Epilogue :D this one spans a period of a few months, and so is a little different from the other chapters. Still, I hope you like it!
Enjoy!
-Soph
Epilogue
Never take anything for granted.
That is what she learns from being in a relationship with Anthony DiNozzo, Jr, although she thinks that the lesson itself has been taken for granted time and again, anyway.
Gibbs hadn't even headslapped them when they'd stepped into the bullpen together on their first day back, their hands linked. Instead, he had just rolled his eyes, and his mouth had twitched in a way that might've been him muttering, "Seriously?" And then he'd taken a sip of coffee and asked them (pointedly requesting that they leave the finer details out) how their trip had gone.
She doesn't know whether she or Tony had been more befuddled by Gibbs' reaction, but neither of them pushed their luck.
Surprisingly, Abby was much more relaxed and Palmer much more enthusiastic than they'd expected. She suspects that McGee had much to do with getting Abby to react in a relatively calm way; the junior field agent really is more skilled and perceptive than any of them give him credit for. Palmer, on the other hand, had still been high on the feeling of being newly married and had not hesitated to congratulate them on their relationship. The look her partner shot him had been so full of incredulity that Palmer was reduced to his usual shy and flustered self, and she couldn't help the giggles that had escaped her lips once Palmer had left them.
xoxo
Their first week goes well, and despite their strangely increased need to be around each other, they manage to keep it at a level where Gibbs only has to reprimand them thrice more than usually necessary. She considers it an achievement, and her partner goes on to add that it is one of epic proportions.
The second week doesn't progress as smoothly, though, because reality starts to sink in. Granted, it is a welcomed reality, but she still finds it rather alarming that they fail to keep to any sort of pre-planned arrangements. She goes over to his apartment for a night and ends up staying a weekend instead; caught up in the feelings of missing each other desperately, they abandon the ideal of taking anything slowly. On that weekend, she learns that maybe, just maybe, it is better for their relationship if they are physically together than not.
It comes as a shock to her that her hunch is more right than wrong. The third, fourth, and fifth weeks pass without any major argument or problem which would have convinced her that they were better off in their respective spaces. Thus, he bunks at her apartment for the entirety of the sixth week. She reciprocates on the seventh.
A fortnight later, she realizes that he has somehow moved into her apartment without either of them even realizing it.
xoxo
It takes only another fortnight, though, for things to all fall apart. It starts with her being unable to find her keys as they are leaving for work; it ends in a rather spectacular fashion after work, when she accuses him of being messy and he accuses her of being a hypocrite, and the little annoying habits and unintentionally hurtful actions that they have ignored over the past two months in favour of walking on eggshells are dredged up. In the end, she yells at him to leave. He yells that he would rather be anywhere than in a room with her ever again.
She feels as if life loses all meaning after that. It isn't his absence from her apartment (even though she misses him terribly) as much as it is the words he had carved into her heart before leaving, and the way he looks at her after. She has nowhere she would rather be than in a room with him, even if they are in the midst of a full-blown argument and not speaking to each other, and it kills her to know that he seems better off without her.
She manages to keep up her charade the first eight days after their breakup. On the ninth day, Insanity rears its head, and she drags Abby off to the nearest bar after work to down as many shots of tequila as she can without throwing up or passing out. She doesn't care that it's a "school night" as Abby so aptly puts it, and that investigating cases are hard on a hangover. She doesn't care that she is going against her instincts and her training by drinking that much. It's not just her heart that he has broken, after all. It is also her character and her dignity—because she is certain that she had never thought herself to be so easily hated by anyone, especially him.
Karma's a bitch.
She had hated him once upon a time, and it is only fair that he now hates her back with equal passion.
And so, the only drunken move she makes is to try and wrestle the phone out of Abby's hands when the goth makes a very angry phone call filled with very colourful language to a certain senior field agent.
xoxo
Her half-drunk conscience had been right: It is hard to investigate cases while hung-over. By sheer bad luck, she has to grapple with a suspect the next day; judgement that is a millisecond too late results in the suspect's successfully planting a kick right into the middle of her stomach. She still manages to trip the guy as she falls, but that doesn't stop her from landing on the floor feeling rather winded and a little too nauseated.
