Chapter 6

The Hunt is On

Around May 2019

~~Navy Yard~~

As soon as Tony stepped off the elevator, he saw McGee crossing his path toward the hallway to the bullpen, while McGee hadn't noticed him. Tony noticed that McGee seemed to be preoccupied with something, and so he quickly caught up with McGee. As Tony looked at McGee as they walked through the bullpen, he said, "Hey McGee, whatcha up to?"

McGee turned sharply toward Tony, startled out of his thoughts. "Didn't expect you back here today." He looked down and pointed toward Tony's hands. "I see you got coffee. You bring one for me?" McGee smiled.

Tony laughed. "Why do you think I'm holding two cups of coffee?" He handed over one cup to McGee. "Since I got called in by Vance, I decided I'd stop by and get a couple cups of coffee, once I got done dropping Tali off at school. So here I am." Tony smiled to McGee.

McGee took a quick sip of coffee. "Well, now that makes sense. Look, just to let you know, I think our cover may have been blown." He tilted his head slightly toward the bullpen. "Remember when I called you from that parking lot?" McGee whispered to Tony as they walked into the bullpen.

"Yeah?" Tony said.

"I think Gibbs knows," McGee said. "About us working together. The package deal?"

Tony nodded, but before he could say something, he overheard Torres making a slightly off-hand remark about how quickly a Mossad officer had been subdued during the kidnapping to Bishop, who had clammed up when she saw Tony step into the bullpen. Puzzled, he quietly walked up behind Torres and stared at the back of his head. Say something again, punk, he thought to himself.

Slightly puzzled by the lack of response from Bishop, Torres started again. "You know, if she kept her head on a three-sixty, maybe she would've noticed that van sitting not too far from her car." He stopped himself, then tilted his head slightly. "Someone behind me?"

Pop. Tony landed a headslap on Torre's head. "What'd you think?" Tony asked in a slightly menacing tone. "Maybe Ziva's not dead. Maybe she's been totally off grid and I've been the only one who was able to find her, again."

"Oh? And you lost her again?" Torres shot back.

Before Tony could grab Torres by the lapels, McGee quickly stepped in between them, clearing his throat sharply. "Hey, hey, now. Boss is coming."

Gibbs strode quickly into the bullpen. He gave Torres and Tony a quick glance. "Back to work, Torres. I'm sure he's got a reason to be here." He shooed Torres back to his desk.

Tony glared at Torres as Torres walked back to his desk, slightly chastened by Gibbs. "Mind what you say about Ziva, now. Never assume anything."

Torres straightened his shirt out and sighed. "You're lucky we don't get to prove our masculinity here this time," Torres growled.

Gibbs slammed his drawer shut and glared at Torres. "Enough of that!"

Tony looked at Gibbs, a little surprised that Gibbs was backing him up. "Thanks, Gibbs," he said softly.

"Goes for you too, Tony." Gibbs nodded at him, then went back to his computer.

"Whatever," Torres muttered to himself.

"Good to see you again, Tony." Bishop stepped up toward Tony, ignoring what Torres had just said.

Tony completely ignored Torres and turned to Bishop. "Thanks." He flicked his eyes to the side ever so slightly, and said, "Guess it's time for me to see what Vance wants."

Gibbs looked up from his desk, a slightly irritated look on his face. "What're you doing here, anyway? Aren't you supposed to be spending some time with your family?"

"I am, Gibbs!" Tony said. "At least, trying my best to balance work and family, but I've gotta find Ziva. I've gotta keep busy rather than moping in front of the kids."

Gibbs sighed and shook his head. "At least shave tomorrow. Gotta look more human than that." He pointed toward Tony's scrabble beard. He cracked a slight grin on his lips.

"Hey, both of you!" Vance's voice sounded clearly from above. Vance leaned onto the rails of the wall overlooking the bullpen as he looked down at Gibbs and Tony.

"Oh, great," McGee muttered to himself.

