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By early Wednesday evening Claudia felt like her brain had completely turned to mush. She stood up from her kitchen table and stretched. She decided she was hungry and browsed the refrigerator but nothing appealed to her. She meandered out of the kitchen and wandered around the apartment. She spied her hamper of dirty clothes and realized that it was her normal laundry day. She smiled as she thought about Tony. Grabbing the phone she flopped on the couch and called his number.
"Shouldn't you be studying?" he teased as he answered.
"I think my brain has gone on strike, it doesn't want to study anymore."
"Where's Joshua?"
"A friend from work is keeping him until after my test tomorrow. She's having a couple of her grandsons over too, they're all about the same age."
"Hope she ate her Wheaties today, she'll need the energy. Speaking of food have you had dinner?"
"No, you?"
"Nope. But I'm thinking Chinese. Wanna goof off for a while with me? We can eat and watch a movie and you can recharge your batteries."
"Mmm. That sounds good."
"Well then, why don't you tell me what you want and I'll call and order while you get your cute self up here."
"I'm not fussy, surprise me."
She slipped on her shoes and grabbed her cell phone and keys and headed up to Tony's apartment. She knocked but he didn't answer, then she saw the vague shadow under the door, "Tony, are you staring at me through the peephole?"
He opened the door with a sheepish little grin, "Busted."
As she walked into his apartment she had a weird feeling of almost dejavu, his apartment was just like hers but so vastly different at the same time. Tony caught the look on her face, "I know. Weird huh?"
"Yeah, a little. " She didn't quite know what she expected his apartment to look like and but was surprised none the less. His furniture, although in a plain style was of good quality and in a warm wood. The couch and loveseat were overstuffed and looked extremely comfortable. She smiled when she saw that the living room was setup for the optimum viewing of the big screen television in the corner. Shelves packed full of dvds and books were tucked around the room and she could see photos and mementos placed here and there among them. It was a warm and inviting room, and was comfortable and lived in.
Tony went to the kitchen to grab some sodas and told Claudia to pick a movie. She went to one of the shelves and was running a finger along the dvds trying to pick. She felt him walk up behind her and plunk his chin on her shoulder. "Now that's a good one. Although laughing that hard while eating Chinese may not be such a good idea," he teased as he looked at the dvd her finger rested on.
"You're probably right. How about this one instead?" she asked taking a different dvd down.
"Total chick flick."
She turned her head to look at him on her shoulder and teased back, "And what am I?"
They settled in on the couch and started the movie. They kept the remote between them because they kept pausing the movie to talk. They way they were going, it was going to take them three hours to watch an hour and a half movie.
The food arrived and they dug in. Tony had ordered a ton of food and she teased, "How many people are you feeding?"
"You said to surprise you, so I did. Chopsticks?"
"No, your couch would never recover."
They both had a good chuckle over having that in common and settled back in to eat and finish the movie. Tony, who could quote the movie despite its chick flick status, spent more time watching Claudia than the movie. She had left her soft wavy hair down, he had only seen it up in a ponytail and was surprised to see how long and full it was. He liked how her eyes crinkled when she laughed at the onscreen antics and how relaxed she seemed to be.
He thought it was funny that he hadn't tried to get her into bed yet. He was definitely attracted to her and he almost had to take a cold shower after dancing with her in the laundry room but it wasn't the number one thing on his mind, he just enjoyed spending time with her. The rest would come when it was the right time.
The movie finished and they both stood and picked up the leftovers and brought the dishes to the kitchen. Claudia found a home for the containers in the refrigerator while Tony put the plates in the dishwasher. He leaned back against the counter and pulled her to him when she closed the fridge. "I'm glad you came up."
"Me too."
"So are you going to abandon me now and go back to studying?" he teased.
"I decided earlier that if I don't know it by now that it's hopeless. I'm just studied out."
"I did that for my detective's exam way back when. I made myself nuts over all these oddball cases and rules and none of it was on the test."
"I'm thinking that being calm and relaxed tomorrow is going to be half the battle."
"I can do relaxed. Want to watch something else?"
"Sure. You pick this time."
He gave her little playful kiss and teased, "Yeah, good idea. I've got a one chick flick a night rule." He released her quickly before she could swat him.
Tony picked out another movie and they settled in on the couch with Tony in his favorite corner and Claudia tucked up next to him under his arm. Tony almost weirded himself out with the thought that if Joshua were playing with his toys on the coffee table that everything would just be perfect.
The drama was unfolding on the screen and it had come to a scene where a man was beating his wife and saying really ugly things to her. Tony felt Claudia tense next to him and when he looked at her face he could see that she wasn't looking at the screen but at some random point on the carpet. He hit the pause button quickly realizing that something wasn't right. "Claudia? You okay?"
She sighed, "Sorry. Scenes like that just…" she gestured vaguely.
Something clicked in Tony's head and he asked softly, "Your ex?"
She dropped her head in embarrassment, "Yeah."
"That bad?" he asked pointing to the television.
"Worse." She said flatly.
Tony had a sudden urge to hurt someone, namely her ex. He hated seeing her embarrassed and gently hooked a finger under her chin to have her look at him, "I'm sorry."
