Chapter 06
By the time that Gibbs, Steve, and Ziva got back to the office with their guy, none of them were in a particularly friendly mood. Chin met the group at the front to show Gibbs where to bring their prisoner while his friend took Ziva up to get checked out.
“I am fine Steve,” she complained as he held the door open for her. Tony and McGee looked up from the situation table and both winced.
“Someone got the drop on our ninja here I take it,” DiNozzo greeted as he made his way over to take a closer look. “That’s going to hurt like hell in the morning.”
“Pretty much,” Steve said, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Is your Dr. Mallard here yet?”
“I’m right here my boy!” The man in question called out from the other end of the room where he sat with Abby and Danny. “I have my bag with me. Come here Ziva.”
She went over to her friend begrudgingly. “I am fine Ducky. There is no need for such fuss. It is not the first time that this is happened.”
“I know but it doesn’t hurt to make sure. You are nearly up there with the number of concussions as Anthony. Forgive me if I wish to be assured of your health for my own eyes,” he smiled.
“You didn’t have to come all this way, Duck,” Gibbs replied as Chin was making their guest comfortable.
“Nonsense Jethro, Director Vance was all too happy to send me here after our last case. Doctor Soroyan sends her thanks for Anthony’s assistance in wrapping up the case by the way,” Ducky explained as he shone his pen-light into Ziva’s eyes. “Well my dear, it seems bruising is all you’ll have to deal with. Though I do recommend that you get some ice on the swelling.”
“DiNozzo, a word,” Gibbs whispered before heading into McGarrett’s office.
As Tony followed Gibbs looking like a dog with its tail between its legs, Steve sighed.
“Oh, it’s okay Agent Gibbs, go ahead and use my office.”
“There is no elevator nearby otherwise they would be in there,” Abby grinned.
“A story for another time,” Steve smiled. “I’ve gotta find Ziva some ice.”
“Already on it boss,” Chin replied as he tossed McGarrett a small bag of instant-ice. “Courtesy of our fully stocked first aid kit.”
“Thanks brah,” Steve nodded before returning his attention to Ziva. Gently placing the pack against the bruising, he looked deep into her eyes.
“I see our new friends managed to find you some of that god awful beverage you’re addicted to Abigail, any chance of getting me a decent cup of tea? The swill that they served on the flight over was dreadful,” Ducky grimaced as he took the forensic specialist by the arm and left Ziva and McGarrett alone for a while.
Kono easily caught the hint and nodded for them to follow her to the building’s cafe on the main floor. Danny on the other hand didn’t quite get the memo and stayed put in his chair as he continue to sort through the files. “You NCIS people are nuts, you know that?” he asked, not looking up as he read on some of the investigations that Owens handled.
“Nice… real nice,” Steve said as Ziva scowled in his partners direction. “Why don’t you go check on McGee?”
“I’m fine right here, thank you. If I have to listen to him go on about the damn table one more time, I’ll… I’ll-.”
“You will what?” Ziva asked as she stood up straighter. “Please, enlighten us.”
“You know… this Owens guy has dealt with your team just a couple of times, but his reports read like horror stories,” Danny replied defensively.
“I have never met the man. From what I understand his dealings with Gibbs was before I joined the group,” she sighed as she pulled her hair back. She flashed a look at Steve, silently communicating that they would get their moment later, that now was meant for work before they were to call it a night.
Smiling intently at Ziva, Steve was looking forward to clocking off, but unfortunately they were interrupted again by Tony leaving Steve’s office, having just been thoroughly chewed out for leaving Abby alone. “Uh, Ziva. Boss wants to see you.”
She sighed as she picked up the ice pack and placed it back on her face as she made her way into the office. As she closed the door, she looked up to see Tony and Steve level a look on each other that she did not particularly like. “What do you want Gibbs?”
“I wanted to see how you are feeling,” he said as he lent against the desk and waved at the young girl in the office next to his as he happily colored a new picture. “If you wanna take it easy for a while, you can go back to the hotel.”
