Marine Undercover

A/N: My dad just said the weirdest thing. "Your bubbles don't lie." He's talking about what to do if you panic while diving (during the horror movie we are watching) but still. It sounds weird.

In ONE WEEK we all get to see Tony get beat up!

Chapter 4

Morning of Insertion

****

Ziva sighed, hauling herself out of bed and prepping quickly for the day in a simple brown pinstriped skirt and a purple sweater that hugged her form in all the right places, as well as brown pumps. She adjusted her Star of David so that it was resting over top of her sweater; this was one of the most important parts, the blatant advertisement of her religion.

She would be keeping a moderately Jewish home, something she had not done for some time. She had convinced Gibbs it was superfluous to be Orthodox, but it would be handy to show more faith than she regularly did.

Therefore, she would try to keep herself and Tony mostly Kosher and she would honor the Shabbat, but she would not attend synagogue or keep a kosher kitchen.

One thing Ziva had wondered was why their killer would be hunting Jews, when Israelis were allied with the United States. When she had asked Tony, he had commented the killer probably did not discriminate, especially as one of the female victims had been Jewish.

Now Ziva quickly got into her Mini, and sped to the Naval Yard where she would meet Tony before riding with him to their new home in the suburbs around Quantico.

Tony's face broke into a huge grin when she pulled into the garage. Ziva smiled back, but did not fail to notice his smile did not hold the same luminosity it usually did. She pushed that to the back of her mind as she stepped out of her Mini.

"Shalom, Tony."

"Shalom, darling," Tony replied, wincing as Gibbs head slapped him. "Didn't see you there, Boss," he gasped.

"That's the point. Ziva, DiNozzo, Nichols will be conducting questions when you get there; you are to live in a house on the street two of the victims lived in. Make sure that you don't contact him in any way other than friendly-people-in-a-new-neighborhood; let the neighbors tell you what happened."

Tony quickly put a hand up to stop Gibbs' tirade. "Relax, Gibbs, we've been under deep cover before."

"I know, DiNozzo. Now, you two should be off; McGee will be by later with your things to place the cameras." Gibbs waved them off as he walked back to the squadroom.

Ziva laughed to herself as Tony opened the passenger door to his Mustang; she slipped inside and closed the door behind her while he walked to the other side.

The drive passed in silence once again, neither saying a word as they neared their destination. Once they were inside the town they would live in, Ziva placed her hand over Tony's, occasionally looking his way. She could not read his reaction, but hoped they could each live with the other for who-knows-how-long they would be on this case.

Eventually, after what seemed an eternity, Tony slowed the Mustang to a halt in front of a cute little green house.

"This is it?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "Our new home, sweetcheeks," he replied slowly.

Ziva's face broke out in a grin and she hopped lightly out. Tony followed her, less bouncy, and together they stood in the driveway and looked around the neighborhood.

"There's Nichols," Tony said softly, just barely motioning to the agent as he conducted follow-up questioning a few houses down the street.

"I see," she replied just as quietly, turning as a woman bustled down the street towards them.

The eager redhead stopped in front of them. "Tony and Ziva Smith?"

Tony refrained from making a Brad and Angelina joke, instead turning on his 'DiNozzo charm' and smiling. "Sure are!"

"So glad to finally meet you in person! I must say, it's an honor to have a Marine in this neighborhood." The redhead nodded to herself, taking in a breath. "Oh, and I almost forgot. I'm your realtor and neighbor, Kelly Anderson."

"You must really love it, to live in this neighborhood as well as sell from it," Ziva commented.

"I sure do, Ziva. This is a wonderful place to live." Kelly's face shadowed for a moment, but she said nothing of the two murders that had taken place on this very street within the past six months.

After a few more minutes of small talk about the weather, who lived where, the neighborhood, Tony's "job" as a bombs teacher at Quantico, and Judaism- Kelly had found Ziva's necklace gorgeous- Tony broke into their discussion about the Shabbat when he felt Ziva squirm a bit against his side.

"I hate to interrupt, but do you think we could move inside?"

Kelly nodded. "Of course! Here." She bustled up the steps and removed a key from a lockbox. "The code is 1254, but you can change it to whatever you like. Trust me, I won't use it." She extended the key to Tony, who took it and unlocked the door.

The inside of the house was just as cute as the outside, with a different theme for every room. The kitchen was a "Garden of Eden" type theme, with potted plants, green counters, oak cabinets, etc. The living room was a nautically themed room; the bedroom was romantically themed, and so on.

"It's great," Tony managed, after the tour was complete. Sure, he had liked some of the rooms, but the heavily cutesy themes in some rooms had been too much. The rubber ducks adorning the walls of the bathroom had just been too much.

"I love it here; I am sure this will be a wonderful place for a family when we decide to start." Ziva smiled at Kelly, rubbing her hand up and down Tony back then pinching him when Kelly turned away. Tony winced but got the message.

Once Kelly had left, Ziva and Tony flopped down simultaneously onto the couch. "Well, that was something else," Ziva murmured.

"Sure was," Tony said. McGee laughed in the com pieces they had just inserted.

"Changed the code yet?"

"No, Bob. Come on in with a load of stuff. 1254." Tony held his cell phone to his ear, in case Kelly had planted a camera. He called McGee Bob for the same reason, and it was fun.

