Disclaimer: The owning and the nothing we're all so used to.
Spoilers: Dead and Unburied, but only if you were paying really close attention when Tony was searching through Ziva's desk drawer.
Summary: I'd call it a 'missing scene' from Dead and Unburied, but it's really a method for bleaching my brain after that Palmer/Lee scene. Be glad I wrote this and not the drunken karaoke fic I was considering. It's probably for the best; I doubt anyone would believe that Ziva knows all the lyrics to 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'
Tony leaned over the edge of his desk, watching as Gibbs disappeared around the corner. He had exactly two minutes and fourteen seconds to get out of the squad room. He grabbed his gear and headed to the elevator. He pressed the call button. The gears and cables whirred somewhere behind the doors, but that was all. He stabbed the call button, checking his watch. One minute and thirty-two seconds left. He pumped his fist triumphantly as the elevator dinged. He was home free with one minute and seven seconds to spare.
A familiar voice carried through the closing doors, "Hold that, please!"
Tony briefly considered the consequences of failing to comply with the request. All were highly negative. Still, he was behind on the daily one-upping war. His finger depressed the close door button just as a hand slid into the small space between the doors.
He met Ziva's glare with a sheepish grin and shrugged one shoulder. Rather than stepping into the elevator, she remained on the threshold, preventing the doors from closing. "In a hurry, Tony?"
"Something like that." He glanced at his watch. Fifty-three seconds left. He poked his head over her shoulder, glancing down the hallway and trying not to sniff her hair. He spoke softly into her ear, "Look, unless you want to explain to Gibbs why we're leaving before midnight, I suggest you get in here before he gets back from the bathroom."
She had slammed the heel of her hand against the close door button before he'd even realized she was in the elevator. The doors closed with a satisfying thud. "McGee escaped already?"
"Yeah, he went down to check on something in Abby's lab and never came back."
She nodded knowingly. "Ah, so that's why that one didn't work for me a few minutes ago. Honestly, I was getting used to the new Gibbs. It's been weeks since I've worried he's going to force us into having a summer party on the squad room floor."
"You mean slumber party?" Tony let his mind wander in its usual direction. "You gotta admit, that has possibilities…"
He didn't need to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes. The rode in silence for a moment before Ziva gave him a sidelong glance. "You think I overdid it with the hair thing?"
He wracked his brain trying to come up with an appropriate response. He finally settled on reaching out and pushing a thick, dark tress behind her ear. "I think your hair looks nice." He trailed his fingertips down her neck, reluctantly pulling them back as they came to the collar of her coat.
She ignored the contact and rolled her eyes again, turning toward him. "I meant this morning, when you stole my deodorant. McGee seemed suspicious. I think I may have pushed it too hard."
He groaned. "We've been over this. He hasn't figured it out. No one has. We're golden."
"Still…"
"Zeeeee-vah. Relax. It's not like you were yelling at me about leaving hair in your sink. Again."
She considered him carefully. "I suppose." She turned forward, continuing, "Regardless, you make an excellent point. You really should head home to shower and shave." She wrinkled her nose in mock disgust before grinning at him.
He decided to wipe the smile off her face. "You know, deodorant wasn't the only thing I found in your desk this morning." Reaching into the pocket of his pants, he produced a small, flat square. She stared into the semi-reflective inner elevator doors as he waved it in front of her eyes. "Now why would you need this at work?"
She turned deliberately, stepping toward him. He found that he couldn't retreat, but it was only partially due to the confines of the space they occupied. She was holding his gaze with an intensity he could only describe as gravitational. "You remember what I told you about the being a spy, yes…Tony?" She lingered on his name.
He tried to laugh, gasp and breathe all at once, unsure of why he thought he could have embarrassed or flustered her. "You aren't exactly in the spy game anymore."
He didn't understand how it was possible for her to keep getting closer without actually touching him, but she seemed to be doing just that. "Why do you think I have only one in my desk?"
The elevator dinged at the ground floor. Tony nodded a greeting to a probie he almost recognized as he and Ziva exited the building and walked to their cars, parked in adjacent spots.
He looked over the roof of his car, trying to keep his tone casual. "So…about an hour or so?"
"That should be fine. It will give me time to make dinner."
"A home-cooked meal, too? You really are the perfect woman, Ziva David."
"No strings attached just means I'm no one's puppet."
He held up the object he'd taken from her desk. "Think one will be enough?"
"If you think it will be you shouldn't even bother coming."
He watched her car as she sped off, laying a patch of rubber in the parking lot. The sudden remembrance of her last smile spurred him to get in his car and drive home. He decided he'd have to make it a cold shower if he was going to have to wait a whole hour.