Thank you for all of your feedback! I'm glad you're enjoying, and I love to hear what you have to say.

Not my favorite, but it's hard to work with a character like him.

jae

Afternoon is fading into early evening as the weekend finally draws to a close in the MCRT squad room.

The quiet hum that's fallen upon the bullpen for the last hour or so is uncharacteristic for a Friday at NCIS, but not unwelcomed; Though Jimmy Palmer doesn't usually find himself above ground in the hustle and bustle of the bullpen, it had been more than busy enough down below the floor the past few days, and even if the team was in the midst of a case, it'd still be a welcomed reprieve from autopsy that week. It's been a mercifully slow Friday after the hectic week of four autopsies and a case that took a turn on Tuesday, and they'd finally wrapped the case up in time for the weekend. Doctor Mallard had dismissed him early, for he preferred to finalize the paperwork in peace and quiet, and Jimmy was all but willing to pack up early. Unfortunately, he hadn't foreseen the day ending quite so soon, and that was how he found himself still at NCIS around eighteen hundred.; carless, in the bullpen, and reclined at Anthony DiNozzo's desk.

"Jimmy, if you're not doing anything, you could at least help me decorate Ziva's desk."

Jimmy looks up from the rubik's cube he'd uncovered in the depths of the only unlocked drawer of Tony's desk. He finds Abby narrowing her eyes in his direction, succeeding in looking intimidating even as she holds up a brightly colored banner.

Jimmy glances over in Timothy McGee's direction, and finds the young Agent had surfaced from the file work he'd spend the better half of the hour engrossed in. McGee simply shrugs in his direction, and points at the piles of folders in front of him.

"Or you could work on some of the paperwork for me. It's bad enough I have to do Ziva's share, but Tony's?"

Palmer grimaces, and takes less than a second to decide the lesser of two evils.

"I think I'd be more useful helping Abby color."

Abby smiles in victory, and trots over to where Jimmy sits at Tony's desk with a handful of multi-colored markers.

"Make them extra colorful, Jimmy. Ziva's been gone a whole week!"

Jimmy nods dutifully, selecting a purple marker from the pile and setting to work.

Abby shoots McGee an apologetic smile, and the Agent sighs heavily, putting down his pen in favor of the last half of his Nutter Butter he'd been saving. He sits back, determining that he's earned a well deserved ten minute break, and crunches on the first, delicious bite thoughtfully.

"Jimmy, why'd you say DiNozzo has your car again?" He asked, voice muffled over a mouthful of candy.

Jimmy's hand jerks, and he mutters under his breath at the now squiggly purple bat he'd been trying to imitate from Abby's sketch. He puts down the marker, frowning as he thought back to when Tony bombarded him earlier as he stepped out for his lunch break.

"He said something about his Mustang being too small. He had to run an errand and needed more room." He shrugs, seeming to find this unsuspicious. He'd consulted with DiNozzo before purchasing his and Breena's newest car; The Pilot they'd bought definitely had more space than the Tony's mustang. "He should be back soon though." Looking back down at his artistic blunder, Jimmy moves his attention to the locked drawer, jiggling it in the chance that it would decide to unlock itself, hoping to find some white-out.

McGee frowns while he watches Jimmy, annoyance for the Senior Agent pulling at eyebrows, making his forehead wrinkle.

"What is he even doing? If he's not back by nineteen hundred, I'm leaving. I'll be late for dinner with Charlie." He mumbles out the last part, and he watches Abby's expression darken momentarily while she pull the banner out from under Jimmy.

Of course, the sudden tension goes unnoticed by Palmer.

"Oh!" He exclaims, surprised, and seizes his assault on Tony's drawer. "Charlie Harris from Intelligence?"

McGee nods, casting a hesitant glance in Abby's direction. She pushes down fiercely with her red marker as though it's offended her deeply, and makes several quick slashes over Jimmy's marker faux pas.

"Doesn't Agent Harris have a flight to Kuwait she needs to be on this weekend?

Jimmy raises his eyebrows at her hostility, and exchanges a perplexed look with McGee, who just frowns and shakes his head. They all knew Abby wasn't a big fan of outsiders.

"Yes, tomorrow." McGee says cautiously. "I'm driving her to the airport."

Jimmy brightens, and he looks between the two.

"Well that's nice of you!"

Abby sets her marker down with excessive force.

