Disclaimers: I do not own NCIS, its characters, those belong to CBS and show creators. My claim to fame is my OC Leah Dawson.

Warnings: AU, eventual Tony/OC, eventual McGee/Delilah, spoilers for Season 10 through Season 13

A/N: Hello, everyone! This was my original, very first conception of "Unconditionally", however, I ended up shelving it four years ago. Recently I came across the outline for it on my hard driver, dusted it off, and started polishing it up. You're going to see a little bit different Leah in this (different occupation, slightly different background), however, I think she is pretty close to what has been previous established. However, it's not love at first sight for Tony and Leah. I started writing the story after my complete dissatisfaction at the end of Season 10. Hope you enjoy!

Falling Slowly

Living out of Chinese take out boxes and her car had become the norm of her life since January. NSA Analyst Leah Dawson popped open a box of Crab Rangoon in the front seat of her tiny, silver Volvo and positioned her cell phone on the dash in case any new information came in.

Through the open window the smell of cherry blossoms permeated the cabin mixing with the fried smell of wontons. Leah had loved spring in D.C from the very day she had been hired by the NSA. Spring had been in full bloom back then and a smart, wide eyed kid from a picturerisque New England town had been dropped in the middle of one of the biggest counterterrorism teams in Washington. It had taken a lot of work to get where she was today—heading up her own operation and passing information onto Homeland Security—Leah had left very little time for herself.

Stuffing a Crab Rangoon into her mouth, Leah flipped open her notebook, using her steering wheel for leverage. On the front of the average, five subject, college ruled book, was simply printed in black marker Ilan Bodnar. Four months of intel resided in those pages, four months of dead end leads and sending teams on wild goose chases. She found the page with a photograph of Bodnar at the airport, clearly making his way out of the country after committing an act of, what some politicians were calling, terrorism. Leah supposed that the death of Eli David and a civilian could be considered terrorism. Certainly the manner in which the pair died was terrorism and that had all been before Bodnar car bombed the Iranian national, Arash Kazmi.

Every agency in America was looking Bodnar; Interpol and Mossad were looking for Bodnar. So far the man had eluded all of them and this case had been her entire life for several weeks. Leah glanced at another five-subject notebook on her passenger seat. Parsa. She frowned as she thought about being pulled off of that operation but the analyst left on the trail was capable. At the time Leah believed she wasn't going to be working with the CIA that long—she foolishly thought that Bodnar was going to be easy to find and bring in with so many people looking for him.

She stuffed another Crab Rangoon in her mouth and continued to flip through Bodnar's file. Most of the pieces of the puzzle were all there, she just had not been able to find the missing ones and to put them together. Bodnar, Parsa, they connected somehow, she just wasn't sure how.

On the dash her iPhone buzzed. Leah closed her notebook, finished off her lunch and reached for the phone. Traced a search for Bodnar back to NCIS. You might want to alert Tom Morrow, her co-worker had texted.

Leah tossed the empty container on the floor of the car with a stack of others that she had yet to clean. Starting the Volvo up, she pulled out of her parking spot and headed into the traffic. It had been Morrow's first order to her when she had been assigned to the CIA—keep NCIS' nose out of the Bodnar case. She'd thought she'd done a pretty decent job of making sure her intel was hard to access. NCIS obviously didn't know about the computer program tracking anything related to Bodnar—even simple searches. Really, the agents at NCIS should have been smarter than that, she concluded.

If these federal agents didn't go rogue half the time her job would be much easier. She could sit back and analyze and not have to rush off to these agencies when they needed help. One thing she had learned since coming to Washington that federal agents were impulsive—and they made her life miserable.

Complicated, Leah corrected herself. These rogue federal agents make my life complicated. Kind of like every man I have ever dated.

As she parked her car at Homeland Security, little did she knew how complicated NCIS was about to make her life.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo stepped into the elevator and slammed his finger onto the button for his floor. He had been a little cranky since returning from the Bahamas, especially after he struck out at the bar the previous night. Maybe it was the pink shirt… "Just because I wore pink doesn't mean I'm gay," Tony mumbled before taking a large sip of his coffee. "Like Dornergat and I would ever be partners."

