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He unlocked the door balancing the pizza in one hand and his keys in the other. Arguably, his door didn’t need to be locked since someone was almost always in his apartment, but she felt the need to keep his door locked and he wasn’t going to deny her that.
“Ziva?” Tony called out, throwing his keys on the counter and putting the pizza on the coffee table.
He walked towards their bedroom to look for her and only relaxed when he heard the shower running. It had been three months since she’d come back and sometimes he was still afraid that she would be gone when he woke up.
He had gone on vacation for Christmas but he’d lied when he said that he went to the Bahamas. That was his original intention but two days before he was set to leave he changed his mind and his ticked to Tel Aviv, Israel. It hadn’t been incredibly hard to track her down. By the time his plane took off he knew where to find her, Shmeil hadn’t been very tight lipped about her location and Tony was grateful for the man being easy to convince, even if Tony had lied a little bit and said that he just wanted to send her something.
The hard part was convincing her to come back with him.
She was happy to see him; there was no doubting that by the smile on her face and the tears in her eyes that she vehemently denied. They’d spent a lovely four days talking, and exploring, and Tony had some of the best food he’d ever eaten. When he woke up on Christmas morning and the first thing he saw was the top of Ziva’s head, her body curled into his, well he would be lying if he said his heart didn’t swell at the sight.
He was scheduled to leave the next night, and the morning of his flight is when he brought up her coming back with him.
They had just gotten back from breakfast with Shmeil who was in the area, and not very surprised to see Tony, when he gathered his courage to finally broach the taboo subject. They settled on the couch and he turned to face her, grabbing one hand in his while the other draped across the back of the couch.
“Ziva,” he sighed and she turned to look at him. He immediately saw her face close up a bit ad he knew he was in for a fight. “Please, come back with me.”
“Tony,” she took on a warning tone but he didn’t back down.
“Give me a good reason, a really valid reason and I’ll leave it alone.”
“I am trying to change Tony, I will revert if I come back.”
“No. That’s not a good reason. You have more of a reason to revert back to your old ways here than you do in DC. DC is where you started to change, this place has more bad memories for you than NCIS ever gave you,” Tony argued.
Ziva closed her eyes and sighed and Tony took his arm that was draped across the couch and cupped her face with it.
“You have loved ones back in DC, people that miss you and need you.”
“I have loved ones here as well Tony.”
“Shmeil will understand. I know he will, he’s the one that told me where to find you,” Tony admitted hoping he didn’t just get the old man in trouble.
“I made a clean break Tony. To change I need to move on from that life,” her voice was turning colder.
“You can move on from NCIS and that life without moving on from us. We’re your family, no matter what you choose to do. Don’t leave us behind. Don’t leave me behind. I told you four years ago in a Somali prison camp that I couldn’t live without you, and that includes you being halfway across the world.”
He brought her face to his and gave her a lingering kiss, pulling back to stare in her eyes. He stood up and gave her another kiss on her forehead.
“Just think about it please,” He squeezed her hand before retreating to the bedroom to shower and give her time to think.
They spent the rest of the day in bed and neither brought up the conversation from earlier or that Tony’s departure time was getting increasingly closer. They took a taxi to the airport and when Tony got in and saw no bag his heart sunk. He had tried to bring her home twice, and failed twice.
They both got out of the taxi and shared one last kiss. Tony thought of making a last ditch effort to get her to come back but he knew it wouldn’t work and he didn’t want to ruin what could be the last time they ever saw each other.
He walked backwards into the airport wanting to see her for as long as possible but eventually, he had to turn around and enter the airport and he did, the image of her standing alone while he left still burned into his mind.
The next day when he had to return to work he tried to act normal but Gibbs and McGee could tell something was off. Bishop hadn’t been there long enough yet to tell something was wrong with Tony beyond him having a bad day, but she was still smart enough to steer clear of him that day. He couldn’t have gotten out of the building faster when Gibbs told them to leave. All he wanted to do was retreat tom his apartment to be alone and pour himself a drink, or five.
He knew something was off as soon as he entered. He was positive he had turned his lights off when he left that morning but the lights were on-all the lights. He may have forgotten to turn one off but no way would he would have left all these lights on before he left. Or maybe he had and he was so angry that he just didn’t notice it.
