Disclaimer: Not mine. Yada yada.

Author's Note: If all goes well, it'll be multi-chaptered. Depends on your views though.

Chapter One:

'To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.'

In Mossad, they taught you to keep a dream log. That way, they could see whether or not you were going crazy. It seemed, they never fired you no matter what you dreamed, even if it dealt with you betraying them. The problem lies with those who ceased to dream. If you didn't dream, Mossad's view was, where was your ambition?

Ziva had not had a dream in a year and a half. Used to be, she'd wake up every morning with some dim hope. But even that was gone now. When her father found out, that was when he made arrangements with Jen to keep her in NCIS, most likely until she started to dream again.

She held no hopes for that future. Surely Jen knew why she gained the Mossad agent so easily. So why would NCIS want some washed up, dreamless assassin?

Ziva could merely shrug. She didn't know the answer to that. Only Jen did, and Ziva wasn't about to just waltz up and ask her why she wanted someone who couldn't dream any longer.

When she thought about it, she knew why she no longer dreamt about anything. Because her dreams became nightmares that she could no longer hide from.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

Ziva shook herself out of her thoughts long enough to realize Tony was snapping his fingers in front of her face. "Jeez.. what would you like DiNozzo?"

"Finally," Tony said with a roll of his eyes. "I wondered if you'd ever snap out of your little daydream."

Ziva's eyes iced over slightly at Tony's reference. "I do not.. daydream.. or whatever."

"Everyone daydreams, Zee-vah!" Tony said with a grin and another classic eyeroll.

Gibbs watched, keeping his eye on the way Ziva was reacting to Tony. Something was definitely wrong with her, and he was going to find out what it was.

Ziva turned her head away, ignoring the fact the Tony was merely teasing her. It was childish, that she knew for sure, but she didn't quite care. Instead she caught Gibbs' eye, and his motion towards the elevator.

Tony went back to his desk silently. Sure, he teased Ziva a lot, but normally she just teased him back. What made her get so defensive about day dreaming? That didn't make sense to him at all, no matter what he tried to think of as the reasoning.

Ziva stood in the elevator and waited for Gibbs to hit the switch.

"Go home."

Ziva stared at him, confusion and shock mesmerizing her features. "Excuse me?" she said, hitting the button for Gibbs now. "What do you mean go home? I have not done anything!"

Gibbs looked at her with his classic 'Gibbs Stare' as they all liked to call it. "I said to go home, as in, I'm giving you an order, and you should follow it," he replied, making a move to hit the switch and turn the elevator back on.

"No," Ziva said, moving his hand away from the switch. "Not until you tell me why."

If Gibbs was shocked by what she did, his face didn't show it. Instead he answered her, his usual impatient voice in use. "Ziva, look. I don't know what's going on that's making you so touchy, but so far you jumped on Tony when he said you were day dreaming, and me for sending you home early. And no one jumps on me."

Ziva opened her mouth to reply to what he said, but instead Gibbs put his finger in front of her lips.

"Shush, I'm not done," he told her. "If you want to stay, then you have to tell me what's wrong and get me to believe it won't keep affecting you the rest of the day like it has so far, understood?"

Ziva shook her head. "I think I will go home," she answered, flipping the switch and arriving on the floor she was meant to in seconds, she got off of the elevator, leaving behind a very shocked Gibbs.

()()()()()()()()()

Moments later, Gibbs walked back onto the floor with his team staring at him. He ignored them, walking straight up to Jen's office. "Now," he said to her assistant.

She glanced up, and picked up the phone, ringing the Director. "Ma'am, Agent Gibbs is here. Yes Ma'am." She looked over at Gibbs. "You can--" she started. But he was already through the door.

"Jethro.." Jen said, glancing over at him. The look in his eyes made her start to worry. "What's wrong?"

Gibbs sighed. "I need to know, if you know what would be bothering Ziva at the moment?"

Jen stared at him momentarily. All this because he was worried about Ziva. "I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at Jethro, she seemed fine to me when I saw her last."

"She freaked out when Tony made a joke about her daydreaming, and then when I told her to explain to me what was wrong, or she could go home early for the day, she started the elevator, said she was going home, and got off," Gibbs explained.

Jen froze. The dreaming.

Gibbs stared at Jen's face. She knew what was wrong, and he could see it. "Tell me what's going on Jen."

Jen shook herself from the shock. She supposed he needed to know. "The reason why Director David was so.. quick to hand Ziva over to us, was because he was afraid that Ziva could no longer dream.."

The confusion was apparent on Gibbs' face.

"The ability to dream is important to Mossad," Jen explained.

"Dare I ask why, Jen?" Gibbs said.

Jen sighed. "They believe, no matter what you dream about, that as long as you still have your dreams, you can do the job with no distractions," she told him. "It's when an officer stops dreaming, that they fear the officer can no longer handle the job, because they have no way of releasing their problems, other than in dreams."

Gibbs was shocked. "And you're telling me, Ziva doesn't dream?" he asked her.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. She hasn't dreamed since the Ari incident. Right before she was given to us as a Liason officer," Jen explained.

Gibbs froze this time. Now he understood. But was it guilt, or something else, that made Ziva stop dreaming after she killed her brother to save him?

()()()()()()()()()

A/N: So. If you want me to continue, there will be some action later on. Probably soon, because I'm a fiend for writing those dramatic action stories. And no :P this will not include anything supernatural. A mossad's dreams are just that, dreams. Unless they're a lunatic. Who knows. Maybe we'll have some looney tunes mossad guy show up. We'll see!

Quote at the top is by, Anatole France.

-Rei