"Special Agent David, glad to find you alone," the kidnappers voice rang out through the phone.

"You can see me?"

"Don't sound so surprised. I've been planning this for a long while now."

Ziva looked over her outfit from the tips of her shoes to her Star of David necklace. Something in between caught her attention. "The buttons on my blazer? I had it dry-cleaned last week."

"Very good Special Agent David, I can understand how you've managed to interfere with so many things. But as usual for this op, you are a step behind. Now the fun starts. You are going to use your clearance to get into the storage locker. You are going to take the evidence of Steven Figgat, Marcus Thompson and Eliza Surr. Leave the folders and only remove what is inside. Do you understand?"

"Let me talk to Kelly again, I need to know she's alive."

The laughter that crackled through from the other end was dark, "After that last trick? I could just make her scream again."

"That could be recorded. We won't talk about anything important, just let me speak to her."

"We played that game last time, now you're going to trust me because, honestly, you don't have any other option. Once you have the files-"

"Someone is coming up the stairs." Whatever camera the kidnapper had hidden in her blouse was not sensitive enough to pick up on the sound of soft soles walking up the carpeted steps.

"Put the phone down but don't hang up. Get rid of him fast."

Tony's head peaked in from around the corner, "I thought you'd want to hear what we found."

"I do not, DiNozzo, not right now. It is too much, give me a few moments and I will touch base with you after."

"You sure, it's good-"

"Damnit Tony, I said no!" she snapped. If they had found good news, she didn't want the kidnapper to listen in on where they were in the investigation. The less he knew the better, even if that translated to the less she knew as well. She had to trust her coworkers to do their job.

"Fine, that's fine," he turned to walk away and Ziva let out a sigh, "It's just I don't get you, you know. McGee came back from the office; everyone there is real concerned about Kelly. The kicker is, they're also concerned about you. They know you, they've been to your house, they've run into you at the movies and you come to their work socials. Apparently, one person even mentioned a time when you and your girlfriend babysat her kid. And here, today is the first time hearing Kelly's name. I know it's not the right time, I know that. But right now, it's the time we have and I'm trying to understand this just a little."

"I assume it is because her work friends are less embarrassing than mine," she bit back nastily. "And you are right, it is not the right time."

"Oh so that's it? The real reveal is that Kelly is not your big secret, we are?"

This time Ziva really did scream. "Can't you see it Tony, this right here is why you never heard of her. No, not this 'us,' this the case. Do you think I wanted my personal life and my work life intertwined? Of course not, for the same reason that no one else here has a personal life to speak of. How did it work with you and Jeanne? Or Paula? And this is worse, because no one here wants their girlfriend so involved that she's kidnapped by some monster with a grudge," at this point she was standing very close to Tony. She placed her hands on his arms. "I wanted to keep her safe, and there is nothing safe about anything here. Please, just give me a little more time. I will be down in a moment."

For a millisecond he made a move to go embrace her, then he thought better of it and stepped away. "You're right. I'm sorry. We're going to save her, Ziva, I promise. I'll save her for you," he said, and then left without argument. Ziva waited until she could no longer hear his footfalls, and then counted to ten just to be safe.

"He's gone. What are the rest of my instructions?"

"Destroy the documents and dump the trash somewhere off the NCIS compounds. Then go to the warehouse on 3rd and R. There will be a present waiting for you. Oh, and I assume I don't need to tell you that the second you try to contact the team she starts loosing fingers, and I imagine she wouldn't be near as much fun without them." He laughed in a way that made Ziva's stomach churn, and then the phone clicked dead.

Roughly Two Years and Two Months Earlier

It felt like something had changed in their relationship when they had breakfast the morning after. Despite this, they still spent the majority of time at Ziva's apartment. Shortly thereafter, Kelly had spent the night for the first time without them having sex. In spite of herself, Ziva had enjoyed that. She loved the form Kelly took against her, loved her smell, and loved having her there in the morning. She also loved the hairs Kelly left on the pillow, the way she sang in the shower, and the three disastrous times she had tried to cook dinner and they ended up with take out instead. She was getting in deep; a good bit more than she was comfortable with. It was too easy to make excuses for her feelings, and to justify them to herself. This way, she did not have to admit the extent of what she was feeling. Then, almost without warning, Kelly had initiated The Conversation.

It was getting late as they both read in bed together, Ziva on her back her head propped up against the headboard and Kelly on her stomach, her head by the foot of the bed. Neither had initiated anything more substantial, although Ziva's hands were, once again, on the other woman's thighs, absentmindedly drawing patterns.

Well, Ziva had been reading. Kelly had simply been chewing the back of her pen in thought, with her long legs kicking back and forth like a metronome. She was still staring at the words in front of her, but she hadn't turned the page or made any notes for a good five minutes. Then she gave a deep sigh and pushed her reading glasses up to the top of her head, and turned her body around. "Zi, are we exclusive?"

There were many ways to interpret that question. Kelly waited while Ziva finished up her paragraph and carefully marked her place, the woman was meticulous about damn near everything. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Is it or isn't it permissible for us to have other romantic partners?"

