One Year Later
Ziva sat at her desk, fairly pleased with herself. She had been able to get Gibbs to remember everything, when no one else had been able to. Granted, she had to remember one of the worst days of her life in order to do it, but it was worth it. It was for Gibbs. She had killed Ari for him, so talking about him a year later in order to save him from the confines of his mind would be nothing. But then she looked at the calendar on her desk, and started in surprise. It was the one year anniversary of her brother's death. She shouldn't have let the day take her by surprise, as the others had had a short memorial for Kate not long ago, but it still snuck up on her. She glanced at the book in her desk. She hadn't taken the photos out since she had shown them to Gibbs. Looking around at her coworkers, she saw that they were all talking excitedly, waiting for Gibbs and the director to come out of MTAC. Since they seemed like they would be talking for a while, she put her ninja skills to work and stealthily pulled out the only two pictures she had of her older brother. She looked at the childhood one for a minute, then turned to Paris. That week with her brother was one of the best of her life. They had both taken leave from Mossad to spend time together. It was the last time they were ever a family.
She was so engrossed in the photo of Paris, that she didn't notice when Tony snuck up on her.
Looking over her shoulder, wondering what had her so oblivious to the world around her, he saw her looking at a picture of her and .Ari. Tony felt his blood boil. How could she be looking at that bastard with that small smile on her face? And sitting at Kate's desk? Fuming, he looked closer at the photo she held. They had been told that Ziva was merely his C.O. But it looked like they were more than that. Tony mentally Gibbs slapped himself. Of course, they had been lovers! He should have seen it by how hard she had defended the bastard. Unable to take anymore of that scene, he stomped over and ripped the photo out of her hands. Letting out a surprised gasp, she looked up at him for a moment, then was on her feet in an instant.
"Tony, give that back to me, its private," she demanded.
"Oh, private, is it?" he said loudly, getting McGee, Abby, and Ducky's attention. They turned to see what the commotion was about. "Private because its your photo? Or is it private because you didn't want us to know that Ari was your lover?" he spat.
Ziva was taken aback. She hadn't expected that. "Tony, he wasn't my lover. Now give me my photo back!" she yelled.
Tony looked at her for a moment, and when she made to grab it out of his hands, he ripped it. Then he ripped it again. He did it until he was holding a handful of confetti. As long as he lived, though, he would never be able to get out of his mind her horror stricken look, and the howl of misery she let loose as she knelt to collect the pieces.
Ziva had never let her coworkers see her emotions, even after Gibbs had gotten blown up. It was part of her Mossad training, that emotions were weakness. But now, having the only recent photo of her brother be destroyed in front of her, she couldn't stop the tears. She fell to her knees and hurriedly picked up the pieces before he decided to burn them or something. Tony looked down at her in disgust and moved to walk away. But he stopped at the elevator as Gibbs stormed out of MTAC. Once the boss was back in the squad room, he stopped dead in his tracks, and took in the scene. Tony was as far from Ziva as was possible with a look of disgust; Abby and McGee looked confused, and Ducky looked worried. But what he saw most of was Ziva. The fearless Mossad assassin, bawling on her knees as she picked up tiny pieces of something off the floor.
Gibbs went and knelt next to her, picking up a piece. Looking at it, he saw that it was the fragment of a photo. The piece was so small that the only thing on it was the word "Rue". Realization hit him like a freight train, and he looked at Ziva, understanding her distress. The only recent photo she had of her late older brother was destroyed. He went over to his desk, picked up an envelope, and helped her put all of the pieces into it. Putting it on her desk, he helped her to her feet. He felt like he had two hours ago, to have Ziva crying in his arms. He felt a rage go through him. He knew that she would never destroy that photo. It was one of her most precious possessions. And the confused/worried looks from McGee, Abby and Ducky ruled them out. Looking over at Tony, he saw that the younger man's expression of disgust hadn't changed. He guided the hysterical woman into her chair, and handed her the older photo to help calm her. Kissing her head, he grabbed the envelope of pieces, and went first to his Senior Agent.
"Want to explain, DiNozzo?" he demanded.
Tony looked at his boss, unable to believe this. His boss had helped her pick up the pieces, and had comforted her. Obviously he didn't know.
"Boss, I think that Ari was her lover. I mean, why else would she have a photo of the two of them in Paris?" Tony exploded, then realized he had never scene his boss so mad.
"Maybe because he was her brother!" he hissed quietly, not wanting the others to over hear. "And what's more, she's the one who killed him, not me. She killed her own brother to save my life. Imagine what its been like for her this year, everyone celebrating his death, her having to mourn the loss in secret. The only two pictures she has of him were at her desk, and you just destroyed the only recent one that she owned!" Gibbs growled, keeping his voice low, but white hot anger radiated off of him. Turning his back, he couldn't even look at DiNozzo right now. Holding the envelope, he went to Abby. Pulling her aside, he handed it to her. "Can you fix it?" he asked quietly. She was the only one he knew with the skills who could do it.
She stared at him as she took the envelope. "I don't know what's going on, Gibbs. Is this something I should do?" she asked, not looking at him, keeping her eyes on the pieces.
Gibbs put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. "It would mean a lot to me, and to Ziva, if you would do what you could to fix it, maybe print a new one?"
She studied his face for a moment, then nodded. One of the first things he had done when he had gotten back was to defend Ziva. She knew that if he said she should do something, she should do it.
"I don't know how long it will take," she whispered. "There's a lot of pieces."
"Not a problem," he whispered back, then shouted, "DiNozzo! You're helping Abby!" Gibbs was pleased to see that Tony at least had the good sense to look like a dog with his tail between his legs as he walked over and went with Abby down to her lab. "Abs," he called, making her walk back up to him. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her head. "Thank you," he whispered, putting a lot of meaning into it.
If nothing else would have made her work on the photo, it was the raw emotion in his voice. She nodded, and went with Tony back to her lab.
Gibbs looked at the other two, McGee and Ducky. McGee started.
"Boss, is it true?" he asked quietly. "Her lover?"
"No, McGee. She loved him, but never like that," Gibbs said, not wanting to give the whole truth. McGee simply nodded, satisfied with the answer. He had always accepted that the Israeli had a past. What mattered to him was who she is, not who she was.
"Will she be alright, Jethro?" Ducky asked.
"She will be, as soon as Abby and DiNozzo fix that photo," Gibbs said, just as quietly. The three of them looked over at her desk, and none of them were really surprised to find it empty. She had left in all of the excitement. Gibbs walked over, and was honestly shocked when he found the childhood photo lying on her desk in plain sight. He had only seen it that once, nearly a year ago. Maybe she thought that the only way to stay on the team was to offer a sacrifice, and that was both photos. Gibbs growled low in his throat. She had paid her dues. She didn't owe the team, in fact, he believed that the team owed her. But he would worry about that later. Right now, he was starting to feel the side effects of being blown up, and knew he should lie down. Looking at McGee, he asked if the Junior Agent would give him a lift home, since Ziva had been his ride to NCIS. He agreed hurriedly, and the three left.