Author's Note: Wow. I really appreciate the feedback on this story! My one question to everyone is, ships? Or no ships? If you want any certain ships, such as Tiva, Tate, McAbby, yada yada, please let me know. I'll go with the most popular ones. Obviously I know there's going to be some iffers on Tate or Tiva. That's why I'm letting you choose. I already had a request for Kibbs. :)

Saving Kate: Chapter 2

"Officer David."

Ziva managed to keep her posture stiff, and though her head ached and she simply wanted to throw up, she managed to hold it all in. "Deputy Director.."

"Explain the situation Officer."

Ziva held in the sigh of annoyance. "Mossad Officer Ari Haswari, under as a Hamas mole, attempted to snipe Special Agent Caitlyn Todd from a rooftop over 600meters away. I saw him, by accident during my surveilance, and struggled to stop him sir."

"And?"

"When I told him to turn himself in, as he had not yet harmed anyone, Officer Haswari got a look of anger, and lashed out at me with the rifle," Ziva explained. "Leaving me too incapacitated to be able to follow."

There was silence from the Deputy Director for a moment. "You allowed him to incapacitate you?"

Ziva bit back the reply she really wanted to give him. "I apologize, sir."

"Do not dare apologize," he told her. "You are a disgrace, allowing yourself to be handled like that."

Jenny said nothing as she watched a father thoroughly embarrass his own daughter via video conference. What was wrong with this man? Shouldn't he be worried that his own daughter could have been killed?

Ziva said nothing more.

"Deputy Director," Jenny said, stepping forward.

Eli David looked at Jenny Shepard over the video feed. "Director Shepard."

"Officer David saved the lives of four of my agents today," Jenny stated. "I'm not sure how you could possibly see that as disgraceful."

Eli's eyes narrowed.

Ziva turned to Jenny, her face a mixture of shock and worry. "Jen.." she whispered. "Stop."

"Very well," Eli finally said in return.

"I would like to request the temporary use of Officer David until we are able to catch Ari Haswari," Jenny said over the feed.

Silence followed as Eli glanced towards his daughter. "She could not handle him today, what leads you to believe she can help you now?"

Jenny wished she could simply cut the feed and never send Ziva back to the man. "As I said before. She saved the life of four of my agents, and Ari appears to have a soft spot for Officer David, it's my belief that if it had been anyone else, it's likely he would have killed them rather then incapacitated."

Eli's face was unreadable.

Ziva did not dare look into the eyes of her father after Jenny's words.

"I approve the request," Eli finally stated. "Until Ari Haswari has been captured, Officer David will remain in NCIS as your Liason Officer, agreed?"

"Agreed," Jenny said.

Eli looked at his daughter once more. "Kol tuv, bat."

Ziva looked up immediately in shock. She opened her mouth to speak but the feed went off at her father's bidding.

Gibbs had walked in near the end. Why had Ziva seemed so shocked at the words the Deputy Director had said?

Jenny looked over to see Gibbs. "Deputy Director David has loaned us Ziva until Ari has been caught."

"Fine," Gibbs said. But really what he was stuck on was that Ziva's father was the deputy director.

"Go downstairs with the team, Ziva," Jenny said. "We'll be down momentarily."

Ziva shook off the shock of her father's words and stepped out of MTAC, going to join the NCIS agents down in the squadroom.

"What happened?" Gibbs asked.

Jenny glanced at Gibbs. "Eli David has never quite been proud of Ziva no matter what she accomplishes," Jenny said. "He called her disgraceful for allowing herself to be incapacitated."

"He wasn't worried she might have been hurt, or could have been killed?" Gibbs asked.

"He didn't appear to be."

Gibbs walked out of MTAC with Jenny and glanced down at Ziva sitting at the window, watching the rainfall. "Then I suppose he's not much of a father, is he?"

Jenny shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I do know that she tends to anger easily at the mention of him, and her shock when he told her to 'be well' at the end of the MTAC feed was enough to know he has never said something like that to her before."

"How did she turn out so well?" Gibbs muttered, more to himself then to Jenny.

Jenny smiled. "Ziva is a smart girl.. Jethro," she said. "She believes in doing only what is right. You can trust her. She saved my life once."

Gibbs glanced at her.

"It's a long story, but she risked her life and cover to save mine.." Jenny admitted. "I'll never be able to repay her for it."

Gibbs nodded and went down the stairs to his team. "Updates!" he yelled.

Ziva turned casually as the rest of the team jumped out of their seats.

"Didn't police his brass, boss," Tony said, holding up a bag of two shells.

"Two shots?" Gibbs asked. "Ziva, did you see him take another shot?"

Ziva stepped beside Gibbs, "No, sir. I only saw the one shot, it is possible he took a shot before I even noticed that he was on the rooftop."

"Alright, and don't call me sir."

Ziva seemed confused again. "I am supposed to address anyone of higher rank as sir..." she informed him.

"You're not in Mossad at the moment, Ziva," Gibbs told her.

Ziva shook her head in confusion. "Alright.. Gibbs."

Gibbs let the small smile show at her reluctance. Jenny was right about her.

