Disclaimers disclaimed.

I know . I know . I've been gone for like a week.

There was so much going on personally that I needed to tend to but I'm back now. Here's the new chapter ... I actually wrote 2 versions, but I felt this one is better with less drama ... sometimes less is more ... LoL

Without further ado ... ENJOY!

P.S. - I'm purposely not posting a title as that will give away the surprise at the end ... and DONT skip ahead just to see. LoL

Chapter XXV -

Just then, a weak low hoarse voice came from the bed next to her saying, "I'm up!"

The room fell silent as Ziva, Tali, and Anthony looked on in astonishment that Tony had just spoken. He was finally awake, eyes fluttering open and trying to adjust to the lighting as he moved in the bed. He groaned as the sudden shock of pain ripped through his arm, "Ugh! Everything hurts."

"Shhh, it's okay my love", Ziva kissed his forehead gently. "Try not to shift on your left, you have a sprained wrist and dislocated shoulder."

Tony shook his head, "what the hell happened to me? One minute I remember carrying Officer Amadi then the next ...". His voice slowly drifted off until it was dead quiet. His attention now focused on the figure that lay smiling at him in the bed next to his. My babygirl. Immediate tears flooded from his eyes as he whispered, "Tali?"

The teenager grabbed his hand and smiled even brighter as her own tears started to fall. She leaned over, amidst her own pain, and wiped his tears. "Hi abba, welcome back."

"How", Tony looked at Ziva, "when?"

"Today", Ziva paused to wipe the tears that she hadn't realized had fallen from her own eyes. "Our little girl is safe now. She's back babe."

Tony let out a sigh of relief, "Talibear, I'm so sorry for every ..."

"Abba, it's okay", Tali interrupted. "It was no one's fault and Ima kept fighting to find me. I know you both never gave up."

Anthony cleared his throat, causing everyone to look at him. He chuckled, "so like, this is all very beautiful but, ummm, I think dad needs a proper bro hugs because you chicks have made him all mushy. It's totally weird!" Everyone laughed as the young boy hopped off his spot at the end of Tali's bed and came over to give his father a 'bro hug'. "Welcome back dad!"

"Good to see you buddy", Tony chuckled. The family was quiet for a moment, just taking in the feeling of finally being back together. Eventually, though, Tony broke the silence, "so how long have I been out?"

"Two days Director, and it's wonderful to see you're awake now", Dr. Copeland answered as she entered the room. "I'm Dr. Copeland, and you've been under my care since your arrival."

"Hey doc", Tony greeted. "You've got perfect timing!"

The doctor smiled, "it would seem so. I was coming to check up on your vitals, and here I find you wide awake. That's a good sign! I just need to ask some questions, are you up for it?"

"Ask away doc!"

"Okay, on a scale from one to ten, what's your pain level?"

"Hmm, about a 8. Could definitely use some meds."

Dr. Copeland nodded as she jotted something down on his chart, "alright, I will have the nurse bring in the good stuff after I finish here. Next question, do you remember how you got here?"

"It's a little fuzzy", Tony answered honestly. "I remember being outside the safehouse, then an explosion went off in the front of the house. The entire front of the house was in flames so, I ran to the back of the house to save Officer Amadi. There wasn't a back door so I had to climb through the window. When I got to him, he was in the hallway passed out. There was so much smoke. I remember wrapping him in a sheet and dragging him back out of the house through the bedroom window ... after that I can't remember anything."

Ziva looked at him quizzically, "so you weren't inside when either of the bombs went off?"

"Either? As in more than one", Tony asked.

"There were two", Dr. Copeland answered. "But you getting out before the second blast would explain why your injuries weren't much worse. I'm glad to see that the memory loss is minimal. It seems you remember everything except for that second explosion which is what caused your head trauma. My concern was that you wouldn't remember anything, so this is actually a good thing. You're a very lucky and resilient man, Director DiNozzo."

"Well thanks doc, I do try!" Tony joked and let out a small laugh.