Gibbs glanced over to McGee, then looked up at Vance. "Yeah, boss?"

Vance silently nodded his head toward Gibbs. "I called him in. You two, come to my office." Vance flicked a finger toward him, then walked away toward his office. "McGee, you too."

~~Vance's office~~

Vance pointed toward the conference table as Gibbs, Tony, and McGee followed him the office. "Please, take a seat." Vance closed the door behind them, nodding once as they passed him.

Gibbs stood until both Tony and McGee took seats at the conference table, then seeing that they had sat on the same side, sat down on the side opposite of them. He let out a sigh, then said, "Something's up, Vance. What is it?"

Vance looked at Tony as he sat down at the head of the table and flashed a smile. "Tony, How are you and your family holding up?"

Tony shrugged. "They're fine. Tali's having a bit of a hard time, but she's a trooper. Doesn't quite understand why someone would take her mother when she's waiting to be picked from school. Wonders if she'll ever see her mother again. But other than that, she's holding up fine, I think. The other kids, well." Tony sighed gently, shook his head, "Let's just say I don't quite have that magic touch that my aunt Ade has when it comes to real young kids."

"Ah, I'm glad your aunt Ade's been helping with the children, that is important. At least, working from home, you get to be there for them at times right?" Vance nodded toward Tony, smiling.

Tony's smile was a slightly strained one. "Still, it's a bit difficult at times working at home. I sometimes get the urge to go out and find her. That's why I've been coming over on occasion to help the team out. Can only do so much sitting behind a desk, you know?"

Vance nodded once. "Totally understandable. The reason that I had called Tony in here, is because of new developments in the case, and I thought it would be in the best interest for the four of us to be on the same page."

"So what is it?" Gibbs sat back in his chair. "Is it about Ziver?"

Vance shook his head slightly. "Not quite. But it is relevant to the case. We wanna know who was behind that kidnapping, and if Ziva is alive. What we have discovered is that kidnapper may have connections to a mastermind we've been trying to find. The same person who'd escaped prison."

Gibbs looked at Vance, his face twisted in puzzlement. "You mean to say that Tony's been working on the case with McGee, behind my back all this time? Why?"

"Need-to-know." Vance looked evenly at Gibbs. "Suffice to say that the intelligence that we have come across indicates that anyone that Ziva has worked with, is now a potential target. You included. That's why I felt the need to bring you Tony and you in, together." Vance slid a folder across the table. "Take a look inside," he said, holding his hand out to the folder, looking at Gibbs.

Gibbs sat at the table, his hand on the folder, looking at Tony and McGee, then looked up to Vance, "Alright. How long have you been working with him?" Gibbs tilted his head toward Tony.

"Long enough." Vance paused to take a deep breath, then let out a long sigh. "I was the one that kept them very close to my chest. Tony found Ziva, then got in touch with me. I saw Ziva for myself, and then we came to an understanding with the Mossad."

"Hmph." Gibbs crossed his arms. "For what purpose?"

Vance smiled as he held out his hand to the folder. "Tracking down that mastermind. Everybody's looking for this person. What you'll see in there is that she disappeared pretty much soon after she escaped from prison. But we do know that she's been calling the shots to our kidnapper. There is more, but for now, read what's in that folder."

Gibbs sighed, then picked up the folder, and quickly scanned through it. He looked up at Vance. "The abandoned warehouse. We went there before, there was nothing there out of the ordinary."

"You did miss something. There was evidence that Ziva was held here, at least for a very short time. But there's no body." Vance held up a finger.

"At least that means she isn't dead. Maybe." Tony glared at Gibbs slightly.

Gibbs sat up a bit straighter, his hackles up, but before he could say anything, Vance held out his hands. "Alright, alright, before this gets out of hand, there is something else. Before I show you, however, I need to do this." Vance reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out an object and slid it across the table toward Tony. "Your badge and your credentials. You're gonna need access to our resources that you can't otherwise use at your home bunker."

