nice here."
Ziva smiled and picked up her drink and held it for a moment. "Better than some restaurants out there. It's very easy listening," she said before taking a small sip.
Tony nodded. "Can't wait to try their steak out, see how well they've cooked it." He rubbed his hands together and waggled his eyebrows. "Sure could use a good dinner, especially after work today," he said.
"And I'm looking forward to seeing my chicken as well. The food smells wonderful, the way they're cooking it," Ziva said. She put her arms on the table in front of her and leaned forward slightly, cocking her head slightly. "This piece sounds nice."
"Yeah," Tony said. "Every time I hear it, it brings me to this happy place, where I think about playing a bit of music. Of course, I never get around to doing it." He let out a short laugh.
Ziva tilted her head toward Tony, placing a hand on his and giving it a squeeze and smiling. "Thank you for taking me out here and having a dinner with you," she said.
"I've been thinking about some things earlier today, and about what happened back there, and I just want to make up after a rough day at work. What I'm trying to say, is that I'm sorry for being such a jerk today," Tony said. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking at Ziva, his eyes searching, questioning.
"I know you weren't being a jerk. Gibbs was the one that had a bug in his bonnet about the whole thing this morning," Ziva tossed her hands in the air, then folded her arms in front of her. "What happened in there after I left the room?"
"Bee in his bonnet," Tony corrected Ziva. He sighed, then said, "Well, after you left the room..." he stopped himself to think back about what happened at the office, the memory of Gibbs letting Tony have it with both barrels in the conference room still fresh in his mind, then he continued on. "Well, Gibbs just snapped. He really got on my case about my conduct on the job."
Ziva shook her head, her forehead furrowed with puzzlement. "But we performed our job to near-perfection, didn't we? Well, if you don't count getting your nose punched in," she said, still puzzled.
Tony scoffed. But before he could answer, the waitress came with their food. "Oh, here we go, our food's here," he said, welcoming the brief break in conversation so he could frame his thoughts. "This steak looks divine. How does your chicken look, Ziva?"
Ziva smiled as she looked at her perfectly-cooked chicken. "That looks wonderful," she said as she picked up her fork and knife. "So, tell me, is Gibbs that hard to work with at times? I've noticed that he seems to have it out for you all the time," she asked as she started cutting into her chicken.
Tony chuckled. "He has his good days and his bad days. I think this one was not one of his good days. I don't think I've seen him this angry before," Tony said as he cut a piece of his steak and took a bite of it. "Mm, perfectly done, this steak," he mumbled around his steak as he continued chewing on it.
Ziva took a bite of her chicken and smiled, but there was something in her smile that said something else. "So, why did he get down on you so hard?"
Tony let out a long sigh and sat back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders. "Kate," Tony said simply.
Ziva's face turned puzzled and she shook her head as she set her fork down next to her plate and looked at Tony. "The same Kate you were imagining you were having phone sex with?"
Tony's smile was forced, as he reached out for his drink. "Yup. Apparently, I broke one of of Gibbs' rules. Has he ever told you about Rule 12?" He cocked his head to Ziva, not sure if he ever told her anything about the rule.
Ziva shook her head. "No, he hasn't. Fill me in on this?" She toyed with her food a bit before taking a stab with her fork to get a bite.
Tony finished the bite he was chewing on, and took a sip of his drink, and looked out the window at the sky, letting out a sigh. "Well, Rule 12, according to Gibbs, is to never fraternize with your coworkers. But, you know, I swear that there's something going on between him and that director in there." Tony shrugged. "I just can't put my finger on what it is, exactly."
"Them? You mean Jenny and Gibbs?" Ziva sipped her drink and set it down on the table, her head doing a slight shake.
"Yeah, them. Gibbs and Jenny, I can see something going on with them." Tony said to Ziva, as he took another bite of his steak. He made appreciative sounds as he chewed his bite of steak, "Oughta try coming out here more often, this is good," he muttered to himself.
"Well, they actually had a mission similar to ours in the past. Jenny told me when we were in Cairo years ago a little about it. The reason why she's always had mixed feelings for Gibbs, is because they got distracted on the mission when they were acting the part doing the same thing we did, which caused them to fail," Ziva said evenly as she leaned forward on the table, looking at Tony.
"Ah, so what you're saying is that they tried to do the same kind of mission that we did but somehow got off track and... took it a little too far?" Tony asked, trying to put the pieces together in his head. His eyebrows slowly rose as he slowly came to the realization that he might be closer to the truth than he realized.
