Two weeks later

Ziva sighed as her car came to a stop in front of her house. It had been a boring day of paperwork and filing. She climbed out of the car and made her way to the front door keys in hand. She looked toward the house on her right or as she liked to think his house, it seemed no one was home. She climbed the three steps to her house and paused when she saw the note taped to the front door.

Hey I came by earlier and you weren't home so I figured I'd leave a note. I saw some guy lurking around you house earlier and thought you should know. I think I scared him off but be careful.

Derek

Ziva narrowed her eyes and cast a glance around her. Nothing seemed out of place or abnormal that she could sense but she would keep a look out. She unlocked her door and made sure to lock it back when she entered. She sat her bag on the kitchen table and shrugged off her jacket. She proceeded to the couch and turned on the TV while kicking out of her shoes. She sank into the cushions and before too long was peacefully asleep.

Derek Morgan signed his last piece of paperwork and pushed back from his desk. He couldn't believe Hotch made him come all the way back into work to sign something he could've signed tomorrow. Now he had to drive all the way back to the house through rush hour and then at least get some work done before too late. He placed the paperwork into Hotch's mailbox and swiftly left before anyone else could corner him into staying any longer.

As he pulled into the driveway at the house he was repairing he noticed Ziva's car was in the drive way. He remembered the note her let and wondered if she got it or not. He wondered whether or not he should just make sure and knock on the door. It was only a little after seven, he was surprised she was even home already; normally she didn't get home until eight or nine. He shrugged and said thought, what the hell why not? And walked to her front door. He rang the doorbell once and knocked. He heard what sounded like grumbling and the unlocking of doors before, "Tony I swear to God if you are hear because of some stupid bim—"she stopped abruptly at the sight of Derek.

"Tony a boyfriend?" Derek chuckled.

"Oh hi, and no he is not! More like an annoying older brother. What brings you here?" She yawned

"I just wanted to make sure you got my note." Derek informed.

"What? Oh yeah, yeah I did, Thanks for informing me." They stood there awkwardly until, "Would you like to come in Derek?" Ziva asked.

"Sure why not." He responded. Derek stepped inside and surveyed his surroundings. There were many pictures of a pretty young girl, who he guessed was Ziva, and several other children, and there were numerous pictures of her more recently with the same six people.

Her house was simple but contemporarily designed with black, red and white as the main colors. Ziva lead him into a small but effective kitchen.

"I don't have coffee but would you like some tea?" Ziva asked.

"Yes please." He replied. Ziva yawned again. "I woke you up again didn't

I?" Derek asked.

"It's ok I need not be sleeping right now anyway." She replied. "Please have a seat." She gestured to the small kitchen table and he took a seat across from her.

"How is the house coming along?" She questioned.

"It's getting there. Still need tons of work however." He chuckled. The tea pot whistled and Ziva got up and poured them both a cup. She sat it down in front of him with a small thing of milk and sugar. He added some sugar to his and took a sip.

"So,"Ziva began, "about this guy. What did he look like?"

"Uh I'd say right around six foot, dressed in what looked like an Italian suit, short brown hair, kind of bratty looking." suddenly Ziva laughed.

"What?!" Derek said

"Nothing it's just I know who the snoop was. It was my partner, Tony, the one I thought was you when you knocked on the door. I asked him to check my mail on his way back to the office today." She chuckled.

"Oh well you can neve be too careful I guess." He looked at his hands.

"Thank you for informing me none the less. Good to know I have someone looking out for me on this street. I honestly don't think Miss Edner can see period." Derek snorted into his tea.

"Miss Edner is the one in the yellow house right?" Ziva nodded. "Prejudice old bat. When she first saw me she told me she was gonna keep an eye on me cause she won't have no gangbangers on her street." They both laughed and Ziva responded.

"At least yours was only a gangbanger for the first two months I lived her I am pretty sure she thought I was a terrorist because of my accent." Ziva explained. They both laughed at that as well. Derek's eye caught on something gold and he reached for it. It was a NCIS badge.

"You're NCIS?" He asked.

"Um yes. I work at headquarters on the Navy base in DC." She replied. Derek reached into his back pocket and pulled out his FBI id and showed her.

"BAU." He stated. "I work at Quantico." Seeing Ziva's eyes widen he chuckled. "Don't hold it against me."

"No it's not that I just didn't realize you were that Derek Morgan! I have heard rumors about your team and their abilities."

"Prey tell." Derek said.

"I have heard all the way from amazing agents to scum of the earth that come in and steal the glory for all the cases." She laughed.

"Well I don't know about stealing cases but I do work with some pretty amazing people." He laughed.

"You and me both." Ziva said glancing at a picture of seven people one being Ziva at what looked like a Thanksgiving dinner. They sat and chatted a few more minutes about random things like the weather and Derek's house and made a few jabs about the other's agency until Derek looked out at the sun set.

"Wow I should probably get out of here I don't want to take e up too much of your evening." He stood to leave and she followed suit. She walked him to the door and said good-bye then closed the door behind him. She watched through the peephole until he disappeared from view then, smiling, went back to the kitchen and dug around for something to eat.

Derek smiled as he walked back into the house and quickly got to work.