Hunt me down if you want, I know I haven't updated in a while but seriously I get so stuck on this one now, I struggle to update it. However I try, this chapter was finished thanks to NCIS Ziva DiNozzo who messaged me and reminded me that this story was there, I had almost forgotten about it. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Tony wasn't really sure what to say. Should he ask this Ari if he had a sister Tali and a mother named Rivka? Or would that be a bit too much to come out with right away?
"You know, you really look familiar. What high school did you go to?" he decided to end up asking. The direct approach might have scared the guy off, Tony didn't want that.
"Woodrow Wilson in Dallas" he replied eyeing the Private carefully. There was definitely something he wasn't saying just yet. Tony noticed that the guy was picking up on the fact he wasn't saying something. This Corporal was an observant one.
"Ok I'm just going to come out and ask this, but do you have a sister called Tali?" Tony asked, holding his breath slightly as he awaited the reply. He watched something flash in Ari's eyes. When Ari took a step closer to Tony in a slightly aggressive stance Tony thought maybe he had said something wrong.
"You didn't touch her did you?" Ari asked in a hushed but deadly serious tone. Right away Tony caught on to the fact that Ari was very, very protective of his little sister. And right away he'd jumped to the fact of Tony knowing his sister to the fact he'd tried to sleep with her or something. Honestly Tony wouldn't think about sleeping with a fifteen year old in the first place.
"No, no I didn't do anything to your sister Tali" Tony stated, raising his arms in defense. Ari somehow judged that he was telling the truth and backed off a little, letting out a breath.
"Good. Sorry, I'm just a little protective of Tali. How do you know her?" he then asked. Tony didn't know what to say again, so he just came out with the truth.
"Well I don't actually know Tali at all, I just know of her" he explained. Ari's eyes were on him steadily, never leaving him because he knew there was still more to the story.
"Who through?" Ari asked. Tony shuffled from foot to foot, this was it, he was going to let her name slip from his lips but he just didn't know what Ari's reaction was going to be.
"Ziva" he said quietly. Tony watched the older marine in front of him. His eyes went wide and he held his breath.
"Ziva?" the words mumbled from Ari's mouth in a sense of recollection, Tony knew Ari knew who he meant.
"Ziva David, yes" Tony replied, smiling as he watched Ari begin to come to grips of who he was talking about. Until Ari's brow furrowed and he shook his head.
"Ziva died ten years ago, a year after mom took us away from Israel Ziva died in a suicide bombing" Ari stated, confusion written all over his features.
"No, she didn't Ari" Tony replied, shaking his own head. He was beginning to get confused too.
"How do you know of this anyways? How am I supposed to believe you? I don't even know you" Ari stated, getting slightly angry. He wasn't so much angry at Tony but angry at the fact this could all be true and his long –and supposedly lost but now he was not so sure- sister could be alive.
"Because Ziva's been living in Washington DC for just over a year now and she's told me all about you and Tali and your mother. She's alive and very well Ari" Tony assured him. Ari was beginning to believe him but he was still terribly confused. It didn't help that his heart was aching slightly at the thought of his sister being alive and in America. Tony reached into his shirt and found a photo he always kept there, he never went anywhere without it. He pulled it out and handed it to Ari.
Ari took the photo into his hands with the utmost care and his eyes were locked onto the paper. It was one of Tony's favourite pictures of Ziva, her face beaming with a smile as she laughed up at Tony as he had taken that picture. He still remembers that day just like it was yesterday. He watched as Ari's fingers traced over the picture, not truly believing this was real right now.
"She's alive" he whispered, taking in all the features of his eighteen year old sister, one who he hadn't seen since he was ten "She's so beautiful" Ari added, his eyes finally lifting from the photo and meeting Tony's. Was he about to cry? Tony was sure of it.
"She's the most beautiful woman in the world, I can fully agree with you on that" Tony smiled, trying to lighten the mood a little. He didn't think Ari would want to breakdown and cry with all these marines in the room. Ari cracked a small smile.
"Are you two…?" Ari then asked. Tony nodded.
"There's no one I love more than your sister" Tony admitted. Ari watched him carefully for a minute. He'd said love with so much ease, he wondered just how serious they were. He would very much like to know, and he would very much like to see his sister again for the first time in eight years, seven years since thinking she had died.
"Do you have anymore photos?" Ari asked. There was a slight hope to his voice. Tony smiled.
"Yeah, I have them back in my barracks" he replied. He watched Ari's face light up a little.
"Will you show me?" he asked.
"Yeah of course, are we allowed to leave though?" Tony asked. Ari handed Tony his picture back.
"It'll be alight if you're with me" Ari replied, sending him a smile. He and Ari headed out of the mess hall once Ari had reported to one of the Sergeants that he and Private DiNozzo were going back to the barracks.
"These are all I brought with me" Tony said handing a small box to Ari. Ari took it in his hands carefully and opened the lid. Tony sat down on the bed next to Ari and watched the older man pull out the small pile of photos that meant everything to him. Ari went through the pictures, some of Ziva by herself, some of her with Tony –god, the two of them looked so much in love- some of her with a few other people. He settled on one that had her with a girl a year or so younger than her and a woman with short red hair and a man with grey hair.
"Who are these people?" Ari asked, looking up from the pictures for the first time.
"That's her family, her adoptive one" Tony explained. Ari furrowed his brow.
"She was adopted?" he asked, had his sister really joined a new family? At least she was away from Eli. He hated that basted.
