Looking back, she wasn't sure why she had trusted Michael Rivkin at all. After all, their relationship, if you could call it that, was one of convenience, not love, and certainly not trust or mutual respect. They slept together to get information, for convenience, because they were both good in bed and it was mutually satisfying. But Ziva had never been under the illusion that they were in love. So why had she reacted so badly to his death? Why had she become so angry at Tony?

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10 years earlier

Michael Rivkin had been a fixture in the David household for years, first as one of Ari's few friends and then as a quickly advancing Mossad officer that Eli chose to treat like a surrogate son for reasons unknown to all but himself.

Thali did not like him at all, felt that he was untrustworthy and unkind. Ziva agreed with her little sister's assessment but still spent time with Michael, shooting and practicing new sparring techniques. Although he was nearly a decade her senior, Ziva felt a slight attraction to Michael. He was dangerous and mysterious, like Ari, and she was intrigued by this. In addition, she had begun to notice that Michael looked at her a different way now that her body had filled out following the pregnancy that no one ever spoke about.* She felt his eyes follow her and slowly began the process of seducing him, knowing that having him wrapped around her finger would be of great benefit to her in terms of information she could gain on the inner workings of Mossad.

For his part, despite his intimate knowledge of Ziva's life, Michael never suspected, even after Ziva lured him to her bed in exchange for some information on her brother's mission, that their relationship was anything other than his idea. For Ziva, this was proof that she was ready for Mossad. She had seduced a man without him knowing it, allowing him to think that every bit of information he gave her, every sexual exchange, was entirely his idea. She knew that her youthful appearance gave her an advantage, but she still felt that she had developed a valuable skill.

At the moment, however, she was content to exploit the relationship for a free cup of strawberry gelato.

*See my other fanfic for further details