“I am feeling fine. Actually I was intending to go by Steve’s house from here. We were supposed to have dinner last evening to catch up some but his partner had ended up joining us,” Ziva said honestly.
“Catch up huh?” Gibbs teased with a knowing smile. “We can go over everything and catch you and lover boy up tomorrow. Let him take you home before DiNozzo does something stupid.”
She chuckled as she turned back to look out the window. “Perhaps. Although I do not think Steve would intentionally harm him. They both mean well.”
“I don’t want to have to break in another agent so I’m not taking that chance. Go, quickly, before I change my mind,” Gibbs said before moving to look at some of Steve’s Navy memorabilia.
Ziva frowned at the choice of words he used before nodding slightly and left the office. “Come on Steve,” she said stiffly, narrowing her eyes on Tony to back off. “We can leave now. Gibbs said he will let us know if he will need us before morning.”
“Sure,” Steve frowned. “Danny, will you stick around for a while and make sure that everybody’s okay?”
“Sure thing,” Danny replied as he stared daggers at Tony who was giving Steve the evil eye in turn. “I’ll babysit the feds while you go off on your date. No problem.”
“I owe ya. Night,” he said before taking Ziva’s hand and walking out. “Lets get you home and into something more comfortable. I’ll even cook again.”
She rolled her eyes and regretted it immediately. “Can we just pick something up to go on the way? No offense to your cooking. I just prefer something easy tonight.”
“Okay. How about pizza?” he asked. “I know a great place that does a mean ham and pineapple.”
“Sounds great – minus the ham. Maybe some vegetables,” she smiled and leaned into his arm and sighed. “Just don’t let Tony hear you say that.”
“What’s that guy’s problem anyway? I know you two have history, but it’s taken a lot to stop myself from meeting his face with my fist.”
“Please don’t do that. He is very protective of me, of the entire team. After everything we went through, I’d be more concerned if he did not behave such as this. Regardless, Gibbs insisted on us taking the night and I do not wish to complain.”
“Alright,” he smiled apologetically. “I’ll order us that pizza now, that way we won’t have long to wait when we get home.” Truth was, he didn’t want to say anything that would spoil the night. All he wanted to do was take her home and help her relax.
Ziva finished nibbling on the crust of her pizza as she leaned against Steve as they lounged on the beach chair behind his house and sighed. “You really have it good here,” she commented as she looked out over the water.
“Yeah, I didn’t understand that until I finally came home,” he smiled as he offered her a chilled bottle of beer. “I just wish it were under better circumstances.”
“Sometimes its those events that are necessary to shape who we become,” she replied as she took the bottle happily and let her fingers play in his hair.
“Still the glass is half full type of girl aren’t you?” he sighed before pulling her into his arms and settling back into the chair.
“Someone has to be. I feel I would go insane if I did not try to find the brighter side of things where I can.”
“Well, I’m not complaining. I can use someone like that in my life right now. As great as things are at work, the reasons why I formed the team, my Dad’s death, they play hell with my personal life,” Steve explained. “Having someone around who knows me and the baggage I carry makes things easier, I guess.”
Ziva looked at him as she tried to brush away his thoughts she knew he had going through his mind. She leaned in to pull his face up to hers and kissed him. “I cannot make any promises but until I have to go back, I am here with you.”
“Good,” he kissed her back. “And even when you do have to return to D.C. we’re gonna keep in touch this time. You’re not in the Mossad now, you can’t hide from me anymore.”
“I would not dream of it,” she grinned as she played cat and mouse with his lips. When he finally caught her again, she shifted in his lap to straddle him. “You know, we will need to move inside soon…”
“And why would you want to move inside?” Steve asked with as much innocence as he could muster.
“Because,” Ziva smiled between kisses and eyed the neighbor houses that were viewable from their position. “I do not believe that I will have the resolve to stop here before we break certain indecency laws.”
“Well,” he grinned as he slid them both from the chair before carrying her back inside. “Is this better?”
Her eyes immediately darkened into deep pools of brown. “Much,” she said before pulling at his shirt to have him closer to her and hungrily kissed him before moving her lips along his jaw and down his neck with a growl. Her hands pulled at the back of his shirt to bring it up and encourage him to remove it completely.
