A/N Thank you all so very much for the great feedback! You all are wonderful! :-)
Gibbs stepped out of Vance's office and watched Orli gather herself and school her features.
She turned. "Agent Gibbs," she jumped.
"Director," he nodded.
Director Elbaz silently made her way toward the squadroom. He served her focus on Ziva. As if she were...nervous.
Ziva felt eyes on her. She glanced up to see Orli's wide searching eyes.
"Ziva. We need to talk," her voice was firm.
Ziva drew a shaky breath. "What could you possibly have to say?"She tried her best to sound angry and sure of herself, but something about the desperation in Orli's eyes made her so very...unsure.
"We need to talk. I know what you think of me. You have hated me for years, but there are things, secrets that you don't know..."
"I know you had an affair with a married man! I know you tore my family apart! What else matters?" Ziva was on the brink of tears.
"He was single once." Ziva's eyes snapped back to Orli as she searched the older woman's features. "He at one time was a young, vibrant, and annoying officer," Orli smirked, "My point is Ziva that I was your father's partner before he married Rivka." There was a tenseness when she forced out the name of Eli's wife. Ziva stiffened at her harshness.
"And that gives you the right to destroy his family?!"
Tony observed with rapt attention while Orli gave no sign of offense. He edged closer.
"I found out about Ari's birth..." Orli tried unsuccessfully to hide her trembling hands, "when I heard,...I asked for a transfer. Which I was given and my partnership with your father was terminated."
"That is not the end," Ziva sighed agitation hinted in her voice.
"No. It is not. Six years later he was my contact in Rome." Ziva's brow furrowed. Six years? Her father was married to her mother by then. Rivka and Eli were married Three years after his first divorce. "As soon as I saw him I cursed the director. He told me he had divorced Ari's mother, and was seeing another woman. Classic Eli."
"He was married to my mother!"
"No. He was not." Orli stated calmly.
"He married her...!" Ziva fumbled for a credible story she'd been told.
"He and I remained together for the next two days, two months later, I realized I was pregnant. In Rome, he and I had both decided it would be a one time thing. Our lives were too intrenched in Mossad. He proposed when he returned to Israel."
Ziva's eyes started to tear up. She gasped at Orli's words. "I have a sibling out there?"
"No. I let Eli know as soon as I found out. He promised to take care of the child. I asked not to influence the child into joining Mossad. Fourteen years later I returned to establish myself in Israel. Eli introduced me to his two daughters. Tali and then Ziva, the youngest."
"Youngest?!"
"My heart was ripped out of my chest when Tali died. I only just found out what Eli's scheme had been. He wanted me to believe he had kept his promise. He wanted me to believe that my daughter wasn't training to be Mossad."
Ziva's eyes went wide. "Your…?"
"Yes," Orli's eyes flooded, "my Tatelah."
A/N Bam! The secret is out! What do you all think? Did you see it coming?