A/N: AHHH! Thank you guys SO MUCH for the response to the last chapter! We loved it so much we had to update asap. Also, we just realized we haven't responded to reviews, so we'll be responding to the ones we have, and the ones we get to show love!

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Ziva David was trying to make sense of the thoughts swirling around in her head. Tony had laid a lot on her back there, and it would have been easier to figure out how she felt about if she wasn't a little drunk. Her Mossad training was currently screaming in protest; you never get this distracted (or intoxicated) during a mission. She suspected Gibbs might not be too pleased either, but she was having way too much fun to care, which was a completely new feeling for her.

"I think I was really going somewhere with the empty shot glass pyramid." Tony mused, his voice sounding extremely happy, and a little drunk, just like she felt.

They walked lazily through the thick Colombian air, listening to thunder rumble overhead. It was a good, tropical hot, and while people still walked the streets, it wasn't too crowded. The night was black and the lights were dim, and Tony decided he was going to kiss her tonight. He stopped walking and pulled her to him. They stood, staring at each other like they always were. Always staring, watching, teasing, and wanting, but never taking.

A roll of deafening thunder boomed in the sky, followed immediately by a blinding flash of lightning, and all of the sudden, the sky opened and rain fell. Ziva was still looking up at him, and as much as Tony appreciated the Golden Age Hollywood tribute that a kiss in the middle of a plaza during a downpour would provide, he grabbed her hand and started running.

They ended up under the awning of a store that had long since closed for the day. Ziva turned to face Tony again. She knew she was soaking wet, her hair was plastered to her neck, and she guessed her makeup had probably started running, but she didn't care. Their eyes met, and his hands settled on her hips again. Ziva felt her heart rate speed up, and she knew it wasn't from dashing out of the rain; it was that feeling again. Feeling like she was hovering on the edge of no return, and letting herself tumble into the fall would not only mean falling for him, but falling away from the last bit of self preservation she was still clinging to.

All of the fear, doubt, and the need to protect herself from any and all vulnerabilities crept back in, and Ziva suddenly felt very exposed. Tony lifted his hands to her cheeks and pushed the wet hair out of her face. She didn't move as he slowly brought his lips to hers and kissed her.

Tony could sense she was frozen, unsure. So he kissed her gently and pulled back, resting his forehead on hers, waiting. Ziva's eyes searched his, looking for any indication that she was imagining him looking at her like that, like she was what he'd been waiting for.

She couldn't find one. So she could refuse to believe it and ruin this now, or she could do what Abby told her to do before she cornered him in the men's room. "Grow a pair and get it, David!" Her hands snaked around his neck and she brought her lips to his again.

His mouth parted for her tongue, for this kiss, their first real kiss. This wasn't a shy brushing of their lips, not a quick peck to thank him, not an exploration of pure sexual tension under assumed names in a hotel room reserved for someone else.

Ziva pulled back again and Tony's heart skipped a beat, wondering if she was going to pull away from him. Instead she asked, "Did you mean everything you said in there?"

"Every syllable." He confirmed.

And with that, she brought their lips together again, and decided to let herself fall, trusting he would catch her. She kissed him hard, a kiss that was years in the making, that let out all the watching, all the waiting, all the wanting. One of his hands clamped onto her hip, and squeezed, while the other slid to the small of her back.

She moaned softly in protest when Tony broke the kiss, and he responded by placing light, fluttering kisses to her jaw, until he reached the sensitive skin of her neck. He nipped at her neck, under her earlobe, in all the right places, and Ziva actually felt light headed. Her blood was pumping faster than in recent memory, but the sensation between her legs, the urge to press her hips to him told her none of her blood was going to her head.

He lifted his head and met her eyes, before slipping a hand into her hair and crushing his lips on hers again. She groaned into his mouth as he gave her hair a slight tug. He turned them and pressed her against the wall. Or it could have been a door. His brain couldn't focus on anything other than the fire spreading through his body and the feel of her against him, her tongue teasing his. He pushed himself against her and almost cried out when she pushed back.

Ziva's hands were grasping at him frantically, and somewhere in his brain that was just so consumed with her, a neuron fired and he sensed what she wanted. He grabbed her ass and lifted her so she could hook her legs around his waist. "Oh God Tony." She gasped against his lips as she pressed against him; that was the exact angle she was looking for, and his increasing hardness hit her in a place that felt so perfect, she dug her nails into his shoulder.

