Lockers and Love

Chapter Seven

"Sure. I just have to tell my parents where I am." Ziva gave a small smile, again his insides twisted. She nodded and went inside to tell her mother that Tony was coming in. Tony pulled out his phone from his back pocket and pressed on the group message between his family.

Tony: At Ziva's. Won't be home till later.

Within 30 seconds, his mother had replied.

Mom: Okay. We had leftovers for dinner. Will be in the fridge when you get home.

Tony: Sounds good. Some things happened at school today that need to be cleared up. Should be home within the next hour or so.

Tim was the one who responded to that.

Tim: Yeah, she seemed kind of off earlier. Is everything okay?

Tony sighed. He wouldn't explain this to his family. It was between him and Ziva. Nobody else.

Tony: Yeah. See ya soon.

He put his phone back into his pocket. He looked up to see that Ziva had returned from inside with two cups in her hand. He took it with a smile.

"Thanks." She nodded and started walking over to the right of the deck where there was a porch swing hanging from the roof. She sat down and motioned for him to sit with her. He moved over cautiously and sat down to the right of her. The reflection from the street lights were making her glow and he could barely breathe as he looked at her. After five minutes of silence, Ziva turned to face him and brought her legs up to sit crisscrossed.

"I owe you an apology." She finally spoke. Her voice was so gentle that he barely heard her. He looked her in the eye and physically melted at the sight she was giving him. This beautiful girl was looking at him with those beautiful brown eyes. He couldn't help but melt. But her words rang through his head.

"Why do you owe an apology? It should be me apologizing. After everything today, I just made it harder. It was your first day in a new place. I just made everything worse." Ziva sat her mug down on the floor of the deck and turned to look at him.

"No. I assumed so much about you when I barely knew you. For that is why I am sorry." Tony looked down into his mug.

"You had every right to assume. I don't have the best reputation around school. Something I wish I could change. Something I'm working on." Ziva's eyebrows raised as she listened to him.

"So the girl that came up to you in the gym, was right? You did sleep with her?" Tony slightly nodded, ashamed of himself that he used to be like that. But, he wasn't like that anymore. He told all his friends that and he would continue to do so. He wanted to be a better person, a better man. Someone that Ziva approved of. Someone that Rivka approved of.

"We were at a party and we were drinking. It got out of hand." He still couldn't look her in the eye.

"That is not my business, Tony. I went underboard with my reaction today." Tony chuckled. Ziva looked at him with confusion written on her face.

"What?"

"I think you mean overboard. But you had every right too. You weren't clear of my intentions. Not that I have any intentions. Cause I don't." Ziva started laughing at his rambling and her laugh made him stop talking. Her laughter made him smile a genuine smile.
"I was raised to suspect everybody. To never trust. I was terrified because I trusted you so easily. My father would not have approved." Tony was confused, why would her father not be approved. It was like Ziva read his mind.

"My father was... a part of a government agency. In his line of work, you learn not to trust easily." Tony understood that. After all, his mother was the director of a federal agency and his father was a lead agent there.

"Yeah. I understand that." Ziva's eyebrows drew together, asking him through her eyes if he would explain. Tony could read it so clearly that it was almost like he was a mind-reader.

"My parents work for NCIS." Recognition flew across Ziva's face. Her father had talked about NCIS before. How they were seemingly good people who worked for a seemingly good agency. She couldn't remember what NCIS was or what they did, but if her father knew them then it had something to do with his line of work.

"NCIS." She whispered.

"Yeah. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service. A lot of people actually haven't heard of it. Dad always jokes about how they're the lowest in the food chain." He let out a chuckle. Ziva stared at his handsome face as he laughed. Maybe he wasn't so bad. Maybe trusting others wasn't such a horrific thing. Maybe he could be trusted. Ziva had always been good at reading people, well except Tony earlier. But from what he told her when school was over, she could practically feel the truth radiating off of him. She decided that from now on, she would listen to him more clearly, and hopefully, they could become closer. She had a feeling that they would get a lot closer than she ever expected. But instead of feeling scared, she felt excited. She was looking forward to that.

Seeing that Ziva was lost in thought, Tony found the chance to take another look at her. God, she was beautiful. He couldn't say or think that enough. She looked like she was glowing in the moonlights and he felt privileged to be able to look at her like this. He felt earlier that she was different from other girls and he knew that that was true in every imaginable way possible.

She was different. And now so was he.