"Yes, more than once." Ziva shrugged, then reached out her hand and put it on top of Tony's arm. "I think Gibbs just doesn't like to see the mirror image of himself that he see in us, Tony," she said. She had figured things all out by putting together Gibbs' behavior with what Jenny had told her in the past.
Tony flicked an eyebrow up, as he grasped Ziva's hand. "Yeah, well, now that would makes sense why they seem to be having some sort of power struggle. I swear sometimes that Gibbs sees everything, and that kinda scares me a bit." He leaned forward and held up a finger in the air, shaking it ever so slightly. "You know, if we're to do this relationship thing between the two of us, it's gotta be low-key. Can't let anybody know about it, especially not Gibbs."
Ziva smiled, her smile tight on her lips as her eyes darted around the restaurant briefly before returning to Tony, as if she expected Gibbs to pop out from some decorative bush in the restaurant and startle them. "So, we'll just have to keep playing the charade of partners on the job and nothing more, right?"
"Exactly like that, Ziva. For the sake of work, and our relationship, the two cannot cross over into each other. At least, not when Gibbs is involved at work." Tony sat back and glanced out the window, then his eyes darted about the area as he tried to make sure there were no prying ears or eyes nearby. I mean, look at what he did to us in that room. The way he was leaning so hard on us, I thought for sure we were gonna lose our jobs because he came this close to finding out." His voice sounded raspy as he whispered to Ziva and shook his head.
Ziva took a bite of her chicken and chewed on it as she thought things over. After a moment, she leaned over the table toward Tony. "So, how do you want us to handle things?" She felt that she knew, but wanted to make sure from Tony so as to avoid any confusion in the future.
"Well, you know, we just play it cool. Just like we're partners on the job. Me a special agent, you a Mossad officer. As long as Gibbs doesn't find out, we should be okay." Tony leaned back in his chair and smiled at Ziva.
Ziva smiled. "So, two lives. A work life and a home life." She tilted her head to Tony. "Somewhat like how the Mossad teaches their agents. I'll think of it that way," she said.
Tony winked at Ziva and clicked his tongue. "That's the spirit. If Gibbs tries anything, I don't think he'll be able to do anything, not with Director Shephard having anything to say about it," he said.
Ziva smiled and nodded. "I think I can handle that," she said to him, reaching out to hold Tony's hand, looking at him with a smile. "I am just glad we came out here to talk, away from work, away from all this craziness that happened earlier. It sure helped a lot, getting the chance to clear my mind, and to understand Gibbs better. I can now see why Jenny sometimes has such a hard time with him."
Tony sat back, taking a deep breath and letting out a long sigh. "Yeah, I am glad you told me about Jenny and Gibbs. It all fits now. His reasons for being so hard on me, the way Gibbs and the Director always butt heads with each other. But still, no regrets what we did last mission?" he asked as he took a stab at his steak.
Ziva shook her head as she pushed her plate aside a bit and reached out to hold Tony's hand. "None at all. I'm just happy it all worked out just perfectly in the end. We had fun, we did our job, and we couldn't ask for a better result than taking down a hired assasin," she said, her eyes shining in the light as she smiled at Tony. "What about you?"
Tony chuckled as he finished up his meal. "That hit the spot," he said as he pushed his plate away from him and sat back and let out a sigh. "Nope, our mission together was breathtaking. Came close to blowing our covers, but the backup came at the right moment, and I showed that guy who's boss."
"I thought I had been doing good at fitting in with the team, and that I had been keeping things, how did you say it, low key? Yeah, low key." Ziva nodded, then continued on. "You know that I would do anything to go through the fire to be with you. I will do anything to protect our relationship, because my heart is for you."
Tony held up a finger to a passing waitress and said "Check, please." The waitress nodded once and went away as Tony turned his attention back to Ziva. "Yes, it's for the best, for our own good. As long as we're able to live our separate lives – work and home – we'll be able to protect our relationships from anything and anybody, even Gibbs." Tony nodded as he took a sip of his drink.
"Sounds like a plan," Ziva said, smiling at Tony as she placed her napkin on her plate. Where do we go from here?" Ziva asked, her eyes looking into Tony's, expectant of what he might say next.
"I might have an idea where we could go next," Tony said as he smiled and got up from the table, reaching out for Ziva's hand.
