Tony spent the drive home from work trying to decide whether or not he should call JJ that evening. Sure he was looking forward to talking to her again, if only through a phone call, but calling within twenty four hours would make him look desperate. The problem was that he had promised JJ that he would call her that day and, if he didn't call her, he would come across as a jerk. Or, at the very least, as someone who couldn't be relied upon to keep his word. Neither of which would endear him to JJ. So the question was, did he want to look desperate or unreliable? Neither were particularly great options.

Tony unlocked his apartment and then, after having hung his keys and bag up near the door, carefully made his way through the dark apartment towards the windows so that he could open the curtains. Coming home to a dark house was definitely one of the drawbacks to leaving for work before sunrise.

Once that was done, Tony fished JJ's business card out of his pocket and set it on his kitchen bench. To call or not to call.

He looked at the clock and, seeing that it was only just past six, decided to postpone the decision for a while. Depending on where she lived, she might not even be home from work yet.

Instead, Tony made himself a cup of tea and then carried it over to the chair that he had daubed his 'reading chair'. He put the tea on the small table to the chair's right and then considered the available reading material. Did he feel like reading fiction or non-fiction? A novel or the latest American Journal of Criminal Justice?

The Journal won, mostly because there was an article in it on organised crime that he knew cited his master's thesis, but partly because he was still smarting from some cutting comments that McGee had made earlier about his intelligence. He wasn't even sure why he had let McGee get to him, but he couldn't help but feel that if he had chosen to read the novel he would be proving McGee right. After all, he had only chosen to read 'Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles' because the movie was coming out in a few months.

The article entitled, 'Organised Crime and Corruption', was very interesting and Tony couldn't help but be impressed by how accurate it was. Sometimes when he read the articles in the 'American Journal of Criminal Justice' he found himself wondering if the authors had any hands on experience. Not only was the article a good read, but it gave him a thrill to see his thesis in the list of citations. It was almost enough make him want to go back and do his PhD like he'd originally been asked to do, though he doubted that they were still interested in paying him to do so. Of course there was no way he would have time to do a PhD while working for Gibbs. Heck, they'd only been working cold cases that day and Gibbs had still refused to let them leave until five thirty. Besides, it wasn't as though a PhD thesis would make the world any better. He could do more good focussing on his job and catching the bad guys.

As enjoyable as the article was, Tony couldn't help but be distracted by the thought of the business card sitting on his bench. It took him twice as long to read the article as it normally would of, mostly because he kept getting to the end of a paragraph and realising that he hadn't taken any of it in. By the time he'd finished the article, Tony knew that he was going to have to read it again after he had rung JJ.

He stood up, carried his empty mug back to the kitchen and put the kettle on again. Then he picked up JJ business card and carefully dialled the number on his cellphone, before stepping away from the kitchen so the noise of the kettle wouldn't interrupt the conversation.

"Jennifer Jareau speaking." JJ answered after four rings.

"Hi, JJ." Tony started. "It's Tony Dinozzo."

"Hi." JJ sounded as though she was smiling. "It's good to hear from you. I had a great night last night."

"Me too." Tony agreed. "We should do it again."

"Definitely." JJ agreed. "When is good for you?"

Tony considered that. The next day was Friday, but that seemed a bit too desperate. Saturday he would be shooting hoops with Asher Balboa and, if past experience was anything to go by, would end up being invited home with him for dinner.

"Sunday?" Tony suggested. "My team is supposed to be off over the weekend so, unless we get a case tomorrow, I can do lunch or dinner."

"Sunday lunch sounds great." JJ sounded just as excited as Tony felt. "How about you pick the location this time."

"Alright if I text it to you?" Tony asked. He wanted to give it some thought.

"Sure." JJ agreed. "Shall we shall twelve o'clock at the location of your choice?"

"Sounds great." Tony smiled broadly, despite the fact that she wouldn't be able to see it. "I'll see you then."

"See you then."

Tony hung up the phone and realised he was smiling like a loon. What on earth had made him think he would be able to concentrate more after having talked to JJ? Now all he could think about was their date on Sunday.

4-4-4

"So did he call?" Penelope asked as soon as JJ stepped off the elevator.

JJ laughed in amusement at the excitement in her friend's voice. "How long have you been waiting there?"

"Ten minutes." Penelope answered lightly. "You're late."

"Bad traffic." JJ explained as she pushed open the glass doors that led to the BAU.

"Well?" Penelope asked expectantly. "Did he call?"

"He did." JJ admitted. "We're having lunch on Sunday."

"Ooooh! Two dates in one week." Penelope was practically bouncing. "He must like you."

"Well, I hope so."

"Know so!" Penelope told her firmly. "No man takes a woman out three days after their first date if he doesn't like her. Most men don't even call until the third day."

"It'll be four days since our first date." JJ corrected as they began climbing the stairs towards her office.

"It makes no difference." Penelope assured her. "The man likes you."

