Author's Note

Hello readers. Familiar Faces are back.

I really don't know how many times I have rewritten that Author's Note. The truth is I delayed the updating and the news for the show came out really fast.

Anyway, it's a fact. Michael Weatherly is leaving the show. An era has come to an end. Tony DiNozzo, TIVA has come to end (Although we don't which it will be for now), and my opinion the show has come to an end. However, I have to inform you that Tony DiNozzo's end from the show doesn't mean the end of Familiar Faces. This story will be a long ride for me and I hope you will join me.

I wish Michael, Cote and every cast member that left the show good luck to their future and current projects.

Anyway back to the story

Debbie: Thank you for your review, but I might disagree with you that it was Vance the one the one who encouraged Ziva to go after Bondar. I think subconsciously was Gibbs.

Guest#1:Thank you for your review. I feel disgusted the way they had portrayed Eli just to make Gibbs look like a hero again.

Guest#2: Thank you and the other TIVA/Ziva haters for your reviews. The second review really made thought a lot considering what I will do in the continuation of the story. The truth is I thought your suggestion but nah…I will keep them together. :P :P Anyway, every time, you are writing bad reviews you make TIVA fandom stronger (there is no such coincidence that I don't delete your anonymous reviews. I don't delete them on purpose :P ) but if you have the guts review with your penname and don't play sneak and hide with guest reviews. Plus, your reviews give me motive not only to improve my writing but also to write more on that story, not to mention the other ideas I have in mind. Let me inform you TIVA haters. Gark might have kill TIVA on the show but it will never manage to do it in our hearts. I hope now with Michael's departure you understand how we felt when Ziva left. And those who wish Tony's death than the reunion with the ex-Mossad Officer let me tell you. The only thing I'm feeling for you is pity. Shame on you to call yourselves fans.

Guest#3: Lies soon will be over I promise.

Sue Dooley: Thank you for your review as always.

Buffalogirl: Thank you. My opinion for that particular writer is that she's Cancer for the show.

Specials thanks:

To Teresa: who is my personal consultant on this story.

To Laitie:my personal beta who she has been through a hell to correct my errors as always…Hang on girl.

And of course all of you that favorited reviewed followed even the one's who only read that story

Disclaimer: If I had owned it, the NCIS wouldn't have ended up a recycling bin of past stories.

This is the new chapter of Familiar Faces…Enjoy!

Athena


"Are you alright?" Tony asked, wrapping his arms around Ziva's waist from behind. After a few days in Israel, Ziva had wanted to visit Tali's grave in Be're Sheva.

"Yes." Ziva replied, placing her hands on top of his. "You know." she went on, turning herself around in his arms, "if Tali had met you, she would have loved you." She took his hands in hers.

"What was she like?" he asked curiously.

"She was everything I wasn't," she said. "She was a good student, smart, a pure heart…"she grinned at her memory.

"You are smart." he assured her. "And you have a pure heart."

Ziva shook her head. "She was special." she went on. "She did ballet and played the piano. She sang just for fun, not for any other reason like I did. But what I loved the most about her was her innocence. The quirky way she always acted. Every time I picked her up from school, she would beg me to buy her junk food. And when I couldn't take her to the opera, I took her to the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. She loved music so much. She was…..an angel." she revealed and tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Is that why you're so protective of Ellie?" Tony asked. "Does she remind you of Tali?"

She nodded. "Sort of," she admitted. "Plus, Tali would have been Ellie's age." Ziva sighed. "She was everything to me. To Ari. Eli was only proud of her."

"Your father was proud of you, too." he reminded her. "The letter-"

"My father wrote that letter so he would be expiate for Somalia and Ari. He was proud of me but only as a Mossad Officer." she said sternly. "Nothing more."

"I wish I could have met her," he said, looking over at Tali's grave wanting to drop that line of subject. He didn't response on Ziva's words. The truth was he didn't know what to do say. Ziva was right. If Eli indeed had loved her, he wouldn't have ordered to kill her own brother; he wouldn't have sent Rivkin to play on her. And most of all if Eli had really loved Ziva, he wouldn't have her sent on a mission what it was obviously a death sentence for her.

