Chapter 23 (Silver War Part 1)
AN: Sorry about the no updates for a couple of days, it was too hot to use my laptop.
The next morning even though she knows the exact time her father arrives at work, Ziva has gotten to NCIS early, mainly because she could not just lay in bed any longer and so she went on her run extremely early.
As she waits, sitting at Kate's desk which she assumes will be hers soon, Ziva sees Tony walk into the squad room, but he obviously doesn't see her.
"I friggin' hate Mondays. Friggin' Fat Al's all-you-can-eat burrito shack. More like Fat Al's bacteria shack," Tony says to himself as he walks to his desk while trying to shave. "Come on. I shouldn't have come into work today. Gibbs sees me like this…" Tony says as he sits at his desk and pulls out a toothbrush.
"He will probably be as horrified as I am, Agent DiNozzo," Ziva comments, knowing that her father would have a thing or to say, but considering she is at NCIS Tony might get a reprieve. "You working undercover as a hobo?" Ziva asks curious, and she can see the surprise on Tony's face.
"You mind telling me what you're doing here again?" Tony asks curious.
"Um, waiting," Ziva comments.
"For what?" Tony asks curious.
"To start work," Ziva responds. "Does anyone always come in this late?" Ziva asks curious as while she knows when her dad starts she isn't sure if the rest of his team start the same time, or earlier.
"It's Zero seven hundred," Tony comments.
"At Mossad work starts at zero five hundred," Ziva reveals.
"Okay, let me rephrase the original question," Tony says, as he walks over to her. "What the hell are you doing here, Ziva?" Tony asks curious.
"Gibbs did not tell you," Ziva says, stating a fact, because she knows Gibbs doesn't know, but Tony thinks she is asking a question.
"Tell me what?" Tony asks confused.
"I have been assigned to NCIS as a Liaison Officer, we are going to be working together," Ziva explains.
"Does Gibbs know about this?" Tony says, feeling torn as a part of him feels like Gibbs wouldn't know, why another part of him wouldn't be surprised if Gibbs just decided not to tell him, as he is pretty sure that there is something going on between Gibbs and Ziva that he doesn't know about.
"Do you think I would be here if he did not know?" Ziva asks, trying to hide her amusement as she knows the truth. "You might want to do something about your hair," Ziva says, as she stands up. "It is sticking up like a pork-u-swine, wrong word," Ziva says, getting frustrated as she cannot find the right word. "Like a pork-u-pig? The little animal with the little spikes yes?" Ziva asks as McGee walks into the bullpen, carrying a tray of coffee.
"Porcupine," McGee supplies.
"Porcupine! Thank you, Special Agent McGee," Ziva says as she takes one of the coffees "Toda,"
"Sure," McGee says, confused as Ziva sits back down at the desk.
"Anyone have a key for this?" Ziva asks curious, referring to the desk.
"That's Kate's desk," McGee says angrily. '
"Okay, but if I am going to be apart of your team I would love too…" Ziva starts to say.
"Whoa! You're part of our team?" McGee asks shocked.
"Yep," Ziva confirms.
"Did Gibbs tell you this?" McGee asks Tony as he would not be surprised if Tony was told but he wasn't.
"Nope," Tony answers.
"Here are my orders, Signed by Director Shepard," Ziva says, as she hands them to Tony.
"You think Gibbs know?" McGee asks curious.
"I am sure he does," Ziva lies.
"I wouldn't be sure of that until you talk to him," Tony respond and Ziva realises that Tony has a pretty good read of her father.
"When does he come in?" Ziva asks, even though she knows the answer, and she is pretty sure that her father should arrive any second.
'Now," Tony says as he hands Ziva back her orders.
Knowing it is going to be a shock to her father Ziva walks over to him.
"Special Agent Gibbs," Ziva greats, and Gibbs not only wonders why his daughter is at NCIS, but also why she is using his full title.
"Ziver," Gibbs greats. "What are you doing here?" Gibbs asks curious as he resists the urge to hug his daughter.
"Looking forward to being a member of your team as Director Shepard ordered," Ziva says, giving him a look which says, 'please, talk to Jenny', so without a word Gibbs heads upstairs.
"I stand corrected, it appears he does not know," Ziva says, pretending to be embarrassed as she walks over and sits back down at Kate's desk.
Feeling like he is missing a hell of a lot Gibbs heads up to MTAC so he can talk to Jenny, as from Ziva's words he assumes Jenny can fill him in on what is really going on. Walking into MTAC Gibbs looks for Jenny and when he sees her Gibbs walks over and sits down next to her.
"Something I can help you with this morning, Special Agent Gibbs?" Jenny asks curious.
