Disclaimer: What do you think the chances are of . . . err . . . borrowing a certain Boy Who Lived to vanquish our own Dark Lor . . . Lady better known as She-In-Pink-Scrubs or She Who Blocks Much Tivaness? Good? I'm hoping so too. - daydreams about pink scrubs and jets of green light - Anyways, as you can see from my fantasy, NCIS is not mine. Maybe if I use a little Imperius Curse . . . hmmmmm . . .

A/N Sorry about the delay (and the slightly whacked disclaimer), but I've been sick and haven't been in the mood to do anything lately. I bet I'm suffering from Harry Potter withdrawal (or depression over the deaths of my two favourite characters). Imagine what it would be like if NCIS finished? Anyways, hopefully I haven't lost too many faithful readers by keeping you all hanging. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy :)

"Life is a sum of all your choices." – Albert Camus
Chapter Four: Reflection

"What the hell is going on?" Ziva paced up and down the small room, confusion etched on her face. "Where am I? This is some Morphine induced hallucination, yes?"

"Ziva . . ."

"Don't Ziva me, Tali. This is like A Christmas Carol, no? You've come to show me my past, present and future."

"Calm . . ."

"Calm, you expect me to be calm," Ziva snapped. "How can I be calm if I'm in a room with my dead sister, my dead boy . . . err . . . person and the agent who got herself shot by my half brother."

"Do you think I asked to be shot by your brother," Kate retorted. "It's not like it was majorly fun for me either. I would, by the way, much prefer to be down on earth with my team."

"They're not your team anymore," Ziva remarked, coming to a halt.

"They'll always be my team."

"I don't see you . . . "

"Yeah, thanks to your brother . . ."

"Half brother . . ."

"Okay, ladies." Roy stepped in between the two brunettes who were practically in each other's face. "Why don't we both just calm down, take a deep breath and relax. Or am I going to have to separate you two?"

Kate and Ziva glared at each other.

Roy sighed. "I was hoping that we could be mature about this. Should have listened to the Powers-That-Be, they said this would happen. But no, I go off in my own little world thinking that Kate would be good for Ziva."

"Good? In what way is she good for me?" Ziva muttered.

"Why do I even bother?" Kate complained.

"Yeah, why did you bother?"

"I wouldn't have if I knew you were gonna be like this."

"Well, if I knew I was going to be stuck in some ga-ga –"

"La-la," Tali corrected.

"– whatever land with a bunch of dead people, I might have been a little more careful."

"Okay!" Roy yelled. "Time-out! Ziva, you over there." He pointed to one of the couches. "Kate, just . . . go and see if we're hooked up."

"If it gets me away from her, sure," Kate muttered and disappeared in a shower of golden lights.

"Hooked up to what?" Ziva asked, glad that Kate had vacated the room. She received no reply. "Somebody tell me what's going on?"

"As Kate –" Roy was cut off by Ziva's look. "Don't look at me like that, Ziva. Kate is a very nice person."

"Nice," Ziva mumbled, "if you like . . ."

"Ziva Shamira David, what has gotten into you?" Tali scolded, looking at her older sister. "You have no right to judge Kate. You've known her for a whole of five seconds."

"Don't you seem to be the head of the 'I love Kate' club?" Ziva replied angrily. "Look, I did not ask to be here. I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing here. Eurgh, I would be better off dead, and I mean properly dead."

"You don't mean that," Tali corrected quickly.

"How would you know what I mean?"

"I'm your sister."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"I. Am. Your. Sister. I know you better than anyone else," Tali said fiercely.

"Yeah, you were my sister until you got yourself blown up." Tali stepped back like she'd been hit in the face, a shadow of shock passed over her.

"That was uncalled for, Ziva," Roy said, unable to see where the girl from the hospital had gone.

Ziva sighed. "Look, okay, I'm sorry Tali. I didn't mean it, I really didn't. It's just . . . I'm so confused. I never thought I'd see either of you again. It's a shock, okay." Ziva buried her face in her hands.

"We understand, Ziva." Ziva looked at him disbelievingly. "We do understand, Ziva, more than you think."

"Then tell me what's going on." Ziva looked Tali and Roy in the eye. "Please."

"It's called Reflection, Ziva," Roy started. Ziva opened her mouth to say something. "Don't, Ziva. Don't interrupt." Ziva obediently shut her mouth.

