𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 ━━ 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐳𝐳𝐨

THIRTY NINE | entirely braless

He smirks in amusement. "Oh, you bet. Nothing beats being trapped in a metal container with possibly no food and water for days." And his mood quickly changes.

With no success from shouting through the openings, we leave a paper trail behind using the bills.

"The reception isn't any better. I've got nothing." His feet stumble as he regains his balance. "What we need is a better antenna. Any kind of wire would work. Really, any kind of—"

I toss a few more bills outside. "If you're asking me for a piece of wire, I can't just pull it out of thin air, alright?"

"Are you wearing your black bra today?" He squints his eyes in thought.

". . .maybe."

How on earth does he know what bra I'm wearing on what day?

"That has underwire. We can just attach it to the end of the antenna and slip it out of the slot."

"I swear to God, Tony. . ."

"I promise you." His hands press against each other. "When we get out of this metal box, I'll buy as many bras as you want."

With a roll of my eyes, I slip my hands under my blouse and unhook my bra. Slipping out of the straps, I pull the underwire out from the bottom and pass it to him.

"We're going to the mall this weekend."

"Whatever you want, sweetheart."

The sky turns pitch black as the truck backs into a garage. I keep a watch for anyone nearby while Tony struggles to attach the antenna to his cellphone.

"If you want to live. . ." From outside, the door to the container rattles open heftily. "Then come out of the container now."

Tony and I stand in position behind our defense structure.

"Didn't quite catch that, now. Could you repeat that for me?"

There's a pause of silence. "I said. . .come out now, woman!" I cock my gun. "Come out now, or we will come in."

"No."

I shoot the black leathered shoe of the man on the other side. He shrieks in pain, his shadow disappearing from view.

"Alright, I bought you some more time. Limited, but still something." I look back at Tony.

He slips the antenna through one of the slots, and the call to Gibbs is successful. However, the door slowly opening is a sign that we're not out of trouble just yet.

"We can do this." Tony mutters a few words of encouragement.

A small smile flashes across my face. "Hopefully."

The gunfire from both directions begins. We pause a couple of times, praying the crates hold still a bit longer. But our rounds start diminishing to low numbers.

His arm around my figure pulls me into his chest, protecting me from the bullets. However, one scratches his arm, and another enters through my shoulder.

"I'm empty." I pant heavily, struggling to keep my breath steady.

He clicks his own gun, showing me the empty chamber. "Gibbs is probably on his way to us right now. He'll find us."

"I should have invited you to the dinner party." I cling to my bleeding wound. "But you sounded so excited about the wrestling match, and I thought you'd be bored out of your mind."

"That's not possible. Not when I'm with you."

Lenny from Port Security arrives to save us, although that ends quickly when he draws his gun on us. "You almost cost me $50 million. You really think this is funny?"

"Not me, personally." Tony and I watch Gibbs appear from the other side of the truck.

"But I do." He aims his gun directly at Lenny's head. "Drop it."

McGee and Ziva arrive as well, locking the other men into the metal container. After a kick where the sun doesn't shine for Lenny, I run off to find the nearest restroom.

"And dinner. . .is not served." The dish simply refuses to sit on my oven mitt-clad hand as I try to carry it to the table.

Tony comes to the rescue, carrying it himself. "It smells amazing, Ev."

"Yeah, well. . ." A red tint flushes my cheeks as I pull out my chair. "It'd be a lot better if I wasn't wearing a sling, but you can't win them all."

"You didn't have to do this all for me, Ev. I would've been happy with takeout." He reaches across the table, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead.

"We deserve a home cooked meal after the day we've had."

He pops open the bottle of wine, pouring the red liquid into two glasses.

Together, we raise our glasses.

"To more momentous missions and dates."

"To you choosing to go entirely braless."

"Tony!"