Chapter 7


A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Been great! I now present to you the next chapter~(Read on to find out what happens to the agents!)

After a long argument over which food would be best-suiting for their order- McGee had finally come to an agreement with the two bickering agents who shared the same bullpen with him...

McGee and Ziva had both decided to get a salad- with Ziva also ordering 2 small hard-shell tacos from a Mexican shack called 'Pablo's Mex Check' just a couple blocks away. Tony had ordered a large pizza with sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese along with one taco from Ziva's suggested Mexican restaurant. He also insisted on getting a burrito and some rice.

All in all, McGee had basically decided that each person would pay for their own meal. He was not going to be the one to pay for Tony's slam-full menu pickings from two different places.

"There." McGee finally huffs as he slams the phone down upon his desk. He had just finished making the last call. "We got our orders. And yes, they all might arrive at different times. But at least we're getting some food though. Right?"

Tony shares a rather satisfied look towards Ziva. He had gotten what he wanted. Pizza.

However, he also found that he couldn't say 'no' to Ziva's amazing idea to Mexican food. Aw heck, Tony would eat anything.

"Yeah. Hope they book it to our place knowing that we're federal agents. I'm starving!" Tony moans dramatically as he stretches back within his chair.

McGee just rolls his eyes before beginning yet again on his infamous paperwork.

"Hush Tony. It will be here soon. Focus on some of your work for now. Maybe you can even get most of it done?" Ziva suggests to him with a small hopeful look before she picks up her own pencil to begin work again.

Tony grimaces.

He didn't want to return to work. Had their break already ended so quickly?

...We hardly did anything except order food!

He is about to regretfully return to his work when suddenly Ziva rises to her feet and begins making her way out of the bullpen.

Tony cocks his head to one side like a dog and curiously asks, "Where are you going now, Zi?"

The Israeli turns on her heel to give him an annoyed look. "To the ladies room, Mr. Nosy."

He blinks at her before parting his lips into a toothy smile. "Want some company?" He questions, and with this, McGee even has to look up.

Ziva scoffs and just exits the bullpen in response; her hips swaying as she walks out of sight.

Tony grins towards the unamused McGee after a few moments. "What? I'm bored, alright?" the senior agent simply defends himself.

McGee only rolls his eyes though. "Uh-huh. Aren't we all." He mutters back before returning to his work. He picks up a sheet of paper and signs his name in a couple of blank spaces that read: Signature Needed Here.

His mind then suddenly goes back to Abby and how she had tried to help with their annoying paperwork earlier. She had not known how to complete some of the papers that Ziva had given her.

Poor Abby. I should have been more aware.. He begins taking it out on himself merely. And what was worst was that the Forensic Scientist had also used pen to write her incorrect writings down- which was not erasable.

Maybe we could use White-Out?

At this thought, McGee turns and rummages through his desk drawers for some white-out. Either this would be the only way- or they would just have to leave the incorrect papers as they were.

His mind then goes back to Tony's shredded papers next.

So many unfortunate accidents within just one day. He thought rather sulkily. Now those were some papers that surely would never be recovered.

What were they planning to do about the destroyed files? Tell Gibbs? Or Keep it from him?

The Boss will find out soon enough...

Just then, suddenly Tony's voice pitches through the quiet atmosphere. "Hey Probie..."

McGee is pulled from his troubling thoughts and he turns to look at the senior field agent. "What?"

"...Nothing. Just imagining the food... whenever it gets here that is." Tony huffs, his stomach feeling completely empty now.

McGee stares at him for a moment before frowning. "Well, it will be here soon. All you have to do is wait. Geez." He mutters before returning to his thoughts about the unrecoverable papers.

However, Tony intervenes with his thoughts again.

"Yeah... So like, do you think the pizza will get here first? Or maybe the Mexican food? Gosh, I can't wait to just dig in." He rambles, his eyes directing towards the windows.

McGee rolls his eyes. "Um, how about my salad? That could arrive first?" He retorts with an annoyed tone sounding within his voice.

Tony doesn't take notice of his tone though.

"Hmm, I wonder if they'll add that special Mexican sauce to my burrito? Or what if they give me lettuce on my taco?" He questions next, a hand running over his chin.

McGee bites his lip out of his growing aggravation with the agent. He was trying to focus and all Tony wanted to do was talk about food.

"Uh, Tony, lettuce is always put on tacos. Unless you ask otherwise." He replies back roughly and with this Tony exhales dramatically. "Aww, I hate green stuff."

Just then, Ziva comes strutting back into the bullpen and just at her sight McGee leans back and gives a relieved sigh. "Thank Goodness you've returned." He huffs, and Ziva awards him with a small grin. "Missed me that much, McGee?"

Tony just snorts at this remark. "You've got work to do Miss David." He snaps, and immediately Ziva jerks her eyes onto the man with an irritated glow burning within them. "Oh because you've been so very hard at work yourself!" She seethes before going to take a seat at her desk again.

