The three of them sat in the bullpen doing their work. Gibbs walked in from behind McGee's desk. His presence brought a terrifying aura to the room. His face radiated anger. Slamming his now empty coffee cup into the trash can hard enough to knock it down, he stalked into the bullpen. His team was petrified. They stared at him, eyes wide with shock and fear. Their backs pressed flush against their chairs in an attempt to stay as far away from this furious man as possible. He pointed directly at Tony and Ziva. They felt all of the color leave their faces and their hearts drop into the pits of their stomachs.

"You two, my office. Now." He stormed past them and towards his "office", known to most people as an elevator. The seemingly doomed pair shared a look that clearly read: Help. McGee looked in between the pair confused, and dying to know what they had done. Ziva steeled herself over before following Gibbs with a hesitant Tony, who really just wanted to run in the other direction, at her side. Gibbs walked through the steel doors. Ziva followed her face masked and emotionless. Tony looked like a small child who was being ripped apart by the impulse to run as fast as he could, hide behind his best friend, protect his best friend, and just do whatever the heck was wanted of him; was last to enter the elevator.

McGee could not tear his still wide eyes from the elevator doors. His companions were now trapped in this steel box, and he did not think that they would ever be the same when they made it out . . . if they made it out.

In the elevator:

Gibbs crossed his arms and looked at them expectantly. The confused agents looked at him running through the events of the day in their heads. As they tried to find whatever it was that they had done wrong. The only two that were abnormal were Abby's outburst, which could arguably be normal depending on how many Caf-Pows she had had, and then there was them at the park, which really was out of the ordinary. But they had been alone! He couldn't have possibly seen them.

"Well," he demanded.

"Gibbs, we do not know what –" Ziva started while Tony nodded his head adamantly.

"DON'T LIE!"

Startled, Ziva took a step back, and Tony's hand inched involuntarily towards his partner's. Gibbs noticed this; misreading Tony's subconscious overprotective instincts and his need for the comfort of another human being in such a scary time as being hammered by Gibbs is considered only infuriated the silver-haired man more. His nostrils flared, and in an attempt to calm himself, he closed his eyes whilst taking a few deep breaths.

"You could have told me," he said between clenched teeth, "I would have waved rule 12."

There was silence for a few moments as the younger agents dissected the true meaning of this statement. Ziva's eyes rounded.

"Gibbs," she said fiercely shaking her head.

He looked her directly in the eye before relenting as he accepted that she was not lying to him. He moved to flip the emergency switch when a look of realization flashed through Tony's green eyes.

"Wait," he blurted out, "You think Ziva and I are dating?"

Ziva placed her head in her hands as Tony continued to gesture between them. "Mother of God, Tony," was the only understandable thing that they heard Ziva mutter before she switched to Hebrew and all of her words began to run together.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"Where ya been, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked annoyance clear in his voice.

"Sorry, Boss," Tony said rapidly as he winced for the expected head slap. When Gibbs' only response was to flick the emergency switch, Ziva's head came out of her hands, and Tony's features returned to normal. Then he felt the head slap.

McGee was watching the elevator intently, his work all but forgotten. Gibbs was the first out of the elevator. He raised an eyebrow in McGee's direction, sending the young probie into a flurry as he tried to create the poorly done illusion that he had been working the entire time. With a chuckle, Gibbs sat down at his desk. McGee was stumped all over again and after staring at his boss for a couple seconds he sent a questioning look towards his teammates. Next out was Ziva, who stifled a laugh as Tony, the last out, visibly shuddered. They came back to their desks and continued working. Even McGee, who was desperate to know what happened, especially so that he could tell Abby, disregarded his curiosity for the time being and continued working.

30 Minutes Later:

Gibbs turned the monitor of his computer off when he finished logging off, before he left the room. McGee pretended to work until he was out of – well, hopefully out of –even Gibbs-earshot.

"What happened?" He asked in such a rushed whisper that he sounded like a teenage girl.

"Probie, mind you manners," Tony snapped.

"McGee, nothing happened. Trust me," Ziva assured him with a chuckled.

McGee lifted his chin ever so slightly, looked at them both skeptically, and after a moment or two proceeded to ask, "Then what was wrong with Gibbs?"

Ziva gave a small purse of her lips and a little shrug of her shoulders as she formulated her response: "It was simply a very severe . . . and incorrect misunderstanding."

"Uh-huh . . ." McGee said as his chin came back to a normal level of elevation. Everyone, but McGee started typing again.

"So . . . what exactly was the misunderstanding about?"

"McGee!" Ziva sounded a lot like she had when she had discovered the photographs on McGee's computer causing the young agent to cower.

"Gibbs thought Ziva was my secret girlfriend."

"Tony!" Ziva cried in a very un-Ziva way as she turned to face her partner.

"Why would that be a misunderstanding?" McGee asked more confused than ever now. "Aren't you his girlfriend?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Ziva assured him rapidly even as she said this she knew that she was lying about the strength of her objections against ever being Tony's girlfriend.

"Probie!" Tony shouted at the same time.

"So . . . you aren't his girlfriend?"

"No, McGee, I am not Tony's girlfriend." The words flowed from her mouth sounding as convincing as ever, but she knew deep down in her heart that they hurt.

"Who exactly was Abby talking about then?"

"She was talking about my real girlfriend – NOT ZIVA – Jeanne."

"Oh."

"Yeah, McGeek, oh," Tony mocked him.

"What's she like?" McGee fished for details to relay to Abby.

"None of your business, McNosy," Tony said suddenly getting the feeling that they were getting to close to home. He had to keep his cover intact, and it had already been jeopardize enough. With that they all went back to work.

A/N: OK, really sorry. I have had a ton of homework. :( Please forgive me. Anyways I know that this is kind of short, but I already have the next part started, so it should not be that long in coming. I hope you enjoyed it, and please excuse any grammar mistakes that you might find. :D