It was past lunch the next day by the time Ziva and McGee returned from interviewing Will and Alicia's friends. As expected, none of them had seen or heard anything in the lead up to Will's death that suggested the couple was having problems. The Crawfords were stable, treated each other with respect, and still seemed madly in love. Any suggestion that they might have had an argument that lead to Will's death was met with flat out rejection and offence.

"At least we can strike that off the list," McGee said as he dumped his bag on the floor by his desk. "But maybe Gibbs'll find out that Will rewrote his, uh, will before he died."

"Evidence of suicide?" Ziva said. "I do not think so."

"Me neither." McGee sat heavily in his chair and looked around. "Tony must still be with Borin."

Ziva smirked at the idea of Tony and Borin developing a romantic back story for their relationship. "Coming up with the story of how they met."

McGee looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm going to go with…blind date set up."

Ziva grinned, but shook her head. "Italian film festival," she predicted.

McGee raised an eyebrow. "You want to put a little wager on that?"

Ziva dug into her jeans pocket and pulled out a crinkled $5 note. She walked over and dropped it on McGee's desk. "It is all I have on me right now."

McGee fished his wallet out of his pocket and thumbed through a few notes before dropping $5 on top of Ziva's bet. "You're on," he said, and then gave her a curious smile. "You good with all this?"

"With what?" Ziva asked as she returned to her desk.

"Tony and Borin doing the undercover thing."

Ziva tried to deploy her poker face as she looked at him. It wasn't clear to her whether he was asking because he'd deduced that there was something more going on between her and Tony and thought she might be personally jealous, or because Ziva was usually the one to do undercover with Tony, and he thought she might be professionally jealous. In fact, Ziva wasn't jealous for either reason, but she wanted to know what McGee was thinking, and whether she had to ask him to keep his mouth shut around Gibbs and Abby.

"Am I good with it?" she repeated, prompting him to explain himself.

McGee hesitated, and then told an almost convincing lie. "No, I mean do you think they'll be good?" he revised. "Do you think they'll be able to sell it?"

She narrowed her eyes briefly, enough to tell him she knew he'd changed the question, but then answered at face value. "Yes, of course. You do not?"

McGee shrugged. "I guess so. They get along really well, but they don't have that…thing, you know?"

"The thing?"

"Well, it'd be like if you and me went undercover as a couple," McGee explained. "Or Tony and Abby. There's just no…"

"Sexual interest," Ziva finished for him.

"Exactly," McGee said with an embarrassed smile. It quickly dropped, though, when he realized he might have offended her. "I mean, not that I don't think you're attractive. I do! You're beautiful. But I'm just saying that you and I aren't…I mean, I don't think of you like that. Because you're like my sister. My really beautiful sister."

Ziva chuckled and shook her head, absolving him of any guilt. "Relax, McGee. I understand. And I agree."

"Okay," McGee said as his cheeks flushed. "I think Tony and Borin are more like buddies than a married couple."

"Borin is a very attractive woman with whom Tony gets along very well," Ziva said. "I have no doubt he will be able to feign sexual interest in her." She paused and threw a mischievous grin at her friend. "Borin may find it more difficult to reciprocate."

McGee gave her a tight smile in return, and Ziva was left wondering again whether McGee had sensed the change in his partners' relationship.

"Is there something on your mind, McGee?" she asked, trying not to sound confrontational.

"No," he said quickly. "No, nothing. Just the case."

She nodded slowly and considered pursuing it further, but ultimately decided against it. If McGee had his suspicions, Ziva felt sure he would keep them to himself. Timothy McGee could always be counted on for discretion. She grabbed her empty water bottle and stood up. "Then I will be in the break room."

She left McGee and walked through the bullpen and past rows of filing cabinets to the kitchen. She was surprised to find Tony and Borin sitting in there at one of the tables, notepads in front of them that were full of scribbles. An origami crane sat near Tony's right elbow, and she wondered if he was responsible for it. He had never mentioned his paper folding skills to her before.

"How is it going?" she asked them as she walked over to the filtered water dispenser.

"The honeymoon is over," Borin told her, but they were both smirking and Ziva had the feeling they were both still in relatively good moods. She suspected that good-natured sniping at each other would form the basis of their 'marriage'.

"I am sorry to hear that," Ziva replied. "But I am told it happens to all couples eventually."

"Did you get anything out of the Crawfords' friends?" Tony asked.