The doctor chuckled, "well, your vitals look good. Your injuries will heal in due time. As I already said, I'll sent a nurse in with some pain meds. Other than that, I want you to get some good rest tonight and I'll be back to check on you and Tali in the morning. I'll leave you all to enjoy your reunion. Goodnight."

"Goodnight doc, and thanks!"

Dr. Copeland gave a smiling nod as she left and closed the door behind her. A few moments later, a nurse came in to give both Tony and Tali pain meds then left as well. Anthony took his seat back at the end of Tali's bed and broke the silence that had come in the room again, "sooooooo can we tell dad about how ima totally kicked terrorist ass to find Tali?"

.

Back at NCIS, McGee sat at his desk staring blankly at his computer screen. He didn't even noticed that Bishop had been talking him for the past five minutes until she stood in front of him and snapped her fingers in front of his face. He jumped slightly then looked up at her, "huh?"

The younger agent shook her head, "I've just had an entire conversation by myself, you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry about that, I was just thinking."

"I guessed that. Want to talk about it?"

McGee shrugged, "my emotions are just all over the place I suppose. I mean, I'm elated that we found Tali and that the DiNozzo's are now back together ... but then ... then I'm furious because the bastards that hurt the people that I consider family, were aided by someone who had become 'like' family and it just sucks. I feel like an ass because I ..."

"Didn't see it sooner", Bishop finished off his statement. She sighed, "Torres is ... was, my partner ... I still can't believe that he had anything to do with this but he did and I defended him. I feel like an idiot."

"We all got played. It wasn't your fault. It was no one's fault. Now we just need to get to the bottom of the truth. Tomorrow, we need to break him even more and we need to break the other two bastards."

"Do you think they'll confess to their motives and plan", Bishop asked hesitantly.

"I don't know", McGee sighed, "but I hope they do. They'll have a few more hours to work it out within themselves. Come tomorrow morning, Ziva will be back to start the interrogations with me. It's super late now, we should both go home and get some rest."

"Can I make a request?" McGee nodded as he stood for Bishop to continue. "Let me interrogate Torres this time. I need this, I have to know why he became a traitor. I'm sure Ziva wants another crack at him, but this means something different for me."

"Say no more, I understand. You can do it. I'll talk to Ziva for you first thing in the morning."

Bishop gave a halfhearted smile, "thanks."

.

Hours later, Tony stirred from his sleep. He looked over to see Ziva sleeping in the chairs beside his bed and then looked to see Anthony now laying in the fetal position at the foot of Tali's bed, totally knocked out sleep. He smiled at the sight, then looked back up the bed to find that Tali was awake and silently inspecting her bruised wrists.

"Hey kiddo", he said in a whisper.

Tali looked up with a shy smile, "hey abba."

"What are you doing up? You should be sleeping sweetie."

"I can't", Tali sighed, "when I close my eyes, thinks aren't pretty."

"I'm sorry babygirl ..."

"Don't be", she interrupted, "it's not your fault. I blame the terrorists, not you or mom."

Tony shook his head, "Tali, I know it's not our fault, but mom and I still feel guilty for not protecting you better or finding you sooner."

"I know ... but at least you guys found me and didn't give up on me like Director Amadi did on Hunter."

"I still can't believe that bastard is part of this mess. I should have let your mother kill him that day in my office." His words made Tali raise her eyebrow in curiosity. Tony quickly tried to cover, "don't tell her I said that ... as a matter of fact, you forget I even said it."

Tali chuckled, "even after all of this, you and Ima both try to sheild me and III from the details of your job. Why? You guys should really open up mire to us about it. It could be helpful."

"You may have a point. One in which I'll consider. Right now, though, I want you to try and sleep."

"Abba, it's not that easy ... even with the sleeping meds", she admitted then leaned forward so that she could touch the small of her back. "Do you think ima will ever talk to me about the time she was captured in Somalia?"

