Tony sat on his couch as he flipped mindlessly through the channels. It was well passed midnight but he couldn't sleep. The last couple of days had been an exercise in futility. They'd made no progress - widening the search had yielded no similar cases and had only served to lower his spirits.

By the time he had gotten home he was exhausted, mentally and physically. He hadn't been kidding when he had told Tim the other day that it was hard to read the details about all of those cases. He had been in law enforcement a long time and he knew he would never, ever get used to the brutality and violence that others inflicted on one another.

He figured if he ever got to that point, it was time to call it quits.

The one and only bright spot had been looking through the case files the night before with Tim. Although it had been long and tedious work, the fact that he was not alone in doing it had somehow made it easier.

Okay, if he were going to be really truthful, it wasn't so much that he hadn't been alone that made it easier but the fact that it had been Tim who had stayed behind with him.

And wasn't that realization a kick in the ass? Or a sharp, Gibbs' like slap to the back of the head.

He shut off the television, plunging the room into silence and darkness. He rubbed his face warily and tried very hard not to overanalyze it. Whatever it was.

Flinging his head back on to the couch he brought up the image of that look on Tim's face Monday night. He was usually really good at reading people. Supremely good. It's what he did. He knew when someone wanted him and everything about that looked had screamed I want to see you naked and have my way with you.

But then again, maybe he was just projecting.

Over the last little while, he had found himself reacting more and more to everything Tim did. And not in a good way. Okay, scratch that, yes in a good way but in a totally unprofessional red light! red light! kind of way.

Monday night had made it abundantly clear how deep he was in. He'd hung out with Tim after they'd shut down their computers, ate the last of the pizza and talked about Tim's new novel. He had been doing his usual song and dance about giving Tommy a more prominent role when he'd gotten distracted.

His entire spiel had been waylaid by pizza sauce. Pizza sauce clinging rather precariously on the bottom of one Timothy McGee's lower lip. He had stopped mid-sentence and watched as Tim's pink tongue darted out and licked at the errant bit of sauce. Something so mundane that would have escaped his notice on anyone else had suddenly made all of the blood rush from his brain to other, more interesting parts of his anatomy.

"Tony?" Tim had asked when he had remained silent for what could have been forever as his brain had lost all ability to tell time, but it was really probably just a few seconds.

He tried to swallow but his mouth felt like it had been stuffed with cotton.

"Er… where was I?" His voice sounded hoarse to his ears.

"Expounding the numerous and varied reasons why my next book should, in your words, be all about the awesome exploits of Special Agent Tommy. Is something wrong?"

He had taken a huge gulp of his drink and tried to pull himself together. He wondering where the hell the usual suave, dashing, witty DiNozzo went and remembered… probably where all of his blood had pooled.

Shifting slightly, he had grabbed the empty pizza boxes and made his way towards the break room garbage bins, making sure to keep his back to Tim.

"Nothing. I just realized how late it was. We should get going. You need your beauty sleep." It was a cheap shot and he knew it, but his brain couldn't come up with anything better.

And that had been that.

Except for the part where he had found himself watching Tim all day today. And every so often, he thought he saw Tim watching him too.

He slumped further into the couch, shifting so that his butt was nearly off of the edge He had no idea when he had become the star of one of those annoying angst-filled teen soap operas that were nothing like the shows he used to watch when he was younger. All that back and forth crap of does he like me, oh my god he does and oh my god he doesn't…

And oh. my. god. he really needed to sleep and to not think about this anymore.

Tomorrow he would put on his big boy pants, talk to Tim and figure out what the hell was going on.

If not tomorrow then the day after that. Or, maybe when the case was over. Definitely when the case was over. Unless something else came up.

Tony shook his head vigorously in a hopeless attempt to stop thinking about it and finally dredged up enough energy to get his ass off of the couch and into bed.

The next morning he refused to think about the erotic dream he had about himself, pizza sauce and Tim's agile tongue.

6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6

Several days had passed and the team was no further along on the Moss and Taylor cases then they had been at the start of the workweek. In a bid to get more information, Tony had contacted Baltimore PD and asked for the evidence from the crime scene so that Abby might have a look at it. They had promised to get it to him, but it had not been delivered yet.

On Friday, close to end of day, a visitor was escorted into the Naval Yard.

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo!"

Tony's head shot up at the familiar voice.

"Dan! How's it going? What brings you to D.C.?"

"Can't a guy just drop by?" The handsome, dark-haired man asked as he approached Tony and enveloped him in a hug.

Tim watched enviously as Tony returned the embrace. He saw Tony start to step away, but the taller man held on a bit longer than necessary before he too stepped back.

"I am personally escorting the items you requested. I wanted to make sure that they didn't get lost in the transfer."

"I'm sure the courier would have done their job properly," Tony said with a teasing smile.

"What can I say? I couldn't resist an opportunity to visit my favorite federal agent. It's been too long."

"Who is your friend, Tony?" Ziva cut in as she got up from her desk to stand beside the two men.

"Dan, this is Ziva David. Ziva, Detective Dan Warner from the Baltimore PD. Be careful, Dan, she's a man-eater."

"Not a problem. I like to be eaten," Dan said with a playful smile.

The look of interest on Ziva's face quickly dissolved at his statement.

"He is your doppeldangle, Tony. Just taller and better looking."

Tony choked on the water he had been drinking while Dan laughed.

"The term is doppelganger. And, for your information, he wears lifts. Not to mention that your eye-sight is awful. Better looking… pffft."

Ziva ignored Tony as she shut off her computer and collected her belongings to go home.

