"Be on the lookout, Tony. Ziva's got crazy eyes."

"C'mon McPussinboots, think I'm gonna let a little bit of Israeli intimidation ruin my morning? Ha ha, I don't think so. I'm on time, I had a hearty breakfast, and this is a clean pair of pants. All is right with the…"

"TONY!"

"SCKRAaaaagh….Oh haha hey Ziva how's it uhhh…..What?"

He blinked at her in terrified confusion a couple of times. Ziva didn't just look exasperated today. She looked murderous. And sad. And maybe hungry? He wasn't really sure about that last one.

"Nothing. I do not need to talk to you, I need to talk to McGee, and you were preventing me from getting his attention. So I got yours. I think I did a good job, yes?"

"Haaa…yeah. Well I'll let you kids hash it out. Boss asked me to meet him in MTAC first thing anyway. Have fun."

He raised an eyebrow at McGee and gave him a sympathetic grimace on his way up the stairs, figuring the poor guy had his work cut out for him if he was about to engage in a conversation with Ziva whilst in her current state of fury/hunger/whatever-the-hell.

Ziva watched, waiting until Tony was out of earshot before rounding on

McGee. "Do you think I'm stupid, McGee?"

"What? Why would you think that? Did I do something wrong? Wait I DID destroy those pictures of you, I SWEAR, I don't know what Tony's been telling you…"

Ziva sighed. Now she did just look exasperated.

McGee frowned in apology. "I'm totally off base, aren't I? I'm sorry. What's going on?"

Ziva almost smiled. McGee really was such an endearingly pleasant guy. That was why she had decided to talk to him about this first, before Abby. Abby would be way too perceptive, and she couldn't handle the overbearing compassion or sympathy right now. Of course, she wouldn't be discussing this with Gibbs. Even without the rules, he wasn't exactly known to be the gabby type.

Ziva gathered her thoughts before finally determining that - yes - she was actually going to discuss this with another human being.

"You are aware that I know the difference between a friend and a BOYFRIEND, yes?"

"Yeeeaaah…Well I mean I guess I figured that. Wait what are we talking about again here?" His brow was furrowed in confusion.

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Have you ever heard me refer to Ray as my 'boyfriend', and not just my friend?"

McGee squinted, appearing to think very strenuously about their past conversations pertaining to this subject. His eyes suddenly widened.

"Wait are you seriously saying that you haven't been dating him? Well why didn't you say something when we all assumed that you were…you know…together? And why did you take vacation time to spend with him? And go skiing? This is ridiculously confusing, Ziva."

"Well I'm sorry to drop this ball on you, but yes, we are just friends. Ray actually happens to be gay, and we are great friends who enjoy spending time together. It's not my fault everybody made assumptions."

"Bomb. You dropped a bomb. ANYWAY THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT. What is important is that you could have corrected us at any time, but you never did." He shrugged his shoulders, feeling duped and somewhat disappointed that she wasn't more forthcoming with him. "So…why?"

Ziva blushed. Well, McGee thought she might have, but since he'd never seen her do such a thing before, he didn't really have a reference point. What she definitely DID do was purse her lips and glance away for a second. If McGee didn't know better, he'd think she might actually be embarrassed.

It took Ziva a couple of seconds to start explaining herself. She began with a giant sigh, and when she did start speaking it was almost too quickly for McGee to follow.

"You saw how Tony reacted to my relationship with Ray. It was funny seeing him get so jealous. And also kind of flattering to see how much it concerned him. It was like a game almost, I guess. You know how we act around each other, we play jokes and tease and it's normally fun. But I did it wrong."

"What? I mean it was sort of like playing a trick on him, but you can just tell him the truth and the joke is over, right?"

Ziva looked down, thinking. McGee suddenly felt worried that she would start to cry for some reason. And then, a single tear actually did slip down her cheek.

"It's too late for that. I was stupid. So…stupid. I asked you if you thought I was stupid but honestly, I am for what I've done. There's no point in telling him the truth now."

McGee was disconcerted by her fatalistic attitude. "What do you mean, Ziva? I think I know how Tony feels about you by now and I bet he'd actually be pretty relieved to find out you're not in a serious relationship."

"Well you might think so McGee, but I do not. You were not here last night when I stood outside the showers and overheard the conversation that I did. There is no chance for correcting my mistake now. Tony has made his decision and it is now my fate to accept that and move on.

Now McGee was seriously concerned. "What could you possibly have heard?"

Ziva closed her eyes and shook her head. "It is not important. You can ask Tony if you really need to know."

McGee tried to think of a way to help her. He needed more information. He didn't like seeing his friend and partner acting so uncharacteristically defeatist.

He was about to ask her what he could do, when Gibbs and Tony came bounding down the stairs.

"Grab your gear. We got a dead marine." Gibbs paused at Ziva's distracted expression.

"Problem, David?"

"No problem, Gibbs…Right behind you."