Tony looked at her quizzically, "how do you know about Somalia?"

"Well, I don't actually know the details, just the parts that you and Ima argue about whenever she shutsdown during a case. You usually blame it on Somalia and she usually chin checks you."

"Heh", he chuckled, "so you've heard those arguments?"

Tali nodded, "mmhmm, III has too. We both want to know why it's so major that you still bring it up after so many years? And, to be honest, I think having mom talk to me about it will help my own healing. We now have matching back scares."

"What?" Tony was oblivious to any of the scares that were hidden under Tali's hospital gown. His eyes grew wide as she gingerly rolled to her side for him to have a peak at the few lash marks exposed and not covered under heavy gauze. The view almost made his heart stop and a lone tear rolled down his cheek. "Tali ... I'm ... oh God babygirl ... I'm so ..."

Tali rolled back over, "it's okay abba. I can barely feel it anymore. I'm just grateful to be safe now and to have you back."

"I swear, I'll never lose you again kiddo. And no one will ever hurt you again." He reach his hand out and grabbed Tali's softly. "And I promise, your mom and I will start talking to you more about the past if it helps you heal."

"Thanks dad", she paused to yawn, "maybe we should try to go back to sleep. I'm feeling a little better now."

Tony smiled and squeezed her hand gently as she slowly drifted off to sleep. After looking over hos his family once again, he soon found himself back in dreamland too.

.

At 0800 the next day, Bishop walked into the bullpen with purpose. She stood before McGee who was finishing up a phone call, waiting to know the morning's agenda. After nine gruesome days of nonstop searching and finally finding Tali, the senior field agent wanted to finally get some closure. Not just for her bosses, but also for herself. It was time to break Torres for real, and there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to do it. All she needed was the 'okay' from McGee and Ziva.

Knowing exactly what she wanted, McGee hung up his phone and looked Bishop in the eyes, "that was Ziva, she says Tony and Tali are both awake and Tony's memory loss isn't as bad as we thought it would be. He remembers everything up until right before the second explosion. And both he and Ziva have agreed with me in allowing you to interrogate Torres." He paused to hand her a folder, "I've already had him brought in from lockup, so he's all yours."

Bishop took the folder gladly and smirked, "let's do this then."

With confidence, they both nodded and headed towards interrogation. McGee gave her one more approving glance before going into the Observation Room. Bishop took another deep breath and entered interrogation. Slamming the folder on the table, she caused Torres to flinch slightly and lift his head to look her.

There was no point in sitting down right away for the occasion, Bishop's nerves were too high. Something about seeing Torres' face, knowing he had been lying and was a traitor to their family, made her blood boil. There was an unusual and uncharacteristic urge within her to snap his neck, but that seemed too easy. For every day that Tali had to suffer, for every moment Tony and Ziva had to struggle with not knowing if their first born was still alive, for every hour the team worked to find answers and he worked to continue to throw them off course, Bishop wanted him to pay a slow and demoralizing debt. For her, that started with making him finally admit the truth and eventually hang himself ... figuratively speaking. Well maybe literally.

Calming her inner thoughts and emotions as much as possible, Bishop leaned against the wall and looked towards Torres. "I never thought, in a million years, that we'd be in this room like this. Quite frankly, I don't even know how to feel right now but seeing as though we've found Tali", she paused to gauge his reaction. When his eyes widened and she saw a glint of fear, she smirked and continued, "I'd have to say, overall, I'm feeling pretty damn good. I guess the real source of my other, less joyous emotions, stems from the fact that you've been fully involved in this whole thing. What I'd like to know is, why?"

Torres just stared at her as she stared back, waiting for a response. After a few moments, however, he still remained silent. His obvious refusal to talk made her blood boil even more but, she kept her cool and resumed her monologue.

