Tony didn't know how he was going to escape. They'd cut off every exit, leaving only one option. He tried to judge the distance from the top of the cliff where he stood to the water crashing below. It was easily fifty feet. He could survive it if he missed the jagged rocks. And if the sharks didn't smell his blood when he hit the water. Shouts echoed from the tree line. A bullet whistled past his ear. He jumped.

The jolt of unconscious body movement was enough to wake him. He quickly pushed himself up in his chair, shaking his head. "Just a dream," he mumbled through a yawn. As he worked a kink out of his neck, he realized that it was dark outside. He glanced at the clock in the corner of his computer's monitor. It was a little after five; he wondered how long it would take this time for his brain to readjust for daylight savings time.

He yawned again as he looked around the office. The other cubicles in the squad room didn't seem more or less active than normal. In his immediate vicinity neither Gibbs nor McGee was present. A smile spread across Tony's face as he saw Ziva at her desk, head pillowed on her arms. He stood and took a few steps toward her. "Ziva?" When she didn't respond, he moved closer and called a little louder. "Ziva?"

She continued snoring softly.

He returned to his desk and pawed through the top drawer. He suppressed a laugh when he found what he wanted. Uncapping the permanent black marker, he crept toward her sleeping form. Only one side of her face was visible. He'd have to be creative.

Just before the felt tip touched her skin, she reacted. He dropped the marker as she twisted his wrist, digging her fingers in between the bones of his forearm as she stood. The knife that was normally concealed at her waist was halfway to his throat before she was awake enough to recognize him. "Tony?"

"Yeah!" he yelped. She immediately released her grip on him. He retreated, placing her desk between them. Her response to his attempted caper had thrown him off balance. He tried to laugh it off, "Now I know how McGee feels." He didn't like the way she was looking at him, so he rambled on, "Y'know, because he's always acting like you're gonna snap and shoot someone. Not that I think he thinks you really would, just that…"

She secured her knife before interrupting him, "Why would you sneak up on me like that?"

"I didn't know you were gonna try to kill me."

She wiped the smile he had plastered on his face clean off. "This isn't a joke. Never do that again!"

"Why the hell are you so angry?" He rubbed his wrist, marked by a row of four red indentations that would probably be bruises the next morning.

"I could have hurt you." He tried to call her attention to his wrist. She only shook her head. "I mean seriously hurt you." Her breathing seemed fast and shallow. Her eyes sparkled with a mix of anger and something he couldn't quite identify.

He was momentarily lost. He experienced the unfamiliar feeling of not having one thing to say: no platitude, no movie quote, no bad impression. A few people were staring at them over the partition. He spoke to them instead, "Nothing to see here. Go about your business." He could feel her gaze on him. He waited until he was sure surveillance from across the room had ceased before turning back to her.

Her expression still confused him. He regained his powers of speech when she finally closed her eyes. "Look, I wouldn't have…" He trailed off. She was watching him again.

She was suddenly touching his wrist, the one she hadn't handled so roughly. Her hold was tentative but firm. "I'm sorry, Tony."

He was unsure how to handle her sincerity. He started to babble, "No, it was my fault for surprising you and it was kind of dumb on my part to…"

She shook her head almost imperceptibly. "Don't"

"Okay." He leaned closer and whispered, "I'm sorry too." He paused to gauge the electricity in the air. He decided it had diminished enough for him to make a joke. "I guess this is why I expend all my pranking efforts on McGeek."

He found her laugh very comforting in that moment. "Does this mean you've given up on your revenge plot?"

"I almost forgot about that." He pretended to ponder the situation. "Hmm. Well, given that ambushes are out of the question, I might be willing to settle for something else. How about I let you watch some movies with me. We'll order pizza and get you caught up on the essential classics."

She tilted her head, considering the offer. "How many?"

"We'll start with the AFI top 100 list and go from there." He savored her look of wide-eyed alarm. "Okay, maybe I'll just pick five."

"Two," she countered.

"Four."

"Three. And I'll cook you dinner."

"Done." He reached over her desk to shake her hand. "You're gonna love Blazing Saddles."

Their handshake had already lasted far longer than necessary when they heard McGee, "I thought the third time was supposed to be the charm."

Ziva knitted her brow in bewilderment. "For what?"

"Well, this is the third time in the past day that I've seen you two like this…with the desk…and…you know, never mind. Where's Gibbs?"

"Haven't seen him since he reamed that spin doctor from Callaghan." Tony sat in his chair and spun it around several times. "Think the guy will really sue for verbal assault?"

Ziva shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't hear anything. Did you, McGee?"

"Well it was kind of hard to miss…" McGee paused until glares from Tony and Ziva helped him catch on, "the polite way Gibbs escorted him to the elevator and thanked him for his cooperation and help?"

"Too much, Probie. Just say you were on the phone and weren't paying attention if it comes to that."

"Oh, that reminds me. Abby called to say she wants to see us in her lab."

"She get any sleep today?" Tony asked as they walked to the elevator.

"I think so," McGee replied. "Her sleeping bag was rolled out in the ballistics lab."

"Good. She was freaking me out this morning. You know, more than normally."