A/N: OH. MY. GOD. I can't even find proper words to describe this..ummm..fabulous, delightful, lovely, marvelous, awesome, stunning, breathtaking, terrific, amazing, grandiose, bodacious, incredible, groovy, magnificent, phenomenal, unbelievable, humongous, mind-blowing, gorgeous, overwhelming, prodigious, stupendous, splendid...okay those are all the words I can come up with right now lol THANK YOU FOR ONE THOUSAND REVIEWS! :)
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"Ziva, just say the word and I'll show her the way to the door, okay?!", Tony said, squeezing Ziva's hand. Orli had just knocked on their door and they were about to open. Ziva laughed lightly.

"I know", she said and kissed him quickly. Then she took a deep breath and opened the door. Orli shot them a smile. "Hello", she greeted. Ziva opened the door wider, letting her step in.

They walked to the couch area in silence and Tony and Ziva sat down opposite her. Tony wrapped his arm around Ziva and pulled her to his side. He knew how much she'd need his physical comfort right now.

And he was sure as hell not gonna deny it to her. He felt her relax into his side and smiled to himself. Orli smiled at Ziva. "I see you finally got the locket", she stated. Ziva nodded but didn't smile.

"I found it when I was looking through your father's things. He kept it and it is only right that you now have it. I took it before the others could find it and then gave it to your boyfriend here", Orli explained softly.

"When you gave it to him he was not my boyfriend", Ziva said, sounding more harsh that she'd intended to. She didn't like Orli. So what? She wasn't about to make a secret out of that.

Everyone knew anyway. Tony ran his fingers up and down her side in a comforting manner but she pulled away. She couldn't deal with that right now. If she was gonna have to work with Orli..well she would need to get her Mossad facade back up.

She couldn't work with the new Director of Mossad when her walls weren't completely up. She knew how Mossad worked. No trusting anyone. And she wasn't gonna let Orli see her weaknesses.

She was gonna be the ruthless, tough and – if it became necessary – heartless Mossad Officer she used to be. It was the only way to get through this. She could only hope their time working together wouldn't be that long.

She felt Tony's confused and hurt gaze on her but she didn't look at him. She sat up straighter and looked right at Orli. "What is it that you want?", she questioned, her voice cold, free of any emotion.

"Your Director wants me to assist with the case. Parsons wanted to take Gibbs down for many reasons. One of them has to do with Mossad", Orli replied, her voice soft. She was still smiling slightly.

God, how Ziva hated that fake smile. It had to be fake! Orli would never smile at her. At least she wouldn't mean it with her heart. If Orli even had a heart! How dare she come back into her life and pretend like nothing had ever happened? Like they could start over?

She would never be able to forgive Orli for what she'd done. And she was pretty sure Orli knew that. So, why was she acting like she didn't? This had to be some kind of trick.

"Can you be a little more specific?", Ziva demanded. "Ziva, I..", Orli started but Ziva cut her off with an ice-cold stare. This wasn't about their personal matters. This was concerning the mission.

This was about her family, about Gibbs. If Orli couldn't be professional..well she'd have to report her to Vance. Too bad, Ziva thought. Orli sighed, then replied: "Ever since you came to America, Agent Gibbs had some rather unpleasant encounters with Mossad."

"I do not see how that could be incriminating", Ziva fired back. She felt Tony's eyes on her again but didn't look at him. If she looked at him now, her walls that she'd built up so carefully would crumble.

She couldn't afford that. One look into his eyes would make her soft again. But she needed to be focused now. She hated how it was probably hurting Tony but she couldn't exactly change it.

"You were sent back to Mossad a couple times. Mossad sending you back to America afterward did not exactly happen because Mossad wanted to. Lets just say it like that. And when you were accused of murder the summer Agent Gibbs had retired, well he pulled a few strings to get you back that were not exactly..what every other person would do. Then when you were in Somalia, he did not listen to orders but instead went rouge to save you. You becoming an American Citizen and permanent NCIS Agent was not exactly what Mossad had agreed upon either", Orli elaborated.

