"Video conferencing equipment?" Deputy Wilson repeated as Penelope Garcia waited expectantly. "Yes ma'am, I believe we've got something that can accommodate you."

Garcia smiled politely, certain all she was going to get was some low grade webcam that would make her think the one on her lap top would probably be better, but Hotch told her to check with the Deputy.

Wilson led her back to the conference room they had been assigned to. When they walked in, JJ and Reid looked at them curiously and Garcia sent the Deputy a puzzled look. She hadn't seen any video equipment in the room and she had been in there for 18 hour days the past five days.

Wilson pulled a remote that was in a credenza drawer and pointed it at the large, mounted map of Montana. Silently, the map began to rise up into the ceiling and what was revealed underneath it was a large, flat screen monitor that measured some five by three feet. He pressed a few buttons to call up the video link screen and handed the remote to Garcia.

"You just dial in whatever number you need and our system will connect you right up." His eyes twinkled when he looked at Garcia's shocked face. "Ma'am, we may be rural, but it don't mean we're uncivilized."


Ziva David handed Emily Prentiss the tea she had procured from the hospital cafeteria. The FBI agent nodded her thanks and Ziva sat down in the chair she had vacated earlier when she went in search of refreshments. When they had arrived in the emergency room, Prentiss had been examined fairly quickly and whisked off for a CT scan. That was three hours ago. They had at least been allowed to wait in a small examine room, or rather Emily had been. Ziva spent the time going in and out of the room constantly, either on the phone with NCIS or doing something, like getting tea. The NCIS agent hadn't sat still longer than five minutes.

"How long does it take to look at an X-ray?" Ziva burst out in exasperation. She fidgeted and began to tap her fingers against her knee.

Emily watched her curiously, having nothing else to do. There wasn't even an old magazine lying around in the exam room. She noticed that Ziva could not seem to sit still. At first, it just seemed like impatience, but the more Emily watched her, the more she believed the small room itself was having a negative impact on the other woman.

She watched as Ziva's fingers started to tap in a distinct rhythm and she immediately recognized the pattern and what it meant.

"How long were you held?" she asked gently. She looked abashed, realizing she had spoken out of turn asking a woman she didn't know something very personal. However, she had felt the need to offer some type of help to Ziva who was in obvious distress.

Ziva looked sharply at her. "What do you mean?" she shot back harshly.

Emily mentally kicked herself. In more than one ways, she had stumbled into a sticky situation, but it was too late to back out now. "The finger tapping. Tim mentioned to me last night that you're former Mossad. The tapping, it's an exercise to help agents keep focus when held in captivity and…tortured," Emily said gently. "I recognized the pattern."

Ziva's eyes narrowed at her. "And how would you know Mossad training tactics?"

The lie flowed easily from Emily's lips. "In profiling, we've learned about different coping mechanism, including various ones from other foreign intelligence agencies."

Ziva's still narrowed eyes clearly indicated she was not convinced and Emily silently berated herself again.

"I was not aware that the FBI training was so…extensive," the Israeli woman said slowly. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. Perhaps this Emily Prentiss was more interesting than she initially thought. "Somalia. This past summer. I was on an assignment for Mossad and was captured by the terrorist I was targeting."

"How long?"

"Four months," was Ziva's brittle response. She turned to look away. "It was not a pleasant experience."

"No," Emily said softly. "I wouldn't expect it to be." She paused a moment. "We have our own ways of dealing with these things. I hope you've found a way that works for you."

"I believe I have," Ziva replied carefully.

Emily nodded. "Good." She felt she had already strayed way too far into an area she had no right to go into but one thing did puzzle her. "An assignment for you father? I recognized the last name," Emily explained when Ziva gave her a raised eyebrow. "Eli David, head of Mossad."

Ziva nodded. "Yes. An assignment for my father."

"Oh, so Mossad got you out."

"No, it was Gibbs, Tony and McGee."

"Wait, NCIS rescued you? What about Mossad?"

"It was too high of a risk for Mossad to try to save me," Ziva replied flatly as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

Emily regarded her with unfathomable eyes and Ziva returned the look. The FBI agent's voice was low and quiet, but it was laced with understanding on a deeper level. "I know how hard it is to be considered secondary by one's parent when they feel that a greater good might be at stake."

Ziva sent her another sharp look, but this time what she saw in Prentiss' face seemed to assure her. She knew from Tony's poking around in Emily's personnel file that that the FBI agent's mother was an ambassador, a life Ziva knew was likely not as glamorous as it sounded, not for a child.

Ziva desperately wanted to change the subject and simply did. "So, what was it like growing up the daughter of an ambassador? You must have traveled extensively."

It was Emily's turn to scuttle back and hide. A shuttered look that Ziva herself was intimately familiar with, having some version of one herself, fell over Prentiss' face.

"It was…not as glamorous as many would think."

David's lips twisted into a smile, hearing her own thoughts echoed back to her. She nodded her head gently.

"Still, it must have been interesting visiting so many foreign places. Where did your family live?"

"Mainly Europe and the Middle East."

"Really? Israel?"

"I've been there visiting with my family, but we were in mainly in Saudi Arabia and Egypt."

Did you pick up any Arabic? Ziva asked her in Arabic.

Yes, Emily replied. I'm fluent in it and several other languages.

