Day 3 - Early Morning

I really love this chapter. I'm highly biased, but I think it's beautiful. Sad, but beautiful. lol. Hope ya'll like it as mch as I do.

VillageVoice

Ziva shot up in bed. Something wasn't right, she could feel it. It was enough of a feeling to wake her from sleep, yet not obvious enough to wake Abby. She slipped out of bed without so much as wrinkling a sheet and crept over to the window, peeking out through the tiny space between the window shade and the wall that allowed a tiny sliver of early morning light to shine in. She slipped out of the room a second later. The door was already shut when she remembered that her gun was under her pillow. She wasn't going to risk disturbing Abby and losing whoever was watching them. She had another one hidden in the living room and she had a few of her knives hidden among the cutlery in the kitchen as well as a few under the coffee table in the living room and one behind the mirror by the door. Despite working with weapons on a daily basis Abby didn't especially like having them in the house. She understood Ziva's service weapon, but that was as far as she budging on the issue. So Ziva kept them well hidden.

She avoided the noisy floorboards and stayed low she made her way to the center of the living room and ripped her gun out from its holster strapped firmly underneath the couch. She has spotted one, but it was still mostly dark outside so she had no idea how many people were actually watching the apartment. She threw on her shoes, tied her hair up, grabbed the knife from behind the mirror and locked the front door behind herself as she dashed down the hall and down the back stairs. Once out of the building she hugged the wall, her trip down the back stairs bringing her around to the other side of the building so that whoever's eyes were trained on Abby's bedroom window now had their back to her.

She hid behind a car parked by the curb and watched the strange man for a minute. He kept his eyes on the binoculars and the binoculars focused on the 3rd floor corner window – Abby's bedroom. She took cover behind a passing car to cross to the other side of the street and hid behind the suspect's car. She shook her head at this man's total obliviousness. If she were back in Israel with Mossad she would kill him for such careless errors. Carelessness cost lives and valuable information to get into the wrong hands. But she was not in Israel, so she sufficed by slashing his back tires. She had her gun aimed right between his eyes when he jumped out of the car.

He dropped his weapon and kicked it toward Ziva. Ziva cast a quick glance around them and saw no one else. She bent down and quickly picked up the second weapon. "Who are you?"

The man remained silent. Ziva cocked her weapon and took a step closer. "My father sent you. Why?"

"Why do you think?"

"I would have thought he would have sent someone stronger. I broke you with my second question; you are not very far from an entry-level Mossad officer. I doubt you are even an officer yet. This is your entry assignment, yes?"

"And if it is?"

"Well them you failed." She had him on his knees with one swift, high kick to the side of his head. "You are expendable. My father thinks I would kill you and so sent the lowest person he could think of."

"Being low in the Director's eyes is a lot higher than most."

"You are right." Ziva nodded. She took the clip out of his gun and threw it down beside him, tucking the full clip into the back of her pants. "But I am not going to kill you. Tell the Director I still have two days." She knocked him out with a sharp blow to the head and ran back across the street. The back-up would arrive when he failed to check-in in an hour or so. He should be conscious by then.

"Ziva."

Ziva stepped out of the elevator. "Gibbs."

Gibbs pulled her to the side. "I'm sorry we had to pull you away. Given the circumstances I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to."

"Apologizing is a sign of weakness Gibbs."

Gibbs shook his head. "Not among friends."

Ziva nodded, appreciating how hard it had to be for Gibbs to apologize. "What have we got?"

"Is Abby safe?"

Ziva wrinkled her brow in confusion. "There was one guy outside the apartment at 06:00, but I took care of him and there was no one there when I left. I left her a message to call me when she wakes up."

"Is she safe?"

Gibbs wasn't talking about the guy outside the apartment this morning. "Yes. What is going on?"

Gibbs steered Ziva in the direction of their desks. She sat down and Gibbs popped a picture up on the plasma. It was the guy she caught spying on them a few hours earlier. He was dead. "We have a dead Mossad officer."

"He was not dead when I left him this morning. Bruised, yes, probable concussion, yes, but dead . . . no." She up toward MTAC. "I have a call to make."

Gibbs, Tony and McGee watched her climb the stairs and head into the Director's office. "You don't really think she would . . ? Do you?" McGee asked.

"No." Tony said. "Definitely not. I mean, look at this guy." He stood up and turned to the plasma. "He's a mess."

"Ziva knows how to kill without leaving a mark." McGee said.

