I am posting a second chapter today for St. Aidan, sorry to hear that you are laid up ... hope this helps to pass the time.

Also, this is a long chapter, so hang in there with me ... I think it will be worth it ... he he ...


Ziva pulled up to Gibbs' house and stayed inside her car. She was staring at his house, lost in her own thoughts and she jumped when someone rapped on her window.

Tony had parked right beside Ziva and was waiting for her to get out of the car so they could go into Gibbs' together. After five minutes, he was slightly concerned ... after ten, he was out right worried. He walked around the front of her car, trying to make eye contact. However, Ziva was staring off into space, with a blank look on her face, something he had never, ever seen on her before.

He came to the driver's side door, expecting some sort of reaction by now, but got none. He knocked on her window and was surprised when she jumped.

She didn't turn to look at him right away. He could tell that she was trying to get her game face on. He knew she was ready when she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. He backed up to let her get out. She wouldn't meet his eyes and they walk to Gibbs' in silence.

As soon as Tony closed the door behind him, Gibbs walked down the steps. He was dressed in military fatigues, camouflage pants and olive green tee-shirt. He looked them over, then walked into the kitchen. Tony and Ziva glanced at each other, then followed their team leader.

There were three plates already on the table. Gibbs went over to the stove, grabbed the skillet, walked back to the table and slid eggs onto each plate. The message was clear, so his two subordinates sat down to eat. Still, no one had said a word.

Half way through the meal, the two men jumped when Ziva finally broke the silence. "Was it like this before you came for me?"

Tony and Gibbs looked at each other. Gibbs just shrugged and went back to his breakfast.

DiNozzo knew Gibbs was leaving it up to him to fill in their former Mossad agent. He took a deep breath and started. "No, we were going over every detail of our plan. Remember, we thought you were already dead. We just wanted to bring the person responsible to justice ... our justice."

He laughed at his recollections and Ziva raise an eyebrow to him. "Gibbs and I realized that, once captured, they'd probably try to get some kind of information out of us. We told Tim to lay down at the first hit, he got mad at us." Tony paused as the events of that day came back to him.

"He thought we didn't think he was strong enough to withstand torture. Boss tried to explain that we would need at least one of us in good shape. Tim tried to say it should be me. That anyone would think that a geek would be a perfect target." Tony shook his head at himself.

"Neither of us wanted to admit that we didn't want him to be put through something like that. All these years, everything he has seen and experienced, he's stayed ... I don't know. Not naive, but ..."

"He always sees the good first." Gibbs finally chimed in. "Didn't want something to change that."

"How did you get him to agree?"

Tony smiled. "I appealed to his geek side. Told him that to get back out, it would take someone with his hacking skills, while me on the other hand ... I still lock-up the computer just trying to replay videos. He finally gave in." The smile fell. "But, by the look on his face, I don't think he really bought it."

Ziva pushed her food around. "He has always had such confidence issues. I am surprised he made it as far as he has."

"I'm not."

The two turned to their team leader. "I knew what kind of agent he was going to be on the first case we worked with him. I could see it in his eyes. He was just waiting for the right person to come along and train him. I figured, if I'm looking at the future director of NCIS, I want to be part of that."

"You really think ..."

"Oh, yeah DiNozzo. Always have."

The trio fell back into silence and finished their meals.

XXXX

Once well feed, and full of caffeine, they took all the supplies out of Ziva's car and transferred it to Gibbs'. Neither man wanted to try to cram into their teammate's small car.

Once they all piled inside, Gibbs realized one thing. "Alright, Ziva ... where to?"

"Rock Creek Park."

"Really? Why?" Tony asked as Gibbs backed them out of the drive way.

"I will explain once we are there."

They once again fell into silence.

XXXX

By the time the sun was blazing bright in the sky, Gibbs was pulling into a parking space at the park. The ride over had been quiet, but not oppressive. Even now, getting their gear out of the car was done in silence.

Ziva handed each man a walking stick. Gibbs raised his eyebrows at that, but Ziva was too busy unloading to notice. When they were done, they looked just like any of the other hikers making their way through the park.

Ziva took lead. Gibbs and Tony were surprised when she lead them to the visitor's office. They stayed back while she spoke to a Park Ranger.

"We are experienced spelunkers and would like to explore the caves here. Which ones do you recommend?" She spoke in a very flirtatious voice and reached out to touch the arm of the man who was giving her his full attention.

After ten minutes, she had several pamphlets and promising to call the Ranger once she was done with her adventure.

The three went outside to a park table and bench to look over the pamphlets.

"So, did you make a new friend, Zeeeva?" Tony snarked.

She rolled her eyes. "He is not my type."

"But, I thought ..."

"It is called undercover, perhaps you have hear of it." She snarked back.

