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Post by Ziva David on Jan 22, 2010 7:16:43 GMT -7
"If we were going to kill each other, Tony, we would have done it by now..." Ziva argued, rolling her eyes as she slid the dresser drawer shut. Which brought her back to, "it just does not make sense." Turning to face him, she leaned against the dresser, her eyes lingering a moment on his own before she found a spot on the wall to stare at.
"Unless we are being played as puppets... If McGee is involved at all, he is probably laughing with Abby while writing more of his book... Agent Tommy and Officer Lisa trapped in a hotel with no one but each other..." She cut off, pressing her lips into a thin line as she thought about that. It hadn't been meant to come out that way. "Shouldn't you be taking out your frustrations on the ones who locked us in the same room together?" she iced after his comment, her eyes hardening slightly as they flickered back to lock his gaze.
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Post by Anthony DiNozzo on Jan 27, 2010 3:48:03 GMT -7
Tony just shot her a withering look and then continued looking down to the floor, he rested his elbows on his knees and placed his chin in the palm of both hands. "But then that would be too easy...far too easy..." His mind was going a mile a minute, trying to figure out why Abby would purposely cause this mix up. He knew he hadn't been looking forward to sharing an hotel room with McGee but sharing one with Ziva was even worse.
Slowly he sought out her gaze, it was complicated. Tony had missed Ziva like hell, he had missed all of his work mates...his friends...but he had missed her the most because he'd had no contact with her whatsoever. No letters, no phone calls...nothing. Her photos and thoughts of her had been one of the only things that had kept him from going stir crazy onboard that ship.
"Maybe Abby is hoping to reignite the passion with Elflord...he has been working out lately..." Tony rose an eyebrow and grinned. "But still..." The grin faded. "Unacceptable use of power." He stood up and threw his hands up. "I don't know!"
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Post by Ziva David on Jan 27, 2010 6:42:56 GMT -7
Ziva blinked and pushed away from the dresser to sit on her bed, falling back to arrange herself as comfortably as she could on the highly uncomfortable hotel mattress. "That does not make sense either, Tony, and I think you know that. If Abby wanted to date McGee, she did not have to switch hotel rooms to do it. She could have done something back home." Ziva sighed and closed her eyes, racking her brain to come up with an undeniable reason for this unbelievable situation. Her eyes flew open again a moment later.
"Abby told us we act like a married couple... What do you think she meant by that? Perhaps it is a clue to finding our answer?" She sat up and tilted her head a bit in thought, turning over every connotation of the phrase in her mind.
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Post by Anthony DiNozzo on Feb 1, 2010 0:02:56 GMT -7
"I wouldn't take Abby literally," Tony replied, his tone had quietened down considerably now as he knew Ziva have a good point. It wasn't her fault that they had been thrown together like this and he had to admit that he was just as confused by the goth's behaviour. "How long have you been in America Ziva and you still don't get some of our terms?" He ran a hand through his dark hair and then looked up to her. "Personally I'd take it as a compliment."
Tony's eyes locked with hers, all sign of him being angry earlier had all but dissipated. "It means you know each other really well, you know each other's strengths and weaknesses and you know how to respond accordingly." A beat. "But at the end of the day you're still there for one another...you still have their back."
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Post by Ziva David on Feb 1, 2010 16:06:02 GMT -7
Ziva's eyes narrowed slightly. "I have been home for the last four months. And there, when people 'act like a married couple', it usually refers to the way they argue constantly. I am sure it has that meaning here as well. I only wondered if that was what Abby had meant." She sighed, "because if she did mean it that way, it means that we were locked together to stop our arguing." Cocking her head to the side, she sighed again. "It is like when you put two fighting animals in a room, and they either end up killing each other or being friends."
Her dark eyes softened slightly. "We are not going to kill each other, and we are... friends... already. So why? Why are we here? Unless..." Ziva let herself trail off, biting her lip, unsure if she wanted to go there.
