III. Of Perfume and Secret Plans

11 Days before Valentine's Day

.::.

"What do you mean you don't wanna do this anymore?" Abby's voice was laced with indignation. "Are you getting cold feet, Tony?" She injected as much sarcasm into the two words as she could.

"Well, I…" Tony waved his hands around desperately, trying to find the right words to explain to Abby why he was deciding to back out of their plan after two days of careful planning.

Abby reached a hand into her skirt pocket and fished out her remote. There was a bleeping sound as her lab doors locked shut. "I'm not letting you leave until you tell me what's going on," she said firmly.

Tony groaned. He paced nervously around the lab. "She's Ziva, Abby."

"I know that! So?" Abby crossed her arms.

Tony made an odd whining noise. "Well, what if she rejects me?"

"Are you in high school, Tony?" Abby asked him impatiently. "She's not going to reject you!"

"You should've heard her talking to McGee today. She's perfectly happy being without a date. She wants to cook and relax at home, Abby! I don't wanna be the person who ruins her plans."

"You're not gonna ruin her plans!" Abby walked over to where Tony was and stared him in the eyes. "Tony, she would like you to ask her out for Valentine's Day."

Tony stared back at Abby. "How do you know that?"

"I don't. At least, not for sure. But I do know that the only way you're gonna find out is if you ask her out for Valentine's Day."

"I -"

"You're too far in to get out now." Abby said warningly.

"You sound like a Mafia boss," Tony muttered.

"How do you know what a Mafia boss sounds like?" She tilted her head. Tony opened his mouth to reply, but she interrupted, "Okay; before you start telling me about your Baltimore PD days, know that I'm going ahead with the plan whether you're in with it or not. So if you're not gonna do this, Tony? Ziva's just gonna be showing up on Valentine's Day and waiting for you for hours."

Tony frowned. "You know, you seem way too obsessed with this plan."

"I'm not. I'm just the glue that holds you, Ziva, and the plan together." She beamed at him. He grunted.

The sudden banging at the door made them both jump, and turn their heads to look at it.

"Abby?" McGee's voice called in. "Why is the door locked?"

"Just a second!" Abby fumbled with her remote and unlocked the door. She smiled brightly at McGee as he came in. "Hey, McGee."

McGee looked suspiciously from Tony to Abby. "What were you guys talking about?"

"None of your business, McGee!" Abby half-scolded as she went back to her computer station. "Tony and I just had some things to discuss."

McGee shook his head and looked at Tony. "Boss wants you. Says that there might be another case that's linked to the previous two murders."

"Oh, you're kidding!" Tony said incredulously. "You wouldn't think there would be so many petty officers to bend into different positions."

"Ew, Tony!" Abby said without looking away from the computer screen.

Tony grimaced. "Sorry." He beckoned to McGee. "Let's go."

.::.

The three male field agents stood looking down at the body on the ground, varying degrees of repulsion written on their faces. The body was contorted beyond belief, and barely looked human at all. Blood smear and spatter covered so much of the surrounding area that underlying objects were barely recognizable. Whoever the killer was, he or she was definitely getting more violent.

"Boss, I don't feel so good," McGee said, his voice shaking slightly.

Gibbs gave him a steely glare. "Go check out the other parts of the house."

"Uh…looking for what?"

"Evidence! Anything relevant to the case! This the first time you worked a scene, McGee?"

"No. Sorry, Boss." McGee meekly turned away.

"Stop apologizing!" Gibbs yelled after him. He returned his gaze to Tony. "DiNozzo, photograph. And when David gets here tell her she can start collecting blood samples."

"Got it, Boss." Tony decided not to make any extra remarks. Gibbs didn't look like he was in his best mood.

Gibbs strode away, and Ziva entered the room almost immediately afterwards.

"Where'd you go?" Tony asked rather grouchily. "Gibbs wants you to collect blood samples."

Ziva put down her evidence kit and took out her cotton swabs. "I went to the ladies' room."

Tony looked around puzzled. "Where? You can't have used the victim's bathroom."

Ziva shot him an odd look. "Next-door neighbour."

"Hmph." Tony snapped a photograph. "Well, you missed Probie's near barf episode."

"He nearly threw up?" Ziva swabbed some blood from the carpet.

"Yeah. He was looking a little green. Sorta like between apple green and – Ziva, stop." Tony gripped Ziva's arm, stilling her motions. "Stand up."

