Fighting the Darkness
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Well, I hope it's not very OOC. I tried... And please tell me if the 'boat' part doesn't make any sense, I'll try to change that then. Thanks!
Chapter 5: Living On
Ziva became an American citizen. It just became official that morning and the team, more precisely Abby, decided that the occasion was calling for celebration. So, as many times before in the last months, Ziva stepped into the little bar, which had become the team's 'usual place'. She made a quick search of the place more out of habit than anything else then nodded to the bartender with a smile. By that time Gibbs had caught up with her and together they made their way to their usual table.
"Oh, lookie who's here!" Tony exclaimed with a huge grin on his face as he saw the couple approaching. "My favorite kickass couple. Cheers!" With that he drowned the rest of his beer. "It's good that you arrived, Ziva, because Timmy and I just couldn't agree on what the 12th Amendment is about. Can you he… hey!" Tony cried as Ziva pinched him in the shoulder and pushed him to make room for herself and Gibbs. Ziva settled down by the table with a satisfied smirk while her friend was nursing his hurting arm sulking. Gibbs and McGee just smirked.
"Don't even pay attention to him, Ziva." McGee told her as he began to stand up to go to the bar and help Abby get the drinks. "He was the first one to arrive here and that was definitely not his first beer. What are you two drinking? The first round is on me." At that Tony's eyes lit up. "Their first round, Tony, not yours. You're at your what? Fourth? Fifth?"
"Oh, come on, Timmy? Can't we start over? You know, from square one? Everybody with equal opportunities? After all that's what the American Dream is all about, isn't it Miss America?"
Ziva laughed heartily at her friend's argumentation.
"I think, Tony, that boat has already sailed, yes?" Tony blinked at her blankly while McGee left – after receiving a 'Beer would be good, thanks, McGee' from Gibbs – shaking his head and Gibbs actually laughed out aloud.
"What the hell has a boat got to do with anything?" Tony asked confused then as if understanding dawned on him, he smiled at Gibbs. "Ah… I see… You've got your newest boat out of the basement, haven't you, Boss? And Ziva knows how you did it." Now Ziva looked quizzical and turned to her fiancé with furrowed brows.
"But you did not have any boat in your basement." She stated.
"No, I didn't. And it's a ship, Ziver. Not a boat."
"You're building a ship now, Boss?" Tony's voice was full of awe while Ziva felt utterly lost. A ship?
Gibbs opened his mouth as if wanting to say something but he quickly closed it. At this point he was quite sure that if he said just a word more, it would surely lead to the total breakdown of communication and, although he found it fairly amusing at some level, he wasn't sure that he could tolerate it much longer.
Fortunately he was saved by Abby and McGee who returned from the bar with Palmer in tow. The little commission stopped short, though, when they saw the expressions on their friends' faces.
"Um… Guys?" Abby began curiously. "What did we miss?"
"Ziva knows how Gibbs gets his boats out of the basement and Boss-man here is building a ship now. Isn't it cool?" Tony was all enthusiasm. The others, stuck with the 'boat and basement' part, turned towards a still baffled Ziva hoping to get an answer to an age-old mystery.
"But you did not have any boat in the basement." Ziva repeated her previous statement just a bit more forcefully. "And what is this crap about a ship?" Gibbs quickly opted for changing the subject so he reached for the beers Abby was holding and offered one to Ziva.
"Thanks, Abs." He said while the Goth made room for herself next to her favorite silver-haired fox. Gibbs just scooted over rolling his eyes as there was not much place remained on their side of the table and Tony didn't seem willing to move any bit from his position.
"So, Ziva…" Abby turned to her friend excited. "About that boat…"
"What boat?" The Israeli woman was really beginning to think that everybody had lost their minds.
"Abs…" Gibbs turned to the young woman. "There's been no boat in my basement since the Kelly."
"See. There is no boat in his basement." Now she was satisfied. She wasn't the insane after all.
"But Tony said…"
"Are you serious, Abby?" Ziva asked her friend in disbelief. "Tony is saying a lot of things even when he is sober… Now look at him."
"That's true." Abby conceded with a serious nod after glancing at the other agent then she changed the subject. "So when is the big day? Now that Ziva's got her naturalized citizen status there's nothing in the way." Gibbs looked at his fiancée next to him who was beaming at him. They hadn't really got the time to talk about it yet but one thing was for sure. "As soon as possible." They replied in unison.
"Ah… Aren't you two cute?" Abby cooed to her friends and the look on Gibbs' face made Ziva laugh out while she buried her face into the man's shoulder. "We have to drink to that." Abby said enthusiastically and turned to the others. "Alright, guy. Shut up for a second. Let's say a toast to the sweetest couple I've ever known."
