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Chapter Seven
"Hey, honey!" Liza-Jane climbed out of the car with Annalise and waved to Ziva. The Israeli forced a smile on her face and waved back. "How are you?"
"I am fine."
"Uh oh. I've heard that before. Annalise honey, go into the garden and play whilst I talk to Evelyn." She shooed her daughter through the gate before crossing the street. "What's wrong, honey?"
"Nothing." Ziva sighed, groaning internally. She wanted the assignment to be over. She wanted to be back as Ziva. She wanted Tony to be Tony. She was tired of pretending. And she was worried: worried that when they returned to reality, Tony wouldn't want her like he wanted her now. She had had to stop him again that morning before they got too carried away, something that she found difficult herself.
"Evelyn, you have a look on your face that tells me it ain't nothing that's bothering you. That's a look of disappointment in your eyes." She placed her hands on Ziva's shoulder. "Now tell me what's wrong. Are you and Michael still having problems conceiving?" She just nodded. She really did hate telling lies. Ironic for an spy trained in assassination and undercover work. Her life was built lie upon lie. Her whole childhood. And now she was lying to innocent people who, even if slightly irritating at times, really just wanted to help her. "Come on, I'll make a pot of coffee." She took her arm and they walked to the house with the child laughing happily in the garden. Liza-Jane brought two cups off coffee out to the back deck where Ziva had sat down in the sun. "Warm out." She sat next to her and smiled.
"Yes." Ziva nodded, watching as Annalise chased bubbles around the garden, happily off in a land of fairies and pixies.
"I noticed you had a visitor the other day. Peculiar looking girl." She changed the subject. "I saw her at your house before you arrived too."
"Abby. Michael's sister. She is…different." Ziva chuckled. "She decorated the place for us. We wanted to be able to move into a place that was all ready for us, what with everything else going on."
"Of course." Liza-Jane nodded. "She was with another woman when she was decorating. Red-head."
"She is a good friend of mine. She works with Abby." Ziva smiled. There was something to be said for neighbours who noticed everything. A sense of security, the knowledge that someone was looking out for you.
"Oh, I heard about Lori. You two were getting close, weren't you." She lowered her tone of voice.
"Yeah. Suddenly she just vanishes." It had been a week since Ziva last saw Lori at the mother and child group. Gibbs had found nothing to point to where she had been taken, nor anything on the doctor. "I'm worried about her. What if something is wrong?"
"All we can hope is that she has just run off somewhere. She always was a bit of a wild child. She grew up on the base, I remember – she was a few years younger than me of course – but I remember her being quite energetic. She used to run away a lot, get into a lot of trouble."
"She seemed so sweet." Ziva traced her nail along the natural grooves of the wood grain.
"Oh, she was. She was so…"
"Bouncy." Ziva nodded.
"Naïve. She would talk to anyone if they were nice to her. She was always a bit of an outcast at school because she was so energetic. You know, she was like a little puppy."
"Well, there you are." Tony leaned over the gate to the back garden.
"Michael, how are you!"
"Better now I've seen you lovely ladies." He winked.
"How long have you been standing there?" Ziva asked Tony as he slid the bolt across and walked into the garden to hug her.
"I was worried when you weren't at home. I thought you said you would just be doing housework today, and there wasn't a note. I was there long enough." He murmured into her hair as she wrapped her arms around him. "I missed you today."
"I know. I missed you too." She rested her head on his chest.
"You ok?"
"Mmhm." She nodded, hugging him tighter when he went to let go of her.
"Do you want to go home?" She nodded again and he smiled to Liza-Jane. "I'm gonna take her home. I think she's tired. Thank you."
"Any time, hon, any time." She smiled sympathetically and waved.
"There is going to be a memorial service thing tonight for Lori."
"Ar surrourse wier garrong." Tony stood in his boxer shorts, toothbrush in mouth.
"I am sorry, I do not speak toothbrush." Ziva was sat cross-legged on the bed.
"I suppose we're going." He smiled gently after spitting out the toothpaste.
"Yes. She was briefly a friend." She breathed deeply for a moment.
"Hey. She's still your friend. In here." He tapped her chest above her heart.
"Thank you, Tony." She leaned over and kissed him softly. "I think everyone thinks that she might come home if she sees that we all miss her. We are the only ones who know she will be dead soon, if not already."
"She's not dead yet. He left it three weeks before killing each them. She still has time, Gibbs still might find her." He wasn't certain that giving her false hope would help her in the long run, but it might keep their cover intact, which would give every expectant mother on the base a better chance of surviving. "What do you want to do today, I have a day off."
"I said I would help set up for tonight. Do you want to help?"
"Yeah, I'll help." He pressed his lips to hers again. "I really want this to be over."
"Trust me. I do too." She mumbled, groaning when the phone rang. "See, even the phone is reminding us now."
"It's beautiful." Tony murmured as they gathered by the lake. Everyone had made small biodegradable paper boats that each had a tea light glowing in them as they floated across the still water. Each boat had been sent off with silent prayer for her safety. Every person in the noiseless crowd held a small candle and a white rose. They had been her favourite flower. Even the young children that were held in their parents' arms stayed quiet, as if they knew that it was a moment of remembrance. Ziva leaned into Tony's side and he wrapped an arm around her. She let a tear slip from her eye, knowing that even with Tony's false reassurances, Lori was suffering terribly and never coming back. She smiled through her silent tears as Tony buried his face into her hair and she shifted further into his warmth.