"Refection," Roy continued, "is kinda, erm . . . how do I put this . . . like a place between life and death, but not really."

"I don't think she understands, Roy," Tali mentioned, looked at her sister's confused expression.

"Well . . ."

"It's a place where you look back on the events that have defined your life," Tali said, before Roy could confuse Ziva even further.

"Why?" Ziva couldn't help herself.

"I'm not sure, Ziva." Tali could see another question on Ziva's lips, but cut her off before she had a chance to ask it. "Only you know."

"How do I know?"

"That's what we've got to figure out," Roy replied. "Something is keeping you here, preventing you from waking up."

"I'm fine," Ziva said defiantly, "so tell me how to get back."

"It's not that simple."

"Why not?"

"What was it that you said before," Tali said, looking thoughtful, "oh yeah, 'I wish I was dead'."

"It was a figure of speech, Tali."

"You sure about that?"

"Course I am. I don't want to die. I'm perfectly happy."

"You are?"

"Yes, so leave me alone."

"No can do, Ziva," Roy said. "I mean, you must have noticed the lack of doors in this room."

"Then do that thing . . . she . . . did," Ziva suggested. "You know the thing with the lights."

"We're not going anywhere, Ziva," Tali added. "We can't, even if we wanted too. We've been tied to you. It is our duty to help you."

"What are you, by the way?" Ziva questioned, momentarily getting sidetracked. "Angels? I don't see any cream cheese anywhere."

"We're not angels."

"Then what . . . ?"

"We are part of you," Roy answered.

"Part of me?" Ziva scoffed. "Sure, because I believe that. Tali maybe. You, well, I guess, but Kate? I've never even met her before this. I don't even like her."

"You haven't given her a chance," Tali pointed out.

"A chance? Why would I need to give her a chance? It's not like I'm ever going to see her again, yes?"

"You don't know how long you're gonna be here, Ziva."

"You mean I could be stuck here forever?"

"Not forever, but time passes differently here."

"This sounds like the Twilight Zone," Ziva muttered.

"It's really whatever you want it to be, Ziva."

"So let me get this straight," Ziva started. "This Reflection thingy is to fix my mistakes, yes?"

"Not your mistakes, Ziva. The events that defined you, and you can't fix them. You cannot interfere with the past."

"Defined me? Defined me how?"

"You're not happy," Tali observed, changing the conversation.

"I am."

"Let me put it another way then. You're not at peace with yourself?"

"I not what?"

"You regret it."

"Regret what?"

"Joining Mossad."

"No, I don't. I like my job."

"Do you really?"

"Yes, I catch the bad guys. I make the world a better place. I couldn't be happier."

"Do you remember graduation, Ziva?" Tali asked.

"Yeah," Ziva replied. "Why wouldn't I? Who can forget scratchy dresses, bucket loads of make-up and the boy who's more interested in other girls than his own date? What about graduation?"

"That night changed you," Tali said.

"Changed me how?"

"Do you remember your dream?"

"What dream?"

"You know, go to medical school, and become a doctor, save lives. I would say like Ari, but we all know how that turned out."

"You know I could never have done that? Dad would have . . ."

". . . Had a fit, I know, but you were gonna try. Right?"

"Mossad has always been my only option, you know that. It was yours too."

"Yes, well, our friend the bomber took care of that."

"Tali . . ."

"You regret it."

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do. I know you do. I'm your sister, I can tell. You've regretted it ever since the beginning."

"I had no choice, Tali."

"There are always choices, sister, and face it, you made the wrong one."

"So that is what's keeping me here," Ziva speculated. "The fact that I did my duty, what was expected of me. It's a pretty poor excuse."

"It's not our excuse, Ziva," Roy reminded her. "This is your Reflection. This is your life. This is you."

"So how do I fix it?"

"That is up to you," Tali answered. "We are here to help you, but you're the only person who can do it."

"But h . . . how?" Ziva was startled by the sound of static coming from the plasma television.

"We can start with this."

"With what?"

"This." And the plasma television sprang to life.

A/N2 Please don't be too upset if Kate seems off. I have never had the chance to see her properly and assess her character. I'm just going by what I've read and what I've heard other people say. I don't really know if Ziva and Kate would have gotten along in the show, maybe, maybe not, but this is fan fiction so I guess anything goes, right :)