She stood behind the tinted glass window of the interrogation room; memories flooding ever so quickly back into her mind as she watched her daily nightmare turn back into reality. Ziva David stood watching the gruff muscular man wait patiently in the blank room, seeming to stare right at her as if he knew she was there. The door behind her swung open, snapping her back into reality as her fatherly figure stepped into the room beside her.
"I thought I told you to stay at your desk." Gibbs reminded her patiently as he gave a quick glance at the wrist bound suspect.
Ziva turned away from the window. "I know." She responded, keeping her voice strong to try and hide her sense of weakness.
Gibbs eyed her curiously for a moment, giving her a chance to speak again if needed. When she didn't he broke the silence. "You should go to your desk Ziva." He almost whispered, encouraging her to leave. He did not want her to be here for this.
She shook her head stubbornly. "I cannot make myself any weaker than I have already become," Her eyes glistened, catching the small amount of light in the dimly lit room. "We need to put this behind us." She ended shortly before turning back to face the piercing gaze of the criminal.
A long, slow breath seemed to refresh her as she hugged her arms closer to her chest. This man was a monster; he'd stolen everything; her innocence, her strength, and the ability of her willingness to live. She had forgotten he was still out there, that they had not killed him like the others that had held her captive ever so long ago.
Gibbs studied his team member for a moment, wondering if it was the right thing for her to face this memory, even if it was separated from her by a wall of three inch glass. Before he could make up his mind Anthony DiNozzo stepped through the door, greeting the captive subject with a flashy smile before slapping a file thick with papers down on the table before him.
"Moses Johnson," The senior field agent announced happily as he slid into the chair across from his subject before holding out a hand. "I'm Special agent Anthony DiNozzo; you know you have a funny name." He quickly withdrew his hand before Moses could even think of returning the friendly gesture.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance as Tony casually flipped through the yellow folder whistling loudly as the little red light on the camera above him turned on, signaling the recording of the interrogation. A few minuets passed by as Tony continued with his tune while his partner shifted impatiently behind the glass. Finally he spoke up again.
"Johnson," He repeated again giving the African American man another glance before returning to his stack of papers. "You know that is a very English name for a man who can barley speak English." He commented sarcastically perching his chin atop of his hand. "Care to share?" He invited playfully, as he gave another large smile.
Moses chuckled deeply, sending a shiver down Ziva's spine as she closed her eyes. It was too familiar. Too real…
"Ziva…" Gibbs started cautiously.
"I am fine." She interrupted sharply, relaxing her shoulders a bit, returning her attention back to the scene unfolding before her.
"You think I don't know English?" Moses replied with a thick accent, slouching lazily in his chair. He returned a yellow smile to his interrogator who twitched at the sight of his cigarette stained teeth.
"I was just wondering, because when we brought you in you wouldn't speak in anything but this one language our best translator couldn't even understand." Tony reminded him cleverly as a frown presented itself on Moses face. "But now seeing that that's all cleared up, I have a couple questions I'd like to ask you myself." He pushed back from the table and started to stroll around the room.
Gibbs mumbled under his breath, telling his senior field agent to stop playing around. Tony started to list off questions as if he'd heard his bosses orders, toying with his subject playfully as he flicked the color of Moses ragged jacket.
"You were in Africa over the summer," Tony commented, continuing with his rounds around the room. "Not my first choice for a summer vacation, seeing that there's really nothing there," He stopped suddenly throwing a finger in the air as if he remembered something important. "But oh! That's right, nothing but a terrorist base camp and a few anti aircraft weapons." He chuckled as he sat down shaking his head. "Yea, I bet you a Saleem became close buddies for those first few months before you took off eh?"
Moses' glare hardened as he leaned forward in his chair, placing his cuffed wrists before him. Tony's lips twitched as his plan to annoy the fugitive began to take action. "You're the agent that risked his ass to go save the Israeli rat from prison." He acknowledged coldly as Tony gave an encouraging nod.
"So you've heard of me?" He boasted sarcastically. "That must mean you've heard of Ziva." He added his partner's name, hoping to get a sign of recognition from the man.
Moses gave another deep throated laugh. "So that's her name?" He asked casually as he raised his eyebrows, remembering the helpless figure of a woman sitting in the corner of the dusty cell. "Is she here?" He released another question, looking back through the glass behind Tony's shoulder. "Because I bet she remembers me just as much as I remember her."
Ziva's insides churned as she attempted to hind her discomfort from Gibbs as her former captor stared slyly through the glass. In the room before her Tony's face hardened.
"I'm guessing she has better things to do than watch you sit here and be questioned all day." He growled protectively without knowing the presence of partner behind him.
Gibbs noticed Moses pick up on the protectiveness of Tony's response, sensing a weakness of his interrogator. His gut was starting to tell him it was all going downhill from there.
"She is your partner?" Moses questioned, breaking his gaze from the glass to meet Tony's. "You two have never had… you know." He gestured smoothly as he straightened higher in his seat.
"No." Tony cut shortly, clenching a fist under the table as Moses gave him another toothy grin.
"Because we have…"
Before the fugitive could continue he was being thrown against the wall by the senior agent. Ziva had released a small gasp she turned away from the window quickly; trying to get the image of the returning nightmare out of her head.
Gibbs had run out of the room and into the next, taking control of the suspect and slamming him back down into his seat as blood oozed from his nose. "I'll take it." He acknowledged to Tony who nodded shortly before exiting the room, still boiling with rage.
He was greeted by his partner as she shut the surveillance room door behind her, her face drained of its usual color. Their eyes seemed to magnetically attract to one another as they were left alone in the hallway.
"Ziva," Tony breathed as his body instantly relaxed at the sight of her. He took a step towards her as her eyes fell down to the floor, trying to hide her sudden rush of emotions. "I thought you were at your desk…"
"I am going there." She responded quickly, trying to push her way past Tony who let her through without question. As she turned the corner down the hall, he couldn't help but worry about her.
That's all he had been doing lately; worry. These past few months he had focused on successfully building their former relationship back up, and it was working. The familiar teasing, banter, and tension had all fallen into place, along with the feelings that had presented themselves back in Paris. But after they had dragged this man into custody and he saw the look of recognition on his partner's face, all the time put into building all that up had been temporarily destroyed, bringing back the awkwardness of the situation.
Back in the bullpen, Ziva sat down in her desk as an overwhelming wave of tiredness washed over her. She placed her head in her hands as she let herself drift away into the blanketing darkness of sleep overcome her.