A/N: I think something screwy happened with the posting of chapter 13. Either that or you all hated it. Let's hope this post goes more smoothly.

Points to It'sMyFavoriteSong for being the first one to get the Psych references!

Disclaimer: Disclaimed.

If the chicken hadn't already been dead, it would have been begging for mercy.

Tonight it was McGee's turn to cook, but Ziva had volunteered to take over the task he clearly dreaded. She was frustrated by their lack of solid evidence in this case, and she hoped that the chopping, kneading and grinding actions of cooking would help alleviate some of the frustration she'd managed to build up since last night's release. True, she'd prefer to just get her partner into bed again, but she doubted there'd be another half-hour window for that tonight.

She brought the cleaver down hard, separating the bird in two as her body reacted to the thought of another round with Tony. He'd wandered into the kitchen just ten minutes ago, and made it clear that he was willing to go for it without even clearing the house. With the sound of Gibbs and McGee arguing in the living room clearly audible, Tony had fitted himself to her back, kissed her neck and slid his hand between her legs.

"Five minutes," he'd murmured, and she had to admit she'd considered it.

But somehow she'd found the strength to hold out, and told him that five minutes wasn't enough. Nor was 30 minutes. She needed two hours, at a minimum. Tony had removed his hand only to hug her as tight as Abby ever had, and kiss her repeatedly. She supposed that meant he was looking forward to it. So was she. The man was a freaking drug.

With no mortar and pestle in the kitchen, Ziva put some spices in a zip lock bag and then slammed the butt of the cleaver down on it repeatedly. They needed to wrap this case up, and fast. If she had to spend another week in a house with Gibbs and McGee while Tony watched her with dark, hungry eyes, she was going to lose her mind.

She tipped the ground spices into a heated pan and splashed in a liberal amount of olive oil. They'd just started to toast when her cell phone rang, and she grabbed it with one hand while stirring the spices with her other. Fearing Abby's call, she was more than a little relieved when she didn't recognize the number that was displayed.

"David," she answered, and tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder as she tended to the spices.

There was a pause before a familiar, breathy voice came back at her. "Um, is that Ziva?"

Ziva snapped to attention, and put on her American accent again. "Juliet?"

"Yeah! Hi," Juliet said. "Um, I'm really sorry to bother you, Ziva. I'm not sure if this is something I should call you about or call the police, or..."

Ziva shook her head and quickly shut off the gas on the stove. "It's fine, Juliet," she said, as she dashed to the living room and drew the rest of the team's attention. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I feel horrible even saying this," Juliet told her. "But...I think Gus, I mean Dr Werner, I think he's been in my house."

Ziva felt the flip inside her that told her they had a break. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, I could be wrong, but I'm sure I saw him tonight on my way home from work. I was on the bus about two blocks from my house, and I saw his car coming the other way. And I didn't really think much of it, but then I got home and…I don't know, Ziva. I just had this feeling that someone had been here. I know it sounds stupid."

Ziva shook her head. "Not at all. You get a sense for these things. Have you noticed anything missing?"

Juliet hesitated. "Um, I don't think so. But things are just...there are a few things that just aren't exactly where I left them. God, it sounds so stupid when I say it out loud."

"It's not," Ziva assured her. "Listen, I want you to stay there and don't touch anything, okay? I'm coming over now and we can talk."

Juliet started to backpedal. "God, it's probably in my head."

"I'm going to come anyway, okay?" Ziva said. "Just stay there, and don't let anyone else in."

Juliet sighed. "Thanks, Ziva."

"I won't be long," Ziva assured her, and then waited for Juliet to hang up before snapping her phone shut. She looked up at three expectant faces. "Juliet thinks that Gus Werner was in her apartment this evening. She doesn't think anything is missing, but she feels someone was there, and saw him in the neighborhood before she returned home."

"Take DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "We'll go roll by Werner's place."

They all stood, but McGee didn't immediately check for his gun and badge like the others did.

