It had taken them a while to come up with it - and the heat pack had definitely lost all of its heat by then - but they finally had a plan. Was it ridiculous? Crazy? Unwise and downright silly? Absolutely. But it was going to work. It had to work.

You see, they had the wise idea of trying to muffle the sound of the microwave. Of course, they couldn't wrap it in anything but they could surround it.

In came a lot of blankets, an unholy amount of pillows (why did Abby even have this many in her lab?) and a lot of faith. They somehow managed to make a kind of stuffed igloo around the microwave, even draping three blankets over the top of them. It probably looked utterly ridiculous from the outside but neither of them would know that because they had had to build it around them and the microwave. It was the only way they could guarantee that it didn't collapse in on itself.

The last thing they needed was for something to catch on fire. They wanted Ziva to be warm but not that warm. Tony was currently in the position of holding two pillows up which, of course, weren't side by side but opposite from each other.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Tony asked, glaring at a pillow just out of his reach that was starting to sag.

"Are you doubting me?" Abby demanded.

"No! Well, maybe a little."

That got him a glare. Why was he always the one on the receiving end of a glare? Couldn't he be the one giving one for a change?

"This is going to work. Science says it will," she said with a sniff.

"And I shouldn't doubt science," Tony finished for her.

"Exactly." She nodded her head resolutely at that. "Between the science of sound waves," she gestured at the pillows, "and careful architecture and balance," a nod was given to him, "there's no reason for Ziva to hear any of this."

"Okay, okay, I believe you." Tony moved his arm so that he was bracing another two of them.

"Good."

Of course, all of this meant that Abby was left in charge of the microwave. Which she was taking her sweet time over!

"Hurry," Tony hissed.

The longer they took the more they risked Ziva waking up. They also risked this whole construction collapsing around them and Tony didn't really feeling like being buried under a mountain of pillows. Sure, it would be comfortable, no risk of concussion there but still.

"Don't rush me!"

"You need to rush! We don't have a lot of time!"

"Well, shush! We'll have less time if you wake her up and I dont work well with people going on at me!"

"You work for Gibbs. By default you work better under pressure!"

"Just shut up!"

A very faint noise made them both freeze and stare at each other in panic. Tony knew that he was holding his breath. Was that Ziva?

"I thought you said this muffled sound!" He hissed.

"It does! Muffle it, not silence it!"

They waited with baited breath but either the noise hadn't come from Ziva or she didn't wake up because nothing came of it.

Of course, it was at this point that the microwave went 'DING'. Loudly. But still nothing from Ziva.

"See? Told you it would work," Abby said triumphantly.

Tony brushed her away because now it was time for the next step. The hardest step. Now they needed to get it back to her, also without waking her up.

"This should be easier, right?" Abby asked hopefully.

She must have finally drifted back to sleep because the next thing she knew was that she was opening her eyes and feeling very sluggish. Urgh, she hated that feeling. It meant that she had slept very soundly but for a short amount of time and her body was not happy about it. It was this feeling that was why she tried to sleep lightly if it was for short periods. The warmth must have had something to do with it.

Yes. She would blame the warmth. Warmth that she did not want to leave but she was going to have to get up or she really was not going to sleep tonight. Although she could operate on as little as three hours sleep at night she would really rather not. Mainly because she was sure that Gibbs would disprove of how short her temper was and the injuries to her colleagues that was sure to ensue.

Then she realised that Abby and Tony were looking very pleased with themselves, they both had those stupid grins on their faces.

"What did you do?" She asked.

They had done something. She just knew it. It better not have been to her because she would retaliate.

"Still nice and warm?" Abby asked innocently, unconcerned by the glare she was receiving.

"Yes," Ziva said suspiciously.

And then realised that she actually was. Despite waking up and stretching, she still felt comfortably warm. It was rather nice. But why were Abby and Tony still grinning?
"Heat pack was good, wasn't it?" Tony said leadingly.

Which she did not like because it meant that he knew something that she did not. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What did you do?"

It may have come out a little bit threatening but it did the job. Disappointingly easily. She thought Tony was made out of stronger stuff than that.

"We reheated it for you," Tony said quickly.

"Oh," Ziva looked down at the heat pack and ran her hand over it, it was still warm. "Thank you."

Tony's face fell at that and she wasn't sure why. Was it not the custom to thank someone who had done something for you? Especially when they did not need to? She really did not understand Americans sometimes.

"What?" She asked, too tired to try and make sense of her partner.

"Do you know what we went through to do that?" Tony demanded.