Tony was having a dream, a wonderful erotic dream. Ziva was in his bed. He breathed in her scent as his hands played over her body. She was unlike any woman he had ever touched; her muscles felt like steel under the silk of her olive skin. Her shirt had ridden up and his hands were traveling over the soft skin of her taut belly. They continued on an upward path until they reached her breasts. Tony cupped them in his hands and ran his thumbs over her nipples causing them to tighten. Ziva moaned in his ear, low and deep. God, he loved that sound. Tony felt the smooth skin of her thigh as it traveled up the side of his body to drape over his hip. His mouth sought hers. Just as he was about to taste her, he awoke.
As Tony began to regain consciousness, he realized where his hands were. He panicked; he hadn't been dreaming. He really had been touching Ziva intimately, very intimately. He lay there with the evidence of his arousal pressing up against her stomach. He tried to untwine his body from hers without waking her, but as he slid his hands out from under her shirt, she stirred. Eyes still closed, she spoke.
"Hmmm…why did you stop?"
Tony could tell she wasn't fully awake and didn't realize what she was saying, so he ignored her question and tried to wake her.
"Ziva," He shook her gently.
Her eyes opened wide and for a moment they stared at each other in shock. Both had thought they were dreaming. There was an awkward moment of silence before Ziva spoke again.
"That had better not be what I think it is." She snapped in an effort to cover up the fact that she had enjoyed their little dream sequence more than she cared to admit.
"Of course it is, Zee-vah. It's a guy thing. Happens every time we wake up." Tony snapped back.
Ziva just glared at him. Tony quickly untangled his body from hers and sat up.
"You can have the shower first. I'll make some coffee." He said.
Ziva got out of bed and silently made her way to the bathroom. Tony couldn't help but check her out. She had the most seductive walk of any woman he had ever met. Sure and confident with a gentle sway of her hips. He loved the way she looked in the old Baltimore PD t-shirt he had loaned her to sleep in the night before. It skimmed the top of her thighs and rode high when she moved. She wore nothing underneath but a pair of underwear which did little to help his current state of arousal.
After he heard the bathroom door shut, Tony walked to the kitchen to start the coffee. He knew he would need it when Ziva came out of the bathroom expecting to go to NCIS. After arriving home that morning and finding Ziva, Tony had placed a call to Gibbs while she got ready for bed, informing him that Ziva was there and she was safe. Gibbs had ordered Tony to stay home and keep an eye on Ziva while he, McGee and Abby worked to find out where the Hamas cell that was after Ziva was hiding.
Tony knew Ziva and knew that she would not be pleased to know she had been ordered to sit idly by while someone else did the field work. She would want to aggressively seek out those who threatened her, but Gibbs would not allow it. Tony geared himself up for the battle that lay ahead.
Ten minutes later Ziva came out of the bathroom, hair still wet from the shower, wearing the clothes he had found her in earlier. Tony handed the cup of coffee he had waiting for her.
"Todah." She said.
"Listen, Ziva, about the other night. I just want to say I'm sorry."
"I know Tony. It's ok." Ziva replied. She could see the guilt written across his face.
"No it's not. You killed your brother to save Gibbs' life and then I accused you of planning to kill Gibbs."
"Tony, I forgive you. Really. I'm fine."
Tony winced inwardly when he heard those two words. Ziva might have trouble with her English from time to time, but she clearly had a grip on the language of females. It seemed to be universal. Any man worth his salt knows that when a woman says "I'm fine", she's anything but. He believed Ziva had forgiven him, but she had clearly not forgotten. Apparently he was going to have to work to make it up to her.
Ziva glanced at the clock.
"What are you doing still standing here? You need to get ready so we can get to work." She urged.
Tony took a deep breath and decided beating around the bush would just prolong his misery; might as well just get right to it.
"Ziva, we're not going in today. Gibbs wants us to stay here until he and the others can find out where the Hamas cell is hiding." He braced himself for her anger and she didn't disappoint.
"What do you mean he wants us to stay here? I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing while there are people out there trying to kill me! If Gibbs thinks that, he's crazy." Ziva yelled.
"That's the point, Ziva. Someone is trying to kill you and we don't know where they are or how many of them there are. They could be anywhere. It's not safe for you to be out in public right now. You of all people know how far reaching they can be." Tony argued.
