Lost Love Found Love!

Chapter 9: Schemes!

Vance has a scheme to further McGee's career, Tony and Abby have a scheme to get McGee to talk to them and Ziva tries to come up with a scheme to get revenge on McGee. Enjoy!

Disclaimer 1: I rarely, if ever, write cannon. I write how the story takes me.

Disclaimer 2: I don't own NCIS or their characters. To clarify, I OWN NOTHING.

Director's Office

"So, you see director, if we were to implement these updates, it would streamline many of the outdated applications allowing information to flow much faster." McGee stated, finishing up his brief with the director.

The director sat back in his chair smiling. McGee had done an excellent job with this project as he knew he would. His brief was thorough, comprehensive and complete. The director had a surprise in store for McGee. No time like the present to let the cat out of the bag.

"Agent McGee, this is some of the best work I've ever seen. I'm going to push for these updates to be integrated agency wide immediately."

McGee beamed as anyone would when they were recognized and appreciated for their hard work. "Thank you, Director."

"Agent McGee, the brief you just gave was one of the best I've heard so I'm going to have you brief SecNav on this project." Vance said with a big smile on his face.

McGee was speechless. The director wanted him to brief the SecNav. But he was just a JFA; why would the director want him to brief the SecNav of all people?

"Um, sir, um are you sure you want me to brief the SecNav? Not that I'm trying to get out of it or anything, but I'm just a JFA; that's way down on the totem pole sir." McGee stammered.

"All right agent McGee, now you listen to me. I don't care what rank you currently hold; you are one of the best agents I have had the pleasure to work with. You are not a good special agent; you are an outstanding special agent and NCIS is lucky to have you. Don't ever go believing the lies and innuendos you hear from jealous idiots; keep being the agent that you are because that agent is exactly who NCIS needs to model its new agents after."

McGee stood as still as a statue stunned. He couldn't believe that the director was telling him he was a good agent.

"Also, agent McGee, to answer your question, you are exactly who I want briefing the SecNav. No one could do the job as well as you could." The director finished with a smile.

"Um, thank you director. When is the briefing sir?" McGee asked.

"I would like to do it right now but I want to give you time to collect your thoughts so let's say you meet me in MTAC in 30 minutes."

"Yes sir, Director." McGee gathered up his reports and left the office. He hurried down the stairs and into an empty conference room so he could put his reports in order and calm down his racing heart. He couldn't believe he was going to be briefing SecNav on his recommendations. Tim took some deep breaths which seem to work as he was starting to feel less flustered. Once he felt he was calm, he started going over his reports and putting them in the order he wanted. Once he thought he was prepared, he looked at the clock and saw he had 5 minutes before he was to meet the director in MTAC. He gathered his papers and left the conference room and headed up to MTAC.

Three pairs of eyes had watched McGee as he had come running down the stairs from the director's office and three pairs of eyes watched him as he calmly climbed those same stairs and headed into MTAC. Gibbs, Dinozzo and David were all trying to figure what the hell was going on with McGee.

The following day, Team Gibbs is in the bullpen working on cold cases. Everyone is concentrating on their particular cold case. Even Dinozzo is actually working on his cold case for once. Ziva opens her bottle of water to take a drink as her phone buzzes. She brings the bottle to her lips to drink as she reads the text on her phone. She spits the water out as she begins choking on the water. Everyone looks up at her as she is coughing. The person responsible for her apparent coughing fit is the first person to speak.

"Ziva, are you ok?" Tim asks.

Ziva looks over at Tim and tries to glare at him but is unable to do so because she is still coughing. Once she gets her coughing under control, Ziva gets some napkins and starts to clean up the mess she made, ignoring Tim's question. While cleaning up her mess, Ziva is thinking of all the ways she is going to torture Tim for shocking her like that. She should be used to it by now as she knows he loves to do this to her but he seems to have a knack for catching her when she is least expecting it.

Case in point; the text she received from him as she started to drink said: Do you know you have the most perfect ass I have ever seen. I just want to come over there right now and bite it. Ziva read the text again and was unable to stop the blush that came to her cheeks. Forgetting where she was for a moment and that everyone was watching her, a small hint of a smile came to her lips as she thought back on how many times Timothy had in deed bitten her on her ass.