"What really boggles my mind, is how you played us all so well. I guess all those undercover missions really made you a great actor. To be honest, I feel silly that I didn't catch on sooner. Ziva figured it out first, of course. But even when she told me, I defended you." She sighed then chuckled as she finally sat in the seat across from him, "Can you believe that? I defended a traitor ... actually, considering the evidence we have against you ... not only did I defend a traitor but also a terrorist. By the way, Tony is awake now and he's pretty pissed that you tried to blow him up." Seeing the look in his face, she leaned in to whisper, "and I'm certain that he's going to use his pull with SecNav to finish off what Ziva started in here yesterday once he gets out of the hospital. If I were you, I'd enjoy my last few days of being able to pee without a catheter."

At the thought of losing the use of his extended member and the recollection of the pain Ziva had inflicted less than 24 hours before, Torres absently moved his hand from on top of the table and sat them protectively on his lap as he swallowed the lump in his throat.

Bishop, in turn, opened the folder she had brought in with her and tossed a few pictures in front of him. She then leaned back in her chair and continued, "anyway, back to your Oscar worthy acting. From day one, you had us all fooled. You knew exactly why Tony was calling us to his house that day but, damn, you played it off so well. And we know all of those bugs and cameras were placed by you, there's no one else who had that kind of access to the DiNozzo house besides someone deep within their circle. I'm going to bet that you placed them right around the end of summer when you volunteered to house sit while they were in Tel Aviv. Am I right?"

She didn't wait for his response. Instead she pointed to photo of the burnt down safehouse and went on, "your performance was almost perfect the entire time ... ALMOST ... because you really screwed yourself in the early hours of day nine. You remember, don't you? How you went to the safehouse and set two bombs quietly but you weren't quiet enough were you? Nope! Not when you made the mistake of drawing Tony from his sleep and having him chase you outside. Then you got yourself shot and left your blood at the scene. And then the bombs you set didn't even kill their intended targets ... oh, I believe I failed to mention that Hunter Amadi is expected to make a full recovery. Isn't that lovely!?"

"Judging by your face, I'm going to assume that you thought Officer Amadi was dead? No sir, he's very much alive. Failure after failure for you, Torres. And can I tell you exactly when you started to look really suspicious? When you went MIA and then it occurred to us that the radio station had information concerning the bombing that we ourselves weren't even privy too until we got to the scene. You were a little premature in your press release, and a little cheap in your payment to the DJ that made the announcement. He told us exactly who gave him the information and we traced the payment right back to a hidden offshore account that you've been keeping. I can't wait to ask Director Amadi how he feels about paying half a million for you to just royally fuck up everything so badly?"

"You have Amadi", Torres finally asked in a nervous tone.

"Wow, so I see the mention of your REAL boss is what gets you to speak. Okay, noted, so let's talk about your boss", she said sarcastically. "Yes, we have Amadi ... oh, and Benjamin too. Unfortunately, Johanson is no longer a factor as Ziva put a bullet in his head but, that's the nature of the job. I digress though ... Amadi, we figured the cash deposits that summed up to half a million were from him ... however, the money trail didn't exactly lead us to him. It was actually your stupidity in hiding those burn phones in your desk. Once you went MIA a second time, our crafty ninja friend Ziva picked the lockbox in your desk and, wouldn't you know it, we found the phones. It took Abby a little while to get into them but eventually she did. Not a moment too soon as the trap you set almost worked. Unfortunately, we lost a few good men, but your main target ... US ... your 'team' and so called 'family', we made it out unscathed. After that, by process of elimination, there was only one other place to go and our fearless leaders went. You inadvertently sent them right to Tali and the terrorist. So, THANKS!"

Bishop shifted in her seat to lean forward again, "what do you think Director Amadi will have to say when we tell him it was you who led us to foiling his plans?"

"You think his plans are foiled?" Torres chuckled, "there's another target and, trust me, whether we are in lock up or not, the world will still see and know of his power. This is bigger than you know Ellie."

"Where is the target", Bishop asked in a dry low tone.

"Nah, I want a deal first. I was coerced into this! I'm a victim here too!"