Kate stood, walking over to Ziva.

Ziva looked at her, and she had a hard time not seeing the target Ari had placed on her.

"Thank you."

Ziva opened her mouth, but she couldn't think of what to say. What had she done that was so great? Let her brother go free? "For what?"

Kate tilted her head to the side. "You saved my life," she said, holding out her hand. "Thank you.."

"Uh.. you are welcome.." Ziva said, shaking Kate's hand. The smile Kate gave her was so warm, she had to smile slightly in return. Why would Ari want to kill such a wonderful person? Nothing he was doing made sense to her anymore. She groaned at the nausea and her smile wavered, "Where is your ladies room?"

Kate frowned. "Follow me.." she said, quickly leading Ziva away.

Tony looked at Gibbs. "Something we should know about her?"

"Ziva will be working with us until we catch Ari," Gibbs explained.

Tony and McGee stared at him.

"She's a good officer," Gibbs finally said. "That's all you need to know."

Tony and McGee sat down, knowing not to push it any further.

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

Kate could see that Ziva was more independant than most women were. She supposed it came with her training in Mossad, but she'd never met a woman quite so closed-off to the world. She waited outside of the bathroom door knowing that Ziva might not appreciate having her inside, listening to the sounds of her hurl. She waited until she heard the running of water to go inside.

Ziva splashed her face with the water from the sink and then looked over at Kate as she walked in. She appreciated the privacy that Kate had decided to give her, even if it was just a small gesture.

Kate smiled and handed Ziva a paper towel to wipe her face off. "Are you feeling better?" she asked.

Ziva accepted the paper towels and dried her face off with them. "I am fine.." she answered flatly. She noticed her tone had been unfriendly and she sighed. "I am.. sorry," she admitted. "That was.. witchy."

Kate would have corrected her, but she supposed the look in Ziva's eyes meant she knew the real word already. She smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry about it," he said.

"I don't understand.." Ziva said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Understand what?" Kate asked curiously.

Ziva frowned. "Why is everyone so nice?" she asked. "My father would probably have me killed if I were to be so kind to a stranger who could wind up being the enemy."

Kate was shell-shocked at Ziva's thoughts and seriousness of her father having her killed. "You saved our lives, Ziva," she explained.

"But," Ziva managed to say in her confusion. "What if it was just a cover, for me to attack you from the inside?"

Kate was amazed at Ziva's blunt questions. "Why?" she asked, her smile growing. "Are you planning to kill us when we aren't paying attention?"

Ziva's face filled with horror for a moment until she realized Kate was merely teasing her. "That was good," she admiited. "You had me worried for a moment there.."

Both Kate and Ziva jumped as the door was shoved open with force. Ziva had her weapon aimed.

"Someone shot at Abby in the lab, most likely it was Ari.."

Ziva and Kate looked at McGee and were quick to follow him.

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

Gibbs was squatting down with Abby and Tony when McGee came in with Kate and Ziva. "Don't stand in view of the windows," he said.

Kate and McGee went to a squatting walk towards the rest of the team.

Ziva didn't listen. She merely kept standing and walked towards the window Ari had attempted to kill Abby through.

"Officer David! Get down, immediately," Gibbs ordered.

Ziva again didn't listen. She kept her face in full view of the window. If Ari was going to shoot her, then she dared him to do it. Instead, her phone rang.

Gibbs and the others watched her stare at the caller ID silently.

"Ari," Ziva stated calmly, finally answering the call.

"Ziva. Whose side are you on?"

Ziva didn't answer. "What kind of monster are you becoming?" she asked.

Silence came from the line.

"You wish to be just like him, is that right? Like father, like son?" she asked him.

"How dare you. I am doing this because of him, Ziva. You do not understand."

She shook her her, the sad smile on her face. "Oh.. but I do understand," she told him. "If you cannot beat him, then be just like him, is that it?"

Everyone watched her carefully.

Gibbs found the conversation to be a particularly bad choice for someone that could shoot her in the head at any time. But he didn't dare say a word.

"Your.. Agent Gibbs, he is just like him."

Ziva glanced down at Gibbs. "How so?"

Silence.

"You cannot answer that, can you?" she asked. "Do you want to shoot me, Ari?" she asked. "I assure you, that would most definitely get his attention."

"You know I will not."

Ziva's smile turned to a frown. "One day Ari.. I believe you will go back on that."

"Ziva.."

"You will be worse then him, Ari," she said quietly. "You already are by trying to kill these people.."

"I am not him, Ziva!"

Ziva's face was blank now. "Prove it, Ari. Turn yourself in."

Once again, she was met with silence.

"Turn yourself in!" she yelled.

"Ani mitzta'er.."

Ziva's face only showed confusion, until the shot rang out.

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

Dun dun dun. I am sorry, am I leaving it at a bad spot? It took me a bit to post only because I decided I had to rewrite the end of the chapter. I had something else entirely written down, but decided it should be moved to the next chapter instead and therefore I needed a new ending to this one. Now we are all set though! So never fear. There are more chapters all ready and set to be put up!

-Rei