"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"I saw it, Abby. 100% yes."

He had came down to her lab at the first opportunity, brushing off the visit as a casual hello to his teammates. The less they suspected, the better.

"Aw," she says, "I'm so happy for my silver fox. It's about time he made a move."

"She's in a damn good mood," he tells her, "Gibbs is still Gibbs, but a slightly less grumpy version. You know what that means?"

A smile spreads across her face, "He's in love!"

"No Abby, not that." He says, shaking his head a bit dramatically. Can Gibbs even feel love? He can't begin to imagine was a love struck Gibbs looks like.

"It means they're both getting some, and as long as they're getting some they're going to be in a good mood. Gibbs in a good mood equals less head slaps for Tony."

Abby snorts, "Here I thought you were just happy for him."

"I am happy for him!" He exclaims, a bit more defensively than he intends.

"Happy for who, DiNozzo?"

If ever there was a skill he would like to acquire, it would be the ability to sense when Gibbs was behind him. He doubted he would cultivate that talent anytime soon, however.

"McGee, Boss." He says, looking to Abby for some form of backup, but the goth simply smiles at him wickedly, "Probie finally worked up the courage to ask out a girl he's been eyeing."

Abby raises an eyebrow at him, a bemused look on her face. He ignores her, trying his best to come off casual and he knows the moment he makes eye contact with Abby he's going to crack.

"That so, DiNozzo?"

He nods, "She shot him down boss, best not to bring it up. You know how sensitive McLoveless gets."

There's a look on Gibbs face that he can't quite place: somewhere between amused and annoyed, but he can't say for sure.

"Got a dead Marine in Fairfax, gear up."

He watches as Gibbs strolls out of the lab, breathing an audible sigh of relief when the doors slide shut.

"I hate when he does that."

Abby grins at him, "And he didn't even head slap you."

She hadn't seen much of him since their coffee break. Her schedule had been filled with an array of meetings and paperwork that needed to be looked over. By the time she even had a second to glance out over the bullpen, she found his desk empty.

A case, she had guessed.

Not wanting to raise any red flags, she refrained from calling him when she got home. There was a chance that he was still with his team and she didn't want to risk them finding out anything.

She can only imagine the field day DiNozzo would have if he found out.

In wake of her solitude, she perched herself at her desk with a stack of paperwork she hadn't finished going through earlier that day. Being director of a federal agency certainly had its perks, but the over abundance of files to review was one of its downfalls.

She was only three files deep when a knock at her door sounded through her home, effectively breaking the silence she had been working in. One glance at the clock told her it was just past midnight.

He surely would be the death of her.

"Jethro," she says when she opens the door, "You do know what time it is, don't you? My security detail will have a fit if they find out someone was banging at my door at this hour."

He snorts, gently pushing past her to enter. There's a bag of what she can only guess to be Chinese take out in his hand, something to butter her up into not being upset that he's showing up unannounced.

"Didn't hear you complaining the other night."

She locks the door behind him, "The other night I didn't have to get up at the break of dawn to run an agency. And knowing you, you'll keep me up half the night."

He smirks at her, a move that normally she finds infuriating but is more endearing in this moment.

"I'm just here for dinner," he gestures to the bag in his hand.

"Whatever you say, Jethro."

He follows her into the study, where she quickly closes the file she was actively working on and places them aside as pulls out their food and spreads it across the coffee table.

"Would have been here sooner," he tells her as she takes a seat on the couch, "But McGee drives like he's 95."

She laughs, "Could have let Ziva drive, she would have gotten you home quicker."

"I'd be coming home in a body bag if I let Ziva drive." He deadpans.

She laughs, because it's both ridiculous and true.

"Good point."

After that, they fall into a comfortable silence. There's a familiarity to the setting that reminds her of their nights in Europe. They didn't always need to speak to enjoy each other's company, a rare thing to come across.

She goes to ask him about his current case when her eye catches the slightest hue of red poking out from beneath the collar of his shirt.

"Jethro."

He turns his head slightly to face her, eyebrow quirked up, "Yeah, Jen?"

She reaches towards him, running her finger across the spot on his neck.

"I don't really think this is your color." She deadpans, holding up her hand for him to see the remains of her lipstick.

For a moment all he does is stare at her.

"Christ," he finally says, sitting his plate down on the table, "You got your lipstick on me."

She raises her eyebrow, amused look on her face, "I didn't hear you complaining at the time Jethro."

"Would've been screwed if the team would have seen it."

A laugh escapes her before she can stop herself, "Next time I won't wear any."

"Gonna be a next time?" He asks her, amused smile on his face. He was taunting her.

Oh, two can play at that game.

"You're awfully needy," she says, moving a bit closer to him, "And I know you don't have that much self control."

"I'm not the one who can't hold back enough not to get lipstick everywhere, Jen." There's a far off look in his eye and she knows then and there she's got him.

"I'm not wearing any right now."

She closes the remain distance between them, pressing her lips gently to the spot on his neck where her lipstick had resided.

It takes all of two seconds before he pushes her back onto the couch, pinning her beneath him and harshly pressing his lips to hers.

"See what I mean, Jethro?" She says, pulling away from him just enough to whisper it to him.

"Shut up Jen."

Looks like he would be keeping her up half the night after all.

A/n: A happy New Year to you all :)