But then he heard someone moving from his bedroom. He pulled his gun out and carefully walked towards the closed door. When he opened the door he immediately let his gun drop to his side in pure shock. He dumped his backpack on the ground and set his gun on the dresser before moving to the woman sitting on his bed.
“Ziva?” She wrung her hands in nervousness and looked up at him through her curly hair and lashes.
“You were right. You are my family and I shouldn’t have thrown all of that away. This is where I belong,” Tony smiled so hard it should have hurt his jaw, but he was too happy to be thinking about that right now.
He grabbed her face with both of his hands and pulled her face to his, capturing her lips passionately.
“So you’re staying?” He asked when he pulled away.
“I am staying,” she confirmed and he grabbed her lips again.
“For good?” He asked when he pulled away again. Ziva chuckled making Tony smile. This time she pulled him into a tender kiss.
“For good.”
Tony had been in bliss for the last three months and eventually he had to tell his coworkers something because they finally called him out on it. Ziva still wanted to keep her presence a secret so Tony made up some bullshit excuse about having a friend with benefits. He was honestly surprised when no one called him out on it.
He changed into sweats and a plain t-shirt before going back out to the living room with a beer and settling in to watch OSU basketball play Dayton but he wasn’t really paying attention.
He hated lying to his team. He knew Ziva didn’t like it either, which is why it confused him that she wouldn’t tell them she was here. She said that she needed time to adjust and that the team might not be as understanding about her decisions but they both knew that was a lie. Secretly, Tony thought that she was just afraid that they would be mad at her for leaving and that’s why she was delaying telling them. Tony thought it was ridiculous, that they would just be happy they were in the same country again but Ziva was hearing none of it. Eventually Tony gave up trying to convince her; but lately she’d been asking more questions about the team and he knew she was coming around.
It was almost halftime by the time Ziva came out and joined him. Her hair was in a wet braid that was leaving a wet patch on his sweatshirt that was drowning her frame. She sat next to him, leaning most of her body weight on him. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer and handing her a slice of pizza.
“How was work?” She asked in between bites. He took a swig of his beer, which was promptly stolen from his hands when he finished so Ziva could take a sip.
“It was fine. No case since we wrapped up the one on Wednesday so it looks like we’ll have an uninterrupted weekend,” he answered stealing his beer back causing Ziva to glare at him.
“Well it is your birthday weekend, what would you like to do?”
“As long as this weekend includes us, a bed, and movies, I will be perfectly happy,” he answered honestly.
“Hmm, that sounds nice. But we will be leaving for one night because I made reservations for tomorrow night at that Italian place you like- Fredericho’s.”
“Only if you wear that black dress that dips back here,” He ran his hand down her back so it was resting on her lower back.
“Perhaps,” she smirked. “If you’re good,” she teased.
Ignoring the game on the television-Ohio State would lose anyways- he pulled her into his lap and started his weekend of birthday activities.
“Ziva come on we’re going to be late!” Tony called into the bedroom where Ziva was still getting ready. Their reservations were at 6 o’clock and it was 5:40 though the restaurant was only really a ten minute drive away.
“I’m coming,” she yelled but Tony didn’t hear her moving. He did however, hear a knocking at his door. “Is someone here?” She called from the bedroom.
“I’ll get it, just finished getting ready we need to leave,” he yelled walking to the door. He opened the door and almost slammed it shut again when he saw Abby and McGee standing at his doorstep but he knew that would be rude and suspicious.
“Surprise!” Abby called. She then took in his appearance of slacks and a button-down shirt and started apologizing. “Oh my gosh you have plans! I mean your birthday is tomorrow of course you have plans it’s your birthday weekend! I should have called first I’m so sorry.”
“I told you we should have just asked him,” McGee chimed in causing Abby to give him a light punch in the arm.
“Wait who do you have plans with? McGee didn’t tell me you were dating anyone,” Abby asked.
“He didn’t tell me either, he just said friends with benefits. I didn’t think it was a ‘go to a fancy restaurant on his birthday’ kind of thing,” McGee said.
“Ok Tony I am ready, and if you let me drive we will be right on time,” Ziva called walking out from the bedroom. Evidently, she hadn’t heard McGee and Abby in the doorway.
