“So you didn’t really throw away Uncle Gibb’s medals? You kept them safe for him.” Maya realised.
Tony nodded. “But don’t tell him okay.”
“Pinkie promise.” Maya said as she held out her littlest finger and Tony shook it with his own pinkie finger. “So did you get to spend your days off with your latest girlfriend?” She asked him.
“Well almost…”
Tony woke up and glanced over top of the sleeping figure next to him. It was officially his day off and he planned to spend the entire day spoiling the girl he cared about.
Megan rolled over to look at him. “How long have you been awake?”
He grinned and stroked her hair. “Not long. I’ve just been lying here think how I’m the luckiest guy alive.”
“How do you work that out?” She asked him with a smile.
“I get to wake up next the most beautiful woman.” He told her before gently kissing her.
“I bet you tell all your girlfriends that.”
“You can ask Sasha when you next see her if you want?”
She pulled away from him. “Tony I-”
He moved closer and caressed her face. “Relax I was joking.”
“I didn’t think it was very funny.”
“Oh c’mon. I’ll tell you what; I’ll let you pick what we do today. Anything! Even if you drag me along to that latest exhibit at the art museum you want to see.” He promised her.
“Hmm…” She considered. “You know what I’ve never done?”
“What?”
“I've never spent the whole day in bed with a really great guy.”
“Me neither.”
She laughed “I’m serious. I’ve always found an excuse to get up.”
“Are you hinting at something?”
“Mmm.” She moaned as he kissed her passionately.
As they moved closer they were interrupted by the ringing of Tony’s cell phone. He groaned but continued kissing Megan.
“Shouldn’t you get that?” Megan asked between kisses.
“Nah,” He replied. “It’s my day off it can’t be that important.”
As the answering machine picked up Tony groaned as he heard Gibbs voice.
“DiNozzo, I know it’s your day off but we got a call about some smuggled weapons at a shipyard we need you and Zi-”
Tony, not wanting Megan to hear what Gibbs was about to say, quickly rolled over and picked up the phone. “On my way boss.” He told him quickly before turning to face Megan who was frowning. “I’m sorry I have to go into work Gibbs needs me.”
She sighed before turning away from him. “It’s okay, I understand.”
* * *
“Damn I had to spend my day off searching for smuggled weapons in a damn shipyard with you when I should be spending it in bed with Megan!” Tony complained as he and Ziva walked between shipping containers on the docks.
“You are not the only one whose plans got cancelled today Tony.” Ziva reminded him.
“You can clean your gun any day Zee-vah.”
“Actually I had plans with McGee.”
“Her golden hair running down her naked back, our lips crashing together,” Tony sighed, “Wait, back up a second. You were with McGeek?”
“No. He was with me. I was making him lunch.” She explained.
“Why would you make McGee lunch?”
“I like to cook.”
“But for McGee?”
“And Jimmy.”
“Palmer?!” Tony exclaimed. “I can’t believe it, you’re cooking lunch for McGee and the autopsy gremlin? At what point did the Earth come off its axis?”
“Perhaps now, Tony.” She looked up ahead and saw an open container. “What’s wrong with that picture?”
“Containers aren’t unloaded at the dock.” He realised as they pulled out their guns and ran to inspect the container. Finding nothing inside, they put away their guns.
Suddenly a fire fight broke out so Tony and Ziva took cover inside the container where they got locked in.
“I think we’ve just been screwed in here, Tony.”
“The term is bolted.” He corrected her
Ziva shrugged. “Same difference.”
“So you got to spend your day off stuck in a crate with Ziva instead of with Megan?” Maya observed.
Tony nodded. “Yup and it wasn’t really that bad.”
* * *
“I tried that.” Tony told Ziva as she kicked the side of the crate. “It’s bolted from the outside.”
“I knew your idea was stupid.” She replied as she kicked the wall again.
“My idea?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Taking up a defensive position inside a metal box! Yes!”
“You’re not panicking on me, are you?”
“I do not panic! This is me… mad!”
Tony held his cell phone above his head but no matter where he held it he wasn’t getting any reception. “I’m not getting any reception. How about you?”
“I am braless.” She replied.
He looked her up and down curiously. “I noticed that earlier. But on your phone they’re bars.”
“Do you have anything better to do than correct my English?”
“Like what?”
“Like getting us out of this box you trapped us in.” She reminded him.
He moved closer to her so they were only inches apart “Okay, first of all, this is not my fault. Second of all, I like dark, tight spaces.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Unless, of course, they insist on some form of commitment.”
“For your information I’m happily in a relationship with a beautiful woman and have been for a while now.
“Aha, the mysterious caller.” She realised.
Tony coughed. “Anyway, it looks like our smugglers have removed most of the cargo. So they’re probably not coming back.” He said quickly changing the subject.