She watches with a pounding head as Gibbs handcuffs the suspect in a growly voice and Tony approaches her with large and worried eyes. Nausea is the only thing still keeping her on the ground, really, so she contemplates getting up and taking off before he can reach her; but then he squats and his arms wrap securely around her, and she is sure no one misses the way she melts into his embrace in almost-tears.
He should hate her. He really should. She just hasn't found a way to convince herself to accept that yet.
That night, he follows her home, and they talk. They don't do anything other than talking, but she learns another important lesson: Compromise is important, but honesty is not one of the things which can ever be compromised for the sake of pretended harmony. So they make a pact to tell the truth, even about the smaller things in life.
He doesn't stay the night, but he does kiss her gently before he leaves and look into her eyes while he tells her that he will never stop loving her.
Just like that, her world is becomes right again.
xoxo
Brick by brick, piece by piece, they rebuild their relationship. At first, he stays over for a night; and then, she stays at his place for the weekend. It is like when they had first gotten back from the road trip, except that things somehow seem more relaxed now. They try to pay more attention to the time they spend together and worry less about offending each other; even though they get a little too snarky at times, their relationship only grows stronger.
In October, a little more than six months after his first hesitant confession, they fly to Israel to visit Aunt Nettie. He sits twitching throughout the entire flight on the way there, but is strangely calm on the way back. She wonders what Aunt Nettie had talked to him about during his one-to-one conversations with the elderly woman. He never tells her.
She spends Christmas and New Year's Eve with him. On Christmas Day, she presents him with a home-cooked breakfast and a gift; he chases her around the apartment issuing the most creative threats he can think of after he unwraps the present to find a set of Japanese daruma dolls. He catches her only because she lets him, and the punishment he inflicts is thankfully no more painful than merciless tickling.
Her eyes water when he finally presents her with her gift—a charm bracelet that, even though they both know she won't wear it often, means the world to her. A bus to represent their RV. A star to represent the night at Natural Bridges. A soft-drink cup to represent their celebratory smoothie. A baby's rattle to represent their hopes. And so the list goes on, until the bracelet runs out of space and he runs out of ideas.
He is unsuccessful in his attempts six days later to get her to put on a party hat to welcome in the New Year, but he pouts less when she agrees to count down the seconds with him. By the end of the minute-long kiss at midnight, he is smiling so happily that his face almost seems wider.
Their first New Year together, as a couple. Hardly a milestone in her eyes, but when she thinks back through the years of their friendship and work partnership, where love and hate had almost been indistinguishable from each other, she learns that it is a privilege for her to be currently being held in his arms and smiled at like she's the world's most priceless gem.
Never take anything for granted.
She thinks she may truly know what it means, now.
A/N #2: Aaaaand cut! That's the end, ladies and gentleman :D
A big thanks to Courtzylovesit for the idea that Ziva should actually give Tony the daruma dolls (from Chapter 26) for Christmas, lol.
To Tiva-Babe UK: I meant to put this in the previous chapter's A/N, but I forgot, haha. Thank you sooo much for all your reviews. I would love to reply to them, but unfortunately you have disabled your PM feature; anyway, I'm sorry they didn't have a quickie wedding on the last half-day LOL, but I'm glad you've enjoyed reading the entire story! Thank you for your feedback, again, truly.
And a HUGE THANKS to everyone who's read, favourited, set out alerts for, and reviewed this story! I don't think I could've gone all 30 chapters without your support, haha. I may've given up before I was even halfway through otherwise. So, you have my eternal gratitude :P
A/N #3: I've written the first chapter of Destination, the sequel to this story. In it, Tony and Ziva fly to Tel Aviv to meet Aunt Nettie :D and I'd intended it to be a one-shot, but it ended up being a multi-chapter, because apparently you can't take a 14-hour-at-the-minimum flight from DC to Tel Aviv, a meeting with Aunt Nettie, and a flight back, and put it all into one chapter (or you can, but it'd be very long and rambly). So they're staying in Tel Aviv for the better part of the week. And in case you're wondering, the plane tickets were the most expensive out of the whole thing :/
Anyway, link: www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(slash)s/8047983/1/
-Soph