Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. What a surprise :P All hail DPB and co

A/N: I'm Australian so I don't celebrate Halloween - sorry if I get anything wrong. Also, this is my first ever attempt at writing romance... so don't expect too much. Tabby of course :P Hope you enjoy and happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Ozlex!

Costume Party

Tony thought something was a little strange as he wandered past Abby's lab on his way up from the parking garage. She was wearing black as usual, but her skirt hung a little lower than usual and her hair was loose instead of the high black ponytails. The outfit was unusual enough to make him do a double-take, but that happened more often than not where Abby was concerned. She didn't see him as he passed her lab, but he wasn't concerned. He'd find time to visit her and say hi sometime before she left.

He got the feeling something was definitely up when he entered the bullpen. McGee and Ziva weren't at their desks, but he could see their coats and bags so he knew they were in the building somewhere. Gibbs was halfway up the stairs to the balcony and Tony only saw his back. Gibbs seemed to be walking slower than normal, so Tony figured the boss had been ordered to the Director's office.

He saw a flash of black as Gibbs turned into Shepard's office, but the door closed before he could squint up any longer. "What the…" Tony muttered. He could have sworn Gibbs was wearing an eyepatch.

It was several minutes before McGee and Ziva returned. Tony busied himself with a computer game, but couldn't shake the feeling that everyone who passed his desk was staring at him. He ignored them all, focusing on blowing up Osama's head on the computer screen.

"Tony. You're back." Ziva's voice. She sounded surprised. Tony hit the pause button, lifting his eyes from the computer. His jaw dropped. Ziva was standing in front of his desk, dressed in long trousers, a white business shirt, a maroon tie and what looked like a black, floppy wig. On top of that, she wore a long black cloak and black round glasses.

"….Harry Potter?" Tony managed, finally finding some words. Ziva nodded, smiled and lifted her hand. She was holding a long brown wand.

"Correct." She winked at him and the wig shifted to reveal the bright red lipstick lightening scar on her forehead. "And… er…. what are you?"

Tony stared blankly at her until something white caught his eye. "Huh?"

The white thing walked towards them from the break room. It was holding something that looked suspiciously like a coffee mug.

"Tim." Ziva greeted him with a curt nod.

"Hey Ziva," the white thing which appeared to be McGee wearing a large sheet with eye-holes cut in it replied. "I was just getting coffee-"

"Wait, why are you wearing a sheet McGee?" Tony interrupted.

"What are you supposed to be Tony?" McGee said through the sheet.

"I asked first." Tony shot back.

McGee spun in a circle, the sheet billowing out around him. "Kinda obvious isn't it? I'm a ghost."

"Oookaay." Tony said, leaning back in his chair. "And that makes so much sense because-?"

"What are you, Tony?" The gruff voice came from behind as Gibbs took the steps two at a time on his way down from the Director's office.

"Boss?" Tony shook his head softly, convinced he was dreaming. Or delusional. Or just plain insane. His vision cleared, but Gibbs was still in front of him. And he was wearing an eyepatch. As well as a skull-and-crossbones vest. A sword hung from his belt.

"Hey Gibbs! Tony!" Abby bounded out of the elevator, now wearing a black pointy hat.

Tony glanced down at the date on his cell phone. 5:30 PM, October 31. He stood up, joining the circle of oddly-dressed agents in front of his desk. "What is this, dress-up day?"

Abby looked disappointed as she looked Tony up and down. "Yeah! Where's your costume?"

He glanced around the rest of the room. Sure enough, everyone was dressed in some sort of costume. Well, everyone except him. That explained the funny looks he'd been getting all afternoon.

"Didn't forget Abs, I didn't know. I've been at the stupid law-enforcement conference all week until about an hour ago. Gibbs made me go in his place."

Abby shot an evil glare at Gibbs, blaming him for Tony's lack of costume. She wrapped her arms around Tony, pulling him close. "Well its not your fault then. Come on, I've got some extra stuff in my lab, you can wear it to the party. You'll make the best vampire."

Tony stopped as Abby began pulling him toward the elevator. "Wait, the Director actually okayed this costume thing?"

Ziva laughed. "You haven't seen her yet?" She tilted her head up to the balcony. Tony followed her gaze. Sure enough, the Director, standing outside MTAC conversing with another agent, was dressed as a fairy, complete with a sparkly tutu and fairy wings. "She came up with the idea! Something about morale building… but she said we have to remove the costumes if we leave the building on a case."

"Well, how would it look for Harry Potter to shoot someone in the street?" Abby giggled. "C'mon DiNozzo," She tugged on his arm.

It wasn't until they were down in her lab and she was digging through a drawer for a set of vampire fangs that he remembered something Abby said. "What's this about a party Abs?"