He gave one more nerve tingling kiss before pulling back. Ziva saw that at some point she had loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt so she dipped her neck and nipped his collarbone.

"Ziva…." He breathed, drawing out the last syllable.

"Are you going to tell me that is your knee?" she asked, grinning. He shook his head and kissed her again, pulling away much too soon.

"We haven't done the thing yet." He said breathlessly. "The figuring out thing, not the thing I wanna do now." He paused, squeezing her hips and making her squirm. "Should we stop?"

She didn't respond, instead she moved one hand from his shoulder to his chest, thinking about having that toned chest pressed against her, finally, after all of this time, just Tony and Ziva, his skin on her skin. Without realizing it she pushed herself against him, hard. He groaned and captured her mouth again.

They both pulled away, chests heaving, sweat now mixing with the rain. "I don't want to stop, Zi," he panted.

"So don't." She whispered, pulling his shirt out of his pants. He dropped his mouth to her neck again and without a moment's pause to consider the pros and cons of letting him take her right there on the street, she started working on his belt buckle. If he wasn't holding her against the wall, Tony would have dropped to his knees and thanked every deity he could think of when he felt her hands against him and heard his zipper go down.

Every nerve in his body tingled as she started working him with expert hands through his boxers. He pushed her dress up to her waist and tugged her miniscule underwear to the side, and stopped cold when his phone rang intrusively.

Tony looked at Ziva with pleading eyes. "Ignore it?" he asked, knowing that wasn't an option.

"We are in the middle of a case, Tony." She whispered breathlessly. He knew she was right, but he heaved a frustrated sigh before kissing her one last time. For good measure, he pushed his thumb against her most sensitive spot when he withdrew his hand from its position tangled in her underwear. She moaned in frustration as they disentangled and her feet hit the ground.

Ziva slumped against the wall, trying to get control of her heaving chest and the urge to tackle her partner and rip his clothes off, while Tony answered the phone.

"Probie, you had better be in mortal peril." He growled, while un-tucking the rest of his shirt and letting it fall, hoping it would disguise how hard he was.

"Tony where are you guys? We have a problem." McGee said.

"You lose a microchip, McGeek?" Tony asked snidely.

"DiNozzo, I'm serious." Something in McGee's voice gave Tony pause; he did sound serious.

"Yea, we're on our way back, McGee. See you in ten."

Ziva pushed herself upright and arched a questioning eyebrow at him. "McGee says we got problems. And I don't think our little Timmy is crying wolf." Tony informed her.

Ziva made a face and blinked. "Crying wolf?"

"Yea, you know. Making it up. The boy who cried wolf."

"Why would a boy cry wolf?"

"Because he was a shepherd, Ziva." Tony said, exasperated, as if that detail was overtly obvious. "And he lied about a wolf coming after his sheep."

"McGee has sheep?" Ziva questioned, looking utterly confused, and insanely sexy.

"Of course not. Why would McGee have sheep?"

"I don't know! You are the one who started talking about sheep."

Tony blinked at her. "We're actually having this conversation right now, aren't we?"

Ziva swallowed hard and looked up at him. "It was distracting me." She said pointedly through gritted teeth. Tony grinned and slung an arm around her waist and they started walking, through the rain, toward their safe house squad room.

The experience he just had with Ziva had been better than any of the sex he'd had in his life. And not just because she was simultaneously a fantasy of hotness and spy stealth; it was because she meant so much to him. She was the last kind of woman that he thought he'd end up with for most of his life, but now she was all he wanted.

So yea, the current situation in his pants was less than comfortable, and having to look at her in a soaking wet dress when he knew he couldn't touch wasn't exactly ideal, but he was so in love with her, everything was worth it.

"What are you smiling about?" Ziva asked, still sounding grumpy. Tony chuckled and made a mental note of this, taking it as an excellent sign.

"You." He said simply dropping a kiss to her soaking wet hair.

She looked up at him with a soft, honest, heart wrenching smile. Tony could feel his expression softening as he gazed back at her. "I will not keeping you waiting long." She said quietly.

