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ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SPOILERS: 7.13 Jet Lag
W is for Why
By Jaina
McGee: Hey, in Paris, who got stuck with the couch?
Tony: Me, we flipped a coin.
McGee: Tough break. (McGee leaves, leaving Tony and Ziva alone)
Ziva: Why did you just lie to McGee?
Tony: Why did you lie to Nora?
"Tony, have you met my girlfriend?" Ziva asked, her exasperation clear in her voice. "Abigail is not usually a jealous woman. But she worries and she is very possessive. Discovering that you spent the night in my bed? That would not make her happy," she hissed, keeping her voice low. She took a deep breath before she continued. "Now, we will never mention this again, agreed?"
"So if you knew it would piss Abby off, then why did you agree to it?" Tony asked, ignoring her question. "It's because you find me irresistible, isn't it? What can I say? It's that DiNozzo charm."
"You are delusional," Ziva snapped back at him. "And I did not agree. You refused to honor the results of the coin toss that you insisted upon to see who would get to sleep on the bed! I simply refused to let you have your way."
"Uh-huh. Likely excuse."
"Tony." The agitation and exasperation that had been in Ziva's voice only moments before had disappeared as she took a step closer to him, eliminating any distance between them. "Listen very carefully: I care very much about Abigail. If your delusions do something to harm my relationship with her, I will be very unhappy. Do you understand?"
Tony froze. There was a line between them that didn't get crossed. He knew it and so did she. Both of them, occasionally stuck a toe over it and it had been pushed nearly to its breaking point more than once, but this time he had almost gone to far and he knew it. Of course, in typical Tony DiNozzo fashion he couldn't just admit it.
Instead he swallowed hard on the urge to snark back or push Ziva a little bit farther. It was a habit now, but apparently one that had gotten him into more trouble than he had bargained for this time. "You really do love her, don't you?"
Ziva held his gaze just long enough for him to see that it was true and then turned away, looking down at a pile of papers on her desk and straightening them, as if that would hide the fact that he had succeeded in flustering her.
"That is none of your business." She said, as firmly as she could. Yet, it was a pale imitation of her usual tone.
Tony laughed and leaned even closer, until his lips were about to brush her ear and whispered in a sing-song voice. "Abby and Ziva sitting in a tree...K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" His impromptu song broke off with a yelp as he clutched his shoulder. "Did you have to hit so hard, David?"
Her cheeks flushed with a hint of red, Ziva glared. "Did you have to be so annoying, Tony?"
And, of course, the answer was yes.
The End