“Why don’t I just get you a knife so that you can cut it off,” he grinned, remembering how anxious they had gotten the first time they had slept together. The number of weapons they had stripped from each others bodies were enough to arm an entire squad of Marines.
Ziva pulled back and squinted her eyes slightly before a grin came to her face. She took a firm grip on the front of his new looking t-shirt and pulled with all her strength, cleanly ripping it down the middle. “There we go,” she hummed happily as she let her fingers dance over the muscles of his chest and stomach, feeling each curve of definition.
“…Or… you could just rip the shirt from my body.” What started as a look of shock quickly turned into a smile and then a lustful gaze as he claimed her lips with his own.
She chuckled as he let go of her legs so that they dropped down, forcing her to stand as he tried to pull at her own shirt. “No, no,” she smirked as she pulled him behind her, leading the way upstairs to his bedroom.
Once upstairs, Ziva turned to face him and gave him a saucy smile as much as she could without her injury hurting too much, she pulled her shirt over her head. “Lose the pants,” she said quickly as she began unbuttoning her shorts, leaving her in just her bikini bathing suit that she wore underneath.
“Yes Ma’am,” Steve smirked, yet again reminded of their first time together. She was impatient and insatiable. He unbuckled his belt and the pants slid off his legs quickly. He barely had chance to step out of them before being grabbed by Ziva and pushed onto the bed.
She grinned down at him as she climbed up, her legs nestled securely on either side of his, pinning them down. Reaching behind herself, she untied the bikini top to toss aside and leaned in to trail kisses across his chest before going up along his neck.
“You’re gonna be the death of me,” he groaned as she ground against him. His hands found their way to her firm, shapely backside and squeezed it roughly as his lips sought out hers once again.
She moaned when his hands began to explore her back more. Steve rolled them over so that he was on top and in control again. “I should say that of you. I remember a few broken bones by the time we parted ways,” she panted, her hips thrusting up to meet his instinctively.
“Mostly mine,” he grinned as he trailed some wet kisses down to her chest. “My left elbow still aches in the cold.”
The sensations made Ziva sigh as her eyes rolled back in her head, ignoring the pain it caused. “I do not claim responsibility for that one. I reminded you of that rock wall where you decided to place your tent.”
“But you’re the one who flung herself at me like a tigress in heat,” Steve grinned as he began to explore her chest with his mouth and tongue.
“It was not like we had the time for foreplay in the middle of a jungle Commander,” she growled before smiling at him, debating on rolling them again as he was moving a little too slow for her.
“True…ooooh… you remember,” he moaned as her tongue found a particularly sensitive spot along his jaw.
She nipped at the curve and let her warm breath flow over his ear as she whispered back, “I remember a lot more about you than you may think I do.”
“I remember a lot about you too Ziva,” he replied in a low, hoarse voice. The tip of his forefinger began to circle her naval slowly. “But uh, unless you slip a… jacket on me very soon, tonight might not work out as you’d hoped.”
“Are you saying that you are unprepared?” she chuckled as she let him go.
“What can I say, it’s been a little while. Look in the top drawer,” he smiled sweetly as he began to slip his boxers from his legs.
Ziva rolled onto her side to reach for the end table. Opening it, she blindly felt around finding the familiar square foiled packets and something else. Laughing she laid back on her back and held up a hunting knife that was nestled firmly in its sheeth. “Nice bedside manner you have.”
“I’d rather have a knife to hand and not need it then need a knife and not have it,” he smiled. “A certain Israeli goddess taught me that on the day we met.”
“No. I said that I go to bed with a gun under my pillow,” she smirked. “In fact I recall your face meeting it when you took a tumble.”
“Just don’t look under the bed,” he said as he began to kiss her neck and shoulders while his hands explored her breasts.
