A/N: thanks to everyone who left reviews, alerted or favourited. Your support as usual is much appreciated. Of course, my eternal gratitude to Faldo for Beta'ing this chapter. I've done some rewrites so if you find boo boos they'll be mine. And someone wanted to know what TPTB stands for - The Powers That Be. Hope you enjoy :)

Rising to the Bait

Chapter 38

Gibbs was getting well and truly fed up with being stuck in this damned hospital bed. For one thing it was a constant reminder that his judgement had been flawed and that was not a situation that he could easily countenance. Back home in his basement he could lick his wounds and ignore all the mistakes he'd made – instead of sitting here on his ass obsessing over the things he should have done. Bourbon worked a hell of a lot better to dull his pain than any painkiller prescribed by a quack. Unfortunately, in the absence of his basement and preferred anaesthetic, his errors were clamouring inside his brain, demanding to be acknowledged and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on.

Usually he had way more mental discipline than this but since that damned day, it was as if they'd broken down something deep inside of him. His walls, his defence mechanisms that served his so well all of these years were crumbling as evidenced by his weak soul searching when it came to Special Agent Macy. He had no idea of how to fix him again, other than his long-time ally – Jack Daniels. So here he was, sans his ability to impose iron mental by getting blind drunk to stop this ultimately useless activity of indulging in self-examination. It seemed his brain was done with Macy for now so it chose to focus on Ziva instead. Even knowing that the futile analysis wouldn't change anything other than making him feel impotent and resentful, he couldn't shut it off. His walls were no longer protecting him.

In the four years that Ziva David had been on his team he'd come to trust her implicitly and now it seemed like he'd been played. She'd made out that she was eager to get away from her father – she called Gibbs back from Mexico when she got into trouble – not her father, not DiNozzo who was her team leader and yet she'd lied to him. He went to her place alone, hoping there was going to be some explanation for the laptop, hoping that he could protect her but she'd been handling Michael Rivkin and lying about it to NCIS – to him. Gibbs warned off Rivkin in Los Angeles telling him that Ziva was on his team – that he owned her loyalty but really how stupid was he?

He could rationalise her lying to the rest of the team since she was still Mossad and therefore was loyal to her country but he couldn't believe that she would lie to him. Couldn't excuse it. He'd covered for her, taken responsibility for killing Ari so that her father didn't blame her. He'd responded to her, not Jen, not Ducky when he came out of the coma and that had to say a lot about how close they were since Ducky was his oldest friend at NCIS and Jenny was his probie and for a while, his lover. Yet in one short year he'd gotten closer to Ziva than either of them, or so it had seemed. Had it all been a lie!

He'd protected her. Let Jenny sweep the whole death in custody situation under the rug. She hadn't been willing to do it when McGee killed that undercover detective and she sure as hell hadn't when Tony was framed for murder and they didn't even have a body. 'Director Shepard' had been so worried about being seen to be doing the right thing over a leg, which meant his SFA was locked up and yet he hadn't done anything wrong.

Yet when Ziva caused the death of a suspect in custody, a real life flesh and blood body by using inappropriate force, the necessity of being seen to do the right thing suddenly wasn't important? Why not? What had changed so suddenly, so dramatically? Letting her own team investigate instead of calling in independent investigators like in DiNozzo's situation, suddenly wasn't a priority anymore and he was fine with it. He'd let Jenny get away with that piece of sheer hypocrisy that had ultimately done damage to the agency's professional reputation just because it was Ziva.

Then today when he arrived, Tobias dropped another bombshell concerning his agent, no the Mossad liaison when he too joined the revolving door of people dropping in to visit him and remind him of his failures. Okay, so in this instance Tobias wasn't just visiting to annoy him, he'd really come by to drive him back home. Except that soon after arriving he'd gotten that call from one of his team that had him tearing off again and leaving Gibbs still stuck at Bethesda like a pimple on a pumpkin, as his gran used to say.

