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2020-01-10
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a crawl to cross the distance

Summary:

Tony and Ziva’s first date ended up happening 15 years after they first met, 5 years and 7 months after their daughter was born, and just over a month after they were reunited for good.

Notes:

M rated for a reason

title is from something beautiful by the big moon

Work Text:

Tony and Ziva’s first date ended up happening 15 years after they first met, 5 years and 7 months after their daughter was born, and just over a month after they were reunited for good.

Ziva had wondered if she would feel nervous at the prospect, but it was more excitement that flowed through her as she said goodbye to Tali and Senior, packed off to his hotel for the night. The shops would be closing soon but even so, Ziva had no doubt when she next saw her daughter she’d be weighed down with several huge bags of new toys.

She kept one eye on the clock as she cleaned the house to pass some time, knowing they had a table booked for 8 and Tony wasn’t home from work yet.

Their attempts to ‘take things slow and do this properly’ had been an unexpected success, given that neither of them were exactly known for it in relationships past. The added complication of having a daughter to take care of had likely played an impact: she took up a lot of their time, particularly as they all got used to Ziva being around again, and Ziva supposed neither of them had had much time alone to overthink or overanalyse the situation between them.

Things were good between them. Easy, for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.  

Maybe that had been the reason Ziva was a little surprised when he had come home from work last Friday and told her they were going out next week, and Senior was visiting to take care of Tali. The more she thought about it, though, the more she had been looking forward to spending some real quality time alone together, difficult conversations already dealt with and mood light.

She showered slowly and took time drying her hair, debating whether to wear it up or down.

She decided to get dressed while she decided, going to the wardrobe for the only dress she had bought while trying to build a selection of clothing from scratch since getting home. It was tight, black and knee-length, and a slit ran halfway up the thigh.

She dressed slowly, taking time to marvel in the novelty of wearing something like this after years of feeling as though she needed 7 showers to wash the physical and metaphorical dirt from her skin. The dress had a zipper that went from the top of her neck to the dimples at the bottom of her back, and Ziva just about managed to zip it herself (thankful that her flexibility hadn't yet started to fade with age).

Looking in the mirror at the outfit and seeing she still had time, she pulled a chair in front of it and began to put her hair up, leaving her neck exposed. Her hands were a little unsteady as they worked, un-practiced for much more than tying Tali’s hair in loose braids for her before school.

She was almost ready by the time Tony got home. She headed out of the bedroom when she heard the key in the lock, running a hand over her exposed neck.

“Sorry I’m late. Traffic. Coulda used some of your… road rage.” He paused when she walked into view.

“I do not have road rage.”

He didn’t try to argue, instead just staring at her from the doorway.

Ziva had always been confident but there was something about the way that Tony looked at her sometimes that made her feel almost shy – self-conscious, as though he was seeing something other people couldn’t.

“What?”

“God, you’re beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes but didn’t mean it, and Tony dropped his bag on the threshold and walked over to her replacing them in his hands with her face. He kissed her deeply, humming a little.

They didn’t separate immediately and Tony moved his hands from her face to her hips. His eyes stayed closed for a second, but when he opened them he was smiling.

"You smell good."

“I wish I could say the same.” Ziva grimaced, reluctantly extricating herself from his arms. “Would you like to walk? It’s a beautiful night.”

“Give me a half hour. No, 20 minutes. Tops.”

He doubled back on his route to the front door, grabbing his bag and giving her a quick peck on the lips as he almost broke into a jog crossing the room towards the bedroom. As much as Ziva had derided it in the past, she was glad he hadn’t lost his childish nature.

She looked in the mirror once he was out of sight, running a hand down the front of her dress and turning to look at her hair. As she moved she caught sight of the scar on her arm and ran a finger over it lightly before looking up again at her face. The bags under her eyes that she had thought might become a permanent fixture were finally starting to fade, colour returning to her skin.

