Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any characters. Damn.

Prompt #9: Carnival - When she told him she'd never been to one, Tony took it upon himself to take her to every stand and on every ride that night.

Words: 852

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" Abby shouted, jumping in place as she beamed at the leader of the NCIS MCR team. "Gibbs!"

"What is it, Abbs?" he replied, giving her a fond if exasperated look. "Find something?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yup! The trace results on the victim's clothes came back as butter topping, powdered sugar, salt, and hay dust. You know what that means!"

Gibbs waited for the answer, but Tony beat her to it. "It's a carnival, Boss," he said with a huge smile. "The vic was at a carnival before he died."

"Perfect place for a meet," McGee remarked. "Lots of people, bright lights, loud rides - you could blend in easily."

"Especially if you're looking to trade blood diamonds for dirty cash." Tony was almost vibrating with excitement. "We should check it out, Boss."

"DiNozzo, David, head out," Gibbs said, taking his gun out of his desk drawer. "McGee, tell Fornell we're heading in."

"I love the carnival," Tony sighed as they got out of the car. He took a deep breath and smiled. "Popcorn, cotton candy, sawdust, corn dogs - "

"I do not understand how they manage to put the corn inside the dog," remarked Ziva. As always, her eyes were scanning the crowds for threats.

Tony shook his head. "They don't, Zee-Vah. It's the outer layer of goodness." She was still too tense, he saw, and he put an arm around her waist.

"DiNozzo!" Her teeth were gritted. "Remove your arm from my waist before I rip it off and beat you with it."

"Relax, Ziva," he muttered in her ear. "We have to blend in." Leading her in was hard to do, but Ziva let him.

In five minutes, Tony was treated to the rare sight of a completely astonished Ziva David. Her mouth was slightly open, jaw slack, her brown eyes wide as she took in the sights and sounds of the carnival around them. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've never been to a carnival before," he remarked.

"I have not," Ziva replied, not tearing her eyes away from the sights.

Tony's eyes widened in surprise. "Blasphemy!" he announced. "How can you be an American citizen and never been to a carnival before? Woman, I need to school you quick."

"Tony, we are in the middle of an investigation!" she snapped. "Now is not the time for your juvenile antics!"

His lips quirked into a grimace. "Fine. But after we get this guy, we're coming back."

True to his word, he pulled Ziva back to the carnival after their paperwork was done. By now the place was really going, the lights brighter in the darkness and the smells sharper. Children and parents were milling around, and screams came from all the high-speed rides around them. Tony felt like he'd died and gone to carnie heaven.

Ziva looked like she was possessed. All the sounds were making her head twitch in every direction as she tried to pin down what was a threat and what was simple fun. Tense as a wire, she couldn't relax enough to enjoy the carnival. So Tony, heaving a sigh, took her hand in his and said in her ear, "Relax already, Ziva. Nobody's going to attack us."

"It is very noisy," she shouted over fresh screams from the people on the pendulum ride they were passing.

"That's because it's a fun carnival. If there's no noise at a carnival, that's when you can be worried." Tony squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Now come on. Let's have some fun."

And true to his word, they had fun. He took her on the spinners, the loopers, and the pendulum rides. They rode the bumper cars, the carousel, and the swings. Tony bought her cotton candy and hot dogs and funnel cakes and enough soda to drown a small puppy. They played the stalls, tried to out-shoot each other at the rifle stall, and walked away with a small fortune in trinkets.

Ziva hugged the huge stuffed puppy that Tony had won her at the bottle toss. "This has been...an enjoyable time, Tony," she said as he walked her to the door of her apartment. "Thank you."

He grinned at his partner. "No problem. Even a ninja like you needs quality downtime."

She nodded. "That is true. Perhaps we can do it again sometimes." Smiling fully, Ziva reached up on her toes and put a small kiss on Tony's cheek. "Good night, Tony."

"Night, Ziva." He waited until she was inside before heading back to his car, still grinning like a goof as he replayed the kiss in his mind.

That was totally a date...right? Maybe? Well, just to be safe, I don't call it that around her...

I, as the author, catagorize that as a date. Personally.

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