Title: Just Sleep (1/1)
Author: Aerial312
Rating: T
Category: Romance
Timeline: "Jetlag".

Word Count: 1105
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.
Feedback: Greatly appreciated.
A/N: This is my first time writing Tony/Ziva.

Ziva felt the bed move beside her as Tony rolled over in his sleep. Rolled closer. His hand was now resting against her back, threaded into her hair. Not that she minded. Sharing a bed with Tony was not weird. It never had been. Perhaps it should have been, but it was not.

It had been late when they arrived at the hotel, and they were both exhausted. Ziva usually found it difficult to sleep on a plane. Too many people around. Too many unknowns. She would have been able to fall asleep with Tony there, if only he had stopped talking.

When the hotel registrar had told them that only one room had been booked, they could have called the travel office and had the arrangements fixed. Phone calls to the travel office were never a short process.

"It's only one night," she sighed. "I do not care."

Tony grinned impishly. "Okay, twist my arm. I guess I could spend the night in bed with a beautiful woman."

Ziva smiled softly as she turned back to the counter.

That was the only conversation they had had about their sleeping arrangements. When they arrived in the room, she declared "I want the side by the door." He had shrugged, and that was that. There was never any question that they would be sharing the bed. They had done it before.

His hand was warm against her back. She settled back into it a bit, and closed her eyes.

Tony woke up as some of Ziva's hair fell in his face. He was much closer to her now than when he had fallen asleep. Not sure of the rules tonight, because they had varied wildly in the past, he had chosen to play it safe and fall asleep solidly on his side of the bed. He must have rolled over his in sleep, because he was definitely on her side of the bed now.

Tony had only been able to pick out a few words of Ziva's conversation with the French desk clerk, but hey were the important ones. One. Room. He certainly didn't mind sharing a room with her. He didn't think she'd go for it. But she had surprised him. At the very least, just sharing the room with him was preferable to spending an hour on the phone with the travel office to get things ironed out. Maybe she didn't mind at all. It wasn't like this was the first time they had shared a bed.

Tony curled even closer, his nose in her hair. It smelt like oranges. Absently, the hand on her back thumbed a half circle back and forth on the soft fabric of her t-shirt. Ziva purred softly, and Tony paused. Was she awake? He propped himself up on his elbow and studied her. There were no further signs that she might be awake. Her back rose and fell evenly. Tony's thumb resumed it half-moon path as he continued to watch her.

It took all the willpower she had to maintain the steady breathing of sleep as Tony's fingers grazed her back. In, two, three. Out, two, three. He was obviously watching her now. She'd felt the bed shift as he propped himself up.

The circular motion was replaced with three fingers grazing up and down. She inhaled sharply. It felt amazing. He was testing her. In, two, three. Out, two, three. She could do this.

Tony smiled when Ziva stilled momentarily at his changing movement. Consciously or not, she was responding to his touch. Her back continued its steady rise and fall. He wasn't convinced that she was truly asleep. Ziva was a very good liar.

He switched up his motion again, drawing all five fingers together, then apart, together, then apart. Ziva bit her lip to stifle a moan, but some sound slipped through. Tony grinned. She was definitely awake.

Her body had betrayed her self control. She was unable to prevent herself from responding to his touch. He had to know she was awake now. She could not acknowledge it. If she acknowledged it, they would have to talk about it. They were not ready to talk about it. Well, she was not ready to talk about it at least.

Their relationship had always been complicated, but it was especially so since Michael's death. They were getting better, even close to normal. But it was slow going. And she did not want to set that back by talking about something that they were not ready to talk about.

He pulled her closer and his hand settled on her hip. He seemed to be done provoking her now that he had gotten a reaction. She forced her breath to even out. In, two, three. Out, two, three. It was much easier to feign sleep when his hand was still.

Pulling her closer hadn't been something he'd intended to do. It seemed like the closer he got, the closer he wanted to get. He wasn't sure what this was. Things had been so difficult for them recently. If things got physical again, they had a strong chance of messing their strained friendship up again.

He still couldn't read her most of the time. Did she want this too, or was she merely tolerating him? He was never going to get any sleep at this rate. They needed to be on top of things on the flight back to the States with Nora. And he really wanted to see Paris a little before they had to leave. Hopefully he could persuade her to join him.

Tony's thumb traced a small circle on her hip, and Ziva jumped, cursing in Hebrew. She heard Tony chuckle softly. This was getting a little ridiculous. Well, she could play this game too. With a stretch, Ziva rolled over, snuggled her head onto his chest and took a fistful of his chest hair. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arm around her waist. Ziva slid her knee between his, and took a deep breath. This felt nice. She closed her eyes.

God, it felt good to hold her again. To have her want him to hold her. It had been so long. Tony kissed the top of her head softly, and raked his fingers through her hair.

Ziva purred again, then sighed and tugged on the chest hair threaded through her fingers. "Just sleep," she instructed. "It's late." She didn't raise her head from his chest.

Tony laughed, resting his head on hers. Just sleeping was probably a good idea, he sighed as he closed his eyes.