Hey, welcome to story number nine. This isn't even listed on my profile as being a to-do story. But it was in my head and then it came out and here it is. I wasn't even going to post it, but I couldn't help it. I can see an ENDING to this story, which most of my stories actually lack! ^^

Enough rambling right?

Disclaimer: I own you.

P.S. I hope season seven is like this v and not like Gibbs/Tony/McGee/Abby/Vance/Ducky/Jimmy running to Ziva and being all "I'll never let you go again" and passionate kissing. I'm all for that on here, love a bit of fluff but I mean... This is fanfiction... not writer fiction. I don't want to see it. Rather read it. =] I thought the ending of Season six was fanfiction-y anyways. Ziva being tortured and beaten by a guy with a smoking problem. Who knew?

On with the show!

Chapter One

Ziva felt his hand grasping her wrist and she glanced up at him, his brown eyes looking at her she expected fear but only saw excitement. She blinked and opened her mouth utterly bewildered. They were running, they had been running, until they had reached a cliff edge. Below them, a long way below them was water. Ziva glanced over her shoulder to see three men running after them, they were a far distance away but the two of them were cornered. She looked back at Nick, Nick who had been her rock the past few months, who had saved her from Somalia and proceeded to add to the bruises of her African experience.

As if reading her mind he tugged on her wrist and whispered in her ear.

"One more bruise for the collection Zee." He whispered before pulling her off the cliff. He let go of her wrist immediately and they both fell down towards the river below them. It was deep and calm and seemed a lot further down than it was. Ziva hit the water head first, making sure her hands were in a diving position to protect her head. The water was cold and she shivered under the water. She kicked her legs and swam under the water to the edge of the cliff. She surfaced but only enough to see around her and take in a deep breath. She glanced up to see that the cliff edge was free of terrorists. She glanced around and saw Nick surface. She swam to him.

"Next time I'm in water with you I'm expecting a bikini." He chuckled and she couldn't help but think of those pictures. The bikini clad Ziva in LA prior to Jenny Shepard's death. Before everything went downhill and she lost her life at NCIS. Having said that, she was almost back in America, her new partner was a CIA operative Nick Clarke. Considering the CIA wasn't meant to operate on US soil they were meant to be there now on a case. Something went wrong, and now they were in a river trying to find a way to an airport, any airport. Ziva followed Nick as he swam down the river and clambered out on the opposite bank as soon as he could.

"You're wet." Ziva said plucking at his shirt with her fingers, she smirked at him. He grinned back and took her hand and pulled her off away from the river. They were utterly unarmed and had little to no equipment on them, when things go wrong, they go wrong badly. "I miss my gun." Ziva mumbled as they stumbled upon a road and Nick took to flagging down a car. A young woman glanced at them as she pulled over.

"We fell in to the river; can you give us a ride in to town?" Nick asked the woman who blinked at him.

"Pode você conduzir-nos à cidade?" Ziva said stepping towards the car. "Nós caímos no rio."

"Eu supor assim, começ dentro." The woman responded, leaning over and opening her car door. She slipped in and thanked the woman while Nick climbed in to the back of the car. The woman and Ziva talked the whole way to the nearest town, Nick had no idea what they were saying he was only fluent in Spanish, French, Hebrew and Arabic. He was vaguely aware they were talking Portuguese and was pretty sure Ziva mentioned him as they both smiled at him before chuckling. The woman dropped them off at a train station and Ziva thanked her profusely.

"Come on, we are getting a train." Ziva said tugging on Nick's shirt.

"I'm wet, and cold Zee, can't we get a hotel and clean clothes instead?" He whined. They often did this, one would take 'charge' and the other would moan and complain until they swapped roles. They could rely on the other while knowing that if it came down to it they could each look after themselves. Ziva shook her head and walked over to a counter and pulled out a credit card and handed it to the man. When they had bought their tickets Nick and Ziva sat down to wait for the train to arrive at the platform.

"Where did you get that card from, we didn't have anything on us."

"It belongs to the woman who gave us the lift." Ziva stated and smiled. She placed the card under the seat as if it had been dropped there. Nick chuckled.

"What were you two chatting about this entire way here?"

"Why we were so wet, and had no things. I told her that you tried to persuade me to go skinny dipping." Nick chuckled but it quickly turned in to a shiver.

"How are you cold in Brazil?" She queried humorously. He shrugged his shoulders and sat closer to her she responded by hitting him in the arm and glaring at him. They had a relationship much like she had with Tony, the banter and the playful teasing, except they were a lot more touchy feely than she had been with Tony. She guessed it was due to the fact she hadn't ever slept with Tony but early on in their mission they had both been so frustrated with each other and so drunk that they ended up in the same bed. Limbs wrapping around each other and hot kisses everywhere.

It was a long wait and an even longer train journey. Nick wasn't entirely sure where they had been going until they got off. They were now in another train station, but it was bustling. It didn't take much to figure out they were now in the largest city, Sao Paulo. They quickly disappeared in to the crowds, they separated when they got off the train. Ziva turned left on the platform knowing that in such a large train station there would be multiple exits. She knew that Nick would take another exit to her, it was a useful skill they had learnt. Ziva made her way out of the train station, having exerted her skills as a pickpocket gaining her a few credit cards and several hundred Reais, the Brazilian currency.