Ziva hadn’t worn makeup often in a long time, but she wanted to make an effort tonight. For herself, more than for Tony. She knew Tony would barely blink if she showed up in her pyjamas with bedhead, but she thought that taking time to get ready would help her continue to return to a sense of normalcy. And it had, she thought, as she went into the bathroom to retrieve her makeup bag filled with newly brought products. She and Tony ended up bumping into each other in the doorway and she squeezed past him with a smile, raising an eyebrow at his shirtless appearance.

“18 minutes and counting.” She called over her shoulder as he shut the door, and she soon heard the shower turn on.

Ziva applied makeup only lightly, having never been one who enjoyed excess. She slipped her feet into some burgundy boots Tali had insisted she should by and ended up stood waiting by the door as she heard Tony seemingly causing chaos through the closed doors at the end of the hallway.

“What are you doing in there?” She called out to him, and heard what sounded like a lamp hitting the floor.

“I still have 5 minutes, relax.” Came the eventual strangled reply.

When Tony eventually reappeared he was wearing a light grey suit, the type of which Ziva hadn't seen him wear in years. He dabbed aftershave on himself and abandoned the bottle on the kitchen counter, disappearing again and reappearing shrugging on a trench coat as he shuffled his feet into pointed dress shoes.

"Do I pass?" He asked as he bent down to lace them, looking up at Ziva watching him.

"You did not need to put in so much effort."

"Yes I did, have you seen what you look like? Don't want people wondering what you're doing with a chump like me. Any more than usual, anyway."

"You are an idiot, Tony."

"All this in," he paused to check his watch, "..23 minutes. Imagine how good I'd look if I had an hour."

"And who's fault is it that you only had 20 minutes? You drive too cautiously."

"Guess I wanted to take you to a restaurant and not a hospital waiting room. Are we leaving or what?"

There was a strong tease in Tony's voice as he spoke, and when he looked at Ziva expectantly she couldn't help but shake her head and smile as she picked up her bag and followed him out the door.

It was around a half an hour walk to the restaurant, but Tony (on his best behaviour) barely complained.

The restaurant was up-market, and Ziva wondered if Tony had done research or if he’d asked someone at work for recommendations. The maître d' seated them at their table, a quiet one in the corner by the window, and Ziva smirked as Tony shook out his napkin clumsily.

They ordered a bottle of wine and it soon arrived, the waiter pouring them each out a glass and taking their orders. Ziva took a few sips as Tony talked, watching the smile and twinkle in his eyes as he spoke perfect French.

When the waiter left them, Tony copied Ziva’s gesture of picking up his drink, and placed it across the table towards her.

"To.. us." Tony eventually decided, and Ziva clinked her glass against his.

"To us." She took a sip, the initial taste immediately reminding her how long it had been since she'd touched alcohol. Putting her glass down on the table, she watched as Tony glanced around the restaurant.

"So how was work?"

"Work? No, Ziva. Not romantic."

"What do you mean by that? We met at work."

"Do you really want to hear about the 9 hours I spent on paperwork catch-up today?"

Ziva hummed. "I suppose you are right."

He leaned back in his chair, looking at her with a slight squint in his eyes. The feeling of being surveyed, the way her heart sped a little in her chest, betrayed how long they had known each other. He was looking at her in that same way again; as though she was the only thing in the room, and she could swear it felt as though they only met five minutes ago.

"So. You come here often?"

"Does that line work?"

"First time trying. What d’ya think?" he sparkled.

Ziva narrowed her eyes at Tony, but he gave nothing away. She changed tack, shrugging in nonchalance. "No, I have never been before. It is a little out of my price range."

"Maybe you just need someone who thinks you're worth it."

"And that's you, is it?" Tony took his turn to shrug, cocky grin on his face. "Well, you certainly think a lot of yourself, Mr.."

"DiNozzo."

"The jury is still in, Mr DiNozzo."

"I wouldn't mind that, but I think it's actually out."

They dropped the charade, smiling giddily into their drinks.

Their starters soon arrived, and the waiter accidentally dropped Ziva's fork onto the floor. She bent down to pick it up as he apologised profusely, and as she sat back up and gave it to him to replace she saw something had caught Tony’s eye.