What languages?

Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, German. I'm not as good in Russian and Farsi but I can get by. I've got a smattering of Czech and Polish."

Ziva's eyebrows rose at the extensive and impressive list. What was she doing with the BAU at the FBI? She wasn't even in counter terrorism. Curiosity came roaring back in Ziva. This woman had too many skills for the position she was in now.

"It was hard making friends though," Emily continued. She looked carefully at Ziva, seeing the wheels turning in the NCIS agent's head, but not sure in what direction they were going. "Just when I seemed to be getting somewhere, we were moving again. My mother was- is- a very good diplomat and she was often needed in certain places."

The Israeli woman's expression softened marginally when she heard the slight hint of wistfulness in Emily's voice. She could understand the longing. Ziva's own childhood consisted of being prepared to become what she is today, an agent. She remembered strife and danger given her country, but also fun and friendships. She remembered Ari. She remembered Jamil. She remembered a dozen close friends. She wondered if this woman had such fond memories as she did or was her childhood isolated and lonely? As unusual as her own was, Ziva could admit she was never lonely, but what about a child in a foreign country? Was Prentiss one of those Embassy children whose parents kept her separated from the natives, isolated in a rarified bubble, safe, but alone.

While she kept her expression open, Emily was warily watching Ziva. She had let a few too many things slip to the former Mossad officer who would be able to spot them more easily than even anyone on her BAU team. Her time at the FBI has made her relax too much, made her careless. She was working now with a group of agents who had far more international experience than her entire BAU team combined. They would not be as easy to throw off the scent.

While Ziva might have had her suspicions about Emily's past, they were irrelevant. Emily Prentiss was here to help them find a killer and if she had some former job with an intelligence agency, it wasn't any of Ziva's business unless the woman was conspiring against the US government. Ziva didn't think that was happening and Prentiss was simply keeping quiet, most likely was required to, about her past work. If anyone understood that, it was Ziva. Now that she was no longer with Mossad, she didn't really advertise the fact that she used to be one of their agents. She was an NCIS agent now and that was all that mattered. She could sense the anxiety in Emily, fear that she might have inadvertently revealed too much.

"Our past shapes us, but it doesn't dictate who we are today," Ziva said, looking intently at Emily. She was silently telling the FBI agent that she had no interest in digging deeper in any past career choices Emily may have made.

Prentiss relaxed slightly, getting the message. "No. We choose our own paths and decide who we want to be."

The two women regarded each other silently and simultaneously nodded; an acknowledgment of their understanding.

Any potential further discussion was derailed when the doctor came back in to inform Emily she had a mild concussion but would not require hospitalization. However, she wasn't to spend the night alone and if she had any dizziness, blurred vision or nausea she needed to immediately come back to the hospital. She was released and the two women left as quickly as possible, making their way back to NCIS.

Along with McGee, Abby, Ducky and Palmer were waiting for them in the bullpen. As soon as she saw Emily, Abby hurried forward and enveloped her in a bear hug.

"Emily! We've been so worried about you! I know Tony and Gibbs said it wasn't serious, but I needed to see for myself."

"How are you, my dear?" Ducky asked in a worried tone. "What did the doctor say?"

"It's just a mild concussion," Emily replied in a dismissive voice. "I've had those before. I'm fine."

"But she is not to spend the night alone, the doctor said," Ziva added as she shrugged off her coat. "I have offered her my couch."

"Ugh, after getting a concussion the last place I would want to sleep is that lumpy couch of yours Ziva," Abby wrinkled her nose. "No, you can stay with me."

"In a coffin?" Ziva exclaimed, earning a startled look from Emily. "How is that more comfortable?"

"Entirely unnecessary," Ducky responded. "I have a spare guest room."

"Prentiss isn't going anywhere except to come up here to MTAC," a voice growled from the upper level.

They turned their eyes upward and saw Gibbs leaning against the railing watching his team welcome back the wounded FBI agent. He heard the offers being made to Emily regarding tonight and once again, he was struck by how easily she had fitted in with his team. Even when McGee and Ziva joined, it took a while for them to be fully accepted by everyone, himself included.

Maybe it was the vague similarities to Kate Todd that everyone was responding to. Or it could simply be that Emily Prentiss provided something that was missing from all of their lives and they were only realizing that now. Either way, Gibbs couldn't ignore the fact that he was just as drawn to the tall, lithe brunette as much as anyone.


A/N: Sorry folks, the Gibbs/Hotch showdown and Emily/Hotch "face-to-face" interaction are in the next part. For anyone reading my Criminal Minds story "Reckoning", you'll understand some of what I'm about to say, but I have in my mind that Emily's father is connected to the intelligence community in the US. If he is, then a lot of Emily's background parallels Ziva's. Where Tony and Ziva are concerned, I do see a lot of background similarities with Emily. For me, it points to part of the reason why I can see the NCIS agents actually being a little more accepting and in tune with who Emily is in a lot of ways, especially where her past and Doyle are concerned, than the BAU agents might. And add to it, that the majority of Team Gibbs have extensive international/undercover intelligence experience under their belt and at least Gibbs and Ziva have done some less than desirable things in their past, I really think they would understand the Doyle situation better than Team Hotch. But that is for the third story of this trilogy.