A/N: Not usually a fan of 'what if'/AU types, but I have always been fascinated by a world where Kate is alive and Tony/Ziva still somehow meet. Kind of inspired by a rewatch of "Life Before His Eyes." This will be a slow fic probably not updated a lot. I'm still figuring it out.


"So you're working for us now."

"With you," she instantly corrects, leaning back in her chair, her legs crossing elegantly, despite the heavy cargo pants and boots she wore. There was a very trim body hidden somewhere in that baggy clothing, he thought, remembering the night at the hotel pool. She almost slipped one by him there, with the passports. Then she'd talked to him outside while he was waiting for her to leave. He'd been pissed that she'd made him, but then thought it just went to show how well trained she was. At least it was a Mossad officer who caught him and not some low-level street punk.

He narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't need another partner. He had Kate and he had McGee. A third person was going to throw off their dynamics. "So what are you supposed to do that we can't live without? You can't replace Kate, it's impossible."

Very slowly she moved to her side, taking out a knife. His eyes widened at the size of that thing. How did she keep that hidden without the slightly indication it was there. "How big is yours?" she drawled, running her fingers along the blade.

"Now, now Ziva, don't scare the man."

He choked when the new Director walked into the conference room, breaking their back and forth. "Director," he coughed. "We were just…ah…"

"I don't want to know," Gibbs said instead, gesturing for them to leave. "Go. I have to talk to the Director here." He very pointedly emphasized the syllables in 'director' and Jenny only smiled, amused. He pointed to the door. "Out. DiNozzo, you have things to do and you…" He glared at Ziva. "Well I don't know what you're still doing in this country."

There was a flicker of hurt in the other woman's eyes, but she hid it instantly. "I am the new liaison." She said liaison the way it was supposed to be pronounced, like it was French or something. She glanced at Jenny. "You did not tell him?"

"We've been discussing that. I'll be with you both momentarily, if you'll wait outside," Jenny said, maintaining politeness and composure.

Whatever, he thought, walking by Gibbs who barely tilted his head in the directon of the Mossad Officer. Got it Boss, he thought, closing the door behind him. The minute it clicked shut, he heard both of them start screaming at each other, Jenny yelling about how dare he talk to her like that in front of her subordinates. Well, that's my place in the pecking order, he figured. Except Gibbs ranked above the NCIS Director at the end of the day for him. He walked after Zi-va, taking notice of her gait. She was very direct. "Stop looking at my ass."

"I wasn't looking at your ass," he instantly lied. It was a very nice ass. Couldn't help but be looked at. He gestured to her, making an hourglass shape with his hands as they walked down the steps to the squad area. "I'm just thinking if there's a point in this movie where all the bulky clothes come off to reveal the swan within."

"If that is your way of trying to get me naked, you are sadly out of luck." She spun around on him when they got to his desk and tapped her fingers up his chest to his nose, grinning. Her voice dropped to a soft purr. The accent was killing him. He was such a sucker for the accents. The dark eyes too. Man, they were like pools of melted chocolate. "Unfortunately I do not sleep with men once the mission is over and they are no longer my mark. Unless I believe they could keep up and…well…" She snapped her teeth at him, growling. "I just do not think you could Tony."

"I could keep up," he croaked.

She grinned again. "Let me see your knife."

Was that a euphemism? "In the squad area?" he laughed, still smiling down at her. She blinked. Oh wait, she actually wanted to see his knife. "Oh well…" He reached to his pocket, where the switchblade was concealed. "A guy doesn't just go showing his knife to crazy Israeli chicks with impulse issues unless he gets her to go to dinner first."

"Too bad." She waltzed over to Kate's desk and dropped into the chair, propping her feet up on it and folding her hands in her lap. "So how is your partner? Is she out of the hospital?"

So we're done or….he frowned at her sudden change of demeanor. Now she was all business, professional, and the hot exotic sex kitten thing was trapped back up beneath the Army clothing she wore. "Uh…she's fine," he said, leaning against his desk, sizing up this chick. There were some major issues beneath her surface. Big ones, if he had to hazard a guess. Anyone who volunteered for Israeli Mossad and ended up in her position, at her age, she couldn't even be 30, he supposed they had to be a bit on the crazy side. "She's at home, resting. Her family flew in to help her." Kate had been furious that the hospital kept her longer than they usually did, later finding out it was because Gibbs didn't want her to try and get involved in the search for Ari.