"Hey, your earrings match your necklace." Ziva's hand instinctively went to her left earlobe as Tony acknowledged the small studs she had placed in them. "Did Tali pick them, too?"

"No, I got them last week. You're right, they match perfectly. When I saw them, I could not walk past."

Sharing memories of Tali had been one thing Ziva and Tony had done a lot of since reuniting. They both were desperate to fill in gaps; learning about milestones and favourite toys and funny stories they hadn’t been privy to. They’d gone out of their way to share, often walking into a room to tell the other a story they had just thought of that they wanted them to know.

Tony had been visibly moved when Ziva told him about Tali picking out her necklace for her, and had explained that Tali had said "ima" when he'd given her the Star of David all those years ago, as though she associated the objects with her mom.

“I like them. I bet Tali will too.”

“I will have to show her when she gets home, she will want a pair for herself, I am sure.”

“Don’t mention getting her ears pierced if you value your life. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had that argument.”

“She is still too young.”

“Yeah, you try telling her that.”

Ziva smiled at the exasperation in Tony’s voice. The reminder of how much she had missed out on still hurt, but not as much as it used to. She had learned after the first couple of weeks that dwelling on the things she hadn’t seen was preventing her from enjoying what was going on in front of her, so she ran fingers over the back of Tony’s hand where it lay on the table and asked him to tell her about it.


Dinner passed in much the same way – interesting conversation mixed with comfortable silence and food that had been worth each excessive penny.

Ziva couldn’t deny she’d enjoyed every minute, even if Tony had insisted on dipping in and out of the charade of it being a real ‘first date’ as the night went on. When dessert was delivered, Ziva had barely taken a mouthful when Tony clicked his tongue and surveyed her with the end of his spoon pointed.

“So, Miss David, what do you do for fun?”

“Hmm. Difficult question. I like spending time with my daughter.”

“Oh, you have a daughter? What’s her name?”

“Tony..”

“What?”

Ziva looked at the innocent expression on his face, and as he raised his eyebrows to challenge her she couldn’t help but smile. “You are insufferable sometimes.”

“That is no way to talk to someone on a first date. I’ll remember that when you call me asking for another.”

Ziva frowned affection at him, finishing her dessert though she was full already and trying not to give him the satisfaction of continually looking up to watch what he was doing. She was failing at that particular mission.

They continued to talk lightly as the restaurant began to quieten around them, having apparently beaten most other patrons for time spent by some distance. Tony made a gesture for the bill over Ziva’s head, and the waiter soon approached.

“Have you enjoyed your time?”

“Everything was beautiful, thank you.” Ziva responded with a warm smile that seemed to delight him, and she could swear a blush played on his cheeks as he looked down to ring up the bill.

“Is this a special occasion?” He passed the card machine to Tony without asking, and Ziva might have objected if they hadn’t already had this argument three times since he booked the table.

“It is our first date.” Ziva answered with a smile more knowing this time, and the waiter made a polite noise of acknowledgement as Tony looked up from entering his PIN to catch her eye. He placed the machine back in the man’s hand without looking away, and soon they were alone again.

When Tony smiled, his eyeline fell to the floor like he was keeping a secret.

"Walk me home?"

"I’m nothing if not a gentleman.”

They exited the restaurant to find the streets in the immediate vicinity busy, in spite of the unexpected chill that was now in the air. Tony bunched his shoulders up and rubbed his hands together in spite of his jacket and coat, though he'd always felt the cold easier than Ziva who had not-so-wisely decided to go out with bare legs.

The first part of their journey took them parallel to the river, and Tony took Ziva's hand and pulled her over the footpath that ran right alongside it.

They walked leisurely even with the cold, looking at the way the lights danced on the water.

“I had fun tonight.”

Ziva turned back to Tony, and he met her eyes before looking down at their conjoined hands swinging between them. He pressed his thumb down a little against hers.

“Me too. We should have done it sooner.”

“Like ten years ago, you mean?”

“It took you long enough to ask.”

“Hey, I tried to ask before.”

“When?”

“Do you remember when we had that bet about asking out Abigail Borin, the case where the helicopter crashed in the ocean? And I said I should be asking you out, and you said I’d had my chance.”