Tony nodded. "My point exactly. He's all bloody and bruised and . . ." He tilted his head to get a different view of the picture. ". . twisted. This is not the work of our super ninja spy."

Gibbs looked up in time to see Ziva enter MTAC. A few seconds later people exited the room. Gibbs stood up and headed up the stairs. How many times was one of his agents going to be blamed for a crime they didn't commit? He climbed the stairs and put the file he had just been looking at in the door as the last person exited to prevent it from closing. Once they were gone he slipped in and hid in a shadow in the back of the room.

"Ah, Ziva. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Eli David showed up on the screen in the center of the room.

Ziva folded her arms over her chest. "Skip the pleasantries, I am in no mood."

"That is no way to talk to your father, Ziva."

"And this is no way to treat your daughter, Director." Ziva stated, staring at her father on the screen. "You had the man you sent to spy on me killed not even two hours after I left him unconscious. I did not kill him, so that means that you sent him on a suicide mission. I was not meant to kill him, so the only people left are the men who came to get him half an hour after I left him. Most likely to have it look like I killed him, but I would never be that sloppy. They did a good job at making it look like my work though." She played with the knife in her hands. "Same knife, yes?"

"They will be severely punished for such 'sloppy' acts."

Gibbs hoped to God this was being recorded.

"I learned how to kill without leaving a mark my first day in Mossad. Are you just taking people off the street and sending them here? It makes sense, harder for them to be traced back to Mossad if they are not, in fact, Mossad."

Eli smiled. "You are too smart for your own good Ziva."

Ziva looked away. "Why?"

"We had a deal Ziva."

"Yes, and that deal gave me four days here, with Abby."

Eli shook his head. "You underestimate me Ziva. I said I would give you four days and allow you to say goodbye. I did not say that I would allow you to continue sleeping with this woman."

"You agreed to leave us alone for four days."

"I lied."

Ziva turned away from the screen for a second and looked back up with cold eyes. "I want to stay here, with Abby and NCIS. I have no desire to be associated with Mossad any longer."

"NCIS doesn't want you Ziva. You are too much of a risk."

"I spoke to the Director a minute ago and he agreed. Special Agent status effective-"

"Leon lied to you as well. He would never agree to such a thing without speaking with me first."

"He already did."

Eli took a moment. "I will speak with him later."

Ziva shook her head. "I am happy here. I have a good job and friends. Someone . . . Someone I can see myself spending the rest of my life with, and that is not easy for me as you have made sure. You have stolen my mother from me, my sister, my brother, my childhood, my life…" She took a deep breath and calmed herself from getting any louder. "Is that not enough? What more do you want from me?"

Eli turned back to his work. "It was a mistake sending you to America. You have gotten too soft Ziva. Emotions have no place in our line of work."

No longer being able to stand still from the extent of her rage, Ziva began pacing around in front of the large screen to keep herself from breaking something. "This is not work. This is my life, these people are my family. What you are doing . . . not only is it hurting me, but it is hurting Abby. I know you do not care about her, but she does not deserve this. She is innocent. Her only crime was falling in love with me." She stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at the screen. "Damn it! I do not want to live without her! You can do whatever you want to me, but leave Abigail out of this."

Eli cast a quick glance up at his daughter's sharp tone before returning to his work. "You have lived without her before Ziva, you will do it again."

Ziva turned around and slammed her fists down on the nearest table. "I can't."

"You already have." Eli responded, eyes never leaving his paperwork.

"That was before I met Abby." She turned back around to face the screen. "I cannot go back from that now."

Eli leaned back in his chair, watching as Ziva paced. "You really love this woman?"

Ziva stopped. "Yes."

"Enough to give everything up for her?"

"Yes."

Eli looked deep into his daughter's eyes. He had never read something so clear in any of the eyes he had ever looked into. "Forget about her." He finally said.

Ziva swore in every language that came to her and resumed her pacing.

"Ziva this is for your own good."

"No! No it is not. It is not for my own good."

"You will thank me for this one day."

Ziva's head whipped forward and looked into the older man's eyes. He couldn't possibly believe what he was saying. "Do not count on it."

"I want you back in Israel tomorrow."

"I have two days left. You said I could stay here."

