So did y'all see our lovely, and by lovely I mean mind blowingly AMAZING, season premiere? Because I did. I thought it was lovely (see above for definition of lovely). I liked Reunion, too, but not as much as Truth and Consequences.
Funny story. I have a paper cut on my finger, a really bad one. It's making it kind of painful to type. Maybe that's not funny. Well, you don't really read my stories because of my little notes at the top, so it probably doesn't really matter if it is funny or not.
Once again, they're speaking in Hebrew.
;-) ;- ) ;-)
Nofia had taken back the wire she had given Ziva, saying they now had the intel Mossad wanted, and Ziva's cooperation was no longer needed.
That was a month ago.
After that Ziva had only seen Nofia at NCIS, and that was as Yarah, Abby's bright-eyed assistant who had finally managed to get rid of her stutter. She had no idea what was going on with the case, and it was starting to annoy the hell out of her.
Three days after the sleepover Ziva had cornered Nofia in the elevator, but Nofia had simply not spoken and stared straight ahead. Ziva was prepared to wait her out but she got a call from Gibbs telling her to switch the damn power back on so he could go get his coffee.
Since then she had tried cornering Nofia in less frequented places like the last stall in the basement bathroom, but they were less frequented by Nofia as well as everyone else.
Finally, partly because Gibbs was getting suspicious but largely due to a personal phone call from a higher ranking Mossad officer ordering her to leave Nofia alone, she backed off.
Ziva lit the yartzeit candle and watched the flame flicker through the thick glass. Another day, another death. Today was the anniversary of the death of a childhood friend. Most Jews only lit yartzeit candles for family, but her mother always said, "If it feels like family, it is family," so Ziva had always lit candles for anyone she was close to.
Nothing depressed her more than looking in the drawer where she kept them. No one person should have so many dead, but she did.
Sighing and sipping her beer, Ziva sat on the floor of her kitchen. She knew remembering was healthy, but no one had ever said it was easy.
"Ziva?"
Nofia was standing in the doorway, looking down at Ziva with a hard face but pained eyes. Ziva jumped slightly but hid it well. She should have known Nofia would show up eventually. She started to stand when she noted the look in the other girl's eyes. Ziva knew that expression. It was the one that crossed her face every time she was given an assignment she didn't want to carry through. She slowly stood, so she was looking Nofia in the eye.
"Yes?"
There was a pause, a hesitation, before the response. But Ziva knew what that pause meant as well, and knew it was intentional; Nofia was telling her she was leaving out information, meaning she had been ordered not to, and someone was listening in on their conversation.
"They want me to stay at NCIS for a while longer. Mossad hasn't been able to find the emails, and until they do I'm not to leave Abby's side."
"And when they do find the emails?"
"They'll trace their origins, and see what's going on there."
"What's going on? Don't you mean 'whether or not there's a Hamas suicide camp?'"
"It's quite possible these are innocent emails from an old classmate."
"My ass."
Nofia looked at her strangely, then put her hand on her hip. Her shirt was bunched oddly. No, Ziva realized, there's a wire underneath her shirt. She's warning me to stop asking questions. No… to stop questioning Mossad.
Of course. Mossad wanted to know if they could trust her to fully brief her. But Nofia did. She didn't want to trick Ziva. Sometime in the past few months, she and Ziva had grown closer, though they were still so far from where they used to be.
Ziva shook herself, and answered in the best way possible. "I suppose it is possible. Though I think it is unlikely. But we'll wait for further orders, and act then, yes?"
A smiling Nofia nodded; Ziva had passed. Even now she was getting told through her earwig to brief her, but to leave out… Nofia concealed her frown. But she would, of course, follow orders, and leave that information out.
Finally, Ziva could not wait any longer.
"Well? What's actually going on?"
Nofia raised her eyebrows at Ziva's impatience and stared at her just long enough to make Ziva uncomfortable before answering. "They have been planning a meeting."
"Abby and Johnny Landow?"
"Ms. Scuito and fake Landow, yes. The real Landow is a) not a convict and b) dead. A little less than six months ago. Murdered. The police don't know by whom."
"Hamas."
"You will notice I never said we did not know."
Ziva forced herself to breath, and reminded herself that Mossad was probably still listening to their conversation. She would be excluded from the mission if she appeared to be displaying unnecessary emotions on Abby's behalf.
"So what's plan?"
"Ms. Scuito goes to the meet. We follow."
"Absolutely not. Abby is innocent. She has done nothing wrong. I do not care how many Israeli lives it saves, if we start letting one die to save the many now we will never know where to draw the line. And I refuse to have the downfall of the morals of Mossad on my head."
