It was about 3:00 p.m. Tony and Ziva were dressed in their attire for the undercover operation, waiting silently at their desks, not entirely sure what to do. They had prepped and teased for two long days now. Their luggage was packed. McGee had been briefed, and was off trying on his hotel staff uniform. All that was left to do, really, was to wait for their cab to show up. They decided that that would be the smartest way to travel, since it would give the appearance that they had just been picked up from the airport. But the cab company said it would be another 15 minutes or so before someone would arrive. So Tony and Ziva sat. And waited.

The wait was killing Tony. He decided to get up, with no destination in mind, until he saw his boss emerge from the elevator. Tony had been meaning to talk to him, anyways, so he briskly jogged over.

"Hey, Boss, can we talk for a minute?"

Gibbs didn't say a word, just stepped backwards into the elevator again and held the door for his senior field agent to join him. Tony quickly walked inside. The pair waited for the doors to close before Gibbs did his customary hitting-of-the-emergency-stop-switch. The lights dimmed and flickered as the elevator halted to a stop.

"What's up?" Gibbs asked, still staring at the elevator doors.

Tony sighed. Where to begin? He scratched the back of his head. "Well I know you don't like apologies, Boss…"

"What did you do, DiNozzo?" Gibbs interjected.

"Nothing!" Tony hurriedly replied. "Nothing yet, that is. This is more of a pre-emptive apology. I guess."

"Is this about the undercover op?"

Tony would have been surprised that Gibbs immediately knew what he was thinking. But Gibbs always knew what he was thinking.

"Yeah," Tony admitted.

"Ziva?"

"Yeah."

"I thought I already made myself pretty clear."

Tony was baffled. No. No he didn't.

"Well, not exactly…" Tony confessed.

"Like I said, DiNozzo, you are working for a government agency. There is no way in hell that you would be told to sleep with a coworker."

Tony sighed, relieved. He was a bit disappointed, sure, but he appreciated having some clarity on the matter.

"That being said," Gibbs continued, "No one ever told you to do that, did they?"

So much for clarity.

"All that you were told to do was to be—"

"—Convincing, right," Tony finished the sentence. He had heard it enough to know it well.

"So what exactly are you apologizing for?" his boss asked.

"I'm not sure anymore," Tony sighed.

"Remember your objective," Gibbs said, flipping the emergency switch, jolting the elevator back to life, "You are there to intercept a potential terrorist, using whatever means necessary. I trust that you and Ziva are fit for the job."

The doors dinged open and Gibbs began to walk away, casually adding, "Just don't get caught with your pants down."

Tony cursed under his breath. This hadn't helped like he had hoped it would. He started to rethink his decision from the night before, about sleeping with Ziva if the chance presented itself. It was a dangerous game they were playing; maybe they shouldn't be playing it at all.

He slowly made his way back to the bullpen, to begrudgingly share his newfound wisdom with Ziva, only to find her sitting on the edge of his desk, waiting for him. Her emerald green dress fit perfectly on her slender frame, showing off her curves, and her naturally curly hair framed her delicate face. Tony loved it when she wore her hair down. Her dress rode up a bit where she had one leg crossed over the other, and Tony couldn't help but stare at that patch of skin just above her knee that he could never see when she wore her cargo pants.

"Jean-Paul," she purred, eyes locked on Tony's with a smoldering stare. "Our cab has arrived." She smirked and stood up to make her way past Tony toward the elevator, brushing her hand along his chest as she passed, leaving Tony to grab their luggage. He stood frozen in his tracks for a moment. Was he about to say something? He couldn't quite remember. Ziva called out to him once more.

"Jean-Paul," she said again. "You don't want to be late, do you?"

Tony grinned, grabbed their suitcases, and strode confidently toward the elevator.

Game on.