Tony & Ziva Are Back! ‘NCIS,’ ‘Blue Bloods’ & More Crime-Solving Partners Who Got Romantic
Who doesn’t love a good will they/won’t they romance? It’s so popular across television, but especially on crime procedurals. And one of the couples who took the longest to get together—it wasn’t until the second of the two was leaving that we found out they had a kid together (as did he)—is coming back, with Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo starring in an NCIS spinoff as Tony and Ziva for Paramount+.
With that upcoming series, fans will finally get to see the two together, raising their daughter, something that they missed out on during their time on NCIS. (At one point, she was even presumed dead, so it looked like that would never happen.) But they’re far from the first or the last to fall into that slow burn category. Just look at Blue Bloods, Bones, The Rookie, and The X-Files. And the longer a show runs, and the more popular it begins, the more likely it seems for something to finally happen since the worry of the Moonlighting curse no longer seems to be a concern.
But has any been going on longer than Law & Order: SVU‘s Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni, now on his own spinoff, Organized Crime)? We’re still waiting for something to happen there.
Below, we take a look at Tiva, Densi, Chenford, and more crime-solving partners who got romantic (and Bensler, who could be next).
Jamie and Eddie, Blue Bloods
After four seasons of a slow burn, Jamie Reagan (Will Estes) and Eddie Janko (Vanessa Ray) surprised his family at the weekly family dinner in the Season 8 finale with the reveal that they’d gotten together … but skipped dating completely. They went from simply partners on the job (who had kissed before and knew they had feelings for each other) to engaged! Even though the police officers stopped riding as partners since (he’s now a sergeant), that hasn’t stopped them from working cases together. Five seasons later, they’re married and still going strong.
Brennan and Booth, Bones
Forensic anthropologist Temperance “Booth” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) are the definition of opposites attract and the perfect example of why that works so well when it comes to crime-solving. The best part? No other couple is anywhere near as entertaining as these two undercover. Everyone knew the two belonged together even when they denied it (and dated other people)—we have to thank Caroline (Patricia Belcher) for making them kiss under mistletoe, though it turned out that wasn’t their first time locking lips—and fans were surprised when the confirmation that the two got together came in the form of Brennan telling Booth she was pregnant with his baby in the Season 6 finale. They went on to get married and have another kid and continue to solve cases until the end of the series.
Castle and Beckett, Castle
Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) may not have been happy to have author Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) working alongside the NYPD in the beginning, but the two proved they are not just great at solving investigations of the week together but also helping her get answers about her mother’s murder case. It took until Season 3 for them to share their first kiss (on the job) but it wasn’t until Season 4 they got together in a memorable finale-ending moment. A season later he proposed, and in Season 7, they finally got married. But that didn’t mean happily ever after. They did take a break in what ended up being the final season (she wanted to keep him safe from big bad LokSat), which wrapped with the two back together and with their kids seven years later.
Upton and Halstead, Chicago P.D.
Detectives Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) and Jay Halstead’s (Jesse Lee Soffer) relationship may not have had a happy ending (yet?)—they got divorced, following his exit last year, though there’s hope with her leaving this season—but before then, we got to watch their entire journey. Spiridakos joined P.D. in Season 4, then Upton and Halstead became partners after Sophia Bush‘s exit. There were hints, but it wasn’t until Season 8 that they got together, then got married in Season 9. They continued to work together as partners—they were far from the first Intelligence romance—until he left.
Lisbon and Jane, The Mentalist
Another (very) slow burn between a law enforcement official (Robin Tunney‘s California Bureau of Investigation agent Teresa Lisbon) and consultant (Simon Baker‘s fake psychic Patrick Jane), the signs are there that something could happen early on, and nothing says trust like faking her death. And like on other shows, others know the feelings are there—and acknowledge them—before they do. It’s not until she’s about to leave for Washington in the Season 6 finale that they kiss for the first time, and a season later, in the series finale, they get married and are expecting a baby.
Tony and Ziva, NCIS
From their early days, Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David’s (Cote de Pablo) relationship was charged, with the two going undercover as a couple early on in her first season (the third)—and leading to the question of what happened under the covers—and quite a few times we thought that something might happen. But not only did it take until her final episode as a series regular for the two to kiss (not undercover) but it wasn’t until two seasons later that, in Weatherly’s departure in the Season 13 finale, he and the audience learned she had their daughter. Three years later, it was revealed she was alive, and the two reunited off-screen.
Kensi and Deeks, NCIS: LA
Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) and Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) came a long way from the days they would barely admit they had a “thing” and talked in metaphors. They first worked together at the end of Season 1, then it was the Season 4 finale that they kissed for the first time (not undercover) when she called him out on not saying what he means. But the slow burn continued, with him asking her out on a date without telling her that was what he was doing in Season 5—a flashback would later confirm they went home together that night—and the two finally getting together in Season 6. It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing after that, with multiple proposals and an intense disagreement that led to them calling off the wedding. But in Season 10, they did marry, then in subsequent seasons, we watched their journey to parenthood (including adoption and a series finale pregnancy reveal).
Chen and Bradford, The Rookie
Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) met when she became his rookie at the start of the ABC series, and he did not make those early years (or really, ever) easy on her. There was the predictable double date with other significant others where it’s obvious who should really be together, as well as an undercover op—with a twist, in their case, since they ran into criminals who looked just like them. That almost led to them getting together, only for her to invite him in then find her boyfriend (Kanoa Goo’s Chris) bleeding out in her apartment from an attack by Rosalind (Annie Wersching). But once Chen was single again, she made sure Bradford asked her out, and while there is a bit of a hiccup right now over how he feels about her becoming an undercover detective, the two are still working together.
Mulder and Scully, The X-Files
It’s impossible not to think of the slow burn of these two FBI agents without cursing that bee that interrupted what would have been a kiss between believer Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and skeptic Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) in the movie between Seasons 5 and 6. The two would go on to banter and flirt over cases for two more seasons (and share a New Year’s Eve kiss), until Duchovny’s exit, in the same episode Scully was revealed to be pregnant. Was it Mulder’s baby was the question for the longest time. (We would rather not think of the reveals in the revival.) The two would then kiss (again) before Duchovny left for the second time (after a brief return), and their relationship was best described as on-and-off and “it’s complicated” after that.
Benson and Stabler, Law & Order: SVU & Organized Crime
It’s been 25 years and some days, it feels like Benson and Stabler are no closer to getting together than they were back in 1999 simply because they keep taking steps back. Even when Stabler and his wife Kathy (Isabel Gillies) were separated, nothing happened. Then Meloni left SVU. Then, surprise, he came back, to kick off his own spinoff, a two-parter that killed off Kathy (and was much more about Benson and Stabler’s reunion than her death). Since, there have been strong hints that the world of Law & Order is planning to go there with Benson and Stabler: the letter Kathy actually wrote that he added to, the “I love you” he blurts out to her in the middle of his family holding an intervention for him, the almost-kiss (in SVU Season 24), the compass necklace he gave her that’s supposed to lead her to happiness… But here we are, still waiting.
