A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! I hope you all keep reading and enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any original characters.

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Ziva was sitting at her desk one morning at work. She had woken up extraordinarily early that morning and had come in a couple of hours before the other members of her team were going to arrive. She actually didn't mind being alone at work, though. At least she knew she could focus on strictly her work and actually get some of it accomplished. Ziva and Tony had been partners for years, and she knew that he did take his job seriously, but she always found it so difficult to focus on work when he was there. That could be partially due to the fact that he was always talking or cracking jokes and was just distracting. But Ziva was starting to believe that there was a deeper reason than that...

The elevator dinged behind her, but Ziva refrained from turning around to see who it was. She felt her hopes fall slightly when she saw McGee round the corner and head to his desk.

"Good morning, Ziva," he greeted. "You're here early."

"I couldn't sleep," Ziva replied. "So I came in to start on some work early." McGee nodded his understanding while he put down his backpack and took of his jacket.

"No sign of Gibbs yet?" he asked. Ziva shook her head.

"No, but I expect he will be here any time now," she replied. McGee nodded and sat behind his own desk and pulled out some paperwork of his own. Ziva and McGee were working silently until the elevator dinged again fifteen minutes later and Tony arrived at his desk.

"Well it is about time you showed up," Ziva said playfully to her partner.

"I was running a little late this morning. I overslept and realized I had to go back to my own apartment because I'd forgotten something. It was a long night," Tony added that last part with a wink and one of his signature smiles to which Ziva rolled her eyes.

"I am sure it was, Tony," she replied. She looked back down at her desk and accepted the fact that her ability to focus strictly on work was now gone for the day. Ziva was trying to continue with her paperwork, but instead her mind was wanting to focus on who Tony could have possibly been with the previous night. Why did she care? Why did it bother her when Tony made reference to other women?

"So, what's new with you, McGoo?" Tony turned his direction to McGee while leaning back in his chair.

"Uh-"

"Small talk's over," Gibbs barked as he came in carrying his coffee, as always. "Grab your gear; dead marine." Tony, Ziva, and McGee all hurriedly got their things together and headed for the elevator after their boss.

They arrived at the crime scene shortly thereafter which was a shed behind an old couple's house on the outskirts of town. Gibbs and his team walked over to the shed to begin their investigation. The dead man didn't appear to have any physical trauma and was just laying on the floor of the shed. Nothing in the shed had been moved. It looked rather puzzling from the beginning.

"Are you the one who found the body?" Gibbs asked the elderly man standing nearby.

"Yes, sir," the man replied. "Jack Fisher."

"Special Agent Jethro Gibbs," Gibbs said showing his badge. "Would you be able to answer a few questions?" Fisher nodded. "Alright. Why don't you start by telling me what happened."

"It's a very short story," Fisher began. "This morning, I came out to the shed to get my lawnmower. I opened the shed door and saw this young man laying on the floor. I was pretty shocked, but I went over to check his pulse; there wasn't one. I called the cops." Gibbs nodded and wrote Fisher's story in his notepad.

"Mr. Fisher, do you know this man?" Gibbs asked.

"No, sir, I do not," Fisher replied. "First I've ever seen him."

"So you have no idea as to why he would be in your shed?" Gibbs asked. Fisher shook his head.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied. Gibbs nodded, feeling slightly frustrated.

"Did you hear anything at all?" he asked. "Any loud noises or arguing or anything outside?"

"No, sir," the old man replied. "I didn't hear or see anything until I opened that door this morning."

"Is there anything missing from the shed?" Gibbs asked.

"No, sir," Fisher replied.

"Alright," Gibbs sighed. "Well, thank you for your time."

"Thank you, sir," Fisher replied. "And good luck." Gibbs turned away from the man and rejoined the team.

"What do you have for me?" he asked.

"ID says his name's Ryan Jacobs," Tony replied.

"Twenty-five years old, been dead maybe eight hours," Ducky informed Gibbs from the floor.

"Cause of death, Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"Well I really cannot tell at this point," Ducky began. "There are no wounds. Nothing that even suggests a struggle at all." Gibbs nodded and turned toward Ziva who was investigating around the shed.

"You find anything?" he asked.

"Not yet," she replied. "Whoever did this was good." Ziva continued searching. She walked all the way up by the road and didn't see anything until she reached the pavement. On the side of the street right on the edge of the grass, there were two drops of blood. "Tony!" she called. Tony hurried over to her.

"What?" he asked when he got there. Ziva pointed to the blood. Tony took a quick picture of it. "First piece of evidence yet. Good work." He gave her a quick wink and turned to head back to the shed.

"Well thank you," Ziva muttered sarcastically and turned around to look in his direction briefly. A couple seconds later, Tony looked back in her direction also and their eyes met. Ziva was expecting some sort of joke or sarcastic remark, but Tony did neither of these. A small, warm smile crossed his face, and he turned back away from her. Ziva turned back to the street, shaking her head, and swabbed a sample of the blood to take back to Abby.

"It looks like we're done here," Gibbs was saying when Ziva approached the rest of the team. "McGee, bag that padlock. He had to have busted it open; we'll get it tested for fingerprints." McGee obeyed the orders, and, realizing there was nothing left to do at the scene, Gibbs led them all back to the car.

McGee sat up front with Gibbs, so Ziva and Tony were in the backseat on the ride back to headquarters. Ziva was trying to fight the mixture of feelings she was experiencing. Tony was her partner and nothing more. There may be physical attraction, but that is all. After all, if Tony cared for Ziva as anything more than just a friend, why would he tell her when he was with other women? Ziva told herself that Tony did not feel anything more for her than friendship. She needed to believe that because she knew that she couldn't feel anything more for him than friendship either. She just couldn't allow herself to. Not after everything she had been through...

They arrived back at headquarters, and Ziva went to run the evidence down to Abby. In Abby's lab, Ziva told Abby about the crime scene and about how there had been nearly nothing there to find. The forensic scientist was frustrated by the lack of evidence she was expected to work with, but she promised that she would do what she could. Ziva thanked her and headed back upstairs. When she rejoined the team, she saw Gibbs and McGee sitting at their desks and Tony leaning against hers, so she approached him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

"Waiting for you," he replied.

"Why?" Ziva asked.

"Gibbs wants us to question the wife," Tony explained. "You're with me." He winked at her again, and Ziva felt her stomach flutter slightly.

"I'm driving," she said firmly.

"No you're not," Tony smiled and opened his hand to reveal the keys dangling from his finger. "Let's roll." Ziva sighed and followed her partner to the elevator wondering what exactly laid ahead of them.

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"So, you guys weren't even dating or anything?" Raya asked as her grandmother stopped the story for a moment.

"No we were not," Ziva replied. "We were partners, and we were friends. That is how we had always been together; the flirting, the tension."

"But you do start dating, right?" Raya asked. Ziva smiled and looked at each of her grandchildren and her daughter.

"Just listen to the story, dear," she said. "I promise, all of your questions will be answered."

"Did you guys end up solving that case?" Collin asked, more interested in the crime aspect of the story. Ziva laughed.

"Didn't I just say to listen to the story?" she reminded him.

"Well it sounds like a hard case," Collin said.

"It was," Ziva nodded. "And that day, I had no idea that it would be the last case that Tony and I would ever work on together."

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A/N: There's chapter 2! I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think!