Anthony DiNozzo was getting thoroughly frustrated. It wasn’t bad enough that it was Valentine’s Day - a holiday he’d never been particularly fond of, especially when he was single, but all day long, little pieces of candy had appearing on his desk.

They’d started off sounding fairly innocent, complimentary even. He’d smiled at the combination of ur hot, wink wink, and so fine. During a break from a cold case, he’d returned to find high five, go go go and u can do it on his desk. When he found hey babe and smile, he’d grinned. You rock and cutie pie had resulted in him nearly giggling, but he’d managed to salvage his manly ego by turning that one into a chuckle instead.

After lunch, however, things had changed. He’d come back to find a small pile of the little sugary hearts on his desk, all of them with messages like I love you, my boy, mad 4 you, soul mate, and the ever so slightly disconcerting miss you.

Of course, both McGee and Ziva feigned innocence and claimed they didn’t know anything. Any questions directed towards Gibbs had the same reply, although it was delivered in the form of a raised eyebrow and an eye roll.

Frustrated beyond belief, Tony pulled on a pair of gloves and stuffed the latest collection of candy hearts into an evidence bag. “At least Abby should be able to pull prints off of these,” he muttered under his breath before heading to the elevator.

-----

“You want me to do what?”

Tony sighed and resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearest desk. “I’ve been getting these stupid little candies all day, Abs. Can’t you pull any prints off of them?”

“You’re kidding me, right? Tony, I’m good, but I’m not that good.” Looking entirely too innocent for her own good, Abby took a sip of the Caf-Pow that Tony had brought with him. “I don’t know why you’re freaking out so much, anyways. It’s Valentine’s Day, and you have a secret admirer. I think it’s sweet!”

“I came back from lunch to find a whole stack of them on my desk! All of them were saying stuff like miss you or soul mate, even love you forever… I mean, it’s starting to freak me out!”

Abby frowned. “Come on, Tony. You’ve got a secret admirer! Didn’t you ask Timmy and Ziva if they saw who was leaving them?” Slicing the evidence bag open, she dumped the candies out and began to sort through them with her bare hands.

“Abby! What the hell!” Horrified at how the forensic tech had breached protocol, Tony stared at her in shock. “Gloves!”

“Oops! I must’ve forgot!” Smiling sweetly, Abby went back to sorting through the candies, glaring at Tony when he grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

“You know who’s sending them, don’t you?” he demanded, resisting the urge to shake his friend.

Batting her eyelashes, Abby again turned back to the candies. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“I can’t tell you, though.”

“Well, why the hell not?!?“

“I’m sworn to secrecy, that’s why!”

“Oh god. Don’t tell me it’s Ziva,” Tony groaned.

Laughing, Abby shook her head. “No, but she’s in on it!”

“McGeek?!“

“I’m not going to tell you!” Abby exclaimed. “All I can tell you is it’s not a stalker, and Tim and Ziva know because they’re in on it.”

“Does Gibbs know? I mean, come on. Gibbs has to know, there‘s no way he wouldn‘t know, but nobody’s telling me anything! It’s driving me insane.”

“Maybe you should look through these yourself, Tony. Might be a clue in here as to who your secret admirer is in here.” Winking, Abby pushed several blue hearts to the side and stepped back before heading towards her office. “I’ll be right back, need to check on one of my babies.”

As Tony watched her head back towards her office, he shook his head in dismay. “Thanks a lot, Abs. Big help you are.”
“I heard that!”

“Good!” Tony snapped back. Trying to ignore the headache that was coming on, he looked down at the separated hearts.

My Boy
Mi Amor
Dare Ya
Ur Mine

As the puzzle pieces fell into place, he blinked in shock, utterly stunned.

Jackpot.

Smiling, Tony pocketed the separated candies before pulling several others aside and scooping the remainder into the evidence bag.

After a quick trip upstairs to deposit hey babe on his desk, he ran out for coffee, making sure to take his time and bring back enough for everyone.

After all, two could play at this game.

-----

Tony was trying to be nonchalant; unfortunately, he wasn’t succeeding. The message he’d left had disappeared during his coffee run, and despite his many excursions around the office afterwards, the deliveries had stopped. He was running out of errands, so he decided to grab the bull by the horns.

“Anyone want some candy?”

Exchanging quick glances at each other, both Tim and Ziva politely declined. Ignoring the butterflies in his stomach, Tony stood up and moved to stand in front of Gibbs’ desk, extending his hand with the pre-picked candies in it, the messages clearly visible.

Hey Babe
Me And You
One On One
Say Yes

“How about you, Boss? Want some candy?”

One side of his mouth quirking up in amusement, Gibbs grabbed Say Yes and popped it into his mouth, laughter in his eyes as he looked up at Tony.

“Sure. Love these things.”

Relieved, Tony grinned. “You sure you don’t want any more, then? I’ve got a whole bunch…”

Smiling back, Gibbs grabbed both Me and You and One On One, carefully laying them out on his desk. “Mind if I save these for later?”

“Works for me.” Winking, Tony popped the final candy into his mouth and resisted the urge to skip back to his desk. A quick check of the clock revealed that it was 5 o’clock, and he internally cheered as he began to shut his computer down.

“So, anyone have any plans tonight?” The question sounded innocent enough, but the waggling eyebrows and leer said otherwise, and he was promptly ignored by his coworkers.

Well, all but one.

Leaning back in his chair, Gibbs made eye contact, then popped another candy into his mouth. “Maybe.”

“That’s too bad, Boss. Was gonna watch a movie later, could use some company.” Trying to not sound too hopeful, Tony waited for Gibbs’ reply.

“Whatcha watching?”

Tony shrugged. “No clue. Could use some help picking one out… I’ll make popcorn, you could always pick up some candy on the way.”

Ducking his head, Gibbs bit back a smile. “I think I could manage that,” he replied. “What should I bring?”

“You do know they make dirty versions of those hearts, right?” Tony watched as the tips of Gibbs’ ears got a little red. “You should pick some of those up. Might be fun.”

“Ya think?”

“Only one way to find out.” Dropping another candy onto Gibbs’ desk, Tony smiled. “See you at 7?”

“Works for me.”

Quickly tapping the heart he’d dropped, Tony winked and headed for the elevator, taking a moment to watch Gibbs read the message he’d conveyed. The sharp bark of laughter told him that it’d gotten through, loud and clear.

Urs 4Ever

Smiling, Tony popped a couple of candies in his mouth and stepped into the elevator.

It was going to be a good night.