McGee was exhausted. With just the two of them it had taken almost 4 hours to work the crime scene. With every picture taken Tony had become more and more pissed off, muttering under his breath. They were finally back at headquarters and all he wanted to do was find Abby's pull out cot and collapse for a nap.

Ducky has been sent over to collect the body, which of course had irritated Tony even more as now Ziva was alone at the house. Personally McGee didn't know why he was so worried. If any of them had to be alone Ziva was probably the best candidate. McGee had never met anyone that scared him as much as Ziva. Not that he would admit that of course. He both liked and respected her. They had even become friends during her time at NCIS, however he still found her immensely scary at times.

"McGee hit the sack." Gibbs said entering the bull pen. "You look like you're going to drop."

"I just want to finish processing the crime scene photos boss." He replied rubbing his eyes.

"DiNozzo can do it. You need to go lie down before you're no good to me."

"Go lie down Probie." DiNozzo said gently to McGee coming over to his computer to process the pictures. "We'll need you tonight when we have dinner at the neighbours."

"Fine. Don't touch anything other then those pictures Tony." McGee said getting up. "The last thing I need is for you to break my computer." He headed down to Abby's lab to see if the cot was available.

"Timmy, you look horrible." Was his greeting once he had gotten down there.

"Thanks Abby." He responded sarcastically. "Have you slept yet today?"

"I napped while you guys were at the crime scene. I'm processing the evidence now. Did you want to borrow my cot?"

"If you wouldn't mind. Can you wake me in an hour?"

"Of course Timmy." She said pulling him by the hand over to her cot. She made sure he was lying down and then covered him with a blanket and gave him Burt to hold on to. She kissed his forehead before whispering "Sleep well Timmy" then turning out the light she tiptoed out of the room.

Ziva was back to pacing. There was nothing she hated more then being stuck inside not being able to go anywhere. She of course had been briefed on the new development in the case and she wished she was out there processing the crime scene instead of being stuck in the house. After she had made the cookies she had then baked banana bread, muffins, Tony's favourite brownies, cheesecake and a chocolate cake. They now officially had enough baked goods to see them through a month at least. She decided to take the cheesecake to the dinner tonight and the rest she would just send with Tony into work tomorrow. She could count on McGee and everyone else to eat it all. For the most part, she did after all work with a bunch of men.

She headed back into the kitchen and said to the camera "Gibbs, any updates?" Her phone rang.

"Nothing yet. We've confirmed that the hand found on your doorstep this morning does indeed belong to Josh Anderson. We're also fairly certain he's not the killer." He said dryly.

Ziva just rolled her eyes. "Is there anything I can do? I am a little sick of staying inside the house Gibbs."

"Why don't you go out for a swim? Give him a chance to stalk you a little. Don't wear the suit he gave you though, wear something else."

"Thank you Gibbs." Ziva said before disconnecting the phone and heading upstairs to put on a swim suit. She was excited to go swim some laps. At least that would give her a chance to get out and do something physical. She quickly changed and headed down to the pool. She couldn't help but have the sensation that someone was watching her, but she quickly shrugged it off and proceeded to swim laps.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She wasn't wearing his suit was his first thought when he saw her leave the confines of her house. He was confidant that eventually she would wear it for him though, even if he had to force her to do it. He was pleased that he had sent her partner away for the day. Killing the man had been easier then he had expected and it had been a surprising pleasure. He had thought that killing housewives had been exciting but he had been surprised at just how great it had felt to kill just because he could. She would be the next he decided. Or should he kill her partner? No better just the woman, it would serve him right for touching what was his. Grief could be worse then death he mused. He would just kill the woman.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tony was tired. It had been a long day. The crime scene had taken forever, probably even longer as McGee had been dead on his feet. They still didn't have anything at all useful and now he had to get ready to go to dinner at the neighbours. All he wanted to do was curl up with Ziva in front of that giant TV and watch a couple of movies. He pulled into the driveway and walked into the house.

"Ziva?" he called out? He walked into the kitchen and chuckled at the amount of baked goods covering the counters. Someone had clearly been bored today. "Ziva?"

