Desert Rose

Ziva strolled into the bullpen at her usual hour noting that Tony was on time. She smirked to herself, must be a new record.

"What's so funny Zi-va?" Tony drawled pulling his feet from atop his desk flashing a grin towards the beautiful Israeli.

Ziva sat her backpack down and turned towards her partner, "Just wondering why you're on time for work on a Monday." She quipped earning herself a pout from Tony who merely huffed and turned his head getting ready to torture McGee.

McGee sensing the shift in the room looked up from his computer,

Not today Tony." McGee's voice was dry and he sounded uninterested in their normal game of cat and mouse. Tony felt a large grin crease his face as he pulled out a straw from his desk, probably from one of their many take-out overnighters. He unwrapped his weapon, tearing a piece from the wrapper and putting it in his mouth. Oh this was gonna be-

"DiNozzo." Gibbs entered the bullpen holding a fresh cup of coffee. Tony quickly swallowed the paper ball and put the wrapper and straw back in his desk for, later use…Ziva merely shook her head before opening up her email. She smiled when she saw the email address, DesertRose she quickly double clicked. The email opened, reveling a long detailed email in various languages. She groaned inwardly, she was not expecting to do this much thinking this early, sighing sadly to herself she set the email aside for a time when she had more patience to process the multilingual message.

Gibbs overtly observed his team, it was 0800 on a Monday, they had no case, he was itching to do something productive. Suddenly, Gibbs felt a pair of eyes on him, he looked up at the balcony meeting eyes with, a very displeased, Director Vance. Director Vance nodded his head slightly then retreated back into his office. Gibbs, ignoring his teams expectant glances, he trotted up the staircase and into the Directors office.

Cynthia paid no mind to agent Gibbs as he breezed past her into the director's office, she had long since given up on protecting the Directors privacy where agent Gibbs was concerned. Gibbs shut the door gently behind him as he gazed at the faces of on very pissed off looking Israeli ambassador and a calm collected Director.

"Agent Gibbs, this is Dr. Michael Oren ambassador of Israel." The ambassador held out his hand which Gibbs begrudgingly accepted. Dr. Oren did not seem to notice Gibbs resistance. Director Vance pulled out a file and motioned the two men to sit at his conference table.

"At 0400 Sunday we received intel about a Hamas terrorist group planning an attack towards the Israeli embassy. " Director Vance pulled out a group of pictures handing them to both men. Gibbs glanced over the photos briefly before staring back at the director. "The intel is considered reliable, coming directly from Mossad as well as the CIA and Homeland security. However, this group is extremely tight nit, and nearly impossible to penetrate, also their leader, Akuziva Daveda, is Mossad trained. She is highly skilled and extremely insolated. Her partners known only by their codenames are also flying completely under the radar of all of our best intelligence operations."

"What does this have to do with NCIS Leon?"

"Akuziva Daveda has dual citizenship for both America and Israel as long as she stays on US soil she is within our jurisdiction."

"How can she be Mossad and an American citizen?" Gibbs accepted a folder from Vance opening to the first page.

"Her father was a marine."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow before looking over the file, born in America; mother Vidette Daveda; father Bresal Daveda. Age: Unknown; Curently location unknown…unknown…Gibbs tossed the useless file onto the table.

"So what do you want us to do?"

Dr. Oren cleared his throat, "We have reason to believe that an agent of yours has been in constant contact with her, we however-" Gibbs growled and stood up from the table getting really close to the man's face begging him to say something stupid.

"Agent Gibbs." Vance sat up straighter in his chair trying to assert control back over the situation that was currently spiraling out of control. Dr. Oren gulped noticeably before looking away from Gibbs.

"However, " he continued slowly, cautiously, "there is no evidence to suspect that she is involved with this terrorist activity. The Israeli embassy as well as your government would like to orchestrate an undercover mission."

Gibbs calmed himself before returning to his seat. He looked at Vance, then back at the pictures.

"So what do you think they're talkin' about up there?" Tony shot another spitball at McGee quickly hiding the straw looking up innocently at him. Tim growled and pulled the spit ball out of his hair.

"No idea Tony." Tim grumbled tossing the fifth spit ball into the trash.

Ziva looked over at McGee with a sense of pity, it was her fault that he was getting picked on today. She decided to turn the tables. "So Tony, why are you on time today? No dates this weekend?" Ziva grinned putting her elbows on her desk, resting her chin on her folded hands. Tony's head turned towards Ziva a small frown appearing on his lips.

"Actually, Zi-va I had two dates this weekend." He grinned smugly leaning back in his chair. Ziva nodded her head smiling wider.

"Really, To-ny, and how did that go for you?"

Tony lost his smugness as the events of his weekend came back to him, "I don't wanna talk about it." At this McGee looked up from his desk suspcisouly.

"You always wanna talk about it." McGee deadpanned. Ziva stood slinking over behind Tony getting really close, whispering in his ear loud enough for McGee to hear.

"Yea, Tony. So what really happened?" Tony stiffened in his chair uncomfortably at the closeness of his partner. Her breath was sending chills down his spine, chills that where exciting his male organs.

"I-Oh hey boss!" Tony looked up at Gibbs as he passed by. Gibbs rolled his eyes at his teams antics. Can't leave them alone for more than five minutes he mused. Ziva stood giving Tony room to breathe but remained behind his chair waiting expectantly.

Gibbs sat a file on his desk before grabbing a set of pictures. "David, with me." Gibbs instantly backpedaled towards the elevator. Ziva instantly fell in step with her fearless leader. They waited in silence for the elevator doors to open before quietly stepping in. Once inside Gibbs hit the emergency off switch and turned to ZIva. His eyes searching her face. Ziva now accustomed to Gibbs stare merely waited for his search to finish before speaking. After a few moments Gibbs nodded to himself and opened a file pulling out several pictures. Gibbs pulled out one picture in particular, he put it right in front of Ziva's face. His body was so close she could feel his warm breathe on her ear. Ziva looked from Gibbs to the picture. Her eyes widened momentarily before she took the picture from Gibbs.

"Do you know her?" Gibbs voice drawled in her ear.

"Yes, her name is Akiva Daveda she's Mossad." Ziva inspected the picture closer her eyes, turning soft as her mind flittered in and out of memories.

"How well do you know her?" Gibbs watched Ziva's face contort subtly through the rainbow of emotions before she looked him in the eye.

"She trained me."

End Chapter.