Disclaimer: Still don't own them. Wish I did.
A/N – Surpise! New chapter. It's spring break (not that it helps with me working 60 hours a week), so I was able to punch out this chapter. Little more angst and a little more action.
Cheers!
He stared up at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the night. The soft snoring from Ziva, the quiet clicking of the furnace...He couldn't sleep. He had bared his soul to her, told her exactly what he was thinking, no humorous facade to hide behind. Her words repeated over and over in his head. With a sigh he pulled himself out of bed and threw on a pair of sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt. 2:30am his watch blinked. He slid his feet into a pair of well worn sneakers and quietly closed the front door. The outdoor light flooded the front yard and driveway with a yellow glow. He stuck the key in the ignition of the car and moved it off the driveway and pulled the box for the basketball net out of the back. He went to work quickly tearing the box open and with a quick glance and disregard for the instructions started putting together the net. Later, after a few false starts and the realisation that the net was on backwards Tony stood back and admired the standing basketball net. He grabbed the basketball that he had bought Daniela earlier and dribbled it around.
"Tony, this is a mission."
He slammed the ball against the ground and threw it up towards the basket. Mission mission mission mission. He repeated over and over again, dribbling the ball in between his legs and around. It did nothing for his anger dissipating.
"Tony?"
Looking up he saw Ziva, a robe wrapped around her slight body.
"What are you doing?"
He didn't answer right away but shot the ball against the backboard. "What does it look like Ziva?"
"It looks like you are playing basketball at....3 in the morning." She sat on the front step and rested her chin on her hand. "Why?"
Breathing hard, he stared at her. "It's not just about the mission. Damn it Ziva, I know this isn't the way things are supposed to work out, damn it, I know."
Ziva watched him, her eyes wide. "We have to pay attention to the mission. Tony, if we lose focus...someone dies." She pulled her hair back on a ponytail. "When emotions get involved..."
He slammed the ball down on the driveway and glared at Ziva. "You don't think I KNOW that?"
Neither of them heard the door open, or reacted until Daniela sat down beside Ziva. The girl blinked and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. "Papa..."
Tony and Ziva exchanged glances before both of them reacted.
"Daniela, what are you doing awake?" Ziva wrapped her arm around the girl.
"I heard Papa yelling." She stared at Tony, her blue green eyes staring at him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Tony said softly. He bounced the ball before tucking it under his arm. "I set up the basketball net."
"What were you yelling about?" Daniela asked, ignoring Tony's previous comment about the basketball net.
"Nothing you need to worry about...and we should get inside." Tony said with a moment of realization, seeing that Daniela was wearing nothing than her light pyjamas. "You must be freezing."
Daniela allowed Tony and Ziva to usher her back into the house. "Are you angry at us?" Her chin started to quiver. "I am sorry..."
"What? No." Ziva brushed the girl's curly hair back from her face. "Tony and I..."
"Sometimes people fight, it's normal. And there's nothing that you could do to make us angry at you." Tony smiled and squatted in front of the girl so they were at eye level with each other. "Daniela, Ziva and I care about you two..." With a moment of bravado Tony wrapped his arms around the girl.
Ziva watched for a second before draping her arms around the two. "Okay, if I remember correctly, you Miss Daniela have basketball tomorrow morning. You should get back to bed."
The girl nodded and separated herself. "Good night."
"'Night." Tony watched as Daniela quietly shut her door. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Ziva, we have to talk."
"Tony we did our talking last night." She started to move towards the bedroom. "We cannot let our guards down."
Tony watched her enter the bedroom and closed his eyes. Mission mission mission mission.
----- Five weeks later ------
Daniela held Jacob's hand as they prepared to cross the street to school. James came up beside her. "Hey."
She smiled. "Hi James, how are you?"
"I'm okay." He grinned, his green eyes flashing. "Do you want to see something really neat?"
"What is it?" Tony had dropped them off at the school 25 minutes earlier than normal because of a meeting at work.
"It's really cool. Come with me. Jacob can come as well." He pulled them over towards a dark van. Then it all went dark.
--
"The sound just cut out...and either we lost the feed or it all went black." McGee mumbled.