He started to get a little worried when she didn't answer him. He ran up to the bedroom taking the stairs two at a time. His worry increased when she wasn't in the bedroom or the bathroom. He quickly headed back downstairs checking in every room that he went by. His worry was turning into panic. He quickly headed out onto the deck and let out a huge sigh of relief when he saw her doing laps in the pool. He couldn't help but stare. She was so beautiful. He felt his chest tighten as he watched her and he couldn't help the smile that seemed to plaster itself to his face.

Ziva felt someone watching her and she broke the laps she was doing to see who was there. She felt her chest tighten when she saw Tony standing there staring at her with a huge grin on his face. He was gorgeous she thought to herself. And he was staring at her like he wanted to eat her. She quickly dunked her head back under the water. This case couldn't be over soon enough. She made her way out of the pool and Tony came forward holding her towel.

"We're sill married when we're outside" was all he said before wrapping her in the towel and leaning down to kiss her.

Gibbs groaned loudly. He didn't want to watch this. What were they doing for crying out loud? They knew he was watching. He quickly turned his eyes to any other camera shot. He was so going to head slap them into obliviation the next time he saw them.

Tony was the first to break the kiss. "I was worried about you when you weren't in the house."

"Gibbs gave me permission to come outside. I was going kneed crazy."

"Stir crazy."

"We need to go get ready for dinner." She finally said breaking his hold and heading inside. "Joanne invited us over for 8."

Tony just groaned and followed her inside. "I don't suppose there's any way we can get out of this?"

She just smiled at him and opened the back door, as soon as they stepped into the house the phone rang. Ziva hit speakerphone.

"What the hell was that?" Came Gibbs thunderous exclamation. He had the satisfaction of seeing both his agents wince.

"What was what boss?" DiNozzo replied.

"Oh you know what I'm talking about. If I ever, EVER, see that again without some neighbour standing around watching you had better believe that neither of you will survive to see another undercover case. Do I make myself understood?"

"Yes Boss." They replied in unison.

"David, go get ready for dinner. DiNozzo you are not to go up before she comes down. Take me off speaker phone; I have something I need to say to you."

Tony winced as Ziva headed upstairs. He quickly took the speakerphone off and picked up the handset.

"If you hurt her, if you do something to ruin this partnership so that you can't work together anymore I will break you. Is that understood?"

"Yes Boss. Although why is it that everybody assumes that I'm going to hurt her?"

"We are not having this conversation anymore. If I have to say anything else about this I'll have your ass for breaking rule 12."

"Did you find anything else boss?"

Gibbs sighed. "No. Ducky is still going over the body. Abby hasn't found anything and I've given strict instructions to not wake McGee up until you're over at the neighbours."

Ziva came back into the room wearing a blue dress. Tony couldn't the grin that lit up his face at the sight of her.

"DiNozzo!" came the voice over the phone. Tony turned his attention back to his boss. "Go get ready for dinner; I want to talk to Ziva.

"On it boss." He said passing the phone off to Ziva and heading upstairs.

"Gibbs." Ziva said into the phone.

"I'm going to give you the same warning I gave DiNozzo. If you hurt him, if you do anything to ruin this partnership so that you can't work together anymore I will be forced to send you back to Israel, and I really don't want to do that. Is this understood?"

Ziva turned a puzzled look up to the camera. "Why do you assume that this will end badly?" she asked her voice sounding concerned.

Gibbs suddenly realized how insecure she sounded about this and sighed. He really didn't want to discuss relationships with his team.

"I don't assume this will end badly." He finally conceded. "In fact if there's anybody who I thought could make a relationship work, as much as it pains me to admit it, it would be you and DiNozzo. I'm simply laying the rules down up front. I like my team. I don't want to have to train a new team. I'm just telling you both to not screw this up."

"That is fair." Ziva acknowledged with a nod. "I will do my best to not nail this up."

Gibbs just sighed. "Its screw it up Ziva."

Tony came back downstairs ready for dinner. "Well let's get this show on the road sweet cheeks. Let's go meet these neighbours." He said as he put in his ear piece and grabbed his tie clip camera.

Ziva traded the phone for her ear piece and went to grab the cheesecake. "This could be fun." She said to Tony as they headed out the door. "Besides our killer could be there."

"Be careful. Don't take any risks." Gibbs said through the earpiece. "I'm gonna go wake up McGee.