Authors Note: All right folks thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. I just wanted to let you know that for a while I might be having trouble with my writing, and if something doesn't make sense or you are confused about something, please Private Message me and I would be happy to explain it to you. The issue is I recently got devastating news that my Great Grandmother passed away on Oct 24th. She was my world, I was so close to her, all my life. So I am taking it hard. It will take me a long time to be able to think straight but I am trying to keep up with my writing and keep updating.

So please be gentle and nice with your reviews, at least for the next few chapters and if there is something confusing, please just Private Message me and we will go from there. Um as always thanks for sticking with me, remember the more reviews I get the more I want to update.

Also it's time for a poll, in your review let me know if you think she should be pregnant or not? If you say she should be, let me know if you are thinking boy or girl and give me a name for either gender please?

Kris


Chapter 20

Ziva looked up and frowned as the man walked in with Maliek , there was something about this man that was familiar and yet she couldn't figure it out, she couldn't think at the moment. Her head was pounding and she knew the pain was only getting worse. She looked at the television that Maliek had brought in and her eyes went wide, she had been here for a month! Ziva didn't know that, that couldn't be right! There was no way Maliek had managed to keep her here, not like this, not for a whole month! She looked at Maliek and her was smirking.

"Yes, you have been in and out of consciousness, haven't you realized it yet Ziva, I have been beating you and torturing you for a reason. You can barely function, you can't even stay conscious. Most of the time you are out cold, and when you are awake you aren't thinking clearly."Maliek said with a smirk on his face. "This is the man who has been working for the past month, just a few days after I took you he started to work to make a deal to buy you, you see, he plans to make sure you die a slow and painful death." Maliek was laughing loudly.

Ziva was still in shock, how could she had been here a month? She felt the pain throughout her body and she knew that she had been taking a lot of blows, her days had been running into each other, when she was awake, and when she was unconscious it didn't seem to matter, she never really knew how long she was unconscious each time she lost it. She looked at the man again and wondered who he was and what he wanted, why did he want to buy her and why did he want to kill her? She didn't know how many enemies she had out there, but she usually remembered most of their faces and this one she didn't recognize at all. There was something about his eyes, his eyes were familiar in a way, but not as an enemy. Maybe he was related to someone she used to date and he was angry at the end of their relationship and that was why he wanted to kill her? Ziva started to realize something else, if she had been here a month, she had never actually had her menstrual cycle, which could mean she was undernourished, dehydrated or her injuries just blocked her body from having it. Or it could mean that she was carrying baby DiNozzo, that thought scared her more than anything, because she had taken a lot of blows and she was hurt badly, who knew what damage would be done to an unborn kid inside of her from the things Maliek had been doing to her.


Tony was leaning back in his chair, staring at a picture that Abby had taken a long time ago. It was from way before Ziva and Tony had even thought about dating each other, it was just before heading out to Los Angeles. Ziva, Tony and Jenny were standing next to each other, and Ziva and Jenny were laughing about something. Tony hid this picture from Gibbs often, he knew how much Gibbs missed Jenny and so no one wanted to make it worse for him. He wasn't paying attention, and he was facing the other way so the smack to the back of his head surprised him. He jumped out of his chair and hid the picture behind his back as he turned and faced his boss and mentor.

"Boss?" Tony said softly. Tony was a mess, he knew it. The normally well groomed and well dressed agent was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, only because Vance had forced him to change out of the t-shirt and put on the polo shirt for some semblance of professionalism.

"DiNozzo, maybe you should take some personal time?" Gibbs said softly as he sat at his desk.

"No way, boss." Tony said shaking his head. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself and I would probably lose my mind. I started getting my apartment ready for her you know, the first week after she went missing I had all her things moved into my apartment. Then I realized that the apartment was going to be too small, I mean we are talking about kids so I looked for a house and I found one that was awesome, I knew Ziva would like it cause we passed it once on a case and she had said she wanted to live there one day. So I moved all our things into the house, got everything all set after buying it. So now I have that big empty house, and for the last month it's just been me. I have her piano in there you know? She doesn't know how to play really, but she wants learn so I made sure I put it by the window in a place where she would have plenty of light and space if she wanted a teacher to come and give her lessons at the house or something." Tony said, blabbing on and on.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped as he started to get up, thinking about smacking him again.

"Yes boss?" Tony said simply.

"Shut up please." Gibbs said with a sigh. "It's been a month and Vance pulled us from the case for a reason." Gibbs said, although he wasn't happy about being ordered to work other cases and leave Ziva's case alone. Gibbs was sure that Mossad had taken over since NCIS had, had a month and gotten nowhere.

"Yes boss." Tony said nodding his head slowly.

"Tony, we all miss her. I know you miss her more than us, you love her and all but moping isn't going to help. I think that decorating that house for her, maybe getting ideas together for your wedding, that might be helpful. That way when she comes back to us, because she will come back to us, she will have something to work on and something to look at." Gibbs said softly, sighing as he realized his team was suffering.

McGee, Tony and Gibbs had been using a temp to work on their cases now. Aimee was brought in, and she was using the spare desk on the other side of McGee. Her first day she had attempted to sit at Ziva's desk and it was Abby who had snapped at the poor girl. She immediately moved to the desk and she had been sitting there ever since. Gibbs knew that no one really wanted to work on anything but finding their missing team mate, but they had dead marines, and navy sailors that deserved justice every once in a while. Gibbs had just been downstairs with Abby and Ducky and the two of them had been working on another list of possible places where Ziva could be, but everyone was sure that Maliek had taken Ziva back to Israel by now, which was why Mossad had most likely taken over, although if there was any place that they confirmed Ziva was in any country, Gibbs would hop the next flight. Ziva was part of the family, and she was marrying Tony, the happiness that it was clear Tony felt with Ziva was something he deserved, and Gibbs felt like shooting the man who had put the frown and sad look on Tony's face. Even when he attempted to smile, it was never in his eyes and the smile never reached his eyes.


Something wasn't right, Ziva knew that now. She knew something was wrong. Her injuries were bad, she knew they were bad. She most likely needed to see a doctor but they weren't fatal without medical treatment, just extremely painful. She looked over as Maliek and the new man talked and laughed about something. Then Ziva heard the man asked Maliek a question and her eyes went wide. Maliek was out for revenge but someone had hired him to come after Ziva. He was supposed to deliver her to someone else, but the man had offered a better price. Ziva knew that even if she managed to escape these two, she wouldn't be safe and neither would her friends, someone else wanted her dead, they just weren't here yet. She might had a small amount of time where she was safe, but it wouldn't be long before this man decided to take care of her, himself.

Suddenly Maliek was standing there, the deal had been done and he slammed his fist into her face. She was out cold as she heard shouts and loud bangs and she didn't care, she only saw blackness around her and she felt cold fear in her heart.