Prompt by @coffeedepablo (made a shamefully long time ago): Undercovers parallel. I decided to make it the first of (hopefully) several short quarantine fics. Enjoy!
I swear these two have minds of their own whenever I write them.
AO3
“I want to see John and Morgan!” Tali exclaimed on only the third day of quarantine.
“I know,” Ziva sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. “I do too. But we talked about this yesterday, remember?”
“Hmmph.”
“What did we say? Why is it important that we not go see our friends right now?”
Tali folded her arms across her chest in silent protest.
“Tali,” Ziva said, voice rising as she tried to hide her amusement at just how similar they were. “Why?”
“So we all stay healthy.”
“That’s right. I know it has been hard, my love, since we just moved back to DC a few months ago. You can be mad. I am too. But it’s very important that you listen to Abba and me about this. Ken?”
“Ken,” she said sadly, nodding. “How long until I can see them?”
“I do not know,” she said. “But we will see them again as soon as we possibly can. I promise.”
"Now, why don’t you go play outside?” Ziva suggested, embracing her frustrated daughter. “Some fresh air will be good for you.” And hopefully tire. you. out.
“I guess. What about you and Abba?”
“We have to finish working on a few things. But, we’ll be outside to join you soon. What do you think of having a picnic for dinner tonight?”
“Yes please!” Tali exclaimed, eager for anything to break up the monotony of social-distancing.
“And remember to stay only in the backyard!” she yelled after Tali, who was already halfway to the back door.
Relieved to finally have some time alone, Ziva wandered into the master bedroom and flopped down on the bed, where Tony was busy making the finishing touches on his newest project.
“Your daughter is rentless,” she said, exasperated. “We ought to give her teacher the biggest gift after this is over.”
“Restless. Or relentless. And you’re not the most relaxed person either, you know.”
“Ha,” Ziva scoffed, silently admitting defeat as she watched him work. His arms flexed deliciously as he manipulated the tools with ease; his eyes were focused and rough hands precise as he added the final touches.
And, of course, there was the view.
Ziva reminisced then to an old case, back when they first started working together. To how different they were. She had been looking for evidence under a bed when Tony obnoxiously snapped pictures of her ass. She shook her head in amazement as she remembered a strange thrill running through her, then--as well as the long argument they had later about it.
Now, after everything, she still couldn’t quite believe that same man was hers and hers alone. That he was here--in their bedroom, in their house, in her life. Forever.
“So...what do you think?” Tony asked, oblivious to his partner’s attentions as he stood, still facing away from her, and admired his handiwork.
“Hmm,” Ziva said softly as she rose from her spot on the bed. She smiled to herself as she quietly locked their bedroom door and closed the curtains, where she could see Tali playing in the yard.
"Not bad, I suppose.”
“Not bad, she says as she sees her newly renovated walk-in closet, complete with fresh paint and shelves,” he laughed. “All ready for her quarantine cleaning and organizing fest. Compliments of her ultra talented partner, of course.”
“Ultra talented, indeed,” she smirked, voice deepening. She walked slowly across the room and positioned herself between him and the closet, forcing his attention.
Staring deeply into his eyes, Ziva ran one hand down his arm, interlacing their fingers. With the other, she reached behind her and shut the closet door.
Tony raised an eyebrow with a grin, immediately remembering the motion from years past as she turned them around and walked backwards toward the bed.
“I take it you’re not interested in spring cleaning. Which we’ve been planning to do for weeks, by the way.”
“There’s only one thing I’m interested in right now.”
“And what would that be, sweetcheeks?”
"Well, my little--”
“Hey!” he exclaimed, cutting her off and placing an index finger on her lips. “Choose your next words carefully, Sophie.”
Ziva laughed and tilted her head, arms now draped around his neck, eyes daring. “--hairy butt.”
He shook his head in disappointment, betrayed by the glint of mischief in his eye.
“I warned you,” he said, enclosing his arms around her and quickly lifting with ease, suddenly thankful that he hadn’t stopped his workouts after leaving NCIS. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist as he took the remaining few steps to the bed, throwing them both onto it. Ziva squealed, breaking Tony’s character as quickly as it formed, as he couldn’t help but grin at the sound.
She reached up to cup his face with her hands, kissing his mouth clumsily.
“God, I love you,” he said breathlessly as gently ran his hand along her side, the other supporting himself over her.
“I love you too,” she replied, leaning forward to reclaim his lips. When they broke apart again, Tony smirked.