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Post by Anthony DiNozzo on Feb 2, 2010 3:00:44 GMT -7
"I was getting to that aspect, we can fight and be friends at the same time Ziva." Giving a shrug he shook his head. "It's the way a lot of great double acts work, they seem to hate each other but the love is still there."
Tony paused and had to resist wincing at his choice of words, there had always been some underlying attraction to the pretty israeli. He wouldn't act upon it though and not because of Gibbs' rule number twelve. Ziva was still somewhat of an enigma to him despite how long she had been a part of the team and just when he thought he had finally figured her out, she went and turned face on him in the blink of an eye.
One minute she was hot and the next she could be completely cold and she had been kinda distant since returning to America. "I think we should stop speculating on the whys and hows and get down to the heart of the matter...how are we gonna get our revenge yet stay professional at the same time?"
Perhaps Tony just didn't want to face the cold hard truth.
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Post by Ziva David on Feb 2, 2010 12:51:22 GMT -7
A small smile crossed Ziva's lips at the mention of revenge. The smile faded into a frown after a moment though. A thought had occurred to her, but she wasn't entirely certain of two things. One, would it work? And two, would Tony go for it? She herself wasn't entirely certain if she even wanted to run with the idea, since she wasn't completely sure of her own feelings on the matter.
"There is one thought... but it may not work. For a number of reasons." Ziva shrugged and waved a hand in a vague gesture. "I am not sure it will work, and both of us may have our own reasons for not wanting to do it; I know I have reasons, but something must be done and it is the first thing I can think of..." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, staring at Tony as she steeled herself for making the suggestion.
"We can pretend to evolve into a... deeper... relationship. She will more than likely believe that we are in a relationship that could potentially compromise our abilities to focus on the case, and will feel bad about putting us in such a distracting position. She will confess... and we cannot tell anyone on the off chance that they will tell her. As for remaining professional about it..." she sighed heavily and dropped her eyes to the floor, resting the palms of her hands on the mattress next to her. "That is the hard part."
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Post by Anthony DiNozzo on Feb 5, 2010 4:52:35 GMT -7
A rare thing occurred, Tony was actually capable of keeping quiet as Ziva spoke and laid out her own plan. It was a strange one but it had potential, he stared down at the floor for a moment and continued to listen in.
"So you're saying we lay on the guilt by pretending to..." Tony said, he didn't even want to complete the sentence. It was one thing when they were undercover but these were completely different circumstances, he had literally only just met her back then and now he had developed all sorts of complex feelings and his relationship with Jeanne had really opened his eyes to the kind of man he was. "To pair up?"
Running a hand through his carefully styled hair, he considered his options. Did he aide her in the plan or did he hinder her? Would she grow suspicious if he didn't want to do it? Would she be suspicious if he leapt at the opportunity? Man, he was screwed no matter which way he looked at it.
Tony licked his lips to wet them and finally looked at Ziva. "I think we need more information before we do anything, for all we know Abby could just walk through that door any minute and go..." He threw up his hands. "Physce!"
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Post by Ziva David on Feb 5, 2010 8:49:41 GMT -7
Nodding slowly, Ziva sighed again. "But what more information could we need?" She looked up at her partner and continued to frown lightly. To her knowledge, they had all the proof they needed that Abby was guilty, the only variable was why their friend had done it. And they had already spent too long trying to figure that one out. Another thought occurred to Ziva and her frown deepened.
"The only thing we don't know is her motive and we could spend years discussing it and probably never get close to the truth. Unless you can come up with a plan, mine is the best one we have." She couldn't very well tell Tony the reasons she didn't want to play girlfriend to him, couldn't tell him that she had conflicted feelings for him and didn't want to trust herself with him. But despite her reservations, it was all she could come up with. And this plan wouldn't be fooling just Abby, but also the rest of their friends. Which made it a lot more complicated than it had been.
