Tony resisted the urge to jump up and down in excitement. He may be looking forward to going to this particular beach but jumping up and down was a bit much. DiNozzos didn't do such unmanly and uncouth things so he didn't. It didn't stop him grinning like a maniac - something Ziva had pointed out to him suspiciously.

"You're going to love this " he assured her.

"I hope so because that is the third time you have said it," Ziva said, looking amused.

Okay, maybe he was really trying to assure himself on that but you could hardly blame him. He'd actually done research on this beach. Research. On a beach. Research on a piece of sand and some water. He'd wanted to step up his game a bit. Find somewhere fun and nice looking where they could enjoy a whole day even after it started to get dark. So, he'd found it. A lovely sandy beach, a bit small but it looked amazing and it was next to a small town with a whole bunch of independent shops from these little antique stores to greengrocers and oh, was that a men's shoe shop? Those were some very nice-looking shoes. No. He couldn't let himself be distracted. They had to drive straight through the town and get to the beach first. The shops would still be there later.

He just wanted to show off a bit, okay? Granted it was hard to show off when you were using beaches to do so but still! And no, he wasn't looking to analyse the reason behind why he wanted to show off to Ziva. The answer was that he was Tony DiNozzo. Tony DiNozzo liked to show off and that was that.

He persuaded Ziva that they did not need to make a detour to a bookshop she saw, much to her disappointment. It was only his promise that they'd come back here that made her move.

"And why do we have to park so far away?" She asked, sounding amused at his antics, despite or9gnally not being amused that he had informed her that they were first driving away from the beach in order for this to be a proper surprise.

"I want this to be a complete surprise."

"And why does this beach need to be a surprise again?"

"Because it's - ha! You thought you were going to get something out of me there, didn't you?" He said smugly.

"Not really. It was worth a try though."

"Hmpf."

Narrowing his eyes at her, he pointedly made a zipp8ng motion across his lips that made her laugh at him. Let Her laugh, he was on to her and not a word about this beach was going to pass his lips no matter what she did. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud because, knowing Ziva, she would probably take that as a challenge.

He just hoped that after all this that it actually lived up to the hype. You know what? He was going to think positively about this so it was going to live up to the hype. All they had to get there.

He grumbled not exactly polite words under his breath as they hit another red light. It seemed like that was then only colour they'd been hitting. In fact, it was because he had not come across a single green.

"This is why you should have let me drive," Ziva said. "We would have been there by now."

"You don't even know where we're going."

"Still would have been faster."

Now that was something he couldn't deny so he just shut up and continued to lead the way, pointedly ignoring Ziva's smug look.

"It's just around here."

They turned the corner and he held his breath only for him to let it out in a disappointed gasp. Because there wasn't this lovely, long beach with golden sand and rolling dunes. There weren't rocks to perch on or even an ice cream van perched off to the side. Instead, there were big boards and metal fencing and warning signs all over the place.

Construction? Who puts a beach under construction? Was it even possible? Apparently, it was because they were looking right at it. Or, to be exact, they were looking at the signs that were blazoned across the boards forming the construction site. Signs that bragged about the new sea front that was being developed. Developed into what? How did you even go about developing a beach?

There was this overwhelming smell of fish. Dead fish. Tony gagged as it washed over him.

"It says here that it will be ready to be unveiled early next year," Ziva read off the sign, ignoring his antics.

A year? They were blocking access for a year? That was enough to make him ignore the fish smell as he crossed his arms and pouted. No, he sulked. DiNozzos didn't pout.

"Well, I'm not coming back next year."

"It could be really nice."

"No, it's a disappointment and always will be a disappointment."

Dramatic? Yes. But he didn't want to come back here and be reminded of that. And he bet whatever was being built wouldn't even make it better. It would just spoil it. The picture of the predicted buildings didn't look that impressive. He pouted and kicked at a stone on the ground.

"Come on, Tony," Ziva said, failing to hide a smile that he really didn't appreciate. "Let's go and find something to do."

"We were meant to be doing the beach."

And that came out wrong. Very wrong. That was not what he meant at all.

"What!"

Of course, she understood that idiom. And he wasn't even using it as an idiom! He hadn't even said it right!

"Meant to be going to the beach," he corrected. "Mind out of the gutter."

"I was only following you there," she shot back.

"Whatever. You were meant to be following me to the best beach ever."

No, he wasn't going to let this go any time soon.

"I'm sure I saw a pizza place..."

"Even pizza couldn't make this better," he said grumpily.