Tony went to make a snide remake back, but Gibbs put a stop to it. "Hey! We need to focus." He glared at the two of them. "Now. Ziva, where are we going."

She looked over the pamphlets and maps. The caves were labeled: tours, beginners, moderate, expert and off limits. She pointed to one. "Here. We will not be disturbed."

Tony looked over her shoulder and quietly remarked, "I should have guessed we'd be heading to an off limits area. So, how are we going to get there without drawing attention."

Gibbs had always been good at maps. As a child, he would draw them from memory, even make up his own. "Follow me." He started walking, the other two scrambling to catch up to him.

Again, they fell into silence. However, that was expected for serious hikers, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary to anyone they passed.

After an hour, they turned to head towards the caves, and the crowd of weekend nature seekers thinned out. Twenty minutes later another turn took them away from the tour and beginner's caves, and the populace lessened even more.

Over two hours from the time they started, Gibbs brought them to a stop. His two agents started to protest, but he cut them off quickly. "Once we get to the cave we want, we won't know the next time we'll be able to take a break." He gave them a hard look, then looked over them to other people still on the trail.

Following his gaze, they both understood. An experienced spelunker would want to be ready to start as soon as the destination was reached. By breaking now, it would give them the appearance of not wanting to be interrupted for a long time.

After their break, Gibbs lead them away from the beaten path. Tony was getting confused, he was not the best with directions in the wild. In the city, that was a completely different story, but out here, with no street signs, he was lost.

Another hour passed and DiNozzo was getting ready to ask Gibbs if he really knew where he was going, head-slap or not. However, before Tony could risk it, they came to the opening of the cave they wanted ... they had come at it from the completely opposite direction.

Gibbs gave him a knowing look and Tony actually blushed. "So, um, I guess we're here?"

"Ya think DiNozzo?"

"We need to go further inside. We should make sure we cannot be seen."

Each had a source of light; Ziva and Tony with a flashlight, Gibbs with a camping lantern, otherwise it was pitch black. The trio went inside, as far as they could comfortably. Gibbs found a place to hang the lantern, while Tony and Ziva started unpacking their supplies.

Ziva got everything organized, while the two men looked on.

"Ziva ..."

"Wait. Once I am ready, I will explain."

It only took her a couple of minutes to get everything situated. Once she was done, she closed her eyes and readied herself. She took a deep breath, stood, and turned to her partners.

"Here. These are branches from a Japanese Peach tree, with several blossoms on them. It is to purify ill will. Place it in a pocket and keep it with you at all times."

As she was talking, each man took the offered branch. Tony placed his in the top left pocket of his lumberjack jacket. Gibbs threaded his through his belt loops.

Ziva grabbed her walking stick and showed it to them. "This is Mountain Ash, it is a conductor between heaven and earth. Again, carry this with you at all time, it will be our connection to get back to the living world." Gibbs tighten his grip on his stick, while Tony leaned back down to pick his up again.

She nodded to them, put her walking stick down for now, then grabbed several vials of a green liquid. "This is Ginseng mixed with other herbs, for strength. Drink one right before we leave and keep the others with your rations." Gibbs and Tony kept one vial in their hand and placed the others in their respective backpacks.

She grabbed three other vials, these ones were brown. "This is a mix of Nightshade, Wolfsbane, and ... other ingredients. DO NOT drink this, it will kill you."

"Then what ..." Tony tried to ask.

"Wear it like you would cologne. This will disguise our smell."

"Smell?"

"The smell of the living."

Tony frowned, he was starting to worry. All this ... magic just seemed so impossible. Before he could voice his concerns, Ziva continued.

She unpacked her obsidian mirror and found a safe place to position it. "This is going to be our gateway. Our door to the other side." She traced her finger along the outer edge of the mirror.

Tony finally saw an opening to ask questions. "Ziva ... why are we here? I mean this location." He quickly amended when she shoot him a cold look.

"Both the Greeks and the Mayans believed that caves were the entrance to the underworld."

"Then why do we need the mirror?"

"An entrance still needs a door."

Tony ran his right hand through his hair. "Ziva, I don't know about all of this. It seems so ..."

Ziva stood and walked over to him, a fiery look on her face. "If you do not believe, the leave."

"Ziva, I ..."

"No! If you cannot trust in the methods, then you will be a danger to yourself and us."

"I ..."

"Our partner and friend is suffering because of our actions. Death came and ripped his soul out of him ... right in front of us."

Tony became quiet. "Yeah, I remember."

"Then what more proof do you need!?"

They were toe-to-toe, each measuring the other. Tony finally gave in. "I'm just outside of my comfort zone here."

"You think I am not."

"You're doing pretty good."