"At least she left out the cute part." Gibbs whispered to Ziva.
"Hey…" Tony cried out. He had got his own beer after all. "But Ducky isn't here yet!"
"Don't worry about it, Tony. We'll say another one when he arrives."
"Oh, in that case, go ahead!"
"Thanks, Tony. So… First of all, to you, Ziva. Welcome in the beautiful land of America. And of course, to both of you. I still can't believe that you are getting married, Gibbs."
"Again." Tony chimed in then grimaced when McGee slapped him in the head.
"We are so happy for you, guys." Abby continued ignoring Tony. "It's like… I don't know… like Dad's finally found the right woman and the family can now live happily ever after."
"I drink to that!" Palmer raised his beer smiling. "Cheers!"
"Cheers!" Cried everybody and as Gibbs leant back in his seat he looked around proudly at his 'family'. In a way all of them were his children and he wouldn't change that for the world.
"Argh…" Tony frowned as he seemed to have realized something. Yet again… "Abs, if you are right and Gibbs is Dad, it means that Ziva is… Mom?" He continued frowning deep in thoughts while the others grinned at Ziva who visibly paled.
"No way…" She cried out in protest.
"It's just wrong." Tony lamented to himself while Ziva turned to Gibbs with a serious expression.
"If Tony were your child, I would sure run for the hills. No offence, Gibbs."
"Don't even think about it, Ziva. You're stuck with me and the kids." Gibbs' eyes were twinkling with humor as he pulled Ziva closer to him and put his other arms over Abby's shoulder then he planted a kiss on each of their heads. Everybody around the table erupted into a heartfelt laughter. Tony just kept frowning.
"Alright, I can live with that. But just one question, Honey…" Ziva told Gibbs giving him a theatrical sweet smile. "Cannot we give Tony up for adoption?" She asked innocently and batted her eyelashes for good measure.
While, once again, everybody laughed out, Tony looked genuinely hurt so Ziva scooted closer to him and hugged him.
"Oh, come on, Tony. You know that I love you." She told him as if speaking to a child. A wicked grin appeared on the man's face.
"I love you, too… Mom." Ziva instantly straightened up and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Call me that once again…" She leant closer to him. "… and I break your fingers… one by one."
"You know, Ziva, I've always known that there is a hidden maternal side of you." McGee stated with a serious face which made everybody laugh… except for Tony.
Later that night the team became considerably quieter. Ducky had also arrived at some point but Abby and McGee got lost somewhere at another.
Ziva's chin was resting on her crossed arms which were lying on the table while she sleepily observed as Tony was entertaining a very enthusiastic looking Palmer on the other side of the table. Occasionally she sighed contently as Gibbs was unconsciously stroking her back while he talked quietly with Ducky. She had no idea what the two men next to her were talking about because her attention was focused on the other two in front of her. More precisely, on Tony. He seemed to be deep in some kind of philosophical explanation while Palmer was listening completely enjoying the fact that the agent was paying any kind of attention to him.
"I am worried about Tony." She spoke up out of the blue and for several seconds the two older men just looked at her.
"As we all are, my dear." Ducky answered finally.
"He is unhappy." Ziva stated while her eyes stayed focused on her friend. "He tries to hide it but I know he is."
"That's very true, Ziva. And I think that the reason is that our Anthony feels lonely."
"Lonely?" Ziva straightened up and looked at the old ME. "He is hardly ever alone."
"It's not what Ducky meant, Ziver."
"Yes, of course not."
"If you allow me to express my opinion, I think that Antony is ready to settle down. He has matured a lot in the last years." Ziva couldn't help the snort that escaped her mouth.
"Ducky's right, Ziver. It might not seem so but he's a responsible man."
"I know that Jethro." Ziva became serious once again. "It is just… If he wants to settle down, why does he seem to be so reluctant to do so at the same time?"
"It's not that easy. He's been in love before."
"Yes, I know. Jeanne." Ziva's tone became bitter with the mentioning of the name of that woman who had caused so much tension between the partners.
"And Kate." Gibbs supplied quietly which was accompanied by a little sad nod from Ducky.
"Kate Todd?"
"Yes. He was in love with her and I think he had just begun to realize that himself when Kate died." He still felt guilty about them, especially now that he was about to marry one of his team members. At that time he was so insistent on his Rule 12 that he hadn't even realized what it could mean for Kate and Tony. He doubted, though, that they were anywhere near breaking the rule. Still, Rule 12 was hovering above them… Gibbs had a suspicion that, if not completely, but his engagement with Ziva was the reason why Tony had been acting strange lately. He made a mental note to have a talk with his younger agent…
"Losing Caitlin meant a great setback for Anthony." Ducky added. "Then came that young lady…" Ziva nodded solemnly in understanding.