Ziva pulled a chair out and sat down at the table with them. "No. We heard the same story over and over. The Crawfords were very much in love, they were having no marital or financial problems that anyone knew of. They were generally offended that we would suggest otherwise."

"Were they convincing?" he asked.

Ziva's eyes were drawn down to his fidgeting fingers. He was wearing a gold ring on his third finger, and he was spinning it around and around with the thumb and middle finger of his other hand. "Yes," she replied, and looked at Borin's left hand. She was wearing a modest silver ring with a few small diamonds set into the band. "Is that the ring you are going to wear?" she asked.

Borin made a fist and turned her knuckles towards her face to look at the ring. "Yeah. Found it in the evidence locker. Why?"

"You know that it is cubic zirconia."

Borin shrugged. "I have no idea if it is."

"No, it is," Ziva said confidently. "I am telling you."

Borin looked surprised. "Do you know about diamonds?"

"She's Israeli," Tony reminded her. "Yes, she knows about diamonds."

"You cannot use that ring," Ziva said. "It looks fake." She paused and looked between them. "Unless it fits into the background story you have developed."

Tony smiled charmingly at her and offered her his hand. "Hi. I'm Tom De Luca," he said, and Ziva shook his hand. "This is my wife, Carol Brady."

Borin winked at Ziva across the table. "Pleased to meet you."

Ziva chuckled to herself. Honestly, she thought the two of them would probably work very well together. "Carol Brady?"

"Amy De Luca, actually," Borin said, and then frowned and looked at Tony. "I really don't think I'm an Amy. I'm going back to Anna."

Tony turned a tight smile on Ziva. "Anna's indecisive."

Ziva picked up the origami crane and ran her fingertip along its wing. "How long have Tom and Anna been together?" she asked.

"This is our first wedding anniversary," Tony said. "But we met four years ago."

"How?" Ziva asked, raising her eyebrow and hoping she was about to win a bet.

"Film festival," Tony said, and Ziva had to chuckle.

"Of course," she said. "What do you do for a living, Tom? Professional paper folder?" She twirled the crane in her fingers.

Tony leaned towards her and gave her another charming smile. "Actually, I'm a physiotherapist," he said.

"A doctor…of sorts," Ziva said, playing at being impressed before making an obvious statement. "Do you think that could be risky?"

"You mean because people will be so impressed by my skills that I'll draw too much attention to myself?" Tony guessed.

"No," she replied, enjoying that he was playing with her. "Because if someone falls over on the deck in front of you, you may need to provide assistance to them."

Tony shook his head. "No, because I'm not insured by the cruise line to practice. Both of us could get in a lot of trouble if I did. The most I could do would be to offer the person basic CPR or a rub down. But I'm not going to do that either."

Ziva nodded, pleased that he'd thought it through. She looked at Borin. "And what about you, Anna? What do you do?"

"Oh, I just have an office job," she said, sounding disappointed. "It's not very interesting."

"That is probably for the best."

"I hate it so much and can't wait to quit," Borin told her.

"Kids?" Ziva asked.

They both shook their heads.

"They're not for us," Borin said.

"And we already have so many nieces and nephews," Tony added.

"How darling," Ziva said, and then twirled the crane again. "I did not know you were a master of origami."

"Well, I'm a little rusty," he allowed. "But it comes back to you in times of need."

"Times of need?" she asked. "When do times ever call for an origami crane?"

"When I'm trying to impress women," he said obviously.

"Didn't impress me," Borin shot in.

Tony smiled, but didn't take his eyes off Ziva. "It didn't impress her. But I don't think many things impress Shania Twain over there."

"Got that right."

Ziva put the crane down and leaned back in her chair again before she found herself dragged too far into the oh-so-inviting vortex with her partner. There were boundaries that they would never cross at work. She looked at Borin, and was surprised to find her looking at them with outright suspicion. Ziva squared her shoulders and shook off the warm and fuzzy feelings gathering within her.

"I will bring you a ring," she told Borin. "A physiotherapist should be able to afford at least a small diamond."

Borin whacked Tony's shoulder gently. "You're so cheap."

"I prefer to think of myself as a social progressive," Tony argued. "Diamond mining is a murky business."

"I'll try to remember that about you," Borin said, and then reached for her ringing cell phone. She checked caller ID and then pushed her chair back. "Excuse me," she said, and then walked from the room as she answered. "Borin."

