Still learning the world of writting and this chapter sounds a bit cliche. Please review and tell me if it is or not! :)

Chapter 2: Explanations

To make Kilman feel a bit more comfortable, the team set him up in a room that looked a lot like the directors office. He sat at the end of the table, calmer then he was a few hours previous.

"And you're sure you don't know of anyone mad enough at your wife to come after her?" Tony asked as his arms crossed loosely at his chest. Kilman shook his head 'no'.

"Get into any arguments yourself?" Ziva added. That was when Kilman looked up at her.

"You think some bastard cam after my wife and baby girl to get back at me?" He was more saddened by this then angry.

"It is possible. Many people think coming after things their enemies love is worse then actually harming their enemy…" Ziva trailed off when she saw Gibbs looking at her.

"…I just want my Charlotte back." Robert put his head down and raked his fingers through his hair. Ziva looked away too, tears threatened to wash over her eyelids. She knew how terrible something like this was.

"Sir, I know this is hard for you, but we have next to no leads and anything you ca—" Tony started but was cut off by Kilman.

"I was in a bad place for most of my life. Stuck in my own personal hell and not knowing which way was up." He looked up and his eyes locked on Ziva's. "Then I found Claire. At first I thought she would just be another one-nighter but we got to talking while at the bar. She was wonderful. I knew, after that conversation that she was so much more than what I had originally thought of her." Tony went to start again but, "I told her about my past. The drinking, the drugs; she helped me through it all and I pledged to help her with whatever she needed. When she got pregnant, I stood by her side, helping her like I had promised." Ziva felt her face go slightly warm and she grinned. "We named our baby girl after her mother. I never thought I would love something as much as I did Claire, but then came little Charlotte." Kilman smirked and quickly chuckled, remembering back to a fun time the three of them had. Soon, that smile faded and was replaced with another frown. His eyes glistened with tears to come, but like Ziva, held them back with all his might. "But… now they're gone. Both of them, and I'll probably never see them again. Do you have any kids?" It seemed as if Gibbs and Tony had both disappeared from the room long ago and there was a lengthy pause. Then Ziva whispered back,

"I did…"

"Then you know what it is like to loose something so close to you. You know that feeling. It eats you alive to want them back and the possibility of maybe never seeing them again, don't you?" the tears were coming faster and Ziva's lip quivered. She broke the stare between them and she looked down at her fingernails. "Don't you?" Kilman asked again, his voice a little lower the second time around. Ziva nodded, felt a tear escape and fall onto the top of her hand. She wiped it away before going up to her eyes and brushing away the others. "You need to help my find not only my wife's killer but my Charlotte's kidnapper." Kilman was still stifling back thick tears, but his hands had started to tremble like they had in the interrogation room earlier.

Ziva looked up, her eyes were red and starting on their road to puffiness. "I will do everything I can, I promise." She assured Kilman. Ziva felt a hand touch her shoulder and she jumped slightly. She looked behind her and saw Tony. She stood and Tony thanked Kilman for his time. Gibbs opened the door, allowed the two other agents to walk through it before following.

"What are you doing? You can't go getting all emotional and promising things so far-fetched, Zi!" Tony started in on Ziva as they stood in the little nook under the stairs. "He's going to get his hopes up, Ziva. What if we can't find his kid?"

"We will. I will. No matter what." Her voice was still raspy from crying a few minutes before. There was a long silence as Tony tried to figure out where Ziva was coming from; then,

"Was that thing about having a kid… true? Or were you just…" Tony stopped when he saw Ziva make eye contact with him. "Oh, Zi… I'm—I," Not knowing the whole story, Tony couldn't properly finish. Thankfully, Ziva put up a hand, not wanting his pity. Tony trusted that she would tell him when she was ready. He wasn't about to force her. Ziva shifted her weight to her other foot. Back again. Then, she walked around the stairs and back to her desk, not saying a word. Tony nodded to himself and made his way to his own desk.

It was getting dark out and the rest of the team had already gone home. Not Ziva; or Tony for that matter. He was hoping, at some point, Ziva would be comfortable enough to tell him what had happened so long ago. Keys on keyboards tapped, pens wrote on paper and computer mice clicked. Without warning,

"It was…" Tony looked up and Ziva turned her head slightly, her eyes closed, remembering back to something long forgotten. "…nearly seven years ago; before I came to NCIS. I was still working with Mossad, with my father. I had gotten together with one of his men and…" Ziva stopped again, holding back tears she's already held back for so long. "After I told him I was… pregnant, he walked out. Like he didn't even know I existed." Tony looked down, not knowing what to say. "I was not fit to bring a life into a world full of death and lies, Tony. After she was born, I wanted to give her up for adoption, but my father insisted I keep it. Something to keep me remembering the decision I had made. When she was one, there was a bombing in the streets by my home. the two floors above mine collapsed... both her and the babysitter were..." Tony looked back up, noticing Ziva had her head in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Ziva."

Ziva nodded, wiped her eyes, turned off the desk lamp and stood. "There is nothing to be sorry about, Tony." Ziva grabbed her bag from the floor and started to walk away. She turned, halfway down the hall and continued. "But thank you."

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