Tony looked down at his badge and credentials for a long moment, stroking his stubbled chin. "Doesn't feel right, wearing these without Ziva around," he muttered to himself. After a few long seconds, he reached out and pulled them closer to himself. "But if that's what it takes to find her, I'll bite." He turned to Gibbs. "Don't worry, this'll be gone by tomorrow morning." He pointed to his chin and smiled.

Gibbs let out a chuckle, but said nothing.

Vance smiled, nodding his head toward Tony in his characteristic brusque way. "Great. Now down to business." Vance picked up the remote and pointed it toward the big screen and pushed a button. He turned to Tony. "McGee pulled the footage out of both the store parking lot cameras, then the adjoining business's camera setup. Here it is." He turned and looked up at the screen.

"Glad we were able to get relatively good detail out of that video," McGee murmured as the video started playing on the screen.

Tony slowly stood up out of his chair, watching the footage, riveted. At one point, he pointed out to the screen. "What's that? Looks like she tossed something, under the cars."

McGee nodded. "Her cellphone. We found it a few cars away. Her stuff's in Evidence right now."

Tony turned to Gibbs, then to Vance. "Her car, too?"

Vance clicked the button on his remote, bringing up another picture. That of a dead woman with a Hebrew word crudely written on her forehead. "Metro found this body a few days ago, and they have no clue who this refers to."

Tony looked up at the screen and gasped. "Ziva! No!" But the woman lying there wasn't Ziva. It was the Hebrew word that he had responded to. He turned to McGee, then Gibbs, then Vance. "That word's in Hebrew. Ziva's name."

"Excuse me, Gibbs." Vance reached out to the folder and flipped a couple of pages, showing the same woman that was up on the screen earlier. "This has to do with an old case that you and Ziva worked on, Tony." Vance flipped yet another page, revealing a mug shot photo of the woman, and spun the folder around and slid it toward Tony.

Gibbs looked at the photo as Vance slid the folder over toward Tony. "Dead Marine, fiancée kept denying it was her. The stakeout, remember?"

Tony caught the folder and pulled it toward him. The name above the mugshot read, "MaryAnn Smith". Suddenly, memories of the old case he had worked on with Ziva came back. He flicked his eyebrows up, then looked up. "I remember now. She was a real piece of work, alright. Those mind games she always played on us, kept us going on wild goose chases with this case."

"Well, from what we know from the digging that Bishop and Torres was doing on the case, they came up with intel that this MaryAnn Smith's been nursing a mean grudge against you, Tony, and possibly anyone who's been in contact with Ziva. Now, while in prison, she somehow made contact with a Hamas group. Beyond that, we don't know much else except that she had been receiving orders from someone up high within that cell."

Tony slowly sat back from the folder, looking up at the frozen picture of the dead woman, the pieces starting to fall into place. "That reminds me of what Ziva and I were told some time ago by Adam. Some rumor about a prison breakout that the Mossad was trying to find information on," he muttered to himself.

McGee nodded. "What's more, they somehow cracked security and was able to track Ziva down and find her.

"Took me a little bit of doing, but I managed to find evidence of how they got past security." McGee pointed toward the folder. "They had a bug in Adam's room listening to the conversation that took place on the phone."

Tony scoffed at McGee. "You mean they could have possibly found out by whenever Ziva called him or I called him for any updates?"

McGee held his hands up in the air and shrugged. "Very possible. But we do know one thing: that woman wasn't killed by Ziva. No, it was someone else."

Tony glanced at the folder, then back up at Vance and Gibbs. "How could you tell?"

McGee spoke up. "Because of where she was found. Plus what condition that the body was found in. Some signs of a beating, blunt force trauma to her head. Then she was shot afterwards."

Tony turned to McGee. "Where did they find her?"

McGee sighed. "Near where Ziva used to live."

"So she's been beaten, then shot. Who did what?" Gibbs held his hand out toward the folder.

