All These Things We Hold Dear
An NCIS Fanfic.
The Star of David Necklace of Ziva David
She could still remember the look on her mother's face as she opened the tiny birthday present. Ziva's mother was, at the time, more excited about Ziva receiving the present than Ziva herself was.
She had obediently held up her hair so that her mother could fasten the silver chain around her neck, letting the tine Star fall on her collarbone. It was too big for her but Rivka didn't mind, telling Ziva that she would grow into it as she grew into a young Jewish woman.
Ziva hadn't understood at the time all that the Star of David stood for. How it was a sacred symbol to Israel as well as to all Jewish people. How is stood for ideals so strong that wars sparked and people died in the dust.
She would not understand until after she was free from her father's hand. Not until the night she sat and sang over the dead body of her beloved brother and realized the many secrets her father kept, even from her.
Ari's actions were not just or right, but he was adamant that Eli David was not as innocent as he appeared. Ziva only wished her brother had said more before he died.
Working for NCIS allowed her to gain an outside perspective of the wars her people fought as well as the war she fought with herself. To be loyal to her father or loyal to Gibbs, who was more of a father than Eli David would ever be? She didn't know the answer.
Sometimes she would sit and her hands would absentmindedly fiddle with the star, pressing the points into her fingertips, warming the metal in her palms. In a way it made her who she was, it gave her identity.
Which is why she felt so very empty when her Somalian attackers ripped it from her throat and tossed it in the dust. More than the torture this act took away her last ounce of dignity. She was bruised and beaten, but until then she at least had whatever strength she could draw from her Star.
But then Tony showed up to rescue her and she forgot the emptiness. She had people who cared about her, who loved her. They were her family now. They were her identity.
Upon her return to NCIS she took to wearing a simple gold chain that had belonged to Jenny Shepherd. Jenny had given it to her as a gift when they had worked together in Cairo.
It didn't hold the same weight as her Star had but it reminded her of the growing she had done, her realization that the Star itself had only been a physical manifestation of who Ziva was as a person.
Ziva had fully accepted her new life without it.
Until Abby showed up on her doorstep with a small box. Ziva had watched Abby's face as her fingers opened it. Inside, sure enough, was a small Star of David on a silver chain. It was smaller than her old one, but still similar. Ziva had had no words except one.
"Why?"
Abby gave her a tight hug right in the doorway where they stood. Her words were muffled by Ziva's hair. "Because you're not you without it."
It didn't click in Ziva's mind until then that even though she had accepted her life without her Star, the others had not accepted Ziva's acceptance. They wanted the old Ziva back, with her rough and tough exterior but an inside of fragile innocence. They needed the physical manifestation of the Star because to them it represented something different than it did for Ziva.
To them it represented Ziva as they knew and loved her. Ziva as a whole and not just the sum of her parts. Ziva as Ziva.
So she gladly lifted up her hair and allowed Abby to fasten the silver chain around her neck.
A/N: So I haven't updated this in a while. Eek! But anyways this was requested but I can't for the life of me remember who requested it. But you know who you are and I hope you like it!
Please leave me a lovely review. They make me smile!
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Disclaimer: NCIS is the property of Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill.