DISCLAIMER: These characters belong to DPB, CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Originally posted as part of the FSAC:DW07
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SPOILERS: General season five.
An Unexpected Adventure
By Jaina
This was one Tuesday of the year that Ziva wasn't expecting to see any of her teammates in the office. December 25th - Christmas - was a day when even Gibbs didn't come into work, or require it of his team. All other holidays and occasions were considered irrelevant, but he seemed to have a soft spot towards letting his team be with their families on this particular day.
For Ziva however, there was nothing to celebrate and no family to see. So she came into work. Crime and terror did not take holidays. There were plenty of old casefiles to scrutinize, paperwork to finish and new intelligence reports that could be looked over.
Expecting a dull day of work, Ziva was therefore surprised when she saw someone sitting at her desk. She felt a surge of irritation and immediately softened her footsteps so that whoever it was wouldn't hear her coming in the quiet bullpen.
She rounded the corner and slammed her hands down hard on the front of the desk.
They jumped. "You scared me," Abby accused, holding a hand over her chest.
"You're sitting at my desk," Ziva pointed out. "I do not like people sitting at my desk." She frowned, remembering what day it was. "Why are you at my desk?"
Abby huffed as she got up. "No need to rub it in. I'm leaving."
"Abby," Ziva quickly stepped in front of her and caught her arm before she could walk passed her. "I did not mean - well..." She stumbled around trying to determine what she wanted to say. "It's Christmas. Shouldn't you be celebrating with your family? Even Gibbs isn't here today."
"You're here," Abby pointed out.
"But I do not celebrate Christmas."
Abby sighed, seeming to slump down. "I had a ticket to fly out yesterday. I had to stay late to finish up the evidence that we were wrapping up and I missed the flight. I couldn't get another flight out because of the weather." She gestured in the general direction of the windows, where snow could be seen, lightly but steadily falling.
"Ah, I see."
Except that she didn't really. It didn't explain why she'd come into work instead of spending the day with Tony or even Gibbs. Ziva knew neither of them would have turned Abby away if they were aware that she'd be spending the day alone.
That also did not explain why Abby was sitting at her desk.
Abby was nodding and trying to step passed Ziva again, satisfied that their conversation was over.
"I'll just be down -" She pointed towards the floor, "You know, in my lab." She smiled half-heartedly and tried to step away.
"Wait," Ziva said slowly, "Actually, Abby, I do not see."
"You're blind?" Abby immediately sounded concerned.
Ziva felt like pounding her head against her desk.
"No," She glared at Abby to prove that her eyes were working just fine. "I still do not see why you were sitting at my desk."
Abby looked down. "I was just feeling kinda lonely down there and I thought that one of you might show up today and I was just kinda hoping..." She shrugged, and Ziva realized that this was as much of an explanation as she was likely to get.
Abby turned to walk away again and this time Ziva fell into step beside her.
"You don't have to go," Ziva pointed out. "It's not as if we have work we're supposed to be doing today."
"You didn't seem too happy to see me hanging out at your desk."
"I do not like people hanging out at my desk. Are you not the exception to the rules?"
Abby laughed. "Most of the time only Gibbs seems to think so."
"Consider it my Christmas present to you."
"Thank you." Abby surprised her by stopping in the middle of the hallway and when Ziva stopped as well, she threw her arms around her in a crushing hug.
Instead of standing limply as she often had in the face of Abby's hugs, Ziva reached up and wrapped her arms around the taller woman. She let her head rest briefly against Abby's shoulder and relaxed, until Abby abruptly stepped back.
Abby was still smiling. "You usually don't hug."
Ziva shrugged. "I felt like it. Perhaps," She said with a wry grin, "You're wearing off."
Abby seemed pleased with the notion because she smiled all the way to the elevator.
Ziva looked around at the unusually dreary lab. "Are you really working on something?"
Abby shook her head as she hit a few buttons on her computer. "Not really...I mean, I'm running a few fingerprint searches, but it's not really anything that can't wait until tomorrow."
"I have an idea, then." Ziva paused to smile mischievously at Abby. "Let's get out of here. We spend enough days in this building. Let's do something different today."
"Seriously?"
"No, I would rather stay in this building and work all day."
Abby stared. "Did you just-"
Ziva folded her arms over her chest. "Do you want to go or not?"
She didn't waste another moment deciding. "Yeah, absolutely."
Abby didn't protest when Ziva pulled her onto the bus, but she couldn't restrain her curiosity for long. Her silence didn't last more than a few blocks.
She leaned over against Ziva, carefully balancing on her heels in the swaying bus, until her lips were practically brushing up against her ear. "Where are we going?"
"You will see."
Before she could think about what she was doing, Abby retaliated for Ziva's cryptic answer by dropping her hand to tickle her. The quick gesture was muted by the several layers of clothing that Ziva was wearing to ward off the cold, but its intention got through clearly.
Ziva let out a muffled shriek and then glared at Abby as if it were all her fault, which Abby had to admit, it was. But what truly captured Abby's attention was the playful glint in Ziva's eyes.
"You will pay for that."
Laughing breathlessly, happy just to be happy, Abby couldn't even pretend to be frightened.
"I'm sure," she smirked.
Ziva glared and then pointedly turned to stare out the other window.
For a moment, Abby thought about what she was about to do next. Many people would consider her crazy for what she was about to do, but then she'd done a lot of crazy things in her life.
"You shrieked." She pointed out, not able to hold back another giggle. "You actually shrieked. I can't wait until I can tell Tony and Timmy."
Suddenly Ziva was in her personal space, not just several inches from her as the tightness of the bus permitted, but directly up against her so that Abby could feel the line of Ziva's body against her own.
"I did not - do not - shriek."