Ziva watched her go, and then turned to look at Tony. He was already looking at her, and gave her a smile that warmed her cheeks and made her belly tingle. She shifted slightly in her seat.

"What?" she asked.

He looked suddenly innocent. "Nothing. Just looking."

She ignored that and focused on the task ahead of them. "How do you feel about this?" she asked.

He looked her up and down with a slight smirk. "About what exactly, Ziva?"

"The case, DiNozzo," she said firmly, but without the tone that would normally tell him how much he was irritating her.

He smiled again, and then sat back and turned his attention where it needed to be. "Okay. We've got our basics sorted out. I'm pretty confident we can come up with whatever we need to on our feet. And we've both got good poker faces."

Ziva nodded. "I think you need to be careful about one thing. Although you get along vey well, there is not much of a spark between you. As of now, you come across as a couple that has been together for a very long time and no longer have that, uh…" she paused to give him a flirty, sultry look, "…rabid desire for each other."

"Rabid desire," Tony repeated slowly, as the heat returned to his eyes.

"Yes," she said. "If you are pretending to still be relative newlyweds, you will need to work a little harder at convincing people you are actually interested in touching each other."

Tony nodded slowly, looking vaguely amused.

"What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. I appreciate your interest in it."

"It is important to protect your cover," she explained.

"I know," he said. "But just to be clear, I have no interest in her."

"Understood."

"And you can't get huffy if you see me kiss her."

Ziva frowned. "What is huffy?"

"Cranky. Shirty. Grouchy."

"But you would be doing your job," Ziva pointed out. "I would be proud of you."

Tony got a strange look on his face, and for a moment she thought he was going to get 'huffy' with her. But it passed quickly and he gave her a nod. "Okay. Got it."

Borin returned then, and Tony looked up at her. "Hey, Ziva says that we've got to start making out and feeling each other up."

Borin glanced between them, but quickly returned her attention to her phone. "Yeah, sure," she said distractedly. "I knew when I signed up for this job that sometimes I'd have to do things I didn't like."

Tony shot her a bitchy smile and crossed his arms over his chest. "Thanks."

"I gotta go," Borin said. "My director wants to see me about another case. But we'll get to first base tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll bring mints," Tony said.

Borin waved her hand holding her phone in goodbye, and then turned to walk out of the break room. Almost immediately she collided with McGee, who came rushing in to search for his colleagues.

"Whoa! Easy, McGee!" Borin exclaimed as she staggered back a step before finding her footing.

McGee reached out to grab her arm and steady her. "Sorry! I didn't see you."

"Yeah, I hope that's not the way you greet people you do see," Borin said as she passed him.

"Sorry," McGee said again, and then turned to Ziva and Tony. "Gibbs is back. He wants a debrief."

Tony and Ziva pushed back their chairs and followed McGee towards the door. As he went ahead, Ziva caught Tony's sleeve and tugged slightly. When he turned to look down at her, she stepped in closer and raised her eyebrows.

"Are you okay?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

Tony blinked at her and frowned like he couldn't understand where she was coming from. But he didn't quite pull it off. "Sure," he said easily. "Let's debrief the boss." He flexed his wrist to reach back and squeeze her hand briefly, and then walked ahead towards the bullpen. As Ziva followed, she couldn't help feeling that she had offended him somehow.

…

They had barely returned to the bullpen before Gibbs engaged them. "Sit-rep," he said without looking up from the piece of paper he was writing on.

"We spoke to the Crawfords' closest friends, as well as Will Crawford's brother and mother," McGee began. "The overwhelming response was that Will and Alicia were the perfect couple."

Ziva continued, "A woman named Phoebe Jensen stated that Alicia had difficulty at times dealing with Will being away so much, but that they were both committed to, quote 'developing risk management strategies to combat future relationship fractures before they materialized', end quote."

Gibbs slowly lifted his head to stare at her with barely disguised disgust. As Ziva smirked, Tony took a version of Gibbs' words out of his mouth.

"Is Phoebe Jensen a robot that rarely encounters real live human beings?"

Ziva glanced his way. "I believe she is a lawyer of some sort."

Tony's lip curled. "Oh. Your favorite, boss."

Gibbs briefly closed his eyes, took a calming breath, and then focused on Ziva again. "What else?"

"His brother, Billy, is not particularly close to Alicia," she said. "I got the impression that he did not like her very much." She looked to McGee for his take, and he nodded in agreement. "But he stated that Will was very happy in the marriage and was looking forward to starting a family."