Someone cleared their throat, alerting him to the fact that he was not alone in the elevator. Tony turned to see a young woman, long light brown hair pulled back in a braid. She was wearing skinny jeans and a white oxford shirt, plain tennis shoes and a visitor badge was clipped to her lapel. "Sorry, were you talking to me?" she asked.

Tony shook his head and offered her a tired smile. "No. Just to myself. I've developed a nasty habit of doing that." He pursed his lips together, and looked at her thoughtfully. "But since I have you here and you're a woman…"

"Oh, I'm glad we cleared that up," she retorted with a small grin.

"What's your opinion on pink? Can straight guys pull it off?" he asked her.

"Is this some odd way to pick me up?"

"Huh? No, I'm not trying to pick you up."

Her eyebrows shot up in curiosity.

He cursed. "Listen, I think you are a very attractive woman…"

She gently rolled her eyes when the door opened. She stepped out without a word.

Tony frowned and stepped out behind her. Way to put your foot in your mouth, DiNozzo. You're really striking out with the ladies, recently. He moved into the bullpen and dropped the bag of take-out food onto his desk. "Lunch," he announced, unceremoniously.

Ziva glanced up from her work and smirked at him. "You are grouchy. Did you not have any luck with the pretty woman that got off the elevator with you?"

"Wasn't trying to pick her up," he snapped.

"Sure, whatever you say, Tony," she teased, continuing to smirk at him.

Glaring at her, which she ignored, Tony sat back down at his desk. There had been an obvious change in her since returning from burying her father in Israel. He could only speculate why but his gut was telling him that she was secretly searching for Bodnar and no one in the agency was bothering to stop her. He wouldn't be surprised if Vance was looking the other way.

Tony opened the top drawer of his desk and found the bottle of over-the-counter painkillers he kept there. It had been a long week, capped off by a horrible night at the bar where he had realized that perhaps he was getting too old for the dating scene. After swallowing the pills, he smelled a piney scent and knew that Vance was standing behind him. Glancing up, he half expected the Director to crack some kind of joke, but instead Vance gestured towards the young woman next to him—the young woman from the elevator.

Vance cleared his throat to get Ziva and Tim's attention. "This is Leah Dawson, from the NSA, she came to inform me that her superiors believe one of you is hacking into the CIA about Bodnar. I informed her that we are following Homeland Security's orders not to get involved and our offering our full cooperation."

"Director Vance, I have evidence that someone at NCIS hacked into the CIA," the young woman argued.

"Are any of you hacking into the CIA?" Vance asked, tongue in cheek.

"No, sir," all three agents answered at the same time.

"Of course they're going to say that," the NSA officer fought back. "They don't want to go to jail."

Tony liked her fire, enjoyed it even more when Ziva glared hotly at her. "Nothing gets by you, Miss Dawson," he quipped, grinning.

Her eyes flashed towards him, hot with anger. She looked ready to fire something back, but bit her tongue. "Director Vance, you should be aware that any involvement that NCIS has with this case is violating a direct order from Homeland Security. Measures have been put in place to keep track of you and your team. If I notice any activity, I'm reporting it to Director Morrow."

Vance smiled, tightly at her. "I assure you, Miss Dawson, my team is following that order and will continue to follow it. Do you need me to see you out?"

Realizing that the conversation was over, she relented. "No. I know the way."

Tony watched as she turned on her heel and headed towards the elevator. Pulling down on his suitcoat, he followed her. He slid into the cab and once the doors were closed he flipped the emergency switch. He was impressed when his actions didn't seem to phase her. "You're playing with fire, Miss Dawson."

"I'm playing with fire?" Leah questioned, tightly. "I'm not the one illegally looking for Ilan Bodnar."

"If my team says they're not looking for him, they're not looking for him," Tony argued.

"How can you be sure?"

"I trust my team."

Leah rang her tongue over her lips. "Someone is keeping secrets from you, Agent DiNozzo." I think you've been conned."