Seems Fornell's team of FBI cyber geeks had found evidence, solid evidence that couldn't be ignored of Ziva passing confidential and classified Intel to Rivkin. So the Fibbies were now having a field day, trawling through the whole period from the very beginning of her deployment as a liaison at NCIS to see how long the espionage had been going on. When Fornell received the explosive news he'd gone haring out of Bethesda like a scalded cat to take her into custody, pointedly calling on backup. Since they knew Ziva had been ordered home, accompanying the director back to Tel Aviv with Michael Rivkin's body, he'd been in a tearing hurry to get round to her apartment before she left the country.

Frankly, Jethro couldn't wrap his head around the fact that she had been spying on them – had betrayed them. He'd taught her better than that! He'd argued fervently on her behalf for her to be recalled to his team earlier this year. He'd defended her, even when she hadn't followed direct orders during the attempt to get in and try to steal Domino and it wasn't the first time he'd given her a free pass for ignoring his orders. He'd given her much greater lassitude than any other person on his team. Had it all been a lie? Had he really been played for a fool?

One thing was indisputable, he was lying here facing a hell of an uphill battle to resurrect his career because of her lies about Rivkin. She had used the trust she'd won over her killing Ari against him, which had made him careless enough to disregard SOP. He'd gone out on a limb to protect her by calling off Balboa's 2IC because he made the mistake of thinking of her as one of his own – she was like a daughter and he wanted to protect her. Even in the face of irrefutable truth that she was up to something, wasn't being honest with them, which Tony had brought to his attention when he came back from LA, he'd given her the benefit of the doubt, mostly. Despite all her hypocritical crap about not keeping secrets from the team.

Now, because of those damned dossiers she'd compiled for Ari that had already cost Caitlyn Todd her life, Rivkin had stuffed up his knee but good. Maybe even beyond the point of being able to come back to full field fitness. Two men close to her that used it to target his weaknesses and to attempt to kill him.

His three ex-wives had always bemoaned the fact that he put them second to the job and ultimately left him because of it. It had been a fair enough complaint he conceded, since he wasn't willing to give up his job for his marriage. Not for any of them, with the possible exception of the one he considered his only true marriage with Shannon. Even then, he wasn't entirely sure if she'd demanded that he not re-up in the Corps when Kelly was born, if he would have done so. Fortunately, Shannon had never asked that of him, understanding that being a Marine was at the core of who he was – or perhaps she'd feared that if she did, it would be the end of their relationship.

Gibbs had been pissed at Jenny for doing to him what he'd done to Diane, Rebecca and Stephanie – putting career before their relationship and now it looked as if Karma was going to have the last laugh. Finally he might have no choice but to retire because he trusted the wrong woman – and she wasn't even a damned redhead!

And yet what good did it do to rehash it all?

Why is he so mean to you?

Stop it, just let it go. Son of a bitch! What had she…what had they done to him? You're a Marine…man up and get it together, Jarhead!

But it was more than just Macy and Ziva. They caused the whole navel gazing process, it was merely the logical conclusion of what had come before it, although until very recently he'd had an iron fisted control over the situation. Which was no longer the case, unfortunately. Ultimately it could all be traced back to DiNozzo's returned from Tucson with an obnoxious, in-your-face ex-partner and his daughter in tow and chosing not to confide in him. Up to that point, Jethro thought that with his team reunited despite the mess with Jenny's death and Vance throwing his weight around, they were good. Thought that everything had return to normal again.

Yet with Tony's return, it had been brought home to him very bluntly that the team was not fine and he and Tony were far from being okay as partners. Bottom line which he'd been forced into confronting, albeit kicking and screaming since he was the senior supervising agent and must shoulder the blame. His team – his rules – his cock up.

That scene in the hospital when Tony had ripped into them all had shaken him to the core. His sudden refusal to accept the status quo after tolerating it all for so long – to call them on their hypocrisy and their own secrets that they didn't want pried into – had been an unpleasant wakeup call. Not to mention pointing out their disrespect and insubordination and that it was ultimately, his bad. He was the leader – he let it go on. Hell he damn well encouraged it, never stopping to think about the consequences only concerned that it made them all feel good. Well obviously not DiNozzo – it hadn't made him feel good. He'd made that abundantly clear!

