It was the end of another case and the team was getting prepared to head home. Gibbs had already ran off somewhere, as he always does. Probably went for more coffee, even though it was already 11pm on a rainy Wednesday night.
Suddenly, Ziva's laugh interrupted the silence the three agents shared and McGee and Tony looked up, seeing the Israeli (well, now American-Israeli) looking at her computer, probably shifting through her emails.
"What's so funny, Zee-vah?" asked Tony with a smile, putting his backpack on his shoulder, getting ready to leave.
"Nothing." she said and looked at him under her eyebrows, traces of a smile edging on her lips.
He narrowed his eyes. Curiosity peaked and the desire to go home suddenly wasn't as big as a few seconds ago. He laid his backpack back on the floor and sauntered towards her desk, wanting to see what amused his friend so much. But Ziva quickly turned off the screen and frowned at him.
"What's the matter, Ziva, don't want me to see?" he grinned.
"No. There is nothing for you to see here." she answered back.
"It must be from Mr. Miami." "Is he sending you fake promises of a weekend together in sunny Florida? Or perhaps some new yacht he bought?" he cinically inquired.
"You are so jealous." she laughed heartily.
"I'm not jealous" he said defensively. "Why would I be jealous?" *besides the fact that he has you, of course* he thought.
"Whatever, Tony." she said as she rolled her eyes at him.
She thought he would now go away, but he was still standing there, right beside her.
"Anything else you wanted?" she asks him.
"You still haven't shown me what was so funny." he said, as if it was obvious.
"You never give up, do you?" she groaned exhaustedly and turned on the computer screen.
Tony smiled and watched as the screen slowly came back to life. But to his disappointment, he didn't see anything straight away. The screen was showing her email account, but he couldn't read the message itself as the font was too small and he was afraid he'd REALLY be pushing it if he leaned in just that extra bit to see what was in that damn email.
Meanwhile, Ziva was reading through the email again, noticing an attachment and clicking on it. An image popped up and Tony's eyebrows raised again.
"Is that a bottle of... Chablis?" he asked.
"Yes, yes it is." "We are going to celebrate with it." she said with a slight smile.
"Ok..., two questions." he said. "First, don't you hate Chablis?" he asked with a raised eyebrow "and second, celebrate what with whom?"
*How did he know I hate Chablis? No one knows that...* she wondered.
"No, I love Chablis. Why would you think I hate it?" she asked, pretending she doesn't know what he's talking about.
"Well, because you do. Seems like this guy has a lot to learn about what makes you click, Zee-vah" he teased and grinned.
"Oh, and like you know what makes me click..." she snickered at him.
"But I do, Zi, I do." he smiled.
"McGee, what is that word you use in texts when something is funny...?" she asked their coworker who was watching their conversation from his chair, waiting to see if anything interesting was going to happen.
"Um, there are man..." he started
"Ah yes, lol Tony! LOL" she said and laughed.
"What, you don't think so?" he asked. "I can prove it to you. In fact, let's have a little bet. I bet that I know more about you than Mr. Miami. I bet I know more about you than anyone else in the world!" he said, confident in his own words.
Ziva laughed at his sillyness, turned off her computer and grabbed her backpack. Before leaving, she turned to him and said: "I very much doubt it, Tony."
"So, if you're that confident, then why don't you accept it?" he asked daringly.
Ziva stopped in her tracks and considered the possibility. How much could he really know about her anyway? Sure, they were friends and got along well, they watch movies together occassionally, but he doesn't know her quirks or her fears and hopes.
"What would we be wagering?" she asked, curious.
"If I win, you go out to dinner with me." he said happily.
"And if I win..." she started.
"If you win," he sighed, "I will never bug your about your personal life. Ever."
Well, that, that was just too tempting for Ziva not to take. The incessant bugging and picking at her business would end.
"Very well, Tony. I will make 10 questions about me and only if you answer all 10 correctly, will I go out with you. Otherwise, you lose. Deal?" she said as she put out her hand towards him.
"Deal." he said and sealed with his hand in hers, warm palms touching.
McGee kept watching and after that he figured the show was ended for tonight, packed his pack and went home. Tony and Ziva followed suit and as they were getting out of the elevator to their cars, Tony said: "Oh yeah, have fun celebrating with Mr. Miami. It just might be your last." he winked and entered his car.
Ziva's mouth opened up a bit at his brevity but then she smiled and entered her car. Little did Tony know, that there was no Mr. Miami, at least not anymore. The bottle of Chablis was his "break-up present". The email she laughed at was from Abby about some dancing hippo she found on YouTube. But she still didn't know how he knew about her hating Chablis.
"I am going to have work on these questions" she thought to herself out loud.
A week passed and the faitful day had come and Ziva had prepared the 10 questions. Some were easy, but she made sure there were enough hard ones that would make sure Tony would not get all 10 right. They finished work for that day and met up in Abby's lab, the only place they would have the privacy to execute such a "face-off".
They walked in the lab and sat themselves on the chairs. Ziva pulled out a small piece of paper, straightened her sweater and faced Tony.
"Are you ready, my little hairy butt?" she teasingly asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be, Zee-vah." he teased back and smiled that goofy smile.
"Alright then. Question 1: What's my favorite dessert?"
"Pudding, blueberry pudding." Tony shot out without missing a beat. The quick answer took Ziva by surprise and allowed to briefly look at her and admire her, something he loved doing most. She looked as beautiful as ever to him. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail, accompanied by a soft, white cashmere sweater and jeans that hugged her legs in all the rights places. Tony knew he knew Ziva better than she thought he knew her and her dazzling appearance only added to his selfconfidence in this task.
