So, this is a story I thought up of a kinda background to Ziva's history with her father. He wasn't always the best father, but he did teach her well. This is how I think of him teaching her, through a tough love sorta method. This is also a look as to how Ziva became who she was when she first arrived at NCIS.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own NCIS.

Ziva David flinched as her father dealt yet another harsh blow, falling down onto the mat in the way he had taught her through sheer repetition - muscles relaxed, so she wouldn't get anything more than bruises. Her father didn't offer to help her back up, and Ziva didn't ask, used to relying on herself and brushing every lost spar off. But this time her father looked extremely disappointed.

"Where is your mind, Ziva?" He asked sternly. "You could have won that match had you used the brain in your head."

"But Father, I am strong. There is no need to spend all my time strategizing when I can win by muscle and skill," Ziva protested. She never saw the punch coming. It hit her right in the cheek, and she fell yet again, but this time she didn't get back up. She didn't question why he did it, she didn't cry out or complain, she just lay where she fell, spitting out blood, knowing that he was instilling yet another lesson that would be literally beaten into her body. And she knew that in the end, no matter how she protested, she would take his lesson to heart, and follow it to the death. This was how he taught, and this was how she learned.

"No one can win by strength alone," her father spat out disdainfully, towering over his daughter's prone body, "least of all you." Ziva stirred at that, ready to protest that she was stronger than any of the male recruits her age, but he continued, and she subsided.

"You are a woman, Zivaleh, and that is a great weakness in the life you will lead in Mossad. If you are captured, your body will be your demise. Your weapons will be the first thing they strip from you: they will take your guns and use your knives against you. Your body will be broken down, and used by them. There will be nothing you can do about that. You will be helpless and physically weak. Whether from hunger or something else." Ziva could understand the truth in that. After all, if she were ever taken by the enemy, they would definitely starve her to try and break her, and being raped was a very real possibility, too. That was what happened to live captives in her line of work. The enemies were harsh and unforgiving, and men had their weaknesses, after all. They would use her for their pleasure, and also to try and break her. And where would her strength be then?

"But your intellect, Ziva, will still be there. They may drug you and you may be delirious, but if you have properly trained your mind, then you will be able to thwart them. You will be able to withhold information, to protect yourself and your country. You will be able to plan your escape, even while they degrade your body.

"You must learn to rely on your mind, Ziva. No one will be able to take away your intelligence, your cunning, your memories, your will." Eli David reached down and lifted his daughter up gently, holding her by the shoulders until she met his eyes. "You are strong, yes, but not only in body, but in mind, too. The enemy may make your body weak, but you can always think of new ways to escape, to punish them, to keep them from winning. No enemy has ever been able to forcibly extract information from a safeguarded mind, even with drugs and psychological tactics, because the will is always stronger than the way. Your body is only a safeguard for you mind, which is the fortress that makes you formidable and indestructible. No one will ever be able to take away from you what they cannot reach, and you do not give. Do you understand now, my daughter?"

"Yes Father, I understand," Ziva told him, her eyes hard with resolve. "I will train my mind along with my body, until I am better even than you." Liam smiled at that, and kissed Ziva on her temple.

"Of that, my daughter, I have no doubt."

Hope you all enjoyed that :)

as always, feel free to review.