She watched Tony speed away from the parking lot and she closed her eyes letting a few tears fall down her face. She banged her hand against the steering wheel wondering why she did not just confess her feelings. She did not understand why she was being so stubborn, Tony obviously felt the same way she did. She had been happy lately, no she had not been sleeping better, but something was making it easier for her to relax before the night came. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a black sedan with tinted windows, she had seen the same one the night she had went to Tony's apartment. She thought back to the night at the bar wondering if they had been there too, but that night was still a bit fuzzy to her. She was careful to make it seem like she did not see them. She pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. Remembering she was out of tea, she stopped in front of a small corner store and ran in to get some. She felt uneasy when she stepped out, but her Mossad training taught her to be aware but not noticed. So, she continued on her route home, checking her mirrors every few minutes to see if she was still being tailed. She was. There was no parking in front of her apartment building, so she parked a block over near an abandoned building. When she stepped out of her car she immediately knew something was wrong. In the alley next to the large building with grafitti, she heard a click and she turned. A gun pointed at her she instinctivally started to reach for her gun. The man behind the mask spoke harshly to her, "I wouldn't try that if I were you." She ignored him and she pulled her gun from her holster pointing it at him, but she never got the chance to pull the trigger. She suddenly felt a stinging pain on the back of her head and she crumpled to the ground. She was only slightly aware of herself being lifted, voices, and screeching car tires.
Flashback to the previous evening
She sits at her desk alone, drinking a cup of hot tea. It is late, but she cannot sleep. So instead she stares at the almost blank piece of paper in front of her. Only 3 words adorn the paper, My Dearest Tony. She pulls her leg up onto the chair & looks out the window. Outside it is raining gently and only a soft patter of rain can be heard. This is a letter she has written, re-written and crumbled up many times. Nothing comes out quite the way she wants to tell it. She sighs softly and pulls her hair over one of her shoulders. She is tired, but she senses another sleepless night ahead. Besides this letter was to be written tonight, she felt it. She told herself she was thinking to much, analyzing her thoughts instead of just writing what was in her heart. She put her pen to the paper & began writing...
My Dearest Tony,
I often look back to the early days of our acquaintance and friendship as to the days of love and innocence, and, with an indescribable pleasure, I have seen a score of years roll over our heads with an affection heightened and improved by time. Perhaps I should draw you the picture of my heart? It would be what I hope you would still love, though it contained healing fractures. The absolute power you have obtained over it, leaves not the smallest space unoccupied.
Love demands everything and that very justly, you must be mine and I yours. The deep sorrow that I have felt for what I have experienced, cannot be changed, but I ask can our love endure all, except through sacrifice? I do not want to sacrifice my past, my present or my future, I do not want to sacrifice what could be, I do not want to sacrifice the wall that I spent so long building up around my heart. I cannot communicate to you the observations that I have made during the last few years, touching my own life in a way that is both intoxicating and has left my senses in turmoil. My heart is full of many things to say, but there are moments when I feel that speech is nothing after all.
I wake filled with thoughts of you. A thousand images of you; all different, all rare & all that have greatly touched me. Your portrait is sweet, incomparable and the effect you have on my heart is strange for me, something I have only felt since I met you. I did not think anyone could have such a profound effect on me, as you have. And so it seems to me, that no man was ever before to any woman what you are to me; only I know what was behind the long wilderness without the blooming rose.
Is it wonderful that I should stand as in a dream, and disbelieve--not in you--but in my own fate? I am content to delegate to the other woman the duty of watching, listening & admiring, while to myself I reserve the right of loving; this may be less attractive to the ear, but it is far sweeter to the heart. You & I, we have the most amazing secrets and an understanding that others do not share. We have increasing perplexities, many still unsolved but I am sure that on our future endeavors, resolutions will be found.
You are my all and one day I hope to find the courage to tell you this.
Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.
Tamid,
Ziva
She does not even re-read the letter once she is finished, knowing she would find a flaw... no an excuse to throw yet another letter in the garbage. She folds the letter carefully, methodically and puts it in a sealed envelope. Leaving it on the desk she lays down on her couch, exhaustion overcoming her.