"God, that whole business was screwed up from the beginning." Gibbs said then took a swing from his beer. "Jenny should have known better…" He added and pulled Ziva closer to him, kissing her head.
"Tony should have known better, too." She added silently hoping for a nice girl to come around and snap Tony out of that dark place where he seemed to be at that moment.
Ziva was sitting by the window in her room staring at the busy little street in Old Jaffa. It was late in the afternoon and the people had just begun to appear on the street after a long and hot summer day. Children were running up and down in little groups happy to be out of the confines of their homes feeling free like a bird. Adults were running errands which could be delayed till this late hour and they were merrily chatting when they bumped into a familiar face. The occasional melodic cry of a salesman came up from down the street accompanied by the squeaking of his old cart as he passed along the street. In the distance from the main road the familiar melody of the car horns could be heard.
But Ziva David didn't see or hear any of it. Just as she didn't hear her door open and Ari enter the room.
The man took a couple of tentative steps into the room but then stopped. He hadn't seen his sister for a few months and now he was afraid of facing her. He was afraid of her blaming him for what had happened. He knew that he was blaming himself.
He couldn't dwell on the subject for long, though, because Ziva had sensed his presence and turned towards him.
"What have I done, Ari?" Her voice was hardly above a whisper. "I have killed my daughter."
"No, Princess." Ari was by her side in an instant taking her into his arms. "No. You have done nothing like that, you hear me?"
"I should have never left her." She whispered into his shoulder. "I thought that it was safe… that if Father did not know about her, she would be safe…"
"Zee, you could not have known it, hell, I could not have known it…" There was not a person on Earth, who could have known it. He had planned everything so carefully. He had made a back-up plan. He even knew that their original plan was in danger so he set that back-up plan into motion. Ziva didn't know about it but Hanan, whose care Avigail had been left in, was to leave for America with the baby. Ari had planned everything minute by minute… except the terrorist attack…
Ari held Ziva for a little while but quickly he became anxious. He knew that his sister was mourning but at that moment there was no time for that. There were still so many things to do…
"Ziva…" Ari spoke gently but didn't get any reaction from the woman who had nestled into his arms as if seeking refuge from the world. "Hey, Princess…" He tried again and smiled at her lovingly when Ziva finally moved to look at him. His smile was short-lived, though, because suddenly he couldn't recognize his little sister in the woman who was looking at him. In her eyes, which only minutes ago were filled with indescribable sadness, now he couldn't make out any emotions. They were empty and his stomach twisted in fear.
"Ziva, have you spoken to Father?" He asked her in a low voice. He didn't like the idea of it one bit but a meeting between their father and Ziva was unavoidable.
In the last few months he had been working very hard on severing her ties from Mossad. He had made plans ever since Ziva and Anwar told him that they were having a baby. For him it wasn't a question what his father would do when he found out about the two of them. He had to know that whatever happens, Ziva and the baby would be safe. And his determination just got stronger after what had happened to Anwar.
He felt the anger rise in him at the thought of his best friend's death. And it wasn't only the fact that his father had him executed on false grounds, but the fact that he had done so by using his own daughter. He couldn't blame Ziva, though, for doing what she had done. He could never do that. She loved her father too much to ever question him. He just hoped that one day she would be able to see the real Eli David. He was aware that ever since Anwar's death, something had changed in Ziva. As if she had begun to question her valuation of her father but it was only a slight change and it had only made Ziva more troubled than anything else.
"Ziva, have you spoken to him?" He repeated his question with more emphasis when he didn't get any answer. They were so close now. The only thing they needed was her resignation to make things official. Not as if it made things less complicated but at least it would leave a paper trail behind in case Eli David wanted to step outside his official boundaries. Ari's heart ached at the thought that the plan, which had originally begun as a rescue of a family, now included only his sister. "Ziva, everything is ready. You just have to hand in your resignation and everything will be over. You will be free."
That was when he saw something change in his sister's eyes because the former emptiness was taken over by something that took his breath away. Now they were filled not only by sadness and pain but with trepidation.
"Free, Ari?" Her voice was filled with despair. "Free to do what? To marry the man I love? To have his baby without being afraid that something might happen to her? No, Ari. I have nothing to do with freedom."
"Do not act like this, Ziva. You cannot give up. Not now."
"Not now? Then when? Ari, Anwar is dead. I killed him. And I have just buried our daughter. When should I give up then, I ask you? After you end up dead, too? Because that will happen if Father finds out that you had anything to do with my disappearance. I would not let that happen. I would not be the reason of your death, too."
"What are you talking about, Sister?"
"I am staying, Ari."