Abby grinned - cocked her head - tried to resist the urge to stick her tongue out. "Did too," she said sweetly.
"I did -" Ziva cut herself off. "You will not tell them."
"I won't?" Abby questioned with a raised eyebrow. "And why won't I?"
"Because," Ziva whispered so quietly that Abby had to strain to hear her, despite their proximity, "I will make you shriek."
There an instant of silence as the bus slowly slid to a stop. And then Abby giggled. Ziva let out a small laugh as well and the tension was dispelled. Impetuously Ziva grabbed Abby's hand, and pulled her off of the bus, easily winding her way through the disembarking crowd of their fellow passengers.
Abby glanced around curiously, not able to spot anything of interest. Finally she dug in her heels, and took several stutter steps until Ziva looked back at her. "Where are we going?"
"Have we not covered this?"
Abby stuck her free hand on her hip in a gesture of stubbornness that was, of course, marred by her hand stretched out to still hold Ziva's.
Ziva let go of Abby's hand, and it fell limply back to her side. "Do you not trust me, Abby?"
She wasn't playing fair, Abby decided immediately. Not fair at all. "Of course."
"Then trust me."
"'Kay," she said lightly. She could do that. Just as long as they got to wherever they were going soon. She really was curious.
They walked a little bit further and then Ziva stopped abruptly.
"This is it?" It was a perfectly normal street. Abby couldn't see anything of interest.
"Of course not," Ziva dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "Close your eyes."
"What?"
"Close your eyes," Ziva repeated more slowly. "Did I not say that right?"
"Yeah," Abby drawled slowly, "But..."
Ziva folded her arms over her chest. Abby rolled her eyes and then closed them. Sounds were suddenly magnified. She jumped in surprised when she felt Ziva's hand take her elbow. At least she hoped it was Ziva's hand.
"Ziva?" Her eyes started to shoot open.
"No," Ziva said in a surprisingly close voice. "Keep them closed."
Abby did so, but she couldn't help reaching out to put her hand over Ziva's on her arm. Being able to feel her as well was reassuring.
"This way," Ziva said, not commenting on what Abby had done. "I will not let you trip."
Abby followed her carefully, focusing on the feel of Ziva's hand on her arm, the way the pressure of her fingers would change just so, carefully guiding her towards their mystery destination.
When they stopped, Abby hesitated. "Can I open my eyes yet?"
"Yes." Ziva sounded smugly satisfied.
Without waiting another moment, Abby did just that. She blinked, and then looked over at Ziva. She couldn't have been more surprised if she'd suddenly found herself standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon.
"Ice skating?"
Ziva shrugged, and Abby thought she saw a hint of shy embarrassment in her stance. "I have never gone and I thought it might be fun. You," she said, looking directly at Abby again, "Seem to have the most fun of anyone that I know. I thought it might be..."
"Fun?" Abby filled in helpfully. "Yeah." She started towards the ticket seller. "Although I do have to warn you, I've never done this before."
Ziva chuckled as she caught up with her. "I've found something you haven't tried before."
"Oh, there are lots of things I haven't tried," Abby countered as they paid and got there skates. "But I am from the South." She wrinkled her nose. "Not lots of ice down there."
"Ah," Ziva said, "I see."
"But I'm sure we can manage," Abby reassured her. "I'm really smart, and you have that whole scary capable Mossad coordination thing going on. I'm sure we'll be fine."
The tip of her blade hit a small dip in the ice and Abby pitched forwards unsteadily. She heard Ziva's laughter and her arm shot out to catch hold of Ziva and restore her balance. Ziva's noise of protest - definitely not a shriek - caught her attention an instant before she saw Ziva's skate slide into her own. Their legs tangled and Abby hit the ice hard. She saw Ziva trying desperately to maintain her own balance and lose, helplessly falling towards Abby. At the last moment, she saw Ziva twist away, and try to salvage her fall.
It only made her look more awkward. Abby was already laughing as Ziva landed half on top of her, and half on the ice beside her.
Ziva lay where she was for a moment. "That did not go well."
Abby poked at her futilely, trying to shift so that Ziva's elbow wasn't digging into her stomach. "No, but it was fun."
"Are we going to try again?"
"Yep," Abby answered with a radiant smile. "Help me up," She waggled a hand at Ziva.
Ziva stared at the offending hand for a moment, as she pushed her self to her feet and attempted to steady herself on the ice. She carefully braced herself and then reached out to take hold of Abby's hand.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely," Abby said with a definitive nod.
"Very well," Ziva pulled on her hand; Abby stood. Ziva's skate slipped as she leaned forward with Abby's weight. Abby saw her falling and tried to catch her. They landed on the ice for a second time.
This time Abby groaned. "I have to stop ending up on bottom."
"Ah, so you prefer to be on top," Ziva said with a leering smile.
Abby punched her shoulder. "You're as bad as Tony."
"I choose to take that as a compliment. You seem to be very fond of Tony."
"Yeah, I am," Abby blurted, "But not like-" She bit her lip.
Ziva brushed a chunk of ice off of the leg of her jeans. "I understand. You like Tony more."
"No," Abby corrected her quickly, reaching over to grab her hand, "It's not that, it's just...different."
Ziva looked over to meet her gaze. "Different how," she asked quietly.
"Different as in," Abby shrugged, at a loss for words.
Ziva leaned closer. She reached up; her hand cupped Abby's face. Her thumb brushed over Abby's lips softly before she pressed her own lips, gently, hesitantly to Abby's. She tilted her head back just enough to meet Abby's eyes.
"Different as in you like me?"
"Yeah," Abby muttered, "Different like that." She punctuated her words by pulling Ziva closer. "Merry Christmas to me," she muttered against Ziva's lips as she kissed her again.
The End