Tiva Doodle and Drabble #3

The sun is setting. Ziva takes in it’s last rays as it starts to sink in to the ocean.
This week had been a tough one. Not just because of the case but for the second time since she choose to be an American, to cut all ties with her old life, the present had clashed with her past.

Monique…

She had always looked up to this woman, taking every piece of advice to heart and molded herself to be like her, but now… it’s like she’s a stranger, somebody that she used to know. And she’s not sure she likes this “stranger”

“You okay?”

Tony’s voice snaps her out of her thoughts.

“Just thinking.”

He sits down next to her.

“About?”

Ziva sighs.

“Tony, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Do you think I am like Monique?”

“You used to be. But you have changed a lot.”

“And you do not like that.”

Tony looks at her, surprised.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, last year you told me you missed the old Ziva.”

Tony thinks for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

“Sometimes I do. Sometimes I miss… your flirty side, the side that always challenged me in a more…uhm…sexual way.”

Ziva stares at her feet.

“Oh…”

“But” he says as he looks at her, “I like the new Ziva better”

She looks up and he smiles at her. Just a small but very sincere smile. The one that for some reason makes her weak in the knees.
He turns his head and looks at the sunset.

“New Ziva lets me get close. And I like that.”

Ziva smiles and follows his gaze towards the sunset.
After a couple of minutes of comfortable silence Ziva lays her head on Tony’s shoulder.

“Thank you”

He puts his arm around her shoulder.

“Anytime sweetheart.”