Tony grabbed his gear and headed for the basketball court outside. As a second thought he grabbed his ear piece and mic from the counter before heading outside. He knew the girls would be fine inside and he wasn't concerned for his own safety, however he thought perhaps he could have a bit of a chart with McGee as long as he was being kicked out of his temporary house.
"McGee, you there?" he asked into the mic.
"I'm here Tony. Do you need something?"
"I need to know what the girls are discussing back in the house. I know we have surveillance in there and I know you could hear everything they're saying if you wanted to."
"No way."
"Oh come on McGoo, where's your sense of fun. Aren't you at all curious about what they're talking about in there?"
"It's not worth my life Tony." Secretly he did really want to know what they were discussing. As he had agreed with Abby, he had the video on but not the sound. He could see them talking but he had no idea what they were talking about. He hoped Tony didn't press this too hard or he knew he would cave and turn it on.
"Look McGee, it's only your life we're talking about if you're dumb enough to get caught. Are you telling me that you're dumb enough to get caught?"
"You mean like you got caught with the pictures of Ziva from LA Tony, because I distinctly remember you telling me that she would never find out you had those."
Tony had to wince a little bit. It had been a rookie mistake to have gotten caught with those. But how was he supposed to have known that she would be coming aboard the ship? If he had known in advance she would have never seen them.
"That wasn't my fault Tim. If someone had given me advance warning that they were coming I could have had those down."
"Right Tony, well either way, there's no way I'm eavesdropping on a conversation that Ziva is participating in. No good ever comes out of us doing anything to try and get the better of Ziva."
"Are you still mad about those brownies Probie? Cause if I promise to never do that again will you turn the sound on?"
"No Tony."
"Oh come one, you aren't the least bit curious? Don't you want to know what Abby's talking about? What if she's talking about you? Besides do you know what Gibbs is going to say if he knows you cut the audio?"
McGee shuffled in his seat. He wasn't worried about Gibbs killing him; this was Abby and Ziva they were talking about after all. Everyone knew Abby was the favourite and Gibbs had a softer spot for Ziva then he did for either Tony or McGee. He did really want to hear what they were talking about though, maybe he could just turn the audio on low, Tony didn't need to know it was on, and if it was anything he shouldn't hear he would turn it right back off again.
"I can practically hear you thinking McGoo. Just turn it on already."
"No Tony." McGee strengthened his resolve. Whatever it was the girls were talking about they wanted privacy, and he wanted to live. When Ziva found out he was listening, and Ziva would find out, she was almost as bad as Gibbs, she would make his life miserable. As bad as Tony got, he at least never inflicted actual pain.
"McGee you are a wimp!" Tony shot his ball and made the hoop. The curiosity was killing him. What could Ziva possibly be saying to Abby? He needed to know. Heck, he was her partner, what if it was something that compromised the security of the assignment? It could get her hurt, and he was completely in the dark. He sighed frustratingly and shot another hoop.
Meanwhile back inside the house Ziva had finally spilled everything to Abby. She was acutely uncomfortable discussing this, but she needed some input and she knew that if she swore Abby to secrecy she wouldn't say anything. In all honesty she thought she would rather be tortured then have McGee and Tony find out what they were talking about.
"Are you sure McGee is not listening to this Abby?" She finally asked for about the 10th time in the conversation.
"Ziva relax, Tim is much too much of a gentleman to actually give in to the temptation of listening to our conversation, if Tony was on surveillance though then we would have a problem."
"What do you suggest Abby? What do I do? How do I get over this?"
"Why do you want to get over this?"
"He's my partner Abby. No good can come from this. Besides he's into a new woman every day, he doesn't even know what the word commitment means."
"Oh Ziva, and people call me melodramatic. Look I've seen the way he looks at you when no ones looking. There is most definitely something there."
"Oh I know he finds me attractive that is not an issue. I just want to be more then a lie to him."