“We are still locked in a box and freezing to death.” Ziva reminded him glumly.
“Somebody might have heard the gunfire.” Tony said hopefully.
“Yeah, well if they did, they would be here by now.” She pointed out.
Tony suddenly had an idea. “Ooh, you know what we could do? Fire a couple of rounds out of these ventilation shafts. Maybe someone will hear us.”
“Oh, yeah. Maybe they did not hear the massive fire fight. So let us just waste the little ammunition we have. You know what? You’re brilliant. Genius!” Ziva replied sarcastically.
“Sarcasm is the refuge of a shallow mind. What do you suggest we do?”
“I suggest we bust out of here now.”
It was Tony’s turn to be sarcastic. “Okay, Bugsy, I’ll take care of the security guard and I’ll go through the front gate.”
“Tony, this is not funny! It is not funny!” Ziva yelled at him.
“I know!” He yelled back before regaining his composure. “What we need to do is relax, remain calm, and wait.” He said calmly as he sat down leaning against a wall of the container.
Ziva started to pace the length of the container. “For what? For them to come in with reinforcements?”
“For Gibbs,” Tony explained, “trust me. He’ll find us.”
Ziva sighed and slumped down beside him. “I believe you. The question is, will it be before we freeze to death?”
* * *
“So who is this Megan?” Ziva asked him as they searched through one of the crates that held DVDs.
“Just my girlfriend.”
“Oh…wait wasn’t your lawyer called Megan?”
“Yup and now I’m dating her.”
Ziva seemed suddenly uncomfortable and stood up and started pacing again. “What if we blow a hole at the bottom of this door, near where the bolt is?”
“Why?”
“It might enable us to jam something under it and force it open.” She explained.
Tony stood up and shock his head. “Not liking it. Firing a bullet in the air… it’s bound to ricochet-”
She ignored him and fired a bullet which ricocheted around the container narrowly missing Tony and only because as soon as she saw the bullet heading towards him she dived towards him knocking him over.
“Ha! As I was saying, there’s a good chance the bullet might ricochet and kill one of us!”
“Sorry.”
He then noticed she hadn’t moved from her position on top of him. “Why are you on top of me?”
I am protecting you, Tony.” She explained.
“Don’t.”
“Well you didn’t seem to mind when we were undercover.” She reminded him.
“That might have something to do with the fact that you were naked.”
“Perhaps if it were warmer in here. Hm?”
“Let me rephrase the question.” He said impatiently. “Why are you still on top of me?”
“Finally!” Maya exclaimed.
“What?” Tony asked completely confused.
“You finally stopped hiding your relationship with Megan from Ziva.” Maya explained.
Tony nodded.
“It’s about time, I mean from the sounds of it you couldn’t really hide anything from Ziva for very long.”
“Yeah not even the secret compartment could hide from her.”
“Secret compartment?” Maya asked eagerly.
“Yeah, we discovered this counterfeit money, hidden in a false wall of the container. We first tried burning some in the hope that the smoke (leaving by the ventilation holes) would attract attention. It didn't, but instead the container was loaded on a truck-” Tony explained but Maya interrupted him.
“Oh no. So just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse it did.”
Tony nodded. “But we started dropping the money from the container, leaving a Hansel-and-Gretel trail of money for someone to find and follow us.”
“Did it work?”
“Well…”
* * *
Tony was trying, with the help of some DVD cases in the cargo, Ziva's jewellery and hairpins, to make an antenna for the mobile that will stick out of the ventilation holes.
“How’s it coming?” Ziva asked.
“My fingers aren’t working.” Tony complained.
“Do you want me to do it?”
“I’ve got it. Just give me one of your little hair squinchie things.” He told her.
For once Ziva got to correct him. “The term is scrunchie.” She replied as she handed her hair tie to him.
“Thank you. Now I’ve just got to figure out how to attach this thing to the cell phone.”
“We may not need to. We now have several hundred thousand dollars out there floating around. It’s a matter of time before they find us.” Ziva pointed out.
Unfortunately by that time the container was open, and even though Tony and Ziva were hidden in the secret compartment of the container the bad guys knew they were in there. When they were challenged, Ziva managed to shoot the leader in the foot. They pushed the antenna out and got a call out very briefly to Gibbs, just enough to tell him the clue of the money, not long enough for their location to be pinpointed, but enough to allow Abby to narrow it down to a 500sq m area.
Just as things seemed like they couldn’t get worse they ran out of ammo, but just in the nick of time the dock controller arrived and ordered the bad guys to put their hands up.
“You two had a lot of people worried, let me tell you.” He told Tony and Ziva.
“Where’s Gibbs?” Tony asked.
“He’s on his way.” He replied. “Hey, do me a favour. Cover them while I radio for some help.”
“We’re out of ammo.” Ziva told him.