JJ sighed. "Do you ever wish you could just skip the dating stage, you know, the awkward not sure what to say, worried about being too vulnerable part, and go straight to the committed relationship part?"

Penelope laughed. "Wow, you've got it bad. One date and you've already decided you want a committed relationship."

JJ could feel her face heating as he unlocked her office door "He's just amazing, Penelope, and he gets my job. When he rang me last night he said he was free on Sunday, unless his team got a case. He'll understand when I have to cancel a date because of work."

"Unlike Justin douchebag Monroe." Penelope frowned as she sat down in one of the chairs facing JJ's desk. "That guy was a jerk!"

Now it was JJ's turn to laugh. "He wasn't that bad. He just didn't understand why I couldn't work a nine to five job like he did."

Penelope frowned for a second longer, before her face brightened. "So Sunday lunch, huh? Where are you meeting him?"

"I don't know yet." JJ answered, sitting in her chair and switching her computer on. "He's going to text me."

"So he's putting some thought into it then." Penelope said excitedly. "Why lunch though? Wouldn't dinner be more date-like?"

"It was my idea." JJ admitted. "If lunch goes really well, then we have the option of spending the afternoon together and maybe having dinner too."

Penelope beamed. "You go, girl!"

4-4-4

Tony decided that there was something wonderful about waking up on a Saturday morning and knowing that he didn't have to go back to work for two whole days. Even better was knowing that he would be shooting hoops with Asher that afternoon and then having lunch with JJ the next day.

By the time Tony arrived at the basketball court where he was meeting Asher he was feeling very accomplished. He'd woken up with a long list of chores that he needed to do (it wasn't often he got two days off in a row) and he had already managed to finish most of them.

Tony was a few minutes early, and there was no sign of Asher, so he grabbed the basketball from the back of his car and started shooting some hoops on his own while he waited for his friend to arrive.

Asher arrived five minutes later just as Tony dunked the ball from the three point line.

"Nice!" Asher commented with a grin, dropping his own basketball and a water bottle on the side lines. "Let's see how well you do with some competition."

Tony raised an eyebrow tauntingly. "We could do that, but first we'd have to find me some competition."

"Just you wait." Asher promised. "I'll have you begging for mercy in no time."

Tony smirked and started bouncing the ball. "You ready, Asher?"

"Oh, I was born ready." Asher returned with a grin.

It was fun to play basketball again. Tony hadn't played for months, not since Kate had died or he had gotten the plague, which meant that he hadn't played since he'd started running daily. It was nice to see evidence of his newly gained fitness. Even nicer to laugh at Asher who was red faced and puffing within forty five minutes.

"Shut up." Asher narrowed his eyes at Tony. "At least I'm not going to be forty in three years."

Tony put a hand on his chest and mimed being shot. "Ouch! It's not as though you'll be far behind me. I'm only four years older than you."

"Four long years during which you'll be in your forties and I won't." Asher pointed out with a grin. "How old is this new girlfriend of yours?"

"JJ's not my girlfriend." Tony protested. "We've only gone on one date."

"Yeah, but you said you were going on another date tomorrow." Asher said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Two dates in four days, that's pretty serious."

Tony glared at him. "Are you trying to freak me out?"

"Stop avoiding the question." Asher told him. "How old is she?"

Tony grabbed the ball off his friend. "Are we going to play another round, or what?"

"She's young, isn't she?" Asher hassled even as he followed Tony back onto the court. "How young?"

Tony backed up a few steps and then began bouncing the ball. He dribbled it closer to Asher and, just when the man was about to try and get the ball, twisted around and dribbled past him.

"Thirty two?" Asher asked as Tony bent his knees and took a shot. The ball dropped cleanly through the hoop.

"Nope." Tony denied as he passed Asher the ball. "Your ball."

Asher held the ball. "Thirty? Twenty nine?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "She's twenty seven. Same age as McGee."

"Twenty seven?" Asher sounded impressed. "That's ten years younger than you."

"You don't say." Tony returned. "We going to play or what?"

"How did you meet her?" Asher persisted.

"Paula set us up." Tony answered with a grin. "JJ's her cousin. Now are we going to play some ball or gossip like a pair of school girls?"

"Always with the sexist comments." Balboa smirked. "Tina Larsen would be horrified."

Tony grimaced. Agent Tina Larsen worked in the bullpen with them and she was uptight enough to function as a flag pole. Tony had flirted with her a few times and held a door open for her once and she had decided that he was sexually harassing her. Apparently by holding a door open for her, he was inferring that she was inferior to him or something. There had been a long speech, during which the phrase 'sex-object' had stood out the clearest. Not because he was sex-obsessed like Kate and McGee thought he was (or had thought, because Kate was dead now), but because it was just so ridiculous. How did him holding doors open for women somehow interpret into him thinking women were only good for sex?

"If you don't answer all my questions now I'll take you home and set Barb on you." Asher threatened.

"Does that threat include a home cooked meal?" Tony asked slyly.