"A victim? I may have believed that 24 hours ago, but not now. And you know, NCIS does NOT negotiate with terrorists so ..."

"I am NOT a fucking terrorist", Torres interrupted while slamming his hands on the table.

Bishop was unfazed by his outburst and calmly asked again, "where is the target?"

"Look Ellie", he tried to reason, "you have to believe me. I'm really a victim here!"

She rolled her eyes, "What I believe is that you acted on your will and decided to partner with Amadi and Benjamin. I believe that you setup both Ziva and Tony to be killed in those bombings. I believe that Tali and Hunter were taken, almost flawlessly, because of your inside knowledge to the DiNozzo's life and the classified intel concerning Hunter's assignment here. I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are a bold face liar and a traitor and I'm not going to ask my question again, so answer me NOW!"

.

Leaving her family behind at the hospital wasn't something that Ziva wanted to do. In fact it was the last thing she wanted to do but, having Tali back meant that the real work now had to begin. She had called ahead for McGee to begin the interrogations. After getting the update that Bishop had been pressing Torres for two hours and McGee himself had now been in with Director Amadi for an hour, she decided to take on Benjamin.

As she walked down the hall at NCIS headquarters, images of the past kept flooding into her mind. The main one, in particular, that made her uncomfortable ... Somalia ... she hadn't the slightest idea why it seemed to be on her mind so much during this whole process. Well, maybe she did know. I have to help Tali heal. She cannot be like me and keep it bottled up. The thought of the torture, and the now very real visual proof on her first born, made Ziva feel a wide range of emotions. Those emotions, however, needed to be placed on the back burner as now she had a job to do. She needed answers for her family's sake, especially for Tali.

Ziva entered the interrogation room where Benjamin had been waiting. Quietly, she sat down and gestured towards the two way mirror for the tech in Observation to begin recording. When she saw the red light on the the camera turn on, she turned to face her daughter's captor.

"It's been a long time Officer David", Benjamin chuckled, "or is it Agent DiNozzo now? You look almost the same as you did when you were just a rookie officer. You've aged very well."

"And you look completely different, except for that hideous tattoo", Ziva responded calmly. "Now that we have gotten the pleasantries out of the way, let's talk about the important matters."

"The important matters? Hmm, well, I guess we could talk about those things. What's really important? Climate control, over population in the world, the war in Africa, children with diabetes, how many hours are enough hours of sleep to be well rested ... Actually that last thing is quite important to me", he spoke sarcastically. "I haven't really been getting much sleep on account of that sweet little Tali and her sexy ..."

Before he could finish crossing the line, Ziva was out of her seat with the barrel of her weapon pressing hard into his forehead. "Let my daughter's name escape from your lips again and I will pull this trigger. Make another sexual innuendo concerning my daughter and I will pull this trigger. Piss me off again and will pull this trigger. Do you understand?"

"I see now where those fire filled eyes and aggression comes from. Your daughter is just like you, Agent DiNozzo." Benjamin leaned forward more into the barrel of the gun, "but I also think she gets your cowardice too. Go ahead, shoot me. Ruin your life like you ruined mine, I bet you don't have the lady balls to pull that trigger."

"Don't test me", Ziva responded through gritted teeth.

"You couldn't do it years ago and can't do it now", he leaned back and laughed.

His cool demeanor pissing Ziva off even more. She took of the safety, "want to bet?"

Just then the door to interrogation flew open and an elderly, but still stoic, woman entered the room. "Do not lose your life over a pedophilic monster Ziva. Put the weapon away, you know much better ways to break him."

The woman's voice drew Ziva to return her sig to its holster and back away from Benjamin slowly. She looked towards the door and her heart almost dropped. The almost fragile figure before her drawing a different wave of emotions entirely as she whispered, "Orli?"

Soooo, I know I have A LOT of 'xplaining to do ... LoL

It will come in the next chapter ...

Now go REVIEW!

Later!

- Chide