A/N This chapter was giving me some problems, and it was really long, so I split it into two. This half (now officially dubbed Ch 3) is the fluffy half, so enjoy and please drop a review!

Ch. 3

"Hey, Zi, you here?" Tony hollered into her apartment.

"In the kitchen," Ziva called back.

"I'm coming in with Grandma DiNozzo's famous alfredo penne. Where do you want it?" he asked, entering the kitchen with his dish.

"I thought you were picking something up?" Ziva said in surprise.

"I did. I picked up these leftovers from my place. It won't take long to warm 'em up, if I can use your oven."

Ziva gestured to it wordlessly. She watched as Tony efficiently started the pasta reheating. When he was done he turned to face her, leaning against the counter. "Hi . . ." he said, smiling.

"Hello, Tony," Ziva laughed. She'd changed in the time it took Tony to get there, now she was in a black tank top and jeans, but her hair was still up in a bun from work.

Tony frowned and took a step toward her. Ziva thought he was going to kiss her again, he had proven to be quite abrupt with that, but instead he stopped in front of her and reached a hand out to cup her face. She raised an eyebrow expectantly. Still without an explanation, Tony slid his hand around the back of her head and pulled her hair down, running his fingers through it gently.

"What are you doing?" Ziva finally asked.

"Your hair, it hasn't been down all day," Tony said, slowly pulling his hand away. Now her curls were falling around her face.

"What is it with DiNozzo men and my hair?" Ziva asked, rolling her eyes, but she sounded breathless.

"I love your hair, Zi. You should war it down more," Tony said, twirling a strand between two fingers, still extremely close to her.

The oven dinged, breaking the moment. Tony smirked when Ziva let out a small sigh and went to tend to his pasta. Ziva set her small table, Tony served the plates, and they sat down to a nice meal.

"Remember the first day we met?" Tony asked, continuing their earlier conversation.

Ziva smiled, "You were pretending to have phone sex."

"Yeah," Tony laughed with her, "And you were doing everything in your power to turn me into a puddle on the floor."

"Not everything." Ziva said casually, still smiling.

"Well, anyway, I you should know that even with all your sexy tricks, I didn't melt until you took your hair down."

Ziva made a face. "What is so special about my hair?" she asked again, grabbing a piece of it and holding it in front of her face for inspection.

Tony shrugged, "I can't explain it, sweetcheeks."

Ziva rolled her eyes and took her first bite of Tony's pasta. Then another. And another.

"Slow down, Zi, it's not going anywhere," Tony teased, laughing.

"This is amazing, Tony," Ziva said, "I had no idea you could cook like this!"

"It's the Italian. I can make pasta, and not much else," Tony smirked, "What about you? When will you cook for me? Cooking is one of your fortes, right?"

Ziva bit her lip, "You could say that."

"You're just the complete package, then, huh?" Tony asked, also taking a bite.

"Am I? What makes me a 'complete package'?"

"Let's see, you can kill people, look sexy at any given moment, mess up the English language better than anyone I know, you're a great kisser, and you can seduce men in general with just a look."

Ziva played with the condensation on her glass, not meeting Tony's eyes, "Is that what I did with you?"

Tony sighed, "Ziva, that's not at all what I meant."

Ziva nodded once, reassured, and smiled mischievously, "So, Tony, if I wanted to seduce you, would you let me?"

"Does seducing include just sex, or making me fall in love?" Tony sounded surprisingly thoughtful.

"Which would you prefer?"

"Oh, I'd let you get away with either. I was just curious." Tony laced his fingers together.

Ziva continued to play with her glass and avoid eye contact. "You love me, yes?" Tony looked confused and nodded his affirmation. "Then did I not already accomplish the second qualification?"

Tony's eyebrows scrunched together, "Well, yeah, I guess so. I hadn't thought about it that way. But you weren't doing it just to seduce me," he paused, "Were you?"

"No, not exactly," Ziva leaned back in her seat and smiled slyly, "Now all that's left is that first type of seduction, right, Tony?"

