"It doesn't explain her shooting up a train, Gibbs! She could have hit an innocent bystander." Vance was still livid about the incident.

McGee's eyes bugged out. "Wait…what? Ziva shot up a train? How do you know that? Why would she do something like that?"

Gibbs turned to McGee. "They were chasing after Bodnar. He boarded the train. I can only assume Ziva thought by firing her weapon the train wouldn't leave the platform."

"Enough of this, Gibbs. We all know what assuming does. I for one do not intend to be made an ass of. Go to Germany. You bring their asses back."

Vignette Eleven: Part Twenty

Berlin, Germany

The mood in the hotel room was somber. Ziva stared at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts. Tony had tried to get her to drink some tea, but she just turned away.

Adam Eshel had told Tony that he had been with Bodnar from the beginning. "We had an idea that he was planning a coup. Director David wanted me to keep tabs on him. Little did we suspect his true mission, otherwise I would have…" Eshel stopped, overcome with emotion.

"Malachi joined after the killing. I have to admit I was wary of him being there; he was known to have been a favorite of Director David's. But that made it all the more plausible. Malachi was very convincing in his plea to join Bodnar; that he had been playing the Director all of these years, waiting for such a moment." He shook his head sadly.

Tony glanced over his shoulder at Ziva, and then gave Eshel his full attention. "Look, don't take this the wrong way. I really appreciate having another gun with us, but I don't like how being around Mossad is affecting Ziva. She…she's going back to her Mossad ways. I'm losing her, and I don't like that one bit!" Tony glared at him.

Adam looked unsympathetic. "Whether you want to believe it or not, Ziva is Mossad. Changing her job does not alter that fact. I have not changed her, her father's death has. If you want to keep Ziva, you need to be by her side, and understand what she is going through and do not judge." He got up and looked out the window.

Tony sat, stunned. "Was he not supporting Ziva? Has he not been understanding?" He looked at her again, lying in the bed, staring at the ceiling. He decided to ignore Esher and went over to where she was, sitting next to her.

"Ziva, look at me." He asked her, trying to sound calm.

Ziva continued to stare at the ceiling. "I had him. He was there, and I let him get away." Her voice was hollow, empty.

"What? No! Ziva, you didn't let him get away. He got away from all of us. This is just the first time we found him. We will find him again, and we will get him!" Tony grabbed her hand.

Ziva turned her head, to look at Tony. He was dismayed at how sad and pale she looked. "Do you really think so?" She whispered.

Tony turned so he could look her full in the face. He ran his finger across her cheek. "Of that, I am certain." He smiled when he saw a ghost of a smile return to her face.

"Look, I understand your Mossad training kicking back in, and I will try to stay out of your way and not try to hold you back. Just please promise me that you won't take off without telling me, please?" Tony's voice was low and full of emotion.

Ziva rolled up on her side and half sat up, so that she was now facing him as well. She put her hand over his heart, smiling as he covered her hand with his. "I promise, Tony."

Tony closed his eyes and bent his head. Ziva kissed the top of his head and rested her forehead against his.

Sighing, Ziva forced herself to rise. "We need to eat something and then find a new strategy." She spoke with more authority than she felt. Tony nodded quietly and looked at some restaurant menus.

"I will take care of the food; I know the area very well." Adam spoke up. He grabbed his jacket and left the room. Tony and Ziva looked at each other.

"I am sorry, Tony, for taking off like that. I do not know what I was thinking." Ziva shook her head, disgusted with herself.

"You weren't thinking." He answered back, causing her to look up in surprise, her eyes narrowed in anger.

He held up his hand. "Hold on. What I meant is that you just did what you normally do; you didn't have to think about it. That doesn't mean I liked it, or that I don't hope you try to rein it in next time, but…" Tony trailed off, not really sure how he could really tell Ziva how she should be responding to this situation.

Ziva sat down on the sofa, rubbing her temples. "He was so close! If I could have got him, we could be heading home now." Apathy had left the room, anger had returned to take its place.

Tony sat next to her, letting her vent. He knew what it felt like to have nothing but revenge in your heart.

He remembered her promise that she would not kill Bodnar, that she would bring him in. Seeing her now, after having seen him and been within a fingernail of reaching him, he began to doubt that resolve. He only hoped that if she couldn't get past the knowledge that he was a blood relative, that she could live with herself if she chose the unthinkable.

He took her hand. "Ziva, I am behind you one hundred per cent; you know that right?" Tony looked into her eyes, searching for the Ziva he loved.

"But?" She asked, not really wanting to hear what he had to say.

Tony rubbed his jaw and sighed. "No 'buts'…except, please think very hard how you want this to go down. I will support you and stand by you. But make sure you know exactly how you want this to play out. Plan it, think about it; make sure it goes the way you want it to. Do not let emotion and anger dictate how this all ends."

