A/N: There are several excellent Secret Santa-type fic exchanges out there, but I am not aware of any with a strong Zibbs contingent. We are a small - but proud! - group of writers. :) So, I had this idea that some of us who write Zibbs could have an exchange of our own. Seemed like a win-win: we would each get a story featuring romantic Zibbs as a gift to enjoy and the stories would also then get posted so that our faithful readers would have the pleasure of a nice influx of new stories, as well. I am thrilled to say that 7 others - each of them excellent writers - joined me for this adventure. I am honored to not only write alongside these women, but to also call each of them my friend.

Their stories will be posted to their profiles on this site; please, please, PLEASE do yourself a favor and go read them (and do them a favor and leave a review :D). In alphabetical order by pen name, they are iyimgrace, LauraEve24, MollyGibbs101, NotYetLostFaith, Sarah Withers, Sehrezad, and Woody2792. You may also see an extra story from some of them, which makes all of us double winners. =)

It was my extreme pleasure to write for my dear pal iyimgrace. We've been together a long time and I love ya, girlfriend. xoxoxo Her prompt/wishes included the following, which spoke to me to produce the story you're about to read: the "Gibbs/Fornell bromance," "badass Ziva," and "Borin is fun." =) I had a great time writing this and I hope you all enjoy it. It's eight chapters and should be updated fairly quickly. The rating will go up to T with chapter 6 and up to M with chapter 7.

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year and please know that I really, really appreciate your reading what I write. =)

The evening of December 26th …

Ziva's phone rang as she sat at her desk. She was alone in the bullpen at the moment. Tony and McGee had already gone home at her insistence. She'd assured them she could take care of the last of the paperwork as they had plans and she did not. Gibbs had made a coffee run, but he was coming back to give her a hand. She was too warmed by his offer to turn him down.

"David," she answered absently without looking at the display, her mind still mired in the report she was writing.

"Hey, girlfriend," came the warmly pleasant greeting from the other end of the line. "Don't you have anything better to do than work late?"

Ziva smiled as she recognized Abigail Borin's voice.

"Not really," Ziva answered honestly.

"Well, maybe I can spice things up for you on New Year's Eve," Borin suggested.

"Oh?"

"Gonna be in DC presenting at a Coast Guard training seminar for a couple of days. Not my usual gig, but the powers that be didn't give me a choice. It winds up that afternoon, but I was thinking I'd stay overnight and we could hang out. There's a party at the hotel where the seminar is going on that could be fun. Or, we could chill out in my room, open a bottle of champagne and watch Angelina Jolie kick some guy's ass on the movie channel."

Ziva grinned at her friend's suggestion. After Borin's first joint case with NCIS, she and Ziva had become good friends, though they didn't see each other in person that often. Ziva didn't have many female friends – two actually, both named Abby. She enjoyed both of them and this idea sounded good, although she'd subconsciously been hoping a certain someone might suggest they get together …

Just because hell was more likely to freeze over first, didn't mean a girl couldn't indulge in a little – or a lot of – wishful thinking.

She'd begun to consider just showing up at his house as she'd done on numerous occasions, and nearly turned Abby down in order to keep herself available "just in case" that opportunity presented itself, but that suddenly sounded entirely too desperate and pathetic.

"That sounds great – count me in," Ziva promptly decided, taking herself in a firm hand.

"Terrific." Borin gave her the name and address of the hotel and they set a meeting time for Ziva to come over. After mutual goodbyes, they hung up.

The Coast Guard agent tossed her phone up and down in the air, feeling nervously smug.

What Ziva didn't know about a certain hidden agenda for the evening couldn't get Borin skewered with a paperclip before the night even started.