Tony was now feeling an awful lot more sympathetic towards Ziva today. Like, a lot more sympathetic. So sympathetic. Why had he even teased her yesterday? Now karma was definitely biting him in the butt.

Yesterday he had been laughing at her trying to get a confession out of this crazy suspect they had. And not crazy as in he had done horrible, stomach twisting things (privately, Tony didn't think the guy was any more capable of doing such things than say, McGee) but crazy as in completely loopy. Weird. Insane. Actually, he might just be insane. Clinically so. The one time Tony actually wanted a psychologist handy. But yeah, the guy was definitely not normal and definitely guilty. And it had been so funny watching Ziva try to deal with him. Though, Tony had to admit that he was impressed she hadn't attacked the man out of sheer frustration. Because he was this close to do that himself. The only thing that was stopping him was the fact that Gibbs had promised all of them the mother of all head slaps and endless cold cases if the man got injured in any way. The threat of being benched would have been more than enough in Tony's opinion. No matter how crazy Coyle was and, trust him, he was very crazy. He wondered if Ducky had met him yet? He was sure that the older man would love poking at this man's mind. Maybe Tony would make Coyle be a gift for Ducky. Was that unethical? Coyle would probably love having someone genuinely listen to his nonsense.

But that was for another time because now he had to deal with him and it was not as funny on this side, let him tell you that.

They were now on the hunt for a ring. A magical ring, as he kept on being told, like they were in some sort of Lord of the Rings world or something. The amount of times Tony had had to bite his tongue...

"See! I told You it was right here," Coyle said in glee (actual glee), all but jumping on the piece of jewellery.

He held it up on triumph and Tony squinted at it.

"The ring is not magic," he said in exasperation.

Coyle gave him an insulted look.

"Of course this one's not. This one is just a decoy."

"A decoy," Tony repeated dumbly.

"Yeah, a decoy. You know something that's a fake copy of something and used to-"

Tony waved him off. "I know what a decoy is."

"Are you sure? You don't seem to know an awful lot."

Deep breaths, Tony. Deep breaths. How exactly had Ziva dealt with him? And not killed him? Or at least attempted to. Because Tony was feeling very tempted right now. Very tempted.

"Yes. I know what a decoy is."

And Coyle had the nerve to look sceptical. Of him!

"If you're sure."

"I'm very sure."

Coyle seemed satisfied with that as he shrugged and started to explain. Though, explain was very loosely used here because explaining something generally meant that you made something clearer. Easier to understand. Coyle did none of this. He kept on trying to explain this magic he believed in and how it all worked. Tony couldn't keep track of it. He was worse than McGee when he was blathering on about his Elf Lord things. At least Tony could half follow that. Though he didn't know what that said about him.

"Coyle! Coyle!" Tony tried to interrupt as he got further and further from the point. "You're not making any sense."

And now the man just looked offended.

"I'm making perfect sense."

"You aren't if I can't understand a word you're saying."

Tony had never felt more exhausted in his life since talking to this man. He rubbed a hand over his eyes.

Coyle squinted at him. "I would have thought that federal agents would know all about this kind of stuff."

"Just... just go on."

He was not allowed to hurt this man. He was not allowed to hurt this man. Saying it over and over again didn't make the urge lessen any. And yes, he was aware that he still didn't understand a word Coyle was saying but rambling about magic was better than arguing with him. Barely.

"The ring takes a hold of you and-"

Okay, he was officially in awe that Ziva hadn't harmed this crazy in any way. It was actually impressive. He would have to congratulate her later.

"Now I need to contact the spirits..."

Tony just about stopped himself from groaning out loud.


Tony coughed to get her attention. Ziva looked up and raised an eyebrow. He had an incredibly serious look on his face which was alarming.

"What is it, Tony?"

She tried not to let any of her concern show. But what had happened to make Tony look so serious? A serious Tony was never a good thing.

"I think I need to congratulate you," he said quite seriously.

Which only managed to confuse her further.

"Congratulate me?"

"Congratulate you."

He even nodded resolutely at that. All of this was just so confusing.

"Why? I have not done anything."

"Exactly."

"Tony, you are not making any sense."

A lot of things had not made much sense over the past two days but Tony had not been one of those things. Thankfully.

"Coyle," he said without adding anything else.

That immediately put Ziva on the defensive.

"What about him?"

"You didn't kill him."

"I did not," she said carefully.

Just what exactly was he getting at? Sure, she was slightly regretting the fact that she did not do something to Coyle but you could not have everything, unfortunately.

"I just wanted to congratulate you for that. Very impressive."

She squinted at him.

"Are you being sarcastic?"

Because if he was...

"No! No, I'm not."

She gave him a puzzled look. He was... congratulating her for not killing someone? She thought that was default in America.