Turns out he'd taken it all but never really accepted it and Jethro had a feeling that like the Mafia, he hadn't forgotten any of it. Just stayed silent but no more. It seemed that Tony wasn't willing to do it anymore. He was going to put his 'family' and himself first from now on. He'd vowed to the team that he'd stop protecting and covering up for them and true to his word, he hadn't covered for Ziva this time and it looked as if his intuition about her intentions had been bang on. He'd also called Gibbs on his failure to observe protocol and he was already skating on thin ice with him as it was.

He hoped this wouldn't push his SFA over the edge. Gibbs knew that the only reason DiNozzo hadn't defected to the dark side and chosen to remain on the team til now was because a new job would result in a less flexible work situation with his daughter. Now Tobias informed him that Director Hutchins was dangling a no probationary year carrot in front of him and who knows what else would follow to entice him. All that was left in NCIS' favour was the mountain of overtime he'd accrued during his eight years at the agency, plus scores of favours from other agents who he'd swapped holiday and weekend shifts with over the years.

Against that was Leon acting like a dumb ass and wanting him to fly over to Israel and take one for the team. There was no doubt about it – the director had impeccable timing! The man who'd spent years taking one for the team while he ignored all the crap they'd put him through, was finally done taking one for the team. What's more, he'd gone and got himself a lawyer and knowing Gibbs' opinion of them, it said a whole lot about his new attitude that he no longer gave a crap about Gibbs opinion of him. Ironic really – he'd told Abby a few months ago at Christmas time that Tony needed a new attitude but this was not what he'd envisaged.

Closing his eyes in fatigue, his brain whirled in never ending revolutions.

Why is he so mean to you?

Damn it! Just let it go. There was nothing to be gained from endless self-examination except to drive himself crazy.

This was exactly why he wanted to go home. Needed to go home. Needed basement and bourbon to make him stop thinking. All these uncharacteristic thoughts were attempting to overwhelm him by stealth and ambush which was exactly why he hated being idle. Gibbs was a firm believer in the adage that idle hands were the devil's playground.

Where the hell was Duck? He was supposed to be coming to take him home after Tobias bailed on him. Didn't he know him well enough by now to know that he was going nuts here?

Dozing off, he was plagued by bad dreams and yet awake they continued to chase him as well. There seemed no more escape for him ever since the destruction of his formidable mental barriers. There was a reoccurring theme to the dreams that until very recently he'd been able to hold at bay. Tobias had opened a freakin damned can of worms when he ripped him a new one about Mike Franks coldcocking Tony when he was on protection detail. Now he regularly found himself dreaming of DiNozzo fighting for breath even though the case was several years ago. In his dream it was if it was yesterday.

All because Mike had attacked him and left him lying unconscious, face down not giving a damn about him or taking even a moment to place him in the recovery position. As Duck and Tobias pointed out it was purely a matter of luck that he didn't end up lying in a hospital bed, fighting a losing battle against aspiration pneumonia from choking on his own vomit. Fortunately that hadn't happened, yet it didn't stop his dreams of DiNozzo struggling to survive, struggling to breathe. Sometimes in Gibbs dreams, nightmares really, he managed to beat the odds and pull through but mostly not.

Even in those rare dreams where Tony recovered, his career was over since the additional damage to his lungs left him unable to pass the physical. Or there were even worse dreams that included Arcady Kobach and his dirtbag cohorts torturing Tony trying to make him tell them where Franks had disappeared to. Ironically the method that they chose in the dreams were by suffocating him and his lips and nose would turn blue as he endured the agony of asphyxiation. Gibbs would wake up in a sweat, his heat pounded and his pulse racing, feeling overwhelming anger at his mentor. How could Mike have placed DiNozzo in such a dangerous situation with such casual callousness?