"I wish you had," his fiancé agreed, caressing him and looking deep into his eyes completely oblivious for Tony's thoughts. After a few moments of silence, she blurted, "I want to go to the farmhouse where I was born."

Tony's heart stopped. "OK" was the only thing he said, full of fear and swallowing a lump in his throat.


"Nothing's changed." Tony stated, closing the door behind him as he entered the house. Ziva wondered around the dusty living room. "It feels like yesterday when you sat on that couch and told me that you were not coming back to D.C. with me." he went on, lowering his eyes toward the floor, sitting on said couch.

Ziva walked over to him and took his hand in hers. "Come." she said. Tony raised his head and looked at her. "Come" she repeated. Tony stood up and allowed her to drag him into a room with a queen-sized bed. She lay on top of it and patted the space next to her. He lay beside her and gazed into her eyes. "I spent countless nights in this bed, wondering what would have happened if had gone back to D.C. with you." Ziva said, caressing his jaw line. "Every time I had those thoughts, I had regrets for not following you. But, back then, something inside me was telling that it was the right thing to do. Something was telling me that it was best to stay away from you. So I did."

"I know what you're thinking." Ziva went on, her eyes locked on his. "I meant what I said in Santorini. You are my home, and nothing and no one can change that. You are my soul mate and I will be with you forever." the woman nestled her face in the crook of his neck.

Tony didn't say anything. He knew that Ziva loved him and that she was telling the truth. All his doubts suddenly disappeared. He took her in his arms and buried his face in her hair. It wasn't long before they were both asleep.


Tony woke up alone on the bed. He looked up and around the room. It was dark, but the bright light of the full moon was peeking through the window. He scanned the house for Ziva, but she was nowhere to be found. He headed outside to make sure the car was still there. It was, and he was about to go around back when he heard a strange noise. It sounded like someone was digging in the ground between the olive trees. He went to investigate, and stopped dead in his tracks. Ziva was there, on her knees, digging at the spot where she had buried her "I WILL" list.

Ziva dug and dug until she found the box she had buried three years ago. She grinned and sat back on her heels, opening it.

There was nothing inside.

"What the Hell-?" she questioned surprised in Hebrew but was interrupted by Tony.

"Looking for this?" he asked, holding up the list with his right hand.

"How-" Tony cut her off again.

"Does it really matter?" he asked, coming closer. "Because what really matters to me is a life with you that is not based on a piece of paper."

Ziva stood and faced him. "That's exactly I want, too." she replied, taking the list from his grip. "Some things on this list have come true. Others haven't." she explained. "I don't want a life based on a piece of paper anymore." Ziva pulled out from the pocket of her pants she had reason she wanted back that list. The woman flicked on her lighter and put the paper on fire. Throwing the burnt paper on the ground, she locked her eyes on his and continued. "I want a life based on this." She placed her palm over his heart. "And this," she said, taking his hand in hers and placing it over her heart.

Hearing these words, with their hands placed on each other's hearts, he felt so loved. He knew that she really meant those words.

He placed both of his hands on her sides while she was cupped his face, caressing his cheeks, mimicking the position they had been in three years ago, in the same spot. But this time, they weren't fighting the urge to kiss each other. This time, they closed the gap between them with a tender kiss. It quickly became passionate. Breaking that kiss, another followed. And another. And another. With each kiss became hungrier than the last. They both realized where this was heading, and it wasn't long before they ended up inside the house and in the bedroom. A few moments later, he slowly pulled off her shirt, leaving her in just her underwear and running his hands over her sides. She made slow work of his pants with nimble fingers. Neither wanted to hurry. Both wanted their love-making to be slow, sweet, and passionate that night.

He cupped her face in both hands and looked deep into her chocolate eyes. "I gave you my heart. Please protect it." he said with a trembling voice.

"With my life, Tony," she replied without hesitation. "With my life." They kept eye contact as she pulled his head down and kissed him. "Make love to me," she murmured after she broke the kiss. He leaned and kissed her gently, pushing her lightly towards the bed.

