Just a short chapter... Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Disclaimed

Ziva lay in bed early the next morning, she hadn't slept much during the night, and she had too much on her mind. She rolled over from her back to her side to look at her clock. It was 3:00am. She returned home from her fathers place at around 11:00pm, the training didn't feel as hard this time. Maybe it was because she was distracted, maybe it was because she was getting used to the training, maybe it was both.

She turned back on to her back and stared at the ceiling. She was thinking about the day before events and the plans for the next week.

What happened with Bazak scared her, she wouldn't admit it, but she was only human and it did scare her. He had never made an advance on her like that, to see him alone with out his side kicks had never happened before. Twice in the same day she had seen him without them. It worried her that this might not be the last time he attempts to do that.

She knew why she couldn't get to sleep. She was too wound up, she found herself worrying over the day that had just been and about what she was about to get her self into. She knew that she may not be able to keep her promise to her friend and her sister. Only five people knew she was going. The one person who perhaps needed to know the most didn't.

If she died while on the mission, without telling her mother, her mother would never get closer, she would find out how but it wouldn't be the same. She would feel betrayed, like Ziva didn't trust her enough. That was far from the truth. Ziva knew that telling her mother would result in banning Ziva from going. Ziva wouldn't have that, she is her own person who can make her own decisions, she concluded.

She fell into a short uneasy sleep only to be woken up by her alarm what felt like a few minutes later. She turned and hit her alarm, when it didn't turn off she all but threw it of the night stand and attempted to get back to sleep.

Her mother rushed into her room. When she saw her daughter sprawled out, lying on her stomach with her face turned to the side. She was a bit surprised, Ziva always got up before her alarm, and she immediately suspected the worst. She walked over to her and sat on the side of the bed. This slightly jolted the bed causing Ziva to wake for a millisecond then quickly falling back to sleep. She put her hand on Ziva's back and shook her a little. Ziva woke and all but jumped out of her bed, "Are you okay?" asked her mother.

Ziva lied her head back down onto her pillow, closed her eyes, and nodded. She looked at her daughter doubtfully, "Then what is a matter Ziva?" she asked.

"Tired," she heard Ziva's muffled voice say, "I'll be up in a minute,"

"Okay," she said and walked out as Ziva fell back to sleep.

This is what lack of sleep does to you Ziva told herself as she dragged herself out of bed. She went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. Then she quickly got changed and raced down the halls to the kitchen and grabbed the nearest suitable food for breakfast.

She finished eating and then realize that she wasn't as late as she thought she was, Tali was still in her pyjamas and her long dark curly hair was still a mess.

"Wow, and I thought I was late she said," cheekily smiling at her sister, who glared back. Tali was not a morning person, but she was extremely good at multitasking and Ziva knew that she would be ready in around five minutes.

Ziva had been asked by multiple people in the past week what she wanted to do for her birthday and she kept saying that she didn't want to do anything; Ziva didn't like to be centre of attention. It was now one day from her 17th birthday and she still had nothing planned. She saw it as just any other day, just another day older.

When she told this to Adara and Kalev their mouths dropped open and they stared at her, "Seriously?" asked Kalev, putting his food on the bench they were sitting on.

"Yes. I don't think I have been excited for my birthday since I was about ten. It's not that I don't see the point in it, it's just that I don't want to be celebrated," she explained, "I will not be doing anything this year because I won't be here on the week end, I will be preparing for my mission. Which you can't tell anyone about," she finished.

"You don't want to be celebrated?" exclaimed a shocked Adara.

"No, I don't like the attention," Ziva said.

"Right then. When does your assignment finish?" she then asked.

"Whatever you're planning, Adara, get it out of you head," she said, reading her friend.

"Answer the question," Adara demanded back.

"I don't know. It could be a few weeks; it could be a few months,"

"Fine," said a defeated and now slightly grumpy Adara, "Just tell us when you get back,"

Ziva nodded. Kalev rolled his eyes.

That night at her fathers house, she found out she wouldn't be using an alias as her cover but her cover would still be deep. Her father told her that it would be hard to fond her true identity without someone tipping them off or running a facial recognition, and even then, Ziva doubted whether she was even in that system.

The only problem was that if she was made, then she would be in a lot of trouble, which was her greatest concern. Her father told her not to worry. That everyone on first missions would go through the same thing.

Tonight it was only Eli and Ziva, Ari was out. They didn't know why, but Ziva suspected it was his new girlfriend that no one knew about and Ziva only suspected. Eli got her straight into training, it didn't progressively get harder this time, Ziva noticed, it was harder straight away and kept getting harder every time they started a new activity. He pushed Ziva to her limits.

"I think you're ready," Eli told her at the end of the training. Those four words meant more to her than Eli could begin to imagine. Ari arrived at the same time that her training finished. She climbed into his car and he drove back to her mother's house.

Reviews will really make me update quicker, so please review.