Inside, was also the unconscious body of Alex John Rider.

Ziva massaged the cramps out of her stiff limbs. She felt shackles on her ankle. She saw in dismay that her gun had been removed, as well as two of her best knives. Luckily, she still had one strapped to her bra, and the one strapped to her leg. When she stretched, she felt the dog tags hanging on her neck. As she reached to put them away, she looked above and saw a masked guard dragging a unconscious or dead woman. She reminded Ziva of Tali, her little sister, who had died in the Hamas suicide bombings. When a lock of thick auburn hair fell through the gantry, Ziva felt the cold star of David on her neck.

Flashback

"Ziva! Run! Leave me!" screamed Tali, as she threw herself at the man holding a switch. Ziva saw the man's hand punch the red button. She ducked down as the building around her exploded.

"Tali!" shouted Ziva. "Tali, Tali, Tali! Where are you?"

"Ziva!" Tali's voice was weak and pained.

"Talia! Stay alive for me. Please." sobbed Ziva, hugging her sister. Tali shoved something at Ziva.

"Ziva... I love you." Tali's eyes closed. And never opened.

"Tali! Why was it not me? Why would you punish me in this way?" Ziva screamed in anguish. She took out her knife and cut a lock of Tali's hair.

"I vow upon this star," whispered Ziva, holding up the star of David. "That I will never let any of my team get hurt. That I must not run away like a coward." Ziva put on the necklace. She never took it off.

"Tali!" she howled. Tears streaked down her face.

"Officer David? Are you all right?" Alex croaked. He was shackled as well, but covered with many cuts. She winced; she had learnt the exact same techniques in Mossad and knew it was extremely painful. Ziva nodded, pressing a finger to her lips. She sat with her back to the wall, formulating an escape plan.

"Food." A white masked guard slotted two bowls of brown mush and four bottles of water into the room.

"Drink. Then I will let us escape." Ziva pressed a bottle of water into Alex's hands. The second the guard left, Ziva had removed a bobby pin from her hair and picked all the locks in a minute. She slipped the knife on her leg to Alex. She pulled the one from her bra and waited for the guard to arrive. When he did, Ziva silently slipped behind him and snapped his neck with a quick twist. Silent as a cat, she and Alex slipped out of the room.

Ziva and Alex padded down the hallway, Ziva subduing each of the three guards in an equally silent way. She soon made it to the main gates. Upon seeing two security guards, she and Alex went back to back.

"Go!" she shouted, and both of them leapt into action immediately, Alex lashing out with a roundhouse kick, and Ziva judo-throwing the other. They sprinted to the gates.

"Cover me." she whispered, and began to pick the lock. Soon, they were out. Ziva and Alex ran quickly, from street to street.

"North Carolina." said Alex, pointing towards a sign. Frowning, Ziva walked into a hotel.

"Hi, I am so sorry, but me and my little brother have lost our parents. Please may we use the phone?" she asked politely, feigning tears.

"Yes of course!" The receptionist obliged.

"Dad? We are in North Carolina. I will explain later. Regency Hotel. Thank you." Ziva dialled DiNozzo's number.

"Ziva!" Tony hugged Ziva, kissing her on the cheek. She retaliated by kissing him on the mouth. McGee stood awkwardly in the side.

"Missed you." she whispered.

"Alex! Are you OK? Oh my God! Oh my God!" squealed Abby, wrapping a thick blanket onto Alex's shivering frame. She picked him up and levered him into the car, tucking Bert under his head.

"Abbs, could you drive them to Bethesda while I call Ducky?" asked Gibbs, scooting into the passenger seat. Through the rearview mirrors he could see Tony and Ziva still making out.

"Sure." Abby slid into the drivers seat, tapping BETHESDA, NAVAL HOSPITAL onto her GPS.

"Hello again, Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo. How are your lungs? Oh and you must be Special Agent David. Brad Pitt." Dr. Brad Pitt offered his hand.

"Officer Ziva David. Hello Dr. Pitt. You have the same name as the actor Brad Pitt yes?" she inquired.

"Yup. Okay, please follow me. Are you up to walking or would you prefer to be wheeled?" he asked.

"Walk." Ziva replied immediately.

"And the boy?" he shot back.

"I can walk fine." Alex whispered, even though Gibbs was half carrying him. Dr Pitt looked at him for a second opinion.

"Wheel him, please. It looks like some of his cuts were infected." Gibbs lay the half-unconscious boy onto a chair.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs! Maybe I can take some blood and some swabs so that I can try and glean some DNA off the knives?" asked Abby hopping up and down, as Dr. Pitt wheeled him away with a wheelchair hastily produced by a nurse.

"Sure, Abbs. Just tell Dr. Copper, he is working on Alex now. Ziva is resting, but knowing her, she has probably escaped... Speak of the devil." Gibbs trailed off as he saw the Israeli jogging down the corridor.

"Alex. Where is he?" she inquired.

"ER." Tony replied. "Do you want us on protection duty, boss?"

"No. McGee and I will take first watch. You be here by Seven tomorrow morning. David, you have to stay here for the night or Dr. Pitt will have my head." Gibbs stated, turning on his heel.

"Fine, but you are being over protective. I am not a Chinese doll, you know." she retorted, looking distastefully at her hospital gown. She smelled like disinfectant, and hated it like hell.

"Uh, it is China doll." Tony corrected.

"What? What does China have to do with dolls?" she asked in genuine confusion.

"I will, uh, get back to you on that."

"Go home, Tony. Get some rest. I will see you at seven am." Ziva pecked Tony on the cheek and gracefully strolled down the corridor into her room.

"Good morning Tony." Ziva had her eyes closed and hands folded upon her chest.

"Ziva? How did you know I was here?" he asked in wonder.

"Well, Tony, for starters I could hear you. And secondly, your dumbsy ness would never let you into Mossad." she replied smoothly, opening her eyes. She smiled at Tony who was sitting on a chair beside her holding a bag.

"The term is 'clumsiness', Ziver. And, I am not as clumsy as McClumsy so there. I brought you a burrito by the way. Thought you might have had enough of the hospital crap." Tony held out the burrito and Ziva ripped the tinfoil off and began wolfing it down.

"You know, Tony." she remarked between giant bites of burrito. "I used to like Jell-O until they made me eat a truckload of it! Yuck, it was like Mossad recruit training."

"Ziva? How do you even get into Mossad?" Tony questioned, unwrapping a burrito of his own.

"Classified."

"Dang it. Come on. Tell me."

"Classified."

"Come on. Tell me."

"CLASSIFIED."

"Tell me?"

"No. If you ask one more time, I will not even spare you one limb!"

"Come..." After spotting the look on Ziva's face, Tony paled, squeaked, turned and ran for his life.

"Stupid boy." laughed Ziva, finishing her burrito and starting on his. "Urgh, so much cheese."

Lol, the ending kinda cracked me up. Anyway... I might not be doing daily updates for a week because I am on VACATION. But I will try to pre-write (is that even a word?!) two or three chapters because you guys rule! And I was watching a Season 6 NCIS marathon... I 3 Heartland, Murder 2.0 and Dagger. OMG Michelle Lee has a sister? And she was the MOLE?! OMG. And sorry for spoiler alert, but it was just amazing, and when Michelle died I cried even though I knew she was the mole...

Tx for listenin' to my really long rant about nothing at all.

xxxxx

Jeanne