A/N - Again, thank you all for your patience. Now you have two chapters to read, though I know it doesn't make up for the time away from the story. Thank you to all who are still following the story and reading it after all this time. This is from the episode "Devil's Trifecta", which is one that I found rather entertaining as it touched a little on Gibbs' past and his connection to Fornell. I also saw it as a good opportunity to write in a few extra scenes and keep Tony and Ziva in the dark, because honestly, Gibbs' senses must be going off after all this time, right? Well, here's the distraction! Happy reading!

Chapter 11 – Devil's Trifecta

Before work

"Yea, it's DiNozzo," Tony said groggily into the phone, as it was late early in the morning when he got the call.

"We got a case, get here," Gibbs voice said on the other line.

"Sure, thing, boss," Tony said rubbing his eyes and hanging up the phone.

He rolled over to wake Ziva before her phone could ring. She was being difficult to wake up at that moment, until her phone started going off.

"That's what you wanted to tell me?" she asked quietly.

He nodded to her as she answered the phone.

"Good morning, Gibbs," she said sleepily.

"Get to NCIS, we have a case," he said quietly into the phone. "Were you already awake?"

"No," she said quietly. "I'll be there in a little bit."

She hung up the phone on him before he could question her further. "I think Gibbs is getting suspicious," Tony said quietly. "We need a distraction, unless we're ready to tell him?"

"No, not yet," Ziva said. "I'm just afraid he won't allow it."

"We've been working wonderfully together, Zi," Tony said quietly and she nodded, pulling him in for a kiss.

"We've been doing a lot of things wonderfully, Tony," Ziva said and continued to kiss him for a moment.

"We're going to be late if you keep that up," Tony said.

"Well, you drive slower than I do, and my apartment is further away. He will just think that I drove normally if I drive us in to work," Ziva suggested.

"I thought we weren't going to share a car?" Tony asked.

"Well, I would like to spend a little more time waking up than normal," Ziva said quietly and chuckled.

"No time, Zi," Tony whispered.

"Not enough time for what's on your mind, no," Ziva said to Tony. "But there is plenty of time to wake up with a proper kiss."

He chuckled and pulled her to him and kissed her properly. Then, they went and got dressed. On their way to work they stopped for coffee and arrived in Ziva's car, before McGee had gotten there.

Conversation on the way to Tony's appartment

"Can you believe that McGee got roped into having her at his place?" Ziva asked.

"I'm glad it wasn't my place or yours," Tony said quietly. "That would've meant we would have had to figure out how to get me back here without Gibbs knowing that we shared a car again."

Ziva chuckled. "Speaking of time we spend together, we have been doing that a lot lately, have we not?"

"Yes, we have," Tony said, looking at her and peering straight into her chocolate eyes. "What do you say we make this… more permanent?"

Ziva smiled and kissed Tony. "I would love to, Tony," she said quietly.

They ate dinner in silence. It might have been a short conversation between the two, but they had both known it was coming for a while. After all, they were absolutely crazy about each other and they hadn't spent a night apart in quite a while. It was also the opportune time to make that decision, since Gibbs was already distracted by working with his ex-wife.

After autopsy on the drunken bar guy

"I do feel bad for McGee," Ziva said as they sat eating lunch.

"Not me," Tony said shaking his head. "I mean, I know nothing happened. But Gibbs' radar was going off around us lately and this takes his mind off it and puts it on something else for a while. It buys us more time."

"That is true, I never thought of it that way before," Ziva said thoughtfully. "I should be able to move the rest of the stuff in tonight if we are not working too late. Then we have to figure out the furniture."

"I've put a down payment on a storage unit," Tony said. "I figured whatever we decide something's going to need to go into storage. I think I'll need to thank McGee for taking Gibbs' eyes off us for a while."

"That's probably not good, Tony. Why remind him that we're together?"

"You think he forgot something like that so simply?" Tony asked. "No… McGee's smarter than that. He won't forget it. He'll just keep it brewing in his big brain until it finally bursts from him. I'll thank him."

Ziva laughed. "Alright, then," Ziva said quietly.

Case closed

"They solved that well, I'm sorry I missed it," Tony said quietly. "But, everything is moved in and arranged as we discussed."

"I still cannot believe that Gibbs gave you personal time without any questions," Ziva said quietly.

"I'm sure those will come later," Tony said with a grimace. "But, for now, we're all set and you're address has officially changed. I guess we have to get it changed on your mail and license and everything, too."

"Yes, I suppose we do," Ziva said quietly and kissed Tony. "That can wait for now, though."

Tony laughed and kissed Ziva again. "I agree."