Regrets of an Old Man
Spoilers for Semper Fideles and Aliyah
It was way after midnight, actually closer to dawn, yet Eli David was still in his office. He was not at his desk however. He was sitting on the sofa contemplating how he had screwed up. And his daughter was somewhere, paying the price for his arrogance.
For the first time in his career, he regretted sending agents out on a mission. It had come at too high a price. The four agents who returned, told of partial success. Yes, they had destroyed the terrorist camp, but it had come at a high cost. Enemy fire had killed thirteen agents. He'd already composed the letters to the families of the agents, and the condolence letters would go out in the morning post. Most of the terrorists had been killed in the fighting, and the two who had been captured were sitting in a prison cell awaiting interrogation. Two terrorists had escaped, however, and had taken with them a hostage. That in and of itself was bad news, but it was the identity of the hostage that was tearing at his soul.
He realized that it was his fault, Ziva would be safe in DC, if he'd listened to his heart a year ago, instead of agreeing to Director Vance's cockamamie plan to smoke a mole out of his agency. That request had been well timed for some mole hunting on his own turf.
Ziva had returned to Israel, and had been ordered to get close to Michael Rivkin, something that was not hard for her, as they had known each other since childhood.
He knew now that Rivkin had played them all for fools. He knew that Ziva had been conflicted about starting a relationship with him, telling her father there was someone back in DC that she was interested in seeing, and would not understand her seeing Rivkin as well.
He knew now there was one person that Rivkin had not fooled, Anthony DiNozzo.
The agent had risked his life as well as his career to talk with the rogue agent, and to protect his only living daughter.
His daughter would not be in the predicament she was because he'd not been willing to tell her it was his fault for dragging her into this mess.
If, no he would not start thinking that way, when his daughter was freed from her prison, and he had a pretty good idea where she was due to the identity of the terrorists who had disappeared with her, she would have to take some time to recover, if not physically, at least psychologically.
If she could return to duty, he would insist she resign from the Mossad, at least from the department she'd served in for years. However, he wanted more than that, he wanted her to return to Washington DC, and become an agent with the NCIS. The liaison position was finished. He would tell, as her father, not as her boss at the Mossad to please go.
He'd already contacted Leon Vance, Director of NCIS, and a long time friend, if there was such a thing in this business, and had plead his case for his daughters return to that agency. Permanently, he had enough friends in Washington to make a case for it. If not, he would play the trump card. His wife had been born in Los Angeles, her family immigrating to Israel in the early sixties. Ziva had an uncle that had stayed in the States to attend college and had never become an Israel citizen, so she had family there. That could help her case, couldn't it?
The first rays of the morning sunshine were starting to show. He was no closer to figuring things out then when he had turned the lights out at 2345.
All of her life, Ziva had been the dutiful daughter and agent, doing his bidding. She'd done the normal rebelling, what child didn't, but of his three children, she was the only one still alive, at least he prayed to a God he had forgotten about that she was still alive.
Tali his youngest had been killed, along with her mother in a suicide bomb.
Ari, his illegitimate son, was dead, and it had been at the hands of his daughter. Ziva had confessed to it a year ago, during her recall to Israel. At the time, he'd punished her for this deed, by having her get close to the suspected Michael Rivkin. Now he knew he was punishing himself, and had needlessly endangered Ziva.
If she'd had less devotion to duty, she would have a whole heart. He could see that the Ziva of childhood had lost her natural cheeriness because of her training and experiences in the Mossad. She would not have become an assassin if he hadn't pushed her towards that field, and arranged for her to become one. She should have stuck with the Israeli Defense Force, and worked her way through the ranks. He could see that she had command potential.
When she returned to DC, and deep down, he knew she would, he hoped that Anthony DiNozzo would be forgiven for his part in this mess. The agent had done what no one else had. He'd risked his friendship with Ziva, now Eli hoped that his daughter would forgive Tony. He liked the young man, not many would have baited him like he had in the bunker, and admired the chutzpah that it took. He wouldn't mind having the man for a son-in-law. There was the little fact that DiNozzo was not Jewish, but who was he to talk, as he'd maintained a long-term relationship with a Palestinian woman, who'd borne him a son.
He wanted to become a grandpa while he still had the health to spoil his grandchildren. Of course, this meant Ziva had to survive her ordeal, and come out of it willing to become a parent. Of his class in school, he was the only one, who was a parent, that was not yet a grandfather.
He would do his best, not only to get her out of the mess he'd gotten her into, he would make sure that she would see the light as far as Anthony DiNozzo was concerned. She'd done worse, at his bidding. When she returned to DC, he would let nature take its course, but also give Tony his blessing to date his daughter. That would send a message to his daughter, she could not ignore for long.
Meanwhile, he had his feelers out to find out where in Somalia they had taken his daughter…between the Mossad and the Americans, they would find her and bring her home…wherever that may be.