"Yeah, Ziva is downstairs; she basically told me to talk to you," Gibbs explains.
"Right. Before we get into this, I'm going to need a refill," Jenny admits, and in response Gibbs pours his own coffee into Jenny's coffee cup. "That was sweet… not necessarily sanitary, but sweet," Jenny admits.
"Jen, what's going on? why is Ziva here? And why is she calling me Special Agent Gibbs?" Gibbs asks, the worry clear in his voice.
"You need to ask Ziva for the details, but something happened when she got back to Israel, and she needed to get away," Jenny explains, and Gibbs becomes even more worried. "She called me, and I came up with the Liaison Office role. I assumed you would want her on your team," Jenny reveals.
"Why didn't you tell me she was coming? Why didn't she?" Gibbs asks curious.
"Ziva didn't want you to worry, and I figured this was a time for number eighteen, it's better to seek forgiveness than ask permission," Jenny explains.
"Oh, that's real nice, ganging up on me with my daughter, and using the rules I taught you against me as a defence, nice touch," Gibbs says sarcastically as he really doesn't like his daughter and Jenny teaming up against him.
"Jethro, considering everything going on it was the best way to the handle the situation," Jenny admits. "I told her that she would have to talk to you but Ziva asked that who she is remains a secret for one case so that she can prove herself," Jenny explains.
"She has nothing to prove," Gibbs says as he gets up and heads out of MTAC, feeling the need talk to his daughter to find out what is really going on as Jenny wouldn't be hesitating to tell him the truth unless it was bad news.
While Gibbs is upstairs talking to Jenny Ziva is sitting in the bullpen, honestly she is feeling rather board but she can't wait to get a chance to talk to her father.
"You want something to read?" Tony asks curious.
"What do you have?" Ziva asks, and Tony pulls out a magazine.
"G.S.M it's a men's magazine. Most women find it objectifies them," Tony says, as he shows his and as he does Ziva pulls out her own version in Hebrew. "I read it on the plane," Ziva reveals, as she didn't really have much else to read. "I especially liked the article on page fifty-seven in my experience it works every time," Ziva reveals and Tony quickly checks the page.
"I always thought that was an urban legend," Tony comments as Gibbs throws his empty coffee cup at him.
"Ziva, with me," Gibbs says, as he walks past Tony's desk and Ziva hurries to catch up with him.
"Was not expecting that," Tony comments, looking at McGee as he was expecting Gibbs to tell Ziva to go, as Gibbs and Ziva walk into the elevator.
As they walk into the elevator Ziva is not at all surprised when her Dad presses the button to stop it, and as soon as the elevator stops Ziva just hugs her father.
"Ziva, what's going on, Kiddo?" Gibbs asks concerned, as he can tell by the way Ziva is clinging to him that she is not okay.
"He killed Ima, himself. Eli killed her, Dad," Ziva says, crying, looking so much younger than she is.
"Oh, Ziver," Gibbs says as he just holds his daughter tightly and kisses her head, thinking about all the things he would love to do to Eli if he ever met him.
"I needed to get away from Mossad. I called Jenny, she came up with the liaison office idea, got Eli to agree," Ziva explains.
"Why didn't you call me?" Gibbs asks his daughter as they break apart.
"I did not want you to worry," Ziva admits. "I just needed to get out of there, and as soon as possible," Ziva admits.
"Well I am glad you are here," Gibbs admits, being pretty sure they may have a longer conversation about that at some point. "Director Shepard said you didn't want the team to know?" Gibbs asks curious.
"Just for one case. I want to show what I can do before they find out and think I got special treatment," Ziva explains, as she wipes her eyes to try and hide the evidence that she has been crying.
"No one will think you got special treatment, but I understand what you want," Gibbs admits. "But one case, Kiddo that's all," Gibbs explains. "A team needs trust and we can't have trust if we keep this from them," Gibbs reveals.
"I know, I understand," Ziva confirms. "But I do want to be treated like any other agent,"
"You're not any other agent, Kid, but I'll do my best," Gibbs reveals, as he is pretty sure that will be the biggest issue for him. "But you know when we exit this elevator being treated like anyone else means…." Gibbs starts to say, as he flips the elevator back on.
"You will start kicking my butt," Ziva says with a smirk as she has heard her father's agents as that.
"I do not kick butt!" Gibbs exclaims and Ziva laughs, causing him to laugh, but the second the elevator doors open they both put stoic expressions on their faces and head out of the elevator, back towards Tony and McGee.
"Miss Gibbs will be with us for a while," Gibbs says, and Ziva goes to sit at Kate's desk, but he pulls her back. "That's Kate's desk. Yours is down at the end," Gibbs tells his daughter, as he heads to his desk and Ziva walks over to Tony who is looking at her in an interest.
