Chapter 5
"Honesty"

Gibbs stands in the main lobby of the dining hall; alert. His hair is cut slightly shorter indicating that he must have used some of his free time during the afternoon to give himself a haircut.

DiNozzo stands next to him with the most debonair aura the NCIS Banquet has probably ever seen, and he certainly knows it, too.

"A little overdressed, DiNozzo?" Gibbs cracks.

"Does it show?" He asks with a knowing expression. "I couldn't help myself boss, I got tied up watching a Cary Grant marathon on TCM last night." A young woman literally prances past him and bats her eyes long enough to get her message across. "…what was I saying?"

Gibbs looks at his love-struck Agent and shakes his head. "Remember, you're working."

"Work?" His expression confused. "Oh yeah…work." His shoulders fall a little. "I could at east get her number for another time." He says more to himself than Gibbs.

"I shouldn't be hearing this." Gibbs states.

"Come on Boss, we're practically buddies."

Gibbs narrows his eyes. "I don't want to be hearing this." Turning around he looks for his other two agents. "Where's Ziva and McGee?"

"No idea. I could go look for them?" He asks hopefully.

"Mind your post." Gibbs mutters, then leaves to find them himself.

DiNozzo sighs, wishing he could get that woman's number in the process of finding his partners. Gibbs knew of this, of course.

Gibbs grins as he notices the Director is being bombarded with people whose names she probably has forgotten, if she even knew them all. She glances at him quickly with a look of terror in the dead center of her pupils, but he doesn't think twice about coming to her rescue.

"The Director seems blustered." Ziva appears next to him.

He turns to her, "Clustered." He corrects her. "She'll be alright. With a dress like that, she was asking for the attention."

Ziva grins at her superior's comment, but agrees. "Yes. The dress is beautiful."

"Expensive, too." He comments easily. "Where's McGee?"

"The last time I checked he was on his way to the men's room." She looks at her watch and shrugs. "He should be out by now."

"Unless he fell in."

She knits her eyebrows. "Fell into what?"

Gibbs studies her face for a quick minute, then breaks into a grin when he realizes she seriously is unaware of what he means. "Be back."

Gibbs steps to the side of her, before leaving her there to find McGee.

DiNozzo wanders even further from his post. It's an itch that needed to be scratched so he regrets nothing, except for the head-slap he will most likely receive from one very angry Gibbs.

"PSST!" He is loud, yet soft.

Ziva turns around as a reaction to the sound. When she sees him, she turns around quickly. Coming closer to her, he stands to the side of her and keeps his eyes focused on the people traveling back and forth in front of them.

"This sucks." He manages to say like a whiny child. "We could be anywhere in the world tonight."

"Why would I go anywhere with you, Tony?" Ziva questions.

He rolls his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Do I?" She rocks back and forth on her heels, then stops when she remembers something. "What does it mean when one falls into something?"

He stops the slight swaying he did not even realize he was doing, to look at her and lift one of his eyebrows. "What?"

She turns to look at him for a moment, then returns to watching everybody else. "When one falls into something, what does that mean?"

His face scrunches into even more confusion. "Well…it can mean a lot of things, Ziva…" He clears his throat. "…it just all depends on the situation."

"Okay. Bathroom."

He takes a longer pause than he needs to. "…excuse me?"

"What if one falls into something in the bathroom?"

He smirks. "Who'd you shove down the toilet, Ziva, and for what reason?" He leans back a little, clearly checking out her behind. "I know this event called more for a skirt or dress, but you've got on a very nice fitting pair of pants on."

She whips around and tries to kill him with her eyes, but she fails when she sees it only excites him. "You are disgusting."

"Well, I'm a lot of things, but disgusting is really a poor choice of words." His smirk forms into a smile. "So what's the answer, Zee-vah?"

"I never once entered the bathroom since arriving here."

"Then what's with all this bathroom talk?"

"I want to know because Gibbs mentioned it to me earlier."

"Gibbs mentioned…what…exactly?"

"He mentioned that McGee might have fell in." She turns to face him fully now. "What does it mean?"

He laughs. "It means that McGee probably fell into the toilet if he's taking such a long time to get out."

"That is disgusting." She wait's a minute more.

"As disgusting as me?" He grins.

"No. Not quite." She grins back at him.

He blinks, but keeps the grin on his face when he notices the woman that literally threw herself at him earlier.

"Do you know her, Tony?" Ziva asks.

"No, but in good time. All…in good time." He sighs, then reads his watch. "Do you think-"

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to-"

"No." She gives him a warning look. "You are here to work, Tony. Not pick up snookers."

"Hookers." He corrects her. "…and she's not a hooker."

"How would you know?"

"Well, how would you know?" He puts his hands on his waist. "She a friend of yours?"

"I have no friends…Tony." She pauses as she realizes that he heard the seriousness in her tone. "…no friends here…in America."

His hands slide slowly from his hips, but he does not say a word. She can feel him staring at her, but does her best to ignore him.

"I'm going for a drink-"

"Gibbs would not approve."

"…of water…" He sighs. "See what happens when you don't let me finish?" He sees her give him a small, unrealistic smile. "Want one?"

"No. Thank you."

He waits for about forty-five seconds before leaving her side. While he does, he ponders what she said about having no friends.