MCGEE

"Hi, Ziva."

McGee was too polite to pepper her with questions about the man she'd arrived with, though he wanted to quite a lot. The man had looked vaguely familiar, and Tim was trying to figure out if it was because he'd been part of the cyber team a few years back at the same time as trying to ignore the way his heart sank at the idea of her with another guy.

Fortunately, and predictably, DiNozzo was ready to step into the breach.

"New boyfriend?"

Ziva rolled her eyes, but Tim couldn't help noticing the small smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Not that it is any of your business, Tony, but Tom is a very nice man whom I happen to be dating. He is more than a friend, but he is definitely not a boy."

Tony visibly flinched at her insinuation. The fact that Tony got agitated every time Ziva got remotely serious with any man was one of those things Tim pretended not to notice. Noticing would be a very bad move in terms of self preservation.

"So, Zee-vah, he's not just a boy toy, huh? Is he man enough for our ninja, though? He looked kind of like a geek to me."

Tim closed his eyes briefly. This was just a continuation of the normal Tony-Ziva warfare, and he should've been used to it by now, but he had long since learned to fear the collateral damage that tended to occur when Tony crossed the line. And if he hadn't already crossed it (Tim really wasn't sure exactly how Ziva would respond to accusations that her date was a geek), he was surely only moments away from doing so.

"He is not a geek. He is a highly intelligent man who works in the cyber crime division. He has degrees from MIT and Princeton, and is fluent in several languages."

Tony glanced over at Tim and shook his head. "He sounds more of a geek than McGeek. And being a geek is in the McGenome. I don't think our pet Israeli even knows what a geek is, McGee."

Tim didn't respond. Part of him was feeling rather pleased that Ziva was defending a man with multiple degrees who worked in cyber crime as "not a geek" - on the other hand, it was beyond frustrating that said man had succeeded where Tim had not. He'd never been quite brave enough to cross the line, and he wasn't especially keen on inciting Gibbs' wrath for breaking one of The Rules either, but still. It felt painfully like he'd missed a chance somewhere along the way. He'd long since consoled himself that Ziva'd never go for a geek like him, and it was better not to risk their friendship. If he had to be proven wrong, this was not the way he would've chosen.

"If a geek is a clever man who has interesting things to say, then I am happy to be dating a geek. You are just envious because I have a date tonight and you do not."

DiNozzo laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, I bet he's fascinating. You know how much I love dating nerds. Gonna take you to a computer show, is he?"

Ziva tilted her chin up in a defiant way that made Tim wonder just what was coming. "He is taking me to see a film by Kawasaki."

He cringed to himself. The way Ziva said that name made it sound like it was a big deal, and movies... well, they were Tony's thing. That had to hurt.

Tony just looked at her for a long moment, his expression not so much a blank as a weird mixture of emotions that averaged out to nothing. "Is it possible you mean Kurosawa?"

She made an impatient gesture with her hand. "Does it matter?"

"Well, my little pomegranate, one of them makes really great movies, the other one makes motorbikes. If you're going to see a movie by Kawasaki, you might be a bit disappointed..."

Tony was trying to sound flippant, but there was a note of strain in his voice. Yes, that had definitely hit him where he lived, and McGee could at least appreciate the irony; a computer geek who was also a film buff? If Ziva had been purposely trying to make them both jealous, she could hardly have done better.

"What's his name?" Tim managed.

She rewarded his question with one of those smiles that made him ache to the pit of his stomach. "Tom. Tom DiMatteo."

He nodded and plastered on a smile of his own.

"Well. I am going to see Abby, who will be happy for me instead of behaving like a rat."

"I think you mean brat."

Tim had been thinking the same thing, but the glare Tony got made him glad he'd managed to resist the urge to correct her. "I hope you have a good time," he blurted out, and she nodded at him with a little grin before striding off to the elevator.

DiNozzo watched her go, then span around. "OK, Probie-san, background check on the Kurosawa fan. She may be able to smell a gun at fifty yards, but her taste in men sucks."

"You all right, Tony?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, McGee. Just peachy." He clearly wasn't fine. He tapped he file on Tim's desk. "So. How about I do this paperwork for you and you get on with the computer magic?"

DiNozzo volunteering to do paperwork? Never a good sign. "Way ahead of you, Tony. So far he seems legit."

Tony frowned, and they exchanged an understanding look. "Keep looking, Tim. Keep looking."

Tim nodded, reassuring himself he was doing this for Ziva... or at least, mostly for her. Well, partly for her.

Or at least, it gave him something to do besides think about her kissing another geek.