“That was a joke though, Tony. You were not actually going to take me on a date.”

Ziva turned to look at Tony when he didn’t reply, and though he was looking ahead there was a small smile on his face. “You were going to?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Why didn’t you ask me again?”

“I don’t think my ego could’ve handled two rejections.”

“I did not reject you, Tony. Had you made it clear it was a serious offer, I would have said yes.”

“OK, I wimped out. A lot of times, actually. Didn’t want to mess up.”

"You could never have messed this up, Tony."

No, that had always been on Ziva.

As though he could sense what she was thinking, he stopped dead on the path, dropping her hand as he waited until she turned back to look at him.

"Hey. Nobody's messed anything up. We're still here, aren't we?"

"Still here." Ziva confirmed, and Tony waited until he could assess whether she believed it before he started walking again. He shoved his hands into his pockets, the cold more biting now.

"It was a good night, though. Kinda like old times."

She knew exactly what she meant. She hadn't felt exactly like her old self (the ship had seemingly long sailed there) but the vibe between them had been achingly familiar; Tony made jokes, Ziva rolled her eyes, they poked fun at one another and then took turns staring when the other wasn't looking.

"It is a shame it has to end. We should do it again soon."

“We’re in no rush to get back. Kid-free, baby.”

When Senior had initially insisted he take Tali overnight, part of Ziva felt apprehensive.

She wasn’t sure whether it would surprise people or not if they knew that she and Tony hadn’t had sex yet. They really had been dedicated to taking things slowly, re-establishing their connection and settling down before taking steps in their relationship. Ziva had been grateful for that – the opportunities for real conversations, and honesty, and confirmation (as if she needed it) that things between them were as strong as they had ever been before. Perhaps even stronger now.

But still, she felt anxiety bubbling as they made their way past the river. It wasn’t that she didn’t think there was still an attraction there; no, Tony made it abundantly clear what he thought of her body when he saw her undressed, and Ziva pretended to object while staring at him just as intently.

It was just that maybe all the time that had passed had led to her feeling a little out of practice. It had been a long time since they had been like that together, and Ziva considered now that the time apart had led to her building things up in her head. Placing expectation on herself where there wasn’t any, and nerves when there was no need for them.

“You alright?” Tony asked in a quizzical tone when he noticed Ziva’s silence. “He’ll call if there’s a problem.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Well, something’s bothering you.”

Ziva looked out on the quiet path ahead of them, a few people barely visible in the distance under the streetlights. A car sped past. She pulled her coat tighter around her.

“I know we said that we were going to take things slow between us, after everything that has happened. And I do not think that was a bad idea. But I think now I am.. in my own head, about everything.”

“When I said kid-free, I wasn’t trying to hint..”

“No, I know. This is what I mean. I am just nervous, I think.”

“Ziva, we aren’t doing anything if you aren’t comfortable or don’t want to.”

“I know. I do know that. And believe me, I want to. I think just because it has been a long time, I am a little nervous about everything.”

“It’s OK to be nervous. Natural.”

“Aside from you, yes?”

“You think I don’t get nervous?”

“Not about sex.”

“With other people, maybe not. With you?”

“It is not like this is something I have experienced with other people. Because it’s you, that is where the nerves are coming from.”

Tony stopped walking again, but this time he stepped in front of Ziva to block her path. He put a hand under her chin and lifted it, encouraging her to look him in the eye.

"I know you're still scared about messing this up, and I know that's something you need to work through on your own. But I'm never gonna stop reminding you that you're enough for me, and there's nothing you can say or do now that will change that."

"You are stuck with me."

"I'm stuck with you."

Tony dipped his head to kiss her then, drawing their lips together in a gesture of comfort that threatened to become something more when her tongue made its way into his mouth.

This seemed to amuse him, and he opened his eyes and slowly dropped his hands before turning back to continue walking towards home.

"And for the record, I am nervous too."

"You have no reason to be nervous."

"But you do?"

"Why are you nervous?" Ziva changed tack.