The back of her knees hit mattress, making her break the kiss briefly as she fell into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. He bent down to kiss her again and pushed her down.

As much as he tried, he couldn't get enough of her. He couldn't get enough of her kisses or her touches, or her breaths on his skin. As much as he tried to, he couldn't find what she had in any other woman. He couldn't find what she had made him feel that night in Paris in any other woman. He didn't want to take his lips from her soft, hot skin. Didn't want to lose one second of tasting her. He was determined to explore her body inch by inch, to give her the care that no one else had ever given her, not even him.

Closing his eyes, he shivered as she told him how much she loved him while she ran her hands down to his body. Every time she did that, he felt electricity piercing through his body.

As for her, she loved his touch. She loved the feeling of his hot breath on her skin. She had had plenty of sex before, but none of her previous lovers had ever made her feel like he did. Maybe because she had never truly given her heart to any of them. They had only been for her physical needs, nothing more.

That wasn't only because all of them had meant nothing to her, but also because of the fact that she and Tony had always belonged to each other. They were soul mates. It wasn't just sex for them. It was love. Love, because it was what their souls wanted. Something that heir hearts wanted, not only their bodies.

But that night, it was different. Almost unreal. They didn't know why. Maybe it was because they were in that nostalgic farmhouse. Each scratch on their shoulders, each mark on their sweaty bodies, wasn't a sign of sexual tension that time. It was a declaration of love. Of an unconditional love for each other. Neither of them wanted that night to end. They wanted to make love to each other until the end of time.

When the release came, they didn't pull away from each other. They still needed each other. A need that had always been endless. And always would be.


Ziva woke the next day feeling the soft warm kisses on her back. She could feel Tony's gentle lips caressing her olive skin, his tongue trailing the marks of the tattoo on her shoulder. Lying on her stomach, she was denying leaving the memory of their love making the night before. She couldn't stop smiling at the thought of him and of the way he treated her every time they made love. Every time they gave into to each other. She often wondered if the previous women in his life had had the same treatment, or if she was the only woman to have the particular privilege to feel the tenderness with which he treated not only her body, but her soul, too. But it didn't matter anymore. He was all hers, now. She would be the only woman to make love with him. The only woman to feel his body pressed against hers for the rest of her life.

"You have a very nice way of saying 'Good morning' to a woman," she noted, grinning as he continued planting kisses on her back.

"Only one woman in particular." he whispered into her ear, placing a kiss on the nape of her neck. "You taste so good," he went on, licking her back with his tongue.

"Mmmm, Tony," she moaned as his mouth traveled all over her back. "And you make me feel so…"

"Horny?" he suggested into her ear, nibbling on her earlobe.

She gave one more moan as shivers ran down her spine. "I wanted to say 'good,' or 'special'," she said. "But 'horny' will work, too." She rolled onto her back.

"Good to know." he said and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before planting more kisses along her jaw line.

She tilted her head back to give him better access. "Tony," she began to moan. He didn't answer. Instead, he continued peppering kisses along her neck, thinking about going further. "Tony," she moaned again. "Please, stop...We need to go Haifa." she explained.

"Later." he mumbled. "I want to make love to you first. Then we can go wherever you want." He placed himself on top of her. With a quick move, she rolled them over and she was on top of him.

"As much I would love to," Ziva reasoned. "we had better get going. It's a five-hour trip." She placed a hungry kiss on his lips.

"Aw, come on." he protested as he tried to kiss her again. But she shook her pointer finger in disapproval at him.

"No. We are leaving as soon as I'm done in the shower." she stated, wrapping the sheets around her. "Alone," she clarified. She stood and disappeared into the bathroom. He sighed and covered his face with a pillow.


"It's really hot in here." Tony complained, taking a sip of his cold coffee. He had insisted on both him and Ziva drinking coffee on the Tel Aviv beach, gazing at the endless blue of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a little stop before reaching Haifa.

"Mmmm," Ziva moaned, biting a cookie. He turned to look at her. "It tastes so good." she went on. "So good." she repeated, closing her eyes as she tasted the cookie's goodness.