Tony chuckled. "I'm pretty sure the handiwork would have been my ninja. If Ziva was able, she would've beaten the crap out of her, then gotten away." He shrugged and held out his hands. "Shoot her? There was no sign she had a gun on her."

Vance smiled thinly. "We don't know that yet, but those marks on that woman, that looks like the mark of the Mossad," he said. He let out a sigh, before continuing on. "One thing we know for sure, that at least one other person was in the same room. We found another set of footprints in there. We believe this minion, whoever he or she was, had orders to kill the woman should she lose Ziva. Most logical explanation we can come up with."

Gibbs shook his head slightly. "So she's not dead."

Tony shot him a look. "And you've assumed all these years that she was? How would you explain Tali coming into the picture, then? You never said anything about that."

Vance held out his hands. "Whoa, whoa, now. Let's put our personal differences aside and focus on the case. Find Ziva with all our means possible." He turned to Gibbs with a stern look on his face. "You have no idea what I had to go through in order to have Tony and Ziva as our reliable source -"

"Reliable source?" Gibbs cut him off. "You mean all the intel that you've been passing on to the team came through them? And I didn't know?" He suddenly started to realize some things. "Ziver faked her own death because someone's after her?"

Tony nodded and grinned to Gibbs. "That's pretty much the long and short of it. And now we gotta work together to find her again."

McGee smiled a neutral smile. "Well, at least the digital trail that I've been following helps somewhat."

Vance nodded, then walked over to the window and looked out, deep in thought. "And from the looks of things, we're gonna need all the help we can get." He turned to the three still at the table. "Dismissed. Go find Ziva. And stay safe."

~~Gibbs house~~

Gibbs stood on the deck of his sailboat, riding high on the waves. He looked out at cloudless horizon as he turned the steering wheel to and fro, keeping a general tack.

"You know that I'm still around, Gibbs." The voice caused Gibbs to turn his head. Ziva stood next to him on the deck, smiling. "You know that if I wasn't around, Tony wouldn't be looking for me. He would know."

Gibbs turned and looked at Ziva. "What're you doing here, anyway?" He held out a hand toward her. "I don't recall seeing you on the boat when I got on it."

Ziva smiled at him. "I came to tell you something. Show you something. To warn you." She looked out over the bow at the occasional white caps on the waves off in the distance.

Gibbs let out a sigh. "This about Tony? He showed up today, you know."

"Oh?" Ziva turned to look at Gibbs. "He needs to know something. But before I get to that, I need to tell you that danger is near. The group that took me is Hamas. I heard their talking in the other room days before I got away."

Gibbs steered the boat slightly as he looked out over to the horizon. "How'd you get away?"

Ziva smiled. "Your investigation should have revealed that to you by now. All of you are being targeted. Anyone that I've come into contact with is in danger. You especially."

Gibbs looked down at the map, but didn't recognize any of the normal landmarks on the map. "Wow, I don't recognize any of this," he muttered. "Where could we be?"

"Maybe you are in the dream world," Ziva said as she smiled to Gibbs.

"Dad, you're definitely dreaming." Gibbs whipped around to the source of the new voice, and didn't see anybody, until he looked down. He saw Kelly looking up at him and smiling, with Shannon kneeling next to her.

"Wha-?" Gibbs spluttered as he turned back to Ziva. "What's going on here?"

Ziva said nothing, but smiled to him.

"You know you couldn't save us, so you did your best to try to make up for it. We understand. Please help them," she whispered the last, pointing her finger out over the bow, past where Ziva was standing.

"Help them?" Gibbs muttered as he looked in Ziva's direction. He blinked his eyes, realizing that Ziva had disappeared from his sight. "Ziva! Where'd you go?" He looked out over the bow, and saw the sky replaced by a large blown-up image of Tony, Ziva, and their children together. He held out his hand toward Ziva and shouted, "Ziva!"

"Help them," the ghostly voice of Shannon echoed through his mind as he looked out toward the horizon.

