A/N: Thanks to reviewers, but hey, I have to have some sort of thing between Ziva/Charlee. Trust me here, k? There will be Tiva some day. ;) Anyway, I don't own NCIS, though I would buy it if I had the money.

-

Ziva awoke, opening her eyes to bright sunshine streaming in through a window. She blinked once, twice. This place didn't belong to her, that much she knew. She lurched forward and grabbed her gun, pointing it around the room until finally directing it at the sleeping form beside her. Her blood ran cold. Had she seriously slept with Charlee? They'd just gone out for drinks! Tony'd kill her if he found out.

Who says he needs to find out?

This wasn't right anyway. Then again, the FBI agent was rather handsome. She smiled and shifted slightly, grabbing for a robe that hung on the bedpost. The movement woke Charlee, who turned to her with tired eyes and exclaimed, "Ziva! What a night. A bit too much alcohol."

She laughed and nodded. "I have to go to work, Charlee. Gibbs will be expecting me, and Tony will never let it go if I get there after him."

"Is he always late or something?" he asked, staring at her with a half-smile still present on his face. "I don't get to work too early, but not too late, either."

"It is part of my training to be ready early," Ziva nodded to him, before realizing that he wouldn't know her background. "My apologies. I am former Mossad."

"Ohhhh…" he paused, staring at her for a few seconds. "Oh well, that doesn't change anything. You're still beautiful and NCIS and everything. But what does that make you now?"

"I am a probationary field agent before I take my citizenship test," she acknowledged. "However I have worked with NCIS for almost five years now."

"As Mossad?"

"Liaison, yes. I have only recently resigned from Mossad."

"Why did you quit?"

"It is complicated, and a long story."

"I have time. Tell me."

"Charlee, my past is not a good thing. Tony would probably enjoy telling this story more," she mused. "I have been Mossad since the moment they let me in, as were my younger sister and older brother. My father, being director of Mossad - now, anyway - was very pleased. This is not important, however. Things happened and I left NCIS for a short time, leaving Gibbs and McGee and Abby and Tony and such, though I can not truthfully say I missed Vance."

The younger agent grinned at this. "Okay."

"I did not leave on good terms. I have yet to know exactly what happened when I was gone, but I've gotten a bit of insight from Abby and Tony. Abby, McGee, Tony and Gibbs never stopped looking for me after I left. Eventually, they found that the ship I was on had sank… there were no survivors. However, they never stopped looking for me. Eventually they found that I had last been held captive by a man named Salim."

"Ohh. Wow," he stared at her, realizing only now what her scars were from.

"I believe Tony became obsessive with this. They believed I was dead and he sought revenge. At some point - I did not keep track of the months - I was brought into a room and I saw them for the first time in months. Tony, battered and dirty as I. McGee, much the same on the floor. Thus they saved me."

"How?" he pushed.

"Charlee, I do not have time. I need to get to my apartment and then get to work, now. I will see you later, providing the FBI and NCIS work together," she leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before she left, discarding the robe and slipping on her clothes from the night before.

--

"Why are you late, Zeee-vah?" Tony asked, leaning back in his chair smugly as he watched her enter the office. "Was last night's drinks with Charlee a bit more… frisky?"

"How did you know I went for drinks? Nevermind, Tony, mind your own business," she snapped, depositing her bag beside her desk. He just grinned at her in return and she rolled her eyes. Why were men so jealous? So driven for only one thing?

No, that was unfair to say that of Tony. He'd grown up quite a bit. She remembered the times she'd tested him, tried to let him know that he needed a real woman, he needed her. That was before Rivkin. Nothing was the same now anyway. They were still close, yes, but that amount of tension that existed before didn't quite now. She was changed, as was he, by Somalia. They'd never be the same (somehow she didn't mind that too much, though a small bit of her mind yearned for the old Tony back, after Jeanne, before Somalia).

Gibbs came down the stairs from MTAC, looking rather angry. Smug FBI agents stood behind him, though she noticed that Charlee was not one of them. Good. She could do without the whole jealousy thing between her partner and him anyway.