Ziva looks up and sees everyone watching her. She puts her serious face back on and glares at everyone.

"What?" she barks.

Everyone quickly goes back to their cold cases not wanting the assassin angry at them. Ziva glares at each one of them in turn to make sure no one is still watching her. When her gaze lands on Tim, her eyes narrow. Even though his eyes are on his computer screen as he busily types away, she sees that small sexy smile on his face that she loves. The urge to go sit in his lap and kiss that smile right off of his lips is very strong and it takes a huge amount of self-restraint to keep her from doing just that.

'Oh, you are going to get it Timothy McGee' Ziva thinks to herself. Ziva begins imagining all the different ways she is going to torture her lover. 'Maybe she will keep her breasts just out of reach of his mouth.' She knows Tim loves sucking on her nipples. She has to admit that he is extremely good at it. Sometimes she has to grab his head and pull him off and let him know that she is burning for him and he needs to quench her fire immediately. On second thought, that might be more torture for her than for him. Just thinking about him sucking her breast have made them harden.

'Maybe she will not let him have any dessert for a while' she thinks and then immediately discards that idea. 'Yeah, that is never going to happen' Ziva admits to herself. All he has to do is start talking about his dessert and Ziva knows she will be ready to sit on a plate and let him eat as much dessert as he wants. Ziva did not think it would be this hard to think of ways to torture Tim but apparently, he has turned her body against her. She looks over at Tim again and he still has that smile on his face. Just looking at him, Ziva feels that flutter in her belly and the heat pooling a little lower. 'Damn' she thinks with a smirk on her face.

Tim and Ziva are enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon at Ziva's place. Neither had bothered to put any real clothes on. Tim has on a tee shirt and boxers and Ziva has on Tim's button up shirt and panties. Tim is sitting at the right side of the couch with his feet propped up on the ottoman reading while Ziva is lying on the couch on her back with her head resting on Tim's lap also reading. Tim's right hand is holding the book he's reading. Tim has pulled the shirt Ziva is wearing up to just below her breast and is absentmindedly softly caressing Ziva's stomach with his left hand. Without even knowing she is doing it; the soft caress has Ziva practically purring while she is reading.

The act of doing something as mundane as reading a book holds enjoyment for both of them since they are doing it in the presence of each other. Just being in each other's company seems to have a soothing effect on both of them. The normalcy of it all really appeals to Ziva. She has never had calm and normalcy in her life until this man brought it to her.

At the same time Abby and Tony are having lunch at a restaurant. Neither one wanted to be alone with the other in their home. They had not admitted it to each other yet but neither wanted to have sex with the other anymore. The last time they tried it had been a disaster. It just didn't seem to have any appeal for either of them anymore and they knew they were just going through the motions. Neither one of them could figure out what had happened. It had been so hot when they started but at some point, it had just fizzled out. They had decided to have lunch to discuss what was going on with McGee.

"I don't know what has gotten into McGee, Tony but it has to stop. I can't take this much longer. He won't talk to me; he won't look at me and he won't even come down to my lab anymore. What the hell did we do to him?" Abby screeched.

"Keep your voice down Abbs, we'll figure this out." Tony stated in a whisper while looking around.

"Sorry Tony, but this is bugging me. Everyone knows that McGee is in love with me and hopes that I'll take him back but he is putting on this big act like he does not feel that way anymore."

"I know what you mean Abbs; the guy almost broke my arm and I think he would have done it if I had not said what he wanted to hear. That is definitely not the McGee I know. Hell, he doesn't even listen to Gibbs anymore."

"What do you mean he doesn't listen to Gibbs anymore?" Abby exclaimed.

"Well, you already know about the cookout disaster but just the other day, Gibbs ordered McGee to go down to your lab to see if you had anything new on the case. McGee refused to go and told Gibbs to send me instead."

Abby's eyes got wide and she put her hand up to her mouth in total shock.

"What did Gibbs do?" She asked

"He suspended him." Tony answered.

"Good" Abby stated emphatically. "He needed to be put in his place."

"That's what I thought also but it actually backfired on Gibbs." Tony informed her.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked.

