Yup, still not mine.

So I'm glad that people are enjoying this and I too think that Jimmy stories are severely lacking, hopefully Jimmy will have a bigger role next season because I adore him and I would love to see more scenes between Tony and Jimmy like we had in 'Bounce'.

Setting: Between 'Hiatus' and 'Shalom'

Spoilers: Slight spoilers to 'Hiatus'

Jimmy Palmer blinked owlishly at one Tony DiNozzo, not really understanding what the older man was doing at his front door with a basketball. They had spent more time in the NCIS building than their own homes for the better part of the last three weeks and tempers that were already short due to Agent Gibbs' abrupt departure had been getting shorter before the director had finally stepped in and told Tony, McGee, Ziva and Lee that she didn't want to see them in the building until Monday. The last time Jimmy had seen Tony was shortly after a meeting with the director and the other man had looked, for the lack of a better word, frazzled. Jimmy was sure that whatever plans Tony had for his first free weekend since shortly after Agent Gibbs left would not include seeing or hanging out with his coworkers so what was he doing standing in the doorway to Jimmy's apartment? Better yet, how did Tony even know where he lived?

"So are you gonna to let me in or what?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry," answered Jimmy moving aside so that Tony could make his way into his apartment.

"Nice place you've got here, Palmer," commented Tony as he looked around before making a beeline to some pictures arranged on the one free shelf of his bookcase.

"Thanks. Um, not that I mind the company or anything but why are you here and why do you have a basketball anyway?"

"You can't play basketball without a basketball, Palmer," he answered without looking up from the photos that had caught his eye from the moment he had walked into the living room. Of course Jimmy knew that but what he still didn't get was what Tony was doing here at his home with a basketball. "Say, is this your nephew?" asked Tony pointing to the picture of Kevin that his sister had sent him just last month.

Jimmy blinked at the sudden change of the direction their conversation had taken before getting closer to see the picture. "Yeah, that's Kevin, my sister, Lauren, emailed me that photo last month."

"Cute kid," he said placing the frame back in its rightful place on the shelf. "As to why I'm here, it's cause of the kid."

Jimmy blinked, okay now he was definitely lost.

"Didn't you say that your sister and your nephew were coming to visit next week?"

"Yeah," he said still confused. What did a visit by his sister and nephew have to do with Tony's visit?

"You mentioned that Kevin was a basketball fan," Tony replied as it if that explained everything. It honestly didn't. Tony sighed; obviously Palmer was a bit slow on the uptake today. "You said that your basketball skills were kind of rusty," he said finally stating what he was doing at the younger man's apartment on a Saturday morning.

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did, during the Merri case."

"But that was like two weeks ago," Jimmy said surprised. He honestly didn't remember telling Tony that he was a bit rusty at basketball but apparently the other man had remembered and he was touched that Tony would give up his Saturday morning to help him.

Tony shrugged, he liked Palmer and helping make sure that he didn't get creamed by a seven-year-old was the least he could do. The young assistant had, after all, been there for Tony when he needed someone to vent to or to bounce ideas off of.

"So is there a court near by?"

"Yeah, there's one ten minutes from here, let me get changed and then we can go."

Two hours later both men were exhausted but they had obviously enjoyed themselves. Tony was pleasantly surprised to find that Palmer wasn't as bad at basketball as he had initially thought; actually, he was pretty good and Tony made a mental note to invite him along the next time some of the other agents or his frat buddies had game. For his part Jimmy had a great time with Tony and he happily noted that half an hour into their impromptu game Tony had stopped going easy on him.

"Not bad, Palmer," said Tony, "you know, sometimes some of the other agents and I get together for a game when we have some downtime you should totally come by sometime."

"You mean it?"

"Yup."

"Thanks, Tony," Jimmy said as a smile spread across his face.

The two remained silent for awhile enjoying the companionable silence, something that still surprised Jimmy. Tony was known for his ability to talk about just about anything; in fact, Ziva and McGee often complained that the senior agent couldn't stay quiet, always having to fill the silence so who would have thought that Tony actually did enjoy comfortable silences?

"There is one thing I'm curious about though," said Jimmy breaking the silence.

"Hm, what's that?"

"How'd you find out where I live? I don't think I ever told you."

"You didn't."

"Then how?"

"I'm a trained investigator, Palmer," deadpanned Tony.

Jimmy arched an eyebrow, while he was sure that Tony was more than capable of using his investigative skills to find his address he was pretty sure that there was more to it than Tony was letting on.

"Okay fine, I asked Marci down in personnel."

"Is she the one who's—"

"Yup, that's her," Tony replied with a slight grin.