Sorry about the delay in posting of this chapter. As I've said before, I've been busy with work and back to school work. However, my last day of my summer job is Tuesday, tomorrow (: That means this week I'll have more time to do back to school work, and hopefully more time to update. Also, thank you for the feedback on the previous chapters of this story.

Here is the next chapter, enjoy!

Chapter Six

Two weeks later at 1000 Saturday morning, Ziva and Gibbs were in the airport, waiting for Tony's flight to arrive into Dulles. They were going to pick him up and bring him to Gibbs' house, where he would be staying during his ten day leave before leaving again for Afghanistan. At Gibbs' place, the team was having a small welcome home dinner, to talk and catch Tony up on everything that had happened while he was away.

"Now landing, Flight 35 from Hilton Head, South Carolina at Gate 6."

"That is Tony's flight," Ziva said as she stood from the seat she was sitting in and headed towards the terminal, Gibbs following closely on her heels.

Ten minutes later, Ziva and Gibbs were waiting by Gate 6 for Tony to get off the plane. "Flight 35 has now landed at Gate 6. Passengers should be arriving momentarily. Thank you."

On cue, Tony walked into the terminal, and immediately found Ziva and Gibbs. Ziva and tony locked eyes and smiled widely at each other. Tony began walking faster in her direction, and they kept their eyes on each other the entire time.

"Zee-vah!" Tony exclaimed as he walked towards her, still smiling. "Ziva, Ziva Ziva. My lovely Ziva. Oh how much I've missed you." He dropped his small carry on bag to the ground, then hugged Ziva tightly. She hugged him back, and he picked her up and began twirling her around.

"Tony, put me down," Ziva said sternly, but still had a smile plastered on her face. He continued spinning her for a few moments before placing her down on the ground gently. They continued looking at each other for a minute, completely forgetting Gibbs was there until he cleared his throat loudly.

"You two, quit playing grab ass. I know you just got back from three weeks without women, but save it for someone other than a coworker." He then slapped Tony on the back of the head.

"Boss, seriously?" Tony cried, insulted. "You don't see me for three weeks, and the first thing you do is head slap me?"

"You deserved it," said Gibbs before he patted Tony on the back. "Welcome back, Private."

"Thank you, Gunny." Ziva noticed that Tony had changed a good deal from his time away, physically and emotionally. His hair was still in a short military crop, but his skin was much tanner. She couldn't help but notice that his muscles were more defined than they were before. She thought he looked good before, but now she was even more attracted to him, and couldn't help but admit to herself that he was hot.

Even though he was still joking like usual, she could also see that he had become more serious. In his letters he had sent, and the way he was talking to Gibbs, she could see that being in boot camp changed him, making him more serious and mature. Even in his short time back, he hadn't smiled as much as he normally would.

"Why don't we get to your house, boss? I want to see the rest of the team. I miss them all," Tony asked, excited like a child at Christmas.

"Alright DiNozzo. Let's go."

------

"Where are they? They should be back already, especially if Gibbs is driving."

"Abby, calm down. Maybe Tony's plane got delayed or something." For the past ten minutes Abby had been babbling hysterically about how Gibbs and Ziva should be with Tony already and how much she missed Tony. McGee had been trying unsuccessfully to calm her. She was pacing around Gibbs' living room, only taking a break to look at McGee's laptop.

"I already checked Timmy. The plane landed right on schedule. Why is it taking so long?" Abby had already started the countdown of how long Tony was gone and had brought out "Broom Tony."

"I don't know Abby. You can ask them when they get here."

"Ask us what, Probie?" asked a voice from the doorway.

"TONY!!!" Abby yelled, throwing herself into Tony's arms.

"Oomph," Tony groaned, wrapping his arms around Abby in return. "Good to see you too Abby."

"I missed you so much!" she exclaimed, unwrapping her arms from around him and grabbing his arms. "Wow, you got really strong. You're muscles are huge!"

"Boot camp will do that to you, Abs," Gibbs said from the corner he had sat in. Ziva was standing next to Tony, slightly behind him.

