LEE'S POV:
The next day, Emma came to work with a cheerful attitude. She greeted all of us, even Eric. I wasn't sure if it was because it was Friday, or if it was because she had played some mysterious trick on Eric that she hadn't told me about.
"Did you put extra sugar in your coffee this morning?" I asked her, eyeing her suspiciously.
"No," Emma said, shaking her head. "I didn't. And I didn't have Captain Crunch for breakfast, either."
"Fruit Loops? Coco puffs?" I asked her. "Something has made you very happy."
"Maybe I have a date tonight," she returned. "Did you think about that?"
I laughed and then grew suddenly silent. "Do you have a date?"
She just smiled at me. "Maybe. Maybe not."
All afternoon, I tried to figure out how to trick the answer out of Emma. Still, she wouldn't give up her secrets, and I was left to discern what her plans were on my own. Did she really have a date? I didn't want to think that she did, especially after our near-kiss the day before.
Still, I couldn't think about it as I left work that evening. She was a grown woman, and I had no right to pry into her personal life. Other than the fact that she was my partner, of course.
That evening, I drove to my parents' house in Alexandria. I was going to spend at least one night there, and maybe two. When I pulled into the driveway behind my dad's vintage Mustang and my mom's shiny red Mini Cooper, I noticed a very familiar looking Toyota Camry parked on the curb in front of the house. Surely Emma's big plans hadn't been coming here!
I walked in the back door, wiping my feet on the mat. "Mom! Dad!" I called. "I'm home!"
"We're in the living room, Junior!" Dad called to me. I could hear Mom laughing with someone, and I felt certain that the voice was Emma's.
Sure enough, she was sitting on the sofa next to my mom, poring over an old scrapbook.
"Is this really Lee when he was little?" Emma wanted to know. "Aw…he was such a chubby baby!"
"Mom! Again with the baby picture?" I whined. "I've told you about showing those to people."
"Hello, sweetheart," Mom greeted me, getting up and giving me a hug. "I am so glad that you are here!"
I kissed her cheek. "It's good to see you, too, Mom. Now, explain to me why you're showing my partner pictures of me when I was a kid."
"I wanted to see them," Emma replied truthfully. "Is big, bad, Leroy Anthony DiNozzo scared by someone seeing this pictures."
"They're embarrassing," I insisted, shaking hands with my dad.
EMMA'S POV:
I was amused by how embarrassed Lee was when he saw me looking at his baby pictures. He sat down in the chair across from me, and glared playfully at me.
"You're going to get me back for this, aren't you?" I asked him.
"Hell, yes!" he vowed.
"I am going to check on dinner," Ziva told us. "Why don't you get out the wine, baby," she asked her husband.
When they were gone, Lee came over and sat down beside me. "Why didn't you tell me that you were coming here?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I just thought it would be a nice surprise. Your mom called yesterday while you were in the bathroom, and I answered your phone for you. We talked for a few minutes, and she invited me to dinner."
"So you decided to increase my suspense, thereby ruining my weekend, just to end up at the same place I was going?"
I smiled. "Yes. But tell me, why would it ruin your weekend if I had had a date?"
Before Lee could reply, his father walked back into the room with wine glasses and a bottle of red wine. Lee just smiled at me, reaching over to turn the page slowly. His hand brushed against mine, and I shivered at the touch.
"This is my favorite picture," he told me, pointing to a picture of his as a toddler. He was kissing a little girl on the cheek. A little girl who looked a lot like me!
"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Look at us. I don't even remember that."
"You were five, and Lee was four," Ziva told us, walking back into the room. "He adored you and would follow you around for hours on end."
Lee blushed, and I closed the book quickly. "So, is there anything I can do to help with dinner?" I asked, changing the subject quickly.
"No. The chicken parmesan will be out of the oven in just a few minutes," Ziva replied, pouring me a glass of wine and handed it to me. "It still amazes me how much you two have grown up. And how is your brother, Sam?"
"Sam's good," I told them. "He loves working with OSP. He's a natural, just like Dad."
"You didn't want to be an undercover operative?" Tony asked, sipping his wine slowly. "I thought that ran in your family."
"Sometimes the pressure can be too much," I admitted. "To be honest, NCIS was my second career choice."
"What was your first choice?" Lee wanted to know.
"I wanted to be a dancer," I admitted.
LEE'S POV:Later that night, after dinner was over, I learned that Emma was spending the night, too. That was just what I needed! To have that beautiful, intoxicating woman in the same house with me overnight.
Mama and Daddy went to bed around eleven-thirty, but Emma and I stayed up talking on the couch for a while. She fascinated me, and I couldn't put my finger on what captivated me the most.
"If I have to put up with anymore smart remarks from Eric next week, I'm liable to kill him," Emma threatened when our conversation turned to work. "That guy is so irritating!"
"I don't like him having a nickname for you," I declared angrily. "He doesn't have any right to call you 'Em', especially when you don't like him to."
"You call me 'Callena,'" I reminded him. "And you never asked my permission to call me that."
I leaned a little bit closer to Emma, taking a deep breath. "May I call you that, Emma?"
She nodded, her eyes locked with mine. "Yes, you can. You can call me whatever you want, really."
Finally, I closed the gap between us and pressed my lips against Emma's. She melted against me instantly, looping her arms around my neck tightly. I pulled her closer, slipping my arms around her waist.