Chapter 05

Two weeks, some gate travel, medical clearance and a plane trip to DC later, he found himself at the airport. It was a beautiful day out and the car he rented was awesome, typical male car – a smoking red convertible. He had only packed some of his civilian clothes in one simple bag and knew that if he needed anything else, like skiing equipment, he’d just buy it.

He knew it was far too early for Ziva to be done with work so he spent most of his day driving around through Washington, liking the slow pace of the ‘normal world’. At 4 pm he parked his car downtown DC and went to a Starbucks to get some coffee. He flipped open his phone and sent a text message to Ziva.

Surprise! I’m in DC. – John

Tony and Ziva were on their way back, with McGee, from transporting their prisoner to Metro PD as they were now taking over the case as part of the deal they made with Gibbs so that he had control of the investigation. When her cell phone went off and the surprised look on her face caught her partner’s attention, she knew it was going to be a long ride back to the Naval yard.

“Mystery boyfriend?” Tony quipped.

Snapping her phone shut, Ziva looked out the window. “He is not my boyfriend,” she replied with a smile in her eyes.

“Well at least you’ve progressed from emails to texting,” Tony shrugged. “Or is it sexting?”

“No it is not sexing,” she said. “He is just telling me that he is back in the States.”

“Oh Ziva… Ziva… Ziva…” Tony grinned. “How do you know he’s not having a double life? With a wife and kid somewhere?”

Rolling her eyes Ziva looked over at him. “That would be kind of difficult to do in the Air Force,” she snapped.

“Oh, a pilot!” Tony mused. “Nice catch!”

“Tony, do you really have to be so infantile?” McGee started. “No wait, never mind, it’s YOU we’re talking about.”

Ziva turned in her seat and looked at Tim. “Didn’t I say he was a pilot already?” she asked. “I could swear I did when he questioned me two weeks ago about him!”

McGee nodded. “But forgive Tony, he’s getting old, his memory must be slipping,” he deadpanned.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny McChuckles. You should take that on the road. Make more money off of us instead of just writing about the infamous adventure of LJ Tibbs!”

“You know what, Tony? I might as well do that!” he smiled widely.

Suddenly the car stopped. Of course, Gibbs was driving, and his road antics were well known, but their silent leader apparently had enough. “This is your stop, Tony, get out.” he said, pointing at the building of the local Kindergarten.

Tony simmered down and pouted in the back seat like the child that Gibbs just implied him to be. “I’m sorry but the last time Ziva kept her boyfriend a secret from us, I broke my shoulder and you and McGee here nearly got blown up! Oh! And did I fail to mention the sandy prison that we went to to get her back?!”

“Yeah well, don’t you think that Ziva has learned from her mistakes? I mean what could go wrong with an Air Force pilot?” McGee shrugged and tried not to throw up when Gibbs accelerated.

“I really wish you all would drop Michael and forget about him,” Ziva growled. “Gibbs, can you let me out here? I’ll take a cab back to the office.”

Gibbs hit the breaks. “Have fun.”

She got out feeling relieved. “Thank you Gibbs,” she said as she opened the door. Tony stared out the window at her in shock at her request as their boss drove away, leaving her on the side of the beltway.

As the car disappeared into traffic, she went to rest against the highway guard rail. Taking out her phone, she debated on whether to call or text John, settling on a text message.

Hi 🙂 How are you enjoying DC so far? ~Ziva

He took a sip of his what was it? Third coffee? And smiled when his phone beeped.

Drove around a bit, am currently downtown enjoying good coffee, I miss good coffee. – John

LOL yes there are many good shops around. Do you have plans at the moment? ~Ziva

Well, you never did tell me about a good hotel so I’m still waiting for that answer. – John

You can still stay in my spare room. I had my boss leave me on the road because I could not tolerate my teammate anymore so if you are willing… ~Ziva

Of course! What road? – John

Actually, the highway. I’m stranded on the Beltway North along 295 ~Ziva

On my way, saving people is what I do! – John

Thank you. I will treat you to dinner today. I know a great place to order in from 🙂 ~Ziva

He paid for his coffee and bought a map on his way to the car, not sure if he should buy her flowers, but he bought a nice sun-inspired bouquet anyway. Tossing that on the backseat, he planned a route out of the city towards the Beltway and drove.

Ziva stayed where she was and just simply enjoyed the air and sun, despite being on a major highway. It was about a half hour or so after her last text from John that a very sleek looking convertible pulled off the highway and onto the shoulder where she waited.

If greenish cargo pants and a tight fitting shirt was standard issue NCIS clothing he’d LOVE to work there for a living. Sure, the last time he saw Ziva was on a beach and she had a skirt on then, but she looked great. “Hi,” he grinned and got out of the car to open the door for her.

“Hello to you too,” she replied trying to not make it obvious that she certainly appreciated his appearance. While he looked great in swim trunks, she definitely enjoyed him in casual jeans and a button down shirt. “Enjoying the sunny day?”

“Oh you know the rules of vacations; when it’s sunny, rent the most awesome car they have,” he laughed.

Ziva chuckled as she secured her seat belt. “Yes but I doubt it will be appropriate for skiing,” she replied. “Do you still want to go? I’m sure I can get tomorrow off as we just closed our case today.”

“Of course I still want to go.” he smiled widely and got back into the car. He reached onto the back seat and handed her the bundle of flowers. “For you, because you’re letting me crash in your place, and because you look beautiful.”

Her smile was infectious as she accepted the gorgeous flowers. “Thank you, but that was not necessary,” she said before smelling them briefly. She went on to tell him the directions back to her apartment and dialed Gibbs as he drove. As expected, he had no problem giving her the day and would make do with the guys until she got back if anything happened.

 

Untitled-1

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.