Roots

Summary – Nathaniel Anthony DiNozzo does not know who his parents are. Follow him as the search for the truth takes him from Italy to Israel and finally to America. Takes place 18 years post-Aliyah. TIVA.

Disclaimer – NCIS characters are CBS's not mine.

Note: As you'll see I don't really know how to write between conversations, but I hope it is clear who is saying what.

chapter 10 - Showdown

They arrived at the safe house in record time thanks to Ziva's driving. There were only two men guarding the house, for two professionals like Tony and Ziva it looked simple enough. Too simple. Drawing out their guns and looking at each other, they silently agreed on the path to take. A quick overview of the situation led them to ensure that only those two men were outside. Now it was time to wait for the opportune moment, one more shared look and two gun shots rang out. They had both managed to hit their targets straight between the eyes, Tony allowed a small smirk to grace his lips.

They moved quickly right to the door, Ziva knocked it down and Tony had her back just like the old times. They saw that the landing was clear and were going to check the whole house, when a voice was heard.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the voice called out halting their movements. They turned to voice's direction and were shocked by the sight presented to them. Hadar was pointing a gun to Nathaniel's skull who in turn had a bomb strapped around his chest with a dead-man switch in his hands.

Hadar's smirk made Ziva feel sick but she would not allow him the satisfaction of showing it. "Drop your weapons and kick them to my side, all of your weapons." He told them, adding the last part when he noticed that Tony had not removed his back up. "Your knives, Director." They saw no other option but to relinquish their weapons and when he was satisfied he gave them handcuffs to cuff themselves to the plumbing pipes along the wall. They did as they were told.

"Very good, you are such excellent parents – coming to the rescue of your beloved son, just as I hoped."

"Son?" Nathaniel asked shocked.

"Oh yes, Nathaniel. But that is a long story but we will have time for that won't we, David, DiNozzo?."

"You're agent DiNozzo?" Nathaniel interrupted looking at Tony in a whole new light.

"Yes," was the whispered answer. This was Anthony DiNozzo, this was his father and the Director, his mother. He looked at her then, tears were slowly marking her face but still the look she was giving him was one of such warmth that he felt his heart fill with a sentiment he could not recognise. The second feeling was once more one of confusion. Did they know about him, had they abandoned him?

Hadar interrupted his thoughts: "Let's get comfortable, we have nowhere else to go to after all. And since you are about to die I think that you should die knowing the whole story and how important you were to your country."

Tony and Ziva still said nothing, they were overwhelmed by anxiety. They had finally found their son only to find him in more danger than they expected; they did not dare to make one move dreading it will cost Nathaniel his life.

"I don't understand." Cried Nathaniel.

"Director, why don't you tell him what I am talking about," Hadar told

Ziva answered immediately knowing that Nathaniel would not like any more lies, "He means that you were used by him, to get to me. So that he could overthrow me and become the next director of Mossad."

"Very good Ziva, I knew you would arrive to the conclusion at some point."

"It is what you have always wanted, you thought you could have it when my father was dying but I was in your way." Ziva replied glaring at Hadar.

"Yes you were in my way but then I remembered about young Nathaniel here, such a sweet boy left without any parents. Questioning his existence, all I had to do was to point him in the right direction."

"You sent me the letter telling me about Mossad." Nathaniel interrupted once more. Things were getting more and more confusing, if Hadar had sent him the letter than his father had not abandoned him as he had momentarily thought.

"Actually it was not my idea, it was Eli's. The old man had gone soft; he was feeling remorse on his dying bed. Remorse at not having been a good father. Perhaps he remembered the time agent DiNozzo here had come to pay him a visit to tell him just what a miserable job he had done and how he would never treat his children that way." This shocked Ziva as she did not know that Tony had gone to her father, it must have been while she was in Somalia, and her heart fluttered at how much he cared for her.

Hadar continued, "Eli asked me to send a message to Nathaniel saying that he was sorry and to tell you about your parents. I just decided the amount of information you should receive."

Nathaniel couldn't believe it; a tool is all that he ever was. Being used by someone just to have more power.

"If you're going to tell the story, might as well start from the beginning don't you think?" Tony told him, interrupting Nathaniel's thoughts.

"You are right Special Agent DiNozzo. The beginning, let me see... oh yes. You killed Mossad Officer Michael Rivkin to protect Ziva. Ziva then took Michael's mission and was captured and held prisoner in a concentration camp in Somalia. One night after some months, I was at the Director's house when Ziva here was dumped at the doorstep with a child. Imagine our surprise!"

"At Ziva being alive or at the child?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"Both I suppose. But the child part mostly, that is part of the story that you have to fill out don't you?" Hadar said looking at Ziva and Tony; neither said anything not wanting to reveal those parts of the story in front of Hadar.