A door slammed, causing Gibbs to startle and shout out, "Ziva!" He blinked his eyes awake and realized that he was no longer on his boat, but rather on his couch in the living room. He looked at his clock in the dim light and realized that it was past two in the morning. As he sat up on the couch and turned on the lamp next to it, something fell from his chest into his hands. Puzzled, he looked down at the envelope, and recognized the handwriting. "Ziva?" he muttered to himself. He looked up and realized that the fire was burning down low, and that there was a cup on the coffee table. He reached out for the cup, and saw that there was a tiny bit of liquid left in it, and he put the cup up to his nose, whipping his face away from the pungent smell of the tea that Ziva had drunk. Twisting his face in disgust, he set the cup back down on the table, and turned the envelope over in his hands as he looked around at the living room, noticing that the back door swung slightly to and fro. He looked down at the envelope, and it said, "For Tony. Help them." He blinked his eyes, and muttered to himself as he sat back in the couch, "Must've been a dream. But why the envelope?"

~~DiNozzo Farmhouse~~

Tony sat on the couch watching the TV, with Tali curled up by his side. They had been watching a Disney movie after Tony had put the younger kids in bed for the night, when Adelaide walked into the living room. "The kids doing good?" Ade asked Tony.

Tony looked up and smiled at her. "Yeah. Got 'em in bed half an hour or so ago. Zack's been crying out for Ziva but I got him to sleep." He shrugged his shoulders. "Singing him his favorite song, who knew that would help?"

Ade smiled. "There's been a few nights where you've worked late that I've had to put the kids down for the night. The bird song's his favorite."

Tony tilted his head at Ade. "The same one that Ziva's been talking about before?"

Ade smiled and nodded. "That's the one. Tali helps me with the song, as well. Sometimes I forget a line or two here, but I'm starting to know it by heart, now."

Tony smiled, then yawned a bit. "Long day at work. Had to head into NCIS for something."

Tali squirmed under Tony's arms and looked up at Tony. "Abba says he got his job back." She put her tiny hands into Tony's pocket and pulled out a badge. "See? He got a badge."

Ade raised her eyebrows at Tony. "I thought you weren't working for 'em," she asked, puzzled. "All I know was for a while you were working downstairs, somewhere. You'd disappear for hours at a time, then show up all of a sudden."

Tony chuckled. "I have my ways of working. A little bit of magic within this house. I can't reveal to you too much." He smiled and waggled his eyebrows.

Ade huffed, then smiled at Tony. "Whatever you're doing, I hope you're able to find Ziva. The kids sure miss her. They talk about her all the time."

"Yeah, I miss Ima," Tali piped up, as if to emphasize Ade's comment. She patted Tony on his stomach. "You find her, Abba?"

Tony chuckled while looking down at Tali. He didn't want her to know that he was having some difficulty finding her, but he smiled at her anyway. No sense in adding unnecessary strain on the kids. "Not yet. But I feel like we're getting close, now."

"Well, you better hurry up, 'cuz Tobias an' Zara need Ima, now." Tali replied. "Zack needs her, too. All of us need her."

Tony smiled down at Tali, patting her on her back. "I know, hon. I'm working on that the best I can." Tony turned himself in the couch to face Tali a bit more. "I need you to do me a favor, will you?"

"What's that?" Tali smiled up at Tony.

Tony let out a small sigh, then said, "You could help me and Savta, just like you've been doing all along, and keeping a positive attitude and hope up that Ima would come home one day. Can you do that?"

Tali nodded. "I been helpin' Savta with the kids a lot when you go and work," she said.

"She's been a big help when you were going different places," Adelaide spoke up.

Tony turned to look at Ade as he ran a hand through his hair, contemplating his next thoughts. After a moment, he said, "That's good to know. Takes a bit of weight off my mind." He looked down to Tali. "It's time for you to head to bed, now."

Tali looked up at Tony from the TV. "Do I hafta?"

