Hey guys,

I know that it's been decades since I last wrote. I don't have any excuses for that, adding up that I had no time and laziness. Really really sorry for that! I promise that I'll try my very best to update more regularly as my one month summer vacation is coming up in about a week's time. Maybe then I'll have time to start on another new story when I'm done with this one… Look out for it! For now, enjoy! Oohh, chapter 10 already! Think I deserve more reviews yes?

Chapter 10,

After what seemed like ages, Ziva was free to go. She had many things running through her mind. Why his dog tag was with the victim? How did it get there and what did Adam have to do with all this? She drove like a madwoman through rush hour traffic down in Brooklyn and actually made it home in quite a jiffy.

It was about 2200 when she reached home. She figured that Aria would already be in bed and Adam would be up watching football. True enough, Adam was stretched out rather comfortably on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. Upon her arrival, Adam greeted her,

"Hey babe, you're late. That rhymed,"

He got up to peck Ziva on the cheek but she stepped back.

"What's wrong sweetheart?"

"I'm curious to know, where were you the night I was undercover?"

"I was out at the movies with an old friend, what's up?"

"Are you sure?"

"What are you implying?"

"I found something rather disturbing at a recent crime scene."

Adam grew silent

"I found my latest victim clutching your dog tags. They are a match to yours which speaking of, where are they?"

"I had to take them off cos' they became rusty and as for your victim. I can't explain why he had matching dog tags."

"Do you know a lieutenant James Banks?"

"I don't know who that is and how he got my dog tags. Sweetie, you have to believe me. Don't you trust me?"

"I do, it's just… I needed to be sure. I am a detective and I have to do my job. Please understand okay?"

"It's okay babe." He embraced her

But deep down inside, Ziva had this gut wrenching feeling that she just couldn't shake off.

The next day,

Ziva's phone woke her abruptly from her slumber.

"David."

"Rise and shine, got a new body."

'I don't see any shine, it's only 0300 am."

"… Point taken, get here ASAP."

Ziva disconnected the call and dragged herself reluctantly out of bed. She noticed a note when she walked out on the kitchen counter.

"Hey babe, gone for a road trip, will be back in about 4 or 5 days. Love you, miss you and hope to see you real soon. XOXO

-Adam"

She sighed, that incredibly strong gut-wrenching feeling was still there. Something told her that this road trip wasn't very much right.

She just shrugged it off as fatigue and went for a shower.

At the crime scene,

"Victim's name is Katherine Samuels, or sergeant Katherine Samuels, COD same as the Navy killer's MO. Time of death at around midnight to 0100 am." Explained Lanie

Ziva, Beckett and Gibbs were huddled up as the morning chill of New York was evident even in the morning. A few minutes later, Castle popped by with a cup of coffee for Kate and only Kate. Earning himself a death glare from Ziva. Gibbs on the other hand, had already made McGee hunt a cup for him.

Tony came by the crime scene and saw Ziva shivering. He offered his cup of coffee to her.

"Here you go. Seems like you need it more than I do,"

"But, I cannot just…"

"It's okay, Dinozzo men aren't afraid of a little chilly weather." He flashed his signature charming smile that warmed her right up.

"Then thank you very much agent Dinozzo." She smiled her mega-watt smile back and graciously accepted the coffee cup.

Back at the precinct,

Both teams were gathered at the murder board. They were examining the evidence. But to no avail, even Castle had run out of ground breaking theories.

Out of the blue, Ziva flashed back to the note left on the counter by Adam. That was at three am in the morning. She remembered waking up to use the restroom at 12.30 am and Adam wasn't at her bedside. In fact, his side of the bed wasn't even messy.

That was fishy… Lost in her thoughts, Ziva didn't hear Kate calling her name.

"Ziva, Ziva, ZIVA!"

"Huh? What?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for 30 seconds already! Are you okay?"

"Fine, more than fine. I'm great! Geez, I am hungry! I'm going to go out for lunch! See you later!" Ziva grabbed her coat and dashed out of the precinct.

Not only Beckett but the others were baffled by her weird behavior. Something was definitely up.

All of a sudden, Tony became very worried.

At Ziva's apartment,

Ziva was digging through her trash can for the note. Once she finally found it, she read it over and over and saw that Adam wrote something so hard that it was imprinted on the paper. She flipped the note to the other side and used a pencil to shade it.

It was the address of the crime scene.

Okay, this was getting officially freaky. She pocketed the note and headed back to the crime scene.

At the crime scene,

She ducked underneath the yellow cordon tape and walked down the crime scene. There was a dumpster nearby and she decided to take the risk and searched it.

Ziva came up from her dumpster dive. She stank like hell but on the other hand, she found an identical slip of folded paper from Adam's notebook. She recognized the handwriting as Adam's. She unfolded the paper. On the paper, there was the name of the victim, the exact time of death and these bits of information were canceled out in red sharpie marker.

Back at the precinct,

Ziva came in from her supposed "lunch break" and went over to her desk. Ignoring the concerned looks flashed from both teams. Castle boldly went up.

"Ziva are you okay?"

He smelt her stench and asked another question,

"Where did you go? You smell bad."

Ziva slammed her desk drawer hardly which made Castle jump.

"Excuse me, I need to go take a shower." Said Ziva softly

She gently shoved Castle aside and flashed him an apologetic look. She grabbed her bag of spare clothes and headed for the precinct shower room.

In the shower,

Ziva was processing her thoughts while the warm water ran down the shower head and onto her body. She needed to get away or not, she'd be dead meat.

Later,

After what again seemed like ages. Ziva dashed back home. Thank God Aria was staying over at her friend's place. That made things easier for her briefly packed up Aria's things and proceeded on to pack her own stuff.

While rummaging through her closet and running up and down her apartment frantically, she bumped into a loose wooden wall board, she shoved it aside and found that there was a door. She opened it and what was greeted her was horrifying.

Pictures of her team and herself hung on the walls, pictures of the victims faces were crossed out with a red sharpie. The sharpie also circled on her face and she realized that most of the pictures were focused on her. A big portrait hung on the wall, the portrait was of his deceased dad. Now, it all clicked. His dad was in the same platoon as the victims while they were on tour in Afghanistan and he mentioned that his dad died in service while on tour.

She had to get out.

Suddenly, the door knob turned.

Ziva froze.

R&R please!

Pixie's showcase was so fun! She is so sweet and such an absolute doll!