"I didn't realize you guys were getting so serious. You're already driving her to the airport?" She doesn't look toward him as she gets up, walking over to Ziva's desk to tape the last banner up. Jimmy watches her, frowning, and turns to look at McGee.

"How come you haven't mentioned her?" He asks, capping the marker in his hand before setting it down for the half finished rubik's cube.

"Mentioned who?"

The slightly accented voice causes all three of them to look up to find Ziva, standing by the partition to the bullpen, with a smile on her face as her eyes fall on her desk. She gives them a quick wave at their chorus of surprise before Abby bounds over to wrap her in a tight hug.

"Ziva! You're back!" Ziva's eyebrows shoot up as Abby bounces her up and down. She pulls back with her hands still gripping the Israeli's arms, and scrutinizes her up and down.

"You're back early," her eyes narrow suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

Ziva merely shrugs, brushing her hair out of her eyes and pats her friend's arm graciously.

"I was not at the airport long, thankfully." She rolls her eyes, "I did not have to deal with hailing down a cab. And I am here because I forgot my keys here when I left Monday." Ziva walks around Abby, her eyes sweeping over her desk once again, and a smile pulls at her lips.

"I hope this means you all were not so busy in my absence?" She motions to all the colorful banners.

McGee laughs humorously, and indicates to the files before him.

"Define busy. DiNozzo's abandoned ship, as well as his paperwork." Ziva frowns at McGee as he fills her in, and his eyes find Tony's desk where Jimmy still sits. "I have to go soon, and I don't know where he ran off to."

He pipes up then, sweeping his hand above Tony's desk.

"I can just tell Tony you had to go, I'm going to have to wait for him anyway if I want to drive home." He laughs, "Besides, you don't want to be late for Charlie. I know Breena would be upset if she were her."

Jimmy watches as Ziva looks toward McGee, pointing to him with excitement.

"You are still seeing her? I did not know this was so serious!"

Abby looks at her friend as if she's betrayed her, and Jimmy gives Ziva a shake of his head in warning from behind Abby's back.

"He's taking her to the airport tomorrow." Abby stresses, as if this confirmed how serious it was, and Ziva shoots Jimmy a puzzled expression - the look on her face not atypical to the look she gets when she needs clarification.

"Does that mean something specific?" Ziva looks around at them, and Jimmy shrugs.

"Ziva," Abby sighs, with the air of explaining something very complicated to a young child, "That means it's totally serious. You don't drive just anybody to and from the airport. That's like, serious relationship or immediate family status. Especially with traffic - have you even seen D.C and Baltimore traffic before?"

Ziva stares blankly at her, as if she doesn't even consider something as trivial as rush hour traffic.

"I drive around the people who get in my way." She says impassively, and starts looking around her desk for her missing keys. Jimmy laughs appreciatively, but quickly sobers when Abby shoots him a glare.

Clearing his throat and becoming serious under The Goth's gaze, he hastens to agree.

"Abby has a point, I think. It's a serious gesture." He looks back over at McGee, apologetic. "Actually, I think I told Breena I loved her before I even took her to the airport for one of her trips." McGee flushes crimson at the insinuation, and Jimmy quickly goes back to his rubik's cube, trying to keep his mouth shut before he makes another comment. Personally, he does agree, but he doesn't want to make McGee more uncomfortable.

Abby smiles superiorly, and turns on her friend, who was now holding her keys and jacket.

"I told you." She smiles wickedly, and turns toward her friend. Abby's expression shifts, looking her up and down. "Who picked you up from the airport, Ziva?"

A faint blush spreads across her surprised face, and she looks like she's been hit with a sudden smack of awareness. She's saved from answering, however, when the ding of the elevators precede the arrival of a certain Special Agent.

"Finally!" McGee exclaims, and begins stacking the files on his desk in a rush. Abby has already rushed to Tony's side, and so nobody but Jimmy notices how Ziva's blush deepens as her partner enters the bullpen. He continues to watch her as she collects her things, a curtain of hair falling to hide her face as she does so, and doesn't realize Tony's beside him at his desk until he hears the Agent clear his throat.

Jimmy fumbles, backing the chair up hastily as he drops the rubik's cube and looks up.

"Comfortable, Palmer?" Tony asks, looking down at him with eyebrows raised.

He fixes his glasses nervously, and hastily gets up to allow the Agent access to his desk.