Ziva looked at Tony, astonished. She never loved him more than she did right at that moment. Overwhelmed, she kissed him deeply, catching him off guard. Gratified, he wrapped his arms around her, deepening the kiss.

"I love you so much, Ziva. I don't want to lose you. Please be careful. Please come back to me. I can't do this without you." Tony murmured into her hair.

She rubbed his neck, whispering words of love and encouragement. She was sorry Adam would be back; they really needed to be alone for the time being. A knock on the door reminded them of their third wheel.

Tony groaned, and grabbed another quick kiss. "Love you." He whispered as he went to the door. After checking the peephole, he opened it up to let Adam back in with the food.

Outside Berlin

Ilan Bodnar sat down in the study at his family home on the outskirts of Berlin. His laptop was open and he briefly considered contacting Ziva again, to taunt her. He grimaced. She had nearly caught him, much to his surprise.

He had forgotten how fast and agile she was. And was that Eshel with her? The traitor! He tried to think of what he had revealed to him, what plans he had discussed.

He took a sip of his wine, a fine bottle of Riesling. His family was well-off and they had their own label. He peered at the clear liquid as he swirl it around his goblet, as if it was a crystal ball ready to reveal his future.

He missed Monique, he decided. He would send for her, have her come to take care of him. He swallowed his wine at once, stood and began pacing. He had underestimated Ziva's need for revenge.

He really thought her American employers would keep her occupied as she worked through her grief. He certainly didn't expect them to approve her to come after him. No: she must have left without telling anyone. A rogue. He smiled; a twisted evil smile.

A rogue without support; no longer Israeli, turning her back on America. Ziva had death in her heart. Bodnar decided he would help her reach her goal.

Berlin

Tony felt better after he had eaten dinner. The beer was heavier than he preferred, but it was drinkable. He insisted that Ziva and Adam speak English only, no Hebrew. Ziva was at first angry he told them that, accusing him of not trusting her.

But Adam diffused the situation, saying it made sense and it was easier to not have to repeat everything. Ziva grunted and said under her breath that Tony needed to make an effort to learn Hebrew, a remark Tony heard and took to heart.

Truth be told, he had been making an effort, and had improved considerably. But the rapid-fire dialog that he knew would spew forth between the two he wouldn't have a prayer in following.

"Adam, there is something you need to be aware of." Ziva began as they settled down after dinner to make further plans.

"You and Tony are married?" He asked, looking pointedly at their rings and trying to dispel some of the tension.

Ziva glared at him, and then burst out laughing. Adam smiled, glad and relieved that he could get her to relax a bit. He knew how upset Tony was over the events of the afternoon. He wanted to let them know he was really an ok guy and they could be themselves.

"Well, that's not technically true. Our aliases are married. Since Bodnar knows Ziva is here, I guess we don't have to pretend to be Tommy and Lisa anymore." Tony felt more than a twinge of dismay at that thought.

Ziva glanced at Tony, also taken aback by his pronouncement. She would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she had enjoyed being "married" to Tony. She sighed and started to take off the rings. Tony grabbed her hand to stop her. They looked at each, staring into each other's eyes.

"Tony, I do not want anything to happen to your mother's ring. I would be devastated if I lost it, or ruined it. It will be safer here." Ziva didn't want to take the rings off, but felt she had no justification in wearing it.

Tony nodded reluctantly and took back the rings. He was brought back to the night before his wedding with Wendy, when she had unceremoniously called it off. He didn't get that ring back, and he was grateful years later his father had not given him his mother's ring.

But the feeling was just as painful as if Ziva had left him. He felt like a big hole had been blown into his heart. Feeling the need to keep some measure of his manhood, Tony spoke as he carefully tucked the rings away.

"Yeah, well we may not be really married, but we are a real couple. Ziva and I are together." He almost said it as a challenge. Ziva smiled softly, knowing he felt rejected at the moment, even though that was not her intent.

"I see. Actually, it is rather obvious. But it is not a problem for me, if that is your concern." Adam took a sip of his beer.

"Actually, we weren't concerned about that at all, Adam." Ziva countered. "But there is something you will be concerned to hear."

Adam immediately gave her his attention, wondering what else she could have been referring to.

"I was given my father's papers from his office recently; just this last week really. I discovered something about his past that I was not aware of, about my past. Ilan Bodnar is my blood brother. My parents had him before they were married and gave him up for adoption."

Adam's mouth worked but no sound came out. He looked at Ziva and then turned to Tony, shocked. "Oh, my God! Does Ilan know? Is that why he killed Director David?"

Tony shook his head. "We're thinking he doesn't, which will make telling him very interesting, don't you think?"