"Yeah, and all of Alicia's friends backed that up," McGee said. "Starting a family was a priority for them. They were planning for the future as if they'd both be there."

"Were you able to find out anything about his will?" Tony asked Gibbs.

"Didn't have one," Gibbs told them, and returned his pen to his penholder. "I got hold of his CO. There was no evidence he tied up any loose ends before he went on leave."

"So he probably didn't drink the Kool Aid," Tony said.

Gibbs didn't bother replying. It was fairly obvious that Will Crawford had not committed suicide, and it looked likely that Alicia hadn't been involved either. They had to focus on the other people who had been around him on the night that he died. That list was potentially a few thousand names long, but they at least had four as a starting point; the Paulsons and the Roses.

"You got your story straight with Borin?" Gibbs grumbled at Tony.

"Ziva wants me to grab her ass more."

Gibbs stared back him, impassive. "Ziva's or Borin's?" he asked, deadpan.

Ziva rolled her eyes as Tony cocked his head to the side in thought. "Hmm. I assumed she meant Borin's, but I could be wrong."

"Shut up, DiNozzo," Ziva muttered, and returned to her desk.

"Cover story is straight," Tony told Gibbs. "Abby's working on our documents right now."

"No, I'm right here!" Abby said as she trotted into the bullpen, her lab coat flapping behind her.

"Except that she's here right now," Tony continued without missing a beat. He turned and flashed a smile at her. "Afternoon, Abby One."

Abby waved her iPad at him. "Got some stuff to show you and Abby Two."

"Abby Two is otherwise indisposed right now," he told her. "But I make all the decisions in the relationship." The comment made Ziva snort pointedly, just as he knew it would. He was a bit testy with her so he wasn't entirely sure why he'd handed the opportunity to make fun of him to her. Habit, he supposed. "What do you need?" he asked Abby.

Abby stood beside him and held her iPad up in front of them. On the screen was a photo of Tony and Borin in swimsuits, standing on a beach at sunset with their arms around each other. It was photographic evidence of an event that had never happened, and Tony felt kind of uneasy about it.

"That's not really my body, is it?" he said almost sadly. His torso in the photo boasted a lean six-pack and zero hair.

"No, of course not!" Abby replied, grinning as if the suggestion it was him would be ridiculous. But when she looked up at him her eyes grew wide and she immediately tried to undo the damage that her amusement had caused. "I mean, because I don't have a photo of you standing on the beach with your shirt off. So I had to find a substitute that reflected my best guess of what you really do look like under these stylish clothes." She gestured at him with a flourish, but her guilty eyes showed that she knew she's failed to cover up her unintended insult.

McGee popped his head over Tony's shoulder and laughed outright, and Tony shot him a sharp look.

"Why don't you throw some more stones around in your glass house, McGee?"

McGee grinned, completely unashamed, and then returned to his seat.

"I used to look like that," Tony said to Abby, feeling a strong stab of regret before a little bit of embarrassment took over. Suddenly, discussing Father Time's effect on his body in front of the woman he was keen to start sleeping with seemed like a very bad idea somehow. "We should go somewhere else to do this."

"Best idea you've had all week, DiNozzo," Gibbs called out.

He took Abby back to the kitchen and they sat at the table he'd been at with Borin just a few minutes before.

"I didn't know you were a Photoshop master," he said to Abby. "Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

Abby bumped her elbow against him and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry about before."

Tony shook his head, acting like it didn't bother him, and training his eyes on the photo. "I'm not 25 anymore," he stated.

"None of us are."

"Ziva's close enough," he muttered, more to himself than to Abby.

"Tony."

"It's just, you know, lack of time and irregular meals and stress and slowing metabolism," he tried to explain.

"Tony!" Abby exclaimed. "You don't have to plead your case. You're still totally hot."

He looked at her hopefully. "Really?"

Abby grinned. "I like you with a bit more character," she said diplomatically, and seemingly sincerely.

He smiled, but admitted, "I don't really like being in my forties."

Abby raised her eyebrows in agreement. "Me neither. But we don't have a choice."

"Your hotness only increases as well, Abs."

She gave him a sultry wink. "I know."

He sighed and returned his attention to the photo. "Okay," he said, getting back on track. "Why are you showing me this mirror into my distant past?"