"He is a tough one to read," Ziva says, knowing that is true for everyone other than her.
"You'll find most NCIS agents are like that. It's our training," Tony explains, and Ziva is just amused.
"Is that a fact?" Ziva asks curious.
"Mm-hmm. We never let other people know what we're thinking," Tony explains.
"Right now, you are thinking about doing page fifty-seven with me," Ziva reveals, smirking slightly as she can see her and Tony having a lot of fun together, and her Dad will likely not be too happy with either of them.
"Boss, we have a situation at the Smithsonian museum," McGee says as he walks over to Gibbs.
"What?" Gibbs asks curious.
"Well, it's kind of complicated, but there may have been a murder," McGee explains.
"May have been, McGee?" Gibbs asks, not sure how there, 'may have' been a murder.
"Yeah, well they have a Union Soldier who was dug up from a battlefield in Manassas, and now they think that he my be a marine," McGee explains.
"It was the Civil War, McGee. Marines fought on both sides," Gibbs comments.
"Right. Yeah, I know. But this marine had dog tags. They didn't exist back then," McGee explains, and then he realises what he said, "I know that you know that, being a Marine," McGee quickly says.
"Get to the point, McGee!" Gibbs snaps.
"Well, they think that this Marine was killed recently and somehow buried in a way they can't quiet explain it but in a hundred and forty-year-old cast iron sarcophagus," McGee explains.
"Dressed as a Union Soldier?" Gibbs asks.
"Basically, yeah," McGee confirms.
"Gas the truck, McGee," Gibbs says, throwing him the keys. "DiNozzo!" Gibbs exclaims.
"Yeah, boss!" Tony exclaims as he walks towards Gibbs.
"I've got a murder in your area of expertise," Gibbs reveals.
"This happens a lot, me being a Senior Field Agent and all," Tony says to Ziva, clearly trying to boast.
"I am sure it does," Ziva comments.
"What do we got, Boss? Multiple Homicides?" Tony asks curious.
'No," Gibbs answers.
"Gang related?"
'No,"
"Defenestration?" Tony asks curious.
"The Civil War," Gibbs answers.
"I can hardly wait. That's my favourite subject," Tony says sarcastically.
"What about me?" Ziva asks curious.
"You're coming along strictly as an observer. Hand over all your weapons," Gibbs tells his daughter.
"Is that really necessary?" Ziva asks curious, with a pout and in return she gets a 'you know better' look. "Right," Ziva says and she hands over her gun.
"And your backup," Gibbs says, once he has put Ziva's gun in his desk.
"What backup?" Ziva asks, pretending she doesn't know exactly what her father is talking about.
"Left leg," Gibbs responds, feeling a little amused that him and his daughter keeps her backups in the same place.
"Oh, that one," Ziva says as she puts her leg on her dad's desk to get her backup which she hands to her father.
"And the knife concealed at your waist," Gibbs tells his daughter who has to stop herself before she asks about rule nine as she isn't supposed to know about that, and so she reluctantly hands the knife to her father. "You can keep this," Gibbs tells his daughter, handing it back over. 'I just want you to know that I know," Gibbs says, heading out of the bullpen.
After leaving the bullpen Gibbs heads down to autopsy because there is one more person who knows about Ziva who needs to be told about her new role.
"Duck," Gibbs says, walking into Autopsy.
"Jethro, I already got the call. Mr Palmer is getting the truck ready," Ducky explains.
"That's not why I'm here," Gibbs explains.
"Then why are you?" Ducky asks curious, looking at his old friend.
"Ziva," Gibbs answers simply.
"Is she okay?" Ducky asks worried.
"She's upstairs," Gibbs explains. "She's joined my team as a Liaison officer," Gibbs explains.
"That's great, you must be happy," Ducky says, feeling like there might be an adjustment period but that it will be good for both Ziva and Gibbs.
"Ziva has asked that the rest of the team don't know who she really is for one case, so I wanted to give you the heads-up," Gibbs explains.
"I appreciate it," Ducky says. "Are you alright, Jethro?" Ducky asks curious. "I would think you would be happy about Ziva joining your team," Ducky comments, wanting to figure out what is going on.
"I am I just wished she would have told me she was coming instead of just being in the squad room when I walked in," Gibbs says, as he heads out of Autopsy.
A little while later the team is at the crime scene and while Gibbs, Palmer and Ducky are investigating the body and talking to the doctor who found it Tony and McGee are messing around with a statue, while Ziva watches on.
