"Woah. She lied to me? Well, I guess she..She's Ziva. But really? Why would she lie about what you two were doing last night?" McGee tried to convince himself that Ziva was just covering up her going somewhere else,
but Tony's expression was too...It was too much like the expression he got after he spent a night with a girlfriend. Except this look had some signifigant differences.

"Well, McAuthor, Ziva was just at my place because.. Um.
She," Tony paused. 'Lord help me.' He thought. "We're dating...?"

McGee was shell shocked. The simple, unexpected state-
ment was questioningly akward coming out of the man's mouth. It was if the real world had met McGee's fictional "Deep Six" world all in one millisecond.

"What?"

"You heard me, McGee. Do you need a hearing aid or something?" Tony stopped at his vintage car. "See you tomorrow, Probie." McGee kept walking on, blankly looking at the cars, trying to, in the dim light of the parking lot, find the one car his key would open. When he found it, McGee plopped down in the driver's seat and shook his head. He desperately pinched his arms, trying to wake up from what he believed to be a nightmare. McGee prayed that this would all be over as soon as he opened his eyes. He wished he was in the bullpen, just getting to work,
having Ziva and Tony yelling at him over a book that was not even published yet.

He wished.

"Well, his autopsy did not tell me much, but judging on Tony and Ziva's research, and Timothy's lack there of, I will conclude his death was brought on by an ilness most commonly found in southern Malaysia. Now I cannot pronounce the name because of the area it is from. You know, I once had a colleague who lived in Malaysia, he had an inpronouncible name also. I guess this is why-"

"Duck. Show Ziver the name." Ducky leaned across the autopsy table towards Ziva, who had previously been standing close to Tony, on the other side of Tim.

McGee had not heard a word of Ducky's incesant ram-
bling and instead was focusing on the proximity of the two agents whom he knew to fight constantly and whom hated traveling together. McGee didn't even notice when Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva left.

"McGee? Why are you still here?" Ducky had come right up to the junior Agent and was looking up at him through the oval glasses that were part of what made him Ducky.

"Oh, Uh thanks. Hey, did you know that Tony and Ziva were dating?"

"Truthfully, no. They did not tell me before they told you. But I did notice how close they were today.
I am glad. Perhaps being with Ziva will finally make Tony a bit more committed."

"Ma-Gee!" Gibbs poked his head into autopsy.

Ducky chuckled as Tim McGee scurried to catch the elevator.

"Coming, Boss."

McGee lay in his bed, thinking about Wednesday. It had been very... Fiction-y, if that was even a word. Sarah had begun to worry about him. She had never seen her brother so broken up about two people being together, McGee had called his publisher and postponed the release of the book, he had stopped playing his MMORPG's and had barely been on the computer since he found out about his co-worker's relationship.

"Yes, Mr. Gibbs. McGee is sick, he can't come in today. Okay, Thanks. Goodbye." Sarah hung up the phone.

"No no no no no! Wait! Sarah! C'mon, I have to go to work. Ugh. I cannot believe this is happening."

"Look, Timmy. I'm sorry but I'm really really worried.
You were there for me when I was accused of..murder, so even though this is so much smaller than that I'm gonna look out for your well being."

"Thanks, Sar [a/n: pronounciation: S-are] But I'm going back to bed."

"Probie! We missed you! How are you doing? Y'okay?
How's Sarah?" McGee threw his gear into the corner next to his desk, and glared at Tony.

"Tim? Are you okay? I have been worried about you,
Tony has too." Ziva piped up, she had been previously giving the bickering co-workers smiles. 'Why is Ziva being so perky?' McGee asked himself, wondering the same thing his boss was as he watched from the balcony overlooking the bullpen.

"Yes. I am perfectly fine. I'm going down to Abby."
Ziva and Tony exchanged glances as Mcgee stormed off to the elevator.

"We can not keep pretending. I am already tired of this. It maddens me that I have to pretend to date YOU." Ziva got up and strolled to Tony's desk, leaning on the filing cabinets next to it.

"Theres only one way out of this."

"Tell him you were lying?"

"No." Tony leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head.

"Lets break up."

McGee smiled as he hid behind the divider in the bullpen.
He KNEW there was something weird about them being together.

"Lets break up." Tony suggested. McGee was dumbfounded at the level of serious attitude in his voice. He was sure there would be some sort of sarcasm, or a snarky joke relating to some date movie. But there wasn't Tony was different. McGee started to wonder if the pair had kept the charade up while he was gone, probably not. Gibbs would have seen right through it. But to Tim McGee it was time for a little revenge. If they were playing this joke on them, he would show them he knew about it.

"Hey, Ziva." McGee spoke into the cell phone.

"McGee?"

"Uh, yea. I got some tickets to a movie and..."

"If you are asking me out, no. I am with...Tony."

"No, I wasn't asking you on a date, I was just wondering if you wanted to take the tickets. I was going to go with a girl I met at a cafe, but she cancelled."

"Uh, yeah, sure. Tony and I would love them." Ziva paused. "Tony! I got tickets to a movie, Friday! McGee is giving them to us."

'He's at her HOUSE?' McGee thought.

"Thanks, Tim. I will see you at work tomorrow. Goodbye."