"So, is dinner ready yet?" he dared to ask. At the scowl he got from Gibbs, he tried to explain himself, "To take with us, I mean. I didn't have lunch today."

Tony and Ziva stood up and left the scene before they could witness any blood being spilled.

Juliet opened her door with wide eyes that smiled at Ziva, and then lingered on Tony. She smoothed her hair behind her ear and opened the door wider, leading with her chest.

"Hey, Ziva," she said like they were old friends.

Ziva gave a finger wave, following Juliet's lead. Just as she had done during their interview, she was trying to put herself on the same level as Juliet. The approach seemed to have worked before. "Hi. This is my partner, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo." Ziva couldn't remember the last time she'd referred to Tony with his full name and rank, as it were, but she had a feeling that Juliet would go for it.

Sure enough, Juliet's eyes fell to look him up and down, and she gave Tony a brighter, flirtier smile. "Oh, sure. We met at NCIS the other day."

Tony nodded and gave her a charming smile. "We sure did. Mind if we come in?"

Juliet giggled at nothing, and opened the door wide enough to let them pass. "Sure. Thanks for coming around."

Juliet's apartment was small, but she used the space well. There was a galley kitchen along one wall that looked out onto the apartment complex's communal courtyard, and an overstuffed red couch against the facing wall. The centerpiece of the room was a large, solid dining table stained with red paint, and four matching chairs. She'd strung fairy lights across the ceiling, and placed a dozen candles around on bookshelves, tabletops and in candle holders affixed to the wall. There was a thick white rug on the floor, and a bowl of figs on the coffee table. The place seemed set up for seduction, but Tony couldn't work out why. Juliet seemed to go home with other people. She didn't invite them back here. Maybe she just liked being surrounded by the mood.

"Can I get you a drink?" Juliet offered.

Ziva shook her head. "Maybe we could just talk about what happened tonight while Special Agent DiNozzo has a look around?"

Juliet nodded, and Tony waited until she and Ziva were seated at the table until he went back to the door and checked out the jam. He kept an ear on their conversation while he looked for signs of forced entry.

"You said you saw him on your way home?" Ziva prompted.

"Yeah," Juliet said, and then stared at Tony's ass for a full five seconds before raising an appreciative eyebrow at Ziva.

Ziva smirked and nodded in acknowledgement, but tried to keep things on track. "Were you sure it was him?"

"Yes," she said, and tucked her hair behind her ear again. "I mean, I know it was his car. I see it every day, so I'm sure about that."

"And you're sure it was him driving?"

Juliet frowned. "Yeah."

"Where was he when you saw him?"

Juliet pointed in the vague direction of the street. "The bus was just coming up Napili Avenue. That's just down the street. I was about to get up because we were near my stop, and I saw him driving past like he was going back to base."

Ziva made a note on her pad, and then leaned forward. "Why don't you tell me why you think he was in here?" she asked, softening her voice.

Juliet bit her lip, and then leaned forward too. "You know how I said the other day that he's asked me out a few times?"

Ziva nodded, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Tony take some fingerprint powder and a brush out of his backpack.

"And I said he was cool with me saying no?"

Ziva nodded again. "Dating co-workers. It's a bad idea."

"I think maybe he wasn't so cool with it," Juliet admitted. "I mean, he really is a nice guy. And he was never, like, rude or pushy. But he was kind of insistent the last time he asked. He said he thought that he was someone I could settle down with."

"And what did you say?"

Juliet laughed. "Uh, that I wasn't ready to settle down, and I was having a lot of fun. He said that he'd be good for me, but then he dropped it and that was that. But…"

"Did he ask again?"

"No," she said. "But I've started seeing him out all the time. Like, I'll hook up with some guy, and then all of a sudden Gus'll be there all hey, what's up!"

They both glanced at Tony at the soft click of his camera. Juliet frowned at the black powder over her door, but Ziva put her hand out on the table to regain her attention.

"You think he's started following you?"