"Right…" McGee unlocked the door a few minutes later, loaded down with boxes. He noticed the two's proximity as well as their seeming oblivion to the closeness, but said nothing. Rather he placed the boxes on the floor next to Tony, and closed the door.

"That it?" Tony asked, sitting up.

"Yes. Now, give your little brother the grand tour," McGee said cheerfully.

"Will do." Tony left Ziva reading on the couch, and showed McGee around. Ziva could hear Tim pretending to exclaim over certain items, and knew he was running his hands over the walls, placing cameras in strategic locations.

Thirty minutes later, McGee departed for the Naval Yard again, leaving the two alone. The house had been bug free, so the two could speak freely for now. McGee had left a sweeper just in case, a surreptitious palm-sized device. Before he left, McGee did whisper one thing to Tony. "If you make a move on her, you'll be dead by gun and glare, remember that."

"That can be my epitaph," Tony replied harshly, also whispering. "Thanks for the reminder, though."

"What was that about?" Ziva asked without looking up from the pages of her novel, which was in Hebrew.

"What was what about?" Tony asked innocently.

"I heard voices, but could not make out all the words." She had actually heard all of them through the com piece McGee had not removed, but she was not sure what to make of them.

"Well, I was just telling McPokey over there," Tony said loudly into the com piece, "that he can keep his nose in his own apartment."

Tony was rewarded with a sigh from McGee. "Tony, I was just pointing it out."

"Whatever, Probester."

"Ok, you guys can take the com pieces out. The cameras are operational," McGee said, and the radio was silent.

Ziva and Tony held their com pieces loosely in their hands, each staring warily at the other. Tony saw in Ziva's eyes that she knew what Tim had told him, and Ziva could see he knew she knew.

That left for her to figure out what McGee had meant.

****

Ziva sent an email to Abby later that evening, once Tony had hurriedly and awkwardly broken the eye contact they had held in order to look over his lesson plans. He would actually be teaching, in order to maintain continuity undercover.

"Abby,

Why is Tony acting so strange? I overheard a conversation between him and McGee earlier, and afterwards he would barely look at me. I know you know the conversation I speak of, as there is no way you would not have been listening.

Ziva."

She sighed, pressing her forehead to the desk once she pressed SEND.

A ding sounded from her computer after just a few seconds. Ziva lifted her head and opened the reply from Abby.

"Ziva,

YEAH I KNOW! WHY WOULDN'T I KNOW?!

Unfortunately, I was sworn to secrecy. *hint hint nudge nudge wink wink*

Abby"

Ziva cocked her head, now more confused. Well… She thought she knew, but it was crazy. Ziva shook her head, trying to clear it, as she closed the computer and walked downstairs to prepare dinner.

****

She loved cooking.

It was therapeutic for her, and seeing the look on Tony's face when he saw her in the apron was no downside, either. "You cook?" he asked, leaning on the counter next to her as she sliced a tomato.

The corner of Ziva's mouth quirked as she turned to face him, noting with satisfaction the flinch he tried to hide when the knife swung towards him.

"Yes, I cook. Now get out of the kitchen before I cook you."

Tony quickly retreated, though he remained watching, leaning against the doorframe.

Ziva poured the sliced and diced tomatoes into the saucepan, trying to ignore his eyes on her back.

"Abby feels very strongly about what you discussed with McGee," she began carefully, not looking towards him as she added spinach to the pan.

Tony stiffened; she could see it in the distorted reflection off the pot she had just set to boil.

"I… know. But it's not really her business," he murmured.

"Is it even Tim's business?"

"No."

"So why did you tell him?"

Ziva turned to face Tony. He took in quickly her appearance, messy ponytail with a few stray strands, apron around her waist over a pair of simple blue jeans and… one of his old OSU t-shirts. His heart skipped a beat but he did not comment on it as he formulated a response to her previous question. "I… suppose I just needed some friendly advice."

She raised an eyebrow teasingly. "I am good at giving advice."

Tony's lips raised in a parody of a smile, though it was only not at its usual luminosity to Ziva, since she knew him so well. "Not this advice."

Ziva looked away, searching desperately for something to break the mounting tension. Noticing the pot boiling, she quickly added the pasta as well as some sea salt, then took up a small spoonful of the sauce she had been preparing.

She tasted it, barely noticing the flavors as she thought but knowing it needed something more. Her dark eyes darted to Tony's green ones, still on her face, and she stepped a few feet closer to him.

"Try this."

Tony laughed, shaking his head, but Ziva took the opportunity to shove the spoon towards his open mouth. He gagged in surprise but recovered, sampling the sauce she had been preparing.

"That's good," Tony said, startled. "Really good, Ziva."

"It needs something. What do you think?"

"Uh…" Tony thought for a moment. "Oregano?"

Ziva looked at her pan of homemade sauce and laughed. "Of course. I forgot to add oregano!"

She sprinkled the herb into the dish, stirring it into the sauce. Tony watched her cook, then adjusted his gaze when he saw movement out the window above Ziva's head. He saw two neighbors looking in curiously, then begin to walk over to the house. Once Tony knew they would be watching through the open back door, Tony approached Ziva.