{{{DEEP SIX}}}

Tommy was being seceretive about his actions. Only one other person in the team knew about what he was up to:
Lisa. Lisa was his "partner in crime", his confidance,
his girlfriend. Or so it seemed. Nobody at the office knew if this "Relationship" of theirs was real or not,
nobody asked.

Don't ask, Don't tell.

McGregor had his suspicions. He didn't believe the two were quite a couple. Maybe he just didn't want to accept that they were, maybe he was right. He couldn't be around the pair for if he were the end result of people staring at someone staring and the explainations needed would be confusingly creepy. And the need for the explainations to be figured out is great, they are his team-mates, after all. Sometimes McGregor wondered if LJ Tibbs knew, he had a rule about in-office relationships: "Rule Number Twelve: Never Date A Co-Worker." {{{DEEP SIX}}}

"What chapter are you on now?" Sarah asked her brother. He had resumed writing just in time, and if he was far enough done with his book the release date would be kept and the books would be shipped out by the millions.

"Chapter Twelve. So far Amy has seen Tommy with a girl who was not Lisa and told McGregor. So it's basically my life." McGee ran his fingers through his short hair.

"Sounds good. I can't wait to read it!How are things at work? I overheard your call with ziva."

"I dunno, work is good I guess. No one stops murdering just for my life to sort itself out though. The only part of work I am happy with right now is when it is just me,
and Gibbs, or me and Ziva or Tony or Abby. Whenever I have to be around them, I just can't. But I have a theory."

"Alright, lets hear it then." Sarah listened contently to her brother as he explained how he had heard them talking about their fake relationship and breaking up.
He explained he was pranking them back by keeping them together longer, so they would know he knew and then Tony would be forced to admit defeat.

"Maybe they knew you were there, so they were just playing with you?"

"Huh. I never thought about it that way. Ziva *is* a ninja." McGee contemplated this idea as Sarah waved goodbye and muttered about going to bed.

"She *is* a ninja."

"Goodmorning Ziva, Tony." McGee cheerfully swept into the bullpen, his trench coat somewhat billowing behind him dramatically.

"Why so chipper, probie?"

"Did you have a date last night?" Ziva asked, smirking in the way that ninja's do.

"Nope, my sister explained something to me about the two of you." McGee promptly sat down and opened the sound recorder on his laptop, hoping to record bickering of the two Agents to prove his sister wrong. He pressed record and minimized the window.

"So, did you come to work with Ziva, Tony? I didn't see your car in your spot." Ziva chuckled.

"You obviously did not look. Tony and I have not spent the night together since you called. I am not sure why."

"Hey! Don't look at me! It's my sister who's sick!"

"You do not have a sister." Ziva's eyes narrowed, McGee's eyes widened not believing what he was hearing. If he let them break up now he would never get a recording to prove her wrong.

"Hey guys? Um. I think it's your one month anniversary today...?"

"Stay out of it McNosy!"

"Our anniversary was *YESTERDAY* and DiNozzo forgot about it!"

"No I didn't, I left a gift in your right filing cabinet.
I put it there so the cleaning lady didn't get her man hands all over it."

McGee could not believe what he was hearing, was Tony actually trying to save their fake relationship? He watched in disbelief as Ziva reached into her drawer and pulled out a box the size of a laptop. She unwrapped it (Gibbs called and said he would be an hour late, so it was safe). Inside the box was a second box. She unwrapped that; There was a new box every time until a little velvet ring box was finally revealed. Upon opening it Ziva gasped, real shock coming over her face.

"Tony?"

"Just say yes, It's a big step for me. I'll always have your six, Zi."

"Tony, elevator. NOW!" McGee wasn't too shocked with Ziva's second reaction. But why was Tony doing this? He is deathly afraid of committment, even this fake committment would lead to be too much.

"What were you *Thinking*, Tony? I thought we said we were going to break up!" Ziva raged. She had never been so angry at anyone, except her father.

"I just thought we would milk it longer." Tony shrugged.

"By proposing to me?" Ziva threw the ring at Tony's head.
It bounced off, onto the floor. It sparkled in the little light there was after the power was turned off.

"It's real, you know."

"What?"

"The diamond, it's real." Tony watched, somewhat amused at Ziva's look of disbelief.

"Tony, you are an idiot." Ziva bent down and picked up the ring. "Is it...my size?" She asked, not sure if she should put it on.

"Size seven? Then yes." He grinned, happy with the simple,
girly answer. She slipped the ring on her finger.

"Fine, we'll do this your way, but somehow or other, I'm breaking up with *you*." Ziva flicked the 'on' switch and the elevator moved down to the first floor, when the doors opened they revealed an angry looking Gibbs.

"Well, hello." Gibbs entered the elevator, drinking his coffee, "Took you long enough to finish your little chat."

Ziva glanced at Tony, giving him a look that said: "Do we tell him now?" Tony nodded in reply.

"Tony and I are getting married." Ziva said quickly, hoping her boss wouldn't catch the words when they were strung together.

"WHAT?" Gibbs spat out his coffee and spun around to face his Agents. Waves of anger seemingly radiated out of his body. Tony and Ziva winced at the Rule Number Twelve speech they were about to get.

"Good for you two." Gibbs' mood and facial features relaxed, leaving the "couple"

confused, and speechless.