Much as he wanted to hate Mike (and he did sometimes) for endangering DiNozzo and not even giving a crap – for being a law unto himself, it wasn't that simple. Without Mike's help he would never have been able to find Hernández to kill him. Plus the NIS agent helped cover up for him taking out the bastard, he protected him and even offered him a job. Without him he'd have ended up without the job that had been his salvation – it was a fresh start away from people who knew about his tragedy and tried to interfere in his life.

Without Mike he would never have made it through the nightmare of losing his girls. So Gibbs battled crippling guilt that he'd betrayed his mentor and old partner when he'd finally been forced to submit the report which had been responsible for the warrant issued in Franks name for first degree murder.

He kept seeing Mike's face in his dreams, his disappointment – telling him that he would never betray him the way Jethro had done. He wouldn't listen to Gibbs' explanation that he had no choice, that there were others that knew about Kobach too, that Mike had gotten arrogant and sloppy. Ziva and Tony had been there and even though they hadn't witnessed the shooting they'd still heard the shots fired and were knowledgeable enough to know what had occurred.

In his dreams he tried to explain to his mentor that if he hadn't reported it, the FBI would have charged him anyway but Mike had snorted and said killing Kobach was no different to killing Hernandez. Except Gibbs knew it was a whole heap of different since Kobach hadn't killed Franks wife and daughter and he wasn't in a black pit of grief and anger.

Still the hypocrisy wasn't lost on Gibbs. Or the double standard of what Macy had done for him without expecting anything of him, not even his gratitude, despite how he'd treated her. Mike on the other hand had never let him forget his debt and called in the favour on more than one occasion. If that had been him, he wouldn't have put up with the crap he'd dished out to Macy, nor would he have be so gracious in the face of his ugly behaviour in LA.

If he'd been in her place, he'd had probably cleaned his clock, definitely rubbed his nose in the fact that the only reason he wasn't dishonourably discharged and a convicted murderer was down to her loyalty, He wouldn't have maintained a dignified silence all these years as she had done. What an asshole he'd been to her.

Now it seemed fate was conspiring to make him confront every last little ugly part of himself that he'd managed to keep well buried over the years. In truth he felt like he was being ripped slowly and painfully apart at the seams. This must be what it felt like to go mad because he felt like he was teetering over a huge black hole that was trying to suck him into it.

His only saving grace was that so far he'd been able to hold back the tide of emotions that he sense awaited him – just barely though, because he knew that if he let go and lost it here in Bethesda then all would be lost. They would insist he see someone, talk about his feelings, drug him up to the eyeballs, and schedule him for his own good. And aside from the fact that all that crap was anathema to everything Gibbs stood for, he couldn't take the chance of anyone else learning about Hernandez.

If he had any chance of making it back to field fitness, he couldn't afford to have his mental fitness called into questioned by shrinks or his team. Especially his team, he'd already lost face and credibility with them. He couldn't afford any more.

He wasn't one to feel useless emotions like guilt – not normally but something happened to him just before he headed off to the OSP in LA that had made him vulnerable and he didn't know how to fix it. Made him weak and it had to stop. He'd fought his way back from darkness when he lost the girls, thanks to his basement and bourbon – he could, no he would do it again.

"Jethro, my dear fellow, wake up. Are you ready to go?" Ducky inquired, entering the hospital room and finding him dozing. "You still look rather the worse for wear, old friend. Not that I mind collecting you, but wasn't Special Agent Fornell going to give you a ride? What happened, is everything alright?"

"Yeah Duck. Something came up. He had to go off and arrest Ziva for spying on the United States before she got on a plane to Israel." Gibbs muttered bitterly, forgetting that Ducky's hearing was sharp as a tack.

Oh my goodness, Jethro. You are joking, I trust?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding, Duck?"

"Well no. Surely there must be some sort of mistake, dear boy?" the ME objected.