The dock controller suddenly turned his gun on him. “Ah, gee. That’s too bad. Come on, Wilson. Get up. Get the money. Get it into the van. Quickly! We don’t have a lot of time. Hurry up!” He said to the leader of the bad guys.
“When this is over, the woman is mine!” The leader replied.
“We’ll see, Wilson. I’ll be perfectly honest with you. I don’t know if they’re going to be alive then.” The dock controller said before turning back to face Tony and Ziva. “You know, you two almost cost me fifty million dollars.”
“Actually, by now it’s more like ten or twelve.” Tony corrected him.
“We burned some of it.” Ziva added.
“Do you think this is funny?!” He shouted at them.
“Not me, personally.” Tony replied.
“But I do. Drop it.” Ordered a voice behind them. They turned around to see Gibbs standing right behind the dock controller with his gun to the man’s head. He glanced at his agents. “Are you two okay?”
Tony nodded as Ziva shock her head before kicking the bad guy’s leader hard in the groin. He groaned in pain before dropping to the ground.
Ziva wiped her hands as she looked down on the man before turning to face Tony and Gibbs. “Now if you gentlemen will excuse me.”
“Where are you going?” Tony asked her.
“I’ve been locked in a box all day! The ladies room!” She exclaimed as she walked off with her legs firmly wedged together.
Maya laughed. “Ziva’s a big scary Mossad agent and the first thing she does when she gets let out of a metal box is go to the toilet.”
“Well it’s not like she could go inside the crate.” Tony pointed out.
“Hmm…okay you might be right,” Maya admitted, “So what was the first thing you did once you were allowed out of the crate?”
“Well after Ziva waddled off and I thanked Gibbs I realised I had reception on my cell phone again and immediately checked my messages to find I had a few missed calls from Megan.”
* * *
As Gibbs walked away to phone Abby to let her know Tony and Ziva were safe and as soon as they were ready they would be on their way back, Tony grabbed his phone and dialled Megan’s number after receiving some worried messages from her.
“Hello,” He sighed as he heard her familiar voice with a hint of worry in it.
“Hey Megan, did you miss me?”
“Tony! Where the hell have you been? I’ve been so worried!”
“Hey, hey, calm down. We ran into some trouble and we couldn't get reception all day or else I would have called to apologise.” He explained.
“What for?”
“For rushing out on you this morning.”
“Oh that, look never mind I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. We’re just on our way back to the office now-”
“I’ll meet you there.” She told him before hanging up.
* * *
As soon as Tony entered the bullpen he was almost knocked off his feet by the full force of Abby running towards him and engulfing him in a hug.
“Oh my god. Are you okay?” She asked him.
“Abs I’m fine, okay. We both are.” He replied glancing at Ziva.
The Goth saw his glance and moved from Tony to hug Ziva tightly.
Ziva looked at the Goth completely confused. “What was that for?” She asked Abby.
“It’s a hug.” Abby explained. “You know a warm embrace showing how much you love someone. Not that love is always shown in that way because different people show love in different ways, Gibbs with his head slaps, Tony with his sarcasm, and me with my hugs.”
A voice interrupted them before Ziva could say anything. They turned around to see Megan hurrying towards them; Tony turned towards her and caught her in his arms, from the corner of his eye he saw Ziva quickly look away from the couple.
“I’m just so glad you’re okay.” Megan said to him once they finally pulled apart.
“I told you we were.”
Megan suddenly seemed to notice the others in the room. “We?” She asked.
Tony kept his arm around her as he introduced her to his teammates, leaving Ziva ‘til last.
The two women looked each other up and down inspecting each other. Finally Megan spoke. “So this is the famous Ziva?”
Ziva nodded mutely.
“So Zee-vah, when do I get to taste your cooking again?” Tony asked lightly trying to break the tension
“Her cooking rocks, Tony!” Abby said. “What was the name of that dish you made for lunch?”
“Chunks. Slow cooked beef with potatoes and beans. It wasn’t bad.” Gibbs added before walking towards the elevator.
“Why don’t you all come over to my place for dinner tonight?” Ziva invited them. “There will be more than enough for all of us.”
Abby nodded eagerly as she jumped up and down in the air before rushing for the elevator telling Ziva her and McGee would be there at seven.
Tony turned to Megan. “What do you think, you up for a free meal?”
“Sure,” She replied, “Why not? It sounds like fun.”
Tony turned to Megan. “What do you think, you up for a free meal?”
“Sure,” She replied, “Why not? It sounds like fun.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
While on investigation at a shipyard, looking for smuggled weapons, Tony and Ziva disappear and it's up to NCIS to find them. Abby tries to track them down by tracking down their GPS chips, but they seem to be out of reach. Meanwhile, Tony and Ziva, trapped in a container, find evidence which could help them solve the case. Ziva meets Megan and invites her and Tony to dinner.