"Did you get this buff Gibbs?" Abby asked, excited.

Gibbs glared at her before Tony coughed. "Abby, I really don't wanna hear about how buff Gibbs was." He spotted McGee, who had moved to the couch, and walked up to him. "My Probie! How have you been, senior field agent?"

"I've been good Tony," he said, as Tony put an arm around him. "How was it at Parris Island?"

"Aw man, it was pretty bad. No movies, or pizza with extra cheese, extra pepperoni, and extra sausage," Tony whined.

Ziva appeared from behind Tony. "Pay up, McGee."

McGee groaned and pulled out a twenty dollar bill, handing it to Ziva. "What was all that about?" Tony asked as she folded the bill neatly and slipped it into her pocket.

"McGee said that you would complain about there being no women first, but I bet that you would complain about movies or pizza first." Ziva sent a gloating smirk in McGee's direction.

Tony continued to tell stories to the team, him and Gibbs sharing inside jokes every once in a while. They talked about cases at NCIS and other events. After a few hours of food, drink, and story telling, Ducky and Jimmy decided to head home.

"Anthony, it is time for me and Mr. Palmer to go. It is time for mother to retire. It was good to see you, my dear boy." Ducky and Jimmy said their goodbyes to the rest of the team and left.

"Me and Timmy are gonna head home to." Gibbs, Ziva, and Tony gave the both of them a questioning glance. "Not together, sillies. He drove me here."

"Sure," Tony said, unconvinced. "I'll see you on Monday. I'm gonna come by NCIS to visit, since I have nothing to do until next Monday."

After Abby and McGee left, Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva were the only ones left at Gibbs' house. Tony would be staying at Gibbs' house while he was back, and Ziva was in no rush to leave Tony yet.

As Ziva and Gibbs were talking about a current case, Tony was studying Ziva intently. She hadn't changed much in the three weeks he was gone, but she did look a bit thinner and had small dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't been sleeping. For the first time, he noticed a silver chain around her neck that contrasted with her gold Star of David necklace. He looked down, and saw his dog tags hanging from the chain against her black shirt. "Hey, you're still wearing my dog tags," Tony interrupted Ziva, who had been explaining something to Gibbs.

Ziva looked up at him, surprised by the interruption. "Of course I am. I promised I would keep them, and I already told you I wore them everyday. Do you not want me to wear them?"

"No, no that's fine. I'm actually really glad that you wear them," he stuttered nervously.

Ziva looked at Tony, Tony looked at Ziva, and they were immediately lost in each others eyes. Tony hadn't been able to see Ziva's deep chocolate brown eyes, and Ziva missed Tony's emerald irises. They continued looking at each other, not saying a word, until Gibbs coughed, reminding them they were not alone. "Rule twelve is still in affect, you two, even if Tony doesn't technically work at NCIS anymore."

Ziva's eyes widened and she looked away from Tony, embarrassed that she had been caught gazing into Tony eyes, like a lover would.

"What? Boss, come on, it's Ziva. She's my best friend," Tony stammered, thinking of an excuse for being caught. He looked back at Ziva quickly, then gave Gibbs his signature DiNozzo smile.

Ever since Ziva had arrived at NCIS, Gibbs could feel the tension between the two. It would take a blind and deaf man to not know they were attracted to each other. However, he was sure that they didn't know how the other felt, which is how he had wanted it to stay. But recently, he started thinking that maybe the two of them could work out. He knew they weren't him and Jenny, and that they could possibly be in it for the long haul, even with Tony's playboy ways and Ziva's inability to open up and show her feelings.

"Okay DiNozzo, you keep thinking that," Gibbs mumbled quietly to himself.

------

At 0700 on Monday morning, Tony walked into the NCIS building for the first time in almost a month. Gibbs had brought Tony into work with him so he could see Vance and all the other NCIS employees he hadn't seen since he left. Gibbs easily woke up Tony at 0600, as he was accustomed to waking early at boot camp.