Flasback ends
She groaned and tried to open her eyes.Everything was a haze. She tried to move & she heard a voice say "she is waking up." A man came and stood over her peering down at her. "Do not try to move Ms. David, you are bound and because we know what a fighter you are we had to drug you to keep you calm." Blinking her eyes a few times she was able to focus a little better, she was confused when the man above her was Ahmad, a man her father knew well. "I do not understand," Zivas speech was slurred. "Your Agent DiNozzo will be so disappointed when you do not return to work tomorrow," Ahmad spoke gently to her. He began pacing, "Your father is not happy Ziva. He has seen your loyalty to him decreasing most frequently. An email is no way to tell your father you no longer wish to be apart of Mossad. You have obviously lost some of your touch as you have been being watched for months now. He is even less pleased to see how taken you are with Agent DiNozzo. After what happened with Michael Rivkin, he was sure you would leave NCIS and certainly leave Agent DiNozzo, but somehow the events leading to present day have only pushed you further into his arms." Ziva was breathing shallow, "He could not have called to discuss this with me. He had to have me captured & drugged to subdue me? He is not my family anymore Ahmad. NCIS will find me and you will not be taken alive." Ahmad laughed. "Ms. David you have far too much faith in NCIS." She ignored him, "Where am I?" "Do not worry, your cell phone was turned off & tossed. We know how to play the game." Ziva was intrigued. "What game?" Ahmed laughed again. If your precious Agent DiNozzo and NCIS want you back they will have to play the game. You Ms. David are the prize." A voice from the back of the room startled her. Ahmed walked to the other man, they spoke in hushed tones for a few moments. A man she did not recognize walked over to her & helped her to sit up. "My name is not important, I am here to ensure the game runs smoothly. The rules have been written and soon NCIS will receive notice of your disappearance. You will stay here until the game is finished. If your father wins, your friends will die & you will be returned to Tel Aviv." "And if he does not?" Ziva asked. "He will. But if NCIS somehow manages to beat your father at his own game, you may go back to NCIS, back to DiNozzo and your father will have reign over you no more. But do not fear that, your father is a ruthless man and he will not lose." The men then left the room, leaving her alone. She did not want a repeat of Somalia, except maybe for the part where NCIS had rescued her. Tony had come around the world to avenge her death, something she first thought stupid of him, until she actually thought about it weeks later. He risked everything for her, thinking she would not even be there to save. She tried to smile then feeling love penetrate straight through to her bones, but she was to weak to do even that. She slowly fell back into a fitful darkness.
Monday morning at NCIS...
Tony strolled out of the elevator, grinning. He took his sunglasses off, set his backpack on the floor and said "Morning Probie. Where is our Israeli assassin?" "I don't know Tony. She's late." McGee said. "Well did you call her?" he picked up the phone dialing her cell phone.Ziva David. Tony hung up. "Straight to voicemail, McGoo, can you trace it?" "She's not even an hour late Tony, shouldn't we give her a little longer to call or show up?" McGee suggested. "McGee you must have forgotten about what happened the last time she was late." McGee nodded. "Good point. I can trace it if it turns back on." "Trace who McGee?" Gibbs inquired. "Uh boss, Ziva..." "Ziva's missing boss." Tony interrupted. "Missing?" Gibbs set his coffee onto his desk. "She is late Tony, that doesn't make her missing." "I talked to her yesterday afternoon boss, she didn't text me when she got home, now her phone is off. You remember what happened when you quit don't you?" Gibbs glared at him. "Sorry boss, retired." Tony corrected. "Yeah I remember." "What do we know besides she isn't answering her phone?" "Nothing yet." McGee answered. Tony sat down at his desk, re-checking his text messages to make sure he had not missed one. He sighed and threw his phone down on the desk... looking at his stack of mail. He picked it up, going through it & tossing most of it. He came to a plain white envelope, no return address, with the words Agent Anthony DiNozzo scrawled across the front. "Boss I think we have something here and after my brush with death I am not opening it this time. I think it's McGee's turn." "Take the envelope to Abby, have her open it in secure chambers and do not come back until you have something."
Twenty minutes later Tony is pacing the floor of Abby's lab talking so fast it practically sounds like gibberish. "Tony if you cannot keep quiet you're going to have to leave. I can't concentrate with you wearing a hole into my floor." "Are you almost done Abs?" Tony asked impatiently. "Just about..." Abby paused & inside the clear chamber the evelope was opened, "now!" "There are no hazardous materials Tony you are safe." Abby pulled her hands out of the gloves and opened the chamber to give Tony the letter back. He grabbed it from her. There were three pages. The first page had only three words on it; The Game Begins, the second page had a phone number and the third had a lock of chocolate brown hair accompanied by one single sentence that unnerved him to the core, Ziva David will die if you do not win the game." "Oh my God," Tony was frozen in fear. "What is it Tony? Let me see!" Abby bounced over to him grabbing the letter from his hand chattering about it being another love letter. Her face was smiling until she hit the last page, then her eyes went wide, she grabbed Tony by the arm & pulled him towards the elevator. The doors barely opened before they rushed out of it into the bullpen. "Boss we have a problem." Tony said panicked. Gibbs looked over the letter frowning. "Abby analyze every peice of this letter. I want to know who sent it!" The team swung into action, but Gibbs had a gut feeling that the letter would reveal nothing. "DiNozzo with me. We need to check out Ziva's car and apartment, we need to know where she went after you left her. McGee stay here, if her phone comes back on I want an address immediately!" The ride to Ziva's apartment was tense and he was almost relieved when they stopped in front of her building. He looked up, his eyes squinting at the brightness of the sun. He grabbed the gear out of the trunk & they made their way up to Ziva's apartment.