Ziva took Tony's hand and got up from the table and walked at his side to the cashier. "Lead the way, I'll follow," she said, smiling at Tony.
Moments after Tony paid for their dinner, he took Ziva outside of the restaurant to his car, and helped her into the car, then got in the car. He smiled at Ziva as he inserted the key into the ignition and started it. "A nice quiet drive back home'll be nice. Away from all the traffic," he said. "How's that sound?" He put the car in gear and backed out of the parking stall.
"Sounds like a nice way to wind down," Ziva nodded and said, smiling to Tony, the moonlight from the sky reflecting on her face among the city lights. "Nice change in scenery on the way back, too." She reached down and put a hand on Tony's lap, rubbing it gently.
Tony nodded to Ziva as he drove on, saying little at first. After a few moments, he turned his car onto the back roads into the city, away from the city lights. "Ah, there we are, this is the way I've been meaning to drive down," he said to Ziva. After a short drive, the sky seemed to open up, all the stars and the moon shining brightly in the sky just as Tony entered a large clearing in the woods that they had been driving through. He decided to pull the car over to the side a short distance into the clearing, in a safe place and shut off the engine. "Here we are, thought we'd enjoy the sky a bit," he said as he opened his door and got out and stood there, looking at the sky.
Ziva got out of the car and walked around to Tony's side, holding his arm, and looked up at the sky, letting out a sigh of awe at the majestic beauty of the star-studded night sky. "Wow, that crescent moon's bright out tonight, and all the stars are sparkling up there." She looked over at Tony and said, "This is perfect, being with you at this time, away from work after a long day, enjoying this breathtaking view of the sky."
Tony smiled in the dark; the moonlight shone off his teeth. "Yeah. Just wanted a few hours' time with you, alone. Away from all the craziness. Whenever we're able to have the time together, we should spend it wisely, because you never know if we'll get called up on a moment's notice to go do our jobs," he whispered to Ziva, listening to the night animal sounds, the sound of the engine ticking as it cooled down, the wind murmuring through the trees.
Ziva smiled and nodded as she looked up at the moon, then back at Tony. "As long as we can keep the others guessing about us, we should be okay," she said. Suddenly, a burst of shooting stars shot across the sky, causing Ziva to gasp in surprise at the sudden awe and grandeur streaking across the night sky. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Look!"
Tony looked up at the sky, seeing the shooting stars also. He glanced over to Ziva, then looked back up at the sky. He said, "You think that Destiny's talking up a storm here? Look at all those shooting stars." He pointed up at the sky.
"Yeah, they are so lovely." Ziva turned over to look at Tony more squarely. "You know, when I was thinking of you back in Israel, I was meditating, looking up at the moon and stars, when all of a sudden, whoosh!" She made a whooshing sound as she traced out an imaginary shooting star streaking across the sky. "There was this big shooting star that just went across the sky at the same time I thought about the word Destiny, even."
Tony chuckled lightly, and looked at Ziva. "For some reason I cannot fathom, it seems like destiny talks to us throughout the cosmos." Tony reached out and held Ziva's hand. "I think we're meant to be together. Don't you?"
"Yes, I think we're meant to be together. I do believe in signs, and what I'm seeing so far, takes my breath away." Ziva shook her head slightly. "All these things happening at the same time we're together, I don't believe they're coincidences."
Tony smiled as he looked at Ziva in the moonlight. "Do you realize that the moonlight makes you look even more beautiful?" Tony's voice was low, sultry, as he reached out and stroked Ziva's hair away from her eyes.
Ziva smiled as she sat up and twisted her hair up into a bun. "And you're handsome in the moon, also," she said as she leaned over to kiss Tony on his lips. After a moment, she sat back and said, "This is better, don't you think? Us together, alone out in the middle of nowhere."
Tony chuckled, then planted a full-on kiss on Ziva's lips, kissing her passionately for a few moments. Then, he came up for air and smiled at Ziva. "Hey, I wouldn't have brought you out here if I didn't think so highly of you. We'll make it work," he said, softer this time, as he reached out and put a reassuring hand on hers.
"I hope so," Ziva said, smiling. She suddenly reached up and pulled Tony in to hug her, and she hugged him tightly.
Tony smiled, as he reached around Ziva and enveloped her in his hug. "I'll always be there for you, and protect you," he whispered to Ziva.
Ziva kissed Tony full-on, hugging him closely to him, not letting go for a few long moments. After those few moments, she broke the kiss and said, "And I'll be with you, always."