Hi everyone :)

I know it took a little longer than I hoped but here's finally the next chapter.

Hope you'll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

Chapter 21

Ziva and Lu set the table and prepared everything else for the arrival for the next was just down in the basement getting a bottle of wine and they heard Jo coming out of the bathroom a few minutes ago. It was amazing how well they all worked together, but maybe it was because everyone was used to work in a group. Lu was a well-organized housewife who was used to have someone around, helping her with her work. Jo was a very open young teenager who seemed to enjoy helping out others and Tony was her partner. They were used to work side by side, whether in the field or in the kitchen it seemed to make no differences.

"You know your way around the kitchen very well. Do you cook often?" asked Luisa curiously.

"Well, I cannot say that I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. As a NCIS Agent I don't have that much time to cook. The most time I just order some take out. But if I have time then I absolutely cook myself something and I have fun doing so."

"I'm sure you know a lot about Israeli food."

"Yeah, I know a lot recipes from my native country." confirmed Ziva.

"Well, I always wanted to learn some Israeli recipes. Could you maybe teach me some of them?"

"Watch out Ziva! You could end up as a kitchen help." joked Tony when he returned with a bottle of wine in his hands.

"Why's that? After all I already have two loyal assistants." replied Lu grinning at Tony.

"Yes, one of them knows about two recipes in total and the other one is in the learning phase."

"Who's where in the learning phase?" asked Jo when she joined them in the kitchen again.

"You, my little grass hopper. You and Lu are working through our cookbook in alphabetical order, don't you?"

Jo nodded.

"Why in alphabetical order?" asked Ziva.

"I've already asked them that."

"I didn't know where to start so I started with A and went on like that." shrugged Jo.

The doorbell rang and Tony was curious who'd be the next to arrive after Ziva. He opened the door and was greeted by Gibbs and Abby."Holy Mother Theresa! I must say that you have good taste, Tony. If the inside looks just as good as the outside, I think I have to let you decorate my apartment anew too."

Tony shook his head. "I think that's just the result if you're living with two women. You'd better ask Lu and Jo for help."

"That'd be it. Even though Tony's furniture looks elegant and expensive, his home would surely be less furnished." grinned Gibbs.

"That's right." admitted Tony. "Please, come in. I don't want to leave my guests at the door. Lu would scold me for that."

Gibbs and Abby followed Tony to the dining room. The last preparations were just finished and the table was decorated. Now all they had to do was to wait for the other guest to arrive.

"Uncle Gibbs!" yelled Jo and ran up to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"You know Abby, at moments like these I'm always remembered of you." smirked Tony.

"Jo and I just show our joy freely."

"And we love you for that."

"Aww, you're so sweet." said Abby and gave him a big kiss on his Tony didn't notice was that Abby left an impression of her lips on his cheek and she smiled as he went to the front door to greet his next guests, obvious of the mark.

McGee looked at him and saw the dark traces of Abby's lips on his cheek. "Err, you have-"

"Don't just stand there McWordless, come in! Gibbs, Abby and Ziva are already here."

McGee shrugged. "Okay. I've just seen Ducky turning into the street so he'll be here in the next few minutes."

"Okay. Our autopsy gremlin can't make it. He and Breena got invited to a birthday party."

Tony gave McGee the directions to the dining room while he waited for Ducky. They were almost complete. Just two guests were still missing and he wasn't sure if they came. But he didn't get a text or a call from them so he's still assuming that they'll come.

Ducky walked up to the front door and greeted Tony, looking rather amused when he saw Tony's cheek. "I take it that Abby's already here."

"Yes, how do you know? Did you see her car?" asked Tony. The dining room wasn't visible from their position.

"Oh, as a forensic doctor I learned to analyze facts and draw my conclusions from it."

Confused by Ducky's statement he took the coat from his friend and led him to the others. They were already seated and Lu offered some snacks until dinner was ready.

