Been a wee while. Thought I'd post a short little thing I whipped up in a few hours in order to see how rusty I am (which is very, it turns out.)

''That house looks familiar.''

''That's because we've driven past it already,'' Tony mumbled from the driver's seat.

Ziva knew this, of course, but couldn't help highlighting the fact. They'd been sent out into the middle of nowhere, to chase down a lead that was probably nothing, and now they were lost. Well, at least that was how Ziva labelled it. For some reason that had always been unknown to her, men simply removed the term 'lost' from their vocabulary whenever they entered unfamiliar territory in a car. It was as if admitting that they had no idea where they were going was some sort of dent to their masculinity.

Tony was no exception to this, and if it weren't for his supreme confidence—as well as his earlier insistence that using a GPS wasn't necessary— then Ziva may have considered not being a pain in the ass and rubbing it in. As it so happened, the idea of behaving in such a manner sounded rather appealing.

''So, are we doing a few laps of the area to memorise its layout?'' she asked in a tone she knew would piss him off. ''Or do you simply admire this stretch of road so much that you felt it warranted a second visit?''

His jaw tightened along with his grip on the steering wheel, suggesting she had, indeed, pissed him off. She smiled internally.

''You just want me to say it, don't you?'' he replied eventually, his tone far calmer than she expected.

''Say what?''

He scoffed and shook his head slightly. ''The thing that you want me to admit.''

''Tony.'' His name came purring out of her mouth, but she was feeling restless and playful, so she didn't care about the unplanned sexiness to her voice. She leaned across and placed a hand on his knee, rubbing slightly as she spoke. ''Is there a deep, dark secret you want to confess to?''

He glanced down at her hand on his leg and shook his head again. ''I think you've been cooped up in this car too long.''

''It is ok,'' she continued to tease. ''It is only me that will hear it.''

This time her lowered tone made him look at her face, and their eyes locked over an almost negligible distance. It had happened like that countless times before, but Ziva was struggling to remember the last time she had looked into those eyes without being distracted from whatever her current goal was at the time. In the early days of their partnership, when almost every interaction they had was an attempt to satisfy some form of sexual curiosity in one way or another, usually through teasing and innuendo, she had never found that one quick glance from him was enough to change her mood entirely.

All these years later, however, she found herself feeling less restless and playful when the look he sent her was full of familiarity and affection.

His eyes went back to the road, but her hand remained where it as for some reason.

''Was there anything in particular you wanted me to confess to, Miss David?''

''Maybe.''

''Because, I'm pretty sure we had this conversation a while back. And I don't remember how it went exactly, but our out-of-town trips have been…interesting ever since.''

She finally leaned away from him with a small hmph. ''There is nothing interesting about being lost.''

''Aha!'' He exclaimed triumphantly, pointing an accusing finger at her. ''You were trying to make me say it.''

Ziva shrugged. ''How do you know I was not just coming on to you?''

He let out a chuckle that struck her as slightly nervous. ''I can tell when you're faking.''

''Does that count for every situation?'' Her eyebrow raised of its own accord.

It took less than half a second for him to catch on. In fact, she suspected his thoughts were in the exact same place before she even said it. ''Most situations, yeah. But there are some things I've never seen you fake.''

She let out a laugh. ''I would not be so sure.''

Tony gave the road a bitchy smile and tilted his head in an attempt to stop her getting to him. ''Your persistent attempts to emasculate me will not succeed.''

''I did not force you to get us lost.''

''We're not lost.''

Ziva couldn't help but raise her hands in exasperation. ''Why is it so hard to admit?'' For the life of her, she just didn't get it.

He let out a heavy sigh. ''Fine. If you really want me to say it, then I'll say it.''

''You will not be any less of a man if you do,'' she ensured him.

''Here goes.'' Tony cleared his throat, and she wasn't actually sure if it was an act or not. ''Sometimes I can't tell if you're really coming on to me or not.''

Ziva let out a pained groan and hit her head against the back of the seat. ''Oh, my god.''

''You were right. That wasn't so hard to admit.''

She wasn't sure how the tables had turned, but it was just like Tony to flip the situation on its head and wind her up. This time, it was her sighing. ''You are such a…''

''Such a what?'' he asked smugly, poking the bear. ''A righteous, honest man?''

Ziva scoffed internally and turned to look out the passenger window. ''I was actually thinking of something less complimentary.''

''That doesn't sound like you.''

He was probably expecting his sarcastic remark to earn him an eyeroll, or perhaps even a remark of her own in response. Ordinarily, he would have been right. But for some reason Ziva found herself smiling at the trees as they flicked in and out of her visual perspective through the window. She wasn't sure how Tony had forced it out of her, but she was also struggling to care. It was actually one of a select few redeeming traits she'd never found annoying about her partner, his ability to make her smile. She had always tried to ignore the fact that he probably knew exactly how and when to do it, though.

Ziva supposed she could live with him never admitting when they were lost. He'd admitted enough to her over the past year, even if most of it wasn't necessarily through words.

''There's a gas station up here.''

She turned back to him as he snapped her out of her trance. ''Are we low?''

His eyes flicked to the fuel gauge. ''Could probably do with a top-up.''

Ziva nodded. ''They will probably have a map as well.''

He turned off the road and pulled up next to one of the gas pumps. ''A map would be useful,'' he admitted, almost in a whisper.

Her head whipped round to regard him again. ''And why is that, Tony?''

The smile that creeped onto his face told her, once again, that he was well aware of what she was doing. ''There might be a slight chance that I don't know where I'm going.''

''Aaahh.'' She drawled. ''I'm sure there's a word for that.''

He shook his head. ''Nope. I don't think so.''

Not much, I know. I'll be posting again soon, so stay tuned.