Meanwhile, Ziva continued with her questions. "Tony..., Tony!" she yelled at him and waved her hand in front of his, getting his attention.
"Next question", she smiled. They were only getting started. "What's my shoe size?"
Tony paused for a second. "Eight", he said, remembering.
Ok, those were basics, she thought. Let's get a bit more detailed.
"What's my favorite band?"
*That was a tough one,* thought Tony. He knew they were some Israelis and that there were 2 words. *Come on, think.* *Got it!* he happily said in his head.
"Had.. Na.. something" "Just gimme a sec."
Ziva was impressed by now. She honestly thought he wouldn't have a clue, but he was getting really close to it now.
"Hadag Nahash!" he exclaimed, hoping it was right. Ziva nodded and he pumped his fist into the air.
"What zodiac sign am I?" she continued.
"Umm... Scorpio." he said.
She definitely didn't expect this. She wanted to continue with one of the hardest questions, but he stopped her.
"Wanna know how I know that?" he winked and smiled.
"Not.. particularly" she said slowly, looking at him under her eyebrows.
"Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway. It's the tattoo" he grinned.
*How did he know about my tattoo?* she wondered aloud in her head. That was going to be one of her questions!
"Good for you, Tony." she smiled. "What's my favorite perfume?"
Tony winced. She had lots of perfumes, and he liked them all. *Her favorite has to be the one she wears the most...* *Or maybe, the one she wears the fewest...*
"Obsession." he said slowly, praying he got it right.
Ziva was beginning to sweat a bit. She wouldn't mind going out with Tony, hell who was she kidding, she definitely wouldn't mind, but she kept wondering how does he know her so well.
"What's my favorite movie?" she said quickly, wanting to run from her thoughts.
"The Sound of Music."
*Ok, so he was bound to know that one, with him being a movieholic and all.*
"What's my favorite day of the week?"
"Thursday. The weekend is nearing and our caseload is the lowest. Plus, you get to eat cake for lunch." he smiled at her.
Only 3 more questions and he was passing without a beat.
"How did you know I hate Chablis?" She just had to know.
"I knew it!" he shouted. "Oh, and well, I found out last year at the NCIS Christmas party. This guy from Computing was coming on to you and he offered you Chablis. You took it, made some excuse about going to the bathroom or something and spilled into the sink."
Ziva was looking at him as if he was a ghost.
"Nah, I'm just kidding! You were pretty drunk and you told me yourself while we were drinking Merlot" he grinned, remembering past events.
"Ah yes, I remember now!" she smiled too.
"So, did that count as a question?"
Ziva blinked and narrowed her eyes at him. "Fine."
"Next question." Ziva gulped a bit. Maybe she shouldn't have put this one in. "What was my sister's name?"
Tony didn't say anything at first. He looked at her and he saw she wasn't entirely comfortable with the situation at hand. He stood up from his chair and went to her, holding her in his arms.
"Why did you put that in?" he asked.
"Maybe I thought you'd never get this far." she smiled amidst a few tears.
"We can stop if you want, Zi." he said gently, still holding her.
"No, no, I'm ok." she soothed him and told him to go back and sit.
"Tali. Tali was her name" he said quietly. Ziva just nodded.
"Last question, Tony." she smiled lightly.
"Bring it, Zee-vah." he replied.
She looked at the last few scribbles. She was evil, but there was no way he could know this one.
"What's my favorite sex position?"
Tony nearly fell off his stool. Then, it took him a minute to recollect himself and think. And think he did. Just as Ziva was going to tell him she didn't have time to waste, a flicker of a smile appeared on his face.
"Missionary." he said with now a full blown grin.
And now her mouth did form a perfect o-shape. *How in the world can he possibly know that?* Her mind was going crazy. But he was right. He knew her better than she ever thought. But how?
"How, Tony? Just how could you know THAT?"
"Again, Zee-vah, your memory seems to fail you." "You told me" he said with a self-satisfied smirk.
"When could I have possibly told you something like that?" she yelled.
He coughed and rubbed his chin a bit. "When we were undercover..."
And then she remembered. Damn her youth and the desire to tease the man she then barely knew.
So that was it. At least she thought so, but Tony had other ideas, so when he started talking, Ziva did not expect anything like this in her wildest dreams.
"Your favorite color is blue, because you think it represents beauty and a good heart. You read romance novels on your computer during work when everyone thinks you're updating BOLOs, you love chocolate ice cream and have once eaten a whole bucket of it in less than a hour. You once broke the candy machine because it wouldn't give you your Snickers bar. You bribed the repair guy the next day with 10 bucks if he never mentioned the accident to anybody. You snore when you lay in weird positions and you only stop if someone tickles you under your ear. And... you have a preference for Victoria's Secret." he finished with a whisper, making Ziva's blush rise to bloody levels of red.
Tony stepped back and just looked at her sort of lovingly and with a smile on his face. Ziva stood up and crossed the small distance that was between them, their noses almost touching.
"It seems I have severely underestimated you, Tony." she whispered and wrapped her arms around his neck, edging closer.
"Yes, yes you have, sweetcheeks." "Very unbecoming of you, it must be said." he teased.
"You have talked enough, Tony. Be quiet and kiss me." she said.
"Gladly." he smiled and kissed her slowly on the lips, before making it a bit more passionate.
When they parted, they were both breathless and with huge smiles on their faces.
"So, how about that dinner, Zee-vah?" he smiled.
"I am ready. Perhaps you can tell me something new, yes?", she smiled back.
"I love you." he said instantly.
"That's new." she confirmed.
"New is good?" he asked.
"New is very good" she said, right before taking his mouth again.