Chapter Two - "Secrets"
Ziva sat at her desk as Tony was telling McGee, Gibbs and her all about the victim, her history and how she was connected to the other victims. Ziva was only half listening to Tony and the other half of the time she was just staring blankly at the papers on her desk. She just couldn't get her mind to focus; she started thinking maybe it would be best if she had taken a few more days off. But she didn't want to waste any more time at her apartment, she was going as they say stir crazy.
"He's a nice guy, Ziva" Lillian said to her, as they walked into Claire's apartment with boxes in their hands. Lily had just bought a few more things, since Matthew had moved in with her and had asked Ziva to help her unload it. "And I really like him."
"I do not trust him" Ziva said to Lillian. The two of them walked into the living room and placed the boxes on the table. Lily turned and faced Ziva.
"Why because he's male? Or a fed?" Lily asked her harshly.
"There is no record of him Lily" Ziva said to him. She knew it would get her in trouble, but she wanted to make sure he was who he said he was. She had asked a contact at the agency to look into a Matthew Mackenzie, only to find out no one by that name worked for the agency or any agency.
"You checked into his background?" Lily said shocked.
"You are my friend, and I do not trust him" Ziva said to her. She knew it didn't justify it, but she was just trying to protect Lily.
"Don't, do not use your job to tell me who I can and can't date. You may be my friend, but you're not my mother or protector" Lillian said. She picked up one of the boxes and stormed off into the other room. Ziva left out a sigh, before turned away from the coffee table and heading for the door. Just as she was getting to the door, it opened and there stood Matthew.
"Leaving so soon Ziva" Matt said to her, as he walked into the apartment.
"I have to get to go" Ziva said, it was only half true, but she didn't want him to know Lily and her fought about him. She started to move past him and too the door, but he grabbed her arm and stopped her. She turned her head and looked at him
"I don't think so" He said, with this devilish grin on his face. Ziva grabbed his hand and pulled it off her arm, before pushing it back and backing away a bit from him.
"Touch me again and you will not have a hand to pull back." Ziva said to him coldly.
"Touchy sorry" Matt said asking all innocent. "I just hate to see you leave so soon"
"I have to work" Ziva said again before turning away from him and leaving.
"Ziva" Tony voice rang. Ziva shook her head and looked up to see Tony standing in front of her desk and McGee and Gibbs where both nowhere to be seen. "I have been saying your name for the last 5 minutes. You sure you're okay?"
"I am fine" Ziva said to him, a bit confused.
"McGee and Gibbs went to go see Abby. I have been trying to get your attention now, so we can join them" Tony said to her, not buying it.
"I will be right there" Ziva said.
"Okay" Tony said, a little uneasy. He didn't want to leave her alone, but respected what she said. He just gave her a small smile before heading off towards the elevator. Once the elevator reached the floor for Abby's Lab, Tony walked off and headed straight into the Lab. Abby was already explaining something to Gibbs and McGee. Tony just walked right over and stood there and listened to Abby as she talked, as if he had been there all along. McGee shot him a look almost asking if Ziva was coming and what was going on. Tony looked back at him with a look saying something is really off. Tony then looked over to see Gibbs looking at the two of them.
"Nice of you to join of DiNozzo" Gibbs said to him.
"I got tied up with something, won't happen again" Tony said to him, even though he knew Gibbs knew he was trying to get Ziva's attention.
"Your right it won't" Gibbs said to him. He then looked around and didn't see Ziva anywhere. "Where is Ziva?"
"She was right behind me" Tony said to him. He then looked down at the ground, his friend and partner was really starting to worry him.
Ziva sat her desk for a couple of minute trying to gather her thoughts. She knew she needed to pull herself together if she wanted to get McGee and Tony to stop asking if she was fine. She was fine; she was determined to be fine. It had just been a hard couple of weeks and she just needed to put the past in the past. Ziva took a deep breath and got up from her chair. She walked out from behind her desk and headed on her way to Abby's lab. Ziva stood in the elevator as it went down. It seemed like it was taken forever to reach the floor she needed to be on. Or maybe she really just didn't want to face the team right now. All she knew was her mind was running a mile a minute and she couldn't figure out how to sort anything out. Everything was all jumbled up and nothing made sense. The one thing that was making sense was she could hear Gibbs words in her head… 'You've gotta stop staring at this one, Ziva. Put it behind you.' She knew she needed to put it behind her; she just couldn't no matter how hard she tried. She then reached over and flipped the emergency stop switch and the elevator stopped. Ziva leaned against the back of the elevator and closed her eyes.
Ziva tried to leave autopsy, but Gibbs stopped her. "If you are going to give me a lecture on my bad judgment, I don't need to hear it" Ziva said to him.
"Is that was you think this is about" Gibbs responded back. "You doubting your judgment?"
"I should have moved earlier." Ziva said.
"You would've if you could've" Gibbs said.
"I left it too late."
"You still took him out."
"I almost died."
"But you didn't." Gibbs said. He then moved closer to her. "You've gotta trust your judgment, Ziva. Moment you don't, it won't be almost." Gibbs walked away, leaving Ziva alone.