"Nope, we got that covered," Tony replied easily. Ziva raised an eyebrow. "What do you call that first night undercover?" he asked in response to her silent query.

"I call that going undercover," Ziva shrugged.

"So it meant nothing to you?" Tony asked carefully, his expression guarded.

"I did not say that. I said that it was undercover. I cannot allow it to mean anything. At least, I couldn't then."

"What about now?"

"Now, I think I will have to see."

"See what?"

Ziva drained her glass, "What type of man you are."

Tony nodded. "I'm the type not to show up to a first date without a gift."

"Is this a date, Tony?" Ziva stood to clear the table. Tony immediately jumped up to help.

"Well, I thought so."

"Good." Ziva deposited the last of the dished in the dishwasher, "So what is this gift?"

"Uh, it's gifts actually."

"There is more than one?"

"Yeah, stay here, I'll go get them," Tony grabbed his keys.

"Can I at least wait in the other room?"

"Sure!" Tony called over his shoulder.

Ziva sat on the couch, grabbing her book of the end table read while Tony was gone. After about 15 minutes, he came back in quite noisily. When Ziva looked up from her book, he was laden with one large bag and two smaller ones. He joined her on the couch and put the bags on the coffee table.

"Tony! What is all this?" Ziva demanded, slightly surprised he would go to so much trouble.

"This is a testament to how awesome I am." Tony said, grinning widely.

Ziva rolled her eyes. "When did you have time to do this?" she asked, reaching for a bag, but Tony smacked her hand away.

"Uh, I bought some of it after you showed up at my apartment. But once I just picked up tonight," he said. Out of the first small bag, Tony deftly revealed a small bouquet of slightly wilted roses and a box of assorted chocolates. "First, I thought I'd go traditional," he passed her the gifts. She smiled a little, smelling the flowers. "Then I thought I'd go classy and get you some type of jewelry, but I've never seen you wear anything other than that," he pointed. Ziva unconsciously touched the necklace hanging at her throat as Tony pulled out what was in the second small bag.

"Tony, that is a stuffed bear," Ziva said, reaching for it. As Tony handed it over, she noticed a delicate silver bracelet around its neck. It had a silver butterfly worked into the design.

"Yeah, the bear came with the bracelet and you said you had stuffed animals when you were twelve and—"

"Liar. They have separate tags," Ziva said, almost offhandedly, fingering the tag on the bracelet. "Tony! This is expensive!"

Tony completely ignored her last comment. "Okay, so after I bought the bracelet, I thought about how you held that stuffed animal that one time, so I bought the bear. Do you like it?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Of course I do," Ziva hugged the little blue animal. "But should I be worried about what is in the big bag?"

"Yeah, so, after I bought all this stuff, I thought that maybe I should just ask a girl," Tony continued his narrative of his gift getting dilemmas. "I called Abby, and she said—" he reached into the final bag and pulled out one of his T-shirts, "that you should have one of my shirts."

"Are you moving in? Or is this some other American thing I do not understand?" Ziva asked, studying the shirt. It had 'Let's be careful out there,' in large print on the front. "Is this a movie?" she continued, not giving him time to answer the first two questions.

"TV show, actually. Hill Street Blues. Abby said that girls always want their boyfriend's shirts to sleep in . . ." Tony trailed off, half stretching the shirt out to her.

Ziva took it silently and set it on her stack of gifts. "Thank you, Tony. This is really sweet." She snapped the top off the chocolates and offered him one first. He popped a random chocolate in his mouth, never taking his eyes off Ziva. She ate hers more slowly.

"Tony," she said after a pause, "Why did you buy me all these things? Or do you do this for all every girl who invites you over?"

"Do I buy every girl six presents? No, I'd go broke!" Tony said, daring to put his arm around Ziva and pull her close. She was quite willing to comply, and leaned into him so that they were half-horizontal on the couch.

"Six presents? I count five, and you didn't have to spend anything on the shirt." Ziva said, snuggling into Tony's chest.