"Apparently, Gibbs forgot that Probie was working on a special project for Vance. After Probie left for home, Vance came downstairs looking for him. He didn't look to pleased when I told him Gibbs had suspended McGee. The next morning, Gibbs and McGee were in Vance's office and when they came out, Probie was no longer suspended and Gibbs looked like he wanted to kill everyone. I don't know what went on in that meeting but Probie must have been pretty convincing to get the director to revoke his suspension." Tony finished.

"Wow" was all Abby was able to say.

"Exactly" Tony commented.

"So, what do you think we should do about McGee?" Abby asked.

"Well, I don't think we are going to be able to do anything since the guy won't talk to us. He still talks to Ducky, Jimmy and Ziva so I think we would have to have one of them help us. Jimmy is out because as timid as he is, he would never go behind McGee's back or help us in anyway. I think Ducky is also out because there is no way we can spin it where it would look like we were just trying to help McGee. Ducky is too sharp for that." Tony stated.

"So, that leaves Ziva" Abby states.

"Yeah, but we have to be careful the way it's presented to her. She has been very pro Probie lately." Tony stated.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked.

"I can't quite put my finger on it but she has also changed. She doesn't talk and flirt with me the way she used to. She seems to get angry when she feels someone is putting Probie down. Just the other day, she called me and Gibbs a bunch of derogatory names in Israeli. I looked up the ones I could remember and believe me, they were not nice." Tony answered.

"Why would she call you and Gibbs names? What did you say?" Abby asked confused.

"Well, that's not important; what is important is that we have to tread carefully on how we approach her." Tony stated. There was no way he was going to tell Abby that Ziva was mad because she found out no one wanted to go down to her lab to get information from her so they always made Probie do it.

"Ok, so how are we going to do this?" Abby asked.

As Tony began explaining what they needed to do, Abby started putting in her inputs. They brainstormed for about another 30 to 40 minutes before they thought they had the perfect way to approach Ziva.

"So, when do we go talk to Ziva?" Abby asked.

"No time like the present" Tony answered.

Tony paid for the lunch and they headed over to Ziva's

At Ziva's apartment, she and Tim were still enjoying their lazy day. They were still in the same positions reading their books. Tim was still caressing Ziva's stomach and Ziva was still in a state of contented bliss.

Their peace was suddenly interrupted by a loud knock on her door. They both put their books down frowning at each other as they both knew no one dropped by Ziva's unannounced and she had not invited anyone over except the one person who was already there. Ziva got up allowing Tim to get up and look around to make sure he wasn't leaving any indication that there was someone besides Ziva there before heading into her bedroom.

Tim took all the tell tell signs that there was another person there into Ziva's bedroom before returning with her robe. Ziva smiled and gave him a kiss as she accepted the robe and put it on. Ziva waited until Tim had returned to her bedroom and shut the door before walking over to her front door and opening it ready to kill whoever was on the other side. Ziva was surprised to see Abby and Tony standing there. They took advantage of her surprise after saying hi and hurriedly walked past her before she had a chance to slam the door in their faces. Ziva was just as surprised by the two of them basically bullying their way into her apartment. Her temper went from 0 to 100 in less than a second.

Ziva slammed the door and walked into her living room where Abby and Tony had already sat down as though they had been invited in. Trying to reign in her temper, Ziva said in a low threateningly voice "before I put both of you in severe pain, you have 2 minutes to explain why you have come here unannounced and barged your way into my home. Your time starts now."

Abby started getting nervous as Ziva did not look like she was in the mood for visitors, especially the two who had just shown up. She looked over at Tony to do the explaining.

Tony put what he thought was his, I can charm any woman, smile on his face.

"Now Ziva, are you saying friends can't just drop by and visit. It looks like all you were doing was sitting here alone reading anyway so why the outrage?

Leave it to Tony to say the exact wrong thing. Ziva took a step toward him and he could see in her eyes that she was getting ready to do very hurtful things to him.

"Wait Ziva" Tony shouted holding his arms straight out as though to ward her off. "Just wait a minute and I'll tell you the real reason we dropped by. It's about Probie."

That made Ziva stop in her tracks and narrow her eyes even more.

"What is it that you need to tell me about McGee?" Ziva asked through clenched teeth.

