20A/N: Hello again! So here's the latest chapter of my very badly named fic, but we can't all be perfect. I think this is the chapter I've most wanted to do, and you'll find out why the more you read. Now, I know I'm doing things out of order, but these are all one-shots, so nobody said anything about order now, did they? I don't think so.
You guys all know the drill by now, I REALLY appreciate reviews on these cause it gives me incentive to write more and at a faster pace. So please just leave a review, even if it's just a few words! I'm open to anonymous reviews, so anyone's welcome to leave something!
This chapter is to the song Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars and it's the most recent song in this line-up so far. Now, I know I don't really have a time line for this or the previous chapter, but they're sometime after season 7, definitely, but there's no specific time, really. That part's up to you. But since this song did just come out and become popular about a month ago (give or take), this would most likely end up being set in late season 8 (but since we totally aren't there yet, it really doesn't matter right now).
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or the song Just the Way You Are. They belong to DPB and Bruno Mars respectively.
A/N2: This is going to jump around a little. It's mostly in third person POV, but toward the middle, it switches to Tony's POV. It made more sense to do it that way. It didn't all sound right in third person.
A/N3: Okay, I'm really sorry about how late this is being put up! In all honesty, I really thought I'd already posted this! I'm sorry! I've been really busy and my sister is home for Thanksgiving and my family is so full of drama you wouldn't believe it!
This is it, Tony thought to himself. He had the ring and the dinner reservations and a date tonight with his best friend and lover.
Tony got out of the steaming shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He walked into his bedroom and started going through his many suits hanging in his closet, trying to find just the right one, the one he knew she'd like best.
And there it was! It was right in the middle of all of his suits. It was his gift to himself last year, a new Dolce and Gabbana suit. He'd bought it because he'd known Ziva would love it, and he did as well.
Tony got as ready as he could without the suit on, not wanting to get anything on it. When he was finally as ready as he could be, he slipped on the black pants, the navy blue button-up shirt, and the black jacket.
At her apartment, Ziva couldn't decide what to wear. Tony had said he was taking her out to a nice restaurant, but that was it. She was sitting on her bed, still wrapped in her bathrobe, trying to figure out what would look good. She figured Tony would probably end up in black, so she decided to match him. She had a three-quarter dress that stopped a little below her knees that would be perfect. She slipped it on and finished getting ready.
Just as she was finishing putting her hair up, there was a knock on the door. As she turned to walk out of the bathroom, she slipped and fell in a puddle of water near the door that she swore hadn't been there ten minutes ago.
She tried to catch herself with her right arm as she went down, but it only resulted in a cracking sound coming from her wrist.
She swore in Hebrew as another knock sounded through her apartment. Her wrist was throbbing as she tried to push herself up with her left arm. Then her phone, which she had put on the bed, started ringing. She just managed to get over to it on the last ring.
"Hello?" she said, not having looked at the caller ID.
"Zee, it's me. Where are you? I keep knocking on the door, but you're not answering. You didn't forget about tonight, did you?" Tony asked, sounding worried.
"No, Tony, I did not forget. On my way out of the bathroom, I slipped and fell. I think I fractured my wrist," she told him.
"Oh, God. Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yes. I am fine. It just hurts a little. Hold on, I am coming to the door," she said, getting up from the bed and walking out of her bedroom, down the hall, and to the door. She closed the phone when she opened the door and saw him standing there in his designer suit.
"Hey, beautiful," he said, inviting himself in, as he often did, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Hello, Tony," she said to him. Her right hand was gripping her left wrist, so she didn't move to hug him as she often did when they were not around Gibbs.
"Let me take a look at that," he said, motioning to her wrist. "Come in the kitchen. The light's better in there." He led the way to the kitchen and turned on the lights. Then he turned back her. "Here, sit up on the counter," he said.
He gently picked her up and lifted her onto the counter, where she sat, holding her wrist and feeling like a child who needed a band-aid for their knee. It was how her mother had done it, picking her up and putting her on the kitchen or bathroom counter so that she could get a better look at a cut or scrape on her knee.
"It looks pretty swollen," he said, not touching it for fear of hurting her, something he never wanted to do.
"It's throbbing," she told him. She normally didn't say when she was hurting, especially with something as minor as this when she had had so much worse, but Tony really cared and he wanted to help.
"How about you put some ice on it while I get some gauze to wrap it up?" he suggested. He knew a thing or two about injuries because he'd had a lot himself.
"There is some in the closet in my bathroom," she said as he was getting ice out of the freezer. "The middle shelf."
"Okay, here you go," he said, handing her the ice that was wrapped in a dish towel. "I'll be right back."