"What am I supposed to do? Sit here and whittle my thumbs all day?" She understood his point, but she didn't like it.
"It's twiddle your thumbs, Zee-vah. And no, we'll watch movies, hang out. Gibbs will call us when they find something."
"OK, Tony, but if they don't find something by tomorrow, I'm going to work." She relented.
"Agreed. Now, I'm going to take a shower. Do you promise to be good while I'm gone?" He grinned at her.
"Yes, Tony." Ziva rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hide a smile.
A few moments later Ziva heard the shower start and moved quickly to the living room to retrieve her cell phone. She powered it on and dialed. A moment later she made contact.
"Namir? I need to call in that favor. I can't talk long, but I need some information." She quickly explained the situation.
"Don't call me back; I'll call you in a few hours. Shalom." She disconnected the call.
A few minutes later Tony came back into the living room, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.
"OK, time for lunch, don't you think?" He questioned.
As if on cue, Ziva felt her stomach rumble.
"Food sounds good. What did you have in mind?" She replied.
"I was thinking of ordering a pizza."
"Why am I not surprised? Do you ever eat anything besides pizza?"
"Yes. Sometimes I order Chinese, Zee-vah." Tony smirked.
"OK, pizza it is, but make half of it vegetable." Ziva agreed.
"What good is pizza if you're going to cover it with vegetables?" Tony shuddered dramatically.
"It's called being healthy, Tony." Ziva stated.
"Pizza is healthy. You get like, all of the food groups in one slice." He argued.
"OK, Tony, whatever you say." Ziva laughed.
Twenty minutes later their pizza was there. They sat down in the living room. Tony had just put in a DVD, Weekend at Bernie's. Now Ziva would understand what he had been talking about when those drug pushers had kidnapped the Director.
They ate and watched the movie. When it was over, Ziva scoffed.
"This is considered to be entertainment in America? How ridiculous. Tony, I think that was the stupidest movie I have ever seen." She commented.
"Oh, come on Ziva. It's not supposed to be a meaningful drama, it's just mindless entertainment. That's the beauty of it." Tony countered.
"Mindless is right. OK, no more movies. I've had enough for today. What can we do now?" Ziva couldn't just sit there; she had to keep her mind occupied.
"Well, if movies are out, then how about we play a game? I've got some old board games in the closet. We could have a little fun with it. Maybe have a competition." Tony suggested.
"What kind of competition?" Ziva's interest was piqued, but she was still a bit leery until she found out what Tony had in mind.
"How about the loser has to cook dinner?"
"That sounds fair enough. You chose the competition, so I get to choose the game. Let me see what you have." She grinned at him.
Tony went to the closet by the front door and showed her the shelf containing his board games. Ziva saw a couple decks of cards, Monopoly, Twister, why didn't which surprise her? She could picture Tony suggesting a game of Twister to a date. She finally found one she liked and pulled it out. Tony caught sight of her choice and groaned.
"Scrabble? Oh, come on, Ziva. Anything but that."
"What Tony? Afraid you'll lose?"
"No. It's just that Scrabble is only the most boring game ever. I didn't even buy that. It was a gift from the little old lady down the hall."
"Too bad. That's what I choose."
After a little more half-hearted grumbling from Tony, the game got under way.
After only ten minutes Ziva was already winning. Her score was triple his.
"No fair!" He yelled. "You're cheating. You can't use words in different languages. How do I know if they are even real words?"
"It's not cheating, Tony. I'll tell you what they mean. Besides, I always play fair. Usually." She winked at him.
"OK, what does that word mean?" He pointed to a in the center of the board.
"Ombligo, it's Spanish for belly button."
"What about that one?" This word was near the top left of the board.
"Bisoux is French for kisses." Ziva glanced at Tony's lips as she said this.
Tony knew she had chosen these words on purpose. She loved to toy with him. This was a good sign; if she was back to bantering with him, then maybe she was feeling friendlier towards him again.
They continued the game and Ziva beat him by a huge margin. Tony argued it was because she was fluent in other languages so her vocabulary was wider, so to speak.
"Oh quit being such a sore loser, Tony, and get started on dinner. I'm starving." She teased.
TBC…
A/N: Thank you to Jeanne Luz for the Spanish and French translations
Chapter End Notes:
If you’ve read this far, you know there are spoilers for Hiatus. Jeanne Luz and TonyZivaFan, my muses, you rock.