Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2024-02-20
Words:
677
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
26
Kudos:
145
Bookmarks:
11
Hits:
1,830

left behind

Summary:

Tony gets a call.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

It was McGee that called to tell him. Tony had barely had time to think of a nickname, had barely got the "Mc-" out of his mouth, when he heard McGee echo his own name back and heard the tone. "Who?" was all he asked. Years working in a job like theirs, you get to know the tone.

Ducky.

Never has a name so mismatched a man. Although, Tony supposed he was whimsical and fun, in a way Tony could imagine people thinking ducks were. He'd always thought that much wisdom was wasted in one man's brain. If there was a way to spread it, to instill in others what Ducky held like a badge on his chest, well..

Tony missed a lot of things about NCIS. Lots of things he didn't miss, too. Ducky was firmly in the first category.

Telling Ziva was a challenge in itself. Not for her reaction - she handled it stoically, as she always did when it came to death, but for the look on her face as she calmly took the news. The dimming, ever so slightly, in her eye, subtle enough that you wouldn't notice it if you hadn't seen it a hundred times before. He could still see it now as he packed his suitcase.

"Put your suit in last."

"Thanks, mom."

"You always put your shoes on top and then you complain like a little-"

"How did I get by before I met you?"

"I ask myself that question every day."

Tony turned away from his bag to look at Ziva, hovering in the doorway with her head and arm resting against the frame. He walked over to her and instinctively she stretched her arms out, putting them around his shoulders.

"I'm gonna miss you two." He whispered over her shoulder as he enveloped her.

It became clear relatively quickly that Ziva couldn't come to DC for the memorial service. Their usual babysitter, Amelie, was out of the country visiting her sister who was backpacking, and it had taken Ziva a long time to trust her to watch Tali, let alone anyone else. Tony could understand her reluctance after so long away. Neither was there the option of bringing Tali. Both Tony and Ziva had agreed, way back when they decided to make a go of things for good, that being a family had to come with certain parameters. Both of them were very strict on the idea that they would allow Tali to experience any more heartache in her young life, or that she would be put into situations beyond her years as a result of them. Ziva and, as she tried to remind him, Tony himself, had experienced too much of that themselves as children. They wanted to protect her for as long as they could, and funerals were not something they could marry with a young child right now.

"Please remind Jimmy about checking the camera is set up so I can watch. I would not forgive myself if I-"

"Hey. Hey." Tony pulled back as he noticed a pinch in Ziva's voice. She tried to avert her eyes from his gaze but he pulled it back, a raise of his eyebrow as his head tilted to follow hers. "You think Ducky would give a crap? He'd look at you through those glasses and say something like 'Ziva.. memories are everlasting. It is only the physical form that melts away.'" Tony's accent, one of his best, he thought, cut through the air.

Ziva laughed. "Oh, Tony. No."

"What? C'mon."

Ziva and Tali dropped him off at the airport. He hugged one, then the other, then back again. He could count on one hand the nights they'd spent apart since they were reunited. He spent one last moment looking at Ziva's face. Memorising the small lines by her eyes, the way her hair fell onto her shoulders in a carefree way it never used to be able to, even when she pretended. And then, he turned his back and walked forward, ready to face the past.

Notes:

First thing I've written in god knows how long! hi!