Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters.

This is set approximately one year after Ziva's departure and is an AU story using the plot introduced in Twenty Clicks as a springboard. My timeline and the show's timeline will not match up. Tiva. Constructive critique welcomed... this is my first fanfic ever.

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Tony leaned back in his chair, resting his head in his hands that linked together behind his head. It had been a long week of paperwork and cold cases. A nice reprieve from the violence that permeated his job. However, the seconds felt like minutes, the minutes like hours, the hours like days. This weekend couldn't come fast enough. Well, any weekend couldn't come fast enough he amended. He looked forward to his Facetime chats with Ziva.

Leaving her behind a year ago had left him broken for weeks. His team had noticed the difference, but their words and acts of encouragement and kindness did little to mend his heart. Then, one night, as he had just finished pouring is first bourbon, his computer alerted him to an incoming call. His thoughts drifted back to her initial contact.

"Hello… Tony." She had reached out, he thought, stunned into silence. Shocked. After the primary shock had worn off, he had noticed the sheen in her eyes. She had misunderstood his lack of response. "I should not have contacted you. I am sorry, Tony."

"No, Ziva! Wait!" Panic had coursed through him at the thought of potentially losing her yet again.

"It is ok Tony. I have no right to your heart any more. I understand if you have moved on. Or if you cannot forgive me this time. It is my foolishness that I have to blame, not you."

"Ziva. Stop. Just listen to me for a sec, ok?" He had paused to make sure he had her attention. "There is no one else. Never was and never will be. I was just a little surprised to hear from you, that's all."

She had studied him intently, then averted her gaze. "I do not deserve you," she mumbled to no one in particular.

Tony had managed to lighten the mood and they had gone through the pleasantries, had caught each other up on the past five months of their respective lives. He had not wanted to push but was aching to know, and he was thankful when she had taken the initiative to answer the question that burned the deepest within him – Was she coming back?

"Tony. I am closer to the person I have been searching for, but still a long way from where I want to be. I need more time. And, I know I have no right to ask you to wait, but I am making my way back to you. If you will still have me, that is."

"I would wait a lifetime, Sweetcheeks."

Ziva had flashed a genuine smile, the one that was his favorite. She had told him of her intentions to travel across Europe, to teach ballet to children in need, indicating that she was literally and figuratively making her way closer to him in the process.

Then they had agreed to find a way to contact each other in the event of an emergency, knowing that Parsa was still out there somewhere, a threat that hadn't yet been neutralized. Ziva had informed Tony that she would find a way to give him an emergency number, that he just needed to "pay attention" to little details.

Forty minutes since the first greeting, they were both smiling, the future, their future, now a hopeful, almost tangible being. Before signing off, Tony knew he could not wait any longer, that he had already waited too long. He had taken the plunge, "Ziva, I love you. I should have told you that a long time ago."

She had been silent for a long moment, looking down. When she had raised her head one last time, he saw the sheen of tears once again swimming in her eyes. But this time it had been accompanied with another one of her radiant smiles. "I know. And I love you. Always."

A private smile played with his lips as the memory wrapped in his mind. In another two days, he would see his little assassin again during their weekly chat. Saturday evenings continued to be his favorite date night of the week, but now, instead of going out every weekend with a different woman, he waited at home for a call from the only one he truly felt connected to. Strange, he thought, how he had changed. He had told her that he would change with her, not realizing at the time that he was already doing so.

A sharp command pulled him from his reverie.

"Gibbs. I need you and your team in MTAC. Now," Director Vance called down from the walkway overlooking the bullpen.

Gibbs stared at Leon for a moment as the rest of the team stared at him. Without a word, in a well-orchestrated move, the team simultaneously stood, Gibbs in the lead, the rest following, all wondering what awaited them.

The team filed in. When they noticed the person on the screen, Gibbs demanded, "What's going on here, Director."

"It seems our friends at Mossad need some help Agent Gibbs."

With the mention of Mossad, Tony visibly straightened and slowed. He glared at the person on the big screen, thankful that he was still cloaked in the darkness of the ramp leading into MTAC. His heart raced as his stomach plummeted. There was a chance this was not about her. A chance that this was about some new threat that Israel needed help with. But his gut was rarely wrong, and if his gut continued its winning streak, then he knew this was about Ziva.

"Good morning Director Elbaz. To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"Good evening Director Vance. My call is of a rather urgent matter. I need to know if you or any of your agents have had contact with Ziva David in the last 72 hours."

