They looked at each other for a full minute, and even then, kept their silence. Ziva herself did not know what to say.

This man had killed Michael, he had gone behind her back. She'd had her doubts about her Mossad colleague ever since he came to visit her in DC. The officer had been involved with her before, but he had never visited prior to this. She had suppressed the urge to ask him if he was on a mission when he arrived in the USA.

Ziva had played along. She snooped around his stuff, she asked him subtle questions and played him until he was just a puppet to her. She knew that he was not there for her, he would never be. She was a gullible girl that happened to be a Mossad operative because her father was its director. At least, she was that to him.

He probably never figured out that she was playing him. That she was one of the best at what she did. She out-ranked him in practically every way, and he thought (like many others) that it was her father's position in the agency that allowed her to be where she was. It was, partially. She had been trained to do what she did ever since she could walk.

Ziva had that advantage. She never had a proper childhood. The woman didn't care about her victims, her targets. She couldn't sympathize, because she knew they didn't deserve any.

Her time at NCIS hadn't been what changed her, contrary to popular believe. It had been Ari.

Family was important to her mother. They would have family meals, go on trips together and watch a movie when her siblings wanted to. When her mother and Tali died, she was hell-bent on revenge. She wanted to kill everyone, everyone. She hunted down the cell that was responsible for Tali's death and the people who killed her mother.

The family trips faded slowly because her loving mother was dead. Tali was no longer there to lighten everyone up and her father was busy with the agency. Ari went somewhere on a case to be away from everything that happened and left her practically alone in the process.

Ziva did nothing but work after that. Her father was proud of what his daughter was doing, and that was all that mattered.

Ari returned months later. He changed, and she knew that something was wrong. He ignored her and waved away her questions. She was no longer important.

When Ari was going to DC, she volunteered to go with him. She knew that he was innocent. The Ari she knew would never kill people that hadn't done anything wrong, innocents. She also took it because it allowed her to be in a close vicinity. They grew close again in those very few weeks and she was ready to take him back home.

That is when she saw the truth, and that was what changed the assassin. She got no closure, and she never would. The blood pooling on the floor had kept her awake day and night. The look on his face.

She felt like she betrayed her brother that day, and he still haunted her nightmares. Always nightmares, her dreams didn't exist.

That was why she came to work at NCIS. She wanted to know why she killed her brother for a man she barely knew. The last member of her family she cared for. Gibbs is a mystery that she'll never solve, but she got her answer. When she didn't like it, she stayed in Israel.

And when she met Saleem, she knew that she should've liked the answer. She belonged there. Israel was no longer home to her.

Not with Gibbs, Tony, Tim, Abby, Palmer and Ducky to wait for her. She knew that now.

What she didn't know, is why she was this mad about Rivkin's death. She had been planning to eliminate him that same week. He had been her source of information. Once she knew everything she wanted to, he was useless.

She had no reason to be mad at the special agent that stood by her hospital bed. No reason at all.

"I'm not here to apologize. I believe that I was right when I went to your apartment that night, Ziva."

A/N It's been a busy two weeks for me. I've celebrated my birthday, and that of my grandmother. I've watched the Harry Potter marathon (part 1 & 2) on 12th of July (nice birthday present, don't ya think) and went again this Saturday and today. As you can tell, I've been busy.

I don't know where A mission is heading yet, because I've decided to alter the original story. I liked the plot, but it was to far-fetched. So, now that I don't know what the actual ending is going to be, this will be a lt slower and I'll probably won't update every week like I did. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you for the reviews, I hope they are the first of many.