"Are you done? Of course we are not going to let them take Ms. Scuito. However, we want to have a visual of what these terrorists look like. And, perhaps, if we are lucky, they will unknowingly divulge information we can use. Do not worry for your friend; there will be more Officers there than you have ever seen outside of headquarters."
While calming at the knowledge that Abby would not be sacrificed, Ziva noted the way Nofia said the word 'friend.' She didn't spit it out the way she used to, like it was a dirty word and she was a nun. She was changing. NCIS was rounding her out, refilling the holes Mossad and her family had created. Ziva couldn't help but wonder if they had that effect on everyone, and if her transformation had been so obvious. And so needed.
"We have to tell Gibbs who you are first. If he finds out we led Abby into a dangerous situation without him there and without his knowledge… not only will my liaison position be history, but Mossad will never find either of our bodies."
The smallest of smiles tugged at Nofia's lips before quickly disappearing into her usual expressionless persona.
"Yes, he will be told. As will the others. The Director does not want an international incident."
"They will want to know how we know each other, Nofia. And I will tell them the truth. I thought you should know."
Once again Nofia looked pained for a second before the look disappeared, but once again the shame stayed in her eyes.
"Yes, I suppose you will have to."
The words were barely a whisper.
"It's not your fault, you know. No one ever blamed you." Ziva couldn't think of a way to comfort the child, but as soon as those words left her mouth she knew that was not the way. Nofia's eyes flashed with anger before becoming dull and detached.
"It's the past. The future is what is important. We tell them in two days. Ms. Scuito's meeting is in a week and a half. Practice your aim; you and I will be on sniping. The nest is less than a mile away, but through many buildings."
With that she turned to leave but stopped after a few steps to reluctantly turn when Ziva called her name.
"Nofia. Why don't you stay here tonight? It's late, and a long drive to your apartment. We could catch up."
"No. I will be fine."
Once more Nofia headed towards the door only to be stopped by the older officer's voice.
"Nofia. Please stay. I'll only keep asking."
"Ziva… No."
"Okay. But I will ask you every time you are here to spend the night. I asked you all those months ago, and I will continue to ask until the day you leave. And I want you to know, Nofia, that if you ever need anything, I will be right here."
Silence engulfed the apartment but Ziva was all right with it. She had realized last month when they had talked at their 'slumber party' just how deep Nofia's scars went. She did not know how much longer she had, but she was determined to help heal them, or at least heal the ones she knew she was responsible for. And she was going to start by being the first person to promise to help Nofia no matter what.
"I have to go."
As expected, the young officer scuttled from the room as quickly as possible, unable to deal with the emotions she was feeling.
Ziva smiled. Feeling emotions for the first time was difficult, still she knew from experience life was better with them. But then she frowned. After this was over Nofia was going to go back to Metzada, where emotions were ripped from you to protect you. Emotions got you killed in Mossad. Instead of helping her, was Ziva only setting her up to die?
:-0 :-0 :-0
Oh no! Major suspense!
So thank you to those of you who reviewed! I'm going to put these at the end so those of you who don't care can skip them easier.
Freyasakura: Yay! I love long reviews. And yay for sunshine! However, I now have a question for you: were you protesting the lack of Tiva in NCIS the show or in my story? Because if you're talking the show, then I agree with you. Though I actually don't want them to be a couple. I just want them to… release their tension. But if you're talking my story, then if enough people agree with you and want some Tiva action, I can certainly make that happen.
DD2: Thank you! I've been working on Nofia a while, I hope you like the revelations next chapter.
Jtarh2o: I know I PMed you, but I also want to thank you publicly for answering my questions. Yay for answers!
Scottiedog: one more chapter before their out in the field. But after that it will be almost all action until the end.
NCIS-Ziva-Abby: Yay! One of my favorite reviewers! Is that a word? I'm not sure. So did you like the premiere? And Reunion?
Jen-NCIS-Lover: Another favorite reviewer! Still not sure if that's a word. I'm sorry about your cold. I hope it's gone by now. So did you love the premiere as much as I did?
Whew! I love all of you! Sorry, it's kind of early for me right now because my computer decided not to save so I had to retype this entire chapter but I wanted to finish it so that you guys could get it sooner. I'm a little tired. Sorry if I stop making sense.
Leave a review if you will, don't if you won't. Any guesses as to who Nofia is? I think I came up with something original but still guessable. Anyone want to give it a shot? And what is the difference between hits and visitors? No one has been able to answer yet.