Ziva stood up. "Oh." She said in shock.

"Does that look like what I think it looks like?" Tony asked grimly, and they looked down at the blood-stained floor together.

"Yes, it does." Ziva's answer was in an equally grim tone. "A heart."

"Killer left a calling card this time," Tony murmured. Then he looked distractedly at Ziva and sniffed her neck. "Did you put on perfume?"

Ziva swatted Tony away. "Yes, I did."

Tony let go of her arm. "Next-door neighbour very cute?"

"I put it on before I came to work this morning." Ziva gave him a glance. "Next-door neighbour is a sixty-year-old man."

"Well. Maybe you like old men," Tony growled under his breath as he held up the camera to continue photographing.

"You got a problem with sixty-year-old men, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he entered with a cup of coffee, Ducky and Palmer following him.

"No, Boss." Tony answered from behind the camera.

"Good, then maybe you can get back to work," Gibbs suggested. He turned to Ziva.

"The killer left a calling card." Ziva pointed at the heart-shaped smear.

Gibbs peered at it. "There weren't any calling cards at the previous two crime scenes."

Ziva nodded. "Normally, I would just say the blood smear is a coincidence, but -"

"We don't believe in coincidences," Gibbs and Tony said at the same time.

"But I knew you would say that." Ziva finished.

"Well, perhaps the killer left it there to try and confuse us," Ducky offered.

Gibbs turned around to face him. "Confuse us, Duck?"

"Yes…I would say that the killer's profile fits that of a serial killer, and serial killers sometimes vary their modus operandi to throw the police off track. They -"

"If this is a serial killer we might have another victim soon." Gibbs looked at Ducky seriously.

"That is true." Ducky agreed sombrely. "Yes. In that case, Mr Palmer and I will get started on the body now." He led Palmer to the grotesquely twisted body.

"Tony, photograph the heart. Ziver, continue with the blood. Then finish up and get back to the Yard. And tell McGee to hurry up with the evidence collecting!" Gibbs left the room.

"Anybody think his mood's gonna get worse these two weeks?" Tony asked in a low voice.

"Well Tony, three ex-wives must not be easy to live with," Ziva said as she squatted down again.

"Very true, my dear. Mr Palmer, have you got the liver temperature yet?" Ducky took the probe from Palmer and read the temperature. "Anthony, my estimate puts this gentleman's time of death at around the same time this morning as the other two gentlemen."

"Got it, Ducky. Thanks." Tony finished photographing and watched as Ducky and Palmer loaded the body onto the gurney, and then wheeled the body out. Ziva finished swabbing the last of the blood and packed up her kit. Collecting McGee, they left the scene, the yellow-and-black crime scene tape blowing gently behind them in the breeze.

.::.

For the umpteenth time in three days, Tony closed the door to Abby's lab and leant on it while he collected his thoughts. Abby awaited his answer with wide eyes. Tony sighed. "Okay, we're on."

Abby whooped. "Did you hear that, guys? We're still on!" She grinned around at her equipment. "And that's your reward for working extra hard these few days."

"One condition." Tony broke into her mini celebration.

She smiled back at Tony. "Sure. What's the condition?"

"We don't tell Ziva."

Abby's smile vanished. "What? How do we not tell Ziva?"

Tony frowned. "I don't know. But we can't let her know."

"Why not?"

"Cause if she finds out she's going to do some weird black magic voodoo thingy and make everything go wrong."

"Ziva can't do black magic or voodoo, Tony."

"I know that. But she can still make things go wrong."

Abby threw up her hands in exasperation. "Tony, how do you propose we get Ziva to go out with you without you asking her out?"

"I don't know. Trick her into it?"

Abby studied Tony. "Do you know how desperate you sound?"

Tony let out his breath. "Yeah. But you've no idea how good she smells in perfume."

"What?" Abby asked in confusion.

"Nothing." Tony cleared his throat. "So, we gonna do this?"

"Absolutely. We'll do it, and we won't tell her. And you know what?"

"What?"

Abby's eyes twinkled. "I'm kind of excited."

.::.

A/N: Secret plans! :O Ooh...okay, just kidding. I won't tease you anymore. Let's see where Ash takes the next chapter!

A/N #2: On another note, a million thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, and favourited! Ash and I are blown away by the response our story has gotten. You guys are incredible! Have some heart-shaped chocolate, on us!