Hey, I'm finally updating!!! Sorry it took so long! Here is Ziva's story!

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or characters!


Smiling brightly as her plan panned out, Abby decided to forget about going around the table in order and nearly shouted, "Ziva, you go next!"

"Oh, Abby. I need more time, come back to me later," Ziva grinned and begged Abby to skip her.

Rolling her eyes, Abby responded, "No, you go now. I wanna hear what story you will share from the many adventures of NCIS partners Tony and Ziva."

The table chuckled at the Goth's description of the pair. Ziva sighed, "But there are so many." She rested her fork against her plate and looked up at the ceiling remembering all of their time together. An idea struck her and she looked at Tony, who smirked at her.

Gibbs teased in his gruff voice, "Gee, Ziver. There can't be that many good memories with Tony can there?"

Another laugh passed around there table. Tony shook his head and Gibbs patted him on the shoulder. Ziva pretended to glare at her boss, "Sure, there are. Okay, I picked one that is very recent. Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded and shouted "yes already". Tony looked at Ziva and muttered, "Uh-oh. This should be interesting."

Smiling at Tony's whispered comment, Ziva continued, "At Christmas, Tony and I were sent to pick up Tibbens from a bar and bring him in for questioning." Ziva paused seeing Tony smirk as he realized where she was going with the story. "Well, there was some…complications to our mission. Things were said and done and I reacted by subduing Tibbens."

People began to smile at Ziva's telling of the story, which they had heard so many versions of float around the building. She continued, "After I had him on the ground, I realized I had made a few mistakes. First, I took down a…" Ziva looked at Tony and squinted, "redneck in his own woods."

The table laughed at her analogy and Tony smiled broadly giving her a thumbs up, "You got it!"

Smiling proudly, Ziva kept talking, "So his friends were all there watching and ready to have his back. Second I have not had to physically fight with a person in quite some time so it took most of my attention. Third I turned my back on the whole bar and therefore created an opening. Lucky for me, my partner, Agent DiNozzo was prepared for my mistakes. Tony had my back and fought off three or more drunken rednecks to protect me. If he had not been there, I fear to think what could have happened."

Shaking his head slightly, Tony spoke up, "You would have been fine and if I'm remembering correctly, you ended up saving my butt after that big guy threw me on the pool table and was going to smash a bottle over my head."

Trying to stifle there laughter, the rest of the table waited to hear Ziva's response. "You held them off for quite some time before that and after I had handcuffed Tibbens, I turned to see you getting beat up on my behalf," she looked seriously at him and lowered her head determined to win the discussion.

"It really was no big deal. I'm your partner and partners are supposed to have each other's backs. Anyone would have done what I did while you took care of Tibbens," Tony argued with his female partner.

Biting her lip to keep from grinning, Ziva teased, "Tony are you saying that McGee would have done the same as you in the situation?"

Grinning back at her, Tony frowned, "Well, Probie would have hesitated longer than I did and he wouldn't have lasted nearly as long, but eventually he would have attempted to help."

McGee opened his mouth to argue, but Abby beat him to it, "Tony, Tim is a perfectly capable agent."

"Never said he wasn't, Abs," Tony smiled at McGee.

Finding his thoughts, McGee spoke up, "Tony and Ziva are right. I wouldn't have responded as well as they did. I'm too analytical."

"We all have different high points, "Gibbs told his younger agent. McGee smiled in satisfaction over Tony's indirect praise and Gibbs' indirect compliment. He knew it was the best he'd ever get from those two.

Suddenly Palmer refocused the attention back to the story, "Wait, Tony, you got thrown on the pool table?"

"Yes, Palmer. Yes I did. And Special Agent David saved me from having an awful headache," he turned his gaze steadily back to Ziva.

Ziva returned his gaze, "We will call it our truce for now. We saved each other. My point however was that you are a great partner and you have my back."

Still staring at Ziva, Tony replied, "And my point is you are a great partner and have my back and we make a great team."

The other members of the dinner party squirmed slightly as Tony and Ziva stared searchingly at each other. Gibbs muffled a knowing smile in his napkin as the partners were entranced with each other. Ducky tried to distract Palmer with a medical story. Abby smiled out right thrilled with the development between the agents while McGee smirked at her excited face.

After a minute, the two realized their trance and embarrassedly glanced to the rest of the table. Abby glowed with satisfaction, "Okay, Gibbs or McGee, who is ready to tell a story?"


REVIEW, it will help me to update faster!!!!