"A lot of married people carry photos of their spouses around with them in their wallets," she pointed out. "I've doctored a couple of shots of you and Borin together, and I'm trying to work out which shots would be the ones your alter egos would be more likely to carry around."

She flicked to another shot on her iPad. This one showed Tony and Borin's heads Photoshopped onto the bodies of a couple in formal wear at a party.

"No, I'm more likely to have the beach shot," he said.

"What about this one?" Abby asked, and flicked to a third shot. It was a studio shot of Tony and Borin lounging together on the ground in front of a fake fireplace and wearing matching Christmas sweaters.

"Oh, you've got to be joking," he said to Abby.

Abby chuckled. "Kind of. But I also kind of love it. Even if you reject it I'm going to frame it and put it on my wall."

Tony shook his head. "I think Tom and Anna are beach people."

Abby frowned. "Anna? I thought she was Amy!"

"She changed her mind. Doesn't feel like an Amy."

Abby pouted. "Well…I have to do her IDs again."

"Then leave it as Amy," Tony said. "It's already a pain in the ass."

"You're making the decisions, huh?"

"You got that right," he said with false bravado, and then flicked back to the beach shot. "You reckon this is what Borin looks like?"

Abby shrugged. "Similar height, weight and general body type."

He squinted at the photo. "Hot."

"Hey, don't get up to any funny business while you're on your little Love Boat adventure," Abby told him. "It'll just be awkward for all of us."

"How will it be awkward for you?" he wanted to know.

"Because Gibbs will find out!" Abby said obviously. "And once Gibbs knows, Ziva will find out. And, okay, you're just friends. But it'll still be really weird, and when you get back McGee will feel the tension between you and he'll end up spending a lot more time in the lab, avoiding you. And I love it when Timmy comes for a visit, Tony, but it's really hard to concentrate on things when he's down there and being nervous and skittish and hiding instead of being his normal wonderful, helpful self." She stopped and drew a breath before lack of oxygen made her pass out.

Tony blinked slowly as he caught up with Abby's thoughts. "So…I shouldn't grab her ass?" he pretended to check.

Abby thumped his arm. "Tony."

"There will be plenty of business on the trip, but none of it will be funny," he assured her. "It will all be serious, professional and undertaken with the utmost decorum that is appropriate for a public audience."

Abby pursed her lips. "Well, that sounds terrible."

"I'm saying things won't be weird," he told her. "At least on my end. I mean, I think it's a given that Borin's going to fall in love with me, but I know how to let her down easy at the end. Stop taking all her calls and ignore her texts."

Abby rolled her eyes at the joke and pushed back from the table. "You sure you're not 25 anymore?"

"That's what my sciatica says."

She grabbed her iPad and hugged it to her chest. "I'll print out a copy of the photo for Tom's wallet."

"Thank you."

"Acupuncture," she called over her shoulder.

"What did you just call me?"

She turned around to grin at him as she kept backing up out of the kitchen. "For your sciatica," she said. "I know a guy."

"I'll keep that in mind," he lied.

…

Late that night, Tony stood in the break room and poured himself a cup of decaf coffee. It was pointless, he knew. It wouldn't have the kick he needed to stay awake, but he hoped that the taste would be enough to trick his brain into staying alert for just another hour. Then, he hoped that the lack of caffeine would allow him to fall asleep as soon as he got home. He knew from experience that neither of these things was likely to happen. But, call him an optimist, he just kept on trying.

"You are still here."

Tony smiled at the familiarly accented voice, and looked over his shoulder at Ziva. "So are you," he pointed out.

Ziva shrugged and took a seat at one of the tables. "I got caught talking to Agent Faulkner on the Middle East desk," she said.

Tony held his cup of coffee out to her, asking if she wanted one. Ziva shook her head no, so he joined her at the table. "How are things in the Middle East?"

"Messy," she replied. "Why are you still here? I thought you went home."

"Crossing my 't's and dotting my 'i's," he said. "Preparing myself for important undercover work. You know how it is."

"I vaguely remember." She looked at him thoughtfully. "Do you feel all right about this?"

Tony took a sip of the weak, awful coffee and nodded. "Yeah, of course. Why?"

"When we spoke in here earlier, you seemed to be a little uncomfortable."

Tony swallowed down another sip of coffee and managed not to choke. Hoo-boy. This was going to be one of those relationship conversations, but it was coming before they were technically in a relationship. Was that fair? He could lie and keep some distance, but that wasn't a great start to things.

