MAYBE ONE DAY
By
Ashleigh Anpilova
Set immediately after Royals And Loyals.
Tony may have thought he was alone in the squad room, but he wasn't.
A pre-het story.
Written: October 2010. Word count: 500.
"Shh-shh-shh-shh-shh! Oh, come on . . . !" Tony frantically pressed various keys, but the noise continued. "Please," he begged.
A second later someone reached over his shoulders and tapped three keys in a quick sequence; the noise ceased. "You couldn't resist, could you?" McGee said, sitting down on Ziva's desk and looking at Tony. "When are you going to learn, Tony?"
Tony looked at his coworker. "I don't know what you mean, McGeek." McGee rolled his eyes. "Well, how was I to know she'd get you to put something even geekier on her computer?"
"Because you know Ziva; she likes her privacy. And you, Tony, are just so easy to set up."
Tony shifted on the chair; as much as he'd like to, he couldn't argue with McGee. He had walked right into it. "Why is she so secretive?"
"Why does it bother you so much?"
"Doesn't."
"Does."
"Doesn't."
McGee shook his head and stared at Tony, a slight frown creasing his forehead. "You like her, don't you?" he said, his voice low.
Tony shrugged. "She's my coworker."
McGee shook his head. "No, Tony, you like, her. Really like her," he added.
Tony glared at him. "No!" he denied, fighting the urge to feel his nose to see if it had suddenly started to grow.
McGee continued to look at him. The look was one of sympathy, understanding even. "Why don't you just tell her?" he asked.
"There's nothing to tell."
McGee shrugged and stood up. "Well, I guess you'd know better than I would. See you tomorrow, Tony."
Without conscious thought Tony caught McGee's arm. "I can't," he said quietly. McGee looked at him. "There's too much history between us. Rivkin; Israel; Director David; Jeanne; Somalia; everything."
"'Couldn't live without you, I guess'," McGee said quietly, sitting back down on the edge of the desk "Was that another lie, Tony? Oh, no, wait, you were under the influence of a truth drug. That makes you tell the truth. So why not tell her again?"
Tony gave up lying. "It wouldn't do any good," he said.
McGee frowned. "Why not? Oh, yeah, you said - 'history'."
Tony glared at him. "It's more than that."
"Tell me."
"Come on, Tim, I've given her more than enough hints. If she was interested in me, she'd have said something. She doesn't like me like that - sometimes I don’t think she likes me at all."
Tim shook his head. "Oh, she likes you," he said.
Tony shrugged. "Even if she does, and I don't believe it, what about Rule #12?"
"Gibbs breaks his rules all the time."
"Yeah, but that's Gibbs."
"I don't think he'd mind."
"Yeah, well. Maybe he would. Maybe he wouldn't. But it doesn't matter anyway. It's not going to happen. I'm going home. Will you -"
"Yeah, I'll sort Ziva's computer."
Tony squeezed his shoulder. "Thanks, Tim."
Tim nodded. He watched Tony leave; there was none of the usual cockiness in his walk. He sighed. Maybe one day Tony would tell Ziva, but until then . . .
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