a/n: this is a lot of things in one! it's my first (very brief, very simple) attempt at writing Ellie Bishop; it's a bit of Jibbs (I can actually make anything Jibbs, try me), and it's Tiva post Ziva's return from her soul-search ! It's small, short, and sweet, and implies character development on Gibbs' part (cutie) and McGee being all married and bro-ish with DiNozzo ... hope you enjoy!

The Honeymoon Hunt
(about 5 years post Past, Present, and Future)

He wanted to go to Puerto Rico—nice, straightforward, normal Puerto Rico, vacation destination of the sun-loving but not too adventurous average American with a little dough to spend. He would have gladly gone to Costa Rica, or even compromised with Jamaica or Hawaii—but she insisted the island getaways were boring, and besides: she'd been to all those places—and instructed him to surprise her, but make sure it was somewhere she'd never been before.

Why had he have picked a fiancée who responded to every suggestion with been-there-done-that?

Snorting in a content, exasperated way, he reminded himself that he couldn't really help who he'd fallen in love with, and he wouldn't change it, anyway, and went back to perusing possible places to spend the two weeks after their wedding—

"McGee, you think Ziva's been to London?"

"DiNozzo, even I've been to London," McGee retorted. He lounged in his chair, watching DiNozzo's frantic attempts to get this right, being generally unhelpful and enjoying watching his colleague squirm. "No luck on the David-DiNozzo Honeymoon Hunt?"

"You know, I'm not even certain she's got it through her head that it's got nothing to do with bees and outerspace," DiNozzo joked, smirking. He narrowed his eyes at the computer screen. "I figure Djibouti's not prime vacation real estate," he said dryly.

"It's a little too close to Somalia, you idiot."

"Right," muttered DiNozzo, clicking on to another page. He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. "Paraguay?"

"Did you go to Paraguay with Ziva?" McGee asked, exasperated.

"No, I went with Kate, McDementia," retorted DiNozzo haughtily. "I went to Cartagena with Ziva."

"You went on South American vacations with both your previous partners?" piped up the new girl—and DiNozzo took a moment to peer dubiously over his computer at the blonde Midwestern princess, giving her a withering look.

"It was work related," he said.

"Yeah, with Kate maybe," muttered McGee under his breath.

DiNozzo stretched out his hand and snapped rudely at McGee, glaring at him. Eager to change the subject, and wracked his brains for another glamorous, cool city and came up with –

"Tokyo?"

Ellie cocked her head with interest. McGee made a face.

"Technological jungle," he said, shaking his head. "Not honeymoon material—and, I think she visited Tokyo last year."

DiNozzo slammed his palms down on his desk and stood up, well aware McGee was right—he'd gotten a postcard from Ziva in Japanese, which she'd refused to translate, insisting it was more fun if he figured it out himself—though in the end, it had been worth it, since it had said I'm coming home.

"She just had to spend the past four years visiting every damn honeymoon worthy city in the world," he groused, "and then she tells me to pick somewhere she's never been—at this rate, McGee, my only options are in the States, and I don't want to spend my honeymoon in my own damn country—"

"Ooh," Ellie piped up, chomping on something crispy and whole grain-y over at her desk. "You could take her to Oklahoma!"

The blonde beamed, and DiNozzo glared at her.

"Oklahoma?" he asked, growling at her derisively.

"It's pretty!" Ellie said. "So beautiful, and big, and rural—and the winds come sweepin' 'cross the plains," she sang, smirking.

McGee laughed at her eagerness, and DiNozzo sat down heavily, shooting her another glare—not very helpful.

"Alaskan cruises are supposed to be romantic," McGee piped up.

"Then why don't you and Mrs. McGee go on one?" Tony retorted, shivering at the idea—watching wales in some freezing Alaskan water frontier seemed like a Delilah-Tim thing, not a Ton-Ziva thing. Althouh, nude sunbathing could be fun...

The very special agent groaned and put his hand into a fist, shoving it into his mouth. He glared hard at his computer screen, and cocked his head—there were so many places to go, and so many amazing deals to get when you added the word 'honeymoon' to the search.

"Niagara Falls?" he asked hesitantly, looking up.

