SquidgeWorld Archive

Tony stood by the elevator and punched the button angrily. After a few seconds, he swore under his breath and headed for the stairs. Normally after a hard day like he'd just had, he'd have waited as long as it took for the elevator car, but now he just wanted to get out of the building as soon as possible. He glanced back at the office as he left, but nobody seemed to notice him, obviously believing his lie about needing the head.

Ignoring the throbbing coming from his arm, Tony hurried down the stairs, hoping that he wouldn't meet anybody on the way. His luck was out though, as half way down he turned the corner and found himself face to face with Jimmy Palmer.

"Hey Tony," said Jimmy, a smile on his face.

"That's Special Agent DiNozzo, to you," snapped Tony, meanly glad to see Jimmy's smile fade away. "Better hurry on upstairs, autopsy gremlin. The others probably haven't finished gloating about the party yet."

"The party?"

"Just get out of my way," said Tony. He moved to one side, unfortunately Jimmy moved to the same side of the stairwell and for a few seconds they did that awkward little dance where neither of them could get past. Finally, Tony impatiently pushed Jimmy to one side and took a step forward, only to miss his footing on the next step and stumble awkwardly towards the railing. He instinctively tried to grab it with his right hand, but the sling kept his arm firmly fixed in place, and Tony teetered off balance for a few seconds, just knowing that he couldn't stop himself from falling and his next stop would be the bottom of the stairs with probably a broken neck.

And then he felt himself being grabbed and pulled backwards and when the stairwell had stopped spinning, Tony found himself sitting on Jimmy's lap, a strong pair of arms holding him in place.

Tony swallowed hard, badly shaken by his near miss. "You...you can let go of me now, Jimmy," he said, his voice a little more unsteady than he'd intended.

"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Jimmy, unclasping his arms.

Tony moved quickly to sit on the step beside Jimmy; uncertain as to whether his legs would bear his weight just then. "Oh I'll live," he said, bitterly. "Humiliation isn't fatal these days." He laughed hollowly. Looking up, he could see that Jimmy was looking puzzled. "Nothing new there," thought Tony, although being fair, he had to admit that Jimmy's habitual puzzled expression had been much less in evidence over the last few months. "Kid's starting to learn a bit," he thought.

Out loud, Tony said, "Last night. Ziva's place...you know, the 'everybody's invited but Tony' party she decided to throw. They're all up there," he jerked his head towards the staircase. "All of them telling me what a great time they had, how wonderful a cook Ziva is. Just twisting the knife." Tony rubbed his eyes and sighed. "It's not the not being invited that bothers me, it's just...just the way everybody must have been sneaking behind my back and making sure I didn't find out until afterwards."

"But it wasn't *like* that at all," said Jimmy. "We didn't even know about it until..."

Tony looked at him in surprise as Jimmy continued speaking.

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The previous evening.

It was almost seven in the evening, as Jimmy hurried upstairs, an autopsy report in his hand. Not that there was much reason to hurry, he thought to himself. The case had been closed, the report was just Ducky's final assessment of an accidental death to complete the case file, and it wasn't as if Jimmy had anything planned for an evening's entertainment. But still he hurried.

The bullpen was almost deserted when Jimmy got there. Ziva was at her desk, a big box in front of her. Abby was hovering by Tim's desk, coat in hand, pacing impatiently.

"Hey Abby," called Jimmy, a smile on his face. "Is Agent Gibbs around? Ducky sent this up for him." He held out the report.

"Just toss it on his desk, Jimmy," said Abby. "I think he's left already." She half turned away, and then looked back at Jimmy. "Hey, you got any plans for tonight?"

Tim looked up and half glared at Abby for a second before returning to his typing.

"I...um...that is, I was just going to practice my guitar a bit," stammered Jimmy. He liked Abby, but for some reason he always got a bit tongue tied when she focused her full attention on him. "What...what are you doing?"

"Not much, because *Tim* here won't play ball. There's this really funky club opening up but he won't come with me to try it out."

"I told you Abby, that's really not my scene. You should have asked Tony."

"He's going to watch mud wrestling with some of his frat buddies." Abby stepped in behind Tim's desk and leaned over him, wrapping her arms around him. "Besides, any time I go clubbing with Tony, I barely get five minutes with him before he lets some chick pick him up. At least I don't have to worry about that with *you*."