Tony nodded and smiled softly to Tali. "You've got school tomorrow. Yes, you have to get some rest." He patted her on her back again. "Now, head on to bed."

"'Kay," Tali said, turning to hug Tony. "Good night, Abba." She sat back and smiled at Tony. "You come to my room tuck me in?"

"Well, sure." Tony smiled. "Run along, I'll be there in a second."

Tali nodded and got down off the couch and pattered over to her room.

Tony chuckled, watching Tali walk over to her bedroom, then turned to Ade. "Thanks for being there for me," he said softly. "I wouldn't know what to do without you helping out with the kids. I probably would have gone crazy, myself."

Ade chuckled at Tony. "It's a joy spending time with the children. I never really got that chance with my own children." She shrugged her shoulders. "It is what it is, I guess."

"Maybe one day they'll come around, and visit you. Never know." Tony smiled. He stretched himself out on the couch, letting out a sigh. "Long day today. But yeah, keep your hopes up with your children."

"I can see that you're tired. Good workday, looks like? If you're tired from a long day, you put in a good day's work, right?" Ade smiled at Tony.

"Well, not entirely good. I can't say much, but there is one thing I can say. I just learned that I could be a potential target, as well as anyone else who has made contact with Ziva. So now I have the added duty of with keeping the family safe," he said to Adelaide.

Adelaide let out a small gasp. "Nothing serious, hopefully?" She put a hand on her chest, her mouth a small O.

Tony chuckled gently. "Don't you worry. We've got the best people on the case, and they're working on finding Ziva, and making sure that the bad people do not hurt us or anyone we know," he said. "All the agencies are on the hunt, it's that big. But beyond that, I can't say that much."

Ade sat on the couch next to Tony and looked deep in his eyes. "Tony, are you sure you're okay? You've been... different. You've been taking off at unpredictable times. Leaving the kids to me. The kids have been wondering if you're okay, too."

Tony laughed, but yet deep down, he knew she was right. He saw a little bit of his own father inside of him, and he shook his head at that realization. "Yeah. I've been leaving more and more often because I'm somewhat limited in my home office as to what I can actually do. That's why I went out to NCIS and had a little discussion with the director and got the badge so I can use more of their resources when I need to."

Ade smiled and patted Tony on his leg. "I hope for all our sakes that this helps you be able to bring Ziva home again. And to stop whoever wants harm done to us."

"Abba!" Tali's voice called out to Tony. Tony turned and looked, and saw Tali's head sticking out of the bedroom door. "You coming?"

Tony smiled up at Ade. "I gotta get Tali situated. Let me take care of her. I think she wants a little bit of time with me," he said.

Ade got up from the couch and stood next to Tony as he got up off the couch. "I'll be in the kitchen cleaning up if you need me," she said.

"Right, I shouldn't be long." Tony smiled and turned toward Tali's room.

Sometime later, Tony came out of Tali's room and sat on the couch, throwing a blanket onto the couch. He fluffed up the pillow on the couch, and put it down on the couch. He sat back in the couch and watched the TV, flipping the channels aimlessly.

"You need anything, Anthony?" Ade came into the room carrying a small plate of toast and a mug of tea. "I brought you some toast and tea."

"No, I'm fine, thanks for the food." He pointed vaguely toward the coffee table. "Set 'em down there." He smiled up at Ade.

Ade walked across the living room and set the toast and tea down onto the coffee table, then stood back up. "All done cleaning the kitchen. I'm ready to head out for the night, now," she said.

Tony smiled up at Ade. "Gonna be in that guest house like usual?"

Ade nodded. "Yup. I'll be there if you need anything during the night." She turned and walked to the doorway of the living room, then turned back to face Tony. "Babies should be fine throughout the night. They had their dinner and they were out like a light not too long after."

Tony reached out and grabbed a slice of toast, then took a bite out of it, and held it up. "Good night, Ade. See you in the morning," Tony said.