The combination of the heat and her moaning made him start to feel quite uncomfortable in his pants.

"Do you want a cookie, my little hairy-butt?" she asked seductively, bringing the remains of the cookie towards his mouth.

Biting it, he grinned at her and tried to kiss her on the lips as he chewed.

"Tony!" She struggled to avoid him, laughing. But a familiar voice made their smiles disappear.

STAY. AWAY. FROM. US!" Tony exclaimed as he stood up from his chair.

"Tony, calm down." she said, touching his arm.

"No, I won't!" he argued. "She's the reason the reason we lost three years of our lives, Ziva, and you're asking me to calm down!?"

Ziva sighed rubbed her face with her hand and looked back at Tony.

"Listen." Deena started, and both Tony and Ziva turned to her. "I didn't know…" She sighed. "Can I talk to you, Ziva?" she asked, looking at the other woman helplessly. "Alone." she added as she looked at Tony.

"No," Tony said sternly, but Ziva touched his arm.

"Go, I'll be alright." his beloved said.

"Ziva-" Tony tried to protest, but she stopped him.

"Really, I'll be aright." she insisted, kissing his palm.

"Fine!" he conceded. "I'll go to pay the check." Tony brushed his way past Deena to the cashier.

Ziva gestured for her former friend to come sit across from her. "So, what do you want to talk about?" she asked coldly once the other woman had sat down.

"First of all, congratulations." Deena stated, gesturing to Ziva's engagement ring. Ziva immediately slipped her hand under the table. "When is the big day?" Ziva rolled her eyes.

"November 12, my birthday." Ziva replied. "But you're not here to discuss wedding details, are you?"

"No." Deena said casually

"So you're here to guilt-trip me again about Ari." Ziva stated.

"Ziva-"

"What?" she interrupted angrily.

"I'm sorry." Deena said. "A few months after what happened, I tried to find you to apologize. I'm sorry for the way I treated you that night, for my words, for lying to Agent Dinozzo when he came and visited me, what I told him in the hospital because of my anger, how selfish I was. I'm sorry for everything. I couldn't accept what Ari had done, and that you had killed him. I couldn't accept that you had the man you loved and I didn't…"

"Apology accepted," Ziva responded sternly went to stand.

"Ziva, wait!" Deena begged. "You don't mean it. You just said that to get rid of me."

"I mean it. And I believe it. When I came back to Israel with Ari's body and explained everything you, you told me that you understood. But that was a lie." She sighed. "But what hurt the most was that you didn't believe that I wasn't following my father's orders."

"I-" Deena started, but Ziva raised her hand and to stop her.

"He was my brother, Deena. My own flesh and blood. How could you believe that I had killed him on purpose?" Her voice cracked.

Tony watched the scene between the women, leaning against the car. He could see that Ziva was upset. He started to wonder if he had done the right thing by leaving her with Deena. He started to fear that Ziva would have a mental break down, and the events of 3 years ago would repeat themselves.

"I loved him." Ziva explained. "But I couldn't let him to kill another innocent person. He had already killed Agent Todd and lied to me about it. The man I shot that night in the basement wasn't Ari. He wasn't your boyfriend, and he certainly wasn't my brother."

Deena dropped her gaze toward the ground.

"I forgive you, Deena." Ziva said. "But don't ask me to be your friend again. Don't try to contact me again. Goodbye." She turned and left.

"Ziva!" Deena shouted. Ziva froze on the spot. "I hope you find the happiness you want! You deserve it!" the doctor continued. Ziva began walking towards Tony again, beating down the urge to turn around and answer her.

"Are you alright?" Tony asked, rubbing her shoulders as soon as she had approached him.

"Let's go." she replied, avoiding his eyes and stepping into to the car. Tony also stepped into the car and started the engine, ready to head for Haifa.


Thank you for reading. I hope you liked the chapter. Part of the chapter was inspired from a song 'Mehri Na Vroume Ourano by Glykeria (who else LOL). Anyway, let me know what you think and remember: You can always contact with me and express your opinion about my Author's Note through PM, having as request the reviews will be only for the storyline