"Oh, yeah, I saved the best for last." Tony reached over and grabbed her remote, flipping the TV on. He watched Ziva's face light up as "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" began playing through the speakers.

"Tony! You remembered?"

"Duh. And I snuck the DVD into your player, you're welcome."

Ziva pulled herself up so she was on level with Tony and gave him a sweet kiss. "Thank you, my Little Hairy Butt."

"Anytime, sweetcheeks."

~o0o~

"Abby?"

"Yes, McGee?"

"That's a bed."

"Yes, McGee."

McGee blinked. "When did that happen?"

"Last week."

"You bought a bed?"

"Yes, McGee, try to keep up."

"Why?"

Abby shrugged and looked at the bed over her shoulder from where she was standing by her dresser. "I figured you might want to stay over more if you didn't have to sleep in the coffin or on the couch."

"Abbs—"

"I know, Timmy, I didn't have to, but besides, I can still sleep in the coffin when you aren't around. It's over in the corner." Abby pointed to it and skipped to the bed, pulling McGee down beside her. "Soo?" she looked at him expectantly.

"So . . . what?"

"So, will you stay over tonight?"

"Um . . ." McGee paused, opening and closing his mouth.

"Not what a girl wants to hear, McGee," Abby said, giving him a look.

"I just don't think tonight is a good night for—"

"I'm not talking about sex, Tim," Abby said, annoyed, and collapsed backwards on the bed.

McGee leaned back too, so that they were lying side by side on the bed, feet dangling off the edge. "Well, in that case, I would love to spend the night."

"Oh, you have no choice. We rode her in my car; you can't leave." Abby smiled, rolling on her side. McGee once again followed her example, and leaned up on his side as well. They looked at each other for a minute or two before Abby said, "McGee?"

"Yeah, Abbs?"

"I meant what I said earlier, you know?" Abby swallowed, "I don't want you to think that you're just some passing fancy."

"I know. The first time we . . . tried, I was so afraid of just being a 'passing fancy' that I think I drove you away. But I really do believe you, Abbs. Just know that I'll be whatever you need, okay?"

Abby nodded and kissed him. After a while, she said, "I'm gonna go change. You can strip down to your little boxers." She wiggled her fingers at him.

"Didn't I leave some sweatpants here a few weeks ago?" McGee asked.

"There over there," Abby sighed, pointing, "You're no fun," she pouted before spinning away to the bathroom.

McGee just laughed.

~o0o~

"Tony?"

"Yeah, Zi?"

"Thank you. For all this." Ziva mumbled as the last notes of the movie were fading out. They'd ended up completely horizontal with Ziva fully on top of Tony, her head on his chest and her legs between his. She'd made sure to move her stack of gifts off of the couch before they'd settled into that position (around the time Maria and the children were climbing trees). Ziva was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

"Okay, Zi, beddy-bye time," Tony crooned teasingly.

Ziva rolled her eyes and pushed off of his chest, hard, to stand, smirking at his grunting noise.

"Do you need me to carry you to bed?" Tony asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he too sat upright.

"No thanks, I'd prefer this night not be too cliché." Ziva said, heading toward her room without a backwards glance, only pausing to pick up her gifts from the end table.

Tony watched her walk away until she reached her room, a little unsure what to do, until he saw the shirt he gave her still sitting on the coffee table. "Hey, you forgot this!" He grabbed it and followed her to her room.

"Oh, yeah, I'll take that." Ziva said, putting the rest of her presents on her dresser. Tony passed it over.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"It's to sleep in, yes?" Ziva asked, holding it in front of her.

"Only if you want to . . ." Tony trailed off.

"Do you want me too?"

Tony smirked, "I'd prefer if you'd wear a little less, but—" Ziva's fist to his gut cut him off. He grinned at her as she disappeared into the bathroom.

"Not tonight, my Hairy Butt."