"Just keeping it warm for you." He laughs nervously, and moves out of the way just as McGee approaches Tony's desk.

"Here you are," He drops a stack of folders onto the desktop with a loud thud. "I couldn't get to them all, what with you being gone the whole day."

Tony gives him his most charming smile as McGee hikes his backpack further onto his shoulder.

"I can assure you, it was very Special Agent business."

McGee rolls his eyes, and walks toward the partition of the bullpen where Abby stands waiting for him.

"I hope it was important."

Jimmy observes the exchange, and watches as Tony's gaze travels across the bullpen to his partner.

"I can assure you, it was." He says, and the smirk in his voice is unmistakable.

"Whatever you say, DiNozzo." McGee says over his shoulder, and turns to bid the rest of them a final goodbye.

"Have a good weekend, everybody." He waves, turning to Ziva. "Good to have you back, Ziva."

Ziva winks, nodding her head over toward Tony.

"I would not leave you alone with him for long, Tim."

Tony gives her a wounded look as they all laugh, and Abby comes over to Ziva quickly and gives her a final hug.

"Do you need any help with your bags? I know you had a lot before you left Monday." She asks once she's let go of the Israeli.

Ziva shakes her head, cheeks still tinged pink as her glance flits brielfy over toward her partner.

"Thank you, but no. They are taken care of." Her partner smiles softly at her from behind The Goth's back, and her gaze returns back to Abby, giving her a wink. Abby salutes, returning to Tim's side, and they begin to walk away. She glances back over her shoulder as she approaches the elevator, looking for Jimmy.

"You comin', Jimmy?"

"Oh," He exclaims, "Yes. Just a second!" He looks around frantically, and he finds DiNozzo already holding out his work bag toward him. He grabs it, and watches as Tony reaches into his pockets, liberating his car keys and tossing them into the air for him to catch.

"Thanks!" Jimmy tells him, and Tony sits back down in his seat.

"Thank you," he insists, eying the keys meaningfully, and motions with his eyes toward the elevator. "Better hurry up, Palmer."

Jimmy gives him a goofy smile as he turns to leave, and nods between him and Ziva, the only ones now left in the bullpen.

"Have a good weekend, guys!" He smiles, "And welcome back, Ziva."

She returns his smile, nodding.

"Thank you, Jimmy."

He turns around then, leaving the duo as he rushes to make the elevator just before the doors slide shut.

It's not until he's in the parking lot, after parting with McGee and Abby, that he spares a thought as to how Ziva expected to get home, and wonders if he should have offered her a ride. He's pretty sure her apartment is in his direction, anyway. He finds his car parked where he'd parked it earlier that day, Tony having left it in the same spot. Getting in, he settles into the driver's seat, and moves to pull out his phone, thinking that maybe he should at least text Ziva and offer her a ride. Extracting his cell phone from his pocket proves to be a difficult task, however, and his phone ends up flying, slipping over the console and falling between it and the passenger seat; The land of no return.

Groaning, he tries to stretch his hand as far as can to reach the offending device, and succeeds in retrieving it some few minutes later. As he pulls his hand out, he feels it graze something else.

He finds his phone, and in addition, a folded sheet of paper that's slightly crumpled and marked with print.

Unfolding it, he finds immediately that it's a copy of a flight confirmation for none other than Ziva David. He adjusts his glasses, and recognizes Tony's untidy scrawl written on the paper as well, where he'd written out a time and gate number hastily.

Jimmy looks at the ticket thoughtfully, and his mind travels back to the conversation in the bullpen, as well as the woman in question's behavior.

He remembers the faint tinge that stained her cheeks during their conversation, and realizes she never did give Abby an answer.

He smiles down at the ticket, and puts his phone back into his pocket.

Ziva won't be needing his chivalry.

Tony DiNozzo will see to that.

With one last look behind him at the building, he backs up slowly, and begins making his way toward the Navy Yard's exit.

It appears the two partners were more serious than people were aware of.

He may not be a Special Agent, or sworn to protect secrets quite like the ones Tony and Ziva do. But after the scrutiny McGee had been under tonight, it made him more determined to watch out for Tony's and Ziva's backs.

He crumples up the ticket, effectively crumpling up the evidence of their secret with it. He would keep it to himself. For who would he really tell?

The people in autopsy, after all, never talked much anyway.