"I don't know exactly why. I guess because.. I really love you, and I know I've grown up over the years but that's still a pretty foreign concept to me. Sex is different when you're in love."

Ziva's mind flashed back to Beersheba, to white sheets and sweat and tears in Tony's eyes.

"Yes, it is."

She found herself wondering again how she got so lucky as they continued walking into the night.


When they got back to the apartment, Tony had received a message from Senior. He laughed and held the device up to Ziva as he removed his coat: it was a picture of Tali at a restaurant herself, sat behind an ice-cream sundae bigger than her own head with a huge grin on her face.

“I hope he makes her brush her teeth.”

“Fun sucker.” Tony pocketed his phone and moved to the kitchen. Ziva followed as he opened a cabinet where Ziva knew there was a couple of unopened bottles of liquor. He bent down and reappeared with two glasses and a bottle, which he placed on the counter.

“Oh, I am not so sure about that.” There was enough of an undercurrent in Ziva’s voice that it caused Tony to lift his head and look back at her over his shoulder. She raised her eyebrows expectantly, and he turned back to the drinks with a smirk.

Ziva wandered back into the living area, glancing around the room as though she hadn’t lived here for weeks. Tony soon appeared at her elbow holding two glasses of scotch. She turned to face him and he took her hand, lifting it and placing one of the glasses into it.

Ziva clinked her glass against his without a word, and neither of them made a move to back away from each other.

She took a gulp and removed the glass from her lips, moving her hand forwards towards the opened collar of his shirt. She lifted two fingers away from the glass and ran them under the material, stroking lightly at his collarbone. Looking back up at the expression on his face, she saw him survey his options before downing his drink. He put it down on the nearest shelf and soon he was taking hers back out of her hands too, placing it roughly down next to his before capturing her face in his hands and kissing her.

Ziva moved her own hands to his sides as his tongue explored her mouth, and the adrenaline she felt building leant itself more to excitement than it did to nerves. Anticipation of what was to come.

"I've missed you." Tony whispered as their lips parted. Ziva pressed her forehead against his for a moment, encouraging him to open his eyes to look at her.

The expression he was wearing was too much for her to handle, though, and she tilted her face almost as soon as they were open to recapture his lips again. His hands were on her back now, pulling her flush against him and ensuring there was no space at any point between their bodies.

He was more gentle than Ziva remembered, his hands calm and purposeful.  He moved his head backwards and as Ziva moved to chase his lips he raised his arms back up again to hold her forearms as though to stop her. The sincere expression on his face made her feel exposed.

“Are you sure?”

“Sure.”

He nodded a little, imperceptibly, and soon his lips were on her neck. The feeling sent shivers through Ziva as his teeth pulled lightly on her earlobe and he licked and kissed along her exposed neck, his hands dipping lower on her back and side to pull her closer to him.

He walked slowly around from her side until he was stood behind her, hands moving further still to squeeze lightly at her waist before they left her skin. She ached for his touch instantly, but his breath was hot in her ear.

“Let me do this.”

He began to carefully remove the clips holding Ziva's hair in place, curls falling and cascading over her shoulders.

He used his fingertips to pull it back from one shoulder and Ziva got shivers from the light touch as he brushed it so it all lay across her left shoulder, leaving her back exposed.

When she expected to feel his fingers move to the top of the zipper she was met with his lips on the side of her neck instead, softly kissing and sucking at the skin he had further exposed. His mouth travelled around to the back of her neck, and he kissed lower, lower, until he reached the top of her dress.

His lips followed the zipper down her back as he unzipped the dress, light kisses down her spine that gave her goosebumps from the sensitive touch. When he reached the bottom of the zipper he stood up again, delicately pulling at the shoulders of the dress to pull it down.

When he moved back in front of Ziva to face her, she stared at him directly as she stepped out of the material and left it on the floor.

"Come to bed with me." she said quietly, a request rather than a question.

Ziva had rarely felt more brazen than she did leaving her dress on the floor and walking through the apartment in her underwear, pulling Tony along by his hand.

A few nerves fluttered in her stomach as she turned to watch him close the door slowly, the room lit only by the streetlights outside the windows.