"Yeah. Eli sent her away from Israel to live with the Gibbs family, he'd worked with them a few times and he ended up making a deal with them to adopt her. Ziva doesn't really know why he sent her away, but she doesn't think about that much anymore" Tony explained. Tony really knew a lot about his sister's personal secrets, they must really be close.
"I hate him, if I ever got the chance I would kill him right where he stood, not thinking twice" Ari stated. Tony could feel the hate rolling off Ari, Tony hated that man just as much.
"He is a basted, he does not deserve to live" Tony said himself. Ari's eyes lifted to meet his in question.
"He used to beat her you know? I'll never forgive him for that, not ever, not after what he put her through" Tony explained. Ari balled one of his fists in anger.
"How dare he touch her. I wish we had taken her with us, Eli doesn't care about anything, it's no surprise he beat her" Ari said. The two of them shared another connection, the hate they had for Eli. Ari stared down at the photo of the family.
"You said they did business with Eli? Are they good people?" Ari asked. He knew the type of people Eli dealt with, they weren't good people.
"Yes they are. I don't think Ziva could have had anyone better than them. They work for NCIS" Tony explained. Ari understood how they had worked together now, he was happy to hear they were good people. Ari took a closer look at the photo, he knew who NCIS was, most marines did.
"The woman looks familiar" he said. He'd seen her face before but he couldn't place it. Tony smiled.
"She's the Director of NCIS" Tony explained. Ari looked up at him, was she really? Ziva was in good hands then, if she was the daughter of someone so high in a federal agency.
"Her names Jenny, she treats her just like she was daughter, and the guy there" Tony pointed to Gibbs "Gibbs, he treats Ziva like his own daughter too, they love her so much, and they do so much for her" Tony explained. Ari looked back at the photo and traced his finger over Ziva.
"I've missed her so much" he whispered. When they were younger he and Ziva were like best friends, he loved his sister more than anything in the world. His heart had been crushed when he found out she had died, it was why he was so protective of Tali. He wouldn't let anything happen to his other sister. He'd already lost one, that had been far too much.
"She's missed you too" Tony told him. He knew that if Ari heard his sister had missed him like he had missed her, it would just mean so much. He watched as the strong United States Marine Corporal sat in front of him right then and let a single tear escape his eyes, falling down his cheek and landing on his lap.
"I wish I knew she was alive all these years, I would have gone and taken her from him" Ari whispered but he didn't meet Tony's eyes now. He couldn't, he didn't want to show the hurt in his eyes.
"He can never get her back now, not now she's eighteen" Tony said. Ari nodded slowly. He was so thankful Eli could never get her back, but he was sad he had missed the day his sister had turned eighteen. He'd missed all the birthdays in the passed eight years, and that hurt. He'd missed so much.
"What's she like?" Ari asked. He finally lifted his gaze to the younger man. He was desperate to know what she was like, how much she had grown, how much she had changed. Tony smiled as he thought about her.
"When I first saw her, I knew there was something special about her, and she is special, there is no one like her. She's absolutely beautiful but she's not scared one bit to get rough and play sports with the guys. She's so loving, but if you get in her bad books she'll set you straight in a second. She's so fun to be around, I could just spend hours a day with her doing nothing and still have the best day of my life. God, this is making me miss her too much" Tony said with a light chuckle on the end. Just thinking about her like that had him dying to see her. Ari smiled.
"She sounds just like I imagined she would have been. Do you think she'll want to meet me?" he asked. If she didn't his heart would break.
"Oh of course she will, to know where you guys are, and that you live in America. She'll be ecstatic" Tony said. Ari's smile grew bigger.
"I cannot wait to meet her" Ari said, looking down at a photo of just her this time, gently holding the photo and just staring at his sister.
"You know, I cannot wait to get home. I hate being away from her" Tony admitted. Ari's eyes came back to him. He saw how much he missed Ziva, it was all in his eyes.
"You two are pretty serious?" Ari asked. Tony nodded.
"Yeah, I don't think I could ever be without her" Tony said, a sure voice. He knew he would be no one without her.
"You love her a lot, don't you?" Ari asked. He was happy that his sister had found a man in her life, one that seemed to be a very honest and good at heart man.
"Oh, more than anything I could ever think of" Tony said "One day I'm going to marry her, I know I will" he added. He realized what he had said and watched as Ari read his face carefully.
"One day?" Ari asked. Tony didn't know if this was some sort of test or not, he just answered honestly.
"Yeah. We both agree for us that it wouldn't be right to marry young, I mean we aren't going anywhere and one day in the future when we are ready for that in life, we will get married" Tony explained. Ari smiled. Tony thought he must have answered with the right thing.
"I never thought I would have seen Ziva fall seriously in love so young, she'd always hated boys when we were little, she always thought that they saw her as weak because she was a girl" Ari admitted. Tony chuckled lightly, that sounded so much like his Ziva.
"I never judged her, I always knew she was really independent" Tony said. Ari reached out and clapped Tony on the shoulder.
"Now I know she's alive, I am glad that she has someone like you. I know I wouldn't just have anyone be with my sister, and from what I've realized, you're a good man Tony. And considering you are here, on this mission, I know your not just some slacker who won't be able to take care of her, you have a strong head on your shoulders, never give that up" Ari said. Tony smiled, his heart tightening. He was glad her brother thought so highly of him.
"I will always take care of her" Tony replied. She meant everything to him. He didn't know what he would do without her.
3- When it comes down to it, the ones you love always come first.