A/N: So… Here's another update for all you faithful reading bunnies while I'm working on an incredibly small laptop that is PINK and ugly and *shudder* but eh. It's a computer :D

Enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW!!!

Chapter 35

Abby disappeared out of the room and Ducky took her place next to Ziva as Ziva shot him a look that said quite obviously I don't need you to keep an eye on me. Ducky returned the glare with a warm smile, ignoring her sharp annoyed face and passing Gabrielle Smith a glass of water off the tray he had set down onto the table before placing one in front of Ziva and taking a sip from the one that remained. Gabrielle Smith took a large gulp of water before turning to Ziva "So, you said you were going to explain to me what was going on?" she said cautiously.

Ziva nodded slowly, shifting in her chair to find a more comfortable position. "Yes" she replied shortly, fiddling with her tight ponytail with one hand "I hate to have to be the bearer of bad news…" Ziva hesitated, an unusual reaction for the Israeli, and Gabrielle Smith frowned, tilting her head at this statement "Has something happened to David?" she asked slowly and Ziva nodded, a sad look present in her dark brown eyes "Yes. We're very sorry for your loss…His body was found in the front garden of your home a few days ago…" Gabrielle Smith's hand flew up to her mouth and a few sobs escaped her. Ziva sighed deeply and shivered; she knew what it felt like to get bad news and to have to tell it to other people as well.

~flashback~

For a 10 year old, the doctors at the *name* hospital certainly recognised that Ziva was a lot smarter than most children her age. While they had started off putting all explanations into simplified words and phrases so that they were easier for the 10 year old to understand, it soon became clear that this was not required.

10 year old Ziva sat on one of the hospital's chairs for visitors with a fidgeting 5 year old Tali on her lap. She sighed; Tali was so young, she wouldn't know what was happening to their mother. But Ziva knew; Ziva knew that their mother had a brain tumour. It had been diagnosed the previous summer and it was supposedly a benign tumour; well at least, it had been until the Doctors had done another scan and had discovered it was growing again.

Ziva found the hours that she spent waiting with Tali incredibly agonising; they had no idea how their mother was doing and Tali spent the majority of this time fidgeting. They had been called to the hospital in urgency and Ziva, almost playing 'mother' to Tali as she had done since their mother had been admitted to hospital, had gathered Tali up in such a hurry that she had not had time to gather anything else. She sighed again, feeling alone at age 10 as their father, the deputy Director of the Mossad in Israel, spoke to his colleagues on the phone busily.

She knew how the hierarchy in their family worked: their father, Eli David, held his position at Mossad in the highest priority, and this was well known to all others in the family. Their mother was much softer, more caring; she encouraged Ziva to play with the younger Tali, with dolls and such things that encouraged the feminine side of people. Ziva, on the other hand, had always been one to pick fights with boys (and would usually win) and preferred to play games like Battleship.

Ziva smiled softly to herself as she remembered how their mother had been towards her and Tali before she had gotten sick. Nowadays she was weak, sleeping a lot and never saying as much when she had been at home with them and later when they had gone to visit her in the hospital. Then, Ziva had found out suddenly that their mother, Nadiya, had been taken to have surgery to remove the tumour that was now dangerous and life threatening.

*

Ziva shivered as she looked up to find a grave expression on the face of Doctor Jones, the doctor who had treated their mother most of the way through her illness. Ziva moved a now sleepy Tali from her lap onto the chair beside her own and stood up. "Is Ima out of her surgery yet?" she asked, her brown eyes glistening. The doctor sighed, sympathetically rubbing Ziva's shoulder which Ziva did not think of as a good sign. He motioned for her to sit down "We are very sorry for your loss" he began

Ziva looked up at him quickly, startled "Ms David had a rare type of tumour which was benign for quite a while up until now. Unfortunately, while the team of surgeons were working to remove it, they found that a bleed on the brain had developed which caused complications in the surgery… I'm sorry that I have to be the one to tell you that Ms David passed away as a result of these complications…"

Ziva's emotions had come in a huge rush that fateful day, a great mixture of feelings that she could not control. Not being in control was something that she had always tolerated but had never really liked and the fact that her mother had been taken to surgery without warning had haunted her throughout the rest of her life.

Ziva Caria David had always needed to be in control to some degree and had done her very best never to show people around her when she was emotionally affected.

~end flashback~

Gabrielle looked up at Ziva a few moments later, obviously trying to pull herself together a little despite her grief "Do you know who k-k-killed him?" she stuttered and Ziva once again nodded slowly, not wanting to give Gabrielle Smith all the information too quickly. "Yes" she replied then paused "We'd... ah... like to ask you a few questions to assist with these investigations, is that okay?" she asked, wanting to check as that was the usual system Gabrielle Smith "Yes. Yes, that's fine. Who was it?" the redhead immediately demanded, her grief beginning to change into anger "Who killed David?" Ziva sighed "Vittorio" she said bluntly "Paul Vittorio. We believe you and him were engaged at one point, is this correct?"

Gabrielle Smith nodded, continuing to sniff "I met Paul a few years ago. We had a fling. I got pregnant. So, we decided to try having a proper relationship, for us and the baby." Ziva nodded silently, thinking of all the experiences she had had. "It went well for a few months, we got along well enough, even got engaged because we were happy once…" she paused, emitting a sad chuckle through a few sniffs "But then… I lost the baby, miscarriage, and suddenly it was like Paul wouldn't or couldn't look at me the same way; as if I was the reason why we lost our baby…"

Ziva nodded, doing her best to understand what Gabrielle Smith was talking about. She stayed silent, wondering if the bereaved redhead would add more detail to her story "He would never admit that it was his fault that we lost the baby…" she mused, bowing her head and shaking it slightly. Ziva tilted her head, trying to understand what Gabrielle Smith meant; Ziva didn't know

"How do you mean, it was his fault?" she asked cautiously, her thick Israeli accent showing her confusion. Gabrielle Smith sighed "Paul always had a bit of a problem controlling his anger; right from the time I met him I noticed that. A couple of days before the miscarriage, I had been really busy trying to organise stuff for the baby and I missed the deadline for paying some bill for something. Paul went crazy." Gabrielle Smith paused to sigh heavily at the memory.