When Ziva came back wearing his favorite T-shirt (he hadn't told her how important it was to him) and not much else, he struggled to make his brain work, much less keep his eyes off of her. He'd been having that problem all night, but now he didn't even try. Ziva gave him a weird look, probably in response to his staring, and slipped into bed.

Tony stood awkwardly at the foot of her bed, not sure if he should leave. Ziva looked at him expectantly for a minute before snapping, "For God's sake, Tony, come here." She patted the bed beside her.

"Are you sure?" Tony asked, even as he was getting into bed next to her.

"I'm sure. I would like to sleep without nightmares tonight. That is, if you want to stay?"

"A beautiful, sexy woman asks me to sleep in her bed and you expect me to say no?" Tony teased, sliding out of his pants. Ziva helped him with his shirt. He put an arm around her and pulled her into his chest. Tenderly kissing the top of her head, he whispered, "Night, Zi."

~o0o~

The next morning, both couples woke up happy. When Ziva woke up she patted Tony's face to wake him up and sauntered over to her bathroom. "Tony?" she called back into the bedroom. He groaned something unintelligible from the bed. "Well, I was going to invite you in here with me, but if you'd rather sleep. . ." she trailed off teasingly. Tony perked up real quick, but she'd already shut the door, laughing. Muttering about the cruelty of women, Tony slipped into his clothes from the day before for the trip to his car to grab an extra change of clothes. He had breakfast ready for Ziva by the time she was done in the shower.

"Thank you, Tony," she said, accepting the cup of coffee and sitting in the offered chair. "This is nice."

"It's the least I could do. . ." Tony shrugged.

"Least you could do for what?" Ziva asked, spreading butter on her toast.

"Letting me stay. Giving up your morning run to snuggle with me this morning. Giving us a chance," he added softer.

Ziva swallowed. "It's the least I could do."

A few miles closer to the naval base, in Abby's bedroom, McGee woke up first to find his girlfriend snuggled into his chest. He had no earthly desire to move, but they were late already, according to the clock on Abby's little table. He still couldn't believe she'd bought a bed. It was a comfy one, too. Or maybe it was his company that made it so great.

But it was time to get up. "Abby," McGee gently shook her shoulder.

"Tim," Abby mumbled, sounding annoyed, "Why are you getting me up so early without a Caf-Pow?"

"Uh, because we only have about an hour to get to work before Gibbs kills me."

Abby rolled over to look at the clock. "McGee! We have a little over two hours. We're fine." She turned back over and buried her head in his chest.

"But the clock says—"

"I know what it says, Timmy. I set it back an hour so I'm never late."

McGee groaned, thumping back into the pillows. "And you didn't tell me this?"

"Well, now that we're awake . . ." Abby trailed off, biting her lip.

McGee lifted his head up again. "Let me guess, you want me to get you a Caf-Pow?"

"You know me so well, Timmy."

~o0o~

Two hours later, Tony and McGee came face to face. Abby and McGee came in only about a quarter hour after Ziva and Tony did, still on time. Abby bounced over to Ziva's desk to talk quietly, leaving McGee and Tony standing facing each other in the center of the bullpen.

"So, McGoo, I noticed your car spent the night here. Did you spend the night in it, or with Abby?"

McGee rolled his eyes, "What about you, Tony? Were you with Ziva all night?"

Tony smiled, "Oh, yeah. But I want to talk about you. Did you McGet you some, McSmooth?"

"We just slept. Abby got a bed. You?"

"Just slept." Tony didn't seem upset by the admission.

"Really?" McGee raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" Tony mimicked.

McGee narrowed his eyes. Tony narrowed his eyes. Abby and Ziva, from their spot off to the side, rolled their eyes.

"Really, McGee, DiNozzo. Grab your gear, we got a body," Gibbs said, entering the bullpen with his signature coffee. He waved to Abby and ushered the team out, smiling slightly.

A/N This is my longest chapter, so I'm glad I cut it in half. Next chapter has bits and pieces of this case, and some Gibbs and Ziva and Gibbs and Abby interactions that have been giving me trouble. Thanks for reading!