Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS, I wouldn't be waiting on the edge of my seat to see what happens in the Season 10 premiere... I'd already know. (Hint: I'm so far on the edge of my seat that I'm almost falling off of it.)

A/N: I always wanted to see a brief moment or two in Season Seven that showed Tony being supportive of Ziva's quest for citizenship. Unfortunately, most of what we got was Tony teasing Ziva and then missing her ceremony (though through no fault of his own). So this little ficlet is my way of adding in the kind of moment that I would have loved to see in-show.

Handsel:

1. First encounter with or use of something taken as a token of what will follow.

2. A gift or token for good luck or as an expression of good wishes.

3. A first installment of payment.

"So, uh, how's your studying going?" Tony asked. "Nervous about the big day?"

"It is going well, thank you," Ziva said, trying to mask her anxious energy. "And I do not get nervous."

"Could have fooled me," he replied, sending her a quick grin.

Ziva narrowed her eyes menacingly at her fellow agent, and he immediately straightened his face. Returning her attention to the booklet in front of her, she frowned in concentration.

The room was silent for a few minutes, until –

"Ugh!" Ziva muttered in frustration, throwing her pencil down. "Your Constitution is so, so… there are too many things that are implied in it simply because their opposites are not stated."

"Welcome to America, land of the free, the brave, and the litigious," Tony told her, propping his feet up on his desk.

"'Litigious,'" Ziva commented with a raised brow. "I am impressed, Tony."

"I'm a man of hidden depths," Tony said smugly.

"Very hidden," Ziva needled, face and voice deadpan.

"Well, if I displayed them freely, then they wouldn't be hidden, now would they, Ziva," Tony said slowly, as though explaining something to a small child.

Ziva rolled her eyes and returned to studying her pamphlet.

An hour later, Tony turned off his desk light and commented, "OK, I'm out for the night." Putting a small wrapped box on her desk, he added, "Don't open this until the day of, OK?"

"I… you did not have to get me anything," Ziva said quietly.

"Hey, it's no big deal or anything," Tony said dismissively. "But it's not every day that your probie becomes a US citizen."

"We do not know that I will pass the test," Ziva reminded him.

"Nah, you'll do fine," Tony assured her. "Do you think the US gets so many ninjas applying for citizenship that it can afford to turn one down? You'll be a shoo-in."

"Goodnight," Ziva replied softly, watching him walk to the elevator.

After its doors had closed behind him, she jerked her head back to the papers in front of her. She had studying to do.

-–- -–- -–- -–- -–-

The morning of her test, Ziva opened the box.

Inside were a bright green rabbit's foot keychain and a note.

Ziva, the note said, rabbit's feet are supposed to be lucky. Which is kind of stupid, considering that the rabbit whose feet were chopped off probably doesn't feel very lucky. But that's not the point. (And besides, I doubt that there are very many rabbits with neon fur.) So, uh, I guess I just wanted to say, even though you don't need it: good luck and knock 'em dead. (That's an idiom, by the way. Don't actually kill your testers, Ziva. They tend to frown upon that here.) - Tony

.

*Phoof.*