She smiled at the genuine concern and anger for her she saw in his eyes, "You have nothing to be sorry for, Tony. It was a long time ago. I'm sorry for letting the movie bother me."
"Look, I don't want to stress you out tonight, but if you need to talk about it I'm here. I don't know if I'll necessarily say the right thing but I'm here. We're not all like him."
She leaned in and kissed him lightly, "You are nothing like him. And you already said the right thing for the record." She proceeded to kiss him deeply. He had the forethought to hit the stop button on the remote then buried his hands in her hair and kissed her until they both needed oxygen.
Movie and tense moment forgotten they both just lost themselves in trying to get closer to each other. They somehow managed, without biting each other's tongue off, to stretch out on the couch with Claudia tucked safely between Tony's solid body and the back of the couch. Tony would have sworn that the temperature in the room went up ten degrees when he felt her slip her hand under his t-shirt and drag her nails down his spine.
He growled into her mouth, "Tease."
She giggled, "I'm a little out of practice here, was that good?"
He groaned and teased back, "I'll give you good," and he kissed her breathless.
Things were heating up nicely when the sudden shrill ringing of Tony's cell phone in the kitchen broke the moment. He dropped his forehead to hers and groaned, "You've got to be kidding."
"Can't ignore it huh?"
He sighed as he extricated himself from her and the couch, "Unfortunately my team is on call."
Tony saw Gibbs' name on the caller id and flipped open the phone, "Yeah, Boss?"
Claudia had to keep from giggling as Tony listened to his boss and butted his forehead on the doorway to the kitchen.
She heard him say, "Got it, Boss. I'll be in the office in fifteen minutes."
He closed his phone and walked back over and sat next to her on the couch, "I uh…"
"I heard."
"I'm sorry."
She rubbed his back and teased, "Could have been worse."
"How?"
"Call could have come in ten minutes later." As he looked at her and what she said sunk in, the both of them burst out laughing.
He kissed her and stood up. They both grabbed their stuff and slipped on their shoes. Tony walked her to her apartment. She opened her door and before she stepped inside she kissed him gently and winked at him, "Go catch the bad guys."
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Tony got to the office just as everyone else was rolling into the bullpen. He was grumpy, and not just because they got called in. He needed a cold shower.
Abby was the first one to see him and seeing his mussed appearance and the look on his face teased, "Hot date, Tony?"
McGee was standing next to her and snorted. Tony leveled a glare at both of them but didn't say a word. It would just have given them ammunition.
Gibbs blew in and right by Tony. He glanced at Tony's disheveled state and commented with a wry little grin, "I interrupt something DiNozzo?"
Tony held up a finger like he was going to make a point, but then thought the better of it and shut his mouth and went to his desk.
As Tony walked away Gibbs caught a faint whiff of perfume that was vaguely familiar, he just couldn't place it.
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The team spent the next twenty-four hours hip deep in a kidnapping case which did not improve any of their moods when they found out it was faked.
When Gibbs got to the office Friday morning, something was nagging him. He had forgotten something and it was bugging him. It finally dawned on him as he was staring at the calendar on his desk. He missed wishing Claudia good luck on her test. It was yesterday.
He knew she was working today and decided to go out later for lunch. When lunchtime rolled around he left the office and headed for the florist nearby. He stewed for a couple of minutes about what flowers best fit the "I'm sorry I forgot you twice now because of work" category and headed for the diner. He didn't see McGee coming out of the deli across the street as he was leaving or the surprised look of Tim's face at the sight of the boss with a big bouquet of tiger lilies.
Claudia was behind the counter of the diner with her back to him when he walked in, "So now that you're done with textbooks you're not gonna start reading Cosmo are you? Cause I think I'll be in trouble if you are."
She turned around with a grin, "And why would you be in trouble, Jethro?"
"I wanted to call you yesterday morning before your test but I got stuck on a case."
"But you came here you're first available moment?"
He smirked, "Well second available moment. I used the first one to get these." He held up the flowers that he had put down on the stool in front him were she couldn't see.
She walked around the counter to stand next to him, "Are those for me?"
He teased softly, "Well since Betsy's not here…"
He laughed as her jaw dropped and then she smiled and swatted him playfully on the arm, "Oh, you!"
Jethro handed her the flowers and took her other hand, "Seriously, how did your test go?"
"Piece of cake. I'll get the results in two weeks but there wasn't anything I hesitated on at all, so I think I aced it."
"I know you did. So what are your plans for the weekend?"
"I promised Joshua a whole weekend of just the two of us. We're going to just goof off. It's been tough to do since I've been in school."
"Those are the best kind of weekends. You guys will have fun. Hey, I better let you get back to work; your boss is giving me the evil eye."
"He's jealous."
"Oh yeah? Bet I can fix that." He claimed her mouth in quick kiss that had the old men near the window whistling and her boss gnashing his teeth.
He left her standing there bemused but paused at the door, "Hey Claud, you know that calling thing?"
"Yeah?"
With a grin he teased as he walked out, "It works both ways you know."
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