"I don't think that's in Oklahoma," Elli said innocently—she'd moved on from her nutrition bar to a bag of chips and was picking out the crispiest looking ones first. She smiled and tilted her head. "There's a postcard behind you from Niagara," she pointed out.

"Dammit!" howled DiNozzo.

He turned around and glared ruthlessly at all of the postcards Ziva had sent him, desperately trying to find somewhere he wanted to go that was beautiful and romantic and all that honeymoon-y stuff—that was also somewhere she'd never been. He squinted, and then rubbed his jaw, whining under his breath.

"Gibbs had to do this three—four times," he mused aloud, snorting and shaking his head. "Ha—I wonder if he used the same ol' place every time—maybe he got married for the honeymoons—"

The thought was cut short by Gibbs' hand colliding with the back of his head gently, and he jumped and spun around in his chair, folding his hands on his desk. He grinned at Gibbs dashingly and raised his eyebrows.

"Where did you take your ladies, Boss?" he asked boldly.

Gibbs grunted, shuffling through some things on his desk. He held up his hand.

"Deployed," he said, pointing one finger, "Hawaii, St. Augustine, Moscow."

DiNozzo whistled, and shivered.

"Ziva's definitely been to Moscow," he said.

Gibbs grabbed the things he needed, threw a file at Ellie, and instructed her to get to work analyzing it. He glanced at McGee, then over at DiNozzo, and scrutinized the postcards behind the younger agent, mulling it over quickly.

"Casablanca," he grunted.

"What?' DiNozzo asked, blinking.

"Casablanca," Gibbs repeated firmly, giving DiNozzo a look as if it were obvious.

"She's been to Morocco," Tony said sulkily.

Gibbs shook his head wryly.

"Rabat," he said, "and Marrakesh; never Casablanca," he said. "She said take 'er a place she's never been, DiNozzo. She specify it had to be in a country she's never been to?"

DiNozzo opened his mouth to protest—and then sat bolt upright in his chair, accepting the loophole instantly, and starting to grin. He looked around smugly, his face lighting up.

"She wanted me to figure that out, didn't she?" he asked no one in particular, his eyes full of mirth. "We said goodbye on a tarmac," he emphasized eagerly.

Casablanca—of course Casablanca; their parting back when she left NCIS had been so very Casablanca, it only made sense that they'd start married life there—and it was his favorite movie, and Ziva knew that—

DiNozzo snorted proudly, rapidly pulling up travel sites on his computer to start organizing everything. He grinned to himself, already excited about springing the surprise on Ziva the night of the wedding—and he looked up at Gibbs to thank him, but was struck with another question, instead—

"Hey, Gibbs," he said. "What was your favorite honeymoon?"

McGee and Ellie swiveled their heads to see if Gibbs would answer. The Boss gave DiNozzo a slightly annoyed look, and then holstered his gun, beckoning to McGee—they had a suspect to question—he thought about it a moment, and then smirked.

"Paris," he said, heading to the elevator without another word.

DiNozzo's jaw dropped, and McGee snickered—he looked over at Tony.

"You waited nine years for him to confirm that, didn't you?" he asked.

Tony looked around gleefully, and Ellie cocked her head.

"Paris?" she asked. "He didn't say Paris. Which wife was Paris—wait, is there a fifth, secret one?" she asked, eyes widening sweetly.

McGee and DiNozzo looked at each other, and then looked back at Ellie.

"Yeah, basically," McGee said. "They acted married."

"She used to work here," DiNozzo added seriously.

Ellie raised her eyebrows.

"And Ziva used to work here—and Abby use to date McGee…?" she said slowly, moving her finger around. She pointed at herself and raised her eyebrows, amused.

"Good thing you're married, Bishop," DiNozzo said, as McGee jumped to head after Gibbs.

He called over his shoulder:

"We're all taken!"

Ellie smiled her lopsided, lip-bitten smile, and beamed at DiNozzo.

"Casablanca," she said, alone in the bullpen. She sighed. "Ziva will love it."

DiNozzo grinned, leaning back in his chair.

"Where was your honeymoon, Ellie?" he asked.

She beamed primly at him.

"Oklahoma!"

-it's my personal belief that Ellie would like Ziva very much, though it's implied here that she doesn't know her very well yet. :)

-alexandra
story #185