A/N: Hi, sorry this is later than normal. I must admit, I did like this episode. But I have a feeling that the shooting happened to Vance. After all, he was on the list of possibilities. What I don't know is why they would do that. I mean, what do they have to gain? They've pulled that trick before, Jenny died and the team got split up then put back together. Unless Jenny's not really dead and will return to working...nah I'm not that stupid. Anyway, maybe they'll all be fine, I don't know. Guess we'll just have to wait. But for now, here's a new chapter.

It was a normal process. Apart from backgrounding, the team had nothing to do this early in a case, and watching McGee marvel over a piece of technology had been seen too many times to prove interesting.

While McGee thought it ingenious, Tony was suitably unimpressed. He swiped his wallet over the machine, not generating a beep.

"Because the extra four seconds it takes to remove your credit card from your wallet is just plain un-American. This doesn't work," he said, frowning at the object.

"The point is you control the card," McGee tried to explain, "which, in theory, reduces fraud risk at point of purchase." McGee gave up on Tony, who followed him as he walked over to Ziva.

"It still won't keep you hacky-types from stealing my numbers from the Matrix and...look at it, it doesn't work!" He waved his wallet over it again, still not activating the machine.

McGee looked at Tony, growing ever-tired of his geek insults. "That's right. You should still be terrified of my kind."

McGee handed it to Ziva, who pulled out her card and waved it over the screen, which beeped happily and said, Read Successful.

"And apparently twenty-two year-old girls," Ziva finished.

I refuse to be afraid of twenty-two year-old girls, no matter what kind of magical pick-pocketing devices they're sporting," Tony said, walking with Ziva over to McGee's desk.

Ziva looked him up and down. Time for the bait of the morning. "If someone wants something out of your pants, they should use their hands."

Although a million things popped into Tony's head at that moment (nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine of those things completely inappropriate), he managed to keep completely focused on what he had been previously talking about. Ziva was irritated that she hadn't gotten something out of him, but was slightly amused because it was obvious that it had taken some effort on his part. She smiled at McGee, knowing he had been awaiting Tony's response just as much.

"The thing about these devices," Tony continued. "Is that they're virtually impossible to virtually police. How do you keep the DiCaprio out of your head?"

Ziva intended to hook him. "Mm, yeah he is dreamy," she said in a deep voice. She awaited the results but before Tony could respond McGee started talking about the crime again.

...

Tony was on his partner's tail the second they got a match on the credit card.

Once they were side by side, guns at the ready, she murmured his name, knowing she didn't need to say much more to get her message of worry across.

"Ninja senses tingling?" he asked.

If it were not for the danger, she might have smiled at that. But they stood now in a different position; Tony covering Ziva's back and Ziva holding her gun at a woman behind a dumpster.

"NCIS! Put your weapon down!"

"You put your weapon down!" the woman replied loudly, with an accent.

At the sound of her voice, Ziva was a little taken aback. She could never misplace that accent.

"Malachi, I recognise this woman," the girl said in another language, Hebrew, to the man they had been following.

Ziva turned towards the man. "Malachi?" she asked, thinking it could not possibly be who she thought it was.

"Hello, Ziva," Malachi replied, looking perfectly calm.

Tony, in the middle of all this and still not understanding completely, refused to let it go this long without him having a word in. "Oh good, the Israelis are back."

*Freeze black and white*

"Leot, Leot," Tony chanted, pacing around the unfamiliar Israeli woman. "It's like music." He quickly made eye contact with a very unhappy-looking Ziva, hopefully conveying to her that he was only flirting to get on her good side, in hope to get some information out of her. It was always a good technique. He had used it for years, even before NCIS.

"In Hebrew, it means 'you are the one for me', Tony," Leot replied, somewhat believing Tony's convincing performance.

"My name roughly translated to two parts of the human leg." And then a little joke to break the unfamiliarity attraction that comes with meeting a new woman.

Wanting to vomit at the sight of his partner with another woman as she almost always did, Ziva felt the need to jump in. "Leot is one of the most common names in Israel," she sneered.

Much to Ziva's disappointment, Leot was not thrown by this comment at all. "Only the grandmothers are named Ziva," she retorted. Tony couldn't help but picture Ziva grey-haired and old.

"So what brings you to D.C?" McGee asked the strange couple.

"Cherry blossoms," Malachi replied, almost sarcastically.

"Actually that's in the spring."

"All we have to offer in November are elections and turkeys," Tony said quickly, pacing toward Leot again. "I really like those boots, Leot. I'm not speaking too fast for you, am I?"

"I understand," Leot said. "You are very...tongue and ear?"

"She means tongue and cheek," Ziva said, clenching her jaw.

And then Tony realised that only on Ziva were the English mistakes truly adorable, and he was almost proud that she had corrected one herself.

Tony kept looking at Leot, still playing that he was on her side, that he was attracted to her, when really he wanted to be doing something else. But he knew he was the only man for the job. McGee certainly couldn't do it.

"Don't put words in the girl's mouth," Tony told his partner.

...

Malachi and Tony were waiting together, and Tony took it as the chance to ask a few questions.

"How long have you and Leot been together? As partners, I mean. You must be her first...partner."

"She is young," Malachi replied. "What she lacks in experience she makes up for with a passion unlike any I have ever seen."

"Am I sensing something between the two of you?" If Tony was right, he wanted to know how he and Leot made it work. Not for any particular reason other than curiosity. Well, that and Leot subconsciously reminded him of Ziva, especially in her early days.

Malachi shrugged. "Nothing serious."

"You're not sleeping together, then?"

"Of course we're sleeping together, it's just nothing serious."

Tony sighed. "I gotta get back to Israel." He could only dream of a world where sleeping with a co-worker would be considered 'nothing serious.'

...

"It's a good thing you're back, Probie, 'cause Leot killed Gibbs and Ziva," Tony told McGee as they entered the bullpen.

"We killed you first, Tony," she shot back.

"Ah, I've seen this before. The popular pretty girl gets jealous when the hot new transfer comes in and steals all the limelight. It's in practically every high school movie from the 70s and 80s."

Although she didn't show it, Ziva was a little worried that Tony was beginning to see through her, even though he called her pretty. Thankfully, Gibbs entered and brought with him a prompt change of topic.

...

A/N: So there you have it. Really looking forward to next week's ep. Oh, and a heads up—I am going away a lot after Christmas and there aren't Internet connections that I can use to watch the new episodes, and in Oz they aren't even playing the double ep until 2011 sometime so...yeah. What I'm basically saying is I will definitely do those chapters but they won't be on time. And I will try to write other stories as much as possible but I can't post anything. :( Anyway...I hope you liked this chapter.