He came back about a minute later with the gauze. She removed the ice from her wrist and moved the wrist closer to Tony so that he could wrap it easier. He gently wrapped it with the self-sticking gauze and then placed the ice back over it, saying she should keep it there if she didn't want it to swell up like a balloon.
"Thank you, Tony," she said, wrapping her arms behind his neck, keeping him right in front of her.
"No problem, Zee-vah," he said, smiling his winning smile at her and making her smile too. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her right up against him and kissing her.
After breaking apart, Ziva asked, "So, what about those dinner reservations?"
"Well, it's a good thing I came early, Sweetcheeks. If we leave now, we'll just make it," Tony said, looking at his watch.
"Well, we are all dressed up. Why not?" she asked.
Tony helped her off the counter. "Let's go, then."
They walked out to his car and Tony opened her door for her before getting in the drivers' side.
"So, where are we going?" Ziva asked once they were on the road.
"Ristorante Piccolo. It's not too far from here," Tony told her.
"I have never heard of it," Ziva said.
It's on 31st Street. I've never been, but it sounds good. You in the mood for Italian?" he asked.
"Of course," she said, taking his hand.
Dinner was great, of course. The restaurant was beautiful and Ziva looked even better. When we finished dinner, we drove back to her place, where she invited me in for dessert and a movie. This was exactly how I'd wanted it to plan out.
I didn't propose at the restaurant. A proposal was a very personal thing, and besides, Ziva would have killed me had I done it there. I had wanted to do it at either her apartment or mine, mostly because it was much more intimate and he knew she'd like it, especially because he didn't think she'd see it coming.
When we got upstairs, Ziva got out her key and let us into the dark apartment. She flipped on some lights and leaned on my arm to take off her heels.
"I am going to go change and be right back," she told me. "Thank you again for dinner."
"Anytime," I said.
She walked down the hall and closed her door almost all the way, so there was a space of a few inches between the door and the frame. When we'd first started going out all those months ago, she always locked the doors behind her, but we'd progressed and I'd never once snuck in on her while she was changing, so I'd earned her trust.
When she was down the hall, I quickly pulled my iPod out of my pocket and scrolled down to the song I wanted to play. It was the iPod that Abby had bought for me years ago when she bought them for the whole team. Only Ziva and I still used ours; McGee had moved on to bigger and better versions and Gibbs had never really used his.
I knew where her iPod dock was, over on the bookshelf by the window in the living room, where she'd left me. I put the iPod in and pressed play. The song started and it was loud enough for her to hear in her bedroom.
Oh, her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying
She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day
I heard her feet coming down the hallway. She was probably wondering what the hell I was doing, messing with her stuff when she wasn't around.
Yeah I know, I know When I see your face,
When I compliment her
She won't believe me
And it's so, it's so
Sad to think she don't see what I see
But every time she asks me do I look okay
I say
There's not a thing that I would change
'Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
'Cause, girl, you're amazing
Just the way you are
"Tony?" she asked. I silenced her with a kiss.
Her lips, her lips Oh you know, you know, you know
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me
Her laugh, her laugh
She hates but I think it's so sexy
She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day
I'd never ask you to change
If perfect is what you're searching for
Then just stay the same
So don't even bother asking
If you look okay
You know I'll say
"You're so beautiful, Zee," I told her. I'd noticed her outfit for the first time; it was actually my old sweatshirt and basketball shorts. She pulled them off so much better than I ever did.
When I see your face,
There's not a thing that I would change
'Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
'Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are
I stopped the song early, because it was practically the end and Bruno Mars just went on and on. He needed to get to the point. I was really anxious.
"I invited you up so we could listen to a song? Do you want to get changed? You know you still have some clothes here…" she said, but I cut her off.
"Ziva, these past few months have been really great. I've never been happier with anyone else," I told her, starting what I came up here to do.
"Yes," she said, already anticipating my question. She knew me too well.
"What, you don't want the speech?" I asked jokingly.
"No, no, I want the speech. Pretend I did not say anything," she said, her eyes already sparkling with tears.
"Okay, uumm, I've never been happier… right. Okay. You make me a better person and I've already learned that my life doesn't go on without you there," I stopped for a second so I could pull the box out of my pocket. "I always want to be there for you. I'm not going anywhere, Zee. Will you marry me?"
"Yes," she said, tears rolling down her face as I slipped the ring on her left hand. The ring was just a simple gold band with a diamond on the top that glittered in the light of the living room, but it was beautiful.
A/N: Gasp! Tony didn't propose during a James Bond movie or something? Inconceivable!
Okay, yeah, everyone saw that coming, but I wanted something to happen in that chapter! And I know, the wedding came first, but who cares? These are all one-shots anyway. And who said I have to do things in order? Well, I hope you liked it! Please review, guys!