[From Smoked]

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3rd Person POV:

Tony Dinozzo arrived at NCIS reading McGee's newly discovered novel, Deep Six. He snickered as he walked over towards his desk, passing Ziva who was reading her own copy. Claire glanced up as she sat across the bullpen at her own desk, a copy of the novel in hand. Ever since it was revealed that McGee was crime fiction novelist Thom E. Gemcity, they quickly took up reading his book. Unfortunately, the reveal also led to the realization that he had based his characters off of them in a not so subtle manner.

"Finish McGee's book yet?" Tony asked, setting his bag and coat down behind his desk. The girls looked up from their books.

"I didn't get started as early as I wanted so I'm not I'm too far into it." Claire admitted.

"Half-way. You?" Ziva asked, glancing up at him.

"I'm on…..chapter seven, page 103." He told her, waltzing over to stand in front of her desk as she frowned at him curiously.

"Maybe someday Lisa would find the courage to tell agent Tommy about her dream of the two of them together. Their bodies covered in sweat as they made love on crystal white sands of her homeland…" Tony dramatically read off the page. Ziva snapped her book shut.

"I'm gonna kill him." she growled. Claire groaned in amused disgust at the idea while Tony beamed with delight.

"Oh don't be too hard on him. I think it's kinda funny that he reached that conclusion." She smirked. Ziva shot her a glare.

"Really? Well I don't think you would be so amused to learn that McGee thinks you have frustrating sex." Ziva quipped. Claire's grin dropped, while Tony guffawed at her reaction.

"The term is sexually frustrated and what the hell are you talking about?" she asked, furiously scanning through the pages.

"Allow me." Tony suggested and quickly turned to a passage that was clearly earmarked. As if he knew this topic would come up.

"Blair watched the sexual tension mount between her fellow coworkers Tommy and Lisa, her eyes holding a longing for her own relationship. Her background with high profile jobs kept her busier than most, leaving no time to find a lover. She often accompanied Tommy in his childish shenanigans and spent many hours in the building's training gym to release her sexual frustration ..…" Tony read with an amused smirk. He shot a look her direction, biting his lip as her face turned red at a rapid pace. McGee had written the book back when they were dating. It was mortifying to think that he had assumed she was sexually frustrated the whole time. And apparently pining after a fake relationship.

"Forget going easy on him. Ziva, I'll gladly help you kill him." she growled, slamming her book onto the desk.

"Kill who?" Gibbs asked as he strode past the agents.

"McGee, have you read his book?" Ziva asked, holding up her copy.

"Apparently McGee thinks Ziva is in love with me and that Claire needs to get laid." Tony gloated, however his grin faltered as Claire shot him a pointed stare. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. A bit too soon for that joke. Ziva scoffed at the absurdity of the whole situation. For a profiler McGee sure mixed up his messages when it came to the females in his life. Not that Claire was ever going to correct his facts, especially now that the relationship was over.

"There's a reason they call it fiction DiNozzo." Gibbs pointed out absently as he rummaged through his desk drawers.

"Boss, just got a call from dispatch. The construction crew just found a dead body." McGee announced as he made his way over to join them. Behind his back Ziva, Tony, and Claire glared with his book in hand.

"Where?" Gibbs asked, already reaching for his gun.

"Chesapeake High School in Quantico."

"Student?" Gibbs asked, grabbing the keys. McGee frowned down at his notebook.

"Uhhh I'm not sure." Gibbs tossed the keys to Tony who was smirking at McGee viciously.

"Take the truck, I'll meet you there." Gibbs informed as he walked out of the room, leaving McGee at the mercy of his coworkers. McGee went to his desk and started packing up his gear when he looked up. He paused his movements as his eyes swept across the bullpen, spotting three copies of his book paired with daggered stares.

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's not about you guys." McGee sighed in exasperation.

"Oh, no of course not." Claire drawled sarcastically.

...

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Claire's POV:

Back at NCIS I was sorting thought the photos of missing persons during the time frame Ducky had given.

"None of the photos from the local missing person reports match our John Doe's description." I sighed in frustration.

"And there's no record of anyone going missing on base. Civilian or military during that time period." I added with an agitated growl. Hearing no helpful response I looked up and glared at Tony who was still nose deep in McGee's book.

"Are you even listening to me?" I asked sharply.

"I'm getting close to the end." Tony dismissed, not looking up from the book.

"You know McGee is really starting to nail your essence here." He beamed in approval.

"That's not funny. Besides he keeps saying it's fiction so part of it has to be wrong." I huffed, unwilling to let it bother me. I didn't really have all those habits, did I?

"I don't think so….'Blair' silently watches the others with observant eyes, punching Tommy in the shoulder when she's irritated, she wears the leather jackets and heeled bootie shoes, spending hours in the gym to blow off tension…."

"I am not!..." I paused to suck in a breath, realizing that I had raised my voice. No need for everyone else in the office to hear me.

"I am not sexually frustrated. I can't believe he wrote that!" I snarled, clenching my fists together. Tony raised an amused brow and smirked at her from across the room. I wanted to smack it off.

"I know that…" he assured calmly, still grinning. I jerked my head up and pursed my lips at him with a cool glare. This was not the time.

"You really want to address this?" I warned. Tony blushed and looked down at the table in embarrassment. If he was so adamant about cutting our relationship off, then he needed to know where the boundary was. He can't just bring stuff like that up and expect me to act fine with it. It had only been a few weeks ago.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it all up again." He quietly admitted, realizing just how worked up I had gotten. I ran a hand through my hair roughly, trying to get my emotions back under control.

"I know, it's just…..I know." I told him roughly. Tony remained silent, obviously unsure how to proceed from there. I didn't really have any ideas on where to go either. I hated how awkward we could be now. This had never been a real problem before. After a minute of silence, he picked the book back up.

"You know he also is keying in on Ziva pretty well too." He began, glancing over to see if I was paying attention. I barely glanced over. At least he was trying. Taking that as a good sign he continued, reading directly from the book.

"…'stakeouts. Long endless hours fueled by cheap food….and even cheaper coffee. But tonight, Mossad officer Lisa didn't seem to mind because she was getting to spend it with Agent Tom….'" I grinned, biting my lip to keep the smile back as I sat up and watched him. Tony trailed off as he read the passage in a gravely narration voice, grinning my direction. Until he realized I was looking past him. His smile instantly dropped.

"She's behind me again, isn't she?" he muttered.