Tony watched as Abby and McGee’s eyes widened and Abby’s mouth opened in shock. Tony cursed in his head as the pair blinked themselves out of their shock.
“Who are you talking to?” Ziva asked his back, as Tony was holding the door half open so Ziva couldn’t see who was on the other side.
Abby pushed her way through Tony and ignored him and McGee telling her to calm down and pounced on Ziva, giving her a potent hug that had Ziva begging for air after a few seconds. Eventually Abby complied and Tony opened the door all the way to let McGee in.
“What is going on?” Ziva asked Tony, but it was Abby that answered.
“We should be asking you that! What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be in Israel? How long have you been here? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Abby,” Tony laid a hand on her arm to stop her from going on. “Wait what are you guys doing here?” He asked for the first time.
“We thought we would all have dinner at Ducky’s for your birthday. It’s been a while since we celebrated anything and we thought it would be fun,” McGee answered.
“Don’t change the subject!” Abby yelled. “Why didn’t you tell us you were back?” Her voice lost the heat that it held and cracked a bit at the end and Ziva immediately felt bad.
“I was scared,” she admitted for the first time that even Tony heard. McGee and Abby both looked at her confused. “I know I hurt you when I left, and I never said goodbye. I-,” she sighed deeply and steadied her voice before she continued. “I didn’t know how you would react, and I kept delaying it because I thought I was delaying the inevitable,” she trailed off and Abby jumped on her once more. This time Ziva didn’t complain and hugged her back almost as hard. Abby pulled away and gave her a head slap that Ziva found almost comforting, though she was shocked that it happened.
“That’s for thinking that we could ever be mad at you,” she said. Ziva gave her a grateful smile as McGee finally moved forward to give her his own hug.
“I’m glad you’re back Ziva.”
“Me too,” she smiled at them. Tony watched it all, smiling, not caring at all that his reservations were undoubtedly by now given to someone else.
“How long have you been back?” Abby asked curiously. Ziva bit her lip and looked away before answering.
“Uh three months,” she admitted sheepishly. Both McGee and Abby stared at Tony in shock.
“What? You kept her to yourself for three months!” Abby yelled at him.
“No wonder you’ve been in such a good mood,” McGee joked.
“McGee!” Abby protested.
“What? Oh come on Abby you can’t be mad at him if Ziva didn’t want to tell and you just forgave her. Cut him some slack. Clearly we interrupted their date,” he smirked at Tony.
Abby looked over at Ziva and saw she was wearing black heels and a flowy spaghetti strapped black dress that dipped low in the back and stopped above her knees. She had on make up, and her hair was down and curled slightly.
“Oh gosh I forgot about that, I’m so sorry! Go, enjoy your night, we’ll make something up to tell the others.”
Tony looked over at Ziva who smiled back at him and nodded before winking causing Tony to chuckle.
“You know, on second thought, that restaurant is a little overrated,” Tony started. “I think a night at Ducky’s sounds nice, don’t you sweetcheeks?”
“I think it sounds perfect, my little hairy butt,” she smirked at him. “Just let me go change and then we can leave.”
“No-” Tony started to argue.
“I am not letting Gibbs see me in this Tony. I will be quick.”
This time, thankfully she was. She came back out two minutes later in jeans, boots and a teal shirt. Tony put his coat on, before helping Ziva into hers causing Abby to smile like a kid on Christmas.
Tony and Ziva pulled up to Ducky’s just behind McGee and Abby and the four walked in together.
“What took so long?” Gibbs asked when he saw Abby.
“Set an extra place Ducky,” Abby said, while she was bouncing with excitement causing the occupants in the house to look at her strangely.
“Hell, did DiNozzo bring his friend with benefit thingy?” Gibbs asked annoyed.
“Something like that,” McGee joked. Tony and Ziva stepped put from behind Abby and McGee and smiled sheepishly at the group who was having a reaction similar to McGee and Abby.
“I think you know my girlfriend,” Tony joked, his hand on the small of Ziva’s back.
“Ziver,” Gibbs stood up and walked towards her. He stopped in front of her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Welcome home, kid.”
Ziva let out a breath and gave Gibbs a small smile.
“It is good to be home again.”