This is an old story that I'm re-vamping and continuing now that I have a few more years of writing experience under my belt so if you feel like you've read it before don't worry, I just can't remember the password to my old account so I have to re-upload it. Hope you enjoy!

Her chest was tight and her stomach clenched as she crept along the corridor. She turned and nodded at Gibbs and he immediately nodded back. She glanced at the security camera to her left, knowing that Tony, who was in a control room on the ship, could see her. She gave a small nod, that only he would notice. Although she did not know it then, with that glance she had set into motion a chain of events that could end her own destruction and the destruction of all she holds dear.

In her blissful ignorance she continued with the plan: Doing the moves than she had rehearsed, learned by heart and perfected. She kicked the door to the apartment and it flung open. She ran through holding her gun and flashlight high, quickly surveyed the room and shouted, "Clear!" before running to the door at the other end of the living room. Adrenaline made her blood pound in her ears but she, without needing to hear it, knew that Gibbs was still following closely behind her. In the second room they found what they had been searching for.

A naked crying woman lay on the bed in the centre of the room; her wrists were tied together with a rope at the base of her spine and another rope was tying her ankles together and looped around her neck. It was pulled tight, so even straightening her legs a little would end in her demise. It was the perfect crime: She would be forced to cause her own death. Petty Officer McMilligan, her kidnapper, knew that she would eventually become so uncomfortable that she would straighten her legs thus tighten the noose, either in her sleep or on purpose when it became too unbearable.

Ziva used to be accustomed to seeing crimes like this when she was in Israel, but since moving to DC she had got in touch with another side of herself, a more sensitive side. She felt her stomach tighten and bile rise in her throat before she remembered to harden herself to it. She might not be a ninja anymore, but she was still a damn good agent.

~.o.~

After the crime scene had been searched and the victim had been given a quick medical examination by Ducky, Gibbs disappeared leaving Ziva to question the woman who, since being untied, had become steadily more hysterical. Her attempts at trying to get any sense out of her were futile so she gave up and, leaving the victim in the interrogation room, she went to her desk in the squad room. It was pitch black outside, about midnight she guessed. Her head was throbbing and her bed at home had been calling to her and steadily getting louder, so she was very grateful when ten minutes later Gibbs arrived with two cups of coffee, one for himself and one for her, and an order for her to go home and get some rest. He seemed tense, but she didn't ask why, he wouldn't have told her anyway.

She held it together as she drove home, let herself into her house and got ready for bed, but as she crawled beneath the sheet she allowed herself to feel again. Her throat burned ached with the effort to not cry so she gave up. She gasped and squeezed her eyes shut as she released the sob she'd been keeping in since this evening. She had always been so strong, so emotionless, so cold, but being in DC awakened something in her. No one had ever seen this side of her: The soft side - It had almost been extinguished when she worked for Mossad but the way the team here interacted, the love between them, showed her what she had missed all those years and, despite her best efforts, she reciprocated and responded. Through her tears she smiled a little as she remembered one of DiNozzo's movie references, something about a snitch whose heart grew three sizes that day. That sounded more like her than she cared to admit. The tears continued until she became so exhausted that her body just shut down and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

~.o.~

She awoke with a start when her cell phone, which she had left beside her bed, rang. Sleepy and dazed she reached for her weapon, which was beneath her pillow and began to sit up, but her head gave a throb of protest and she lay back down again. Slower this time she raised her head and looked at the clock – it was only 2:30. Her stomach knotted. Something was wrong. She grabbed her phone and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?" She croaked.

"Ziva." It was Director Sheppard, her voice was strained.

"Director – what is it?" she was wide awake now.

"Sorry to wake you but you're needed as a matter of urgency."

Ziva dragged herself out of bed and began to get ready to leave as Jenny rhymed of an address to her. With one sock on she froze and her heart stopped "But… That's Tony's address."

There was a moment of silence before the director replied, "…Yes." She hung up before Ziva could ask more, leaving a very confused Ziva to finish changing, hastily tie back her hair and grab her weapon from beneath her pillow. Then, trying to control the churning in her gut, she grabbed her car keys and left her apartment. She had a bad feeling about this.

Feel free to review and leave any constructive criticism. The next chapter will be uploaded asap!