Adam sat up. "You are hoping to destabilize him with this news, to use the shock factor as a means to get his guard down, yes?"

Ziva nodded in acknowledgement. "I am hoping he will be so distraught over this news that he will be easy to overcome. But I am not holding my breath." She handed over some papers.

"These are places Ilan is known to frequent. He has some family homes here. Do you think he would go to one of these?" Adam took the papers and studied them in surprise.

"I am not aware of these family homes. He has not spoken of them and we have not met at any of them. I would consider these very plausible safe houses for him to retreat to. Especially…"

He grabbed a map as he studied the sheet. "Here. This home is along the train route he took earlier. He could have very well gone to there." He looked up expectantly.

Ziva was quiet. Her mind was rapidly working over the scenario, the pros and cons. They would have the element of surprise, but they didn't know what sort of defenses he had set up or who he had with him.

Ziva glanced at Tony, who looked decidedly unhappy. He knew what she was thinking. The last thing he wanted was a night operation. But then he remembered the night vision binoculars Interpol had provided them. And they both were marked with the tracking disks. He wondered briefly if they should suggest to Adam that he place a tracking disk on himself.

He knew Ziva was waiting for him to respond in some way. He forced himself to smile. "When do we go?" He asked.

He could see the tension leave Ziva's shoulders as the words left his lips. She looked at him with glistening eyes, knowing how hard it was for him to agree to this. "I know what you are thinking Tony. I do not want a night operation either, although it would give us a decided advantage. No, I think we hit at first light."

Tony breathed a sigh of relief, and brought up the tracking disks and showed them to Adam. The Mossad Officer was amazed and intrigued by the technology and began asking so many questions about them that Tony had to cut him off. "Hey, I'll introduce you to McGee and Abby, they can tell you all about them ad nauseum. In the meantime, do you want to join the club?" Tony held out a disk.

Adam looked at it closely. "You have done this to yourselves?" He asked, dubious.

"Oh yeah. We're card-carrying members. Look you don't have to, but if you get separated from us, we'll have to figure out some other way to find you."

Adam snorted. "Are you going to run around with a laptop? How do you expect to use this in the field?"

Tony smiled and held up the iPad. "Small, compact and incredibly easy to use. You should try it."

Adam chuckled. "Ok, my friend. You have convinced me. Disk me."

"Oh, God that sounded like something I really don't want you to repeat." Tony grimaced. He placed a dot on Adam's wrist. He then entered the disk number into the software to activate it.

Adam looked surprised. "That is it?"

"That is it." Ziva confirmed. They showed him the pulsing dots on the map.

They quickly made their plans and packed their gear. Ziva had her knives and two guns. Tony insisted that she wear a flak jacket, much to her annoyance.

"Then you must wear one, Tony." She retorted.

"Oh, I plan to, don't worry about that. I have no intention of getting shot." He looked very worried at the possibility of either of them getting hurt, or the unthinkable: killed.

Ziva stared at him with resolve, not wanting to crack under the rampant emotions playing below the surface.

Adam cleared his throat. "Very well, I will take my leave and join you at the train station at 0430. There will be one available at that time."

Tony shook his head. "No train. We drive. We need a quick getaway. Besides, how were you planning to get all of this gear on the train?

Adam smiled. "I did not saying we would be ticketed passengers."

Ziva snorted, trying to curtail her chuckle at Adam's intent. Tony's eyes widened at his meaning and shook his head. "My boss would really like you, I think. But we need to not break any other laws if we can avoid it. Ziva and I would like to go back to NCIS, thank you very much."

Ziva bit her lip, wondering if Tony had said too much about their current situation with the CIA and Homeland Security. She didn't want to scare Adam off if he thought they were not sanctioned for this mission.

If Adam thought anything about Tony's comment, he didn't show it. "Very well, it is an hour drive from here. I will meet you back here at the hotel, same time." He kissed Ziva on both cheeks and shook Tony's hand.

After Ziva had closed the door and locked it securely, she looked at her watch. "We do not have much time, we better get some sleep."

Tony came to her side and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, I intend to go to bed. Sleep? That remains to be seen." He kissed Ziva deeply, his desire and fear mixed in a roiling mass of emotion.

Ziva kissed him back and excused herself. When she returned from the bathroom, she found him stretched out on the bed, fully clothed, eyes shut. She carefully lay down on the bed, not wanting to disturb him. He opened his eyes and turned to look at her. He smiled as his eyes drank in her features and then turned on his side to face her. Soon they were caught up in their own little world: a world that was dangerously poised to fracture into a million pieces.

Intellectually, Tony was supremely confident of their abilities. Emotionally, he knew how things could go horribly wrong. All he could think was that this could be their last night together. He intended to make it memorable.