"Get it back."
"I'm trying." His fingers flew over the keyboard, glancing up at the screen in MTAC. "There's interference."
"Change to Jacob's feed." Gibbs glared hard at the young agent. "Now McGee."
"It has the same interference." He looked up at Gibbs. "We should go find Tony."
"No. Not until we know something. Leave DiNozzo and David out of this." He snarled, standing up. "I'm going to go get the director. Keep trying McGee."
"Yes boss." He turned back to the computer before calling over his shoulder. "Boss, can I get Abby up here to help?"
"Whatever it takes."
McGee nodded, his fingers not slowing down. "Come ON....come on come on come ON."
--
"He'll love it." Ziva said with a smile, looking at the electronic train set that Tony had on his computer screen.
Tony grinned. "I think he will too. He was so excited when we went to the train museum."
"Mmmm hmmm." Ziva nodded, but her eyes narrowed at the sight of Abby running up to MTAC, quickly followed by Gibbs and the director. "Do you know what is going on?"
"No." He watched as the door to MTAC shut quickly. "But we should find out."
Ziva nodded in agreement, and the two of them took the stairs two by two and entered MTAC.
"Can you get a lock on their position?" Jenny asked, her mouth in a thin line.
"We're trying, Director." Abby replied.
"Are they still together?" Gibbs asked
No one had seen Tony and Ziva enter the room, all too focused on the screen in front of them.
"HA! Something's just happened." McGee said, staring at the screen. The picture gradually got clearer, landscape moving quickly. "They're in a vehicle..."
"How are we getting that picture?" Abby frowned at her screen. "It's a necklace...and a pin."
Tony and Ziva exchanged worried glances.
"Unless it was taken off."
"No, they were strictly told NOT to take them off."
The conversation dulled to Tony. His attention was purely on the large screen. Jacob's face appeared, dirty and stained with tears and then Daniela's. Dirty like her brother's but a thin trail of blood could be seen flowing from a cut on her forehead. Then slowly, deliberately, a set of hands were shown. They moved, slowly, the same motions done over and over again.
Safe.
"What are they saying?" Jenny asked, her eyes staring at the screen blankly.
"It says they're okay."
"We need to find Ziva and Tony and notify them..." Jenny stared, stopping when she caught Tony and Ziva's eyes. "Ziva...Tony."
"Where are they director?" Tony asked, his jaw clenched.
"We're not sure..."
"Find them." Was all he could muster. "Find them NOW."
Visions of the previous cases...the blood, the dead bodies popped up in front of Ziva. She shook her head and tried to clear her thoughts, but they kept returning. Daniela...bleeding. Jacob...crying. She swallowed hard, trying to move the lump that had taken up residence in her throat.
"You two. Out. Now." Gibbs pointed to the door.
Tony grabbed Ziva's arm and ushered out of the room...
--
Daniela blinked in the dark of the van and groped for Jacob. She could hear him sniffling and whimpering. Her hand touched the soft material of his jacket and she pulled him towards her, wrapped her arms around him.
"It will be okay." She whispered in Hebrew, touching her lips to his temple. "We will be okay."
He whimpered, tears falling from his dark eyes.
The van rocketed down the street, the kids tossed around on each bump. Daniela swore as her already tender forehead hit the side of the van.
"Shut up you stinkin' Jew!"
Her eyes shot open, trying to memorize the sound of the voice, the Southern accent sprinkled with something else. "Where are we going?" She called tentatively, trying to get the person to speak again.
Silence.
"My mummy and papa will pay whatever you want..." She tried again.
"We don't want any money from you Jews."
Daniela chewed her bottom lip and held Jacob tighter.
--
"Heard anything, boss?"
Gibbs shook his head. "You two, director's office. Now."
Tony and Ziva exchanged looks before taking the stairs two by two. Jenny, Gibbs, Abby and McGee were all in the office, McGee shutting the door tightly behind them.
"What do you know?" Tony searched their faces.
"Tony, Ziva. I want you two to go to the home, then wait for the kidnappers to contact you." Jenny said. "You can't be involved in this operation, you're too close. Act like the worried parents, we'll keep you up to date, but that's it. No investigation, no nothing."
