AN: Homeward bound! I'm on a writing roll today (Sunday) so hopefully I can continue that trend here, but this likely won't be up until tomorrow.

MN: I have permission for fluff here. :D hehehehehehe


Ziva strode over to the ambulance where her partner was seated on the back. She pulled the ice pack away from his face and cringed.

"That bad?" She knew he had to be in pain but he was smiling at her nonetheless.

She released the icepack and he brought it back to his face. "It's not good. But his is worse."

She was referring to the man that had attempted to attack Rainey and Seth as they returned to the Senator's house. He hadn't been aware of the other couple in the car and she and Tony had managed to step in before anything disastrous occurred. He had reached the man first, tackling him to the ground. Unfortunately, he had outweighed her partner and managed to land one good blow before Ziva had joined the tussle. He was now being escorted to the emergency room by the police, likely in need of stitches.

"Silvetti on his way?" She had left him with the paramedics to call their boss.

"He is. And I spoke with the lead detective. He wants to get a statement from you before we leave, but we can go down to the station tomorrow for the rest of the paperwork." She placed her hand against the cheek not being blocked by the icepack. "I still think you should go to the hospital."

He kissed her palm quickly and shook his head. "I'm fine. You've hit me harder than that guy did. The real question is, why did he attack them?"

It was Ziva's turn to shake her head. "Rainey ID'd him as a childhood friend. Apparently he's a bit unstable. He was volunteering on the Senator's campaign but was asked to leave after getting in verbal altercations with several other staff members. It was Seth that told him to go, and Rainey backed him up, which is likely why he targeted them."

Tony nodded, then his eyes locked on something over her shoulder. She dropped her hand and turned to see their boss exiting his car. He managed to locate the detective in charge almost immediately and spoke with him briefly before turning to look at them. "I think that's your cue."

She stepped away and headed toward Silvetti as the detective walked toward the ambulance. They passed in the middle, nodding at one another. She finished her journey toward her employer not entirely sure what to expect. In this situation, Gibbs would have subtly inquired as to their wellbeing, all the time appearing as a hard-ass.

"David, you okay?" Apparently his approach was far different from her former boss's.

"Yes, sir. I'm fine." The truth was, she hadn't even been hit at all in the struggle.

"What about DiNozzo? Does he need to go to the ER?" Miles different.

"He'll be fine. He's got a hard head and he's taken worse hits."

He seemed to accept her answer and moved on to asking her to explain again what had happened. By the time she was done, her partner had been cleared by the Paramedics and Silvetti had given her the go ahead to leave. Since the car that had picked them up from the airport was now a crime scene, he had called another of his coworkers to give them a ride back to the office to retrieve her car.

As they drove, she called Greeley. She gave him a brief overview of why they hadn't gotten home two hours earlier as they should have.

"Well I was just getting ready to start dinner so you guys will be just in time." She started to protest but her cut her off. "You guys have got to be starving. Eat quick then you can take DiNozzo home. It'll be faster than trying to order in."

He had a point.


He was being so quiet on the drive between her apartment and his that twice Ziva had to look over to make sure that Tony wasn't asleep. They remained silent even as she escorted him inside, save for the argument over her carrying his bag. Once inside she set the luggage out of the way as he greeted and fed Kate. As he shrugged out of his jacket, he looked over at her. "You gonna take your coat off and stay a while?"

She felt herself relax just a little. "I did not know if you wanted some time alone." She slid her arms from her jacket and moved past him to hang it beside his in the closet.

When she turned she found herself trapped between himself and the door. "I want some time alone with you. No assignment, no psycho stalkers, no work. Just you and me, Sweetcheeks." He leaned in to kiss her quickly but thoroughly then backed off again so fast that he left her standing stunned.

Her shock seemed to amuse him and a grin spread on his face. "I have got to remember that tactic."

He took her hand and guided her to the couch. "I do not think I'm in the mood for a movie, Tony."

He sat down, tugging her to sit beside him. "Good. Because it wasn't on my agenda for tonight."

She angled herself on the couch to face him. "What is on your agenda?"

He reached over to tuck a wayward curl behind her ear. "For starters, talking. I told you that I want to do this right, and that means communication. Lots of it. I want to know where your head is at. Are you still okay with this?"

She reached over and retook his hand, squeezing it gently. "Honestly, I'm scared of this, of what it could change. But I don't want to go back."

He smiled and gave her hand a returning squeeze. "Good, because if you had said you had changed your mind, I'm pretty sure I would have just keeled over."

He leaned into her and kissed her again, this time much more slowly. She lost herself in the sensation of his mouth against hers so much so that she didn't realize his hands had drifted to her waist until he had already pulled her most of the way into his lap.

She let him guide her until she straddled his thighs. His hands shifted to grip her butt firmly as hers gripped his shoulders. What had been, a couple days prior, a sudden explosion of passion this time started as an ember and grew slowly into a roaring inferno.

Just as she had in Hawaii, she brought her hands up to the buttons on his shirt and, just as he had done before, he pulled back and stilled her hands with one of his own. She looked at him in confusion and he perplexed her further by chuckling and leaning back in for a quick kiss.

"I told you, Zee-vah. We're doing this right." He lifted her to her feet then stood as well, his hand still latched onto one of hers as he led her to his bedroom.


As she lay with her head on Tony's shoulder, Ziva traced random patterns on his chest while he gently stroked her back. With a sigh she finally broke the comfortable silence they had been enjoying. "I really should probably get home. I'm not even sure I have any clothes clean to wear to work tomorrow. And I'm pretty sure Abby will notice if everyone shows up at my apartment and I'm not there."

She had brought him home on Thursday night and the only time they had left one another's arms since was to make a trip to the police station and then the office to file paperwork. Silvetti had granted them the remainder of Friday as well as the weekend off to allow them to recover from their jetlag and afford Tony's eye some time to heal.

Now it was late on Sunday morning and she knew that she needed to go home, but was finding it nearly impossible to pry herself away from him. She felt as much as heard his answering sigh. "You're probably right. I know I don't have much in the way of clean laundry. I should probably do a load or two before dinner."

Despite his agreement with her, neither of them moved to get up. "If we both got started on our laundry now, I could probably make it over before everyone else showed up for dinner."

That idea brought a smile to her face and she expanded on it. "And since you'll have plenty of clean laundry available, you should repack your ready bag and put it in your car. Just in case you were to suddenly not be able to make it home one night and have to work the next day."

"That's probably a good idea."

They both laughed as she finally pulled herself into a sitting position and stretched, raising her arms above her head. When she looked back over at Tony, he had an odd look on his face. "What?"

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "If you stretch like that again, neither of us is going anywhere or getting anything done and we'll both be going to work tomorrow in dirty clothes."

The low tone of his voice held more than a little innuendo and she smiled but moved to slip out of the bed before she decided to test that particular theory of his. It took five minutes for her to locate her clothes and put them on and then another ten for her to say goodbye to her partner.

As she headed down the hall toward the elevator, even she noticed the spring in her step.


AN: I know, I know. You are all disappointed in the lack of smuttiness, but we (read me) just weren't feeling it. Besides, to do smut proper I have to abbreviate here and load the story on TWCS, and that's a lot of work for a writer with an aching back on a weeknight. Maybe next fic!