"Give me the box. I will take it to Abby so that she does not have to be subjected to your doppelganger."

Tony made his very showy ouch, that's got to sting face.

Dan simply raised his eyebrows and laughed. "She really is a man-eater. You'll have to sign for it Ms. David. Chain of evidence and all that."

Ziva gave him a tight smile and held out her hand for the waiver.

Dan made sure to brush his hand gently across her palm before relinquishing the document.

Scrunching her nose at the contact, she signed the paper, took the box and left without a backwards glance.

"Wow. Is she always like that?"

"No. She's normally very calm and cool-headed. I bring out that knee-jerk response."

"You were always good with the ladies, Tony."

"Well, I don't like to brag…"

"Yeah, you do."

"Hey, boss. Didn't see you there." Tony turned swiftly in the direction of Gibbs' voice.

"Is there a reason you're just standing around? If you're not working, go home. Bring that guy with you."

"Gibbs this is…"

"Dan Warner. So you're the infamous Gibbs."

Gibbs' expression didn't warm a fraction, even as Dan gave his best, megawatt smile.

"Go. Now."

"Right. Have a good weekend." Tony hurried to get his stuff, recognizing the look on Gibbs' face.

"McGee, got any plans?"

Tim paused in the process of turning off his monitor. For a brief moment he thought about saying he was busy, but decided he wanted to see Dan and Tony interact together. He needed to confirm if his earlier suspicion that there was something other than friendship between the two was correct.

"No, not really."

"Great, come with us."

Dan looked slightly put out that someone else was joining them, but Tim chose to ignore it, filing the factoid away in the Tony might not be as straight as I thought he was compartment of his brain.

Instead of going to their normal pub, the one that they had gone to the week before, Tim followed Tony to a restaurant a few miles away from the office. He had never been to this place and wondered why Tony chose it.

As he joined the two men already waiting to be seated he took in the atmosphere of the restaurant. While not exactly seedy, it was not a place that he would think Tony would regularly frequent. It was a bit dark and although there were a few booths and tables, the majority of the space was taken up by a bar, pool tables and a couple of large television screens.

Tony noticed Tim's expression and explained, "I found this place when I first started at NCIS. I know it doesn't look that great, but the food's not bad, the beer's cold and, well, it's a good place to go if you don't want to run into anyone you know."

Tony had averted his eyes when he said the last statement, instead feigning interest in the sports game playing on one of the televisions.

After they took their seats and placed their orders, Tim remained silent and simply observed the two men together. Every so often, Tony would shoot a glance towards Tim, but made no move to say anything.

Dan, meanwhile, got progressively more drunk as the evening wore on and, in the process, became a little more grabby with the senior agent. Tim watched, almost dumbfounded, as Dan placed his hand high on Tony's thigh and asked, with a slightly slurred voice, "So what are you doing tomorrow?"

"I've already made plans. I have a date."

"Well, that's too bad. I guess I should have called before I decided to come to D.C."

Tony extricated Dan's hand from his thigh and moved a little bit farther away along the booth's bench. He risked a look at Tim, trying to gauge his reaction but saw that his face was carefully blank.

Who knew Tim had such a good poker face? Tony wondered to himself.

"What about you, Tim?"

Tim was startled when he turned to find Dan's disarming smile directed towards him.

Tim cleared his throat. "No, I have plans, too."

"Ah, well. I suppose I'll have to find someone else to entertain me. Gotta hit the head," he said abruptly and left their table.

Tony waited until Dan was out of earshot. "I'm sorry about that. I would say that he usually shows better manners or discretion but that would just be a bold faced lie," Tony said, taking a long pull of his beer.

"Is that why you take him here?"

"Got it in one, Probie. You're turning into a real eagle-eyed investigator."

Tony waited for the questions or something from Tim after he witnessed that rather compromising display with Dan, but nothing came. Finally, big boy pants on and firmly belted around his waist he took a chance and said,

"Listen, Tim, I might have mislead you a bit about, um… how do I put this?"

"You're not as straight as you claim to be?"

Tony chuckled. "Let's just say I walk a thin line with lots of detours."

After a rather brief mental scuffle in which a really loud voice was yelling "do it! do it!" in his ear, Tony said, "I'm sorry that he hit on you. He usually has better gaydar."

Tim hesitated for a moment before he took his own plunge and said, "Actually, I would say it's pretty accurate."

Tony managed to keep the bit of food he had just put in his mouth from shooting across the table

"What? After all those times I teased you about being gay or bi and you always denied it."

"You expected me to actually confirm it? I'm cautious. I mentioned that I was a navy brat, right?"

Tony nodded.

"My sexual preference is private. Besides, you're one to talk! How many stories did I have to endure about your sexual exploits with women?"

"Some of those were true."

Tim just glared at him.

Tony's smile became a little bittersweet. "You know what they say, those that protest the loudest are usually the ones who have something to hide."

The two men sat silently for another moment or two.

"So, Dan's not your type, huh?"

"He's good-looking, I'm not blind, Tony. But, I prefer someone with more substance."

"Someone you can get your geek on with?"

Tim's glare from earlier was back, just a little bit fiercer than before. "I'm more than just a geek."

"I know, Tim," Tony said with a small, gentle smile. Tim's anger quickly disappeared.

"Do you realize that he hasn't once asked about the Moss case? It's his case that you're working on and he hasn't even bothered. That says a lot about him. You could never be that thoughtless." The last sentence was out before Tim could stop it.

Speechless, Tony turned to Tim as his heart hammered a little faster. Oh god, say something!

Before he could think of a response, Dan returned to the table.

"Alright gentlemen, who's ready for another round?"