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"EVERYTHING"
Chapter VI - Bodies & Facts
"Ziva?" Bishop stood up from her desk and walked over to McGee. Both looking at each other in total disbelief.
"Uh huh ..." Was McGee's only reply.
Bishop scratched her head, "As in former Israeli Mossad assassin turned American NCIS agent, Ziva?"
"Uh huh ..."
"Like, the agent I was hired to replace, Ziva?"
"Uh huh ..."
"Ziva David? Tony's Ziva?"
"Yes Ellie!" McGee finally snapped back out of his confused haze. "Tony's Ziva!"
Bishop shook her head slowly. "That's impossible", she whispered as she put her hand on McGee's shoulder, "Tim, she's dead."
He shrugged her hand off his shoulder and stepped back, eyes glazed over in pain mixed with possible hope. "I know what I heard."
"McGee, you said you were having an off day. Clearly, it is a VERY off day because Ziva David is dead. She's been dead for four months now. You stood here beside me and watched her house burn to the ground. You're the one that gave the confirmation to DiNozzo that she died in the fire. How the hell is it that she's calling you now?"
"They never found her body ..."
Bishop sighed and tried desperately to get through to her partner, "Tim, please, don't do this to yourself. Whoever that was that called was not Ziva. It is impossible."
"Is it", he asked harshly.
"Yes! Very much so!"
"They never found her body!" He repeated again, more sternly this time. His voice unwavering, telling of the confident realization he had yet to speak aloud. Ziva's alive!
Bishop couldn't understand why he kept pressing the point. "Her house was attacked by mortar, Tim. You saw the pictures and videos of the damage. There's no way she got out of there alive!"
"Tali did", he stated bluntly.
"Yeah, by a miracle."
"Hmph, you don't know Ziva, Ellie."
She looked at him with a puzzled face, "No, I DIDN'T know Ziva. But, I do know what the reports say!"
"Reports can be wrong sometimes. Even altered to hide the truth to protect others."
"Reports are facts, Tim!"
"Reports are bullshit, Bishop!"
The rare choice of using an expletive by McGee caused Bishop to cringe. Realizing how heated the topic had become, she spoke in a much calmer tone, "What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said", he scoffed. "Reports. Are. Bullshit! The 'facts' as you call them, are not always as they appear, Ellie. Case in point, eleven years ago, when Agent Caitlin Todd was killed— we tracked down her killer, Ziva's brother .. a rogue officer and terrorist named Ari Haswari. The guy was hell bent on taking all of us out to make Gibbs suffer and, ultimately, he wanted to kill Gibbs too. When the time came, Ari had Gibbs cornered in his basement; ready to kill him. But, instead, Ari took a bullet right in the head, same way Kate did ... Your precious reports that you believe so much as fact, are altered to say that Gibbs killed Ari. The REAL fact is that Ziva killed her own brother to save Gibbs."
"But ...", Bishop was momentarily stunned at the news. She took a moment to think then spoke again, Why would Gibbs falsify the report?"
"To protect Ziva, plain and simple."
Bishop ran her fingers through her hair and sighed, "That doesn't make sense. Why break protocol? Why lie about the facts? The killing was justified, no matter which one of them pulled the trigger."
"Because, Ellie, sometimes the real facts put you in more danger than the lies do."
"I still don't understand what this has to do with why you think Ziva is the woman on that voicemail. There's no way those reports were altered. There was no reason to do it."
"Ziva's life was in danger. Plus she had Tali, that's plenty of reason to lie about her death."
Bishop threw up her hands in partial defeat. "I don't get it!"
"It doesn't matter", his jaw clenched as the weight of what he was saying hit him hard. "There's no point in trying to explain it. You would have to know Ziva to understand."
"Understand what McGee?" Both agents looked to the entrance of the bullpen to see Gibbs had returned with his coffee.
McGee looked his boss dead in the eye, "You would have to know Ziva to understand why Tali made it out of that farmhouse alive."
"Explain", is all Gibbs said as he walked over to his agents.
"Ziva is fierce and strong. Just like you Boss, she's always two moves ahead of her opponent. It's nearly impossible to get the drop on her. She's a real life ninja. There is no way that Tali made it out of that farmhouse alive without Ziva making it happen. She's saved us countless times because she always looked beyond what was in front of her and knew when something was coming. You think that ability would decrease after having a baby? If anything, having Tali had to make Ziva more alert and vigilant. Tali got out because Ziva knew what was coming! You can't tell me she didn't have a plan of escape."
"Mhm", Gibbs mulled it over in his head. Secretly, he felt the same way too but he wasn't going to tell his senior field agent that. Not until he knew where McGee's head was completely. "So, why is relevant right now?"
"McGee thinks Ziva called him a little while ago and left a voicemail with only her crying into the phone. The woman never said a word but, apparently, he thinks he knows who it is by just the sound of her cries", Bishop blurted out.
"I don't think, I know", McGee huffed.
Gibbs face stayed neutral, as it was most of the time. His blue eyes locked onto McGee as he asked, "Been a long time. How do you know it's Ziva?"
"It may have been a rare occurrence Boss, but I have heard those cries before. Someone as strong as Ziva, who rarely showed sad emotions, you never forget what her cries sound like when she finally shatters. Never! The cries on my voicemail were the same cries I heard that night when she saw her father's dead body on the director's living room floor. That sound is embedded in my brain. There's no mistaking it. I know it's her, Boss."
"Tim", Bishop tried again. Still not comprehending how she wasn't able to get through to him and even more confused now that Gibbs seemed to be going along with it. "Please, don't do this to yourself. You can't believe that a dead woma ..."
"THEY NEVER FOUND HER BODY!"
The outburst made Bishop give up completely and strink into herself while Gibbs, on the other hand, showed a rare smirk and nodded his head. "He's right, Bishop."
"What!?"
"They never found her body", Gibbs voice was even and low. "And it's true, ya never forget that sound."
"Gibbs, you can't be serious right now."
"Oh, but I am." He looked at McGee who was staring down at his phone while trying to even out his breathing, "McGee!?"
"Yeah, Boss?"
"Trace the number she called you from. See if you can get a fix. Then try to track down DiNozzo. I know he's been off the grid for a while, but he'll wanna know about us looking into this again so we have to find him. Bishop, bring up the file we have on Ziva's death. Go through the photos again, and the videos. Pull up the reports on Farsoun and Kort. Get me some answers. I'll be up with Vance if you need me."
Bishop stood immobile for a moment as McGee started working and Gibbs turned to leave again. In a snap decision, she grabbed Gibbs wrist to stop him for some final clarity as she asked, "What kind of answers are we looking for exactly, Gibbs? Ziva's dead. I don't understand, why are you reopening this case?"
Gibbs looked at her with intensity as he pulled his wrist from her grasp. "Like McGee said, they never found Ziva's body. We don't know for sure. Mossad wasn't exactly clear on it. And I get that you don't understand. You don't know her, but Tim and I do. She was one of us. One of mine! My kid! McGee's sister! She moves differently, in ways you may never perceive." He echoed McGees earlier sentiments as he walked towards the stairs, "You don't need to understand, Bishop. Just follow orders and find her! Case doesn't close until we get a body. And, since we don't have one, case is still open! We're four months behind, so get to work!"
Ugh! I'm totally behind on school work but I just love this story so much! LoL
Thanks for all the positive reviews thus far! Y'all rock! Best peeps ever!
Welp, this time I'm really going to do homework ... I think. Haha! Later peeps!
- Chide