Everyone was on full alert with the mention of their former teammate's name. They all knew that Tony had established regular contact with Ziva. While he didn't advertise the content of their chats, Ziva had asked him on occasion to pass along messages when she was unable to. She had also contacted the other members of the team intermittently, trying to reestablish and strengthen the bond that she once shared with her adoptive family for when she returned home.

All eyes turned to Tony, hopeful that he indeed had. When he answered, "No. The last we spoke was Saturday evening," the team anticipated news of a not so pleasant nature was about to be revealed.

"I see," Director Elbaz sighed. "I fear that Ziva may be in danger then."

"What interest does Mossad have with Miss David? It was my understanding that she's no longer an agent for either country," Director Vance finished with a raised eyebrow and a sideways glance to Tony, as if looking for confirmation whether there was something he should have known about. Tony indicated with an almost imperceptible shift of his head in the negative as he stared back at the Director.

"Ziva is no longer an agent for Mossad, that is correct. However, Mossad still values her safety since she was a former intelligence officer and the daughter of former Director David. She still holds many secrets our enemies would find most valuable."

"So how do you know she's in danger?" Director Vance pressed.

"We have been keeping Ziva under surveillance since her attack in Israel several months ago. Even as she travels across Europe, we have a team assigned to her security."

"Ziva never mentioned this, Director. Was she aware that she was being watched?" Tony asked, unable to mask his annoyance.

"I assure you Agent DiNozzo, Ziva knew. She confronted the team assigned to her one evening as they questioned a dance instructor she was working with in Austria. She threatened them to keep their distance." Tony scowled with this new knowledge, wondering why Ziva did not share this with him.

Gibbs chimed in, getting straight to the point by asking, "So, what's happened in the last 72 hours?"

"Our tech department discovered that specific files were hacked late Sunday evening. Upon closer examination of the files, we found that they all shared one thing in common. All were filed by Agent David. Has NCIS had any technology breeches within the past week, Director Vance?"

The Director turned to the tech operator working in MTAC, ordering him to contact the tech department and find out if indeed they were aware of a breach and if not to check for one, specifically looking for hacked files involving former Agent David.

Director Elbaz continued as Vance returned his attention to the screen. "Our tech department worked for almost a day trying to trace the hacker. They were eventually successful, finding it originated somewhere in Russia. We combined this new intel with the knowledge of your recent experience in Russia Agent Gibbs and formed a theory." Orli paused, allowing the agents time to catch on. "We know the leader of a Russian mercenary group, Sergei Mishnev, targeted you Agent Gibbs because of your involvement in the deaths of Saleem Ulman, Ilan Bodnar, and most importantly Ari Haswari. Each of these men was a personal friend of Mishnev's, but Ari became like a son to him. After his death, he began searching for the individual responsible. And since Ari's death occurred in your place of residence, Mishnev held you responsible. So he began to orchestrate a comprehensive plan seeking revenge on you. As his hacker continued to gather information about the operations revolving around these men, he discovered another commonality."

"Ziva," Tony supplied.

"That is correct," confirmed the Israeli Director.

"Sir." The MTAC tech operator returned the phone to the cradle. "Tech found a breach, sir. Early Sunday morning. Only a few files were hacked. The list is on the upper right screen."

All eyes turned toward the corner of the front wall. They all noticed the name of the person whom filed them. Everyone turned back to the large center screen.

"Your theory seems to have some credibility, Director Elbaz. Many of Ziva David's files were accessed Sunday during the early morning hours."

"We believe Sergei discovered that it was actually Ziva who killed Ari and has now chosen to target her."

"What aren't you telling us, Director Elbaz?" Gibbs bluntly inquired.

Orli looked away for a few seconds, then returned her gaze to the team. "We believe Ziva was attacked sometime Tuesday evening. The security detail assigned to Ziva was found dead Wednesday morning in the apartment building she was staying at. The apartment Ziva was staying in had been broken into and from what we can gather, there was a struggle. A man with ties to Russian mercenaries was found shot to death. We also found traces of Ziva's blood in her bedroom, bathroom, and strangely, on the phone." As the Director relayed the events, pictures flashed on the screen in a sickening slide show. Tony's stomach and jaw clenched tighter with each one. When he saw the picture of the phone with her bloody fingerprints on the one and the nine, he felt a punch to the gut. It was a message. One that only he would know. And she was counting on him to decipher it and find her. He turned on his heels and ran to the MTAC door, praying that he was wrong and hoping that he was right.