1-9

Monday morning, Ziva dropped Tony off in the parking lot where he had left his car for the weekend and drove the last ten blocks to the Navy Yard in silence. She waited for Tony at the elevator so that they could ride up together.

"Ready," he said as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out. She took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze.

"Ready," she looked at him and nodded. They walked to their desks and awaited the arrival of Gibbs and his scolding.

"Hey you two," said McGee walking in. "How was your weekend?"

"Shut up McGoo."

"Did you tell Gibbs?" asked Ziva.

"Do you guys really think I would do that?"

"Yes," they both said in unison. A hurt look took over his face.

"I would never do that to you guys, it took you this long to get together. If Gibbs is ever going to find out it will be DiNozzo's fault."

"Hey!" he yelled, then more quietly and mostly to Ziva, "this is something I would never try to ruin." Ziva smiled.

"What is DiNozzo ruining?" asked Gibbs walking in.

"His chances with a hot college coed," called McGee, winking at Ziva.

"Just give up, Tony, they're way out their league," Ziva piped in.

"Hey, she came on to me."

"DiNozzo," Gibbs said calmly.

"Yes, Boss?" Gibbs looked at him over his computer. "Shutting up Boss."

A few minutes later Gibbs cell phone rang.

"Yup. Okay, be right there." He hung up saying, "Grab your gear, we got a dead body in a vending machine at a mall."

"I will agree, that was a very strange case," said Tony, over diner three nights later.

"I still do not get why Brandon shoved the body into a vending machine," Ziva mused as she continued eating.

"He probably felt guilty about what he had done. So he unburied the body and stuck it somewhere it would be found."

"There were much simpler place to hide the body where it would be found."

"Can we talk about something other then work?" Tony asked.

"Of course. What do you want to talk about?"

"I have plane tickets to where ever you want for next month." A look of pure happiness spread across Ziva's face.

"Oh, Tony that's wonderful, but won't people get suspicious if we both take time off at the same time?"

"I've already worked it out, we both take an odd day off. One before we leave, one after we get back. So for example you take Monday to Thursday and I would take Tuesday to Friday."

"Oh, this is going to be great." Ziva leaned over the corner of the table and kissed Tony.

"Tony, Ziva, is that you?" They broke apart and turned to see Ducky as he walked by their table.

"Ducky, we can explain," stammered Ziva as she stood up.

"Oh, don't bother. It's not me that needs the explaining. Just don't let Jethro find out." He winked and patted her arm. He then turned so that they could see the woman who was standing next to him. "I would like you to meet Dr. Amelia Stamford. We met at a conference last month." They all shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. "Well I'll let you two get back to your date. Have a nice evening."

"Bye, Ducky," Tony and Ziva said together.

"Well, now that everyone knows that we're together," said Tony, wiping his face on the napkin. "We may as well make it official."

"Tony, are you proposing?" Ziva cut in.

"No, unless you want me too. No, I meant Gibbs official." He reached over and took her hand.

"Are you prepared for the wrath of Gibbs?" She stared at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or not.

"I don't think it's possible to prepare for Gibbs, but I'm about as ready as I'll ever be." She smiled and leaned over to kiss him again.

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."