She sat on the edge of the bed and he placed himself in front of her, still fully dressed. His hands moved to his top shirt buttons but Ziva leaned up to grab them, pulling him towards her. He stepped between her legs and she grabbed his shirt, forcing him to lean down. She began undoing the buttons, staring at him intently in the eyes as she did so.

He removed his arms and the garment dropped to the ground and Ziva ran hands over his stomach and chest, feeling the familiarity of his muscles and bones and the way he would almost shrink out of your touch a little if you ran a finger lightly over a certain point on his pelvis, a strange ticklish button that Ziva had got a lot of joy out of over the years.

When she got to his belt buckle he stopped her.

"Slow down." He whispered gruffly, placing his arm behind her back and pulling her upwards until she was lying with her back flat against the bed and the bottom of her legs still hanging over the side. She wrapped them around the top of his thighs as he leant over her, and as she felt him smile against her lips she wondered how much time he'd spent thinking about this.

His hands were warm underneath her back, rubbing at her skin slowly as his tongue echoed the speed inside her mouth. He took her lip between his teeth and she moaned a little, the sound strangled and unexpected and causing a sigh from Tony in return.

When she went for his belt buckle this time he removed his lips millimetres from hers, breathing against her mouth as she undid his pants and began to pull them down.

Ziva rose to her elbows and used them to move further up the bed, and Tony shrugged out of his pants and underwear as he followed her, stopping when Ziva's head was on the pillows and he was leaning over her with his palms flat against the bed either side of her ears.

“Tell me if you want to stop.”

Tony. Don’t stop.”

His mouth was back on hers, needy and wanting as she dipped her tongue in and out of his mouth. She grabbed the back of his head to pull him down further, his thumb stroking her cheek. They’d kissed endless times during the last few weeks, but never quite like this.

Her bra fastened at the front, and when Tony sat up a little his hands moved to stroke slowly along the exposed top of her breasts. He ran fingers over them lightly before his hands met in the middle at the concave between them, pulling the fasten open. Ziva lifted her back a few inches to shrug off the straps.

Tony had never been much of a curser, something Ziva had always found a little contradictory to the rest of his personality, but he swore then as he looked down at her naked before him.

It had been a long time since Ziva had been laid bare like this in front of anyone, and the pause as he took her in lingered on the edge of too-long before his lips came down hungrily on hers, one hand travelling to her left breast and stroking across her nipple.

It had been so long since he had touched her like this, and she paused to try and memorise the feeling of his skin against hers. He sensed her stillness and lifted his head to look her in the eye.

"You OK?"

"Perfect."

He apparently hadn't been expecting that, if the instinctive wide grin that spread on his face was anything to go by.

His hands on her breasts became lips and he continued to move his way down her chest, moving his body downwards with it. Ziva spread her legs a little in invitation but Tony encouraged her to widen them further, positioning himself down the bed looking towards her. He smiled at her as he began to kiss her stomach, before wrapping his arms underneath the tops of her thighs and going lower.

His tongue licked lightly along the tattoo at the top of her thigh and Ziva revelled in the memory of the first time he’d seen it. He had been delighted; apparently it was so out of character for how he knew her so early in their relationship that it had thrilled him a little to be privy to such a piece of information. He’d actually bitten it, a little, and Ziva hadn’t realised how much of a turn-on it was until she felt him digging into the sensitive flesh.

He didn’t bite this time; careful and calm, looking up every few moments to check she was still OK. Half of Ziva wanted to tell him to knock it off, he wasn’t going to break her, but the rest of her couldn’t help but feel a warmth for him exponentially grow as she saw how much care he was putting into making sure she was comfortable.

He lifted his body to remove her underwear, though she took charge kicking them off, and immediately his hands ran over the skin of her sides that had previously been covered. His mouth dipped further inside her thigh, and after a second she felt his tongue tentatively lick a line along her entrance.

She instinctively pressed herself against his mouth, and felt his laugh against her skin as his tongue dipped in and out. He drew his tongue upwards, towards her clit, and pressed the tip against it as two fingers suddenly made their way inside her.