Ziva opened her eyes and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away and recomposed herself. She took a deep breath and flipped the elevator back on. Within a few minutes the doors opened and Ziva walked off. She walked into the lab, and as soon as she was in the room, everyone turned and looked at her.
"DiNozzo McGee go talk to her family" Gibbs said to Tony and McGee. "Ziva with me" Gibbs said and then walked away from Abby, Tony and McGee and past Ziva towards the elevator. Ziva took a deep breath and followed him into the elevator. Once the door closed and the elevator started to go up, Gibbs flipped the emergency stop switch and once the emergency lights turned on, Gibbs turned to Ziva. Ziva took a step back away from him. "If you aren't ready to come back Ziva, why are you here?"
"I am ready, I am just getting back into the swings of things" Ziva said to him, trying to come up with a logical reason Gibbs wouldn't question.
"Could have fooled me" Gibbs said to her, clearly not buying it. "Ziva go home, take another couple days off, we will be okay"
"I cannot" Ziva said quickly
"Why not?" Gibbs asked her.
"I am going crazy in my apartment. I cannot stay there another day." Ziva said, hoping Gibbs won't notice her need to be anywhere else but that apartment complex. She knew Gibbs and if he could see the fear in her eyes, she knew he's say something.
"Ziva what is really going on?" Gibbs asked her. She knew either Tony or McGee mentioned something, but Gibbs had seen her strange behavior, but either way she wasn't about to let on things were far from fine.
"Nothing. I am… fine, I will be…. fine. I just need to… need to focus on work" Ziva said, stumbling on her words a bit.
"You are not fine. Ziva what is going on?" Gibbs said.
"She was killed there Gibbs" Ziva said as a few tears fell from her eyes. She knew that wasn't the only reason why, but no one needed to know that. "I cannot stay there another second, knowing she died across the hall from me, and that I could not help her."
"Ziva you are not to blame for her death." Gibbs said to her.
"But I am" Ziva said to him. "Had I said nothing, he would not have felt the need to kill her. She was innocent, Gibbs."
"Ziva there is no way to say if he wouldn't have killed her if you didn't warn her. But you did" Gibb said to her. "You warned her, he wasn't who he said he was. What happened after that, you couldn't have predicted or stopped"
"I was trained to kill and I could not stop him" Ziva said, she looked down at the ground, as a few more tears feel from her eyes.
"I don't think anyone could have stopped him" Gibbs said to her. He then moved closer to her and pulled her into a hug. Ziva tensed up at first, but soon loosened up and allowed Gibbs to hold her in comfort.
"You know what I think it is?" Tony said as they got out of the car. The two had taken off to talk to the victim's family. Once they had reached the house, Tony started on his rambles again.
"What Tony?" McGee asked him.
"Why Ziva is so jumpy. She found this Matt guy and killed him" Tony said, knowing that was just as farfetched as it sounded. They knew a thought that like in the past it could have been the case, but things were different now, Ziva was different now.
"You really think she'd kill him and jeopardize her job at NCIS?" McGee questioned him.
"You have a point" Tony said agreeing with McGee.
"I don't doubt she wouldn't want revenge, but if it cost her, her job, I think she'd let the police handle it" McGee said.
"Okay I get it" Tony said as they reached the front door. "Back to work, knock on the door Probie" McGee rolled his eyes and knocked on the door. Within a couple minutes the door opened. "NCIS" Tony said holding up their badges for the women to see. "We would like to ask you a few questions about your daughter, Mrs. Wilson"
"Sophie?" Mrs. Wilson said. "What has she gotten herself into now?
"May we come in?" McGee said softly. Mrs. Wilson nodded and moved out of the way to let them in. Once Tony and McGee walked in Mrs. Wilson closed the door.
"You may want to sit down" Tony said. Mrs. Wilson led them to the living room and they all took a seat. "I'm sorry Mrs. Wilson, your daughter Sophie was murder" Tony said. He had always hated giving the bad news to the family. As he had told Kate years ago he had sent someone else to do it when he was a Baltimore Cop.
"H…H…How?" Mrs. Wilson asked, as the tears fell from her eyes.
"That is what we intend on finding out" Tony said to her.
"It was that boyfriend of her. I knew he was no good" Mrs. Wilson said angrily.
"Boyfriend, what was his name?" Tony asked.
"Max something" She said. "I have a picture" She then got up and walked out of the room. Moments later she came back with a picture and handed it to Tony. "They started dating two weeks ago" She said to them. "But he wasn't who he said he was. He said he was a cop, but I have friends on the force and they never heard of him."
"Thank you Mrs. Wilson" Tony said. McGee looked at Tony not sure what he was doing. "My we keep this?" She nodded. "We'll be in touch and I promise we'll find him" Tony told her, he then got up, McGee following. The two then headed out of the house. As they were walking back to the car, Tony handed the picture to McGee. "He looks Familiar"
"He sure does" McGee said, as he realized what had just happened. The two walked to the car and go in, before driving back the office.