"Righty-o. See you in the morning," Ade said before she walked off.

Tony sighed and sat back on the couch, his eyes staring at the TV screen, but not watching it, his mind deep in thought as he slowly chewed on the toast, taking bites here and there. Absentmindedly, he reached down and took a sip of tea, then suddenly turned his face to disgust. "What kind of tea is this?" he muttered. He looked down in it and took a smell. The smell was familiar, but Tony couldn't place it just yet. Suddenly, he had an urging to drink more, and almost involuntarily, he took a swig, this time much larger. He spluttered, gagging and coughing at the revolting taste of the tea, and grabbed the other slice of toast and crammed it down his mouth in an attempt to kill the vile taste of the tea. He pushed the tea and now-empty plate away from him. "That tea must've gone bad," he muttered to himself. He laid down on the couch to settle his stomach, and as he did so, he suddenly felt better. He smiled, and closed his eyes, thinking about what had happened earlier that day at NCIS, how he and Torres had nearly gotten into it because of Torres' macho attitude that he carried around with him, how Gibbs and Tony had had a spat in Vance's office. Suddenly, before he realized it, he was in dream land. As he floated further into dream land, he felt the worries slowly lift from his mind.

"Hi, Tony." Ziva's voice sounded clear in Tony's mind.

Tony turned his head about and blinked his eyes. He was in a dark area, but couldn't see where the voice was coming from. "Ziva!?" he called out. He closed his eyes again tightly, and waited for a reply. None came, but after a moment, he heard a phone ringing.

He sat bolt upright on the couch, and listened for a minute. He heard the phone ringing again. "Not a dream," he muttered to himself. He sat up and looked at his phone on the end table, but didn't see it light up. He cocked his head again, and realized it was coming from a different phone. He suddenly realized as the phone continued to ring which phone the call was coming in on, and with a grunt, he got up and walked to a hidden spot on the bookshelf and pulled another phone out and held it to his head after answering it. "Hello? Who's this?"

A slight sound of static came over the phone into Tony's ear. "It's me, Tony. Can't talk long, but I needed to hear your voice," a familiar voice sounded over the phone.

"Ziva? Is that you?" Tony's eyes went wide with surprise as he gripped the phone a bit more tightly. "It's good to hear you again."

Ziva's musical chuckle sounded over the phone. "I called to warn you. Can't tell you where I'm at. But Gibbs has it."

"Has what?" Tony asked, his mind still slightly foggy from sleep. "Where are you?"

"I can't say, not while danger's still lurking out there. But what I can say is this: watch your six." Ziva let out a sigh. "Remember what you did to find me? Do it with Gibbs this time."

Tony let out a sigh. "You know, that's a funny thing you said that, because I got called in by our friend. Ended up having to work with Gibbs because they, well, let's put it this way, couldn't connect all the dots without my help. So I got the badge back."

Silence for a moment, then Ziva asked, "Vance put you up to it?"

Tony nodded and said, "Yeah. Gibbs didn't like it too much because we'd been working behind his back, but he's gotta suck it up. I'll do my job and find you and whoever's putting us all in danger -" Tony said, but didn't finish.

Ziva cut him off. "You leave that part to me. I think I'm close to her. But I can't say much right now. I've got to go now."

Tony sat back on the couch and let out a sigh. "Okay, if that's how you want to do things. I'll look forward to hearing from you, should everything go well. Love you. Stay safe," he said into the phone.

"I'll do my best." Ziva's voice sounded clear over the phone. "I love you, Tony." The line went dead.

Tony started to say something, but he was too late. He let out a sigh and held the phone to his chest as he looked out the window. Will I ever see her again? He thought to himself. As he did so, a shooting star streaked across the sky, bringing a small smile to Tony's face.

~~A/N: Dear Readers, Thank you for enjoying the chapter, there will be more to come., With this in the advance, thank you for the Reviews, Tweets, Messages and Kudos.