Tony bid the team and the bullpen a farewell as he waltzed out of the office with a suitcase trailing behind him. He had a week-long vacation and he was going to use it to his full advantage. When the team had asked where he was going he had sinabi Los Angeles, which wasn’t exactly a lie, he would be landing in LA, but then he’d make the drive up to Big madala and spend the week there with someone he couldn’t wait to see.

The flight had been long and he was antsy the whole way. Once the plane landed at LAX he made record time getting off the plane and to baggage claim as he scanned the crowd for the person he was meeting up with. He was lifting his suitcase off of the conveyer sinturon as he felt two hands balutin around him from behind and covered his eyes.

“Guess who!” the owner of the hands giggled into his ear.

Tony dropped his bag on his foot and let out a curse as he straightened up and spun around not wanting to play games. “There you are! I was looking for you and thought your plane got delayed. I was going to check the boards here in a minute,” he let out in one breath as he scooped her up into his arms and softly kissed her lips.

“I had to go to the ladies room,” she smiled as she still dangled off the floor in his arms. “I did not mean to worry you.”

“I’ve just missed you so much, Ziva,” he breathed, pressing his forehead to hers.

“And I have missed you too, Tony.”

They made their way to the car rental tindahan after a few minutos and piled their bags into the trunk before they got in. “So, you ready to ski, Miss David?” Tony asked as he pointed the car in the direction that would take them to the mountains.

“Yes, but I am madami excited to see the cabin that you rented,” she sinabi as she linked her hand with his and suggestive tone in her voice. “Did you tell everyone that I was going to be with you?”

Tony shook his head in the negative, “I’m being selfish. If I told them that you would be here they would have all made me call and we’d waste hours on the phone while they all talked to you. This is our time.”

“That does not sound selfish to me, but I do not believe they would have had me on the phone for hours.”

“You’re missed there, Ziva. Everyone is making their new normal, but it’s still not that same and your communication with the team is… spotty, at best. If they knew that you called me and we planned this I’d be lucky if it was just them hogging time on the phone. Abby would have probably packed herself in my suitcase.”

Ziva laughed at that. “You might have a point about Abby.”

“So I’m being selfish. I’m keeping you to myself this week and no madami talk of work or the fact that you should really call everyone,” he glanced over at her and squeezed her fingers, “tell me about your latest adventure.”

As they drove through Los Angeles and up the mountain roads Ziva regaled Tony with her travels and the different things she had discovered about herself that she had never known before. When they arrived at the front office of the resort that Tony had booked them into they got out and tugged on their jackets before darting into the warmth of the lobby where they checked in and were ibingiay directions to the cabin that would be theirs for the week before they made their way there.

Carrying both his bags and Ziva’s Tony followed Ziva up to the door of their getaway. “It is so cold,” Ziva shivered as she struggled to get the key into the lock.

“I’ll get a apoy going as soon as we get in.”

After two failed attempts with her trembling hands Ziva finally got the key to slide in and she pushed the door open and stepped with Tony on her heals. Ziva halted in the small foyer as a gasp escaped her.

“This is too much, Tony! I thought you sinabi it would be a nice little cabin, but this…” she looked around the finely appointed living room that looked like it belonged in an interior disensyo magazine, “… this is beautiful!”

Tony set the bags down beside him and pulled her back against his chest as he whispered into her ear, “Only the best for you.” He emphasized his statement with a halik to her temple.

“I do not-”

“I heard enough of what you do and don’t deserve over the summer, not going to listen to it now. You deserve this, Ziva.” It came out harsher than he meant and he felt her tense up at the bitterness that was laced in his words, but he didn’t let go of her.

“It is that this must cost a lot and after the time away from the agency before you went back,” she turned in his arms and looked up at him from under her thick eyelashes, “I do not want this to be outside of your means.”

“Don’t worry, I can afford this,” he promised.

After a quick tour of the cabin they unpacked their bags and Tony started a apoy in the fireplace. A knock on the front door made Ziva jump, but Tony just smiled and told her to answer it for him. A butler from the main lodge greeted her when she opened the door and explained that he brought the meal that had been arranged. As she stepped aside to allow for the gentleman to come in with the kariton he pushed along she shot Tony a look and he just smiled back at her. He had it in his mind to make this week the best that it could ever be. After the butler set the mesa Tony tipped him and he was on his way.

“Don’t even start,” Tony cut the words from Ziva before she could scold him. He motioned to the mesa where he pulled out a chair for her. “I thought that we would both be tired from flying and not in the mood to go out for hapunan so I planned hapunan to come to us.”

Ziva shook her head at him in an amused way as she took her seat. “You have thought of everything, have you?”

“Maybe,” he murmured as he removed the lid from her hapunan plate. “It might look familiar,” he chuckled as her lips curled into a smile.”

“The hapunan from when we went undercover as the married assassins,” she sinabi in disbelief. “You actually remembered that?”

Tony took his upuan beside her. “I remember everything about that assignment.”

They talked about everything and nothing as they lingered over dinner, both Nawawala in the fact that they were with each other once again. After hapunan was finished and the plates had been collected they cuddled up on the sopa in front of the fire. A comfortable silence surrounded them as they watched the flames dance before them. They both knew that at some point the tanong of her return to DC would come up, but they were both happy to put it off for now.

The susunod few days were filled with skiing, walks about town, and topped off with quiet dinners, snuggling in front of the fireplace and long nights of exploring each other’s bodies. As their days dwindled and could be easily counted sa pamamagitan ng oras many hours they had left together their words became madami clipped as they knew the tanong would come at any moment and Tony feared the answer. They had had a wonderful week and he hoped that it would be enough to ipakita her that she could still discover herself while being with him in DC. He was standing out on their deck, bundled up in his jacket, staring out into the snow cover path that lead through the woods just beyond their cabin when Ziva slid up beside him.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” she asked quietly, tucking her hand into his.

Tony slipped his hand from hers only to balutin his arm around her waist and lead them towards the path that he had been staring at. He didn’t say anything for a long while. The sound of their sighs and the snow crunching beneath their feet filled the silence until he couldn’t keep the tanong in any longer.

“I don’t want to pressure you, Ziva,” he began, “but I… will you come tahanan with me?” he asked as he turned to face her flashes of the last time he asked her the same tanong ran through his head.

Ziva fidgeted partly from the tanong and partly to keep warm in the cold. “Tony, I cannot come tahanan with you-”

“Why not?! You can still… I need you, Ziva,” he protested.

“If you will let me finish,” Ziva sinabi softly. “I was going to say that I cannot come tahanan with you now, but in the Spring I will come home.”

Tony stared at her, unsure if he had heard her correctly. “In the Spring?”

Ziva nodded eagerly. “In the Spring,” she confirmed. “I just need a little madami time, but when the seresa blossoms start blooming I will come home.”

“Yeah?” Tony grinned as her promise sank in.

Ziva jumped up into his arms and pressed her lips to his, pulling back for just a moment, “yeah.” She pressed her mouth to his once madami as he held her up and kissed her back with full force. Their giggled filled the air as they stumbled backwards, landing in the soft snow as they Nawawala themselves in their kisses once again.