"Hey Zee, what's you're load?" Nick asked from behind her as she hovered near the kerb on a relatively quiet area outside the train station.

"Few hundred Reais and a few cards, you?" She asked as he showed her his loot.

"Mobile phone for you, and for me, just in case I lose yah. Plus some cash a decent amount I think." He rifled through the money before stuffing it back in his pockets along with the cash Ziva gave him. She pocketed the cards and one of the phones, after finding the numbers and swapping it with Nick. They walked out and grabbed the first taxi they could. "Aeroporto." Nick said to the man who sped off immediately.

Tony threw a wad of paper across the bullpen and it landed squarely in the new Agent's face. She swiped at it impatiently and continued to type away at her work. Special Agent Lucy Carson was an utter annoyance in Tony's eyes. She was overly eager, was way too good at investigating and had claimed Ziva's desk as her own. Tony threw another paper ball at her and she still didn't break her gaze from her PC. Even Abby disliked her, but that was mainly because Tim and Lucy had gotten close, much too close for Abby's liking and she had even brought her suspicions to Gibbs attention.

"Tony leave Carson alone." McGee snapped at him as he went to aim another paper ball at her. Tony turned to look at McGee who hadn't taken his eyes off his computer like Carson. Tony muttered something about them being two peas in a pod or something, whatever it was Tim heard it. "You didn't mind it when it was Ziva and she would stick up for you." He retorted and Tony stood up and left the room. Ziva was still a sore topic. They had heard that her mission in Somalia went wrong and she was captured, from there they had no idea. Eli David eventually told them she was alive, but she hadn't returned to Tel Aviv and she was working out of the country.

Following her rescue in Somalia by Nick Clarke he had flown with her to Louisiana his home town, and stayed with her while she recovered. He had words with his supervisor and pulled some strings both inside the CIA and inside Mossad. The result was that three short weeks after her return to America Nick literally busted her out of the hospital to take her to Canada; from there they followed a trail across to Serbia, through three more countries and ended up in Brazil. They took out the leaders and those capable of taking over the cell before scarpering. Eli David had actually not heard from his daughter since her last visit to Tel Aviv and was hoping he would see her soon enough.

Tony hit the button for the elevator and jumped in when it arrived, Agent Barton was humming to himself in the back, and he nodded at Tony who nodded back. Tony jumped out at Abby's floor while Barton stayed in the elevator. Tony shook his head slightly Barton seemed to be riding the elevator up and down for some reason, maybe waiting for a booty call he smirked as he crossed the threshold to Abby's lab. He was immediately attacked by Abby who wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Tooooony it's been ages since I last saw you, how are you?" Abby asked releasing her hold on him. He grinned and smirked at her.

"Good Abs, but tweedle Dee and tweedle Dum up stairs are getting to me, the company down here is better." He glanced at the place on the wall were Abby had collected a series of pictures of Ziva and pinned them up alongside a countdown of the days since her departure. Tony walked over to it, running his hand over a photo of Abby planting a kiss on Ziva's cheek at what Tony recognised to be Ziva's apartment. They both looked a little tipsy and he smiled. Abby appeared at his side and chuckled at the picture.

"She told me that her father sent her some wine over from Tel Aviv, she said he sent it as a gift and it was very expensive. She thought it would be appropriate to drink it over a DVD and pizza. I guess it's a testament to how she feels about her father. We ended up cracking open two more bottles and falling asleep on her couch." Abby chuckled at the memory and at waking up with her head resting on Ziva when they woke up the next day. They had giggled more and ended up both falling off the couch.

"I didn't know her father sent her things." Tony mumbled.

"I don't think he did, not that often anyway. It might have been around her birthday I can't remember now." Abby looked at the post-it notes on the wall, 97 days. She sighed and ran her finger over it. "97 days is a long time, we don't know where she is or if she's alive or if she's hurt. She could be anywhere." Abby sighed and Tony pulled her in to a hug. He kissed the top of her head before telling her he would be right back. He took the stairs back to the squad room and was in Abby's lab before she had processed his leaving.

"Got a photo to add to the collection." He said pulling a lump of blutack off the wall and pushing the photo on to it. Abby smiled at the image and chuckled shaking her head. It was a bikini clad Ziva, lounging in the LA sun. Tony stepped back and placed an arm around Abby's waist as she leaned on his shoulder admiring the shrine they had both created. Even though Abby seemed to have made it a mission to find every photo of Ziva and fill the wall with it. "It's not the same as the real thing, but at least we know she's alive. Plus we still have Gibbs, and you have me and I have you. We both got the two Probies if you want them."

"I miss her though, it's not like when Kate died, because she was just gone. Ziva left, without a word, we don't even know that we can call her. So it isn't even like Gibbs going to Mexico." Abby said softly. Tony squeezed her and kissed her cheek.

"We'll find her Abs, don't doubt it and she'll come home to us."

So how bad was it? I have a question for you lot as to where I'm going to take this and I can not decide! Somebody gets shot near the end.

Who do you think should fire the weapon that puts a bullet in said person? (Haha I don't even know who is going to get shot. But it will be a bad guy, maybe multiple bad guys!)

Gibbs

Ziva

Tony

Carson

I seriously don't know who should do it! I know it can't be Nick or McGee, because they are elsewhere (making out). Joking. Maybe.