Ziva woke up to a soft noise coming from her kitchen; she quickly rolled out of bed, grabbed her gun and moved slowly toward her kitchen. Her silent feet moving carefully, and stealthily, she quickly turned in to her kitchen, her gun now pointed at her computer. She quickly searched the kitchen, she found nothing. She looked at the window, outside was a tiny bird, with its mouth open wide and eyes like saucers. Ziva smiled at the tiny bird, she pulled out a piece of bread, crumpled it up and set the crumbs out on the window sill. The bird quickly started to peck at the crumbs, causing Ziva to laugh. She looked at the clock, 6:00 a.m., 'Good' she thought, 'Still enough time for a run.' She quickly changed into a tracksuit and grabbed a bottle of water and left the apartment. An hour later, she walked back into her apartment, all sweaty with an empty water bottle. She walked into the bathroom, taking off her tracksuit and sinking into the shower. 'Ahh' she thought, 'nothing like warm water to sooth tired muscles'. She scrubbed herself, rinsed off, then dried herself and walked out of the bathroom. She dug through her closet for cargo pants and a shirt. She pulled them on, and then walked over to her armory. She put on all her holsters, and grabbed two knives and two guns, and her NCIS badge. She walked into the kitchen, and started the coffee pot. She opened her computer, checking her email. She had one new message from a mysterious email address. She opened it with a frown, it read:
Dear Ziva,
I am going to visit Washington for two days and I will visit you later today.
~Monique
She read it with a smile. Then she thought with a frown, 'Would she remember, what she told me all those years ago? What we did, all those years ago?' She decided that she would think about that later. The coffee pot let out a ding, startling her out of her wits. She grabbed her mug and poured some coffee in. She sipped at it, enjoying the taste and soothing warmth. She finished, washed her mug and grabbed her stuff. She walked out and unlocked her mini cooper. She climbed in and started the car. She got there in less than 15 minutes, as usual and walked in. Tony was already there, throwing paper airplanes around with McGee who was trying to throw paper airplanes father than Tony. She smiled at them both with a cheerful, wide smile. "Good Morning Tony, and Good Morning McGee," she greets them cheerily. They both stopped and looked at her kinda funny. She asked," What?" Tony started with," You're way too cheerful this morning, something happen last night?" "No," she replied, not losing her cheerful demeanor. "Something happen this morning?" McGee asked warily. "Maybe," she simply replied, smiling as if today somebody told her she would get a new car. Tony, said," Ah ha! You met somebody this morning!" "No, Tony, I didn't" "Somebody is coming today?" Tony said. "Maybe" Tony said triumphantly," Ah ha!" Then, after having studied her carefully he said, "Male or female?" "Definitely female," said a new voice. Ziva quickly popped out of her chair, doing a 180 turn, with wide eyes and an open mouth. She quickly wrapped her arms around her, savoring the warmth from one Interpol agent, Monique Lisson.
They stood like that for what felt like forever, so close that they were almost one. She felt the warmth from the body next to her and hugged her a little closer, very reluctant to let go. Finally, they pulled apart, and looked at each other. Gibbs walked in right at that moment, looking at Ziva and signaling to introduce them all. As if on cue, Abby, Ducky and Jimmy walked out the elevator and into the bullpen. They turned toward Gibbs and looked as if they were going to ask him something, but see Monique and stop. Ziva just looks a little frustrated and says," This is Monique; she is my friend and like a sister to me. For a long time she was my mentor." Ziva finishes looking a little unsure what to say next. Finally she turns to Tony.
Tony stared at the new arrival, she was beautiful, she had a sexy accent and she had so many weapons that he could probably make a drinking game out of it. She reminded him of someone, but just as he thought he had it, a voice interrupted his thoughts, "Monique, meet Tony, a movie crazed fanatic. Tony, meet Monique. "Tony just flashed the Dinozzo smile and said," Why hello, Monique." She smiled at him sexily and said," Hello to you to, Very Special Agent Dinozzo. Ziva, you did not tell me in your emails that Agent Dinozzo was this sexy." They stared at each other for a moment, and then he broke off their gaze. After that, Tony went back to thinking who Monique reminded him of, he just couldn't figure out.
McGee stared at Monique, much like Tony; the only difference was that he was farther away. Ziva gestured toward him, and said," Monique, meet McGee, our technical person. McGee, meet Monique." McGee just stuttered out," H-h-hello" She smiled at him kindly and said," Hello Agent McGee."
Abby bounced up to Monique, saying," Hi! I'm Abby Sciuto, forensic scientist! " Monique just smiled and said," Hello Abby, I am Monique Lisson." McGee looked at Abby, frowned and said," How many Caf-Pows have you had today?" "Maybe five?" Abby replied. For a moment everybody looked at her in shock. "F-f-five?" Tony choked out. "I think, I can't remember." replied Abby with a thoughtful frown.
Jimy just stares at Monique and stammers out "H-h-hi, my name is J-J-Jimmy Palmer." She just says," Hi," in return.
Ducky stepped up next, and took a bow. "Hello, my dear. My name is Donald Mallard, but people call me Ducky." "Hello Ducky, it is nice to meet you." Ducky studied her carefully, hoping to find out more about her. Her posture was like Ziva's, confident, strong, and flexible, all at the same time. He noticed her hands were fidgeting, proof that she wasn't as confident as she seemed. Ducky realized that she was practically Ziva herself, like what Mike Franks was to Gibbs. Little did he know that Monique was much more treasured in Ziva's mind than just being a mentor.
Gibbs sat as his desk studying Monique Lisson for all he was worth. His gut told him that Monique was more than just a sister. Finally, Ziva said, "This is Gibbs, our team leader, and my boss." Monique sashayed up to him, and said, "So this is the great Gibbs Ziva has told me about. What she didn't tell me though, was that he was so handsome." She smiles at him, meeting his gaze and not looking away. Finally, he nods at her while not taking is eyes off her. He still can't shake that funny feeling that she is more that a sister to Ziva.
Jenny leans on the rail, staring down at the new arrival. She vaguely remembers her from a meeting she attended, the lady who was at guard standing outside the door to one of the most important meetings she had attended ever. She watches and listens to them closely, scrutinizing her like practically everyone else in the bullpen was. When Ziva turns to her and says," Jenny come down, meet my mentor." Jenny nearly falls off the rail in shock; she really didn't think they'd notice her. Instead, she slowly walked down the stairs, and walked up to Monique. Monique offered a hand, Jenny shook her hand warily. They break their hands apart, a silence going to fill the room. Everybody stared at Monique but she didn't squirm, she just stood there silently, returning each stare to all of the teammates.
Monique stood in the bullpen, the center of attention. Finally, Tony broke the silence and said, "Where do you work?" "Monique replied, "I work at Interpol" They all nodded for a moment before Abby quickly bounced up to Monique and said, "Me and Ducky will give you a tour of NCIS since we don't have anything to do!" Ziva shot her a grateful glance while Abby just smiled at her. She looped her arm through Monique's grabbed Ducky's hand and bounced off, dragging both of them with her.