"Is this a new look you're trying there, DiNozzo?" smirked Gibbs.

Tony looked irritated at the amused faces of his friends. What did Gibbs mean with new look? He looked as usual. Granted he wore jeans and a white shirt instead of his usual suit, but it wasn't that much different. His hair was the same as always too. So what did they mean? It had to be something unusual given their amused looks and the grins.

Jo seemed to take pity on her dad and helped him out of his misery."Dad! You have a kiss mark on your right cheek!"

Tony went perplexed to the hall where a small mirror was hanging on the wall. Indeed, a kiss mark was gracing his cheek. He wiped it off and went back to his friends. "Really, Abbs? Couldn't you have said something?"

"It was just too funny to say anything just yet." said Abby with the face of an angel.

He left it uncommented. He didn't see the point in that. Pranks were normal for them. Besides she had meant no harm. If he would have been in her situation, he wouldn't have said anything too. Such things belong to them. He pranked his friends so much, it was to be expected that he'd be the victim now and then.

"What would you like to drink?"

After everybody expressed his wishes for drinks, Tony went through the door into the kitchen to get them. His arms were full with bottles and he hoped he'll successfully make the five steps to the table without an incident. Just as he made his way to the table he heard the doorbell ringing.Damn it! To avoid any broken glasses he went back to the kitchen counter to put the bottles down again. But apparently it took him too long because the doorbell rang again and while he put the bottles away, he saw Ziva walking past the kitchen to the front door. Since he already knew who was at the door, he cursed his bad luck that out of anyone it had to be Ziva answering the door.

"I'll get it, Tony." said Ziva and opened the door, while Tony put as fast as possible the bottles out of his arms and hurried to the oncoming train wreck at his front door. It wasn't that he wanted his surprise guests to be kept a secret, but he wanted to introduce them to his friends first. That way he felt he had everything under control. But now Ziva was the one to open the door and will immediately think about thousands of scenarios.

Surprised Ziva looked into the face of the woman Tony had flirted with lately. What did she want here? Had Tony invited her? God, will she really have to watch them gracing into each other's eyes and whispering sweet nothings to each other? What was her name again? Tony had mentioned it once or twice but she hadn't thought she had to remember it. A man in his mid-twenty was standing next to her. He seemed oddly familiar. There were two free seats at the table and Ziva had just assumed they were for Jimmy and Breena.

She didn't know how to behave with this woman. But why should she make her life harder than it already was? They were Tony's visitors. Sure she could manage a evening with her, couldn't she? After all she wasn't someone who couldn't control her feelings and was snotty to others. The woman seemed to realize Ziva's inner conflict and smiled at her.

"Hi, I'm Elena Warren." said the woman and offered her hand. Elena, of course! She accepted the offered hand and shook it."I'm Ziva. Ziva David."

"Hello I'm Colin Warren, Elena's brother." introduced the man himself and too shook hands with Ziva.

"Elena! It's great that you made it." welcomed Tony his last guests and hoped that the evening won't be a complete disaster. Since his budding friendship with Elena, he thought it would be a good time to introduce her to his family and Colin already belonged somehow to their NCIS family.

"Yes, my employees are taking care of the bar tonight."

"Well, it seems like you already introduced each other." Recognizably by the ice age that broke out a few seconds ago. Ziva went without any comment back to the dining room, while he took the coats from Elena and Colin and led them to the dining room.

"Hey everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Elena Warren and her brother-"

"Colin?" asked McGee, cutting off Tony who was surprised that McGee knew him.

"Hello, McGee." grinned looked as he already felt like at home.

"You know each other?" asked Tony. He hadn't thought that someone could knew Colin.

"When Vance put us all in different departments I got to know Colin in the IT department. At that time he had still been a trainee. But he was talented."

"Thanks for the compliment. But I'm a real agent now." announced Colin proudly.

"Good to know that we have excellent taste in choosing our new agents."