Juliet looked back at her with worried eyes. "It sounds so stupid," she started.

"Don't worry about how it sounds," Ziva told her.

They held gazes for a moment, and then Juliet nodded, her expression turning guilty at the thought of betraying someone who was supposed to be a friend.

"Yeah, I think so," she said quietly. "And I'm just worried that he might've…" She trailed off as tears filled her eyes.

Ziva spotted a box of tissues on a bookshelf, and stood up to fetch it. She put the box in front of Juliet and rubbed her shoulder before sitting down again.

"He's a doctor," Juliet said, dabbing at her eyes. "He helps people, right? So I know he doesn't have it in him. But…I just keep thinking about those poor boys who died. What if…" She trailed off again, unable to bring herself to condemn him.

Tony stood up, finished with processing the door, and caught Ziva's gaze. She gave him a subtle nod.

"Did you see Doctor Werner when you were out with any of the victims?"

Juliet nodded again. "When I was out with Shaun. He was there. He came over to say hi. And I'm not positive, but I think I saw him when I was getting into a cab with Noah."

Ziva refrained from unleashing the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. "That's very helpful," she told Juliet.

"Is he in trouble?" Juliet asked, almost wincing.

"Not if he didn't do anything," Ziva replied.

Tony moved to stand beside Ziva. "Juliet, has Doctor Werner ever been in your apartment? Aside from tonight, I mean."

"No, never."

"So there'd be no reason to find his fingerprints in here, or on anything you own?" he checked.

Juliet shook her head. "No."

Tony nodded, and pointed down the hall. "You mind if I have a quick look in your bedroom?"

"Go ahead," she told him. "My iPod's on the nightstand. It's one of the things I'm sure has been moved. Just a couple inches, but I'm sure."

Tony lifted his backpack over his shoulder and shot her another charming smile. "I'll check it out," he assured her, and headed down the hall.

Juliet watched his ass again, and then leaned closer to Ziva. "What does your boyfriend think about you working with a guy that hot every day?" she whispered.

Ziva smiled, but it would be stupid to tell her that Tony was her boyfriend (in a manner of speaking). Tony was doing some low-level flirting with Juliet in case they needed him to charm some more information out of her later. There was no point in saying something now that might make Juliet doubt Tony's sincerity in the future. And Ziva hardly felt the need to mark her territory. The flirting he was doing with Juliet was just the part he was playing in this. It wasn't like Ziva believed he was honestly interested in their witness.

So instead of telling the truth, she shrugged like it was no big deal. "He doesn't mind."

Juliet gazed down the hall again. "He's got a great smile."

In Juliet's bedroom, Tony smirked and shook his head to himself. It was true that he'd worked damn hard to get where he was, to become a respected agent and to make a name for himself. But in some cases, all the talent in the world couldn't compete with luck-of-the-draw genetics.

As Ziva and Juliet continued to talk about Werner in the front room, Tony walked further into the bedroom. He felt a sense of déjà vu as he looked around. He'd seen this bedroom a hundred times in his life. A queen-sized bed was covered in girly pillows and a flowery bedspread. There were pictures of butterflies and flowers on the walls. More candles had been placed around the room, and there was a closet big enough to house a family of gypsies across from the bed. Everything looked neat and tidy, and he couldn't immediately see anything that looked out of place. The only patch of mess in the room was in the far corner, where a mountain of shoes looked like it would topple with the slightest touch. It was nothing out of the ordinary for a woman in her 20s.

He headed over to her nightstand and took a couple of shots of the iPod sitting on top of some chick-lit book with a pink cover. Then he dusted it, and he made a face at the treasure trove of prints all over it. These things were like fingerprint Mecca. Probably most of them would be Juliet's, but with any luck Werner would have left one as well.

As he was finishing up, his cell phone rang. He read McGee's name on caller ID before answering. "Yeah, DiNozzo."