She feels herself weakening, pressing the back of her head further into the pillow as he runs the back of his free hand over her stomach, nails and fingertips sending shivers through her. He was too good at this.

Of course, this was far from their first time, but Ziva thought as he caught her eye again from between her legs that he had never made her feel more at ease than he was doing right now.

Still, the stopping and starting was becoming torturous.

Ziva’s hand which had been on the back of his head moved to his ear and pinched it lightly. He lifted his head, but the hood-eyed expression on her face made all complaints about pain die on his lips. She put her hand behind his neck and pulled his head upwards, and he climbed over her to join their lips together.

Tony’s hand didn’t waste any time replacing the position his mouth had vacated between her legs, and Ziva’s breathing once again became erratic. The feeling of his own fitful breathing against her mouth only increased this, and Ziva moved her hand to wrap it around his erection where it was stuck between them.

He went to buck against the feeling, but Ziva’s grip loosened.

“Not yet,” she whispered as their lips parted, removing her hand from his member to press it over Tony’s own hand where it continued to strum against her clit. 

Ziva gasped as he pressed his thumb against it while two fingers curled inside her, his hand moving with more speed now as she moaned. Tony had always liked how loud she could be; perhaps an ego-boosting proof that he was doing a good job, and she was never one to hold back if she could help it. She thanked god they were alone in the apartment, her moans getting louder as she felt a familiar heat spreading through her extremities and down her stomach.

“Do you have any idea what you sound like?” Tony muttered into her ear, pressing his body against her further and his palm flat against her entrance.  “You’re going to make me cum without a hand on me.”

The words, hot and fiery against her earlobe, sent a wave of excitement through Ziva and she felt herself approaching climax. Tony’s hand slowed right down for a few excruciating seconds, and then sped up again unexpectedly, leaving Ziva grinding against it as she released.

They stayed there for a few seconds, both breathing heavily, before Tony lifted his hand and created a tiny gap between their bodies.

His face softened, suddenly, and he stroked her hair out of her eyes before kissing her slowly. Ziva’s breathing returned to normal as he lifted himself away again, watching her. His erection against her stomach was a stark contrast to the look on his face, so much so that she fought back a laugh.

“What?”

“You were not kidding, hm?”

She moved her hand between them and ran her fingers over the tip of his cock, and then down the sides lightly. His breath hitched for a second involuntarily and he released it, a conceding smile.

Ziva sat up, and before Tony could say anything she used a little force to push him back down onto the bed in the space she’d vacated. The assertiveness was seemingly appreciated if the juvenile grin that appeared on his face was anything to go by, and as Ziva moved her legs over his hips he watched her face with fire.

Ziva held his gaze as he entered her, watching the hungry expression in his eyes as he slowly began to move. That look - knowing she had caused it, sent another wave of tingles down her body that settled in her lower stomach.

And then he started moving, and she stopped thinking of much of at all.

Tony himself had never been known for his silence or timidness and he groaned as she rocked against him, pushing his hips deeply up against her as he thrust.

She lifted her hips up and down quicker and delighted in the way his grip tightened on her waist, grabbing at her frantically and his head tipping back onto the pillow as they moved.

Bravado went out the window as he continued to buck against her and it became clear just how close he was. Ziva leaned down to kiss him and he couldn’t help but run a hand through her hair as he came, groaning into her mouth.

She stayed where she was for a moment like he had done with her, watching as his eyes slowly opened. She used a finger to wipe a bead of sweat that had formed on his hairline, and he took her hand and kissed her fingers.

Ziva wasn’t sure when exactly it was she had stopped feeling apprehensive but it was well and truly gone now, contentment and a slow kind of happiness coursing through her veins as she climbed off Tony and settled on the bed next to him.

He turned his head to look at her for a moment, smile on his lips but words he was evidently searching for not forming on them. She made a light ‘shhh’-ing sound and lifted his arm to place herself underneath it, her head pressed against his side.

“Still nervous?” He asked quietly, kissing the top of her head.

“No. Not anymore.”

She closed her eyes.