As she stood on Israeli soil and watched the plane containing her now-former team grow smaller and smaller, Ziva realized that this choice was irreversible, that her world would never be the same again. It would feel wrong. Asymmetrical.
She swallowed a lump in her throat.
This is your home, she attempted to reassure herself. You are from here. You do not belong in America.
Or with him.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to force Tony's image from her mind. This was not about him. It was about her, and her country, and her loyalties.
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It was not long before Ziva was no longer in her country. She was sent on a suicide mission, and she failed. As a prisoner in a terrorist camp, she had a long time to think. And thinking led to nothing but guilt and the painful realization that she had been wrong.
She and Tony had their differences, but their partnership still worked; they could read each other's minds. They were a great team. That American saying, opposites attract, was it? It definitely applied to them.
Ziva regretted the entire handling of the Rivkin incident. She had been hurt and betrayed, and unwilling to listen to an explanation from Tony. Now that it was too late, she felt nothing but disgust for herself when she thought about the day she had said, "You risked your entire career, and for what?"
Because she knew he had been telling the truth when he replied, "For you."
Their differences had always been something they could overcome, until Ziva decided to shut Tony out. And she hated herself for it.
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Warm hands grip Ziva's arms. A few months ago, she would have immediately fought back against the man holding her, but she is used to this by now, and she knows fighting is no use. She shuffles along with Saleem, blind because of the sack thrown over her head, wondering if it is time for her torture or her stale bread.
She is thrown in a hard chair, and the sack is ripped from her head. When her eyes adjust to the lighting in the dim cell, she sees who is in front of her.
Tony.
In that one instant, the differences Ziva let come between her and her partner melt away, and it is just the two of them, staring at each other.
The world is suddenly symmetrical again.
Not my best work, but I wrote it a while back and I hoped that revisiting it and posting it would help to cure some serious writer's block I've been having. Thanks for reading… want to review? :)