"Good news," McGee said, and Tony could hear his excitement over the line. "We just got a call from Abby. The medical examiner here in Pearl Harbor found some tissue stuck between Shaun Hill's front teeth. He thought it was a bit of his tongue, but sent it for DNA anyway. Results just came back."

When McGee stopped there, Tony made a hurry up gesture at the wall. "And?"

"Wasn't his. But we got a positive match against Gus Werner's service records," McGee practically sang.

Tony dropped his head back in relief. "Nice. So we've just got to get Werner to say that he never put any of his body parts inside Shaun Hill's mouth."

"Uh, yeah," McGee replied, sounding uncomfortable.

"We've got more good news," Tony offered. "Juliet just told us that she saw Werner while she was out with both Noah Silverman and Shaun Hill. She thinks he was following her."

"Motive?"

"Possibly. I took some prints from her front door and her iPod and I'll send them through to Abby as soon as we leave. Might be able to get him on break and enter as well."

"Could add another year to his sentence."

Tony peeked up the hallway to the front room. Ziva and Juliet were still talking, but Ziva was wearing what Tony called her 'neutral face'. Tony decided that meant they were done with discussing Gus Werner, and Juliet was now talking about something Ziva had no interest in.

"Where are you?" he asked McGee. "We'll come meet you."

"Gibbs is trying to get a warrant," McGee said. "He wants to go in about 0500 tomorrow and catch him by surprise."

Tony's jaw clenched. "If you say the word 'stakeout'," he started warningly.

"Not for us," McGee assured him. "Gale's sending a team over to watch him until morning. He's still at home. Hasn't moved since we got here."

"Thank God," Tony sighed. "Okay, we'll meet you at home."

"Oh, wait!" McGee called out before Tony could hang up. "Can you tell Ziva that Abby said she'll call her tomorrow. She said it was important."

Tony shrugged, not the slightest bit interested in that. "Yeah, whatever."

He snapped his phone shut and made his way back up the hallway. Ziva looked up at him over Juliet's shoulder, and Tony gave her a wink and a smile. Her expression barely changed, but he knew she understood by her heavier exhale of breath.

"Do you have everything you need, Special Agent DiNozzo?" she asked.

Tony stood between them and shot Juliet another smile. Juliet sat up straighter, and seemed to grow two more inches of cleavage instantly. Ziva found herself sitting up straighter as well.

"I'm all done," he said. "We're going to go run these prints and see what we come up with."

Ziva stood up, and when they both headed for the door, Juliet stood as well.

"Um, so you'll tell me if it was him?"

"Yes," Ziva assured her. "You'll be fine tonight. He's not going to come back."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Tony said. "But if you want to stay with a friend tonight, we can give you a lift."

Juliet dashed to her bedroom. "I just need to grab a few things."

As soon as Tony heard that they'd be cooling their heels until morning, he knew that he wouldn't get much sleep that night. After dropping Juliet at her sister's house, and a brief team meeting about their plan for the takedown, Tony had taken his nervous energy to his bedroom to change into running gear. He was only mildly surprised when he came out of the house to find Ziva stretching on the front lawn in running shoes, shorts and a tank top.

"Want some company?"

He shot her a DiNozzo smile. "Always."

They headed left at the end of the driveway, and then started off at an easy pace. For the first few hundred feet, they ran in companionable silence. Tony watched the waves rolling in against the beach, and thought about Ziva's swim the other morning. He was disappointed that he'd missed that. Although the sight of her naked body undid him, witnessing her Ursula Andress moment was something he wanted to experience. He wondered what his chances would be like of convincing her to come back here for a couple of days. No dead bodies, no cases, no Gibbs and McGee. Just them, a beach and a bed. That's all he needed.

He thought about bringing it up with her now, but decided it was too soon. Yeah, they'd said some scary honest things to each other in the last few days, but he still wasn't sure if they were ready to talk about 'couple' activities. He thought he'd give it a few more weeks. Right now, he went back to the case.

"So, what did you guys talk about when I was in the bedroom?" he asked.