"Not anymore. Tomorrow Ziva. Or this man will not go away and you can spend the rest of your life in an American prison. As for this woman-"

"Do you even want a daughter?" She asked incredulously. "Or just someone who will follow your orders? I am done." Eli looked up. "I am done with Mossad. I am done with the fighting and the week, month, yearlong undercover missions. I am done waking up in strange hospitals trying to remember where I am and what my cover is. I am done running . . . I am done with all of the lies. I am done."

"Your flight leaves at nine pm, your time."

The video feed was cut and Ziva threw her headset across the room. Gibbs stepped out of the shadow. "Four days to thirteen hours."

Ziva turned and walked out of the room. "I need to speak with Abby."

Abby came out of the living room upon hearing the front door open and close. "Oh hey Baby." She stuck her fork into the stack of pancakes on the plate in her hands. "Thanks for the pancakes. They're amazing." Ziva stayed glued to the doorway and her eyes focused on the rug in front of her. Abby set the plate down, keeping her eyes on Ziva. "What happened?"

Ziva remained just inside the door's threshold, but finally looked up. The millisecond the first tear slid down her cheek Abby crossed the distance and wrapped her arms around the Israeli. Ziva completely lost it. "I'm so sorry Abby. . . I am so, so sorry."

Abby wrapped her arms tighter around Ziva as the younger woman completely collapsed. Abby was able to guide them to the floor without too much difficulty. "Ziva." She brought her hands to Ziva's face and forced Ziva to look up. "This is ridiculous. What is going on?"

"I never should have brought you into this."

"Brought me into what?" Abby was beyond panicked at this point. "Ziva talk to me. Please!"

Ziva pulled away and looked up at Abby. How was she supposed to give her up? How was she supposed to give up the one good thing that had ever happened to her? How could she go on knowing that Abby was living and breathing in the same world she was, yet having no idea if the forensic scientist was okay? "I have to go back."

"Back where?"

"Israel." Ziva replied. As much as she tried, it had been quite a while since she had been able to call Israel home.

"That's it?" Abby chuckled nervously. "You had me worried. I'm sorry that I've made you feel so bad about leaving. I know it's your home and your family is there. I'll miss you, but you won't be gone that long right? A few days? . . A week? . . A few weeks? . . A month?" Abby kept going as Ziva remained silent. "Longer?" She paled. "When are you coming back?"

"I am not coming back, Abby."

Abby took a few slow, deep breaths in an attempt to slow her rapidly beating heart. She felt every ounce of air leave her body in a mass exodus. This wasn't happening. It was all a dream and she would wake-up when it was over and she and Ziva would have a good laugh about it. It wasn't possible that her entire life was falling apart in a single moment. Not when everything was better than she had ever allowed herself to dream it would be. "What do you mean you're not coming back?"

Ziva looked up, down, around; everywhere but into Abby's eyes. "Please do not make me say it again Abby."

"Why?"

"My father found out about us." Was all Ziva said. Abby didn't need to know about all the threats or the man lying in autopsy with all evidence pointing to Ziva as the one who put him there. "He has ordered me back to Mossad."

Abby jumped up and started pacing back and forth, back and forth. "We can go somewhere." She pleaded. "We can become different people, start a new life."

"I cannot do that to you Abby."

"You wouldn't be doing it to me Ziva. We'd be doing it together."

"You need NCIS Abby. NCIS needs you – Gibbs, McGee, Tony-"

"I don't care!" Abby yelled as she dropped back down onto the floor, reaching out and taking Ziva's hands. "I need you."

"Abby please." Ziva begged, looking up at Abby. "My flight leaves in only a few hours. Do not make this any harder than it already is."

"I won't." Abby wiped a tear from her cheek and stood up. "It can't be any harder."

"Abby please!" Ziva called after her, but Abby kept walking and slammed the bedroom door closed behind herself. A few seconds later her 'music' blasted through the whole apartment. It wasn't good, but Ziva would miss it.

An hour later the music stopped. Ziva had packed up what she needed around the apartment and was sitting on the couch waiting. She checked her watch and saw that she still had several hours until her flight. She heard the lock to the bedroom door turn and took that as her cue. She headed into the kitchen to get a glass of water, knowing full well that crying tended to dehydrate Abby. She took something out of her pocket and mixed it into the drink, backhanding a tear away as she did. Then she made her way across the apartment and gently knocked on the bedroom door before opening it. "Hey."

Abby looked up. "Hey." She replied. She knew it was unfair of her to be mad with Ziva. If this was what it came down too, Ziva had exhausted every other possible option. She looked up at Ziva with a fresh batch of tears in her eyes. "Can you hold me?"

