AN: So I've decided to make this a two chapter fic. I had major writer's block when I had finished this chapter, and that was before the season finale. After the season finale when we learned so much new stuff… I have no idea what to think now. Only that I cannot wait until September!!
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own NCIS. I do, however, own NCIS: Los Angeles. Did you buy that? No, didn't think so. Please read and review! I love checking my email and seeing that I get reviews :)!
The three men looked on surprised as the two women hugged each other, each crying hysterically. Tony was shocked; he had only seen her eyes well up once, when she had watched Gibbs deliver the news of Lee's death to her younger sister. The only one present who had Ziva behave this way was Gibbs, and that too, was over discussing a sibling.
"Did she say, 'Tali'?" McGee whispered in his ear. Tony's eyes widened in realization.
"I lost my little sister, Tali, to a Hamas suicide bomber. She was sixteen and the best of us," Ziva had once told him long ago.
"I think that's her sister," he muttered back to McGee, not taking his eyes off of Ziva, who was now grabbing Sophie's… Tali's face in her hands and speaking rapid Hebrew to her. The women were now beginning a scene, as more agents began to look on. Different expressions of shock, disbelief, and awe spanned everyone's faces; no one had seen the hard Officer David in any state of emotion.
Gibbs touched Ziva's shoulder lightly. "Let's go upstairs. Bring this to the conference room." Ziva nodded, and wrapped her arm tightly around the younger girl's shoulders. Gibbs began to follow them up the stairs when he turned around and looked at his two agents. "You coming, or waiting for an invitation?" The two men jumped and ran to catch up.
~*~
Gibbs closed the door, allowing the two women in the conference room to have some privacy while they caught up. "Do either of you have any idea who that is?" He asked his agents.
"Tali, Ziva's younger sister," Tony began.
"I thought she was killed."
"So did Ziva, apparently. She told me once, before she had started working here, that Tali had been killed by a Hamas suicide bomber when she was sixteen. I guess she wasn't," Tony answered.
"You think, DiNozzo?" Gibbs sighed. "You think the Director of Mossad knows his younger daughter is alive?"
Tony hadn't even thought of that. Would her father be elated that his daughter was alive, or angry that she hadn't gone to him? Surely, he couldn't know she wasn't dead; he would have let Ziva know right away. Wouldn't he?
~*~
Ziva had never really been an affectionate person. She normally shied away from hugs or most forms of contact, something she had to grow used to once Abby finally warmed up to her. And while she accepted the hugs from her co-worker, she was never the one to initialize any contact.
But this was her sister sitting in front of her. Her sister, who she long believed to be dead, was sitting, breathing, quite alive, with her. She had to hug her, to hold her, to make sure she was real, and not her mind playing a cruel trick on her.
"Tali," She said, stroking her younger sister's face, tears welling up in her eyes. "What happened? The café… I saw it. It was blown up completely. There weren't any survivors. How?" She asked in her native tongue.
"I'm not exactly sure. I was standing outside, waiting for Sophie to come back outside, and the next thing I remember, I was waking up on a private plane with people speaking German around me." She began, also in Hebrew. "Sophie was the target, you know. Not me. It was never about me."
"Sophie? Sophie Haas?" Ziva asked. Ziva remembered the girl well; she was Tali's best friend. She was killed in the attack, but her body was able to be identified. Tali's body was never found… they just assumed one of the many charred bodies that were unidentifiable belonged to her…
Tali nodded. "Her older brother had killed a Hamas soldier. His brother wanted revenge. A sibling for a sibling." Tali became silent, remembering her best friend.
"How are you still alive, Tali?" Ziva asked, shaking her sister's shoulder.
"I really do not know. I remember waiting outside of the café, holding Sophie's purse, while she ran back inside for something. When I woke up, I was on a private plan, with tubes coming out of me and wires all around me. I had no idea who I was, where I was, where I was going. An older man came and sat next to me. He introduced himself as Rudolph Rhefeldt, and that he worked for the German government. He had heard of a possible Hamas attack on the café, and knew the target was a girl named Sophie Haas. He told me I was Sophie, and that he was taking me to Germany to escape the Hamas. If they thought I was dead, they would not come after me. I told him I did not remember any of that, nor did I remember anything about myself. He told me all I needed to know was that my name was now Sophie Rhefeldt, and that I would be living in Germany soon.
"And that was that. I remembered nothing, but I believed this man. He became like a father to me, and helped me gain a new life. I went to a university, I danced, I lived…" She trailed off, looking down. "It wasn't until three years ago that I remembered anything. I was in the airport, coming back from the university for a break, when I ran into your friend, Agent DiNozzo." Ziva's eyes widened, not quite understanding.
"I was intrigued by this man; he is, after all, quite handsome," Tali smiled as Ziva's eyes flickered with a strange type of emotion. Passion, perhaps? Tali chuckled at her sister's expression. "He did not notice me. I was learning English at that point, and wondered if I could understand his conversation he was having with a flight attendant," she said. Ziva rolled her eyes… typical Tony, chatting up a flight attendant.
"He mentioned your name," Tali said, looking at Ziva. The older woman furrowed her brows, confused. "He said, and I do believe these were his exact words, 'she is a kick-ass ninja.' He then told her that you were from Israel, a Mossad agent." She paused, enjoying her older sister's expressions.
"For some reason I could not understand, your name was so familiar to me. At this point, I believed myself to be an Israeli refugee whose family was killed on the Gaza strip. I did not know why I would have connections to Mossad, or why the name 'Ziva' was so familiar to me. Then I remembered. I remembered everything.
"It was… quite painful for me to remember. I knew that Sophie, the real Sophie, must be dead. I remembered who I was, Tali David, not Sophie Haas, or Sophie Rhefeldt. When I went home that night, I told Rudolph who I really was, and that I remembered everything. He felt terrible. He thought that he didn't save anyone's life, only kidnapped the Deputy Director of Mossad's daughter. He wanted to call the embassy, and I told him no."
Ziva looked up curiously. "Father does not know you're alive?"
Tali shook her head. "I am not sure I want him to know, either."
"Tali…"
"No, Ziva. I cannot go back to Mossad." She smiled wryly. "I have seen how life can be lived without war. Without constantly having to look over your shoulder. Without worrying that the person next to you might have a bomb strapped to his chest, or that your own friend might betray you." She looked down. "I heard about Ari."
Ziva's eyes welled up again. "He went rogue," She said.
Tali nodded. "I know. He was not the same person after he returned from living with his mother. He was no longer our brother."
Ziva wrapped her arms around Tali again, pulling her into a hug. Even though she was younger than Ziva, she was always the wiser one. Ziva worked with her instincts and her gut. Tali worked with compassion and thought.
There was a knock at the door. Ziva jumped back and wiped her eyes. Gibbs opened the door and entered. "The Director would like to know when he can schedule a conference with the Director of Mossad. This is not a secret that he can hide. Tali, you will have to face your father today."
Tali nodded, and grabbed her sister's hand. "I will not go back to Mossad, Ziva, but please, do not do anything rash with Aba. He always favored you. I was never fit for Mossad." She smiled wryly again. Ziva nodded, and kissed her sister's forehead. There was no way she was going to lose her sister to her father.