NATO Base Geilenkirchen

Gibbs and McGee landed at midnight at the NATO base near the border of the Netherlands. Gibbs had given McGee the opportunity to say "yes" or "no" to accompanying him to Berlin. He was proud that Tim had confronted his fears head on and had decided to come with him.

He was counting on McGee to keep tabs on everyone's whereabouts, while he drove and found his Agents. Gibbs commandeered a vehicle and they immediately took off toward Berlin.

Tim was excited and nervous. Gibbs had read him in regarding the current situation with Homeland and the CIA. He was gratified that Gibbs gave him the option rather than just decide to not include him. It was pride and his desire to help Tony and Ziva that caused him to say yes. He knew they could all get into trouble over this, but some things were worth fighting for, weren't they?

Getting onto the E30, Tim calculated the drive to Berlin, almost six hours before they could try to locate Tony and Ziva.

Berlin

They awoke around three-thirty a.m., groggy and disoriented. Their sleep had been an exhausted slumber of tangled limbs, each not wanting to let go of each other, even in sleep.

Tony groaned as he stood up and stretched his back. "You know: I really am getting too old for this." His back popped and cracked as he twisted left and right.

Ziva put her hand on his chest and patted it. "After this, I promise no more international jaunts."

"Jaunts? Is that what this is? Well, at least it has a happy, musical ring to it." He shook his head as he chuckled.

He watched Ziva carefully prepared her weapons for the mission. He marveled at her methodical and single-minded ministrations as she carefully placed each gun and knife for maximum availability.

Adam arrived shortly before his designated time and took the extra minutes to again check his munitions.

"Here you go." He helped Ziva put the Kevlar vest on. Adam finished checking his weapons and then Tony showed him the bounty they had received from Interpol.

"Flash bombs, tear gas but no masks: what is the point of that?" Adam put the tear gas aside so they wouldn't accidently take it with them.

"Hmm…chloroform? Micro-injectors? I can only wish we get so close to him. Handcuffs, yes we will bring all of this." Adam finished looking through their stuff.

"You say you were supplied by Interpol?" He looked at Tony.

Tony nodded. "We helped them out, so they helped us out." He shrugged like it was no big deal.

Adam knew better. They must have done something of significance for Interpol to act in such a way. He developed a new appreciation for this team in front of him. He was assured of Ziva's skill since she was Mossad. It was Tony that was the unknown entity.

Tony pulled out some earwigs. "Channel two." He said. They all placed them in their ears and tested the devices. They all gave a thumb's up.

Tony hesitated for a second. "Adam, can you give us a second…or twenty?"

If Adam looked surprised, he didn't show it. He nodded once and stepped outside the hotel room. Ziva looked at Tony, not sure what he was going to say. She just hoped he wouldn't give one last try to talk her out of this.

To her shock, he had dropped to one knee in front of her. He took her hand and slipped the engagement ring back on. "Ziva, these past months have been the most amazing in my life. The most scary as well, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. I don't know what life awaits us when we get back, but I know that I want to live it with you. Ziva, I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me?"

Ziva listened in stunned silence as Tony proposed to her. She hesitated slightly, not wanting to give him hope for their future when she knew very well that one or all three of them may not survive the day. But then she realized that in order to live, one must have hope. Could she deny Tony this hope? Could she deny herself?

Tony looked expectantly at her, licking his lips as she didn't answer. She went down to her knees, so that they were on the same level. Taking his face in her hands she kissed him with as much ardor as she could dare without allowing it to progress into something they couldn't stop.

Tony felt the tears on her face, and realized that his were co-mingling with hers. She pulled back and looked at him, stroking his cheek.

"Yes, Tony. I love you. I will marry you." Tony pulled her into a crushing kiss, shaking with emotion.

Outside Berlin

Monique carefully removed herself from Bodnar's embrace and quietly got dressed. She knew one of his members had left, probably to meet with Ziva and Tony. That meant something would be happening, sooner rather than later.

She did not intend to be caught in the crossfire if she could help it. She slipped into the study and opened up Bodnar's laptop. Signing in with her nom de plume, she quickly hacked into the CIA's security database. She changed some information regarding the present whereabouts of two certain NCIS Agents, hoping to give them some lead time.

She closed the laptop, preventing anyone from tracking "MC" to this home outside of Berlin.

Tuesday should be exciting. I am getting bad vibes about the Cote/contract situation, but this has happened before. Thanks as always for the amazing reviews and supports. I will probably finish this by next week. And I doubt "MC" will be revisited, but I thought it added an intriguing element, since Iran's database was hacked after the death of Eli and then two eps later they focus on this mysterious person. I think it's all related and may even go back to Harper Dearing hacking into MTAC.