"Hope so. Don't think so. She lied to me Duck. Told me she didn't know Rivkin, apart from him being Mossad. Turns out she was undercover with him in Morocco. She'd been his handler for the last three months here in the US. He was her lover Duck. Like hell she didn't know him,"

"Disappointing to be sure but how does that amount to spying Jethro?"

"Since she has been caught by the FBI passing classified information to Mossad without authorisation," he roared, knocking the water jug off the over the bed rolling trolley and onto the floor in a fit of rage.

"Shocking, my boy and yet if you think about it, it's not so surprising. Ziva was serving two masters and that was bound to end in tears, sooner or later. It was madness to think otherwise. At least now we know why a Kidon assassin and Mossad spy would be assigned to the major case response team – I'm afraid that assignment always seemed rather farcical to me."

"What! You saying that I should have seen this coming?"

"Well he is her father, Jethro. What would you expect her to do? Her half-brother hated him with a pathological rage and yet he still allowed him to dictate his life instead of walking away. But spying? No, I must admit that scenario I didn't see coming. I dare say neither did Jenny or Leon. And with the FBI in charge of the investigation into espionage, I'm thinking that the director will no longer be worrying so much about making you or Anthony take one for the team."

"Ya think, Duck."

"Come along Jethro. I'm going to see about getting you discharged. Get in the chair." He motioned to the wheelchair. "We'll need to collect some crutches plus have your prescriptions filled at the dispensary on the way out. You'll need the paperwork signed and the referral for your appointment for the arthroscopy next week when the swelling goes down on your knee."

Ducky helped him collapse into the chair and grabbing the bag with his few items he pushed him into the hallway and headed down towards the nurses desk where Dr Singh was filling out his paperwork. "With regards to your patella, you've managed to make a right proper mess of it as I understand it."

"Not me, Rivkin!" Gibbs growled.

"Point taken, Jethro," Ducky conceded. "Such a shame you didn't let Agent Crawley back you up. So in that sense you do bear some responsibility for the mess you're in." He pointed out with a complacency that told Gibbs he was longing to deliver a 'I told you your lone wolf side was going to get you into trouble someday' lecture similar to the one delivered by Fornell and DiNozzo.

"Leave it Duck," he growled once more, although this time with quite a bit more savagery. He'd already had a gutful.

"Quite, dear boy. I'm not the one facing months of the three Rs. I'll say no more," he promised as he took charge of the signed discharge papers and they proceeded to pick up his meds and a pair of crutches. Gibb was grateful when he discovered Ducky had the forethought to stop by the Naval Yard to pick up a sedan from the car pool since getting into Ducky's Morgan would have been problematical. Looking at the back seat, Gibbs saw several bags on the back seat.

"You going somewhere Duck? Did the director con you into accompanying him to Tel Aviv since you and DiNozzo conspired to prevent me going?"

"Oh my lord no. Whatever gave you that idea?" Looking at the bags he nodded, sagely. "Ah yes, I see. The keen investigative mind. No I had intended to discuss this before we left the hospital but then I had second thoughts and decided to adopt one of your rules. I believe it is that it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to get permission."

"Rule eighteen."

"Right although Jethro, I do believe that was one you actually appropriated from Admiral Grace Murray Hopper when in was published in the Navy's Chips Ahoy Magazine in 1986. You are quite eclectic in the way that you have arrogated 'your rules.' A computer programmer and of course rather notably there's Rule six that you also 'borrowed' from John Wayne."

Scowling at him, Gibbs waited. "Why are we talking about Rule 18 Duck?"

"Ah…yes that. Well some discussions took place with your medical team and Anthony, who informed me that the director was going to try to drag you over to Israel. We determined that while it would be preferable for you to stay in hospital longer to let the swelling in your knee to go down some more, you were simply too convenient a target for every man and his dog.

"One of those would appear to be Sec Nav, according to Dr Singh. So you were discharged on the proviso you had someone with you to help you about the place so to that end, I will be assisting you for the next few days my boy."