Ziva moaned loudly as her eyes fluttered back closed. “Too late,” she breathed out, raising her hips again to brush against his. “Steve…”
Thanks to his SEAL efficiency, he was ready to go within seconds and his hands returned to her chest, massaging her breasts and teasing her nipples while she straddled his hips once again. “I’ve missed you…” he growled as he felt her familiar embrace, one he had sorely missed for far too long.
She wrapped her arms around him, her fingers exploring the way his muscles flexed in his back with each move he made. “I have missed you as well,” she admitted after several moments.
Soon he found a comfortable pace for them both and began to focus on enhancing her pleasure with his lips, tongue and fingers. Her breasts and stomach were the first to appreciate his focus as he continued to thrust into her.
Ziva looked up at him and smiled as she felt as if her worries were completely irrelevant inside that room, in that moment. She let out low moans and small grunts when he hit a certain spots that made her eyes widen and pant out.
He gently bit her nipples and sucked on them as he began to increase his pace to meet her demands.
When their eyes locked again, she smiled anxiously and moved her hands from his back up to his shoulders. Pulling him back up for a kiss, she flipped them back over in the bed claiming the dominant role as she sat up straight with a triumphant grin.
This particular dance was familiar to Steve and he settled back onto the pillows and allowed her to enjoy her ride, yet his eyes remained locked on hers, never wavering and barely blinking.
Ziva’s hand reached out to seek his, her fingers wrapping themselves up with his. Leaning forward she ground herself down to force him deeper inside as she kissed him softly. “I think,” she said slowly as she licked her lips as they were both dry and saturated with the taste of his. “I think I will speak to Gibbs about that vacation first thing in the morning.”
“Good,” he growled. “Oh so very goooooooood.” She was definitely dominating their love making tonight. It still amazed him how this woman, as incredible as she was, could turn him into jello with a simple look or a gentle touch.
She laughed as she rolled her hips around again for him, loving the expression he had on his face. Picking up her own pace, she sat up straight and braced herself with her hands either on his stomach or behind her on his legs. “Jesus…” she panted as her head fell back and she bit on her lip.
“Still a believer,” he groaned as her vice-like grip on him began to relax and tense up quicker. Taking the opportunity to reassert his own dominance, he gripped her hips and began to meet her thrusts with his own.
A sound came out from deep in her throat that was something of a mix of a moan, growl, and a cry of pure surprise. Her eyes were clouded over as she looked back down at him. “You are an evil man,” she struggled to get out as she was trying to keep her balance and position on him.
“I’ll remember that the next time you want me to touch this,” he returned her moan as his fingers wandered where their bodies met.
“Right and I’m perfectly capable of breaking your arm if you were to stop me,” she pointed out as she fell forward across his body.
“Have you ever considered seeing a shrink?” he teased as he rolled them over yet again. Hovering above her using his arms to support his weight, he began to drive himself into Ziva harder and faster. His jaw was clenched tight as he relentlessly thrust their bodies together in a blissful union.
“What makes you think I have not?” Ziva replied but quickly was unable to say more as Steve began to drive her body into the mattress. She cried out loudly with the pleasure as her hands fisted the pillow beside her head and the sheet beneath them.
He was glad that they were alone. This was the first time that he’d really heard her let loose. But then again, they didn’t have Mossad and SEAL team members in the rooms surrounding theirs.
She could feel his thrusts increasing even more and becoming just a bit more uncontrolled. Forcing her to reach up and press a hand against the headboard, the other went to his shoulder and dug into his skin as she felt her insides convulsing around him in a wave of fireworks and flashes of bright lights.
His tongue flicked over her earlobe before he whispered “Let go Ziva, just let it go.” He was not about to let up now, he was going to make her come first. That was one competition he wasn’t about to lose.
Moaning, her eyes pressed together tightly in combination of the orgasm that took over, the pain from her earlier altercation, and simply riding it all out. “Oh god…” she sighed once the rip tide of a wave began to settle and she relaxed into the bed again under his weight. “Ohh…”
Placing a light kiss on her cheek, Steve left her embrace and lay beside her on the bed, watching her chest as it rose and fell with her heavy breathing.
