AN: As I begin to type this chapter, it sits at 7 pages hand written and it has yet to be finished. I think I'm going to be cutting it off pretty fast after what I've got done and have to do more as another chapter. Talk about brain on fire!

MN: We jinxed ourselves on the weather. Was almost 90 today. Can we please get our fall weather back? Kthxbai!


As Tony wrapped his arm around her, his fingers brushed the sensitive spot on her side. She disguised the twitch as movement to lean into him. He tightened his hold around her waist and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Silvetti wants us to call him ASAP. Can you sneak away?"

She nodded and he released her, walking away in the direction he had come from. She waited for the woman in the group she was standing in to finish speaking then butted in. "I'm sorry ladies. I've just been informed that my boss has been desperately trying to get in touch with me. I need to go call him back."

The middle aged woman to her left snickered. "So it's called 'Calling the boss' these days is it? In my day we just said 'quickie'.

The bride-to-be rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore the older woman's comment. "Doesn't he know you're on vacation? What is it you do anyway?"

Suddenly she was glad her partner had forced her to plan an in-depth cover story. "I'm an executive administrative assistant. My boss probably can't find the flash drive that has the files he needs for his presentation tomorrow. It's in my outbox, clearly labeled, which makes it invisible to a man." She managed to escape amid a chorus of chuckles.

By the time she entered the hotel room, Tony was seated on the couch, their company issued laptop open on the coffee table before him, and her boss's voice was emitting through the speakers. "I'm sending you the folder now."

Her partner clicked on something, presumably to accept the file transfer as she crossed the room to sit beside him. As she sank onto the lumpy cushion to his right, Silvetti's face came into view on the screen. "Great. David, let me fill you in. Your vacation just turned into a real assignment. Senator Clark received a threat at his office today that we feel is viable."

The file transfer completed and Tony opened the folder. The first item to pull up was an image of a typed note. "The gist is pretty much that the senator needs to resign 'or else'. What concerns me are the photos that were included."

As if on cue, Tony opened the remaining images and Ziva's building anxiety kicked up. All of the images showed Rainey. One was clearly taken at her gym, another outside her office, two outside of the family's home, and the final showed her and Seth unloading their luggage from a car at the airport just a few short days prior. "Any suspects?"

Silvetti shook his head. "No, but it's a local postmark from yesterday, so be leery of anyone new who shows up. Stick close to Lorraine and her boyfriend and I'll keep you up to date."

As soon as they had voiced their acknowledgement, he disconnected leaving them in sudden silence. She turned to look at Tony. "So, how should we proceed? Should we read them in?"

He checked his watch and thought for a moment. "It's almost time for dinner. Let's go back downstairs, stick close to them until after dinner. When the event breaks up, we'll get them alone for a few minutes and give them the basics before the parties tonight."

She stood and stretched. "Sounds good to me. If we're gone too long, people will get the wrong idea."

As he rose himself, a grin spread on his face and he waggled his eyebrows. "Oh really? What did you tell them you were going to do?"

Ziva rolled her eyes as she crossed to the door and wretched it open. "The truth! That I was calling my boss. But at least a couple of them didn't seem to believe me. Could have something to do with the way you grabbed me."

He closed the door behind him and followed her down the hall. "Hey, you're the one that snuggled into me."

She pushed the button for the elevator harder than was necessary. "Because you always hit that ticklish spot on my side! It wouldn't look right if I jumped away every time you touched me."

The car arrived and she stepped in and punched the button for the first floor so quickly that he barely managed to follow her before the doors closed. "See. It's much better for them to think that we're sneaking off for a little afternoon delight than to know you're ticklish."

She shot him a glare, but the opening of the elevator doors forced her to hold her tongue. A throng of people, all seemingly related pushed into the small space with them, shoving and jostling until he was pressed tightly against her in the corner. He looked down and grinned.

"I swear on my Abba's soul, if you say one word, you will find out how many knives I can conceal under this dress." Her voice was low, but the way his mouth snapped shut confirmed he had heard her.

The ride to the lobby seemed excruciatingly slow. Finally, the doors opened and the family spilled out. She pushed Tony away from her and stepped around him to exit. His longer legs allowed him to catch up to her easily and he reached out and snagged her hand with his as they approached the banquet room where dinner was being held. "Smile Sweetcheeks."


The room was empty, but as she entered she noticed that the door to the balcony was open. She slid her shoes off and went through the open door. Her partner was in one of the two loungers that resided on the small deck. He was staring up at the stars and didn't move to look at her as she moved to lean on the railing. "Did you enjoy the bachelorette party?"