Tony mentioned them to take a seat. Colin used that opportunity and took the free seat beside McGee. They'll probably talk about computer and other geeky things until the end of the party. Elena sat down beside her brother which led to the fact that she was sitting right next to Ziva. Things will certainly get interesting.

"Dad!" Jo pulled him out of his thoughts and he frowned at her. "The drinks?" she reminded him. Gosh, he had completely forgotten about them.

"Of course. Ziva, could you maybe help me carry them in?"

"Anthony, she's our guest. Just because she helped with the preparations doesn't mean that she has to help with other things too. I'll help you carry those bottles."scoldedLu.

"Don't be silly, Lu. I'd like to help with anything I can." assured Ziva and followed Tony silently to the kitchen. Tony grabbed three bottles and Ziva took the other two.

"Hey, is it a problem for you that I invited Elena and Colin?"

"Why should this be a problem? It's yours, Lu's and your daughter's party. You can invite anyone you want to."

"Yes, but I want everyone to have a good time."

"Everything is alright, Tony."

"Elena and I are only friends. And there won't be anything more between us."

"It's not my business, Tony." persisted Ziva.

Tony took a deep breath. Maybe it was time. "And what if I want it to be your business?"

"What?" asked Ziva now confused. She had no idea what he was talking about.

God, DiNozzo! Wherever this is going, it can't end well! Should he deny to have said anything, put on a fake smile and go back to the others? No, he collected all his courage to start this he couldn't just leave now and act like nothing happened. Maybe he just discovered his masochistic side.

"We are dancing around this thing for years now, never once daring to cross the line. Every time one of us was trying to get passed this line, something was holding us back. Still we never stopped trying." Somehow he felt like an idiot. He was standing in his kitchen and both, he and her, had their arms full wish different bottles and now he started talking about stuff that was so not the right time for. The whole team could watch them from the dining room. He could have chosen a better time and place for this conversation.

Meanwhile Ziva stayed quiet. By now she noticed the direction this conversation was taking and listened carefully to him. This matter was too important, especially because he had started it. If she'd scared him away now, he most likely wouldn't bring it up again.

"We've made our own experiences with relationships and let's be honest, they always ended bad." Tony didn't know how to continue this conversation when he suddenly remembered Jo's words. "But a wise person once said to me that life was pointless without love in it. That's the reason why people are searching so hard for it."

"Maybe they don't know where to search for it."

"Or they're afraid to get hurt by it. Love is something that can't really be defined. You can't touch it and study it and it's never the same. This deters people."

Ziva bit her lip. "Even two NCIS agents?"

"Especially them. They see loss and hurt feelings every day, see what love can do to one. They're always confronted with the damage love causes, are well acquainted with the dark side of love."

"Well, maybe that's the reason why they do need love. To remind them that love isn't only a bad thing. To give them a balance of love."

"Do you think?"

"Yes."

Tony and Ziva stared at each other for a long one moment, thousands of words seemed to be exchanged between them without really speaking them out loud. Was this they're moment? Would this be the start of something new? One thing was for sure, they're relationship was just developing again, forming into something new.

"Dad, did you get lost?! Our new kitchen isn't that big." barged in Jo and stopped short immediately when she saw the serious expressions of both, her dad's and Ziva's. "I just interrupted you with something, didn't I?"

"Don't worry, Jo. We don't want to be at fault if someone was to die of thirst." answered Ziva, smiled softly at Tony and took her two bottles to the dining room.

"Sorry, dad. I didn't want to intrude." apologized Jo who felt bad now.

"Don't worry, Jojo. It's the wrong place for such a conversation anyway. It's not bad, I'm sure we'll continue our conversation another time at a better place. After all, we're too stubborn to let it go again."

Jo took two of the three bottles from him so that he had now one arm free to lay it over Jo's shoulder and returned arm in arm to the dining room.

Have a lovely weekend :)