"Ziva…"
"No." She was dead serious about it. Her stern gaze told everything to Ari that he needed to know. So he nodded resigned. He knew her sister too well to argue with her. She had already made her decision and there was only one thing left for him to do… to look after her… there was nobody else to do that…
He softly kissed her head as Ziva buried it back into his shoulder.
Ziva was lying in bed on her side while her head was propped up on her hand and a book was lying in front of her. She couldn't help the occasional giggles that bubbled up from her as she kept reading.
She was so engrossed in the unfolding of the events of the book that she totally missed the squeaking of the stairs as somebody walked up on them and so did she miss the man entering the room and standing next to the bed. However, she did feel the bed sink under the weigh of the man as he lay down behind her, encircling her waist and burying his face into the crook of her neck.
"Mmm… You're still up." Her husband murmured.
"Yes." Ziva answered but didn't pay too much attention to Gibbs who, by this time, had begun kissing her neck and shoulder. After a little while he got annoyed that the woman in his arms didn't respond to his ministration, so he reached in front of them and, despite the quite loud protest of Ziva, he closed the book to take a look at the title.
"Really, Ziva?" He chuckled after reading the title. And one would have expected McGee to stop writing his novels after that incident a few years back. "It's getting old, don't you think?" He asked her with a mixture of humor and amusement in his voice.
"Not at all, Gibbs." She answered indignantly taking back the book and opening it again. "I need to know what happens in here. I so not want to hear it from Tony. I want to be prepared… Besides, it is just getting… interesting…"
"So, David…" He leant closer to her ear and whispered in a husky tone. "What kind of a case is that that takes your attention away from me?"
As an answer, her hearty laughter shook his body.
"Well, as I can see it at this point, there will not be a very complicated plot." She began to explain. "It very much seems that the only thing they will investigate is the death of Rule 12."
"Oh, really? And why is that?" He chuckled into her neck as he resumed kissing it.
"Well, it seems that McGregor and Amy have been having a secret affair for quite some time…" The man stopped, with his lips on Ziva's shoulder and raised an eyebrow at this. "Actually the guy seems to be pretty ready to take this relationship to the next level." Ziva's voice was quite amused as she gave the account of the book.
"He'd better be." Gibbs, on the other hand, hit a more serious tone. "That girl deserves more than a secret affair."
"Now, Jethro, you sound like as if this Amy were a real person." After Gibbs answered with a noncommittal sound, Ziva giggled totally enjoying the conversation. "But there are more interesting stuffs, too, and I am just at that part where Lisa… you know the young, beautiful and not to mention dangerous Israeli officer…" Ziva deliberately took her time to finish her sentence as a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. "…well, how shall I put it…" She still wasn't in a hurry but smiled satisfied when she heard Gibbs' sharp intake of breath as she wriggled closer to him practically grinding her hips into his. "…well, she is playing the nasty with her boss."
"Really?" Gibbs pulled her even closer and continued his previous activity on her shoulder. "Isn't… she… way… too young… for him?" He asked in-between kisses.
"You know that older men can be very sexy." She practically purred as she gave more access for his discovering lips. "And… by the way… they… totally have the hots… for each other." She obviously had difficulty with concentrating because the words didn't come as fluently as they used to. But she wanted to finish her line of thoughts. She was really curious about Gibbs' reaction. "I have only… read half… of the book… so far… but you would not… believe what… those two had been… up to… not to mention… where…"
"What?" He asked incredulously as his head snapped up then he reached for the book. He slowly settled on his back with the book in hand. Ziva, too, turned around and snuggled closer to the her husband, giggling at the way how he was trying to find the proper distance to be able to read the text without his glasses. "Let's just see then how Tibbs gets laid… and where…" And with that he began to read the passage while Ziva laughed into his shoulder.
She was waiting patiently for his reaction.
"Well…" Gibbs began after finishing. "That was… well… that was interesting." He concluded at last not being able to find a more suitable word then he turned to his wife with raised eyebrows. "Do you think that McGee saw us when…"
"No." Ziva answered drawing out the word.
"Or when we…"
"Nah…" She shook her head with conviction.
"Then maybe when we…"
"Definitely not." She was quick to answer while her eyes grew wide. "He would not be able to look us in the eye if he had seen that."
"True enough." Gibbs shrugged and put away the book. He would make sure, though, that the next day McGee would get some hard moments about his newest novel. "So… just out of curiosity… what do you think will happen to Amy and her boss?" He asked his wife as he kissed her head.
"Well, they get married, of course, and then live happily ever after." Ziva answered matter-of-factly.
"Sounds good to me."
"Yep. Very good."
TBC
Thank you for reading! Sorry for the mistakes!