Chapter 4

On Monday, Tony arrived at work on time dressed in one of his expensive power suits and a big smile. His good morning included Tim and Ziva. He could see she watched him warily, not sure what to expect and it occurred to Tony that Ziva must've been a terrible spy. She projected her thoughts through her eyes and body language too readily. She could play a role okay but she could never do deep undercover. Besides, it wasn't like their undercover act required that much pretending. Lying in bed making out, pretending to have sex was relatively easy compared to pretending to be in the mafia or something requiring a deeper cover. She wouldn't have lasted a week in Philadelphia when he went undercover.

In order to avoid being asked about his weekend, Tony went out of his way to be as annoying as possible. He wadded up paper and tossed it to hit each of them in the head, talked endlessly about everything and nothing until both Ziva and Tim were practically yelling at him to be quiet.

When Tim finally blurted out, "Do you have to be so annoying all the time?" Tony just grinned and launched a lecture about the most annoying movie characters. Tim and Ziva both groaned. Ziva had opened her mouth to say something but never got the chance. Gibbs showed up, slapped the back of his head.

"Shutting up, Boss."

"Gear up, dead petty officer in the Potomac."

Tony grimaced. "Great, bloated, half-eaten body. What a great way to start the week."

Gibbs cuffed him in the back of the head when they reached the elevator.

Later, while processing the scene, Tony and Ziva periodically stole glances at the other but avoided eye contact. Ziva looked bothered and Tony was quieter than usual.

Tim ended up working beside Tony at one point. "So how was your weekend?" he asked conversationally.

"Fine. Yours?" Tony asked, not really wanting to talk about it but if he didn't, Tim would get suspicious and he really, really didn't want to talk about Ziva.

Tim's eyes narrowed. "That's it? Fine? Usually, you can't wait to tell me every detail."

"Yeah, well, I was busy this weekend. Nothing to tell."

"That's a first. What were you so busy doing that you have nothing to tell?"

Tony plastered a fake grin on his face. "Every time I try to tell you about my partying, you just tell me to grow up."

Tim rolled his eyes. "I should've known." He walked away shaking his head and missed Tony's triumphant grin.

Later, Ziva followed Tony into the mens' room. No one else was in there and Tony smirked at her. "You know, they make rooms like this just for women. It's right next door." He pointed in the direction of the ladies' room. She just stood there. He rolled his eyes. "Do you mind? I'm not in here because I like the tile design."

"I want to talk to you."

Tony waited.

"I did not mean to hurt you."

Tony's face was carefully neutral, gave nothing away. "I'm fine."

Ziva frowned. "I really thought you were joking to make me laugh."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Under the circumstances, that would've been the worst time to interrupt just to make you laugh. Even I know enough to not stop a woman when she throws herself at me…if that was the only reason I was there to begin with."

Ziva blushed. "I just could not believe you wanted something serious."

"Yeah, well, I can't believe you wanted something casual so we're even."

"I do not want you to stay angry with me, Tony."

"I'm not angry."

"Then why are you avoiding me?"

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"Because you are acting like you always do but Friday night you seemed upset."

A flash of memory of Gibbs saying he was his favorite and then calling Ziva a bitch in commiseration made Tony smile brightly. "You know me, Ziva. Nothing gets me down for long. I'm over it."

"So you did not really want a relationship after all?"

Tony hesitated. Torn between wanting to change her mind and protecting himself, he snorted though it came out forced. "I thought I did but I changed my mind. If anything, this whole thing showed me why rule 12 works." He smirked. "Now, if you don't mind, I really have to go and I don't need backup." He jerked his head briefly toward the urinal he stood in front of and then turned toward it, a clear but not unfriendly dismissal.

Ziva left, much to his relief. At this point, he could only hope she took him at face value. Maybe continuing to act immature would do it. After he washed his hands, he took out his phone.

Tony returned to his desk a couple of minutes after Ziva and got back to work. A few minutes later, his phone rang and he looked at the caller ID and grinned, answered it. "Hey gorgeous!" Both Tim and Ziva stopped and watched. "Yeah, we're still on for tonight. Yeah, 8 o'clock it is. I'll meet you there." He hung up the phone and caught Ziva and Tim looking at him and he grinned wolfishly at both of them.

"Hot date, Tony?" Tim couldn't help but ask.

"Oh yeah," he emphasized, smirking.

"What's this one's name?" Tim persisted.

"Ashley."

"Didn't you date an Ashley a couple of months ago?"

Tony shrugged. "Different Ashley. It's a pretty common name."

Tim rolled his eyes and out of his peripheral vision, Tony stole a glance at Ziva whose eyes narrowed at him. "You never change, do you Tony?"

He turned the wolfish grin on her. "Why change what's not broken, Zee-vah!"

Tim was watching so she made a derisive noise, rolled her eyes and then ignored him. Once she felt sure Tim was no longer paying attention to them, she looked up at Tony and he caught her glance. For a moment, their eyes locked, pain reflected back to each of them. Tony wondered what she was hiding and realized her look held regret. Whatever reason she felt she couldn't do a relationship with him wasn't the whole story, but she was unwilling to reveal that story. He sighed. Maybe it was for the best. He hated seeing that look on her face. Since nothing was going to happen between them, and he had started this, it was his job to fix it. He noted the wads of paper he had tossed at Tim and Ziva that they had thrown back at him. Smirking, he picked them up and started juggling them before resuming the game of aiming for their foreheads. Ziva gasped out a laugh as one hit her dead center and she tossed it back hard, amusement in her face. Amusement and relief. Tony chuckled out loud when two wads of paper hit him back simultaneously. Just like that, the tension was gone.

That night, alone in his apartment, Tony sat on his couch and flipped through the photos on his phone. He stopped on one and stared at the photo of Ziva he had taken surreptitiously while they had been out on their date. It had been taken in the lobby of the theater as they were leaving after the show and a natural, unassuming smile had lit up her face as they laughed about something they had seen. In that moment, her face was innocent, uncalculating and guileless. That was the Ziva he had fallen for but he realized now that the woman in the photograph was the Ziva she was under all the Mossad doctrine, and that she would rarely see the light of day. Her life simply did not allow her to hang onto that.

He thought about the look she gave him when he told them about "Ashley." He wondered if she realized he had made her up to get things back to 'normal' between them or if she had really believed it. It probably didn't matter because the result was the same. Status quo. He wondered what she meant when she said she couldn't do this. Maybe she'd tell him someday, but he doubted it. What was clear it was more to it than he realized. Her father maybe? She was Mossad, maybe political, maybe dear old dad wouldn't approve of her being involved with an American. Still though, she was independent. Maybe something else.

He stared at the photo for another moment. Making a decision, he pulled his laptop over to him and booted it up and plugged in the phone to the computer and downloaded the photo he took of Ziva onto it. He thought about keeping that photo on his phone but decided against it. It was an unguarded moment and he didn't want to share it with anyone, should someone else ever see it. He password protected it on his computer. He wanted to keep the photo to remember that she was more than Mossad. He moved the photo to a more obscure location on his computer. He didn't want it easily found if someone were to go snooping. Of course, McGeek probably would find it in minutes, if not seconds. Tony smirked a little. Hiding anything on a computer with McGee around was impossible anyway. He closed his laptop with a snap.

As he fell into bed that night, he reminded himself to never take a first date to Helena's again. From now on, that would wait until it was serious…If he ever found anyone to be serious with. Maybe someday.