Gibbs groaned. He wanted to go down to his basement and drink bourbon and get good and drunk but the chances of that happening were slim to none with Ducky on the case.

"Don't need a babysitter!" he barked gruffly.

"On the contrary my friend, that's precisely what you do need and what you'll get. And to prevent you struggling up and down stairs which are deleterious to your recovery, you aren't going home. I have asked Anthony if we can bunker down with him for a bit."

"Ducky…"

"Yes it is a wonderful idea, I know. The house is set up for Melissa and is wheelchair friendly or he offered you a second option of one of the cabins, which is all on one level and you would have more privacy if you wish. I could stay in the main house and still keep my eye on you and offer assistance when required with personal care tasks and getting in and out of bed and the like. I know you probably want to hole up in that damned basement of yours drinking that swill you call bourbon and getting good and mad at the world but that will just have to wait, I'm afraid."

"I don't need your help."

Well much as I was expecting that boorish attitude of yours, Jethro I'm afraid you're wrong. Unless you want to completely jeopardise any chance of being able to return to active field status dear boy, you'll just have to accept some help for the near future. So I suggest you do so with good grace. It will make things much easier for us all." He counselled mildly.

Groaning, Gibbs thought about what lay in wait for him. It was his worst nightmare – forced to confront his demons, naked and absolutely vulnerable.

Why is he so mean to you?

~Rising to the Bait~

"So when Ducky asked me if he could bring Gibbs here, I couldn't really say no, not to Ducky. We're set up to look after someone whose wheel chair bound although I think Ducky will have about as much luck getting him to use one as persuading a vegan to eat a cheese sandwich.

"So the cabin?" Jess asked, sounding carefully neutral.

"Well self-preservation really. Gibbs gets cranky when he's injured."

"He gets cranky?" Jess raised her eyebrows and Tony reciprocated, rolling his eyes.

"Ookay he gets even crankier than normal. Like bear-with-a-sore-butt cranky; one who'll take your head off as soon as look at you. Always wants to bunker down in his basement alone. Thought if he had the cabin, he'd have some solitude." He mulled things over momentarily.

"He's still going to be pissed at Ducky but at least if he wants to stay there he has privacy but no stairs. Ducky's still be close at hand to help him into bed and so forth and I can help out, since he's not exactly a spring chicken himself and Gibbs is bigger than he is."

"And if he decides to stay in the house, to be contrary or as payback?"

"Then we'd better fasten our seatbelts, we're in for a bumpy night." He quipped teasingly. "But honestly, after this latest news about Ziva's spying, he'll want to crawl away and lick his wounds. He's gotta be hurting cause I know I am.."

Jessie frowned. "Well, as you say, we owe Ducky for all his help with Tia and I suppose Gibbs helped us out too with protecting her. Sec Nav won't think to look for Gibbs here. Sheer lunacy to expect him to travel to Israel, though one shouldn't underestimate the idiocy of a politician," the cop stated in all seriousness.

"So I'm forgiven for not checking before I said they can stay for a couple of days?" Tony gave her the homeless, hungry puppy dog look.

"As I said earlier, it's not like I'm using the cabin right now and if he needs it Megan's a stone's throw away, too. Actually, it's a pretty good idea, Tone." She was quiet for a bit before suggesting. "Since this betrayal hits hard at everyone, should we make up another bed for Abby too?"

"Wouldn't hurt. Thanks for not freaking Jess."

She sighed, "Well he's Emily's 'Uncle Gibbs,' so guess we're stuck with the grumpy old coot. Someone gotta keep an eye on him, 'specially since he's gone and stuffed up his knee – damned idiot. And you're right, Ducky does need help. He's the closest thing Tia's got to a grandfather so we'd better look after him. Does Megan know?"

"Yep, took some fresh linens and towels down to your cabin."

"Right… well let's get dinner organised. I'll make a salad and set the table. You going to make a sauce for the gnocchi?"

