Far Away

LA State of Mind

She'd been so excited to see him, but now she was feeling awkward and out of place.

She didn't know how to broach the topic of what happened in Morocco, and she didn't know that she even wanted to talk about it.

She just kind of wanted to forget about it all, pretend she never left NCIS at all, go back to a pre-LA state of mind.

Unfortunately, the last three months were ingrained in her memory, and she knew they were ingrained in Tony's memory, too. He would want to talk about it eventually.

***

It frustrated him that all conversation revolved around the case. He wanted nothing more than to pull her aside, out of earshot of Gibbs, and have a real conversation. He wanted to know what happened after the explosion, what she'd be doing since, how she came to be back at NCIS (or at least he assumed she was back; why else would she be with Gibbs? But of course he couldn't know for sure without talking to her!).

He tried to talk to her on the way to the morgue, but that plan was sabotaged by an impatient Gibbs.

He tried again after the morgue, back on board the ship, but Gibbs sent them off on individual assignments.

He was going to go insane.

He finally got Ziva to himself, but she spoke only of the case, and his hopes for conversation were further dashed when Ziva spotted their Greece pictures.

"Why do you have these?" she demanded, shuffling through the stack of candids. "Why did you take this picture? My hair looks awful."

"I liked it," he said honestly.

She rolled her eyes but let him take the pictures and return them to his desk. She seemed a little distant after that, continuing until they were in the living quarters, hunting around in the jumper's belongings.

He kept up a steady stream of conversation prompts, but she expertly dodged each one.

"Did something else happen since Greece?" he asked finally, taking her notepad and steadying her hands in his.

"No."

"Ziva, come on."

She avoided his gaze. "I do not want to talk about it, okay?"

"You say you don't want to talk about it, but your eyes won't shut up."

Maybe it was a little cheesy, a little dramatic, but it sure got a reaction out of her.

She looked up in surprise.

"I want to talk about it," he said. "Please?"

Her lips pursed (he definitely noticed). After a few moments of silence, she said, "Fine. But not now. Not here."

"That's fair." Except when else? Where else? He wasn't done on the Seahawk, and they both knew it.

***

She felt bad for avoiding the topic, but not for long.

"Grab your gear," Gibbs said, as they were standing in sick bay watching the medical tech get stitched up. "You're riding home with this guy."

She laughed as she watched Tony's entire face light up. Even Gibbs had to smile as Tony turned and bolted from the room to grab his things.

Gibbs shook his head, but Ziva knew that he was just as happy as the rest of them to have Tony come home.

Now she just had to come up with a game plan for that dreaded conversation.

*****

Sorry for the shortness.

Lots of homework. Tired.

Tomorrow we'll finally have the deep Tiva conversation. Maybe a little more than conversation. Just kidding.

Or am I?

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