Abby could now see what Tony was talking about by that one simple question Ziva asked. This was not going at all the way she and Tony had planned it. As a matter of fact, Abby was debating on just bolting for the door and getting the hell out of there. Tony said Ziva would calm down once they mentioned McGee but to her it looked Ziva just got angrier. She knew Tony was also thinking this wasn't going as planned as she saw the nervousness in his body language. Abby knew this would be the first and last time that she ever came over to Ziva's whether it was announced or not. Ziva is one scary lady when she is angry and right now, she looked absolutely livid.

"Look Ziva, you have to admit that Probie has been acting strange lately. We just want to know if he's all right. We're concerned about him." Tony stated in his most convincing voice.

Ziva looked at Tony as though he had lost his mind. She turned and looked at Abby and asked "is this why you are here also; because you are concerned about McGee?"

Abby could not trust herself to talk so she just nodded her head yes.

"Tell me, why are you concerned about McGee. I have not seen him acting strangely. I have seen him decide who he will be friends and who he will not which I believe is his right. I have seen him not fall for any more of your pranks Tony. I have seen him say no to loaning you any more money since you never pay him back Abby. These are all things normal people would do. What is the reason for concern now that McGee is doing what everyone else does?"

"Don't you see Ziva, that's just the point. Probie isn't like everyone else. He lets that stuff roll off his back. He doesn't hold grudges but for some reason he is holding on to whatever happened to make him not want anything to do with me, Abby or Gibbs. It has to be something very bad for that to happen." Tony explained.

As mad as Ziva was, she knew Tony did have a point. She knew something very bad had happened and he would not share it with her. She wanted to ask Tim what it was but she did not want to take the chance of losing him. She knew he was the one for her. She also knew she could live with not knowing because whatever it was, he had never let it affect the way he treated her. As a matter of fact, outside of those three, he was the same Tim he had always been with everyone else.

"Even if this is true, it still does not explain why you have stormed your way into my home without my permission." Ziva snapped.

"We came over because we need your help." Abby stated finally thinking Ziva has calmed down enough where she wouldn't do any bodily harm to anyone.

Now Ziva was really puzzled.

"Why would you need my help?" Ziva asked.

"Because Probie won't talk to any of us if it's not about work. How can we find out what the problem is if he just ignores us? We need you because he talks to you about more than just work. We need you to either get him to talk to us or be our go between so we can communicate with him." Tony explained.

Ziva did not like that. Even though what Tony said made sense, she still did not like it. As a matter of fact, there was no way in hell she was going to do this. She thought about what Tony had said just the other day. That it was a McGee job to go get the forensic info from Abby. It became a McGee job just because no one wanted to do it. That thought got Ziva boiling mad again.

"No" was all Ziva said.

"What do you mean no?" Abby asked.

"There is no hidden meaning Abby. Tony asked me to do something that I do not want to do so I said no. That is all there is to it. You two may leave my home now." Ziva stated calmly.

"Come on Ziva, help us out here." Tony implored.

"I have said no and I will not change my mind. I have asked you to leave and yet you are still here. Now, it is no longer a request that you leave; it is a demand. Leave my home!" Ziva stated emphatically.

Tony and Abby got up after Ziva's last statement as they could see in her eyes that she is not playing around and wants them out of her home. As they head to the door Tony turns around and tries one more time.

"So, even though you know something very bad must have happened with Probie, you won't help us get to the bottom of it so we can help him get over it?

"No Tony, I will not help you because I do not believe or trust that you have McGee's best interest in mind." Ziva stated.

"What do you mean you don't believe us. You don't believe that something really bad happened with Probie?" Tony asked.

"No Tony, I do believe that something life changing has happened with McGee but I also believe that he has the right to handle it however he wants. What I do not believe is that you, the person who ridiculed and played horrible pranks on him is concerned about his well-being. What I do not believe is that Abby, the person who abused his feelings for her and used this power as a way to make him do things he did not want to do is concerned about his well-being. What I do believe is that you two want McGee to go back to how he was before so you two can go back to harassing and manipulating him the way you did before. I will never intentionally do anything to harm McGee so my answer is no. I do not believe your intentions are out of concern for McGee, only for yourself." Ziva finished

"How can you say that Ziva; Timmy is one of my 3 musketeers. I love him like puppies." Abby stated.

