There were no words exchanged at first, just a slim body that slid down next to her on the couch. As if none of the past six months had ever happened, their bodies fit into each others' perfectly once again. Abby hesitantly raised her arm to pull Ziva closer to her, but stopped short in her action as the shrill sound of their home phone ringing. Ziva leapt up and went to answer it before the piercing noise could wake their sleeping children.
Sitting alone on the couch suddenly left Abby feeling empty, a feeling she had become intimately acquainted with since she had 'died'. The sound of the phone ringing had dug up memories of that last phone call. Memories that Abby wanted to keep buried deep in the recesses of her mind where she would never find them again.
The landline rang out into the sleepy house. Ziva was still at the Navy Yard, helping Gibbs out with some paperwork that had cropped up over the case they had just closed. Apparently, SecNav did not take too nicely to a Mossad officer on loan to the US Navy dropping dead right in NCIS jurisdiction. Especially if one of the agents on the case happened to be the daughter of the director of Mossad. Conflict of interest, he said.
Abby had put the children to bed that night. Little did she know, that would be the last time she could do it for another six months. Calev had just fallen asleep after yet another reading of Goodnight Moon and Tali had already been taken away by the sandman.
She had just finished locking up the windows and doors downstairs when the phone started ringing. When she picked up, the coldest voice she had ever heard crept across the line from countries away that made her gasp and collapse onto the chair nearby.
"Miss Scuito, I believe you know who I am, yes?" The heavily accented voice stated calmly as Abby tried not to whimper audibly, "I also believe you know why I am calling. It seems you have... corrupted a particular extremely important asset of mine. Did you really think you would get away with it?"
The voice on the other side of the connection scoffed, then continued on its rampage, "I have to admit, nevertheless, that the children are quite beautiful. Talia, though, what an unfortunate name and legacy to be saddled with."
Abby swallowed the lump in her throat. How in the world did he know? They had done everything they could to keep news of their relationship, and later, their children, away from that man.
"What do you want, Director?" Her voice was steely to mask the suffocating fear rising up like putrid bile in her throat.
Suddenly she was hyperaware of Tali's bed creaking slightly. She would need a new one soon. Gibbs would build it for her again, no doubt. Calev's sniffling tugged at the back of her mind. Maybe he was coming down with the flu.
"Why, Ms. Scuito, I was waiting for you to ask me that. You see, you have brought shame upon the Davids with your actions. You are insufferable, you know? Despite all the men I have sent there to stop this blasphemy in its tracks, you have managed to sink your claws in so deep that she will not let go."
The silence over the line allowed the words to sink in slowly. Abby gripped the phone more tightly, awaiting the next line with bated breath.
"Well, you have forced my hand. You have four days, Abigail. Four days to remove yourself from Ziva's life permanently. You are not to have any personal relationship with her or the children any longer. Usually I would let you have the boy, since he is biologically yours, but he will serve Mossad well in future. A replacement for Ari, you could say."
The image of her son, her son with his bright green eyes full of an innocence Ziva envied, being trained and moulded into a soldier for Mossad and a mole in Hamas sprung into her mind. No! She could never let him go through that. Their team knew all to well what would happen to someone like that.
"I believe you understand the implications your actions will bring, no? Unless you leave, permanently, your daughter will be sold to the highest international bidder to do with as they please. Your darling son will become my newest Hamas-Mossad mole and Zivaleh will return to Kidon. I have a very dangerous mission waiting for her on my desk. Mark my words, Miss Scuito. I will exact them as I see fit."
There was a click and Abby's hand trembled as she put the phone back into its cradle.
She had to disappear, or else her family would suffer.
But how? How could she do that and keep Ziva from pursuing her? There was no way Ziva would let her go. Not as long as there was the faintest possibility of her being alive.
That was it! She would have to fake her death. She could. After all, she could make all the forensic factors fall together perfectly.
Picking up the burner phone that Ziva had insisted she have, she ran her fingers over the taser that she kept together with it in a chest. She dialed a number that was so familiar to her by now.
"Gibbs." The gruff voice of her father figure sounded over the phone, sparking off soft crackling on the cheap phone. Caitlin's tinkling laughter could be heard somewhere in the background along with Jenny's warm, throaty chuckle and half a smile wormed its way onto Abby's stoic face.
"It's me. You cannot tell Ziva I called you, okay? I need your help. Yours, and Jenny's I guess."
"What is it, Abbs? Why can't you let Ziva in on this?"
"I need to die, Gibbs. Like, convincingly fake-die. Convincingly enough to fool Eli David-die."
The closest thing to a gasp that Gibbs would ever let out pierced the air over the phone and she heard him padding away from his daughter and wife.
"You're gonna explain this sooner or later, but first things first. He give you a deadline?"
"Four days." she choked out. In four days, her life here would no longer exist.
"I'm guessing Ziva's gotta think you're dead." Gibbs sighed over the phone and she could practically hear him Gibbs-glaring at her. "Do you know what this is going to do to her, Abbs?"
Abby bit back a sob as she opened her mouth to protest weakly, but the unmistakable sound, or lack thereof, of Ziva turning the doorknob of the main door caught her attention.
"Gibbs, she's back. I'll meet you tomorrow morning to arrange the whole thing. Jenny too?"
Swallowing, she forced her expression back to a neutral state.
"G'night, Dad. Say goodnight to Mom for me. Cait too."
The last allusion to a long-running inside joke with the team brought a small smile back to her face as she went to greet her partner.
"Ziva!" she whisper-yelled as the Israeli belle came into sight. Abby launched herself into Ziva's open arms and held on tight. They shared a sweet kiss and Ziva placed a warm hand on the small of Abby's back and guided her up to their bedroom. That night, she had spent the hours laying in Ziva's arms, trying to convince herself that it had all just been a dream.
For the first time since Abby had moved in with Ziva, she woke up before the Israeli had taken off for her morning run. Gingerly she got out of their bed, trying not to wake the snoring woman.
"I'm sorry I have to do this, Zi. So sorry."
Scribbling in her loopy script on a post it that she was meeting Gibbs, Abby fled the house before her children or partner awoke to see her leave. She would never be able to actually plan out the entire operation if she had to face them beforehand.
"Morning Gibbs, morning Jenny." There was none of her usual effervescence or exuberance in the customary greeting, just tired resignation that weighed her words down.
"Explain yourself, Abbs. Now." Gibbs gulped at his coffee and slammed a Caf-Pow down in front of the raven-haired woman.
"Eli called. He said that if... if I did not disappear from their lives in four days, Ziva would return to Kidon on a suicide mission, Tali will be sold to the highest international bidder and Calev will be trained into Ari's replacement."
For a moment, the only sounds in the old Shepard mansion were the sounds of Abby's gasping breaths and Jenny's quiet murmurs to Caitlin in the young girl's upstairs bedroom.
"You sure about this, Abbs?"
Just as Abby was about to protest that she did not have any other options, Jenny cut in.
"Face it, Jethro. She has no other feasible choice."
"Alright then, so how do you want to do this?"
A/N: sorry for the long wait for this chapter. Life has been kind of nuts lately. I sat shiva for three people in the past two months. I will try to get the next chapter up ASAP. R&R please?