"But Director, I cannot see how us sitting at home could be anything positive – " Ziva started before Jenny held up her hand and cut her off.
"As of right now, you two are not needed." Jenny said firmly, before her face breaking into a softer look. "I'll get someone to drive you two home."
"That's fine director, I can drive." Tony said, his face hard.
"Tony..."
"I can drive." He pulled Ziva gently out of the room.
"So we are just supposed to sit back and do NOTHING." Ziva muttered, raking her fingers through her hair.
"Remember, we're undercover. We're not NCIS agents...we're just concerned parents." He pulled her towards him, his arms holding her tight.
"I just cannot sit by and wait..."
"We have to."
--
Waiting was never one of Tony's strong suits, even as a kid. He always wanted the new video game first. He always wanted first pick of the cupcakes in grade school. And today was no better. He paced around the room. He took a shower. Twice. He chewed his fingernails. He tried to watch TV. He glared at Ziva who was cleaning her firearm.
"Why are you doing that?"
Her darks eyes met his. "What shall I do Tony?" She stood up and walked towards him. "Should I walk around the room like you? Should I shower all the time? Should I watch TV?" She was inches from his face. "What should I do?" A tear, one lonely droplet of salt and water trickled down her cheek. She shook from the pent up anger. "What should I do?!" She wanted to pound on his chest, wanted to scream out. But she didn't. Instead she melted into his embrace, allowing her guard to be let down, just this once.
"We stick together." Tony whispered into her dark curls. "We stick together and we wait." Her hot tears soaked into his shirt. They stayed like that, neither of them keeping track of the time they stayed in each other's arms. Finally, they pulled apart, Ziva staring uncertainly into Tony's eyes and Tony staring back at her with confidence and desire. "We shouldn't be doing this...not now." He whispered as her lips inched closer. She was so close he could taste her...
--
"LET ME GO!" Daniela screamed as a black cloth bag was put over her face. She fought her kidnapper, kicking, punching and generally making her kidnapper's life miserable.
"Stop struggling or I will kill you here and now." The kidnapper hissed.
"Do it! You are going to kill us anyway, why do you not do it NOW!" Daniela roared kicking and connecting with her attacker. He groaned and roughly threw her over his shoulder.
"Shut up. We will kill you, just like you killed our Lord Jesus Christ. But you will have wait. Make sure we kill your whore Jew mother too so she can't breed anymore of your type." The kidnapper pulled the bag off her face and placed her in a steel box, a coffin really, and sneered at her.
"Where is my brother?"
"Oh, he's around here. I like him better, he doesn't talk."
Daniela glared at him, her eyes hard. With a moment of boldness she spit at him, internally congratulating herself on her improved aim. He brought his hand to his face and wiped her saliva away. With a quick movement he brought his hand down across her face, making her wince. "You'll get yours." He whispered harshly in her ear before shutting the lid, encasing her in complete darkness.
"My mummy and papa are going to come and you are going to be in BIG trouble." She called, willing herself not to cry. She was stronger than that.
Jacob watched in horror as Daniela was hit by the bigger man and her box was closed. He clawed at the man that was carrying him, screaming and wailing as he was dropped unceremoniously in a corner. He squirmed as he felt chains on his arms and legs and got at least one good kick in on the man. His whimpering cut through the steel box Daniela was in, making her heart drop.
"We are going to be okay, Jacob!" She cried, knowing full well that he couldn't hear her. "We are going to be okay!"
The kidnapper rolled his and mercilessly shoved the boy into the concrete wall, smiling as his small head hit it and make a sickening sound. Jacob fell to the ground, his dark eyes fluttering closed.
--
"Anything McGee?"
"No." The young agent frowned. "They're wearing masks...and I can't get a lock on their positions."
"Damn it McGee! Don't tell me what you can't do!" Gibbs slammed his fists against the table. "Anyone check up on DiNozzo and David?"
"No." Abby frowned. "They went back to the safe house. I'm sure they're fine."
Jenny shook her head. "That's not what he was talking about Abs."
