Title: The short straw
Author: nepeace
Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Ziva/Abby, implied Ziva/Jenny and mentions of Ziva/McGee
Rating: PG
The short straw
“I’ll marry you.” Ziva turned around and looked at the person who exclaimed those words. Despite the tears that stung in her eyes, she smiled. The elevator had dinged mere seconds before the words were spoken. “If that were the solution to my problem I would agree to it,” Ziva spoke softly.
“Officer David, your liaison position has been terminated.”
She wanted to stay in America. Though she might have never said it out loud, she loved her life here. She saw the team as her extended family, and though she outwardly didn’t want to show it, the words spoken by Vance had killed something inside of her.
She had always known that it had been all Jenny’s hard work, her praising words and the trust that she put in Ziva which kept her where she was for the past three years. And she had known that if Jenny would ever step down from her position as the Director of NCIS that her liaison position could be terminated. But she had never expected that it would happen this way, this fast. She had expected her father to call her back to Mossad, but not this, never this.
When she found Jenny in that diner her worst fear had become true. Not only had she lost one of her very few longtime friends, she had also lost a past lover, a family member, one more in a long line of lost souls that haunted her. She would never forgive herself for not acting on her own feelings; she had ignored her screaming subconscious. This would have never happened three years ago when she was still in Mossad; she wouldn’t have taken the day off. There was no such thing when you were a Mossad officer. You were on top of your game twenty-four/seven. America had weakened her; she felt secure and in no need to be alert all the time. If only she hadn’t ignored her subconscious or had followed Jen out into the desert sooner. They would have fought hard and come out as winners, just like they had in Egypt all those years ago. And maybe, just maybe, she would have woken up in Jen’s bed the next morning just like she had back then with her arms wrapped contently around Jenny.
The moment she found Jen she knew that she would not walk away from this unharmed; she knew that her liaison position would be terminated and that she would loose her extended family. She was going to lose everything which had made her life look remotely like a normal life over the past three years. And though she knew that Tony didn’t like being sent to the USS Ronald Reagan, his situation was different from hers. He could look for a different job on the Navy Yard or with the police. With his resume that shouldn’t be a problem. McGee would be working with the Cyber Crimes Division but he would still be at the Navy Yard with Gibbs, Ducky, Jimmy and Abby.
She watched the other woman standing in front of her. Abby bit her lip before she launched herself around Ziva’s neck. “I will, Ziva. I will marry you,” Abby sobbed.
“Sweetie, I appreciate the offer but last time I checked gay marriages were not legal in America. And even if they were, you still work on the Navy Yard and they are not too open minded when it comes to these kind of ‘relationships’,” Ziva reasoned with Abby while she chose the word ‘relationship’ carefully, she wrapped her arms around Abby’s frail posture.
“I don’t care Ziva; I’m not in the Navy. Do you think that they are open minded enough to know all the things I like to do in my spare time? Still they allow me to come into the Navy Yard to get to my lab dressed like this.” Abby tried to reason in her own way like only Abby could.
Despite the situation Ziva smiled. “It wouldn’t make a difference…”
“I’ll get McGee to marry you,” Abby stated matter-of-factly. “He can be your hubby, provide you with a green card as long as you come home with me at the end of the day.” Abby leaned in and kissed Ziva, finally showing what she had been feeling for a long time. She had always thought that there would be more than enough time for her to act on her feelings but with the upcoming departure she needed to know if she had a chance.