"Ah, it's good to be back," Tony proclaimed as he walked into the bullpen, sitting down in his old desk. Everybody already knew that Tony was going to be visiting NCIS that day, so they entire team, plus Abby, Ducky, Palmer, and Vance were already in the bullpen waiting for him. "Director Vance. How's it going? What's it like here without me?"

"Much quieter," Vance replied as he walked up to Tony's desk. "How was boot camp?"

"Oh man, don't even get me started. It was awful! I mean, the drill instructor had a real stick up his ass. It was just as bad as basic training, and that was longer than this!" Tony kept complaining about his time in boot camp to anyone who would listen, though most just tuned him out without interrupting him, much like they did when Ducky told his stories.

He stopped talking when he heard the elevator doors ding open. The group turned around to see a man, in his late twenties with short blonde hair and blue eyes, rush from the elevator and into the bullpen. "Sorry I'm late sir, I mean Gibbs." The blonde man saw Tony sitting at his old desk, then turned to McGee and Ziva. "Seriously, what is this? You two make me sit in the desk all the way in the corner, and I'm part of the team, but you let this random guy sit in Agent DiNozzo's old desk?" The team started at the man, amused by his mistake. "I don't think he would like that too much," he said sarcastically, imitating what the team had said for the past three weeks.

"Brown," Gibbs finally interrupted, while everyone laughed lightly.

"Yes?" the man, who Tony learned was named Brown asked.

"I'd like you to meet Private Anthony DiNozzo."

The look of shock on Brown's face was priceless, and caused the team to laugh out loud. "Oh, um, I'm sorry sir, Private DiNozzo. Um, I'm Special Agent Adam Brown."

Tony stood up to shake Brown's hand. "You're the guy replacing me, huh? How long have you been with NCIS, Agent Brown?"

"I just started, sir." Tony could tell that Brown was nervous.

"So that makes you the new probie?" Tony asked, amused that he was making the young agent squirm.

"Yes, I guess sir."

"Don't call me sir. Tony is fine." Brown relaxed slightly before Tony continued. "Probie Jr., has Probie Sr. been pulling rank and giving you newbie jobs that you hate?"

"Yeah, half the time he's intolerable!" whined Brown. "And it's only to me. He makes me call him 'Senior Special Agent McGee' every time I address him."

"I see," Tony said as he walked up to McGee. "Good job Probie!" he exclaimed as he gave McGee a pat on the back.

"Okay every one, back to work," Gibbs called from his desk. "McGee, I want you to talk to the men in Addy's unit. Take Brown with you." McGee and Brown grabbed their gear and walked to the elevator. "Ziva, pull up financials and phone records." The rest left to their respective offices, while Gibbs left also, must likely to get more coffee, leaving Ziva and Tony alone in the bullpen.

"How do you like Agent Brown?" Tony asked after a few hours of silence, interrupted only by the sound of keyboard tapping. Gibbs was up talking to the director, and McGee and Brown were out in the field. He had been reclining at his desk with his feet up, looking at an old issue of GSM.

Ziva didn't look up from the computer screen. "He is a typical newbie. Naïve and eager to please."

"Sounds about right." There was silence for a few more minutes until Ziva leaned back in her seat, complete with her work. "So, did you miss me?"

"Yes," she looked him in the eye as she answered him. "But I believe I already told you that."

Tony got up and walked behind Ziva's desk, placing his hands on each arm rest and leaned closely into her. "You've written it, but you never actually voiced it."

Ziva sighed heavily. "Fine. Tony, I missed you. Happy now?"

"Maybe." He looked around the bullpen and saw that they were still alone. "Let's get out of here."

"And go where, exactly?" Ziva asked uncertainly.

"It's almost time for lunch. I'm sure Gibbs won't mind you taking a slightly longer lunch break." In all honesty, Tony hadn't had the chance to properly talk to Ziva since he got back, and he wanted some alone time with her.

"We could go get pizza and that place you like so much," she suggested.

"God yes, let's go there! Do you know how long it's been since I've had pizza?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to the elevator.

Sorry if there are any mistakes, I edited this about five minutes before I left for work. I really need a beta, so if you know any or are one yourself, let me know.

Thanks for reading, and please review (: