Malachi was a little reluctant to let Ziva go with Tony back to NCIS headquarters. He finally decided to come with the two, much to Tony's annoyance. When the three arrived in the parking lot, Malachi turned to Ziva.

"Ziva, go first. We will watch your back, but you need a head start of about thirty yards." Malachi came up with a stupid excuse to have a moment alone with Tony. Ziva knew that the thirty yards thing was most likely made up, but she was not in the mood to argue.

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Tony asked.

"Did I see your wandering eyes on Ziva?" Malachi bluntly asked.

"Who are you? Her father?"

"Her father's dead, DiNozzo. Eli David might not have been a good father, but he was a great leader. Anyways, did I see your wandering eyes on Ziva?" Malachi repeated the question.

"So what, Mal? Are you going to tell me she's off-limits? Are you going to tell me to stay away from your girl because in all of the movies, the guy who says that does not end up with the girl, like ever."

"You didn't answer my question." Malachi noticed.

"Well, I got a question for you, Mal. Are you in love with Ziva?" he asked bluntly, much like Malachi had done the first time.

"Are you?" he returned with the same question. Malachi's reply shut Tony up. His body froze, and he suddenly felt paralyzed all because Malachi had asked if he was in love with Ziva. There was no right answer to this question. Both Malachi and Tony's silence answered the question. The two men got out of the car.

"I was wondering where my protection detail was." Ziva said as she saw the two men enter the squad room.

"Well, Ziva, I'm not going anywhere." Malachi said, to which Ziva gave him a half-smile. I can make her really smile. Tony thought.

"Neither am I." he added, and Ziva's smile was enough to thank him. That smile had started to show more, which Tony was thankful for. Tony looked around the squad room.

"So where's Gibbs and McGee?" he asked.

"Right here." Answered a voice from behind. Tony turned around to see Gibbs with a coffee in hand, a frustrated look on his face, and McGee in tow.

"So, fill us in, Boss." Tony said, referring to the case, which was worrying him a little.

"McGee, put it up." Gibbs ordered once they all were in the squad room. McGee took the remote, and the pictures of three dead women appeared on the screen.

"One marine, one navy chaplain, and one petty officer. All three women had brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin. So far, that's the only connection we can find between the three women. They were all beaten to death, with the word brightness carved into their backs." McGee explained.

"And you think it's Bodnar?" Malachi asked. "That's not much of a lead, Agent Gibbs. It could all be a coincidence." The room suddenly stiffened, as Gibbs shot daggers through his eyes at Malachi.

"McGee, put up pictures of the women, alive." McGee did so.

"They look alike." Ziva said.

"Now add Ziva's picture." Gibbs ordered. McGee included Ziva's passport picture on the screen.

"They could be sisters." Tony said.

"And what does Ziva translate to, Officer Ben-Gidon?" Gibbs asked, adding a slight bit of disgust to Malachi's name.

"Brilliance." Malachi replied. Gibbs gave him the that is not the answer I want look. "Or brightness." He added hesitantly.

"Are you saying that Bodnar is killing women who look like Ziva and carving her name's translation into their backs?" Tony summarized.

"Exactly." McGee answered.

"What about them being navy and marines, Agent Gibbs? Ziva is neither."

"Ziva's a navy cop." Tony clarified. "Bodnar must have known that she would be investigating this. He wasn't planning on Malachi coming and putting her in a safe house."

"He probably does know by now." A voice called, quickly coming down the stairs from the balcony. That voice was Director Vance. "Officer Ben-Gidon, I suggest you contact one more Mossad officer that you trust with your life to come and help with the security detail." Vance said.

"What?" Gibbs demanded more than asked.

"Two people protecting her and two people working on the case is not enough, Agent Gibbs. I intend to enlist help from Mossad, FBI, everyone is after this guy. I want an NCIS-FBI joint op for solving the case, and I want an NCIS-Mossad joint protection detail. I just need Officer Ben-Gidon to make the call." Vance said, and he walked away, indicating that he did not want any arguments on the matter. Gibbs sat down at his desk, took his phone, and dialed a number.

"Hey, Tobias…." And the rest of the conversation was ignored by the others. McGee was suddenly uncomfortable with all the tension in the room.

"What officer do you have in mind, Malachi?" Ziva finally asked. The three men looked at her. She was a little taken back with everything they learned recently. Those women are dead because they look like me. She thought.

"Michael." He said.

"Which one?" Ziva asked in reply.

"Your Michael." He said. Tony and McGee looked at her. The last time she had a Michael, he turned out to be using her on orders by her father. Ziva looked a little afraid when Malachi said he wanted Michael.

"Do you think he is capable of protecting me?" Ziva asked. "I need to be able to trust that the people given the job to protect me will, Malachi." She explained.

"He should want to protect you. After all, he is your cousin. You two were very close when you were younger." Bells rang in Tony's head. Ziva had briefly mentioned that she had a cousin named Michael who was best friends with Ari and Michael.

"We have not spoken in a few years. He thinks I have changed too much." She replied.

"You have." Malachi corrected her. "You have not been the girl we all loved for years. You are no longer the same person. You used to kick ass and look hot doing it. Where's the girl that was trained by thirteen to kill people? Where's the girl who everyone fell in love? Where's the girl who had the voice of an angel?" Malachi asked. Tony and McGee looked at each other, then at Ziva. They had never heard much about her past before. What did they really know about Ziva's past? It was complicated. That's all they really knew.

"That girl is gone, Malachi."

"I know, but I hope that there's a chance of getting her back."

"No." Ziva instantly replied.

"Too bad. I miss her." Malachi confessed. "We lost you and Ari at the same time. That girl died with him. A part of all of us, Ziva, died with him. His death devastated you."

"His death didn't devastate me." She said.

` "Then what did, Ziva? What changed you so drastically?" Malachi continued.

"The man he had become." She whispered. If there wasn't silence around the room, expecting Ziva's answer, no one would have heard her.

"He would've been proud of you." Malachi finally said, much to everyone's surprise.

I have to say thank you so much for my reviews. I really appreciate your feedback. It motivates me to update faster. So, what do you think about the story so far? Please tell me what you like, what you don't like, etc. So, we are going to find out more about Ziva's past, and I want to show how devastating it must have been for her to find out her brother was a traitor and have to kill him. No one from team Gibbs was there for her because they hated Ari, but they didn't know how close Ari and Ziva were. Don't worry. There will be more tiva. Please, tell me what you think.