When she woke up the next morning Ziva's eyes opened lazily as she sighed contentedly before rolling over onto her side. She looked across at Tony and smiled he was still sleeping so she watched him for a while and admired the way the his hair was glistening in the early morning sun. She wasn't sure how much time had passed but eventually his own eyes flickered open to find her staring at him.

"Morning," he smiled and leant across to kiss her gently.

"Good morning." she mumbled against his lips as his hand reached over to cup her face and pull it close to his. They continued to kiss lazily, their bodies slowly shifting closer together as her hand slid over his side and slipped up his back until it was hooked around his shoulder.

"Hmmmph!" They heard an indignant grunt and felt Zippy wriggling between them. They looked down to see her sitting up between them, glaring at them in annoyance. "Squashed!"

"Sorry honey." Ziva reached down and stroked the little girl's face. She grumbled unintelligibly and began crawling up the bed until she reached the top of the bed and snuggled down between them.

"Is ok." she sighed grumpily.

"Oh I think someone is grumpy this morning," Tony laughed and tapped Zippy's tummy.

"No!"

"I think that you are right Tony, I think someone is very, very grumpy morning." Ziva replied seriously, ignoring Zippy's protest.

"Well there's only one cure for that."

"You are right." they stared solemnly for a couple of seconds before they suddenly sprung into action and started tickling the little girl mercilessly. Zippy squealed and squirmed as their fingers brushed up and down her side.

"Not grumpy!" she shouted with difficulty through her uncontrollable laughter. Tony and Ziva laughed as she wriggled and giggled between them,

"Are you sure, no more grumps?"

"Uh huh!" Zippy wheezed so they stopped, the little girl gulped in air and lay sprawled on her back with Ziva's hand still resting on her tummy.

"Good." Ziva leant down and kissed her head, "What would you like for breakfast?" Zippy sucked her lip thoughtfully for a minute before she turned her head and grinned widely at Tony.

"Pakes!" she shouted excitedly. Tony sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Should have guessed." he propped himself up onto his elbow, "Sure you don't want hoops?"

"No, pakes!" Zippy pouted as Ziva wrapped her arm around the little girl's stomach and pulled her back against her chest.

"Come on Tony, make us some pakes." They both looked pleadingly at him.

"Oh ok," he rolled off the bed and grabbed his shirt, "How could I saw no to those faces?" he asked rhetorically as he thrust his arms into the sleeves and disappeared into the kitchen.

Tony began to pull out the utensils he needed and smiled when he heard cartoons start blaring from the living room. He started humming happily as he cracked the eggs, something about today felt special. It was a bright new day, the start of a whole new chapter in his life, the beginning of a new era. It was a fundamental change, Ziva wanted him too, she wanted him in her life. His life as he knew it was over, he could feel it. He was whipping the batter, energised by his excitement, when he suddenly felt Ziva's hands snake their way around his waist. She started kissing his neck, moving her lips along the top of his collar. He but down the fork and started slowly spinning around until he was facing her. Ziva smiled up at him as her raised his hands to her cheeks and pulled her up to meet his lips. She moaned softly and gently prised his lips open with her tongue and slipping it into his mouth. Her head tilted to the side and her own hands slipped up his chest until they reached his neck, her fingers gently brushing against his skin as she deepened their kiss. Tony smiled against her and began sliding his hands down her body, running them down her sides and round to the small of her back when he suddenly pulled tight, forcing her up onto her tip toes so that her face was level with his. She grunted in surprise and momentarily broke their kiss before laughing and wrapping her arms around his neck and burying one hand in his hair. She returned to his lips, their kiss even more passionate than before. Tony groaned and slid his fingers even lower, shoving them under the waist band of her shorts and squeezed her bottom firmly.

"Tony!" she gasped against him and he laughed softly before lunging forward to catch her bottom lip between his own and sucking it gently. She tugged a tuft of his hair roughly in retaliation and sighed deeply as his lips caressed her gently.

"WOAH!" they sprung apart suddenly at the sound of Leo's shocked exclamation and found her staring at them. They stood in silence for a few seconds until Tony cleared his throat and nervously asked;

"So, pancakes for breakfast?" Leo glared at him,

"Pancakes for breakfast?" she repeated incredulously, "What are you doing? When did you start," she brandished her hands at them, "Doing this?" They both avoided meeting her eyes, shifting uncomfortably like a couple of guilty teenagers.

"Leo . . ." Ziva started but was quickly interrupted,

"I cannot believe this! Why did you not say anything? I thought that you were fighting? This is . . . This is . . ." she sighed and ran her fingers through her dishevelled bed head. "It is early for this . . ." Ziva smiled and walked towards her, gingerly placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on Leo, Tony needs to finish breakfast. Let's go through and talk about this." she pushed the girl gently until she obliged and turned towards the living room.