Asher rolled his eyes. "I should have known that it wouldn't work on you. Yes, it includes a home cooked meal, you idiot."

Tony grinned and grabbed the ball of Asher again. "You should pay better attention, Asher. You're never going to catch up to me if you can't even hold onto the ball."

4-4-4

Barb was as lovely as ever and, as he bent down returned her welcoming hug, Tony found himself envying the life his friend had. It was everything that Tony secretly dreamed wished for, though maybe without the three cats.

"So," Barb started as she led them into the house. "How badly did you beat him, Tony?"

Tony grinned. "It was a slaughter. Your husband is getting old."

"Still younger than you." Asher pointed out as they walked in to the kitchen.

Barb laughed. "And you're both older than me."

"You're older than Tony's new girlfriend though." Asher told his wife with a wicked smile in Tony's direction.

"She's not my girlfriend." Tony protested as he sat down on one of the bar stools.

"Oh, yes, Asher was telling me that you were seeing someone new, Tony." Barb looked excited. "What's her name?"

"JJ." Tony answered.

"And how old is she?" Barb asked as she began cutting up some carrots.

"Twenty seven." Asher answered in a gleeful tone.

"Not that you would know it talking to her." Tony defended. "She's a FBI agent, not some giggly co-ed."

"I wasn't judging." Barb reassured him. "Asher, why don't you choose a bottle of wine for us to drink?"

"Sure. Red or white?" Asher asked.

"Red." Barb decided. "I'm making a Beef Stroganoff."

"Is there anything I can do to help, Barb?" Tony asked.

Barb offered him a wide smile. "Why don't you make a platter for us to nibble at while it's cooking? Crackers are in that cupboard there, the cheeses, olives and pickles are in the fridge, second and third shelf respectively."

"Got it." Tony nodded. "And a platter?"

"Is the third drawer nearest the fridge." Barb answered. "Asher, when you've poured the wine, can you please start cutting up some mushrooms?"

Tony found the platter first and then set about arranging the different foods on it. "Is this real Parmigiano-Reggiano, Barb?"

"I think so." Barb answered as she added the carrots to the large skillet sitting on the stove. "You can never really tell, but most of the writing on packet is in Italian so I presumed it was. Can you taste the difference?"

"I wish." Tony laughed, he picked up the packaging again and read the Italian on it. "Well, according to this, it was made in Modena, Italy, so I'm pretty sure it's the real deal."

"Yes!" Barb grinned. "It ought to be, with the amount I paid for it."

"I don't even want to know." Asher groaned. "It's just cheese, smelly cheese at that."

"It came out of my miscellaneous spending money." Barb promised him. "You spent yours on basketball tickets, I spent mine on yummy cheese."

Tony finished the platter with a smile and returned the olive and pickle jars to the fridge. He loved how domestic Asher and Barb were. They were the only couple he knew who had 'spending money'.

"So, Tony," Barb starting, returning her wine glass to the bench and beginning to mince the garlic. "Tell us about this JJ."

Tony rolled his eyes. "We've been on one date. That's it. It's not a big deal."

"Don't believe him." Asher told his wife. "They're going on their second date tomorrow."

"You said she was an FBI agent?" Barb asked. "What does she do there?"

Tony cut himself a slice of cheese to put on a cracker. "She's the Liaison for their Behavioural Analysis Unit, sort of like their very own Public Affairs Department."

"That sounds like a big job." Barb commented, as she began dicing two onions.

"It definitely sounds intense." Tony agreed. "The Behavioural Analysis Unit works on a lot of really awful crimes, the sort that get people panicked. Her job is to make sure that they stay calm."

Barb shuddered. "That sounds horrible. I don't even like hearing about those sorts of things, I can't imagine being part of the team who deals with them."

"Probably a good thing you became a kindergarten teacher then, love." Asher told her with a smile. "No terrible crimes to be found there."

"Oh, you never know." Barb grinned. "Just yesterday Timmy Stewart stole Madeline Enright's pencil."

"No!" Asher's eyes widened in exaggerated horror. "How ever did you catch him?"

"Well," Barb's eyes sparkled. "There were witnesses. Apparently, both Phil Knight and Abigail Terrace saw him take it. Now, Abigail isn't a particularly reliable witness, but Phil is as honest as five year olds come. It also helped that I caught him using the pencil that had Madeline's name on it."

"Amazing!" Asher declared with a laugh. "Maybe you should come work at NCIS with us. We could use a super sleuth like you."

Barb tilted her head to the side in consideration. "Thanks, but I think I'll stick with the kindergarteners. There just aren't enough super sleuths working in that jurisdiction."

Tony grinned in amusement as he sipped at his wine. He loved spending time with Asher and Barb. There was just something so authentic and loving about their relationship. It was the sort of relationship that he hoped to have one day. One day, hopefully, he would meet a girl that he could bring around to Asher and Barb's for dinner and she would be able to enjoy their company with him.