"Not uncomfortable," he told her, and then looked around to double-check that there wasn't anyone else around. "I just found it…interesting," he said carefully, "that you were so comfortable with and encouraging of potential relations—albeit not sincere relations—between me and Agent Borin."

Ziva watched him impassively for a moment, and Tony winced internally. He was old enough to know that honesty was not always the best policy, but he'd thought that he'd at least give it a go. Perhaps he'd been wrong about that.

"What?" she finally asked.

He could shut this down now. He could gloss over what he'd already said and move on. But he was actually pretty interested to know why she was so gung-ho about his undercover assignment. After their earth shattering kiss the other night, he'd thought they were moving on towards something together. But her enthusiasm for him to show more enthusiasm with Borin left him puzzled. Sure, it was work. But her reaction left him with a shadow of a doubt that didn't sit well with him. So he said a quick prayer that he wasn't about to screw everything up, and then explained to her what he was thinking about.

"You're not jealous about this situation at all, are you?" he asked, trying hard not to sound confrontational.

Ziva sat back and crossed her arms over her chest, and leveled him with a gaze that was tinged with disappointment. "Do you want me to be?" she asked, and her tone made it very clear that she was pretty irritated by the idea.

Tony sighed heavily. He shouldn't have said anything. He leaned his elbows on the table and tried to work out exactly what was bugging him, and how he wanted it to be different. "No," he said firmly. "I don't want you to be jealous. I think we've both used that word enough in the past, and it's not right. Not then, and not now."

That took some of the fight out of her, but she remained defensive. "Right now I do not feel I have any reason to be."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Of course you don't."

Ziva placed her palms flat on the table, and Tony watched her swallow hard. He got the distinct impression that she was forcing her backbone to remain strong in the moment, but when her eyes flicked away from his face to the floor for a moment, he realized that she was as nervous and confused about all this as he was. And understandably, since they were having a conversation about jealously before they were even in a relationship.

"Then why are you…?" she started to argue, but then seemed to bite her tongue. Her eyes strayed to the door, and Tony's heart fell. He recognized that behavior. He could tell by the way her shoulders and arms tensed that she was thinking about physically removing herself from the situation in the hope that they'd just forget about it instead of talking it out. How many times had they both done that over the years? But then she closed her eyes, breathed in deeply and relaxed her body, and he felt the tension dissipate. She opened her eyes again to look at him, and Tony felt the effort to change her behavior as if it were a tangible thing. He felt a good kind of pang in his heart. If she could keep doing that, and if he could modify his behaviors that drove her nuts, then they might actually have a shot at making whatever they were on the brink of work.

"You seem upset that I am not," Ziva said carefully, and as calmly as she could.

Tony shook his head and gave her a quick smile of thanks for trying to understand him instead of walking away. "No. I guess I didn't expect you to be so encouraging of your…" He trailed off when he realized he had no idea how to refer to himself in her world right now. "Well…me selling the cover of being in a relationship with another woman. Even if this," he gestured between them, "is still intangible…ish."

He watched her mouth twitch in a smile at his attempt to explain and quantify. "Do not confuse a lack of jealousy with comfort," she told him.

Tony nodded, satisfied that he knew where she was coming from. Really, he did. They were both committed to their jobs, and there would be times when one of them had to do something that the other one didn't like. He would just need to be reminded of the fact every now and then, and perhaps hear the words from her mouth. "Right."

Ziva nodded. "Right. So…are we okay?" she asked tentatively.

He tossed her a smile. "Yeah, of course."

They sat in silence for a moment, and then Ziva crossed her legs and leaned forward. "Tony, I think it would be a good idea for us to talk about things a little more specifically."

He frowned. "What things?" Did she want to keep discussing this?

"Us things," she almost explained, but Tony caught on. He nodded quickly, feeling a sense of sudden relief rush through him.

"Yes. I think we should do that."

"When you get back from the Caribbean, yes?" she suggested. "We can have dinner and…talk."

"Sounds good."

Ziva nodded and gave him a small but warm smile, and then brushed her fingers briefly against his before standing up. "Right. Now, I am going home. You should not stay too much longer either."

"I won't," he promised. "Sleep tight."

"See you tomorrow, Tony," she said, and then left the break room.

"Night," he called after her, and found himself reflecting that lately, Ziva David sure had a talent for leaving him smiling.

So, not to spoil my own story, but you guys worrying that Tony and Borin will end up going undercover with each other can probably relax.