"Have you had any other romantic partners?" Ziva asked. Her mind flashed over bits of conversations regarding other people, or times she had picked the other woman up and she had already been in conversation with another, trying to pick out a potential third party. Theoretically, she classified the relationship as non-monogamous and without commitment. Regardless, Ziva hadn't even thought of another person that way in well over a month, and certainly hadn't any time to pursue other romantic interests since they were first involved.

"I asked first, Ziva." Kelly defended, and then, with a sigh, "Once or twice in the first two weeks, when we were just fucking. I called it off when I realized I was much more interested in you. But that's not exactly the point."

Once or twice? Was that with one or two people? Did she still know them? Did they speak and leave her late night messages filled with intention? Did she want to be with other people again?

"Hm, what is the point then, Kel?" Her voice a measured false calm

"I want to be exclusive. Not just because it's convenient or because it happened to work out that way. I want to be officially exclusive." Kelly waited for an answer to the question she had not quite asked. When one was not forthcoming, she began to ramble, "There's an office party at the end of the month, I mean it will be boring, and lawyers are pretty stiff, and some can be socially awkward, and I'm not sure it will be all that fun, and I know you don't love events like that, but I was thinking that you could, that we could–"

"It is not the time, Kel," she said, interrupting, and got up from the bed, "I need to use the restroom."

"Zi-"

"I will be right back, Kelly. I'm sure this can wait a moment."

Kelly rubbed the back of her hand across her cheek. She was blushing pretty deeply. God that was stupid, at least she hadn't tried to make a big romantic gesture out of it. When Ziva came back from the bathroom she had some cock and bull story about being called in to work on an assignment. Kelly didn't know how she could always tell when Ziva was lying, the agent had a convincing poker face after all, she just somehow knew.

"It shouldn't take too long, but you don't have to wait up for me. If you need to head home, I'd understand." Ziva was saying as she searched for her coat in the closet.

"Ziva, are you seeing other people?"

There was no answer.

"Zi. It's only fair, I answered your-"

"I thought that wasn't the point Kelly," Ziva interrupted. She looked stunning and a bit cold in her leather jacket and dark jeans. When she went to kiss Kelly goodbye, the younger woman turned her head so that she could only kiss her cheek. She did not say anything else as she left the apartment.

Kelly avoided going over to the agent's house for the next few days out of sheer frustration, anger, and embarrassment. It wasn't until the weekend after that Ziva was able to coax her back over with the promise of a fancy home made dinner. She wanted to clear the air, and to assure the younger woman that, while she was not ready for anything even adjacent to a label that might resemble commitment, she certainly did not want the fun to stop. Though she was more reluctant to admit it, Ziva didn't want other, more emotional things to stop either. The agent was bracing for a tense conversation. Kelly, however, certainly seemed content to pretend the discussion had never happened; a little too content, in Ziva's opinion.

"Remember that new attorney I said we were hiring. I was really concerned about him, I wasn't too sure of his resume, seemed like a little rich snot used to getting what he wanted."

"Yes, I remember you telling me about him before. You voted against his hiring if I recall." Kelly had come home furious that night, and the sex had been fantastic. She was trying to fill out a position for someone working directly under her. She preferred another candidate: a smart, articulate young woman from Brown. But her boss had received a call from an old friend, and all of a sudden her opinion on her new hire mattered much less.

"Yes, and thank god I was overruled!" she exclaimed, laughing. She wore that wide smile that Ziva loved and her face was flushed from the excitement. Still, Ziva's eyebrows pulled together in a short-lived frown. Kelly did not like being pushed around, and she didn't like being wrong. She was taking this a little too well for Ziva to not feel the slightest stirrings of jealousy. The agent was well aware that Kelly was bisexual; and by god, with that laugh and her smile (not to mention her skirts and those heels) men certainly took an interest. "Nathan is absolutely wonderful. Okay, the dear is a little naïve, but he's smart, he's good with research, he's unassuming, he's always early, he stays late, and he's amiable to direction. He's just the perfect employee, everything that I could have wanted. Okay, sure, he probably needs a bit more grit, but with the caseload this week it's, oh this sound awful, but it's nice to just have someone do what I say and do it very well."

Kelly laughed and kissed Ziva, her mind halfway in the bedroom, and halfway in the boardroom. Ziva's mind was halfway to Nathan's house, counting all the laws she would need to break as a reminder to not drop by and pay him a visit. Frankly, the agent thought he sounded like a compliant nitwit, but she was hardly going to voice those opinions. Not with Kelly smiling like that. "Come dancing with me? I've been in a mood all week."

Ziva wanted to say no. She had felt off all week and the idea of being around anyone who was not Kelly was enough to have her hands twitching, let alone being in a room with strangers pushing in on her from all sides. But her abrupt end to their last conversation nearly ensured that she could not talk about such things, that they should not mean those things to each other. And she wanted to make peace and find out where she stood. "Okay."

When they finally got back home, the sex was hot and possessive, and primarily took place atop the dining room table. When it was over, Ziva want to the bedroom and slipped under the covers, and Kelly left for her own place. In the morning, Ziva noted that some items were missing; smaller personal things and extra outfits that Kelly had begun to leave around.