"Yeah. There's meatball sauce left over from last night for Tia. Actually, Gibbs will probably prefer that to the burnt butter and sage sauce with truffles and pine nuts I'm making for the gnocchi. Probably too fancy for him. Can you pick a couple of bottles of wine to have with dinner, Pardna?"

"Already done, T."

"Great!"

As they bustled around getting dinner ready to go when Ducky turned up with his reluctant guest, Tony couldn't help feeling morose. Yes he'd been suspicious of Ziva David for some weeks now and certainly not trusted her when she'd been foisted onto the team by Jenny Shepard. Still, she'd been part of their team for nearly four years and he'd buried his mistrust long ago since it was clear she was staying. Doubt was dangerous in life or death situations.

To learn she'd been passing classified Intel was a bitter pill to swallow and he wondered when it started. When she returned from Israel earlier this year or much earlier? Was she spying on the agency right from the beginning, because those dossiers felt pretty damned invasive at the time, even without making Cate and Abby targets of Ari's rifle. Plus Ari knew exactly how to play Cate, causing her to hesitate for a split second when trying to take him out which against a kidon trained assassin, was all he needed. Tony figured as bad as he felt about it, Gibbs must be feeling much worse since he'd trusted her implicitly, practically since clapping eyes on her.

Tony knew she'd killed her half-brother but still, the way Gibbs was prepared to let her have the run of the place was just plain hinky. Not to mention why on God's earth he would trust a foreign national he'd never worked with to have his six in the first place. He was taking an enormous gamble she'd shoot one of her own since if Ari was rogue how'd he know his handler wasn't compromised, too? The risk never made sense to Tony when he should have been his backup and that was even before knowing Ari and Ziva were related. He could understand her being there to witness Haswari's duplicity, not choosing her to have his back instead of him. It was rash and made the trust he'd shown in her in this current situation look positively sedate.

Afterwards, despite his assertion he didn't keep people on his team if they didn't know their job, this unwritten rule seemed to be ignored as well. Ziva fomented dissent – trying to alienate him from the team from the beginning. She refused to follow orders or learn procedures and had no investigative background.

Yes she had interrogation skills, but they already had Gibbs who was second to none, plus he was no slouch either, even if his style was unorthodox. Tony cracked suspects that didn't respond to Gibbs mental and physical intimidation. And while Gibbs couldn't claim to be by-the-book when it came to conducting interviews, Mossad style interrogations had no rules - well not which protected the rights of the 'interviewee.' The concept of innocent until proven guilty treated with scorn by Ziva – earning them the 'not how they did things at Mossad lecture.

The other area where her skillset excelled was hand to hand combat and again, it wasn't as if this had been an identified gap in the team needing to be filled. Gibbs was a Marine who had exceptional skills; Tony was a seasoned cop and worked with Gibbs for years and Gibbs had been tutoring McGee in firearms and unarmed combat from the day he joined the team. Their requirements for a spy or an assassin could be argued to be minimal to non-existent since most of the crimes they investigated were crimes of passion, lust or greed, not espionage.

It explained why Eli David let such a valued resource as his Kidon trained daughter languish in DC with a Geek, a Marine and an 'agent meatball cop' though. (Didn't take a genius to figure out where Rivkin had come by that descriptor he'd let slip having a liquid lunch). Always nice to know what your colleagues really thought of you.

It didn't explain Rivkin's motives for outing Ziva in LA or leaving intel on the laptop in Tabil's place. But with what they knew now, Tony figured that Eli had been behind it somehow. Clearly his quid pro quo for not having his super assassin spy available for missions was receiving intel but perhaps his plans had changed suddenly. Tony would love to confront him though he doubted the Director of Mossad was going to accept the Hutchin's offer to come to DC, however much he was pissed off about Rivkin. Mind you, what his reaction would be to Ziva's arrest would be was anyone's guess.

Tony also couldn't help wondering how much Jenny and Vance suspected and turned a blind eye to, with regards to Ziva. What a damned mess it was!