Three Days

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Summary: "They'd met at the wrong time and the wrong place… it just wasn't meant to be." Or was it? A chance meeting between Gibbs and Ziva during a long train trip years before Ziva joined NCIS.

It's just an idea I came up with while I was sitting on the bus listening to Anouk's Three Days in a Row. I hope you'll like it.

For three days she was watching him. She was following his every move like a predator stalks its prey. She was fascinated by him. The moment she set her eyes on the man she felt something that she couldn't explain even if her life had depended on it. The feeling that took over her was breathtaking, overwhelmingly powerful and oh so wrong. She knew if she gave into the attraction that pulled her towards him and she did approach him, things would get out of hand quickly and the result would be disastrous.

So for three days she remained in the shadows. She was invisible.

However, she wasn't invincible. Her desire took the better of her and on the evening of the third day she found herself making her way towards the man who was sitting in the company of a glass of bourbon. Her steps were confident, her posture was straight and there was fire burning in her brown eyes.

She slid into the chair with practiced elegance and looked into the man's eyes with open desire. She didn't hide anything and the man seemed to be alright with it.

Calm icy blue eyes were regarding stormy burning browns.

They spent some time chatting about nothing in particular like two old acquaintances who didn't feel the need to impress the other. The man invited her for dinner and they spent the night eating, drinking and laughing about mundane things. The man seemed at ease with her and his openness bewitched her. She knew that that was it. She had stepped on the path leading to that disaster she had known was inevitable. But she couldn't care less.

Later that evening the man stood up and without any words he offered his hand to her. She accepted it without hesitation and they left the restaurant car together.

She felt anticipation rise in her as they made their way in the narrow corridors of the sleeping cars. The whole time she could feel his eyes on her and it made her warm inside. When they reached her sleeping compartment, she turned towards him with a seductive smile and when she pressed up against him to give him a not-so-innocent good night kiss, both of them knew that he would not leave that evening.

In fact, he did not leave for three whole days. Neither of them did.

For three days she had him just for herself.

For three days they lay in bed tangled up in each other's arms. They laughed, they talked, they made love. They forgot everything about the outside world.

During their little talks they shared trivial things about themselves. She knew that he preferred the left side of the bed and she told him that she liked sleeping without any pillows. He laughed at her then threw the pillows from the bed.

They knew what the other liked to read. They knew each other's favorite food, their taste in music. He told her that he liked playing the guitar but he would feel awkward if he had to sing. She joked that they could form a band. She would sing and play the piano and he could play his guitar.

He smiled when she told him that she always wanted to be a dancer and she laughed out loud when he told her embarrassed that he had always wanted to be a garbage man as a child just because he liked their car.

Three blissful days passed away that way.

However, they were careful to avoid those topics that could any way remind them of their actual lives. She had no idea that he had lost a wife and a daughter. Just as she didn't know that his fourth marriage was over, too. As for his occupation, she could only guess. And she would never mention that she was a skilled assassin who was just on her way back from a mission. And she wouldn't utter a word about her little sister, whose life had been ended so tragically.

And they didn't know each other's names. It simply didn't matter.

For three days they could be somebody else, juts two ordinary people in the world whose life and death didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

He wasn't an ex-marine who had turned into an NIS agent and whose dreams were still haunted by his lost family. And she wasn't a Mossad officer who had been raised to be a ruthless killer.

They were just a man and a woman who had found something special in each other's arms.

For three days nothing else mattered… just the two of them.

And when after three days the train pulled into the next town, he was standing above her while she pretended to be asleep. He knew that he wanted to tell her something but he knew, too, that it was a very bad idea. They'd met at the wrong time and the wrong place… it just wasn't meant to be.

And after he had left, she began to cry. She had been aware from the beginning of the risk she was taking and yet she found herself unprepared for the realization that had just hit her. The feeling was breathtaking, overwhelmingly powerful and it broke her heart. She had fallen in love with a man whose love couldn't be hers, not there and not then.

When the train began to move again, she was sitting by the table, which she knew he was always sitting by, in the company of a glass of bourbon and looking out the window she could see a pair of icy blue eyes smiling a sad smile at her. She smiled back at the man and when his smile got bigger, she knew that there had to be another time and another place because they were meant to be, of that she was sure.

THE END

Aww, I think it turned out rather sappy. Sorry for that.

Thanks for reading!