Disclaimer: I own nothing…wait, that's a lie. I own my OC and the rest of her family excluding Kate and her siblings/parents.
A/N: Spoilers for Aliyah. This is the sequel to my other story On Your Side. If you haven't read that, you might want to. It introduces my OC who'll be in my other NCIS fanfics. ALSO! I forgot to mention this is AU. If it wasn't, Ziva and Jenny wouldn't be in the story. Also, it's all written, so a chapter a day.
Chapter One
It had been well over two months since she had seen Anthony DiNozzo…or anyone else on the team for that matter. There were always two men standing guard outside of her door. They knew exactly who they were dealing with and weren't going to risk losing her out of fear of losing their own lives. She may have been beaten badly, her face may have been almost unrecognizable due to the bruises and cuts, but she was still a trained Mossad agent. A trained killer. Daughter of Mossad Director Eli David. But where was he? Didn't they want to find her?
Ziva had asked herself that many times. It's not like she had anything else to do. There were no reports to write up, no murders to investigate, no Tony to bicker with. No, nothing to do…except think. Examine memory, every decision, every idea that she could recall. Not to mention try to figure out some sort of escape plan.
She looks at her surroundings. They're pretty grim. She sits alone, tied to a chair, in the middle of a large, empty room. Sweat drips down her forehead and into her eyes, but she is unable to wipe it away. Both days and nights are brutal. She bakes during the days and freezes during the nights. Sleep does not come easily.
Her mind drifts back to Tony and Michael. She knew. She knew that Tony had been telling the truth when he told her he had killed Michael in self defense. She knew that Michael was bad news. But she loved him, but did he love her? Probably not. She knew from the start that he had probably only been using her. Tony hadn't made the mistake, she had. He was trying to protect her. He was trying to keep her safe and she shut him out. In Israel, she almost killed him. The gun was right over his heart and if she had wanted to, she could've blown it right out of his chest. And maybe she would have before she joined NCIS.
Her eyes close for a few minutes and she remembers the day she decided to stay in Israel. She grimaces as she imagines the sad and confused look on Tony's face when he saw that she had not accompanied Gibbs onto the plane. That hurt her. But what hurt her even more was the fact that Gibbs didn't even try to get her to stay. He just agreed and said good bye. There was no "We need you. Please come with us." At first, Ziva had thought it was better that way…it made parting easier. But in her heart, she knew it was worse. Though she had made the decision to stay, a feeling of abandonment had overwhelmed her when the plane was out of site. Did they miss her? Did they wish she was still with them?
Staying behind was a mistake. She thinks solemnly to herself. A sound echoes down the hall that leads up to the room she's being held in. A guard mutters something outside and footsteps are soon heard heading away from her room. The other man guarding her room shouts to the other man.
"Hey, where'd you go?" He asks in his native language. The guard receives no response. "Come on, that's not funny." He tries again. No response. Ziva hears him pull out his gun cautiously.
It's probably nothing. Ziva thinks. Just a rat or something. Suddenly, she hears another noise. It sounds like someone slammed really hard into a wall. She hears the guard closest to her door gasp and run away from the door.
"What happened? Are you alright?" The first guard asks the other. The guard that had gone to check out the noise is lying on the floor almost unconscious. He nose is bleeding heavily and several nasty bruises are beginning to form on the left side of his face. "Who did this to you?" The guard asks, but his friend does not answer …at least not at first.
"I" he gasps for air. "was attacked!" He slips into unconsciousness, leaving his buddy alone and slightly afraid. He wouldn't admit it, though. He's not that kind of guy. The man looks down the hallway. He isn't able to see anything, but that doesn't mean that no one's there. Piles of crates line the hallway, some almost up to the ceiling. The attacker or attackers could be hiding in one of those…or in one of the storage rooms off the hallway.
'Who's there?" He asks cautiously. He steps carefully to muffle his footsteps as he walks forward a few feet. "I said: Who's there! Show yourself!" He walks past the first pile of boxes. The lid to a large box with nothing piled on top of it slowly creeps open revealing a pair of grey eyes. A box a few feet ahead on the opposite side does the same and they make eye contact.
Suddenly, a box tumbles down off the top of one of the high piles and strikes the man. Before the guard can get up again, a man knocks him unconscious and throws him in one of the boxes. Someone finds some nails and a hammer and the man who knocked the guard unconscious locks him in the box.
"Come on! Let's go!" One of the men urges the rest of the team to move quickly.
Inside, Ziva's stomach grumbles loudly as she hangs her head. She hadn't heard the commotion outside and assumed that it was nothing. The guards had resumed their duty and she was still in hell. For a moment, she had thought that he heard Tony's voice, but she hadn't heard it again.
She raises her head when she hears a loud BANG against the door. It almost breaks off the hinges, but somehow manages to hang on. She hears someone running down the hall and watches as the door bursts open. Two people walk into the light.
2nd A/N: Also, I'm beta-ing my fics, so all mistakes are mine. Sorry if they make your eyes bleed.