"Ok." she agreed and took a couple of steps before she paused and glanced over her shoulder. "You better wash those hands, I do not want Ziva's butt pancakes!" Tony laughed and headed towards the sink,

"Ok, ok I'm doing it!" Leo smiled and followed Ziva out of the kitchen.

By the time Tony emerged with plates of pancakes Leo seemed to have gotten over her initial shock and was sitting at the table with Zippy and Ziva.

"Here we go, the best pancakes in the city, maybe even the country!" he announced as he placed down plates in front of the girls.

"Even if you do say so yourself?" Leo grinned and picked up her fork.

"Hey if you don't want them I got plenty of room for a few extras!" He replied, pretending to pull the dish away.

"oh no, I never said I did not want them. Anyway, I need to judge whether they are actually the best in the city!" Leo held her plate tightly until he flopped down into his own seat. They chatted happily as they ate their breakfast and once they had finished Tony pushed his plate away and leant back,

"Definitely the best pancakes."

"They are quite nice." Leo nodded and wiped some maple syrup off of her chin.

"Ha! Just quite nice? Delicious is the word I'd use." Tony protested and turned to Zippy. "What do you think Zippy, did you like your pancakes?" The little girl looked up at him and grinned, her face slathered in in syrup.

"Yummy!"

"See, Zippy loves them." he said smugly and stood up suddenly.

"What are you doing?" Ziva looked up at him as he grabbed his trousers and shoved his legs into them.

"I need to go and get ready for work. Can't go in wearing the same clothes Zee-vah, that would be like doing the walk of shame." he sat down and pulled on his socks and shoes.

"Oh ok." Ziva picked up her fork again and began to finish off her last pancake.

"Right I'll see you at work ok?" he pulled on his jacket and walked over to the table bent down, she smiled and leant back to kiss him.

"See you later."

"Me too, me too!" Zippy demanded as he straightened up. He laughed and leant over to kiss her forehead,

"Right ladies I'll see you later." he called as he left.

"Bye!" they replied as he closed the door. Ziva smiled coyly and returned her attention to her pancake.

"Ziva and Tony up a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Leo burst into song as Ziva blushed.

"I-N-G!" Zippy added on at the end as she giggled.

A couple of hours later Tony strolled into the bullpen whistling happily.

"Goooooood Morning Probie." he greeted him as he dropped his backpack onto the floor and sauntered up to his collegue.

"Morning Tony." He replied and eyed him up suspiciously. "Did you have a good night?"

"McGee, I had a fantastic night."

"Soooooo . . . Leo's show was good then?"

"Leo was . . . Amazing. Best in the show by far, I didn't realise how talented she is! She blew all those other kids out of the water." he boasted proudly as he leant against McGee's desk.

"So you and Ziva made up then?"

"Oh yeah, me and Ziva made up." Tony replied and stared wistfully before suddenly coming to his senses. "I mean, we didn't make up." he stuttered nervously. "I mean, we never fell out. Everything was fine." McGee snorted incredulously.

"Oh yeah right! You too could barely stand to be in the same room last week and now you're trying to tell me that nothing was wrong?"

"Uh yeah . . .nothing happened." McGee shook his head and leant back in his seat. He was about to open his mouth to argue when they heard the lift beep. Tony leapt to his feet and watched as Ziva strolled towards them. McGee shook his head as he saw the way Tony's eyes followed her through the room.

"Good morning." she greeted them and flashed a sly smile at Tony.

"Morning." they both replied as Tony stood up and strolled over to her desk.

"Well, how are you this morning Zee-vah?"

"I am very, very well this morning." she replied while he grinned cheesily down at her. "And you seem to be particularly pleased with yourself this morning."

"Well, I had a great night last night." Ziva smirked slightly and turned to her computer screen.

"Good for you, it couldn't have been as good as mine though. I spent it with an amazing woman. I've never met anyone like her."

"This sounds familiar, I am sure that in two weeks you will have moved on to the next amazing woman."

"Oh not this time, this time it's different. You should meet her, she's everything I could want; beautiful, strong, funny, beautiful, kind, smart beautiful." Ziva raised her eyebrow at hom.

"You said beautiful three times, still the most important thing for you? That shows that you are still as shallow and childish as ever." she grinned up at him.

"She would never say that. She knows I'm deep and mature, a new man."

"Ha!" she scoffed and fixed her deep brown eyes on his, "Well, maybe you are right Tony. Maybe she can see that." They continued to chat while McGee observed them silently from his desk. He sighed, yet again he was unable to decipher the nature of their relationship. There had been times when he was one hundred percent sure that they were sleeping together, then others when he was positive they hated each other. Now he was flummoxed, part of him was convinced that they were definitely . . . involved and yet he still could not be sure. He stood up and left the bullpen unnoticed, he should see what Abby thought.