"What I do not understand about you Abby is that you are one of the smartest people I have ever met and yet you do not comprehend how insulting it is to say you love a grown man like puppies. I also do not understand why you continue to call McGee a name that he has asked you not to call him on several occasions. How do you profess to be so concerned about him but cannot do one simple thing that he has asked?

Pouting, Abby stubbornly stated "but he is my Timmy."

Ziva could not believe what she was hearing. It was beyond comprehension.

"Now I see why Tony stated talking to you is a McGee job. I do not agree with it but I understand his point now." Ziva stated exasperated.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Abby asked.

Tony was behind Abby waving his arms trying to get Ziva to stop this conversation.

"Come on Abbs, Ziva has asked us to leave her home so let's get out of here." Tony stated trying to pull Abby toward the door.

Abby jerked her arm out of Tony's grasp.

"No, I want to know what Ziva meant by that statement." Abby stated stubbornly.

"You mean Tony never explained to you why he and Gibbs always send McGee to get the forensic info from you? Tony did not explain why he does not come? Tony did not explain why he did not get suspended like McGee even though he refused to do the same thing that McGee refused to do which was go to your lab?" Ziva asked Abby.

Abby looked back at Tony with hurt and angry eyes.

"No" Abby stated while looking directly at Tony. "He did not explain any of that to me which is strange since he had every opportunity to do so. Why don't you explain that to me now Tony? Why don't you let me in on the little secret of why my lab is taboo for you and Gibbs?

There was no way Tony was having this conversation with Abby, especially in front of Ziva. Tony simply turned and left.

Abby stood there with her mouth open in disbelief. Tony had just left her there without saying a word. Abby turned to Ziva.

"Ziva, would you please tell me what Tony said about coming to my lab? Abby asked.

"No, now for the last time, leave my home! Ziva stated with a glare.

Seeing that she was not going to get any more information out of Ziva, Abby huffed and left the apartment. Abby could hear the clicks of Ziva turning the locks on her door. Abby knew there was no sense in trying to call Tony. He was not going to answer her calls. She was going to have to wait until they were at work where she could corner him to get her answers.

Ziva took a deep breath to calm herself before turning and going into her bedroom. When she opened the door, a big smile came over her face. Tim was lying on her bed calmly reading his book. He looked up when she came in and winked at her before returning to his book. Ziva hurried out of the bedroom to the living room to get her book. She came back into the bedroom, dropped her robe on the floor and jumped into the bed with Tim. She got comfortable cuddled up next to him with her head on his shoulder.

"What did frick and frack want?" Tim asked as he put his book on the bedside table.

"You did not listen?" Ziva asked.

"Nope, didn't want to eavesdrop on your conversation since it was apparent, they wanted to speak to you alone." Tim said as he took her book from her and placed it on top of his.

"They wanted to talk about you" Ziva stated with a smile as Tim turned her on to her back and moved over her.

"Oh, and what did they have to say about me?" Tim asked as he gave Ziva a quick kiss before moving to her neck.

"They wanted me to speak to you since you will not talk to them, ooohhh." Ziva moaned the last part as Tim had moved down, unbuttoned the shirt Ziva was wearing and taken a nipple into his mouth.

Tim released the nipple and asked "what was your response."

"Oooohhh" Ziva moaned again as Tim had taken her other nipple into his mouth after asking his question.

"I told them noooooo" Ziva moaned out and arched her back as Tim scraped the tip of Ziva's nipple with his teeth.

Tim released Ziva's nipple and started to kiss, lick and suck his way lower. Ziva's eyes were squeezed shut and her hands were fisted in the sheets as Tim continued his descent. Tim took his time with his exploration enjoying every moan he wrung out of Ziva. Ziva had just about had enough of this torture and was very close to just grabbing Tim by his hair and placing his head where she needed it most. Just as Ziva was about to act on her thought, Tim reached his destination and darted his tongue out. Ziva body jerked as Tim's tongue swiped her clitoris.

Ziva's last coherent thought was 'there is no way in hell she will ever deny Tim his dessert' before her thoughts were scattered and all that was heard from her was constant moaning since Tim had sucked the sweet cherry on his dessert into his mouth.