Tony's face broke out into a massive grin. They had wasted years already, and he just wanted to be hers. And when he finally did get her naked and ended the waiting, damn, he knew it would be worth it.

"You better not be crying wolf, Zeevah." He said, smirking to himself and using the arm still around her waist to pull her closer. She twisted to meet his eyes again, and poked him in the ribs.

"I still do not understand what wolves and sheep have to do with," He cut her off by capturing her lips in one last kiss; a kiss he refrained from deepening, but one that so earnest, it gave big bad Mossad officer Ziva David butterflies.

They broke apart and opened the back door to the safe house. Ziva didn't even realize they had reached their destination, but she didn't miss Tony grinning at her as they started up the stairs.

"Think Gibbs' gut is going to know we violated rule number twelve?" he asked.

"Probably." Ziva conceded lightly. "Although he is always catching you checking me out, so I think he suspects."

"Think he's going to get the dirty vibe from how we broke it?" Tony asked, ignoring her second comment.

"Hmm…" Ziva said, tapping a finger to her lips and pretending to ponder the question. She shot a pointed glance at Tony's crotch. "Maybe not. The rain served as a cold shower, did it not, Tony?" she asked in the teasing tone she reserved exclusively for him. The playful tone, laced with enough sexiness to let him know exactly what she meant.

He winked as he tucked his shirt in again. "Don't try and pretend you weren't impressed." He said without missing a beat.

Ziva turned to him as they reached the door and smirked. "Never said I wasn't." she shot back, before patting his cheek and opening the door.

"What took you two so long?" McGee hissed at Tony and Ziva as they entered the squad room. "And why are you so wet?"

"Well," Tony started conversationally, "I was out in the rain. You'd have to ask Ziva what her excuse is, and that's kind of a personal question, don't you think Probie?"

McGee's nose wrinkled and Ziva snickered. "Gross, Tony." McGee said, pounding away at his keyboard. After a minute, he looked at Ziva. "You know that's not what I meant."

She nodded, swung her hair to one side and started ringing it out over a trash can. Tony stared at her, transfixed, when he felt the familiar sensation of a hand connecting with his head.

"Sorry boss." He blurted out of habit.

"Boss? DiNozzo, we've come a long way."

Tony turned to see Sacks holding a tray containing four large coffee cups. His eyes narrowed. "Hey!" he barked. "Only Gibbs and Ziva can hit me and get away with it. Consider this your first and only warning Sacks."

Sacks chuckled and handed him a coffee. "Bosses are on satellite with their bosses. Sober up."

"Oh I think he's sober enough…" Ziva said, giving Tony a smirk. He winked at her and she shivered, remembering how easily he had, uh, risen to the occasion.

McGee watched the exchange between them with the really creepy feeling that he was watching something incredibly more intimate than he actually was. Tony looked like he was about to clear a desk and take Ziva right here, and she was…completely encouraging him, looking at him with prowling, hungry eyes.

"I think you both came from the funny farm." He muttered.

Ziva broke her eye contact with Tony and grinned. "Is that where they keep the wolves and the sheep?" Tony laughed appreciatively, McGee sighed and turned back to his keyboard, and Sacks, too bewildered to even question them, handed Ziva a coffee in silence.

No one was laughing when Gibbs and Fornell stormed into the room with twin looks of anger on their faces. Gibbs eyes flicked over Tony and Ziva.

"You two have fun swimming?"

"It was raining Gibbs." Ziva said quickly before Tony had time to forget the severity their boss was obviously feeling and make some grossly inappropriate comment. Gibbs rolled his eyes and sat down.

"The ship that the weapons were being on smuggled on was searched by NCIS and the FBI." Fornell said. He turned his glance to the desk Tony and Ziva were sitting side by side on. "Looks like you two were right. Somehow."

"There was something else hidden on the ship?" Ziva clarified.

"Right again, Agent David." Fornell said, casting a look to Gibbs.

Tony and Ziva looked at McGee who shrugged. The three of them instinctively turned to Gibbs. "There was something else on the ship. It's gone now."

"Boss, if it's gone now, how do you know it was ever there?" McGee asked.

"They left evidence, McGee. Evidence like the damn fake uniforms they used to board the ship. Vance is emailing you photos from the crime scene."

