Tony was trying hard, really hard, to not focus on Ziva right now. Because of he did, he would be in no way in control of his actions and he really didn't want that. Hence the not looking at her. Something that was really hard to do, what with all the little noises. That and the fact that he couldn't quite tear his eyes away. He almost felt like he shouldn't be watching this, like he would get in trouble if he was caught. Which was ridiculous. It wasn't anything inappropriate. Technically.

Why had he thought it would be a good idea to go and get ice-cream from the ice cream van just off the beach? Okay, sure, it was a really warm day and they needed something cold to cool off and of course ice-cream was the best way to do this, in Tony's opinion. There was also some shave ice but he had been more in an ice-cream mood. That and the queue really had been ridiculous for the shave ice. The idea of waiting in that queue made him want to melt. Also, the guy who was serving it was a chatterbox, talking away to whoever he was server, hence the queue.

So, ice-cream it was and now Tony was wishing he'd sucked it up and queued for shave ice. Shave ice would not have given him this problem.

Her tongue darted out and ran along the entire circumference of her ice-cream, catching a drip. His eyes followed exactly where her tongue went and he couldn't help but gulp. Oh, he was definitely going to be in trouble.

"Enjoying that?" He couldn't help but ask.

They could be construed as an innocent question, right? Didn't have to mean anything more than what was said.

She took a long lick that made him internally shiver before replying, "I am."

She didn't even say it in a teasing or smirking tone which meant that she genuinely was enjoying it and apparently his mind was the only one in the gutter for a change. Which made him feel even more uncomfortable than if she had just responded with a normal, flirty or inappropriate comment. Because that's what they always did. Expect this time it was one-sided and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. He did know it felt wrong and he was now studiously avoiding looking at her ice-cream. At least it was no longer dripping. The problem. Was he could still hear her licking. It was loud. Or was it just everything seemed brighter and louder right now?

"At least I can taste my ice cream," she said, nodding at his.

His ice cream which you couldn't really see through the sprinkles and the two types of sauce on it. Look, he never could decide whether strawberry or chocolate sauce was better.

"I can taste mine!"

"Really? Through all that sugar?"

"Yes! And there's not that much on it!"

"I can barely see your ice-cream. Were two sauces really necessary?"

"They taste good together," he said defensively.

They really did. Strange? Yes, but still good. Extremely good. And he would always defend it.

"If you say so."

"I do."

He stuck his tongue out for good measure. Ziva didn't bother replying and instead returned to eating her ice-cream. A bit too enthusiastically.

"What?" She asked when she realised, he was still staring at her.

Without answering, be reached over and wiped at her nose. Surprisingly, she let him and didn't flinch back of anything. Just went briefly cross-eyed as she followed his finger which he held out to her for her to inspect.

"You had some ice-cream on your nose," he explained.

"And you could not have just told me that?" She asked, scrunching up her nose.

"No."

She rolled her eyes at him but didn't say anything further.

"What do you want me to do with this?" He asked, waving his finger at her.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, I am not about to lick it off your finger."

He wasn't sure whether he wanted her to do that or not. Even thinking about made his brain short-circuit for a minute. Nope. He wasn't allowed to think such thoughts. That was dangerous territory even for them. So, he wasn't going to think them. Instead, he was going to think about this piece of ice cream that was now melting on his finger. He really hadn't thought this through. What was he supposed to do with it?

He decided that flicking it at her was the best option. Not that that accomplished anything because she easily dodged it. He did get an indignant look for his trouble though.

"You are lucky I have finished my ice-cream or else you would have got a face full of it."

"No, I wouldn't have," he said confidently. "You like ice-cream too much to waste it like that."

"True," she replied after a beat. "I think I am going to get another one."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. What is wrong with that?" She demanded, hands on hips.

"Nothing," he backtracked quickly, hands up. "I just didn't think you were much of an ice cream person."

She always went for carrots or popcorn on their movie nights, not the candy. And yes, he still tool offense that she insisted on carrots and slices of bell pepper to go alongside their junk food on movie nights. Come on, that was just wrong. Half the time she didn't even eat them with hummus, just straight from the tub. Who did that?

"I am not. Unless it is the beach," she said as if that explained everything.

It didn't but he decided to just go with it.

"Okay then."

"Would you like another one?" She asked, turning towards the ice-cream van.

"No, I'm good."

Was it weird to both look forward to and dread Ziva getting an ice-cream?

"Suit yourself."

He decided that it was a good idea to just focus on his own ice-cream. Mainly because he felt a drip going down his arm.