Title: Secret Smile
Author: Trista Groulx (dustytiger)
Disclaimer: I am currently unemployed and write fic as a way to escape please don't sue, I don't own NCIS it still belongs to it's creator, writers, actors and actresses who bring it to life weekly. I also don't own the song the title comes from it's by Semisonic.
Summary: DiNozzo and Cassidy have always seemed to have something smouldering under the surface. What would have happened between them if she had joined the team?
Notes: I have recently started to be able to stream TV shows, and I had a Cassidy-a-thon and the thought came to me what if Cassidy had been the new member of team Gibbs? Sadly, I'm not up for a full on AU walk through the tulips, but this is a little something of what may have been. I really like these two together and I hope to write them again.
This is a five part fic, and I will update daily. I don't have bits half written or a nagging thought rolling around in my head so five is it on this kids, sorry. I have other ideas in my head, but I also want to give my original work some attention while I'm soul searching so I can't promise what might come next. Enjoy the fic!

Anthony DiNozzo was sitting across from Paula Cassidy eating sushi. She was on temporary assignment in the states, and he was glad to be able to spend time with her. They didn't often get the chance to do anything low key as they usually saw each other only in passing and both knew how the other liked to spend the time they had together.

"Are you okay, Paula?" he asked her, noticing she looked like she was falling asleep.

"Hm? Yeah," she replied. "I just haven't been sleeping well."

"It's hard to sleep in an unfamiliar bed."

"I've never had a problem with that. I must be sharing a hotel wall with a porn star on her honeymoon with all the noise she makes."

DiNozzo chuckled. "We could give her a run for her money?" he suggested with a sly smile.

She looked up at him and shook her head, there was a lopsided smile on his face, not that she was surprised. The two of them certainly had a unique relationship since they'd known each other. It wasn't something they intentionally tried to keep secret, but neither was sure who knew about it. There had always been something smouldering between them and they chose not to fight it. They also chose not to talk about it and let it play it's course.

"You know I'm not a screamer Tony," she reminded him.

He grinned. "You could fake it or you can just come over to my place."

Goosebumps formed on her skin just thinking about it. She knew exactly what would happen if she went to his place. It didn't matter that she was exhausted there was a certain pull when they were alone together. It had been there from the moment they had first met. After that first encounter she often wondered what his interest in her might be, but didn't argue when he wanted to do the same thing whenever they would have a chance to see each other. He took her hand and squeezed it; it felt like electricity was surrounding them. In that moment she knew exactly how the night was going to play out, she wasn't going to fight it anymore, no matter how tired she might be.

"How much more sleep am I going to get with you next to me?" she laughed.

"You've never complained before," he reminded her.

"You're never going to change."

"Do you want me to?"

"Not really," she admitted. "Come on let's go to your place, at least there I have some hope of getting a little bit of sleep, and if that doesn't happen at least I'll be less stressed out tomorrow."

He laughed then paid the bill out of habit. His father had always told him that you pay for a lady when you took her out. He had also tried to teach him more about the ways of love but those lessons never stuck. The only one that did was the unmentioned lesson where you don't let your guard down with a woman; the reasons both Anthony DiNozzos had a string of women behind them. It was why he always called his relationship with Paula Cassidy a friendship instead of something more; although she too called it a friendship and nothing more. It was part of what made everything work between them.

"You didn't have to that," she told him. "It's not like we're dating."

"I wanted to, who taught you how to say thank you?"

"This from a man who's been told not to say he's sorry," she reminded him.

"I will say it when I mean it."

"Thank you Tony," she told him honestly.

"You're welcome Paula," he assured her.

They left the restaurant and made their way to his car. She'd met him and her car was still parked in the hotel parking lot where she was staying. She knew exactly where they were going, she had been there before, and he soon pulled up to his apartment complex. They went up to his unit, which seemed to never change, it was always clean to a fault. He barely had the door locked when her hands snaked around him. He knew exactly where this was going to lead like it always did with him.

"I thought you were tired," he reminded her.

"I thought I was too, but while we're here, we may as well," she told him ghosting her fingers up his back smiling at him.

"Who am I to argue with that?" he asked, pulling her close, his hands on her hips.

They both knew this was how the night was going to end, they had known it from the moment it had started; even when as they had tried to change it they had known what their friendship was all about, still they called it friendship. Neither of them wanted to have to answer questions from anyone, somehow it was easier that way.

It was nice to be with a woman he already knew. He didn't have to guess about what she liked, and didn't like. They didn't have any awkward moments fumbling around in the dark afraid to be the person who made the next move wasn't a problem now. Even still they both knew that this could be the last time they would be able to be together never knowing when or where she might be assigned next.

They were both happy with what they had found in each other. They wanted to make the best of the time they had together since it always seemed to be fleeting. She would come back for some reason and they would spend as much time together while they could. The arrangement worked for them both and neither had any reason to rock the boat. Neither of them wanted or needed anything more than the touch of a familiar lover.

Notes: So that was part one. I love these two together and I hope that others do as well. Sorry again for the small chapter sizes but try as I might this what the muse gives me.