Gibbs returned in the elevator with coffee and arrived seconds after Erykah disappeared. Ziva stared at him.

'Did you pass Erykah?' she asked.

Gibbs shook his head. Ziva frowned. She turned to Tony who shrugged. Ziva looked around her. If neither Tony nor Gibbs had passed her, Erykah must still be in the building. She called out to her sister but got no reply. She turned to the window and glanced towards the ground with the little dolls toddling around on the distant pavement below. She started. Erykah could be very distinct when she wanted to be and blend into the crowd when she didn't. Obviously she wanted Ziva to notice her since Ziva's eyes were immediately drawn to her sister far beneath her. Somehow, Erykah had managed to escape the building without going down the stairs or by the elevator. A smile crept to Ziva's scarlet face. Her sister was just as she remembered.

She felt a chill creep over her neck and she spun round to find Gibbs watching her intently. She raised her eyebrows questioningly. He cocked his head and opened his mouth to speak when his desk phone rang. He strode across to it and answered it with a curt, 'Gibbs.' After a pause he continued. 'Ziva will be right down.' He replaced the phone on its cradle and turned to Ziva. 'Abby had something to show us. I thought that you could handle it by yourself.' Ziva narrowed her eyes suspiciously, trying to figure out his ulterior motive for sending her to see Abby but complied with his order.

She had forgotten about her bloody, swollen face and was startled by Abby's cry of alarm when she passed through the open door into Abby's lab.

'What is it, Abby?' she asked.

Abby pointed dramatically to her face and Ziva sighed as she realised that there was no real issue.

'It looks worse than it is, Abby.'

'Who did it to you?' Abby gasped, still recovering from the shock of Ziva's bruises.

'My sister,' Ziva said automatically, not realising how callous she sounded.

'I thought your sister was dead?' Abby asked curiously.

'She is.' Abby frowned trying to make sense of Ziva's confusing explanation. 'I have another sister.'

Abby glared at her. 'And when were you going to tell us this?' she demanded.

Ziva squirmed. 'She isn't someone that comes up easily in conversation.'

Abby face softened as she recognised Ziva's discomfort. 'And she did this to you?' she inquired delicately.

'Abby, don't fuss. It looks worse than it is, honestly. She really knows how to mess you up to look terribly injured without doing any serious damage. It'll heal in no time.' Ziva's voice was calm and irritated, as if she resented Abby's concern.

'But, Ziva,' Abby protested. 'Why was your sister beating you up?'

Ziva's eyes shifted around the room. 'Ari,' she whispered eventually.

'Ari?'

'He was her brother, too,' Ziva reminded her.

'That does not give her a right to,' Abby gestured towards her friend, 'do this to you.'

'Yes it does, Abby,' Ziva corrected her. 'For I killed Ari, not Gibbs.'

Abby's face melted with sympathy and she ran towards Ziva and threw her arms around her. 'Ziva,' she mumbled into her hair. 'I'm so sorry.'

Ziva stood there stiffly, allowing Abby to try to comfort her, but seeing her sister again had made Ziva feel odd about the changes that she had made to herself since leaving Mossad. Usually she hugged Abby back but it didn't feel appropriate. Abby noticed her unwillingness and pulled away.

Ziva gave her a small smile and sat down. She looked at Abby's furious face; her fury directed at Ziva's last remaining sibling and bit her lip.

Flashback to Ziva's childhood

Ziva stood on the chair, peering out the window. The window was waist height for her father but she needed the extra lift to be able to stare out of it, eagerly anticipating her sister's arrival. She hadn't ever seen her sister before; she had always been with her mother when her sister had visited her father previously. This time, Ziva had pleaded for weeks with Rivka to allow her to go to see her father and sister in England.

Her sister was a year younger than her, and two years older than Tali. Tali was standing beside Ziva, on another chair, and was just as excited as Ziva. Ziva put an arm around her younger sister and gave her small hug.

The trio only waited a short time before their excitement climaxed as a black car swept into the driveway. Ziva leapt off her chair and rushed down the stairs and out the door to greet her sister. By the time she reached the car, her sister was already helping the driver to heave trunks out of the car. They were big, black trunks and Ziva shrank away from them. She had seen similar trunks before and they always contained guns. She waited shyly at a safe distance from the car until all the trunks had been unloaded and the girl took out a battered khaki rucksack. She swung it over her shoulder and ran towards Ziva. She stopped as Ziva flung her arms out to envelope her in a hug. Tentatively she stepped forward and allowed Ziva to wrap her arms around her. A crooked smile manifested itself on her impish face and she wrestled Ziva to the ground. Ziva gave a small shriek as she hit the ground. At the protestation, the girl rolled off Ziva and frowned. Ziva stood up and brushed the dust off her dress. Rivka had insisted on only packing dresses and skirts for the trip and Ziva had strict instructions not to rip them. Eli and Tali joined the two sisters and Eli gave a deep laugh at the sight of his younger daughter on the ground and Ziva leaning away from her, tidying her appearance.