"Oh, right." She popped her head up from the drawer. "You really need to read your emails, Tony. Party after work, Halloween theme. Everyone's just wearing their costumes from today."

"Do I have to go?" Tony groaned. The three days stuck at the law-enforcement conference had been some of the most boring days of his life. And while he liked the people he worked with, Tony knew from experience how exciting an NCIS party would be.

"Yes." Abby said firmly, pulling his jaw down and slipping the fangs into his mouth. "It'll be fun." Grabbing a comb and some gel, she slicked his hair back and powdered his face with white make-up. He'd already been wearing a black shirt and trousers, which Abby approved of so she pulled a long cape-like cloak from her rack and slung it over his shoulders. "Perfect."

He caught a glimpse of himself in the reflective surface of the mass spectrometer and froze. "God, Abby, you can't really expect me to wear this!"

"You're wearing it, DiNozzo." Gibbs said. Tony spun, biting back a laugh at the sight of his tough-as-nails boss still dressed in pirate garb. Gibbs smirked at him.

"C'mon you two. Car's waiting."

Abby smiled evilly at him, taking his hand as they followed Gibbs out to the car.

NCISNCISNCIS

The music was loud enough to make the icecubes in his drink vibrate, and by Tony's standards, that was indicative of a great party. He smiled as he watched Abby dance by herself, her fingers flailing wildly with the music. Ziva was also out there, dancing with a nerdy guy from admin who was dressed up as Spiderman. Tony grinned. It must've been the Harry Potter costume. Strangely enough it made Ziva seem a little less threatening and a little more approachable. Gibbs sat with Ducky at a table in the corner of the room. Ducky was dressed as James Bond in a black tuxedo. Tony guessed he hadn't performed any autopsies today.

Even with the hair gel and white skin, Tony still found himself surrounded by a bevy of women, several of whom he recognized from the typing pool. Unfortunately, between the lighting and the costumes, he couldn't pick out any more than a few faces and no names. Women like to be remembered and recognized, this Tony had learnt throughout his life so, in fear of someone's drink spoiling his costume when he couldn't remember their name, he excused himself, joining Gibbs and Ducky's table.

"Looking sharp there Ducky," he said sitting down.

Ducky smiled at him. "And yourself. It seems you've been locked indoors for too long with the white makeup."

"Not far from the truth, Duck. Gibbs made me go to the law-enforcers conference."

Gibbs smirked. "Better you than me."

A minute later, Abby was at the table, smoothing down her witch costume. "You know, this party actually doesn't suck!" She held out a hand to Tony. "Although McGee's dancing does. Dance with me?"

Ducky chuckled and Gibbs gave Tony a look that said 'refuse and I'll send you to every law-enforcers conference in the country.' He didn't need the motivation to get up, he loved dancing with Abby anyway, so he took her hand and let her lead the way to the dancefloor. The music changed to a slow, almost spooky melody and Abby wrapped her arms around Tony's neck. "I'm glad you came," she whispered.

Tony grinned as they swayed with the ghostly melody. "Me too." The tempo quickened slightly and they moved with the music, Abby accentuating the dance with twirls and spins. They'd been clubbing together enough to be comfortable dance partners, even to a slow song like this one.

Gradually, the tempo increased to an intense beat and Abby and Tony found themselves pressed up against each other, winding between the other couples as they danced. Gibbs, Ducky, Ziva and McGee watched from the sidelines, amused at the whirl of black easily outshining everyone else.

"I didn't realize Tony could dance like that," Ziva said to McGee.

He nodded. "I didn't know they could dance like that together."

The song quickened again until Abby was spinning continuously on Tony's arm, her black dress ballooning and flowing with the motion. It stopped suddenly and she collapsed, breathless in his arms, huge smile spreading on her face.

"That was cool."

Tony smiled back. On impulse, he leant forward, kissing her. To his surprise, rather than recoiling him and slapping his face, she grinned, returning the gesture. Her arms wrapped around him and they held each other in the moment, their eyes locked.

The need for air overwhelming their passion, they split, hands still linked and emerged breathless from the dancefloor. Gibbs, Ducky, Ziva and McGee had returned to the table, the crowd on the dancefloor obscuring their view of Tony and Abby.

"About time you kissed me DiNozzo," Abby whispered, squeezing his hand.

He grinned back at her. "Never knew you were interested Abs."

"Well I am. Let's get out of here."

Their hands parted as they neared the team's table, Tony grabbing his cape from the back of the chair. "Uh boss, we're gonna go."

"You know, we've got trick-or-treating to get to." Abby added with a cheeky smile.Gibbs raised an eyebrow but nodded and Abby and Tony left. McGee glanced at his watch.

"Trick or treating at 1am?"

It was only in the cab as it drove away from the party that Abby realized her face was still smeared with Tony's white makeup.

The End.

Love to hear what you think :)