Ziva squinted her eyes. "So, what you are saying is that I am the problem? You do realize you were just basically referring to me as an object, do you?", she questioned, trying to keep her voice even. She didn't want Orli to notice the emotion behind her words. That would only make things worse.

For the first time, Tony spoke up: "Gibbs was not alone in all of this. Director Shepard and Director Vance supported that all. So, it was their fault, not his. As for the other things..the summer Ziva was accused of murder, I was in charge of the team and I went rouge to get her out of there. And the summer Ziva was in Somalia, Director Vance sent us on an official mission to create a picture of the area. And if anyone went rouge that summer, it was me."

Ziva's head whirled around and she stared at him. Why couldn't he just shut up? If he kept that up, he would be the next person on both Orli's and Parsons' list.

"I see your point, Agent DiNozzo, but there is another point that Parsons named that had to do with Mossad", Orli said. "What's that?", Tony questioned. "The murder of Ari Haswari. Agent Gibbs killed him to get revenge for him killing Agent Todd", Orli stated.

Tony flinched at the mention of Kate. Ziva tore her eyes away from Tony and stared at Orli again. Did Mossad not know that she had in fact killed Ari? Did they believe the report?

Mossad usually knew everything. Mossad usually uncovered every lie. And they'd had eight years to uncover that lie after all. "So, which of these points is the thing Parsons is using against Gibbs? Why are you here?", Ziva questioned.

"The things I mentioned firstly are not important to Parsons. They are just examples he would have used in court to prove his point of Agent Gibbs having a problem with Mossad. He could not exactly make Agent Gibbs alone responsible for them, as Agent DiNozzo just said", Orli replied.

Ziva stared at her. Parsons was after the Ari thing? But he'd told her in the elevator that he knew she'd killed him, not Gibbs. What kind of game was Parsons playing? Was he not really after Gibbs after all?

Was he actually after her? Had they missed something? "Parsons wants to make Agent Gibbs responsible for the murder of Ari Haswari. That way he can prove that Agent Gibbs has problems with several agencies. One of them being Mossad, a foreign agency", Orli explained.

Ziva's thoughts were spinning. Parsons had clearly told her that he knew she had killed Ari. What the hell was this about? Was he trying to frame Gibbs to make him pay for everything?

And trying to make her confess to the murder in court? It would have worked after all, she had to admit. If Parsons had brought that up in court..well she would have probably confessed to the murder to save Gibbs.

Only it wouldn't have worked. They would have both been charged. Damn it, that Parsons guy was good. Ziva took a deep breath, then looked at Tony with pleading eyes. He got the message immediately.

He looked at his watch and his eyes widened. "Would you excuse us please? I completely forgot the time. Director Vance needs us to do a couple things and he gave us a time limit. I'm sorry. How about we continue this tomorrow?", he said to Orli.

She nodded and got up. "It was nice to see you again, Ziva", she said softly but Ziva didn't show any reaction. Tony escorted Orli to the door. He needed to exchange a few words with her.

"You are good for her", Orli commented once they'd reached the door. "And you aren't", Tony retorted without a second thought. Orli chuckled bitterly and lowered her gaze.

"I know. And I hope that one day she will forgive me", she said. Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As if he was gonna believe that! "You might want to tell her that yourself", he stated sarcastically.

She smiled sadly. "She would not listen to me", she said. And then without another word she walked out the door. Tony stared after her, shaking his head in disbelieve.

Eventually he went back to the living room where he found Ziva with Bailey's leash in one hand and Bailey sitting next to her, waggling his tail happily. "We are going for a walk", she announced.

Tony only nodded. Whatever it was that was bothering her..she clearly wasn't ready to talk about it. And he wasn't gonna push her. So, without a word he followed her back to the front door and they made their way over to the beach.

But even when Ziva grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers, just like she always did, he couldn't quite get rid off the feeling that something was different. Something was not right.

A/N: uhhh the Ari thing.. ;)
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