After the group dinner, the event had divided up. The men headed out to a bar with the groom while the women had stayed in the banquet room for drinks and games. "It was tolerable. I am, however, surprised to see you back so early."

Somehow he had managed to stand and had moved to be next to her without her noticing the movement until he was directly beside her. "One of the groomsmen can't hold his liquor. Seth and I volunteered to haul him back and dump him in his room. Neither of us was really feeling it."

She understood the feeling completely and nodded. "I am fairly sure that after about an hour, Rainey was only staying to be polite. I must admit, she is handling the entire situation fairly well. I was hesitant to let you show her the pictures, but she responded more calmly than I had anticipated."

The breeze blowing in off the water was cool and he was standing close enough to her that she could feel the heat from his skin seep into her as he nodded. "Yeah. She's got a good head on her shoulders."

They lapsed into silence as they watched the waves lap against the sand at the water's edge. They stayed shoulder to shoulder enjoying the view until she yawned. "I am glad tomorrow is a day to relax. Rainey said she wants to sleep in and we both thought it sounded like a good idea to rent a boat and head out to that island the housekeeper told us about. We can pack a picnic and just enjoy some quiet time. Another couple may join us."

She pushed back from the banister and he followed her inside, closing the door and locking it behind him. "Now that sounds like vacation."


Ziva was enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin, but, despite her attempts to unwind, she found herself straining to listen for any sounds of an approaching boat motor.

"Relax." Tony's voice was little more than a murmur in her ear.

Rainey's sorority sister, Jill, and her husband, Frank, had joined their little outing, so they were in character. Currently she was nestled between Tony's legs, leaning against him as a fallen tree supported his back. She made a conscious effort to relax against him and his arms snaked around her. She tuned back in to the conversation just in time to realize that Jill was talking to her. "So, how did you two meet Rainey?"

She plastered what she hoped was an interested look on her face and forced a smile. "I work as the assistant to an executive of the company that handled her father's IT needs during his campaign. We met at a function and hit it off. When she found out that our vacation plans had fallen through, she insisted we join her here since her parents couldn't make it."

"And we can't thank you enough, if we haven't mentioned it already." Tony had butted in seamlessly and she was grateful for it.

"That sounds like her. What about you two? How did you get together." It was hard to tell who the woman was looking at behind her dark sunglasses.

"We actually work together. My boss is her boss's partner. After years of late nights, early mornings, and weekends of overtime in the office, I finally worked up the nerve to ask her out. Two years later and I keep asking and she keeps saying 'yes'."

It took a decided effort not to roll her eyes at his story, but Jill seemed to lap it up. "That's so adorable! I have to say, I wouldn't have guessed you had been together that long though. I mean, you can't keep your hands off each other. In fact, I can't recall a time this week that I've seen you together that you weren't touching. But, at the same time, I haven't seen you kiss once so it's like you're still in that stage where true PDA makes you uncomfortable."

She felt Tony shift uncomfortably behind her and decided to take pity on him. "That's just because of my culture. In Israel, people don't openly show that kind of affection around others they don't know very well. He is very considerate when it comes to my culture and religion."

Jill smiled widely at them. "Aww! That's so sweet. So what do your parents think of your relationship? Some people can be uptight about their kids dating outside of their own culture."

Ziva thought that she was getting awfully personal but once again her partner slipped in and rescued her. "My mom passed away when I was a kid, but my dad loves her. He is always on and on about how I just need to marry her already or he's going to do it himself."

The other two couples laughed, but she shook her head. "He is not joking. His father has proposed to me twice now."

This time it was Jill's turn to shift uncomfortably. "Wow. So, uh, what about your family? Do they feel the same."

Tony's arm tightened around her but she patted his knee to let him know it was alright. "I lost my mother when I was young too, and my father was…he died unexpectedly early this year. But our last conversation about Tony was very pleasant."

"Really?" His voice was surprised behind her. "Because my last conversation with him wasn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was categorically hostile in both directions."

She mentally berated herself. She should have known that her partner would be able to tell that she was being just as genuine as he had been. She shifted and twisted until she was looking at him, their faces close together. She dropped her tone to a near whisper. "If you want I will tell you about it sometime. But not now."

He stared at her for a long moment then nodded. Seth seemed to sense the sudden tension and popped to his feet. "So, hey, who's up for a swim?"


AN: Seriously, that was all written already except for the shift and twist on. Holy hell Sebastian. No wonder my right arm hurts!