Tony glared at her and took a step forward. "How do you know my name? I never told it to you."

She stood her ground. "I told you, your team is being monitored. I know all about you, and right now, someone on your team is conning you."

He clenched his jaw. "Really? I think I would know if I'm being conned."

Leah rolled her eyes. "Right, because you're a big, bad federal agent."

Tony was aware in that moment how incredibly attractive she was, in another place or time he would have been asking her to drinks. "You're messing with the wrong team, Miss Dawson."

"Is that a threat, Agent DiNozzo? You seem smart enough not to threaten the NSA."

"Not a threat, ma'am, a warning. Actually, consider it some friendly advice."

Leah crossed her arms over her chest. "Listen, I know all about Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Believe it or not, your team is always on the perphrial of the NSA. You've created quite the reputation for yourselves, you know that right?"

Tony could tell that she was a capable adversary. Smart, observant—hot. "Sometimes you have to bend the rules to get results."

She gazed at him, seriously. "Bend, not break."

He furrowed his brow in frustration. "I don't break the rules, Miss Dawson."

"You don't, but others on your team have. Honestly, it's incredible none of you are in jail."

"Orange isn't my color."

"That's right, you said pink was," Leah responded, coolly. "Can I go now? I have a job to do."

"Sure," Tony said, releasing the emergency swtich.

They rode the elevator down in silence. When they reached the ground floor, the doors opened and he followed her out. Leaning against the wall he watched her walk across the parking lot. "Just remember what I said," he called after her. "I mean it!"

A heavy scent of strong coffee alerted Tony that he was standing there, even before Gibbs said, "Messing with the NSA, DiNozzo?"

Tony smiled, cheekily, in Gibbs' direction. "Should have known you'd know she was NSA. And no, I'm not messing with her, just letting her know not to mess with us."

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee. "Just promise me I won't have to go bail you out of jail, DiNozzo. I don't have the time or patience to train a replacement for you."

"Don't worry, boss," Tony said, getting back inside the elevator, "I'll be good; promise."

"Make sure it's a promise you can keep," Gibbs chided him, hitting the button for their floor.

"I'm curious, boss, how did you know she was NSA?"

"Tom Morrow. He warned me that the CIA was using one of NSA's top analysts to keep tabs on NCIS."

"Was she telling the truth? Someone on our team is looking into Bodnar?"

Gibbs was silent.

Tony pressed on. "Boss?"

"I wouldn't let the NSA worry you, Tony."

"She told me I'm being conned, boss. Am I?"

Gibbs laughed and took another sip of his coffee. "Only if you want to be, DiNozzo," he said before he stepped off the elevator, leaving Tony to ponder what he meant.

Tony felt his headache coming on full bore now. He was beginning to wish that he had taken a sick day.

Tom Morrow was waiting for her when she returned to the office. Leah wasn't surprised. He had ordered her to keep him appraised of the situation and since January had been stuck to her like glue in his spare time. It was getting rather annoying to her, but he was the head of Homeland Security; there was nothing she could do about it.

Leah just wanted to be back in her car, with the empty Chinese food boxes and her notebooks. Actually, she wanted to be taken off this case entirely, but she knew that was not going to happen. "They denied everything, sir. I actually felt a little insulted that they insinuated i was lying."

Morrow chuckled. "I didn't expect Leon or Jethro to admit their agents were up to no good or to play by the rules. This was a courtesy call, Miss Dawson, so they're aware that you're watching."

"I didn't sign up for this just so you could have someone baby-sit NCIS," Leah argued.

"Miss Bishop is perfectly capable of keeping tabs on Parsa for you."

"Director Morrow…"

"Your job, Miss Dawson, is Ilan Bodnar—find him, help the CIA bring him in."

Leah clutched her fists as he walked away, got into a black town car and was driven away. Finding Bodnar was easier said than done, the guy was Mossad after all. She was beginning to wonder if Tony DiNozzo was right—she was playing with fire and she was dangerously close to getting burned if she wasn't careful.