Lie Again

Crumbling

Here we go!!!

*****

"Feeling better?" Tony asked as Ziva sat down at her desk. The only he got was a heavy sigh and a glare. "Has CI-Ray apologized for whatever he did?"

She stood up so quickly he was surprised she didn't flip her desk over. "Do not talk about him. Do not call him that. Do not go there, Tony."

"Okay. Sorry." What was her problem? Did they break up or something? Tony kind of liked that idea (well, he liked it a lot, actually).

She sat back down and he continued to discreetly stare at her over the top of his computer. He glanced away every time he thought she might catch his prying gaze.

"DiNozzo."

"Yes, Boss." Tony instantly snapped to attention. It was a reflex by now, honestly.

Gibbs gave him a good, long stare. "Do your work."

"I am, Boss," Tony said, but he knew the Boss man had caught him spying on Ziva. He wasn't surprised. That man never missed a trick.

Ziva, on the other hand... He was beyond disbelief she hadn't flipped out on him yet for staring at her. There's no way she wasn't aware of it.

Unless something was terribly wrong, and she was thinking it over to the point of being numb to everything around her.

He glanced over at her, and she hadn't given any sign if being aware Gibbs was in the bullpen.

What on earth happened yesterday?

An idea crossed his mind. He could get Ziva to tell him what happened.

With a grin on his face, Tony typed out an email to Ziva, sent it, and then got to work on his report. He knew it would be a while before Ziva noticed the message in her inbox.

***

Ziva was thoroughly annoyed when she walked into her favorite lunch place and saw Ray sitting at her favorite table.

She started to turn to leave (yes, she was that petty), but Ray called out to her. That wouldn't have been a problem if the entire restaurant staff didn't know her, but as it was, everyone knew she was a regular, and she really didn't want to stop coming here.

She sighed and went to sit down at the table. "What, Ray?"

He just looked at her expectantly.

"It has not been even 24 hours!" she said incredulously. "You expect me to have reached a decision already? You are insane." She stood up. "If you want to continue this conversation, we are taking it outside."

"Okay." Ray bounced to his feet and followed her with all the eagerness of a puppy.

They walked in silence until they reached the nearby park, where Ziva ate lunch on nice days.

Ray sat down on a bench and she made sure to sit as far away from him as she could get without falling off the bench.

"I cannot do this, Ray."

He looked at her, his jaw suddenly slack. "What?"

"Oh, like you were not expecting this. I cannot do this anymore. It was not working out before, and it is definitely not working out now."

"Ziva-"

"You murdered someone, Ray. I am a federal agent, too. Do you not realize how bad it would look for me to stay engaged with a murderer?"

"So you're dumping me for your job."

"No. And do not say dumping. I am ending the relationship, but you saw it coming. You played a big role in ending it."

She was well aware of the fire in his eyes. "That's just it, then?"

"Yes."

"You're going to leave me because I made a mistake."

"Murder usually does that to relationships." She didn't know how she was staying so calm, but she got a sick satisfaction out of watching how it messed with Ray.

"Fine." He stood up. "I guess this is it, then."

"This is it." She got up and walked away. She didn't make it far before she heard his footsteps racing to catch up with her.

"Ziva, please-"

"Get away from me, or I will get a restraining order against you."

She heard him stop. He knew she meant business.

"Goodbye, Ray."

***

Ziva knocked on Tony's apartment door. It was really quiet, and she hadn't seen any of the others' cars down on the street.

"Hey! You made it!" Tony said when he finally opened the door.

"Where is everyone else?"

He shrugged. "They emailed me back and said they couldn't make it. They all had ready excuses."

Well, now Ziva was wishing she could've made an excuse. Sitting at Tony's place wasn't exactly her idea of getting over a bad breakup. She wanted to be in her own home, in her bed, eating ice cream and maybe watching a movie or reading a book.

But here she was. It was too late to make up an excuse.

"What is your plan for the evening?" Ziva asked, glancing around his apartment. It certainly didn't look like he had ever been planning to have everyone over.

And it certainly wasn't beneath him to send a team dinner invite to only her, making her think everyone was coming but in fact ensuring he would get her by herself. 

"You never invited the others," she said.

Tony turned around a little too quickly. "What? Of course I did. Why wouldn't I invite everyone?"

She frowned. "Do not lie to me, Tony."

He sighed and collapsed onto the couch. "Fine, maybe you were the only one I told. But it was the only way I could get you here to talk."

To talk.

Ziva didn't like the sound of that.

"Wait, at least give me a chance." He offered her a beer and patted the couch next to him.

She decided that getting drunk would be a fine enough substitution for ice cream and a rom com, as long she didn't wake up in Tony's bed the next morning.

Ziva David was not going to be anyone's conquest.

*****

I thought about continuing here, but I decided it would be best to make that another update so I can write it now and post it in a couple days, when I don't have time to write.

Hopefully this will make some of y'all happy.

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