The stopped in front of them as Gibbs begrudgingly broke the news. "Vance has arranged for us to work with the FBI in a joint investigation. He thinks it will do us good."

His last words were dripping with sarcasm. Ziva fought back a smile and nodded formally, though she couldn't help noticing Tony's wide grin that had broken out as soon as Gibbs had spoken his last sentence. She gave in to temptation now and grinned just as widely as Tony, who noticed and winked.

The FBI must think they're crazy.

"Umm… I'm Agent Cherry Fen, this is Agent Zachary Tenant, and Agent Justing Krew. Agent Charlee Hunter will be here shortly. I believe you have already met him," the agent nodded with a knowing smile to Ziva.

She just rolled her eyes in return, catching Tony waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Though if she looked closer, she could have seen the hurt in his eyes, the hurt present for his suspicions were true. Ziva kept her voice straight, trying not to get angry at the FBI agent already, as she spoke, "Yes, I have met Agent Hunter. Thank you, Agent Fen. Gibbs…"

The Isreali walked to her boss and whispered something to him before he nodded and she left for the elevator. She'd wanted to go see Abby to "see what she has." However, when the elevator doors slid open, her heart sank. There stood the last - no, second-last - person she wanted to see right now (at least it wasn't Tony). Charlee smiled at her, holding a cup off coffee out to her.

She gladly accepted it though only pretended to take a sip. "Char, hello. I am on my way to see Abby. Are you accompanying me?"

"Why not? They don't expect me for another twenty minutes anyway. So how're you doing, baby?" he flashed a million dollar smile at her that she recognized as one Tony often used, but not quite the same.

She let 'baby' slide. For now, anyway.

"I'm good, though I could do without Tony's constant jealousy," Ziva admitted, rolling her eyes. "He somehow found out about… last night. Or guessed, anyway, and Agent Fen seemed to have solidified his suspicions."

"I can take care of that?" Charlee offered, gently taking the coffee cup from her hand and putting it down on the floor next to his.

"No thank you," she paused. "Tony has shown he is very… resilient and I doubt you would win such an encounter."

"You want to bet?" he whispered, kissing her gently. She smiled but pushed him back anyway.

"I'm at work, Charlee," she scolded, "and so are you. But trust me, if Tony can survive Riv - err, Mossad, he will not be swayed by anyone else."

"That's a story I've got to heart sometime. Anyway, see you later," the man grinned, and despite his earlier scolding, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her with more flare this time. She melted, but quickly found herself having to pull away as the elevator door slid open again.

"Bye, Charlee. I will see you later."

***

As the elevator doors slid open, once again at the floor of the squadroom, Charlee was met with an angry looking man. Ziva's partner. He inwardly groaned and backed up, politely allowing Tony to stand beside him as he obviously wanted to talk.

"Agent DiNozzo," he acknowledged, voice neutral.

"Agent Hunter," Tony's voice was obviously more aggressive.

"Just skip the small talk, DiNozzo, what do you want?" Charlee rolled his eyes before continuing, not allowing the other man a word. "Oh, I know, you're jealous. Ziva's mine."

"She's not a possession, don't you dare treat her like that!" Tony growled, fist hitting the button to stop the elevator. He turned to look Charlee in the eye.

"Jealous?"

"I have a… right to be like this," he breathed slowly, trying to control his anger. "Ziva and I have been to the end of the world and back together. I went half way across this God damned Earth to rescue her! I suffered months without her! For God's sake I thought she was DEAD!"

Tony's words shook Charlee. He stepped back with wide eyes and just stood, mouth agape, unable of saying anything else. They stood for several moments until the younger agent finally said - quite boldly - "I don't care what you've done. Ziva's… Ziva's not yours."

It took all of the NCIS agent's strength not to hit his companion. He simply slammed his fist into the emergency stop again, starting it up, and rode down to Abby's lab to cool off. As he walked in the door, music assaulted his ears.

"Tony! Hey!" Abby called, and he walked toward her.

"Hey Abbs…" his eyes scanned the lab, though when his eyes found Ziva he wanted to cry. She wasn't what he wanted to see now, not at all. He wheeled around and stormed out, cursing under his breath.

Charlee. Ziva. This was not worth it.