"So where does this leave the investigation?" Tony asked. "We're kind of at a dead end until the bait and switch with Varnaz pans out."

"She's the bait," Sacks said, jerking a thumb at Ziva, "Where's the switch?"

Tony opened his mouth to respond and then closed it. "Good point." He said thoughtfully. He looked at Ziva to loop her in on the joke, but she looked serious.

Ziva looked at Gibbs and Fornell. "Someone managed to gain access to a ship that was docked in the Navy Yard, extract something hidden from that ship, and leave without being detected. And they left evidence at the scene."

"Pretty careless for someone who could pull that off." Tony remarked.

"Not careless," Ziva said slowly, "They did it on purpose."

"Why would they let us know there's more to it than small arms?" Sacks challenged.

"They call them terrorists for a reason." Gibbs remarked, nodding at Ziva. "David, tell me why."

"They want to start chatter. Incite fear. We report this to Homeland Security and the threat level goes to red. They want people to panic." She paused, thinking. "I have seen Hamas use similar tactics. They wait just long enough for the fear to begin to subside before carrying out the act."

"Terrorists and sociopaths all rolled into one. What's not to like?" Tony murmured.

"So if Varnaz is our guy and he's supposed to be here, it wasn't him who robbed the ship." McGee mused. "So that means he has an extensive network at his disposal."

"Are we sure Varnaz actually is our guy?" Sacks asked.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Oh sure, now you want to give people the benefit of the doubt." He muttered. Gibbs shot him a glare and Tony looked away quickly.

"It is Varnaz," Ziva said quietly, "I am sure of it. Letting us know something is being planned suggests a level of arrogance. You have to think you are smarter than your enemy if you are going to taunt them."

"Varnaz thinks he can pull it off." Fornell concluded.

"Maybe he can," Ziva mused with a frown, "He has certainly managed to avoid a number of authorities," she paused and frowned, "Actually all of the authorities."

"Not anymore," Gibbs said definitively, securing his gun at his side, "Not if I can help it." He jerked his head at Fornell and they headed for the stairs. "DiNozzo, David. Get some sleep. You have to go to work tomorrow, remember?"

A thousand fantasies involving Ziva, a desk and a ruler flashed through Tony's head. He turned to his partner and smirked. "Ziva as my secretary. How could I forget?"

"Lina as your secretary." Ziva reminded him. She returned his sly grin with a hinting smile of her own and took two steps towards him before leaning in and whispering against his ear. "If you want to role play, Tony, all you need to do is ask."

She gave an unfocused wave to McGee and Sacks before slinking towards the door and disappearing. Sacks stood next to Tony, both of them watching her go.

"I gotta say you are one lucky dude, DiNozzo." Sacks admitted.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're smoking, Sacks." He said lightly, clapping the other agent on the shoulder. "Agent David and I are partners. And what you're suggesting would be highly unprofessional."

Sacks, clearly not believing him, raised his eyebrows and muttered, "Uh-huh, back in Narnia, aren't you DiNozzo?"

Tony shrugged casually for McGee's benefit, because really, McPrude was probably traumatized enough for one day, and then lowered his voice. "But if what you were suggesting were true? I'd be the luckiest freakin' guy on the planet."

Sacks smirked at him and shook his head. "I'm heading to bed too. Someone has to get up and secure a fake office so you two can play secretary."

"Later!" McGee called from his desk without looking up from his computer. Tony knew he should go to sleep, but he was too amped up from the events of the evening to consider it.

"Whatcha working on, McProbius?" he asked, sidling over to McGee's desk and squinting at the computer screen.

"Gibbs wants me to hack into Mossad." McGee said flatly. His fingers didn't stop flying over the keys. "He's looking for ever piece of intel they got on Terzian nine years ago."

"I knew it. If he's worried, then I should definitely be worried. Ziva's holding something back about Terzian, I can feel it." Tony said.

McGee looked at him and blinked slowly a few times before explaining himself. "It was nine years ago, Tony. Not even Ziva's memory is that great." He paused, and finally stopped typing, before looking at Tony.

"You think it worked? Word will get back to Varnaz that Lina's back?" he asked.

Tony's eyes clouded and he rubbed his chin before answering. "I'm more concerned with how he'll react when he does find out."

McGee decided to press him. "You don't think he'll take the bait?"

