Revenge Resolution

A/N: One shot inspired by tonight's re-airing of Revenge. When Vance asks Ziva if it's over...The look in both of their eyes...the shared pain.

Leon Vance looked deep into Special Agent David's eyes. "Is it over?"

The smallest of nods. "It's over."

He gazed into her chocolate orbs for a while longer, looking for anything more. All he saw was the echo of the pain he carried inside himself...and a flicker of relief that he felt himself. With the exception of Gibbs, he always held all his agents at arms length, until now. He watched as her chin trembled and she dropped his gaze. He knew she was at her rope's end and so was he. "Gibbs, give us some time."

"Leon," Gibbs said and backed out the door leaving his agent alone with him. Some things have to be private and their shared grief needed to be just that.

Ziva's eyes began to water. "I am so sorry for Mrs. Vance...for Jackie. She was always so kind and gracious..."

Leon felt his eyes tear looking into hers. "And I'm sorry for Eli, your father. He was always a good friend to me. He told me about you when we first met on my first overseas assignment. He was always proud of you. He told me so."

Ziva's tough facade crumbled and she began to weep openly, unconsciously holding onto Director Vance. She buried her face in his chest as her sobs became audible.

Suddenly, Leon couldn't hold back anything, himself, and held her tight as he, too, began to weep for his lost wife, the love of his life. Leon didn't blame Eli David or his daughter, vulnerable in her grief, in his arms. He chose this life, knowing all the dangers and Jackie knew this and married him anyway. He knew Ziva had no choice. Her father was already Mossad when she was conceived. No, she had no choice.

They both slipped to the floor of his office and wept, hands comforting and finding comfort in someone that understood their particular shared grief. She was comforting the father of his children and was comforting the daughter of his friend.

Slowly, they both began to recover and pull apart.

Leon brushed Ziva's hair from her face. "You gonna be okay now?"

She put a soft palm on his face to convey the same tender comfort. "I am better now. Will you be okay?"

"I'm better now, too," Leon said, handing a couple of tissues from his desk. "Wipe your eyes or Gibbs will come in here all growling that I read you the riot act. He loves you like a daughter. You know that, right?"

Ziva accepted the tissues an wiped her eyes and blew her nose, loudly. "I know. He is the closest person in the world that I have like a father to me. With Eli well and truly gone, Gibbs is my father." Her face crumpled and she began to cry again. "He is gone. Eli is gone and I was mean to him before he died. He died thinking that I did not love him."

Vance held her close as he would his own daughter. "Believe me, Ziva, he knew you loved him He always knew. He loved you so much. He argued with me to have you back here. He loved you. I'm a father and I can feel it."

She hugged him. "Thank you."

"Okay, we have to pull ourselves together or this place will fall apart, " Vance said, standing the both of them up. "We have mutual grief and you are clearly injured from the fight. Go get checked out and have one of your team take you home and be there for you when the nightmares come...when the pain from your injuries are too much. You're not weak. You're a warrior that needs solace right now. So am I. I have my kids and we'll heal together. You have the team. Regardless, we do this together."