"I think you mean a lay, and I understand what you're saying, but I'm telling you he thinks more of you then that. Otherwise he would have already tried that by now. This is after all Tony, if all he wanted was you in his bed he would have gotten you there by now."
Ziva looked affronted. "I think not Abby. No one gets me into their bed without my wanting to be there."
"That's just it Ziva, you really, really want to be there." She said with a grin. "If he honestly tried you wouldn't put up much of a fight."
"What do I do?" Ziva asked in a small voice.
"Look if you want my honest opinion I think he feels the same way and just hasn't realized it yet. He's totally in love with you he just needs to come to the same conclusion that you have, only this is all new for him. He respects you so much he'll try and convince himself it's anything but love, especially after what happened with Jeanne."
Ziva flinched at her name and then squared her shoulders, "I still think my best option is to get over him. Do you have any friends you can set me up with?"
"I don't think so. I'm on team Tiva" Abby said with a smile
"Tiva?"
"Tony plus Ziva equals Tiva. The two of you are bound to get together. We just need to push Tony in the right direction."
"There will be no pushing Tony to anything Abby. She sighed. "I should not even have said anything; I want you to leave this alone."
Abby rolled her eyes. "Clearly you wanted help, and help is what I'm going to give you."
"While we are here Abby, what is going on with you and McGee?"
Abby's face turned bright red. "What makes you think anything is going on with Tim and I?"
Ziva smirked. "One, you haven't taken those rings off since he gave them to you and two your face just gave you away."
Abby shrugged her shoulders, "Nothing. Right now." She said with a grin. "I want to see this bikini everyone has been going on about. Besides I brought over some equipment to do a couple of tests before you put it on. We wouldn't want you to put it on, stun Tony and then drop dead at his feet!"
Ziva led Abby over to the kitchen table where the bikini was.
"Tony cleaned the kitchen?" Abby said with a squeal. She whirled to face Ziva "He is so in love with you!"
Ziva just rolled her eyes. "I thought you wanted to look at the bikini."
"Well yeah, but I mean, this is DiNozzo we're talking about, he cleaned a kitchen for you. A kitchen. She shook her head and then waived her hands at the camera trying to get McGee's attention. "Do you still have you mic and ear piece?"
"Of course."
"Can you tell McGee he can turn the audio back on now."
"McGee are you there?"
"I'm here Ziva."
"You can turn the audio feed back on. We're going to call you on speed dial so you can hear all of us." She walked to the door and called Gene to come inside. "You stink." She said to Tony as he came back inside.
"Well sorry sweet cheeks, if someone hadn't felt the need to gab for a long time I wouldn't be nearly so sweaty."
"It is not my fault you stink. Go take a shower or something."
"Um guys," Abby finally uttered, "we need to get this tested, it's getting pretty late."
Tony and Ziva shared one last glare before turning their attention to Abby who had already called McGee on the speaker phone.
"So I'm just going to test this to make sure there's nothing toxic on any of the seams, not that there's too many seams, there's almost nothing to this thing."
Tony bit back a groan. This assignment was going to kill him. If the assignment didn't then Ziva certainly would. He almost wished Gibbs was on surveillance tonight, at least he would stop him before he did anything too stupid.
"Well" Abby finally said, "The coast is clear. You're good to go with your new suit Ziva."
Ziva felt her heart speed up. She had been hoping that Abby would tell her she couldn't wear it, and then she would have nothing to worry about.
"Abby" McGee finally said, "You're on surveillance with me tonight, apparently we get the night shift and Gibbs is going to take the day shifts."
"Ok Timmy, well I'm going to head out guys, don't do anything I wouldn't do." She said with a smirk. She walked over to Ziva and gave her a hug, "You be careful." She then gave Tony a hug and said "You take good care of her."
"I will Abbs," he whispered back. "She'll be fine."
She then proceeded to let herself out of the house leaving Tony and Ziva to stare nervously at each other.