A/N Sorry for the slow update...I can't even think of an excuse.

Enjoy!

Chapter 3

"What do you mean, 'you should be dead'?" Tony asked, not sure he had heard properly.

"That is what it says," Ziva replied, shuffling though the papers on her desk.

Gibbs passed the note to McGee. "Bag it. Take it to Abby. It's evidence." McGee scuttled off.

"How are you connected to these people?" Gibbs asked Ziva, waving a hand at the photos on the plasma.

"I was in the team that was involved in having Rafael and Reuven terminated from Mossad after their connections to Hamas were discovered," Ziva explained.

"McGee, gear up," Gibbs said as McGee came back into the squadroom.

"Where're we going Boss?" he asked.

"Residence of the Osam brothers."

"What about me Boss?" Tony said.

"You stay here. Ziva is in your custody," Gibbs said and he and McGee left.

Tony grinned.

Two hours later McGee and Gibbs arrived back in the squadroom.

"You get 'em Boss?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, they're in McGee's backpack," Gibbs replied. Tony shrank back to his desk.

"They weren't there?" Ziva asked, smiling at Tony's embarrassment.

"They were there. They have an alibi."

"Which is…"

"They were at home. They have a witness who is going to send a statement over," McGee finished.

"Which means," Gibbs said, walking over to the plasma, "That Ariel Machsma is our only suspect."

Ziva shook her head. "Ariel wouldn't do this."

Gibbs turned to face her. "How do you know that?"

Ziva stared at him for a minute. "My gut."

That night Tony and Ziva drove home in silence. Ziva wasn't talking, and Tony didn't want to push any buttons.

They sat down at the table for dinner, Ziva mostly just staring at her plate. Tony wanted to know what was on her mind. He even began to ask her several times, but stopped himself.

At 2200, they went to bed.

Tony woke up. Looking blearily at the clock, he read that it was 2am.

Something wasn't right. He turned over to face Ziva.

She wasn't there.

Wide awake now, he got out of bed and looked around the room. "Ziva?"

He checked down the hallway. No lights were on.

Starting to panic slightly, Tony made his way to the lounge room.

Ziva was sitting on the carpet next to the floor-length window, looking at the illuminated city.

Breathing normally, Tony went over and sat next to her. "What's wrong?"

Ziva didn't answer.

"Come on, Ziva. I can tell that something isn't right."

"Ariel isn't the one trying to kill me," she said, not looking at him.

Tony continued to watch her. "How do you know that, Ziva?"

Ziva took a deep breath. "Ariel was Tali's best friend."

"As in your-"

"Sister. Yes. Ariel was my little sister's best friend."

Tony could tell there was more to the story, but waited for her to continue.

"It was Ariel's sixteenth birthday. She and Tali went out for a bit to celebrate."

"Yeah..."

"They were a few houses away from where Tali and I lived when a car they were near blew up."

Tony remained silent. He could see this was hard for Ziva to explain; she was even getting tears in her eyes.

"I heard the explosion and ran outside. I found the girls. Tali was bleeding and barely breathing. Ariel had burns all over her body. I pulled them away from the fire."

"Oh Ziva..."

"They both fell unconscious. I got Ariel breathing again...Tali never woke up." Now tears were running down her face.

"C'mere," Tony said. He pulled her into an awkward hug, with her crying silently into his shirt.

After a few minutes Ziva pulled away. "Ariel told me...she told me she owed me her life because I saved her. I know she would never try and hurt me."

"I get it now," Tony said. "Come on, back to bed."

Almost like a child Ziva followed Tony back to the bedroom and climbed into the bed.

Tony watched her, even for hours after she fell asleep. It wasn't often that she revealed things about her past, and now that she had, he felt even more responsibility to take care of her.

The next morning Tony woke to the sound of the shower running. After a few minutes Ziva walked in, toweling her hair dry.

"You alright now?" Tony asked softly. Ziva sat down on the bed next to him.

"I am fine. I just…I don't really talk about my past for a reason."

Tony got the message. "All cool. I won't say anything."

Ziva smiled. "Thank you, Tony."

"You're late," Gibbs said as they walked into the office.

"Ziva's fault."

"Tony's fault."

"Was not! You-"

"Nice try, it was-"

Gibbs got up and headslapped them both.

"Hey, I saw that. You gave her the soft touch!" Tony complained as they put their bags down.

Gibbs shrugged his shoulders. "Eh."

Tony muttered something about 'unnatural favouritism'.

"Come on, we're going to see Abby. She had an idea," Gibbs said.

A/N Please review!

A few people asked me how 'Ariel' is pronounced. I think it's supposed to be 'AIR-riel', but I say it like 'AH-riel'.