Rule 39: There Is No Such Thing As Coincidence (Tony DiNozzo Love Story)

New Bed

The angry truck driver is yelling on the screen when I feel myself falling asleep. My body feels heavy and I lean towards Tony, resting my head on his shoulder. I feel him move before his arm settles around my shoulders and rests on my upper arm.

    "Getting sleepy?"

    "Mhmm," I muster to say before yawning. Tony chuckles and reaches for the remote. He pauses the movie and puts the popcorn bowl next to him.

    "Come on, I'll let you sleep in my room and grab you some clothes. I'll take the couch and I'll call Gibbs."

    "Okay," I say as he helps me up and leads me to his room. I tiredly see his bed and stop.

    "What happened to your bed? It got smaller?" I ask. He laughs and pushes me forward.

    "I bought another one a while back."

    "Why?"

    "I—couldn't sleep in it," he says as he sits me down on the twin. I stare up at him and wonder. He walks across the room towards the closet and ducks in quickly before returning.

    "I kept it four months after you'd been shot and all I could think about were the times you'd slept in the bed next to me. I'd just been able to deal with those memories with you having left before then, but when I saw you fall off the edge of the building—I couldn't do it anymore. I bought this and I haven't thought of them again," he says as he hands me a shirt and some NCIS athletic shorts. He turns away and I pull the shorts under my dress and lift the dress over my head and quickly pull on the shirt.

    "Maybe it's time for a new bed," I say, he peeks over his shoulder and sees that I'm dressed and turns around. Sleep begins pulling me in as I lean back and get under the covers.

    "Maybe," he says, and I can faintly hear him as my eyes close and everything goes silent.

    Waking up, I realize that I'm not in my room at Gibbs's. A slight fear comes over me. Sitting up and looking around I begin to recognize the room as Tony's bedroom. Sighing, I run a hand through my hair and chuckle.

    "You're okay Erin, you just fell asleep at Tony's," I say. I get up from the twin bed, and faintly remember my sleepy conversation with Tony about it last night and the change of clothes. Walking over to the bathroom, I get myself presentable and do what I can with my hair. Cleaning my face of the makeup, there's still a little bit of eyeliner on the edges of my eyes. Shrugging it off, I walk softly towards the curtained French doors and walk out.

    "Good morning," Tony says as I walk into his kitchen. He's at the stove making pancakes.

    "Morning."

    "Coffee?" He turns to look over at me and stares at me for a moment before smiling.

    "Please," I say as take a seat.

    "I talked to Gibbs, he said it was fine that you fell asleep here," he says as he hands me the mug.

    "Uhuh," I say with a smirk. He just nods.

    "How did you sleep?"

    "Fine, what about you?"

    "The couch is fine."

    "That didn't answer my question." I smile. He smiles and chuckles a bit.

    "It's fine, I'm fine. Promise," he says.

    "What time do we have work?"

    "We have a day off today, lucky us. The Director said that we've been doing so well that we've earned it."

    "Really? Well, that's great."

    "So what do you want to do today?"

    "What?" I ask.

    "What do you want to do? We've got a day off. You want to go shopping, day in the park? Oh, what about a Museum Run?" He smiles.

    "That actually sounds like a good idea. I'd need to change though," I say as I look down at the dress I'm wearing.

    He smiles. "When you finish eating we can head back to Gibbs's."