"I do not think this is what Gibbs had in mind when he instructed me to observe," Ziva comments as she watches Tony and McGee goof around, feeling pretty sure that her father would not approve of his team doing this.
"Do you have any idea how many people get killed in America by bears every years, Ziva?" Tony asks curious.
"No, but I cannot imagine a lot," Ziva comments, feeling like it might be one, but she is not sure.
"You'd be surprised," Tony responds.
"McGee," Ziva says, feeling that McGee is likely to know.
"Uh, I think it's about one," McGee comments.
"Is there not something more constructive you could be doing?" Ziva asks.
"Like what?" Tony asks.
"Investigating," Ziva says as her father walks in.
"DiNozzo and McGee, report in," Gibbs orders.
"Casket was uncovered by a housing project going up near bull run battlefield in Manassas, Boss," Tony explains. "Got the name and address of the construction company. Scheduled an interview and a soil test for tomorrow," Tony reveals.
"The only thing removed from the casket was one cell phone, damaged and non-operational," McGee explains. "I've also got prints of the lab workers to run against any we find in or around the body, and tomb, and doctor Burns was wearing surgical gloves when she picked this up," McGee explains, referring to the cell phone.
"Good work," Gibbs says to his team mate. "Ziva?" Gibbs asks.
"I am wondering why there is a nine-millimetre hole in my hat," Ziva admits as she puts her finger through the hole. Honestly, she is seriously considering making a detour home to get the NCIS cap she has had since she was a child.
"Ventilation," Gibbs answers.
"Right," Ziva comments.
"I'll escort the casket back with Ducky. We'll meet in the squadroom," Gibbs says, before turning to walk away.
"Gibbs," Ziva says, walking over to her father. "I would also like to know if I could drive the truck back to base. It might make me feel as if I actually accomplished something today," Ziva tells her father, who smirks as he knows what that means.
"Sure," Gibbs answers, and he walks out.
A little while later Ziva, who is enjoying herself greatly, is driving back to NCIS, terrifying both McGee and DiNozzo.
"Hey, not so fast!" Tony yells.
"I always drive fast! It was how I was taught!" Ziva explains. "It is the best way to avoid possible IEDs and ambushes," Ziva reveals.
"You're in America now. I wouldn't worry about that," Tony reveals. "How about this? slow down or I'll puke on you," Tony requests.
"Tony, why do you not like the American Civil War?" Ziva asks curious.
"I don't want to talk about it," Tony responds.
"It's because of his father," McGee explains.
"Was she talking to you, Probie?" Tonya asks, giving McGee a less than impressed look.
"Oh. You did not get along with your father. Hm, explains a lot," Ziva comments, feeling that that makes sense.
"My father and I got along fine," Tony lies.
"If you say so. I think it is best to talk about things instead of burying them inside," Ziva comments.
"Do you get along with your father?" Tony asks, wanting to know more about her.
"Yep, he is my best friend, the best person I know," Ziva reveals, clearly telling the truth, as she speeds up a bit, as a way to distract Tony and McGee from asking more, as she weaves behind cars.
"Slow down, we're taking the next left!" Tony reveals, as cars honk and them and tires shrink.
"Ziva, Car! Car! Car!" McGee yells as Tony shoots.
"Relax I know what I am doing," Ziva says, rolling her eyes, and Tony pukes, resulting in him taking over the driving.
A little while later the team are in the bullpen, both McGee and Tony are feeling like they never want to experience Ziva's driving again.
"We ran his prints through AFIS. It is confirmed our Union Soldier is Staff Sergeant Warren Sorrow, an MSG instructor at Quantico," McGee explains.
"MSG stands for…" Tony starts to explain, for Ziva's benefit.
"Marine Security Guard, I know," Ziva says, without explaining how.
"What do we have on the Staff Sergeant, McGee?" Gibbs asks.
"Reported UA about a year ago. I'm currently building a profile on what his life was like around the time of his disappearance," McGee explains.
"Not anymore. I want you with Abby. Find out what was on the cell phone we found in the casket. Tony, you're the paper trial. I want to know everything about him by the time I get back. And Ziva, you, you keep observing," Gibbs tell his daughter.
"What exactly, Gibbs?" Ziva asks curious.
"Whatever you want, just do it quietly," Gibbs says, walking away, and once he does Ziva get an annoyed look on her face.
"Now I know why he took all my weapons away," Ziva says, feeling extremely annoyed, but she guesses this is what she gets for asking her Dad to treat her like any other agent.
A little while later night has fallen and Tony and Ziva are alone in the bullpen together. While Tony is sitting at his desk, Ziva is behind him, observing.
"Ziva?" Tony asks, when he realises that Ziva is not at her desk.
