Light from the rising sun leaked into the room and onto his face while he tried to sleep. Try as he might, he couldn't ignore it and sleep had now evaded him.

"Damnit" He mumbled sleepily.

Tony slowly sat up rubbing his eyes as his head began to pound. He grabbed his stomach as it began to twist and turn involuntarily. He looked around the room and suddenly realized that he wasn't in his apartment. His eyes trailed to the pair of clothes that he saw leading from the door onto the bed.

"Ok, Dinozzo think! What happened last night? Where was I and who was I with?" He thought to himself

Suddenly he heard the handle of the front door as someone entered the apartment. Who ever lived here was light on their feet because he could barely hear them walking towards the room. Trying to rush, Tony slipped on his shirt and leaned against the bed to put on his pants. Hearing a door shut, he realized that this could be his only chance to escape the impending awkward moment. Tony tiptoed to the front door and was nearly out when he heard a familiar voice.

"You are going to leave without saying goodbye then?"

As Tony pieced together the voice with the horrible English, his jaw fell to the floor.

"No, this can't be right, I MUST be dreaming." He said under his breath

Annoyed that Tony still had not turned around, Ziva walked over to Tony and slapped him in the back of the head. Feeling the amount of force that she put into the hit, Tony spun around and confronted the probie.

"Did you just Gibbs-slap me?!"

"You thought you were dreaming and now I have confirmed that you are not. Problem solved."

"You couldn't think of a less painful way to do that like... oh I don't know... pinching me?!"

He asked incredulously

Ziva's brows wrinkled as she studied his posture.

"Somebody fell off the side of the bed this morning." She said plainly.

"Woke up. It's Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." He corrected her

"Why would waking up on the bed annoy someone. If you fell off the bed then you would have cause to be annoyed, yes?"

Tony stared at her while his mind processed what she had just said. It's true that she was an intelligent woman and even though she butchered American idioms, her reasoning always made better sense than the actual saying itself.

God she is beautiful. He thought to himself. Even though it was evident that she'd just gone for a run, she was still show-stoppingly gorgeous. He fought the urge to reach out to stroke her face with his finger and tuck a strand of her curly lock of her hair behind her delicate ear. How could she have this effect on him? Was everyone and everything back at NCIS THAT much of a distraction to him that he never felt this pull before or maybe it was the fact that she was standing so close to him that he could feel her breath on his neck, making the hairs on his arm stand. As much as he wanted to sink into her gaze, rule #12 reverberated in his mind as he pictured a very unhappy Gibbs... and Tony knew, as well as Ziva and everyone else, no one likes unhappy Gibbs.

Tony walked over to the kitchen, opened Ziva's dishwasher and pulled out a small mug and filled it with freshly brewed coffee. Before he could bring the cup to his lips, he noticed a certain former Mossaad agent standing in front of him, arms crossed across her chest, giving him the Gibb's stare.

"What?" He asked as he sipped his coffee slowly.

Ziva studied Tony, as she often did. His strong jawline danced as his lips moved to the stories of his heart. Oh how she could walk this show forever. Then sometimes, even just for a second, amidst the tales and foolish rambling, Ziva would catch a glimpse of Tony, beyond "The Dinozzo Show", act that he carried on and ache for him. The real Tony. The Tony whose eyes stared into her soul and made her stomach flutter, when he didn't know she was looking. The Tony that cared for her well-being even in times when she did not. The Tony that wasn't afraid to act in her favor even if that favor angered her to the point of exhaustion.

"I believe you were attempting to sneak out while I was in the restroom." She said playfully

Tony stared at her in silence, knowing that he could never get anything past Ziva. She was just too damn smart. Tony grinned.

"...And now you are drinking my coffee." She continued

"I see." She said with a smile.

"What? What do you see?" Tony asked nervously.

Ziva chuckled.

"You did not know that you were in my apartment which is probably because you have not been in my bedroom before. Tsk tsk tsk Anthony Dinozzo, were you trying to sneak out on me?" Ziva teased him

She slowly walked towards Tony, her eyes never leaving his, and gently took the cup from his hand.

"Shame on you Tony. You were not going to stick around for round 2?" Ziva asked, smirking then sipped from his cup.

Tony's eyes grew dark as he stared Ziva down, but she wouldn't budge, as was to be expected from his ninja. His mind raced trying to think of something smart to say to change the subject, but he couldn't wrap his mind around what Ziva had just confirmed. He assumed, seeing her intimates strewn around her bedroom, that something had happened, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. And now she just admitted it. Tony smiled. He tried not to notice her lips part and touch the very same spot where he'd just drank from. Such a small, innocent act had him trying to catch his breath as he felt a low growl in the back of his throat. He was thirsty. Tony, taking a deep breath, calmed himself as he willed his body to move away from Ziva's sightlines. Be cool. Be cool. Be cool. Be cool. Be cool. He mentally repeated.

"Would you like me to fill in the gaps about the events from last night?" Ziva asked with a smug grin on her face.

"No need, I already know." He interjected.

"Too much tequila." They said in unison.