That had been fun, going to visit her in her apartment with her screaming at him to let her go kill the son of a bitch who shot her. Then he'd made fun of her and called her a penguin because they had her left shoulder where the bullet and shot through all bandaged up and wrapped in a bulky sling with cushions all around it to keep it immobilized. She'd grabbed the nearest object, which had been a water bottle, and hurled it at him. That was the Kate he knew and sometimes loved. Ziva had asked if they were romantic, very point blank and matter-of-fact. He'd had to admit that no, it wasn't, and although he'd fanaticized about it enough, he knew he wasn't Kate's type. She saw him as the annoying brother and he tended to enjoy filling that role. "Oh, well good," she'd said to him. "Because I don't like competing."

There was quite a shift from that version of Ziva to the one that had come into the office after Ari was shot in Gibbs's house, and then to the one upstairs to the one here now with him. Even the Ziva that was outside in the hotel entryway, with the rain falling down, telling him about how her sister died in a suicide bombing. It didn't take him long to figure out what she told him about her family and what he'd gleaned from the report, Gibbs's shift in demeanor with her, and the tears she'd shed as Ari's body was wheeled into autopsy. He was related to her. Her brother. What kind of a person could shoot their brother? The agency above all else, Ducky had told him, Mossad was the first priority. The State of Israel was the first priority. Family had no business getting involved with that.

He didn't know why she had come back. She'd left with the body, flown back to Israel, and now here she was again. He squinted at her. "Liaison. How does Mossad help NCIS?"

"I suppose we will find out."

"If Gibbs lets you."

"Gibbs is not Director Shepard."

"Yeah well, he tends to get what he wants." He smirked at her. "And you are just going to be in his way."

"We shall see."

He tried a different tactic. "So how do you know the Director? Old buddies?"

"We were together in Cairo when I was stationed there," Ziva said, tapping her fingers on her stomach. She smiled again. "She is a very good agent. I hope you find her to be as good as a director."

"Why liaison? Why come here?"

"I needed a break from Mossad." She leaned back in the chair and looked up at the skylights, her voice very faraway. "It was how do you say…becoming a mixer."

A mixer? He thought for a few minutes. "Pressure cooker."

"Whatever kitchen device." She glanced over at him again and the self-assured look she had a moment before had faded. "I do hope your partner can return to work soon."

"Few weeks. She has some physical therapy. Has to pass medical tests that sort of thing." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you so curious about my partner?"

"No reason. I know what it is like to be without a partner you have worked closely with for some time. It is difficult."

"Your partner ever get injured?"

She was fiddling with her knife, flicking it open and shut. This was a different knife now, a switchblade other than the giant carving knife she'd practically dragged out a moment before. "Hmmm? Oh yes, injured…killed…one of them we found pieces of all over Yemen." She glanced at his horrified look and shrugged, whispering. "Such is the nature of being Mossad. You do not get close to your partners."

Wow. He was once again glad that Kate had seen the flash from Ari's sniper rifle and jumped aside, yelling for them to dive down. The shot had gone through her shoulder, nicking an artery and nerve. It also explained a lot about how cavalier she'd been. Even with Ari. He guessed if you lost people a lot or did her job, you didn't get close to anyone. He frowned at her again. "So you came to the United States for a break."

"Yes."

"Well we'll see if you can survive it, even if Gibbs lets you."

"I have survived starvation and dehydration in the desert for two months." She smirked. "I can handle a former Marine."

"Well you'll get your shot." They both jumped up as Gibbs walked around the corner, glaring at her. He jabbed his finger in her chest. "If you screw up anything your ass is on the first plane back to Tel Aviv, do you understand me?"

"Yes," she said, trying hard not to smile.

"You are only here temporarily until this agent," he said, slamming his hand on the desk. "Is cleared for full field duty. Then it's back to the Embassy."

"Yes."

Well look at that, he thought, his eyebrows lifting. Gibbs caved. Or Jenny managed to convince him. Either way, impressive. He watched as Ziva got up, following Jenny upstairs when she called for her from the balcony. He whistled low under his teeth. "Wow Boss. You're actually letting her? She doesn't know anything about crime scenes or law enforcement, I mean you should have seen the size of her knife…"

"DiNozzo."

He shut his mouth. "Yes?"

Gibbs glanced up over the top of his computer, then moved away from his desk, having finishing writing whatever it was he'd needed to scribble down. He snagged his coffee cup from the corner and jabbed it at him as he walked by, warning. "Rule 12."

Rule 12? What was that one? "Always carry a knife, Boss?" he called out, as Gibbs walked away from him.

"Never date a coworker," he shouted from the elevator.

Never date a coworker. Yikes. Hadn't heard that one in a long time, not since Kate's first week. Then again he never really tried to go that route because he was terrified of her. This one though. Wow. Scared him to death with her knife and her crazy eyes and…he trailed off, smiling to himself. Didn't matter. She wouldn't be here long anyway. Gibbs would scare her off, Kate would return, and besides…he whistled again and turned around, talking to himself. "Crazy Israeli chicks just aren't my type, Boss."