"So you really are my parents?" Nathaniel asked, wanting to hear the answer coming from their mouths. The one question that had troubled him all his life, the question that had led him to Mossad and to Washington. He looked at Tony then at Ziva, seeing her eyes soften and a small smile start to appear gave him his answer; her voice confirmed it. "Yes Nathaniel, you are our son," she told him her voice breaking slightly. And even though the situation would not normally allow it, he found himself smiling widely. He had found the most important part of the puzzle – his parents. He had a mother and a father! He was someone's son! What a strange and amazing feeling.

"Oh what a nice moment, can we continue the story now?" asked Hadar. "When we found you Ziva, you said the boy's name before falling unconscious. And another surprise – a DiNozzo and not Rivkin. That made Eli very angry but still he would not get rid of the child, he said that his good genes could come handy some day. I did not understand at that point but I do now. Eli was always good at seeing the bigger picture. He thought that keeping him close by would raise too many questions so he requested that the kid be sent somewhere else. Italy was chosen because of his surname, which Eli decided to keep – I don't know why, perhaps that remorse, once more. You may not know Ziva but he always had a soft side when you where concerned."

"Yeah he had a funny way of showing it. 'Let's see my daughter was abandoned at my doorstep with a grandson I knew nothing about, what should I do? Oh yes tell her the child died and send said child to Italy!' Yes I see the soft side." Tony interrupted once more, angry at the way Hadar was telling the story showing Eli as a good father. What good father would send his daughter on a suicide mission? Then when by some miracle he gets her back, he destroys her life once more by saying the child she had just given birth to, had died! It was not his definition of a good father.

"Tell me what happened in the years preceding my father's death." Ziva asked, eager to get to the truth.

"As well you know Saleem's men had special info and even though Saleem himself and most of the men were killed by NCIS, some survived. It took time but they were able to rebuild themselves and start their hit on the Mossad slowly, the final blow being the attack on Eli. I realised that Mossad would not be the same without Eli and that it shouldn't be the same. Where did diplomacy take us after all? We were still beaten by terrorists, it was time to change. But with you as director, that would not happen. But you Ziva, were not the same headstrong person; you had many weaknesses and they were showing. It was quite easy to operate under your nose. You never suspected a thing. And I had the best weapon for the final blow. I knew that the boy would come looking for his parents and when I realised he joined I knew that things were set into motion."

"Considering that both Tony and I are here and know about your plan, I guess it did not work that well, yes?" asked Ziva.

"You are cuffed, your boy has a bomb around his chest and I have a gun. I think the plan is working just fine."

"Depends on your perspective on things I guess. You deliberately led Nathaniel here to get me involved. However you also got Tony involved," Ziva told him.

"Exactly, the two of us together? Not a smart move," Tony said looking sideways at Ziva, their strong field partnership as efficient as ever. "Nathaniel, be a good karate kid and practice meditation, you know the no movements type," Tony said. The next things happened so quickly Nathaniel would rethink them over and over to see exactly what went on.

Somehow his mother, had gotten rid of the cuffs and found a weapon (part of the pipe behind her). She must have thrown it at Hadar hitting him on his temple; at the same time his father, who had also released himself from the cuffs, attacked Hadar removing the gun from his hand. In the next micro second his mother was by his side a knife already in her hand and she started to look at the bomb strapped around his chest. His father knocked Hadar unconscious and tied him securely then joined Ziva in trying to solve the mystery of the bomb.

"Is it a type you've seen before?" Tony asked Ziva.

"Yes, however the dead-man switch makes it much more complicated."

"Perhaps it would be a good idea to talk about something else, maybe it will calm me down," Nathaniel told them, wanting to control his body's shaking so as to be sure that he doesn't let go of the switch.

"True kid, what do you want to talk about? Movies?" Tony asked him.

"How did you uncuff yourselves?" Was the first question that popped into Nathaniel's mind.

"Ahh the ninja tricks eh. Your mother taught me that one, don't worry she'll teach you too." He told him recognising the look in his son's eyes as the one Ziva gets when checking out a new gun. It was amazing how much he resembled both of them, he still couldn't believe he had not seen it the first time he met him.

"It was a stupid mistake on Hadar's part, he should have remembered I know how to do that. He underestimated us, I am not sure I am flattered about that." Ziva said still working on the bomb.

"And the pipe?" Nathaniel asked once more amazed at the tricks his mother could pull.

"It was behind me, anything can be used as a weapon." Ziva answered absentmindedly still focusing all her concentration on the bomb.

"How did you know when she was going to attack?" Nathaniel asked his father. At that point Ziva and Tony looked at each other, volumes of words being said silently.

"We're partners." Tony said, then asked Ziva "So you know which wire to cut?"

"Yes, I think it is this one."

"You think?!" cried Nathaniel. He watched as she cut the wire and waited for something to happen.

End of Chapter 10

So there you go, just one more chapter to go. Thought I'd post this today to compensate for the lack of new episode. This week I plan to rewatch some season 7 episodes and do a Tiva video – just to keep me company till Jetlag arrives... I can hardly wait!

Thanks for reading