Tony chuckles from her quick-tempered reaction as suddenly his desk phone rings.

"Hoh! This could be the food guys! Shh!" He hurriedly picks up the phone and states, "This is very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo speaking, how may I help you?"

McGee frowns at the agent before whispering, "Nobody was talking!"

"Uh huh, yeah, send it up if you will. Grazie, Ciao!" Once Tony finishes with the call, he leaps from his seat and bounds toward the elevator like a little kid would on Christmas day.

McGee and Ziva watch him go before they turn to share a look with each other.

"Whose food do you think it is...?" McGee finally can't take it. He was just itching to know. He wouldn't admit it in front of Tony, but in all honesty he was starving too.

Ziva shrugs before turning her attention back onto the elevator. She cranes her neck over the walls of the bullpen just as a man is revealed from the parting elevator doors. He hands Tony a pizza box.

Great. His food arrives before ours. Ziva thinks rather impatiently as the agent comes skipping back into the room with his prize next.

"Yesss! My lovely pizza is here! Oh, and she smells amazing!" Tony grins as he throws himself down into his chair before flinging the pizza box lid up. He shoves his ever-so-hated paperwork aside before taking a hot slice with his greedy hands.

Ziva and McGee just both watch on with envy.

"Mmm! Mmmmhmmm!" Tony vocalizes his delight as he snags his first bite of pizza. He casts McGee a dramatic savory expression before swallowing slowly. "Oh, this is it! Too bad you two didn't want any pizza." He chuckles as he takes another giant chomp from his first slice.

Ziva stiffens rather angrily from over in her seat. The pizza did smell really good...

"Y-Yeah? Well soon my salad will be here. And it will be just as amazing as that pizza." McGee defends without the confidence he had expected to hear from his voice.

Tony only grins wider; marinara sauce lining his lips already.

Suddenly, as if the whole world had been anticipating it, Ziva's phone begins to ring and just at its wonderful sound, her face lights up.

"This might be my Mexican. Or even the salads." She glances towards McGee before picking the phone up.

Sure enough, both the salads and the Mexican food had finally arrived. Ziva walks to the elevator to wait for the man as Tony wolfs down another slice of pizza; his eyes shining with pure content.

"You're so gross." McGee randomly comments, causing for Tony to cast the Probie a glare.

"How so?" He confronts.

"You're eating a whole pizza. And now you're getting your Mexican food to eat. You ordered like two whole different meals!" He points out with a half-amazed and half-stupefied look.

Tony just shrugs. "If you were a real man McGeek, then your stomach would be as big as mine. Women eat less food than men, and you ordered less than Ziva did. You're practically lower than a woman!" the agent jokes hysterically as Ziva comes trudging back into the room with the food.

"Here you are McGee." Ziva smiles as she sets down a nice salad in front of the Probie. McGee however was feeling a little disheartened from Tony's remark on him being a man.

I can eat more than a salad, DiNozzo. At least I'm trying to lose some weight. He thinks haughtily within his mind. But he never found the audacity to speak it aloud.

"And here you are Tony." Ziva then turns and hands Tony his taco, burrito, and rice before heading for her own desk to enjoy her food.

"Thank you Miss Ninja!" Tony smiles before going for the taco. His desk was practically slam-full now. He piles his Mexican food atop his desk when suddenly a huge stack of papers tips and falls to the floor, its pages flying everywhere around his area.

Tony is immediately on his feet at the loss of his stack. "Aww, COME ON!" He growls before getting onto the floor for his papers.

Ziva and McGee both give a laugh at his luck. Perhaps it was payback for teasing them earlier about his pizza?

He tries to pick up his runaway pages but they were way too scattered. His desk now held the resemblance of McGee's messy work area. The two men both now had papers surrounding their desks like a mote.

"Too bad Tony. Shouldn't have asked for all that food." McGee remarks from his chair; a satisfied grin on his face at Tony being on the floor with papers.

Ziva also now holds a petty grin for the senior agent.

"Aww, poor DiNozzo." She mumbles sarcastically which causes for Tony to glare at the two co-workers. "Can you both like clam it or something?" He snaps before finally just giving up on his runaway papers. His pages were far too scattered and mixed with McGee's mess for him to gain them back so quickly. He hauls himself back into his chair with an annoyed groan in his throat.

"Like I said, with that pizza box and that Mexican food on your desk. Where is there any room for the paperwork?" McGee laughs matter-of-factually before turning to take his first few bites of salad.

Tony glares at his work space in response. McGee had a major point. There was completely little to no room for paperwork.

Just the way I like it. He thinks angrily before going back to his meal. He picks up his taco to examine it before picking some of the lettuce out of it- if not all of the lettuce. He then takes his savory bite before glancing back down at his unkempt area.

He chews his taco through his annoyance and tries to calm himself. He forces his attention on something else- anything else. Other than paperwork.

He comes to settle his mind quickly on someone who he enjoyed to think about.