Ziva nodded and walked over to the bed, laying down on her side and opening her arms to Abby. Abby cleared her throat and Ziva handed her the glass of water, cringing as the pale woman chugged the liquid.

Abby set the now empty glass on the nightstand and melted into Ziva's arms. "I'm really going to miss you Zi."

Ziva tightened her arms around Abby. "I will miss you too."

"Can we just pretend that we're running away? Just for today?"

Ziva nodded. "Where are we going?" She asked.

"Paris." Abby stated with total confidence. "Everyone has been there except me."

"You have never been to Paris?"

Abby shook her head.

"It is beautiful." Ziva smiled as she remembered how absolutely breathtaking it truly was. "We will stay in this one hotel I know, right on the Seine with a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower out the window. We will stay in bed all day ordering room service-"

"Just ordering room service?"

"Among other things." Ziva smiled. "We will go out early morning, 02:00. The majority of the crowds are gone by then, and it is still dark. There is nothing like the Eiffel Tower at night. The full moon fixed overhead, the lights, the reflection across the water. We will watch the sunrise over the city . . . You will love it."

"We'll really go there someday, right?"

Ziva ran her hand through Abby's dark splayed locks. "Of course we will."

Abby yawned and snuggled deeper into Ziva's embrace. There was nothing she could do at this point to stay awake any longer. She was strangely exhausted. She and Ziva had gotten very little sleep the night before, but there was something else at play. They finally fell asleep around 04:00 only to have Ziva wake two hours later. Abby hadn't gone back to sleep after that, despite pretending to be at 07:15 when Ziva got called to NCIS. She had been known to turn out amazing forensics on less sleep. "Don't leave yet, okay? Just promise me you won't leave me."

Ziva placed a gentle kiss on Abby's forehead. "I will never leave you Abby."

Abby sleepily nodded. "I love you Ziva."

"I love you too." Ziva choked back a sob. "Goodnight Abby." She heard the slow, rhythmic breathing that came with sleep and looked down at Abby. She hated having to drug Abby, but there was no other way she would have been able to leave. "And goodbye."

Ziva stayed there holding Abby and encrypting every little detail of her to memory for the next few hours, until the last possible minute. Quickly she gathered up some of her things and packed them into the bag she had resting on the couch in the living room. Carefully folding Abby's favorite outfit of hers, Ziva placed them on her nightstand with the note she had written earlier. She unclasped her necklace from around her neck and placed it on top of the pile. She placed a final kiss on Abby's cheek, and she was gone.

Abby squinted as the first few rays from the early morning sunlight made their way into the room. It was morning? It couldn't be morning already. That would mean she had slept through the majority of yesterday afternoon and night. She turned over and was not at all surprised when her hand fell onto a cold, empty space beside her. It was not a dream. She slowly opened her eyes, hoping that Ziva was just out of her reach, but when her eyes were fully opened she realized that wasn't the case. She refused to believe it. Ziva was just in the bathroom or something. "Ziva?" The apartment was still.

Abby sat up and swallowed the lump in her throat, willing it to go away. She held the sheet over herself as she looked over at the barren space beside her. On Ziva's nightstand sat her grey sweatpants and green tank top neatly folded and a note. Abby looked away. "No." She said. Knowing perfectly well she was talking to herself. "No, because if I look and that note says anything other than 'got called in early' or 'went for a run' . . ." She tried swallowing the lump again, but it wasn't going anywhere. Very slowly she looked back across the bed. On top of the note was Ziva's necklace. Her sister's necklace; the necklace she never took off. There was no point in holding back the tears anymore. No matter what Abby did Ziva was gone.

She reached over and picked up the necklace, running her fingers over the cool metal before fastening it around her neck. Then she reached for the note.

Abby-

You have to know I never wanted this.
Remember Paris.

I Love You,
Ziva

Abby got out of bed long enough to put Ziva's sweatpants and top on and then climbed onto Ziva's side of the bed, laying on the Israeli's pillow and breathing in as much of Ziva's lingering scent as she possibly could. With a hand on her necklace and the other on the note she cried until she was sure she was well past dehydration. She finally fell back asleep hours later tracing Ziva's name on her note.

A/N: Bye Bye Ziva *tear* I've been experiencing a nice case of writers block. My muse likes it when she gets reviews, so let's lure her back, shall we? If not, then I guess Ziva's going to be gone for a while...