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Post by Anthony DiNozzo on Feb 11, 2010 2:48:30 GMT -7
"You know what...that plan is so crazy it might just work," Tony admitted slowly. He wasn't going to add into the fact that it could get them their asses handed to them should Gibbs catch onto what they were doing, they were at the start of a murder investigation and the last thing he needed was his agents acting childish. Besides it would help keep things real and light hearted. So what if he had feelings for the beautiful brunette, he was a professional, he had spent the best part of a year undercover with a doctor and hadn't developed overly complicated feelings.
Oh who was he kidding? Of course he had developed an emotional attachment to Jeanne but he hadn't given her all of himself, he couldn't have fully given his heart to her while in the guise of Tony DiNardo, good old film studies tutor and all round nice guy. A mature guy who was actually able to commit to a serious relationship, the complete opposite of Anthony DiNozzo. Or was it?
Wow...way to analyse yourself Tony... he thought and finally got to his feet. "All right, let's do this but we have to keep it low key. We play the game as long as we need too and when it's all over we'll look back on it and laugh!" A beat. "And possibly risk being murdered by a trained forensic scientist."
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Post by Ziva David on Feb 11, 2010 13:42:39 GMT -7
Another sigh passed Ziva's lips. "How do we proceed, though? Hold hands while she's watching?" Ziva had to admit that she hadn't thought it through completely, as she hadn't been entirely certain that Tony would agree. Hoping to hide the fact that she actually did like the idea of holding his hand, she looked at the floor and clenched her hands around the bedding. "Perhaps she could overhear us talking about a date... seeing the sights perhaps... or getting lunch...."
Now that she actually was thinking it through, there was quite a bit that they could do to convince Abby that they were coupling up. There was also another problem: Abby wasn't an idiot; Ziva was certain she could tell a fake relationship from a real one. "We will have to act the way we did undercover... if we convinced the FBI, we can convince her." Finally, she looked back up and met his eyes, steeling herself for this (potentially) long assignment. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad... maybe she'd decide who she cared more about here. Tony or Michael... hard choice, but she couldn't stay between them forever, she had to choose one. Part of her thought that making this suggestion was her heart's way of telling her who to choose, but the rest of her wasn't quite sure. Yet.
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Post by Anthony DiNozzo on Feb 15, 2010 3:06:51 GMT -7
Tony was going to comment oh how it wasn't so difficult to fool the FBI but there was no use in bringing them up unless he had too, he knew how convincing he could be, he had definitely learned that during his "mission" with Jeanne. "I think that maybe we should just see how it all pans out, strike when the mood takes us..." He shrugged. "I mean it's supposed to come across as natural right?"
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Post by Ziva David on Feb 15, 2010 10:14:03 GMT -7
Ziva sighed. Tony had a point. "Yes, I suppose it should seem natural... We cannot take a chance that she will know we are playing her." Another sigh. "Though if we leave together for a 'sight-seeing trip', it may start her wondering." And she couldn't ignore the strange feeling she got when she thought of dating her partner. It was nothing like the feeling she got when she thought about Michael. Perhaps it was because she had known Tony longer and had shared an intimate experience with him. Trusted him.
In truth, she didn't want anyone else with her in this situation.
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Post by Anthony DiNozzo on Feb 22, 2010 3:58:14 GMT -7
"Sight seeing in the middle of an murder case might seem just a little suspicious," Tony replied quietly. "But maybe once it's over we could...weird her out." He gave Ziva a hopeful look, he was looking forward to spending time with her even if it was only for "show".
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Post by Ziva David on Feb 22, 2010 18:30:16 GMT -7
Nodding slowly in agreement with Tony's idea, Ziva offered him a small smile. "Perhaps..." she said, tilting her head slightly. She didn't want to ask whether it would play into their plan to sit together at dinner in the hotel dining room, mostly because she was planning on sitting close to him anyway. Discussing it beforehand had the chance of making them seem rehearsed and, as Tony had said earlier, it was best to act as natural as possible. Maybe she'd throw in a few flirtatious glances in the hopes that he would return them, if only to plant the seed of curiosity into Abby's overactive imagination. "When should we start?" she asked instead.
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