When Ziva woke up…she realized nothing had changed. Ray was still the same person he had been in Morocco, only a little more loving. He managed to give her the antidote, when all everyone else thought was that she just had a cough. Maybe he had changed. Ray was being so attentive during her recovery, that the past five years almost didn't matter. Almost.

"Could I ask you a question?" Ziva said, sitting up on the bed.

"Ask away,"

"When we were in Morocco, if you love me now, why didn't you love me then?"

"That's ridiculous! Of course I loved you then! I just wanted to toughen you up, and prevent you from becoming one of those softened people. One of the things I love about you is your…strong willed independence. Of course, now, you'll have to depend on me for all the things you ever wanted, because NCIS has never given them to you."

"That is what I thought," Ziva murmured. She didn't say anything for a while, remembering those months she had to live with Ray out in Virginia. So many times she was forced to do this and that, her child threatened the whole while. Ziva only put up with him with the thought that she had gotten so close to NCIS…and now she couldn't even get near them for fear all those memories with them were a lie. Ariel sat down next to her.

"Mommy, what are we doing tomorrow? Ray says you can't go back to work yet 'cause you are sick,"

"What do you want to do?"

"Can we play with my coloring book Ray gave me today?" It was full of princesses and castles from fairytale stories Ziva barely remembered.

"Of course we can…do you have crayons?"

Meanwhile…

Before Tony could so much as take a step forward, Abby was back, followed by her husband.

"Tony, wait!" she said.

"I haven't moved yet," Tony muttered.

"Abby told me there was a three month gap in that journal," McGee said, coming to a halt by the bench. "Thought you could use some backup in case things go wrong…you aren't the only one who notices something going on with Ziva."

"Yeah, I agree," Abby said, bobbing her head energetically. "It's like she's distancing herself from us or something,"

"Well, we know where she is, so let's go," Tony declared, starting off in the direction of the dreaded crypt Gibbs had mentioned. Abby put a hand on his arm, causing him to pause.

"Tony, if we don't save her…" She didn't finish, but she just looked at him. Tony understood, and with that, kept on walking.

"We will," he replied with confidence.

"We don't even know what Ray is doing to her, though," McGee argued from the back of the group.

"I don't think that makes a difference, McCautious," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "We're rescuing Ziva whether he's throwing her against the wall or making out with her," He internally flinched at his own words.

"Is that the place?" Abby whispered, staring fearfully at the door they were now approaching much sooner than Tony thought they would. McGee merely shrugged in reply.

"I want to go in first!" Abby said. Tony and McGee exchanged a glance.

"I don't see why not," the probie said, letting his wife run ahead of him. She opened the door and went inside. Tony stopped in the doorway. This place looked too ordinary to be hiding a mysterious crypt used to hide away rotting corpses from prying eyes.

"You sure this is the place?"

"Gibbs gave me the address, and this is it. Just go inside, Tony…or do you really not care about Ziva all that much?"

"That's harsh, probie. She's my partner,"

"But is that all she is to you?" McGee asked mysteriously. "I've seen you go at her all the time." Tony glared at him. How dare the probie think such a thing!

"Really, is that what you think?" he replied angrily. "Ziva's my friend, you know that!"

"I don't believe you are showing it," Tony gave him a very hard shove into the wall. McGee was so startled that he didn't respond, but merely pushed back even harder.

"I. Love. Her." Tony growled, punctuating each sentence with a blow to McGee's gut. He was so focused on hurting the pobie that he didn't care that he admitted his true feelings for Ziva.

"Well," McGee panted, out of breath, "so this is what it's come to…why are we fighting over this, anyway?"

"Must be the heat. Truce?" There was a scream from somewhere inside.

"Sounds good," McGee agreed quickly, running toward the source of the noise with Tony right on his heels.

Five minutes ago

Abby stepped into the dark house and was quickly able to locate the stairs that she assumed lead to the crypt. But before she approached them she remembered a rule Gibbs told her during a very intense case. Never assume. So, steeling herself, Abby began a slow descent, gripping her parasol so tightly that her knuckles turned paler than her skin. There was a slight rustling sound from the bottom of the staircase. But Abby didn't pause. She had a feeling that a whole other world was down there.

"Can't we just color now?" a child's voice begged, barely audible at this distance. There was a curve in the staircase. Abby descended even more slowly.

"Okay, show Mommy when you're done," She recognized Ziva's voice. It sounded very maternal…then she remembered her daughter, Ariel. Could Ray be keeping her child here?

"Ziva, go up and check what that noise is. I can't stand shouting from other people," Ray. Abby held her breath.

"Fine, I'll go myself, then…since you are busy with our child,"

"Ariel could never be yours," Ziva snapped. Footsteps approached where Abby stood. Ray noticed her standing there. Abby couldn't help it. She let out a scream, but it was too late. A hand came down over her mouth, warm and rough. Next thing she knew, she was being dragged away against her will. Abby let the parasol fall out of her hand and to the floor. It rolled down a few stairs and came to a stop.

"Abby?" McGee was a few seconds too late. All he could find was her lace parasol he remembered from Kate's funeral.

"What happened?" Tony asked, having caught up to him. McGee picked up the parasol.

"Ray took her," he said, his voice cracking in strange places. Tony put his hand on his shoulder.

"We'll get them both, probie. Come on," Tony led the way down the stairs. McGee followed, feeling a little uncertain about the mission ahead, but willing to do anything to save Abby and Ziva.

Ziva looked up as Ray dragged a very familiar goth scientist into the room. She was struggling furiously to escape, but Ray was very strong.

"Look what Gibbs sent here to spy on you," Ray sneered, shoving Abby into a hidden room and locking the door. Footsteps approached the foot of the stairs.

"Hide, Ziva," he hissed. She obeyed at once. Ariel hid under the blanket, thinking that they were in danger.

"Where is she?" a voice growled. "Tell us!"

"Who?" Ray asked, feigning confusion for the purpose of keeping the love of his life safe from the enemy.

"Ziva, you imbecile!" McGee shouted.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Isn't she with you?"

"No, you have her! You're hurting her!" Tony yelled.

"Really, now, I care for her as much as you do, why would I do such a thing?" There was a brief silence, during which Ziva had to guess what Tony was doing.

"Her journal," McGee spoke up with confidence. "It tells us everything you did to her while she was gone,"

"Journal? Oh, you mean that book of lies," Ray said. "She wanted to stay, as you know. There are a lot of gaps in there, so you couldn't know everything." He clearly recalled changing his method during the last three months, realizing he needed Ziva on his side in order to get her to cooperate. Tony and McGee exchanged a glance. They have been doing too much of that lately.

"Listen, we don't know what you're planning, but what we do know is we will find out," Tony began.

"One way or another," McGee added.

"So, just to serve this as a warning…Gibbs does not play nice when someone messes with his team, and neither do we," Tony finished in a low voice. With that, the pair of agents left.