Just Stay (NCIS Reader X Tony)

Chapter VI: Your POV

You stand up from your desk at the FBI, grabbing things to take home.

"Hey, (y/n)!"

You look up to see your friend and coworker, Sarah, running as fast as she can in heels—so, not fast at all. "Hey, what's up?"

"Okay, so you know how you're dating?"

You snort. "Uh, yeah, I should hope I do."

Sarah slaps your arm, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, would you want to go on a double date?" She was referring to going on a date with her and her fiancé, David.

You hesitate, then sigh. "I would love to, but Tony and I are really busy lately—we haven't even had a chance to go on dates together, much less double dates. I'll bring it up, and we can try to make it work, but no promises."

Sarah nods sympathetically, touching your arm. "It's okay. I understand if it doesn't work out."

"Oh, and David knows that you work here, right?"

"...yeah, why?"

You blush. "I had to use the 'theatrical agency' cover, so we aren't friends from work, we've met somewhere else, yes?"

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Sarah nods, then turns to walk away. "Call me when you figure it out!"

You agree and finish getting your things, heading home. You hate lying to Tony, but you couldn't tell him at the beginning and now you're worried about how he'd respond if you do. Would he want to break up with you?

You drive home, putting your papers in the study and walking out. You check your phone—Tony said he couldn't make it to dinner. With a sigh, you heat up some cold pizza and grab the files back out, sitting on the couch while you eat and go through them.

~Flashback~

You approach the car, wondering about this 'Tony' guy. You don't trust him, that's for sure, and come armed with pepper spray and a gun. I mean, you're always armed with a gun, but that's beside the point.

A man gets out, you recognize him as the one who picked up Kate. Yup, it's Tony all right. He opens the door for you, acting the gentleman.

He blasts music as he drives, neither one of you speaking. Finally, you've had enough.

"Why did you ask me on a date?" You ask.

He swivels his head as he turns down the music, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you ask me out?"

"Because you're pretty?" His tone is incredulous.

You snort. "Yeah, right. I'm not an idiot, I'm not going to fall for that. I'm obviously not pretty, and you don't know me well enough to like my personality, so why ask me out?"

He considers. "Maybe I just wanted to get to know you well enough to like your personality."

You shake your head, but don't offer a retort. Then, it's Tony's turn to ask a question.

"So why agree to it then? Why agree to going on a date with me, if you're so convinced I have an ulterior motive?"

"Maybe I wanted to test the waters. It's not like I get asked out in the first place, so maybe I just wanted to go on a date and meet someone. After all, it can't hurt, right?" Mentally, you add, as long as you have a gun and self-defense training.

Tony laughs. "Well, you're certainly far quicker on your feet than I am."

"To be fair, I did shoot down your first answer. But honestly, you should be able to come up with a believable answer when someone asks you a question."

"Maybe I can. Maybe it's just not believable to you."

"It's the exact opposite of believable to everyone with eyes that work, Tony."

The man in question rolls his eyes heavenward. "That would mean I shouldn't be driving you, if my eyes don't work as you say."

You just laughed at that, and neither of you spoke as you pulled into the bistro parking lot.

~End flashback~

As you looked through the files, you noticed an inconsistency. Going through them again, you noticed that in each file for about half of them, the same word was scrambled—for aliases, street names, whatever, it was somewhere in there, just an anagram.

The other half? You couldn't figure out the connection. But one thing was for sure—something was happening with all of these cases, and you knew for sure that it wasn't normal.