His eyes graze over towards Ziva as she works effortlessly away on her papers while still accomplishing to bite into her taco every now and then. She is steady, efficient, and unwavering as she works.

Somehow his loss of the fallen paper tower is forgotten with ease.

Wow. How does she keep her focus like that? Tony is at a lost for words within his mind as he watches her. He didn't have the ability to stay constantly focused upon one thing like she did. Especially when that thing came to Paperwork. She takes another bite of her taco, the sauce painting her lips for a moment before she simply wipes the remains away with a napkin at hand. Tony even found himself licking his own lips just at watching her.

You hardly get to witness the dutiful Mossad agent eating messy-food. He thinks playfully.

Whenever she'd take a bite of her taco- he would then go for a bite of his own taco. He found this amusing. His eyes then shift towards his rice and burrito before going for some of them. Within moments his attention is back on her though; his mouth chewing away happily at his delicious burrito that he so needed to have.

However, Ziva is continuing her writing when suddenly he notices her taco leaking some of its sauce out from the opposite end of its shell.

Oh boy. Tony thinks rather uncomfortably.

Tacos have always been messy. But this wasn't the time for a mess.

He watches as more sauce leaks out and onto her desk and papers. She was totally oblivious to this though; for she was concentrating on a certain file at the moment.

He just had to say something to her about it.

"Uh, Zi?" At last Tony speaks, his eyes going from her and then to her taco again.

"What now?" She asks. It is then that she follows his gaze to her taco and she finally realizes. Her eyes widen before she sets her taco down into its box it came in. "Ohh! Tony! Why didn't you tell me?!" She breathes loudly, causing for McGee to look up from his salad bowl.

"W-What's wrong now?" He asks, and Tony is about to explain to the Probie, but Ziva just beats him to it. "My taco! It's making a mess!" She growls- half to herself and half to her own food.

"T-That's why I ordered nothing but a salad." McGee remarks, causing for both Tony and Ziva to send him a look.

"Very helpful there McGee, Thank you." She snaps before taking her napkins and trying to mop up the fallen sauce. Tony stands and comes to hand her some of his extra napkins for help but it is no use.

"Great! Some sauce got onto some of my papers!" The Israeli groans as she then just throws away her soaked napkins. Tony tries to hold back a smile all the while. It had become inevitable to not screw one's papers up. Whether that be through shredding, marking on them with pen, or simple food stains. They'd always find a way to get ruined.

"You need any help from me? I have more napkins?" McGee tries to input but Ziva just lowers her gaze to the floor before kicking her desk and yelling something in Hebrew.

"Ugh, I hate doing this! This whole day has been nothing but bad!" She snarls, her accent coming off thicker than usual from her enraged state.

"Hey," Tony simply places a hand on her shoulder. "You need to calm down. It's alright. Like I said, it's just pa-" He begins but Ziva cuts him off hastily. "No! It is not just paperwork! A good portion of papers has already been ruined! And from what?" She rages, causing for him to feel rather useless at the moment.

McGee just watches on in silence before casting his gaze down to his own mess of papers. The bullpen really was a wreck. Papers were scattered everywhere, trash and food bits lay around, and the whole room practically maintained the smell of Mexican food and pizza.

"Tony," Ziva tries beginning again with a calmer tone but she couldn't help herself. "For the most part, a lot of the ruined papers are my fault." She concludes at last, causing for Tony just give her a baffled look.

"No it is not! How is anything your fault?" He defends her before motioning towards the papers all around his desk- as well as McGee's.

"Well, sure, you made a mess of the floor. But what about the papers that we cannot fix?" She questions before placing a hand to her temple. She was really starting to feel stressed out now and Tony could tell from her voice tone and the look in her eyes.

"I mean, I shredded your papers earlier today. I will be responsible for that. And I also gave Abby some of my papers to work on. Even though it wasn't her fault, Abby's wrong answers will be blamed on me because they were my papers. And now I have food all over these other papers." She explains with a painful look.

Tony can't help but just frown.

There is no way she is taking the blame for my shredded papers. That, and Abby didn't know what to do on these papers! It can't completely be blamed on Ziva, can it?

The senior agent's thoughts were running wild as McGee just threw his input into the air. "Ziva, you will not take the wrath for all of the ruined papers. We're all in this together as a team." He acknowledges before trying a hopeful smile at her.

Ziva just crosses her arms at this. "I knew we should have just gone out to get something to eat! Bringing food here is simply too messy." She comments rather sourly and with this McGee just falls quiet. Perhaps she had a point but it was too late now.

The three agents are then left just staring at each other again- unknowing of what to do next.

"Well," Tony then randomly begins, his eyes trying a playful look. "Like Gibbs used to tell me. Food and paperwork don't mix."

A/N: Hey there! This chapter was pretty long but it was fun to write. Hope everyone is enjoying the story! I may end it soon but I don't know yet.

Anyways, thanks for the reviews and just reading in general :)