'Ziva, this is Erykah, your sister,' he introduced. 'Erykah, this is Ziva and Tali. They don't fight constantly so you'll have to be gentle.' He held his large hand out to help Erykah up but Erykah ignored it and hopped onto her feet lightly. She grinned at Eli and Tali, who was hiding behind her father's leg. Ziva watched the boisterous girl closely as they went upstairs to the room they would be sharing. Erykah led the way, bounding up the stairs with surprising vigour; Ziva followed, running to keep up; and Tali trailed behind wailing mournfully for Ziva to 'wait up.'

Erykah tipped the limited contents of her backpack onto her bed in a messy heap and leant dangerously far out of the now open window. Ziva joined her, though she leant out less far, and bombarded her sister with questions. Erykah scrutinised Ziva before she answered every question with the secretive short reply that seemed to stem from a clear mistrust of her new sister. Ziva was persistent enough but Erykah was stubborn and eventually Ziva gave up her information witch hunt.

After she had blocked the flow of questions, Erykah leant out even further and contorted herself into curious positions to get the best view of her surroundings. While Erykah was engrossed in her scope of the landscape, Ziva studied her face. She had a curly, brown mop of unruly tangles on her head and a defined jaw underneath striking features on her face. Her eyes were deep brown and Ziva felt as if she could get lost inside the maze of swirls and shades. Her nose was curved and the skin clung tightly to the shapely bone. Her lips were dark red and subtly parted in an amused smirk. Her body was slender and athletic, her muscles already noticeable beneath her glowing chestnut skin. Ziva was captivated by her appearance and the agility in which she dangled herself out of the window, oblivious to the danger of the potential fall.

Erykah quickly got a satisfactory view and turned to Ziva with a mischievous giggle. She grabbed Ziva's hand and pulled her down the stairs. She dropped it when they reached the bottom of the driveway and raised her eyebrows, daring Ziva to turn back. Ziva returned the gaze and Erykah nodded, pleased by the adventurousness of her new playmate. Erykah jumped lightly over the fence and darted into the woods beyond. After only a seconds hesitation Ziva followed. Rivka knew of Ziva's love of the woods at the bottom of Eli's English country house's garden and had banned her from going into it, making Ziva recite the perils of entering the woods alone before she allowed her to visit Eli there. Ziva was almost consumed by the darkness of the trees when she heard a plaintive whimper from the fence. Tali was standing there, barely visible through the cracks in the wood, begging Ziva to come back. Ziva shouted to reassure Tali and advise her to return to the house before spinning round and following Erykah into the depths of the wood.

Erykah and Ziva disappeared into the woods regularly during their stay. Tali would follow them down every time but never ventured past the confines of the fence. Ziva never told her sister of the games they would play in the woods, she had never told anyone. Ziva had been afraid at the time to even let Eli know but now she wondered if Eli had suggested to Erykah to teach his other daughter how to kill. At first Erykah threw stones at birds, shot squirrels with arrows but after a week, she decided to teach Ziva how to shoot a gun. They crept into Eli's study one night and stole an old revolver from the back of the cupboard. The next day, before breakfast, Erykah took Ziva to the woods and showed her how to use it. By the afternoon, Ziva had shot two stray dogs and three mice.

The visit was only short for Ziva and Tali, their mother had only granted them two weeks off school to meet their sister, and Ziva wondered if she would ever see her sister again. She had become extremely attached to Erykah and hoped that they would not be separated for too long because she was scared that Erykah would forget about her after a while.

The day before their departure, Ziva asked the question that had been burning since Erykah had revealed her aggressive tendencies and skills with weapons.

'Erykah?' she began. Erykah looked up from the knife she was sharpening on a rock. 'Where did you learn all this stuff?'

Ziva was expecting a guarded answer that revealed nothing but her question was answered fully.

'Father sent me away to Russia with his friends. They train me every day after school,' she told Ziva flatly. 'They taught me to injure, hide, spy and kill without anyone noticing. They work for father at Mossad.'

Ziva nodded. She felt hurt by this admission. Her father had thought Erykah was worthy of Mossad training but not her. She almost left Erykah and stormed to the house to confront her father but she didn't want to waste her final day with Erykah.

After Ziva and Tali had returned to Israel, to their protective mother, Rivka, they argued often about Erykah. Ziva remained in awe of their half-sister, whereas Tali was disapproving. It was four years before they saw Erykah again and Tali had matured excessively. She was ten and had proved herself to be both kind and clever. Ziva had shown an interest in Mossad after her experience with Erykah's Mossad training and, while Rivka despaired of her rebellious daughter, Eli rejoiced in having another dutiful daughter to follow in his footsteps.

The second time that the sisters met Erykah was to be more eventful than the last.