...To Be Continued...
Flashback to the previous evening
She sits at her desk alone, drinking a cup of hot tea. It is late, but she cannot sleep. So instead she stares at the almost blank piece of paper in front of her. Only 3 words adorn the paper, My Dearest Tony. She pulls her leg up onto the chair & looks out the window. Outside it is raining gently and only a soft patter of rain can be heard. This is a letter she has written, re-written and crumbled up many times. Nothing comes out quite the way she wants to tell it. She sighs softly and pulls her hair over one of her shoulders. She is tired, but she senses another sleepless night ahead. Besides this letter was to be written tonight, she felt it. She told herself she was thinking to much, analyzing her thoughts instead of just writing what was in her heart. She put her pen to the paper & began writing...
My Dearest Tony,
I often look back to the early days of our acquaintance and friendship as to the days of love and innocence, and, with an indescribable pleasure, I have seen a score of years roll over our heads with an affection heightened and improved by time. Perhaps I should draw you the picture of my heart? It would be what I hope you would still love, though it contained healing fractures. The absolute power you have obtained over it, leaves not the smallest space unoccupied.
Love demands everything and that very justly, you must be mine and I yours. The deep sorrow that I have felt for what I have experienced, cannot be changed, but I ask can our love endure all, except through sacrifice? I do not want to sacrifice my past, my present or my future, I do not want to sacrifice what could be, I do not want to sacrifice the wall that I spent so long building up around my heart. I cannot communicate to you the observations that I have made during the last few years, touching my own life in a way that is both intoxicating and has left my senses in turmoil. My heart is full of many things to say, but there are moments when I feel that speech is nothing after all.
I wake filled with thoughts of you. A thousand images of you; all different, all rare & all that have greatly touched me. Your portrait is sweet, incomparable and the effect you have on my heart is strange for me, something I have only felt since I met you. I did not think anyone could have such a profound effect on me, as you have. And so it seems to me, that no man was ever before to any woman what you are to me; only I know what was behind the long wilderness without the blooming rose.
Is it wonderful that I should stand as in a dream, and disbelieve--not in you--but in my own fate? I am content to delegate to the other woman the duty of watching, listening & admiring, while to myself I reserve the right of loving; this may be less attractive to the ear, but it is far sweeter to the heart. You & I, we have the most amazing secrets and an understanding that others do not share. We have increasing perplexities, many still unsolved but I am sure that on our future endeavors, resolutions will be found.
You are my all and one day I hope to find the courage to tell you this.
Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.
Tamid,
Ziva
She does not even re-read the letter once she is finished, knowing she would find a flaw... no an excuse to throw yet another letter in the garbage. She folds the letter carefully, methodically and puts it in a sealed envelope. Leaving it on the desk she lays down on her couch, exhaustion overcoming her.