Tony sighed. "More afraid he will, Probie." He said in a tight voice.

McGee noticed his jaw tense significantly. "Why are you so uncomfortable with this?" he asked.

Tony's head snapped up to look sharply at McGee. "Forgive me if I don't love the idea of using my partner as bait." He spit out before turning on his heel and heading for the door. "I'm going to bed."

Sacks was still chuckling to himself as he made his way to his room on the other side of the building. He never thought it could happen, but he was actually starting to like these guys.

"All set for the morning, Agent Sacks?" Fornell asked, appearing at his side.

"Ready to roll at zero six. I'm just hesitant to set up the cameras." He quipped.

Fornell eyed him. "You're starting to sound like DiNozzo." He warned.

"Oh don't tell me you haven't noticed!" Sacks exclaimed, looking at his boss. "Tony and Ziva? That is not just a cover, and it's definitely not just a partnership. There's something else going on with those two."

Fornell did not appear particularly blown away by this revelation. "I think that's pretty obvious, Agent Sacks. Just don't taunt Gibbs with it."

"Nothing to taunt about," Gibbs said, appearing on Sacks' otherside (how did they both always do that?). "Gibbs already knows."

Even Fornell was surprised to hear that. "You know? And you're letting them…?" he trailed off, and Gibbs smiled. Fornell was well acquainted with his rules.

"Hell, Tobias, I've known for years. First time I was with those two in Cartagena, they hadn't seen each other in four months. It was the biggest smile I've ever seen on DiNozzo's face when he laid eyes on Ziva." Gibbs shook his head at the memory. "Besides Fornell, I'm not stupid."

Sacks looked like Gibbs had just presented him with a million dollars. "They're dating?" he exclaimed, incredulous.

Gibbs and Fornell both slapped the back of his head, and with a troubled look at each of them, Sacks darted into his room.

Tony's face fell when he strolled into his "office" the following morning. His office looked extremely impressive, since it was actually a conference room temporarily turned in to his office, but the point was, it was empty and Tony had been expecting Ziva.

"Aren't secretaries supposed to show up before the boss?" he grumbled, tossing his briefcase full of fake documents on a chair.

"Who do you think put the coffee on your desk, Aaron?" Ziva asked pointedly. Tony's head shot up to see her leaning against the door frame. She was wearing some kind of draped blouse that showed a tiny bit of cleavage and piqued his imagination. It was tucked into the tightest pencil skirt he'd ever seen, and her outfit was topped off with seamed stockings and heels.

"This is what you meant when you said business casual, wasn't it," Ziva grinned and licked her lips, "Boss?" She said boss in a slightly rougher tone, and being called that, by this woman, in that outfit? Tony felt a dangerous tightening in his pants and willed it away, but couldn't resist giving her a nice, long, top to bottom wardrobe check.

"That, Lina, is exactly what I meant. Until you change your mind about naked Wednesday." He said.

"I could still be persuaded." She said casually, turning around and walking the opposite direction. Tony whistled appreciatively as he watched her go, and made a mental note to do something outrageously nice for Abby when he got home.

"Lina, I need my phone messages!" he bellowed, unable to resist. Ziva reappeared, carrying a large paper bag.

"Work before breakfast?" she asked quizzically. "Are you feeling alright?" She opened the bag in her "office" which was attached to Tony's separated only by double doors he never intended on closing. Tony watched in fascination as she emptied the contents of her bag onto two plates. In his mind's eye, they were in his kitchen in DC, and she was back in his button down- and nothing else.

Ziva picked up the plates and turned towards Tony's desk, figuring she would pull up a chair and eat at the other side, like they so often did at work. When she spun around, she noticed the softness in his eyes as he watched her.

"You brought me breakfast." It wasn't a question, but Ziva inferred that he wanted an answer.

"I brought us breakfast." She corrected, handing him a plate. "I was hungry when I woke up, and I find myself thinking us instead of me quite frequently these days."

She was smiling, and Tony was about to lean across his desk and kiss her when the sound of her name stopped them both.

"Lina?" The hairs on the back of Ziva's neck stood up. She glanced at Tony and both sets of eyes moved toward the sound.

And standing in the doorway of Lina the secretary's office was Varnaz Terzian.