"Yes," Ziva says, from behind him which causes Tony to jump.
"First of all, don't you ever do that again, and second, what are you doing?" Tony asks curious.
"I am observing you, Tony," Ziva reveals, as she walks around to the front of Tony's desk.
"Any way you can do that in a less creepy manner?" Tony asks as Ziva notices her father talking to and kissing the cheek of a red-haired women that she doesn't know.
"Who is the woman with Gibbs?" Ziva asks curious.
"Yeah. Once you're here long enough, you'll figure it out," Tony says, having no idea how long how long Ziva has really been around NCIS.
"Is that his girlfriend?" Ziva asks curious, being very curious as she wants to know if she should be expecting to have a new step-mother sometime soon.
"I have no idea," Tony responds.
"You just told me that…" Ziva starts to say.
"Well, you'll figure out there's some things around here you don't ask about," Tony comments and as he does Ziva notices that Jenny is watching her father and the woman so Ziva decides to ask her father about both the woman, and Jenny, when she gets a chance.
"Where's Gibbs?" Ducky asks as he walks into the bullpen.
"Your two o'clock," Tony explains.
"What's wrong Ducky?" Gibbs asks curious.
"I know how our Staff Sergeant died," Ducky explains.
"From your look I'm guess it wasn't a musket ball," Gibbs comments, and he, Ziva, Tony and Ducky head down to autopsy.
"At first one could assume that a projectile of such a size and mass would produce almost instant death, but pre-Civil war muskets were notoriously unreliable," Ducky explains, once they are in Autopsy. "And lost most of their velocity over the first hundred meters. Our Sergeant was grievously wounded by a musket ball, and his injury was not fatal," Ducky explains.
"Then how did he die, Doctor Mallard?" Ziva asks, it feeling extremely strange for her to not call him Ducky.
"His lung tissue was coated with an extremely fine film of rust particles, and one can only imagine how long he clawed at the iron side of the casket…. Trying to escape before he suffocated," Ducky explains.
A while later the team are in the bullpen, tyring to find answers as Gibbs realises the time he realises it is time to send everyone home.
"We'll pick this up in the morning, it's late, get out of here," Gibbs says, and not needing to be told twice McGee and Tony pick up their stuff and head to the elevator, as they do Tony notices Gibbs walk over to Ziva.
"Where are you staying?" Gibbs asks his daughter curious.
"I stayed with Diane and Emily last night," Ziva reveals, and Gibbs honestly isn't surprised by that. "I was wondering if I could stay at the house, at least just until I organize things," Ziva explains to her father.
"Ziver, it is your home too, always will be, stay as long as you want," Gibbs tells his daughter. "Come on Kid, let's go get your stuff," Gibbs tells his daughter and they leave together.
A little while later Ziva and Gibbs, who stopped at Diane's though Gibbs stayed in the car having no desire to see Diane, are arriving at their house.
"I know it is not exactly normal to move back home at twenty-three, but it feels really good to be home," Ziva admits, as they walk inside.
"You're not twenty-three for a little while yet, Kiddo," Gibbs points out. "And I'm glad you're home too," Gibbs explains, as he puts his arm around his daughter and kisses her head. "Why don't you go put your stuff in your room and I'll get started on dinner," Gibbs tells his daughter.
"Okay," Ziva says, before heading upstairs, realising that this is what it truly feels like to be home.
After their traditional diner of fireplace stakes Gibbs and Ziva, despite the time, are in the basement working on the boat together.
"So, how much longer am I going to be just observing?" Ziva asks her father curious.
"I haven't decided," Gibbs admits.
"Dad…" Ziva says, drawing out the word and clearly annoyed.
"You wanted to be treated like any other agent Kid, every other agent has observed first," Gibbs explains.
"Even you?" Ziva asks curious.
"Yep, your Uncle Mike had me observing for months," Gibbs reveals, and Ziva just looks amused. "What do you think of the team?" Gibbs asks curious.
"They are good people, I am looking forward to working with them," Ziva explains, feeling like there is one person in particular that she is looking forward to working with. "Dad, are you dating someone?" Ziva asks curious.
"Yeah, but don't worry Kiddo you're not going to be getting a new Step-Mother, I don't think It will last much longer," Gibbs reveals.
"I am sorry," Ziva tells her father, though she is a little relieved.
"Don't be," Gibbs tells his daughter.
"What about you and Jenny?" Ziva asks curious.
"That's a long story, and it's late, so how about we just work on the boat," Gibbs suggests, and Ziva wants to know the story even more now.
"Okay," Ziva says and father and daughter just drift into silence as they continue to work on the boat, both feeling that it's good to be together once again.