Home is Where the Heart is
By: Eyes-of-Pearl
Rating: K
Disclaimer: NCIS belong to its respective owners
Synopsis & Author's Notes: My 1st NCIS fic. A brief character study of Ziva David, up to and including Aliyah. Written for the June thing-a-thon on LJ, ncis_shared
Home is Where the Heart is
It was said that home was where the heart is. For the better part of her childhood and into the early part of adolescence, sweet, beautiful Talia was the one who held her heart. Tali was sunshine and charm; she played with dolls and learned Hebrew songs. It wasn't a true welcome home until Ziva was the recipient of her sister's exuberant hugs.
She was away when she heard the news that Tali was killed in a suicide bombing. She fled in a vow of vengeance and found retribution, but not the essence of her heart. Home never called to her as it once did.
oOo
As an active officer of the Mossad, she lived the life of a nomad. She was given assignments that took her anywhere from the romanticism of Paris to the acridness of Cairo. None of these places were overly appealing, that was until she met Jenny Shepard with her auburn hair and sharp eyes. The position of a Liaison Officer with the NCIS brought her to Washington D.C, with its hazy, summer days and riotous, sprawling architecture.
Whether it was by design or by subconsciousness, the American capital had managed to stake its claim on her. She would be gravely negligent if she did not identify the mixture of longing, conflict and dread when she had to fly back to Tel Aviv.
D.C. was the longest she had stayed in one place since ... well ... lets just say that it had been awhile since there was anybody besides the Director of the Mossad anticipating her return. She wondered what her father would say if he knew that she had come to associate Gibb's rules, Caf-pows and Probies as part of her homecoming.
oOo
Perhaps, it was because of this realization that Michael and Tony became part of the subterfuge to test her loyalty and Eli David could not have chosen better players.
"Your father sends his love ... and me."
There was no escape the flutter of trepidation, when she arrived at her apartment and saw Tony's signature blue Mustang and heard the distinct sounds of a Sig Sauer.
"You're jeopardizing your entire career for what?"
"For you... I did what I had to do..."
oOo
When Gibbs beckoned to her and delivered the news that her apartment had been destroyed in a blast, she did not even flinch. She recalled all those years ago when she heard that Talia was killed by a Hamas blast, she had maintained her stoicism. The only thing that broke her facade was when Gibbs reiterated that this was her home.
No, it's not - because home was where the heart is and right now, that vital part of her felt betrayed by her father, by Mossad, by Tony ... it was a striking blow.
oOo
Gibbs did not contradict her when she said that it was best to simply speak from the heart. Unlike Eli David, she was not making him choose between Mossad or NCIS, her or Tony, rather she was telling him of her choice - by making this her Aliyah. She would return to the place which she once called 'home,' back to her roots as a trained Mossad Officer and finish what Michael had started, in hope of finding closure.
For as she watched that plane became iridescent in the Israeli sky, she realized that though she may have lost the essence of her heart, but its brilliance in honour of her name, shall prevail.
One day, she would return home.
Fin
AN: Please r/r and let me know what you think.