Ziva let herself smile and backed-off. "I am a fast learner. You should know this by now." She turned to Gibbs, who had been quiet through the whole interchange. "Are you able to accept all this?"

"I have no issues."

"Really, Boss?" Tony actually squeaked his question.

Gibbs nodded. "Remember when I said I could see Tim's being the director of NCIS." His two subordinates nodded. "Well, I could really see it. When I looked into his eyes, I could see all the way to he swear-in date."

"You are a clairvoyant?" Ziva asked in surprised.

"Not exactly. Think I could have been. My mom and aunt always talked about it, but I thought they were just telling tales." The other two stilled as Gibbs never, ever, talked about his childhood. "Guess it makes sense why my mom seemed so calm about what was happening to her ... anyway, I never let the ... ability develop, at least not until I was in combat."

"Your gut?" Tony quipped.

The team leader shrugged. "Probably. By that time, I had denied it for so long, that it was only good for immediate situations ... like battle. If I would have let it develop, maybe Kelly, Shannon, Kate and others would still be alive."

Ziva touched his arm. "You cannot hold yourself responsible. Even if you had know, it may not have changed the outcome."

"Yeah, Boss. You could have ended up like Cassandra." Gibbs and Ziva turned to him, both confused. "You know, the Greek Queen that Apollo fell in love with, she could see the future, but no one believed her."

The confused faces turned to stunned.

"What? I wasn't just a jock."

Gibbs smiled. Ziva shook her head, then got back to business. She laid out a bouquet of flowers in front of the mirror. "These are carnations and periwinkle. Carnations are the flowers of the dead, periwinkle represents the endless cycle of life and death." Once placed, she stood. "I will mix McGee's blood with these and recite a spell, then our journey will begin. Now, coat yourself with the Nightshade ... make sure you are using the correct bottle."

Tony opened the bottle and sniffed. "Yuck! This smells like ..."

"Death. Then I made it correctly."

Ziva and Gibbs had already applied the concoction behind their ears and on their necks and were moving onto their writs. Tony shut up and hurried to copy their motions.

They decided to take the extra with them, each carried their own vial.

"Now, drink the Ginseng."

Tony was worried what this was going to be like, but it actually smelled good and tasted even better.

They placed the empty vials with the other items that were being left behind.

Grabbing their walking sticks, Ziva readied herself to say the incantation. She remember one more thing before starting. She turned to look at Tony and Gibbs. "Once we are on the other side. Do not move, no matter what we see."

"Why's zat Ziva?" Tony was starting to feel loopy and wondered if the others were feeling the same.

"I need to summon a guide immediately upon entering the underworld. If we move before I can summon one, then the spell will not work and all of this would have been for n-nothing." She tripped over her last word as the effects of the spells starting to affect her as well. Come on Ziva, you need to say this correctly, one mispronunciation ...

She moved quickly before she lost herself control. She poured Tim's blood on the flowers and chanted in Latin the spell she had memorized. The mirror seems to grow and stretch and suddenly, it enveloped them.

Before they had time to register what was going on, they were standing in a grey barren land. They all took a moment to look around while their bodies adjusted to this new world. This definitely was not the underworld they had been picturing.

It was worse than any desert any of them had ever been to. Instead of brown, everything was grey: the sky, the land, the rocks, everything. There was no vegetation anywhere, just a rocky hard ground. They were standing at the bottom of a small hill that had an out cropping which gave it the appearance of an ocean wave frozen in grey dirt.

The euphoric affects of the potion were already dissipating, and they all almost started walking before remembering Ziva's last words to them. For a few moments, no one did anything, worried they would ruin their attempt. Then Ziva reached into her pants pockets, she grabbed another vial from one and a knife from the the other. She once again was chanting in Latin, as she did so, she pulled the knife across the palm of her hand, added her blood to the vial she was holding. Then, she shook the vial to mix everything, poured it out, making a circle with the liquid - speaking the entire time.

When she was done ... nothing happened.

Tony let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He wanted to speak to Ziva, but it seemed wrong to make any noise in this place.

Gibbs was the one who broke the oppressive silence. "Ziver, did something go wrong?"

Ziva shook her head. "No, I do not believe so. I did everything exactly correct." But as she was talking, she started to wonder if she mispronounced something. "Maybe I should ..."

"Well, well, well. Look who's come to pay a visit."

The three of them cringed when they heard the mocking voice. Of all the people who could have been their guide, this was one that NONE of them wanted.

"What, not going to say hello? How very rude."

They turned as one unit to where voice was coming from, an odd shaped form was shrouded in a dense, grey, fog.

"Come now ... say something."

Ziva was the one who found her voice first. "Hello ... brother."

The form laughed and stepped closer to them. The fog cleared as he moved closer and there stood before them, Ari Haswari.