RE: tony/ziva headcanons (I know these have been subject matters of a bajilliion fics since ziva came back but I don't care that they've been written about before because i am who i am!!!!) - How their first date goes (now that they have a child and are officially together - the first time they wake up together after ziva comes back - the first time after ziva comes back that they acknowledge and label it. This sounded better in my head so i hope this makes sense!!!! Thank you! AAAAAAAA
Mikey, always coming in for the feels!
lol, some of this is stuff I considered for my fic that won’t end, it’s like you read my mind haha.
Oh man, their first official date? This is so weird. When I started writing my fic in, like, January (or was it even December?), I was thinking about this, and then Covid hit and I was like, “nah, there is no Covid in my Tiva world,” but the longer this goes on, the more I forget what it’s like to actually go out and do things, and that people can experience that, lol.
I may have touched upon this a little in my fic 👀but I feel like their first official date, as a couple, by themselves, with no kid, is probably something low-key. Both because, you know, there’s still a lot of unresolved trauma that they (especially Ziva) have to deal with, and they’re probably taking baby steps, and also... like, yes, they’re the weirdos who have an instant family, but never officially dated, so like, they kind of skipped over that dating phase? Tony’s a sentimental guy, but they kind of jumped over the bringing-a-candlelit-dinner-to-work phase of their relationship.
Which is not to say that he wouldn’t want to make some grand gesture sometimes... But when it comes to their first one-on-one time post-In The Wind, I feel like it would be something simple like going to a café together after dropping Tali off at school (lmao spoiler alert for my fic?), trying to navigate this “them” while still being them. It’s weird, because yes, their relationship is different now, but at the same time... they really aren’t. In my head, they’ve figured out that the thing that makes them work isn’t the big pressure of the romantic relationship, but the base of their friendship is what informs everything else. Trying to put pressure on it is what gets them into trouble; when they are themselves, that’s when they’re at their best.
So, in my head, they spent the first few weeks when Ziva got home connecting as a family, just because a) they had a five year old to deal with b) as much as Ziva loves Tony, I’m sure her primal maternal instincts were zeroed in on Tali and trying to reconnect with her and c) it was the holidays, so they had that on the back burner and kind of as a buffer to take the pressure off the reconnecting bit. It was when Tali had to go back to school and things went back to “normal” that they kind of had to start thinking about these things.
(So, the tl;dr: they went out for brunch at a café like two grown-ups, then raced home when they realized they had the apartment to themselves for the first time lmao.)
I feel like the first night Ziva came home, there was probably this, like, slightly nervous, mostly excited air in their home, and then when Tali finally went to bed, there was a moment of awkwardness like “lol so here we are? finally?” but then they reconnected and were like “I’m glad it’s over” and fell into their usual pattern. I still feel like something major happened in Cairo (besides the obvious) that they had some sort of outburst initially because they were both like WHAT THE FUCK??? for different reasons, but then they put their cards on the table and Tony was like “ok, from now on, we’re a blank slate, and our only concern is ending this thing so we can get back together, got it?”
Just the confidence Ziva had in her feelings for Tony and his for her -- even before she left the show, we knew Ziva had low self-esteem when it came to her personal relationships, and probably anxiety already too, so if they hadn’t sorted that out, hadn’t explicitly stated their intentions, I don’t think Ziva would have been so assured about going back to Tony. Like, we saw her express her doubts about herself as a partner to Gibbs, but that was about her own demons; it was never, “I don’t know if Tony will still want me after all this.” It was more, “How am I going to be able to be there for him on the days where I feel like this?” She never doubted her position in his life or hers in his, it was more, how do I navigate my mental illness so that I can be fully present in my family’s life?
SO, that sidebar is just to say, that I see their first night together as slightly awkward, just because this is the first time they’ve been together where their lives aren’t threatened since before Tali, and again, they did the family thing before they did the couple thing for any real length of time. (Like, they were a couple for five minutes before Ziva went to Israel to visit, and then they ended up getting separated for years...) But like, not awkward-awkward, if that makes sense, just like, “lol how dumb are we right now?” awkward. But then Tony says some corny line, and she laughs, and they fall back into their habits. And then some, lol. And that is the first time either of them sleep peacefully in like six years. And then when they wake up they’re all gross and happy and shit.
@coffeedepablo Thank you!! *soaks up all the love* *hugs forever*
It’s weird, I’ve felt more positive about my writing lately; I’ve spent more time culling inspiration and daydreaming and reading poetry. And when I’ve sat down to it (and managed to focus), my writing sessions have been productive. Hopefully I’ll have something to share soon :)
