Tony was conflicted. On the one hand, he had reservations about his beard, no matter what McGee said. On the other, he was fairly certain that Ziva found it attractive. Maybe that was a negative. Although he had no plans to stop trying, he was fairly convinced she wouldn't be returning to the States with him. It might be better to be less sexy. Had he ever had a goal of being less sexy? Did the beard really matter to how she felt about him in the long run? He leaned over the sink and rubbed his chin in the mirror. He could be a man and admit that he was going to miss his fuzzy face. A little. He could always grow it back.

Right. Decision made. Now all he needed was a razor. Soap. Toothpaste. Lotion. Ziva-smelling lotion. Oh, that was nice. He turned toward the shower. Shower gel. Shampoo. Girly razor. Hmm. She could have been shaving anywhere with this. Anywhere. He weighed the pink and white razor carefully in his hand. Hmmmm.

"You have a razor in your bag."

He almost didn't jump before he turned to her. Almost. "Of course you went through my bag."

"And?"

"Right." He couldn't argue that he wouldn't have gone through hers. Or that he hadn't. On several occasions. "I'm pretty sure I closed the bathroom door, too."

"You could keep the beard."

He tried not to notice she was wearing only a bedsheet wrapped around her midsection. "Because you like it."

"It looks good on you."

"Thought you preferred things off me." He snapped the elastic on his boxers, forcing himself to smile and not wince. "Or has the fact that I've booked my flight back changed that?"

"No. I knew you had to leave."

"You can still come home with me."

"Home." She sighed heavily. "I don't know where that is anymore."

"With me."

"I wish it could be that simple."

"Why not? Why can't you just come home with me?"

"The same reason you will not keep your beard."

"In DC you're scratchy and wondering how you'll groom yourself in a few weeks?"

"Be serious, Tony." She moved to stand behind him and slipped her arms around him. He could see only her arms around his stomach and the top of her head over his shoulder in the mirror, though the warmth of her embrace spread through his entire body. "I wish it could be different."

"It can be."

"Tony…" She stepped away and he was about to beg her to stay when she said, "Let me shave you."

He paused for a moment. "Okay." He scratched his beard for one last time. "Just my face, right?"

"Of course."

He was lathered up a few minutes later, sitting on the closed lid of the toilet. "You sure about this?" She twirled his disposable razor between her fingers and he had second thoughts. "I mean, cuz I'm sure. I don't doubt you'll do a great job and…" He squeezed his eyes closed as she made a pass with the razor. "Nnnyaaaahh."

"Do not be a baby about it." He felt her finger run over his jawline. "It is not as if I am shaving your ass."

"Uh…" He tried his best to shut his brain off as she went back to work. It was more difficult than he'd always found it. Ziva smelled so good, looked even better. He would have reached out for her body if she hadn't been holding a sharp object in proximity to his face. "Ziva…"

"Shhh. Relax and let me finish." She was patting him down with a damp towel an impossibly short time later. "There. There you are."

"How did you…" Running his hand over his smooth cheeks he couldn't deny that he was impressed. "So did you go to barber college just in case the whole super spy thing didn't work out?"

"Tony…"

"I'm sorry. Here we are with maybe only a few more hours together and I'm not suggesting we jump in the shower together." He waggled his eyebrows and smiled.

"No. Not after yesterday's fiasco. I could have broken something."

"Yeah, the towel rack. C'mon, it was fun. It's been fun everywhere over the past few days." He stood and caught her in a long, slow kiss. "I'm still trying to convince you to come home. Give me another chance."

"If sex were the single criterion, we would be back in DC by now. I wish you would understand that this is not about you."

"And I wish you would understand that if it concerns you, it concerns me. We're partners, and that means more than just NCIS so don't feed me the line about how you aren't coming back to work. We…you and me…it's not just…"

"You just can't…you don't…" She broke away from his embrace, walking out of the bathroom.

He could only watch, holding the sheet she had been wearing moments ago. God, she was so hot walking around naked. He shook his head to clear the image. There were more serious matters at hand. "I don't what?"

His only response was the bedroom door slamming. It was probably better if they talked while clothed anyway.