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Disclaimer; I do not own NCIS. Wish I did, though.
Author's Notes; This takes place during 'The Admiral's Daughter'. Has mentions of 'Semper Fidelis', 'Aliyah', 'Truth or Consequences' and an extended should've been scene for 'Shabbat Shalom' within as well. My first attempt at an NCIS fanfic. Enjoy!
(Tel Aviv, Israel)
Inside a small apartment in Tel Aviv, a young woman reads a novel. Much turmoil had plagued her life before and still does. Yet, she feels freer than she had in years. A grin cracks across her face before her cell phone rings. Frowning in consternation, she marks her place before answering the phone.
"Ziva David."
"Hi, Ziva." Unbidden, a wide smile crosses Ziva's face at the sound of the feminine voice. "It's been a while."
"It has, Monique. How've you been?"
"I've been well. You?" Ziva sighs at Monique's query, getting her friend to sigh in return. "I see. Are you near a television by any chance?"
"I'm sitting across from one right now, actually. It's not on, though."
"You might want to turn it on and tune it to international news." Ziva can't help but blink before shrugging and doing so. Only to feel her jaw drop in shock at what she sees. "It seems your NCIS boyfriend can't keep himself out of trouble without you around." Ziva rolls her eyes at that before smirking.
"Monique, Tony and I are just friends. As for keeping himself out of trouble whether he's around me or not, it's a mountainous order." Monique snorts at the butchered idiom, getting Ziva to giggle before Monique gives her reply.
"I think you mean 'tall order'. Come off it, Ziva. I know full well you want to marry him and bear his children. Even if there's a rule against it." Ziva rolls her eyes again, a bright blush on her face.
'Good thing she didn't see us kissing before Tony headed back to the States.' Getting her composure back, Ziva grins bitterly. "You know full well that's not possible, Monique. Given our respective pasts, we'd be an airplane wreck waiting to happen." Monique can't help but cackle at that one.
"Train wreck." Ziva gives a minute shrug before Monique goes on. "You can't fool me, Ziva. I saw how you two looked at each other when we worked together that time. You both had sparks flying between you two."
"Maybe so, Monique. But I was a Mossad assassin, he's a cop cum Federal Agent."
"You became a Federal Agent as well, Ziva. Along with an American citizen. There's no reason you couldn't have made it work." Ziva's lower lip trembles at that before she steels herself.
"To you, perhaps, Monique. To me, however… I think it's a dangerous idea. Especially for him."
"From what I've seen of Agent DiNozzo, he can take care of himself." Ziva's mind flashes back to when Tony shot Michael Rivkin in her apartment before she opened the door. Snapping herself out of it, she nods.
"Yes, he can. That I've seen numerous times." Letting out a shuddering breath, she remembers how roughly she'd treated him outside Mossad Headquarters after Rivkin's death. Monique picks up on the shuddering breath.
"You okay, Ziva?"
"Yes. I was just… remembering what'd happened in front of Mossad Headquarters."
"What was it?"
"After I saw Tony's reflection, I had a brief impulse to find out how he was holding up with his injured shoulder. The impulse became anger, causing me to…" Ziva feels tears drip from her eyes before she adds, "I was such a fool. Thinking he shot Rivkin out of jealousy."
"But it wasn't, was it?"
"No, it wasn't. Tony was doing his job, to ensure I was safe. He didn't even know that Rivkin was there. Rivkin was at fault by resisting arrest and trying to kill Tony."
"Wow. Are you sure Agent DiNozzo isn't really Kidon? Because from the training you went through, the only thing that can kill a Kidon is another Kidon." Ziva can't help but laugh at that, with tears falling from her eyes as she recalls the last civilized conversation with her late Father.
(Flashback)
"Tony sends his regards, by the way." Eli gave his only surviving child a soft smirk before she asked, "Shall I give him yours?"
"But of course. However, I've something to confess, Ziva." After Eli gazed fondly at the picture of Ziva wearing a preg-sim, he looked toward her and saw he had her attention. "There were times I thought of having Malachi and Liat both come and kidnap Agent DiNozzo before bringing him to Israel to be Mossad." Ziva blinked at that before chuckling.
"I think Gibbs would've had a problem with that. I'm not sure about Director Vance, though." Curious, she then asked, "What makes you think Tony would be a good fit for Mossad, anyway? He was trained in Law Enforcement, not assassination for country."
"Ah, but he took down Michael Rivkin, did he not? He may have been cruelly denied an Israeli heritage, but he has the spirit of a Kidon within him." Ziva gave a soft chuckle at that.
"Not quite sure how Tony would take that." Eli gave a shrug before she added, "But I think that if Mossad was more Law Enforcement, then he might consider it."
"I'd actually thought about sending Malachi and Liat here to the States to the FLETC facility as observers so they can take notes on anything that may be useful to Mossad in terms of Law Enforcement. Maybe even have Agent DiNozzo as a lecturer on subtlety in terms of gaining confessions." Ziva gave a giggle at remembering how Tony turned the tables on Eli after Rivkin's death.
"Truthfully, I didn't know whether I wanted to laugh or snarl in anger at how he pulled that off." Eli gave a chortle at that as well before sighing.
"Neither did I, Ziva. In fact, Leon told me, during the conference, that Agent DiNozzo was one of the Agents that extracted you from Somalia." Ziva smiled at that before turning it into a smirk. With Eli noticing it. "What is it?"
"When Saleem had me sacked and taken to the room Tony and McGee were in, I didn't know they were there. But then after the sack was taken off, I saw Tony's face. I was so sure I was hallucinating until I heard his first words. 'So, how was your summer?'. I was of two minds on that. Part of me wanted to smile and laugh as it was funny. The other part wanted me to be serious. The serious part won." Eli couldn't help but crack up laughing, with Ziva following behind.
"That was funny. I can see now why you work with him." Looking at the picture again, Eli sighed wistfully. "Now if only you two could get married so I can finally become a Grandfather." Ziva felt her face go red hot before crying out in Hebrew.
"ABA!" Eli's gentle laughter got Ziva to roll her eyes. Red hot blush on her face still.
(Flashback ends)
Ziva's face is red hot in blush at the end of the memory before she hears Monique's voice.
"Ziva?! You alright?!" The concern in her friend's voice gets Ziva to smile softly, yet with a blush still on her face.
"I'm fine, Monique. I was just remembering my last conversation with my Father."
"If it was a good one, never lose it, Ziva."
"It was, and I won't, Monique. Shalom." With that, she ends the call before sighing softly. "I miss you, Tony DiNozzo." Mentally, she adds, 'I love you.'