It took a few minutes for Ziva to gather her bearings again and drift back down to Earth from the high that he had brought her to. “Damn,” she laughed.
“That’s one word for it,” Steve chuckled as he continued to watch her. “I guess that answers that question then.”
“And what is that?” she asked as she brushed away her hair that was caked to her forehead from the sweat of their activity and looked back at him.
“Do we still have it?” he grinned before leaning over to have his tongue flick over her left nipple.
Chuckling, she put her head back down and grinned. “I would say so. Perhaps more of the it that you refer to in fact,” she added, scratching her nails across his back lightly.
“Well, it has been some time,” he smiled. “We’ve both been with other people. Honed our skills.”
“Honed? Really? Who uses words like honed?” Ziva found herself laughing. When she finally calmed down again, she opened her eyes to wipe away the tears that pushed through before starting over again.
“Hey, I’m a SEAL,” he protested, nipping at her earlobe with his teeth, “And I wasn’t born with these skills or this body that you love, you know.”
She sobered up long enough to look at him seriously. “I have seen your high school photos. You were always…” she trailed off, eyeing the length of his body appreciatively. “Fit.”
“That’s all thanks to the clean living, exercise and the good food,” he grinned. “I don’t know how you main landers leave after you get a taste of what this island has to offer.”
“Lives, families,” Ziva offered up. “Not everyone is fond of sand and sun. Or the humidity.”
“Then they’re nuts,” Steve grinned, suddenly feeling very thirsty. “You want anything to drink?”
She sat up and stretched her arms. “Yes please. Whatever you are having is fine,” she smiled as she pulled him back to her for a haste kiss before he ran off.
Returning as quickly as he left with two bottles of water, he took a moment to stand in the doorway and just watch her. She had gotten up and found one of his large button downs to wrap herself in as she looked out the window over the dark water now that the sun had long since set on them.
Ziva stood there, the continuous debate about his very quick invitation to her the day before still bouncing around in her head. As much as she did not want to consider it, she could not deny how much she felt at home here. At ease with her life and the scars from it. “Have you ever thought about moving? Living anywhere else once you were finished with service?” she asked softly.
“I thought about a lot of things. Tracking you down was high on that list. Sorting things out with my sister, reconnecting with my dad. But no, never moving. I’ve always known that when I finally decide to come home, this is it. This is the place I want to be,” he explained as he handed her a bottle. “Of course that doesn’t mean I’d never leave again. There’s more to see out there. But there’s plenty of time for that.”
She opened the bottle of water and took a long sip as she looked up at him. “If I am unable to return to Hawaii for awhile, would you consider visiting me in D.C. at all?”
He frowned but nodded. “Of course. Now that I know that is where you’re at, I’ll be more then willing to come out to visit. You don’t have to ask. As long of course, that you come back to Hawaii.”
A smile returned to her face that had been dampened by the thoughts she was having until that moment. “I would not have it any other way,” she replied as he stepped closer. Ziva reached up to rest her arms on his shoulder as he pulled her to him, his hands massaging small circles on her hips.
“Are you feeling better now?” Steve smiled. “I can go get you some more ice for your face – and ibuprofen. I completely trust that Danny and your Gibbs can keep take care of things so that leaves you and me and the entire night for ourselves. Come on back to bed.”
She looked over at the bed with just her eyes for a moment before nodding. Climbing back into the bed, she settled back down but frowned at Steve when he didn’t return immediately. “Are you not joining me now?”
“Oh I will. Just – take off the shirt and lie on your stomach for me,” he said as he watched her.
“Why?”
“Because I asked nicely? Please Ziva,” he smiled while he opened his closet door to pull out a small box.
She gave an exaggerated sigh before doing as he asked, folding her hands under her chin and rested them over a pillow. “What are you going to do?”
Steve held up a small bottle of oil to show her. “Give you a nice massage right after I get you fresh ice for the shiner,” he answered, setting it on the end table and left the room again. He returned after only a couple minutes. He gently helped her adjust it on her face before warming his hands back up and started in on the massage. One of many treatments that they each planned for each other through their night alone.