"Aside from your fine ass?" she shot at him with a smile.

"That's a given."

"I asked her why she told us that she slept with the victims," Ziva said. "Told her that the autopsy didn't find any evidence of sexual activity."

"What did she say?"

Ziva rolled her eyes. "That they used condoms. I told her there would still be some evidence of her on the victims, and pointed out that we didn't find any used condoms at any of the scenes. But she kept saying that they'd had sex."

Tony shook her head. "Why would she insist? It just makes her look like she's involved in this."

"I don't think she gets that," Ziva said. "I think she's more interested in protecting her reputation."

"As someone who sleeps around."

"Right."

They ran a block in silence, slowly picking up their pace.

"Why would Werner break into her house tonight?" Ziva asked.

Tony thought it over for a few steps. "Maybe he wanted to find out what she knows," he suggested. "He was spooked after this afternoon. Maybe he wanted to ask her whether we'd questioned her, and what she'd told us."

"Why break in?"

"He's panicking."

"Why leave without talking to her?"

Tony shrugged. "He's still panicking."

They turned a corner, and went quiet as they ran past three kids on a lawn, chasing each other with water guns. The tallest kid turned to look at them, and aimed his gun at Tony. Tony held his hands up in surrender, before grabbing Ziva and dragging her across his body to cover him. A few drops of water hit her shoulder as the kid fired, but Ziva barely felt it. She lost her pace for a moment as she tried to keep her balance, and ended up two steps behind Tony. She took the opportunity to land a kick to his butt.

"You're supposed to cover me from fire!" she cried. "Not throw me in front of it to save yourself."

"What fire? I was pointing you towards cool, refreshing water to soothe your warm skin."

"We've run four blocks," she pointed out. "I haven't even broken a sweat yet."

"So sue me. I like it when you're dripping wet."

A laugh bubbled up from her chest. "So you throw me in front of a tiny water pistol being fired from ten feet?"

He smiled back at her. "I thought you'd go for that over my skinny dipping idea."

She chuckled again. "Maybe we can come back some time and do that."

Tony raised an eyebrow. Maybe they were ready to talk about couple activities. "Sounds good."

They ran around base for about 45 minutes before making it back to the house. It was still early, not long past 2100, and McGee was still up and sitting at the dining table with a laptop. He didn't look entirely pleased to see them when they came in.

Tony eyed him suspiciously. "What're you doing there, McGeek?"

"Catching up on my emails," he said tonelessly.

He glanced up in time to see Ziva hand Tony a glass of water, and serve it with a wink. McGee frowned, and had an unwanted flashback to the night before where he'd been forced to watch them make out. After those few minutes, McGee was almost positive Abby was right about them. It wasn't the fact that they'd been kissing—they were selling a cover, and McGee bought that they were both prepared to go at least that far and probably beyond to protect it. Instead, the thing that had convinced him that they'd turned a corner was the familiarity of the act. There was no awkward second where they tried to work out how to come at each other or how to fit together. They already seemed to know how the other would move. And when they'd returned to the car, they'd seemed completely calm and comfortable. For two people who had, until recently, been staggering under the weight of five years of sexual tension, they sure hadn't acted like those kisses were a big deal.

"Where is Gibbs?" Ziva asked him.

"Went for a run by himself."

Ziva finished her own glass of water and handed it to Tony to deal with. "I am going to have a shower."

Tony took the glasses to the kitchen, and then wandered through the dining room en route to the lounge. "Want to watch a movie, McTim?" he called.

"No, I'm busy."

Tony winced at the tone. It sounded like McGee was still pissed about the Abby thing. He would have liked to have talked about it with him, but it didn't sound like McGee wasn't in the mood to hear it. He let it go for now, but he knew they'd have to resolve this before they returned to DC.

I've just set up over at LiveJournal, and will start posting fics over there as well as here. Once the new season starts I'll probably also start recapping/commenting on the episodes. If you're over there too, come say hi.