Even Jimmy could see that that hadn't gone down well. And if Tim's body language hadn't been enough indication, his next comment was, "Well why don't you ask *Ziva*?"

They all turned to look at Ziva who had just picked up the box on her desk. "I...uh, would love to go, Abby," said Ziva, not sounding very convincing, "But I was planning on...painting my apartment." She held up the box. "The landlord refused to repaint it, but offered no objections to my doing it myself."

"You're going to paint your whole apartment tonight?" asked Jimmy.

"Well maybe not the whole place, but I will at least get it started."

"You'd get it done twice as fast if you had some help," said Jimmy without thinking.

"Why...thank you, Jimmy," said Ziva. "I have a few spare brushes. Two will be much faster than one."

"Three would be even faster," said Tim, as he switched off his computer and stood up. This earned him a glare and a punch on the shoulder from Abby.

"That would be most appreciated," said Ziva.

"Well if both you boys are going over there, I'd better come along too, make sure you don't get into trouble," said Abby. She gave a 'so there' look to Tim.

"By all means, please do," said Ziva, a little stiffly. She started to move with the box, but Jimmy quickly stepped in and offered to carry it.

"I'll help," said Tim, quickly, grabbing the other side of the box. "We'll meet you down in the parking garage." He and Jimmy quickly maneuvered the box into the elevator car, Tim breathing a sigh of relief as the doors closed.

"Boy, I thought I'd never get out of going clubbing with Abby tonight," said Tim. "I mean, I don't mind it occasionally, but sometimes she just can't take no for an answer."

"Sometimes?"

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Perhaps in deference to her passengers, or maybe because she knew there was no point trying to scare Abby, Ziva drove relatively sedately through the city.

As soon as they were inside the apartment, Ziva made a beeline for the kitchen, lifting the lid on a large pot that was on the stove. Attracted by the scent, Abby followed her.

"Wow, that smells really good," said Abby, her mouth watering involuntarily. "You never said you could cook!"

Ziva shrugged as she stirred the contents. "You never asked...come to think of it, you've never asked me *anything* that does not relate to work."

Abby had the grace to look embarrassed. She was spared having to answer by Tim and Jimmy's arrival in the kitchen.

"Hey, that smells great," said Tim. He looked at the amount that was in the pot. "Oh, were you expecting guests?"

Ziva shook her head; "This is Cholent, from an old family recipe. It takes about twelve hours or so to cook, so I usually cook the largest pot I can find and freeze it for later." She looked at all the expectant faces around her and groaned silently, "Okay, alright...this still has an hour or so to cook. If we get all the painting finished then I will feed you, okay?"

"Well it beats singing for our supper," said Tim.

"Hey, you know who would love this," said Abby, "We should call Tony over. He's a dab hand with a paintbrush...usually manages to get most of it on the wall. Plus he'd love a home cooked meal!"

Ziva snorted, "If you really think that Tony will forego the opportunity to get drunk while watching half naked women, merely to assist in redecorating...then by all means, please...phone him."

Even Abby had to agree that it would be a wasted call.

"Besides," said Tim, "I'm not sure there'd be enough in the pot if we let DiNozzo near it!"

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"So we painted for an hour or two and got the living room and Ziva's bedroom covered," said Jimmy. "And the Cholent was really tasty. Abby even asked Ziva for a doggy bag, said she'd bring it in for you and Agent Gibbs to try. Although I think maybe Gibbs might have eaten the lot because the dish was empty when I was in Abby's lab this morning, and..." Jimmy's voice trailed off as he saw the look of delight on Tony's face.

"Jimmy you wonderful little autopsy gremlin!" Tony pushed himself to his feet and then held out his hand to pull Jimmy up, "I could kiss you!" He clapped Jimmy on the shoulder.

"I wish you would," blurted out Jimmy. Tony's hand, which had been about to pat Jimmy on the shoulder a second time, hovered just above it. Jimmy could feel himself blushing, "I...uh...I...forget I said anything Ton...Agent DiNozzo."

"Mr. Palmer," said Tony, in his best 'being Gibbs' voice. "There is no way in hell I'm going to make out with you on this staircase. Do you know why?"

Jimmy hung his head in embarrassment, just wishing that the steps would open up and swallow him.

Tony clapped Jimmy on the arm, "Because you get *waaaaaay* too many bruises when you do it on the stairs...now the back seat of my car on the other hand..." He wrapped his arm around Jimmy as he guided him down the stairs.