Flasback ends
She groaned and tried to open her eyes.Everything was a haze. She tried to move & she heard a voice say "she is waking up." A man came and stood over her peering down at her. "Do not try to move Ms. David, you are bound and because we know what a fighter you are we had to drug you to keep you calm." Blinking her eyes a few times she was able to focus a little better, she was confused when the man above her was Ahmad, a man her father knew well. "I do not understand," Zivas speech was slurred. "Your Agent DiNozzo will be so disappointed when you do not return to work tomorrow," Ahmad spoke gently to her. He began pacing, "Your father is not happy Ziva. He has seen your loyalty to him decreasing most frequently. An email is no way to tell your father you no longer wish to be apart of Mossad. You have obviously lost some of your touch as you have been being watched for months now. He is even less pleased to see how taken you are with Agent DiNozzo. After what happened with Michael Rivkin, he was sure you would leave NCIS and certainly leave Agent DiNozzo, but somehow the events leading to present day have only pushed you further into his arms." Ziva was breathing shallow, "He could not have called to discuss this with me. He had to have me captured & drugged to subdue me? He is not my family anymore Ahmad. NCIS will find me and you will not be taken alive." Ahmad laughed. "Ms. David you have far too much faith in NCIS." She ignored him, "Where am I?" "Do not worry, your cell phone was turned off & tossed. We know how to play the game." Ziva was intrigued. "What game?" Ahmed laughed again. If your precious Agent DiNozzo and NCIS want you back they will have to play the game. You Ms. David are the prize." A voice from the back of the room startled her. Ahmed walked to the other man, they spoke in hushed tones for a few moments. A man she did not recognize walked over to her & helped her to sit up. "My name is not important, I am here to ensure the game runs smoothly. The rules have been written and soon NCIS will receive notice of your disappearance. You will stay here until the game is finished. If your father wins, your friends will die & you will be returned to Tel Aviv." "And if he does not?" Ziva asked. "He will. But if NCIS somehow manages to beat your father at his own game, you may go back to NCIS, back to DiNozzo and your father will have reign over you no more. But do not fear that, your father is a ruthless man and he will not lose." The men then left the room, leaving her alone. She did not want a repeat of Somalia, except maybe for the part where NCIS had rescued her. Tony had come around the world to avenge her death, something she first thought stupid of him, until she actually thought about it weeks later. He risked everything for her, thinking she would not even be there to save. She tried to smile then feeling love penetrate straight through to her bones, but she was to weak to do even that. She slowly fell back into a fitful darkness.
Monday morning at NCIS...
Tony strolled out of the elevator, grinning. He took his sunglasses off, set his backpack on the floor and said "Morning Probie. Where is our Israeli assassin?" "I don't know Tony. She's late." McGee said. "Well did you call her?" he picked up the phone dialing her cell phone.Ziva David. Tony hung up. "Straight to voicemail, McGoo, can you trace it?" "She's not even an hour late Tony, shouldn't we give her a little longer to call or show up?" McGee suggested. "McGee you must have forgotten about what happened the last time she was late." McGee nodded. "Good point. I can trace it if it turns back on." "Trace who McGee?" Gibbs inquired. "Uh boss, Ziva..." "Ziva's missing boss." Tony interrupted. "Missing?" Gibbs set his coffee onto his desk. "She is late Tony, that doesn't make her missing." "I talked to her yesterday afternoon boss, she didn't text me when she got home, now her phone is off. You remember what happened when you quit don't you?" Gibbs glared at him. "Sorry boss, retired." Tony corrected. "Yeah I remember." "What do we know besides she isn't answering her phone?" "Nothing yet." McGee answered. Tony sat down at his desk, re-checking his text messages to make sure he had not missed one. He sighed and threw his phone down on the desk... looking at his stack of mail. He picked it up, going through it & tossing most of it. He came to a plain white envelope, no return address, with the words Agent Anthony DiNozzo scrawled across the front. "Boss I think we have something here and after my brush with death I am not opening it this time. I think it's McGee's turn." "Take the envelope to Abby, have her open it in secure chambers and do not come back until you have something."
Twenty minutes later Tony is pacing the floor of Abby's lab talking so fast it practically sounds like gibberish. "Tony if you cannot keep quiet you're going to have to leave. I can't concentrate with you wearing a hole into my floor." "Are you almost done Abs?" Tony asked impatiently. "Just about..." Abby paused & inside the clear chamber the evelope was opened, "now!" "There are no hazardous materials Tony you are safe." Abby pulled her hands out of the gloves and opened the chamber to give Tony the letter back. He grabbed it from her. There were three pages. The first page had only three words on it; The Game Begins, the second page had a phone number and the third had a lock of chocolate brown hair accompanied by one single sentence that unnerved him to the core, Ziva David will die if you do not win the game." "Oh my God," Tony was frozen in fear. "What is it Tony? Let me see!" Abby bounced over to him grabbing the letter from his hand chattering about it being another love letter. Her face was smiling until she hit the last page, then her eyes went wide, she grabbed Tony by the arm & pulled him towards the elevator. The doors barely opened before they rushed out of it into the bullpen. "Boss we have a problem." Tony said panicked. Gibbs looked over the letter frowning. "Abby analyze every peice of this letter. I want to know who sent it!" The team swung into action, but Gibbs had a gut feeling that the letter would reveal nothing. "DiNozzo with me. We need to check out Ziva's car and apartment, we need to know where she went after you left her. McGee stay here, if her phone comes back on I want an address immediately!" The ride to Ziva's apartment was tense and he was almost relieved when they stopped in front of her building. He looked up, his eyes squinting at the brightness of the sun. He grabbed the gear out of the trunk & they made their way up to Ziva's apartment.
...To Be Continued...