I started writing Tiva a few months ago (it’s been due for a loooong time lol). I’m mostly writing chronologically, but I have pretty much their whole arc mapped out by now. I try to stick to the timeline because even though I write standalones mostly, they do build on each other and each of them brings something new to the next one.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about season 8-9, and the whole Ray-EJ thing that’s going on there. If you have followed my version of Tiva, you might be thinking that I kind of wrote myself into a corner. I had similar thoughts when I wrote my last fics, but honestly, these two are so in love after Somalia that it could not have been any other way. So the next big arc, which is taking the shape of a multichapter, will have to deal with them going on to date other people. I have given it a LOT of thought and I think what came out is going to strengthen what they have built. I’m really excited. So much so, that it’s hard not to jump on this multichapter, but write the next one-shot and another multichapter before that (both will cement me into that corner even more, I can already see that). But that’s another discussion.
Why would someone want to write about the era when Tiva was dating other people?
The mothership already established why Ray and EJ were doomed relationships from the start, and this is one of the reasons I find this season so interesting, them both being in relationships for the first time at the same time.
Why do they end up with other people to begin with? At first glance, it seems completely illogical, especially after Somalia. I don’t think it’s bad writing — of course the practical reason probably was to keep the will-they-won’t-they thing going on — but I truly think in the process they handed us something beautifully Tiva.
Even though Ziva says she is ready for her something permanent, she chose someone profoundly unavailable — partly because of Somalia. That healing journey is far from finished at this point. Yes, she did get her citizenship, yes, she did make it an NCIS agent, but that’s practical, not emotional recovery. So on paper, she is ready for the next step: after getting her professional life on track, let’s tackle the personal side of things. But Somalia runs deep and even without it, Ziva has always struggled with believing she deserves to be happy. I love her line in the spinoff “being drawn to someone who is not available is a form of self-sabotage”. The first time I heard it, my mind immediately jumped to Ray. She chose him precisely because he is unavailable, and it’s absolutely devastating how she cannot see this yet. The other reason behind Ray is that committing to someone who is available and a suitable partner would inevitably close the door on Tony and what they have at this point, which she is not ready to do.
The logic behind EJ I think also stems from Somalia. By now, Tony has no doubt he’ll never find a replacement for Ziva and I truly think he is content with that. Why? Because he is not ready to act on it, maybe he never will be, and he knows it. Also, he loves her and wants to be with her, sure, but anything is better than her being dead, so he’ll just go along with whatever. And in his choice to let Ray happen, we can already find their pattern that solidifies after Somalia and remains with them for more than a decade: Tony respecting her decision and freedom, no matter what, even if it costs them. Because what happened the last time when he had a problem with her life decisions? Rivkin happened, and her staying in Israel happened, and Somalia happened. This is the first time this pattern pops up and it will take more than fifteen years for Tony to eventually realize this is how he operates and change it — which is why the “you think I’m wrong, I think you’re wrong” scene is one of my favorites from the spinoff. But back to 2008. So there is no way Tony is going to get involved in the Ray-relationship, not even in season 9, when Ziva practically begs him to (which leads to one of the most heartbreaking Tiva scenes in the mothership, when Tony tells her to say yes to Ray).
And EJ happens because life doesn’t stop just because you are in love with someone who is dating someone else at the moment. But despite EJ, Tony doesn’t for a second pretend that Ziva is not his number one priority (“it’s just different for some of us”) — and I love this for him.
Where is my version of Tiva in all of this?
By now, my version of Tiva is practically an established couple without the labels. But Tiva doesn’t do labels. So the next thing they would do, as they always did, is to take a step back before it inevitably starts to mean too much. But instead, and I think this is what makes the Ray-EJ thing brilliant and canonically not out of character at all, so what they do instead is that they don’t use other people to take a step back — they use other people to take it a step further. By then, their relationship is clearly not primarily about sex anymore, and after Somalia, there is little room to deepen the emotional intimacy without inevitably putting labels on it. “I couldn’t live without you” now lives between them — even though Ziva kept hers for herself, but my version did show it to Tony through actions, without a doubt — so by turning to Ray and EJ, they give themselves the plausible deniability to deepen their emotional bond even further. Whatever they have become to each other can now exist — after all, they both have partners, so whatever they share is “just” friendship; therefore it’s safe, it’s allowed, it can now live completely legitimately. And this is the engine behind that multichapter I’m working on, this is what makes it Tiva, this is what makes it a Bad Habits entry, even though technically their FWB agreement (I know, by now it’s pretty hilarious to call it that, but they do, because what is the alternative?) is on hold and they are dating other people.
I cannot wait to write it.
