A/N: Many thanks again to everyone who's still with me. I seem to have lost a few followers who thought this story was going to be Tiva. If that's you, I apologize if I somehow misled you. I love Tiva as much as the rest of you, but I love Louisa more (call me biased). *smile* As Schmaltzy points out so well, there's something very satisfying about Tony having a crush on a simple, everyday girl. And, as exciting as Tiva is, and as hot and steamy as it could be, I'm just not convinced it could be anything more than a fling. A very exciting fling, but nonetheless...

Rating: T for language

Spoilers: Again, Season 3's 'Frame-Up'

Disclaimer: Ok, I'll get serious. CBS owns the canon characters, I own the rest. No copyright infringement is intended.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 8:47 a.m.

Tony was all anticipation and spine-tingles as they descended in the elevator. Whatever Ducky had found, he hoped it was good enough to enable them to release Louisa post-haste. The ME was right; she was not jail-cell material, and he supposed the last few hours had been nothing short of fear-inducing for her. He fingered the rosary in his pocket, and resolved to head down to the holding cell as soon as they finished in autopsy.

McGee got off along the way at Basement Level 1 and proceeded to Abby's lab. He had his work cut out for him – proving that Cyber Crimes had got it wrong. He would have to review every piece of the final, 'successful' trace, looking for flaws in the logic, flaws in the algorithm, flaws in the methodology. He relished the thought of finding something they had missed; it was still driving him nuts that he'd been forced to hand the trace over to them in the first place.

When the rest of the team arrived in autopsy, Gibbs was already engaged in conversation with Jimmy Palmer, who was desperately trying to explain why he wanted to wait for Ducky before pulling out Halden's body from cold storage.

"Ducky? Wanna explain to your assistant that my requests take priority down here?"

The ME shot Gibbs a disapproving glance over the top of his glasses. "Well, Jethro, you didn't give my request priority last night, now did you?"

Ziva and Tony exchanged grimaces. Tony made a slicing motion across his throat with his hand, to which Ziva nodded and glanced heavenward.

"What request, Ducky?" Gibbs asked in frustration.

"The voice mail I left you last night... Honestly, Jethro, don't you ever check your messages?"

"Haven't been at my desk since yesterday morning, Duck."

"And I suppose your cell phone is shut off too?"

Gibbs pulled the device out of his pocket, furrowed his brow, grimaced, and switched it on.

Never apologize.

Looking up again, he caught sight of Tony. "DiNozzo. What're you doing here?"

"Well, we didn't know you were back, Boss, and Ducky said he had important information that – "

"What did I tell you last night?"

"I know. I'm off the case. Fine. Just think of me as a casual observer." Gibbs considered this request for a long moment, then one corner of his mouth curled up, he closed his eyes and shook his head in resignation.

Jimmy pulled out the drawer containing Jake Halden's body, and they all gathered around for a good look. Ducky stepped up, pulled the sheet down to uncover the corpse, and began his exposition. "First, you will note that, when comparing the location of the entry wound, just below the sternum, with the exit wound in the lower back, the angle of entry suggests the shooter was taller than our victim."

"Either that, or Halden was on his knees when he was shot," Gibbs noted.

"Yes... that would be another possible explanation. However, I didn't find any evidence of carpet fibres on his knees, which one would expect to find if that were the case."

"Louisa's only five foot four," Tony chimed in. Gibbs raised an eyebrow and sent him a warning glare to shut up. DiNozzo swallowed in response to the silent chastening. "Sorry, Boss."

"But that's not the most interesting thing we found. Mr. Palmer, would you do the honours, please?"

"Yes, Doctor." Jimmy lifted Halden's left leg, revealing a circular tattoo, roughly 2.5 inches in diameter, on his inner thigh, near the groin. Ziva inhaled sharply when she caught sight of it.

"You recognize it, don't you, Ziva?" Ducky inquired, already certain of the answer he would receive.

"Yes."

Gibbs glanced at Ziva, then at Ducky. "Someone wanna tell me what I'm looking at?"

"This man was a Mossad agent," Ziva murmured, staring intently at the tattoo. In the centre was a menorah. This was surrounded by two semi-circular inscriptions in Hebrew, one above it and the other below. "This is the official symbol of the Mossad."

"You don't have a tat like that." The second the words escaped his mouth, Tony knew that he should not have uttered them, but the opening was just too good to pass up. Jimmy snorted, stifling a laugh. Ziva was so transfixed by the image in front of her, that she was oblivious to the comment. But not Gibbs. He leaned across the autopsy table and smacked the back of Tony's head, so hard it almost made him see stars.

"What does it say, Ziva?" Gibbs leaned in to take a closer look. Once again, he did not have his glasses with him, and he squinted at the inscription, as if he could actually understand the Hebrew.

"The top inscription reads Kee betachbulot ta'ase lecha milchama – With clandestine terrorism we will conduct war. The bottom one reads Ha'Mossad Le'modiein – The Institute for the Collection of Information."

"Seems like a strange place for a tattoo," Jimmy observed.

"Not if one is under cover." Ziva was knitting together a theory in her head. "I will do a deeper background search on Jake Halden. This man may have been passing secrets to the Israeli government all along."

9:33 a.m.

Tony strode down the stark grey corridor of holding cells, most of which were empty. There, at the end of the line, was little Louisa, still in her khakis, but now with bare feet, having tossed her shoes aside. She lay on the cot with her ankles crossed, hands behind her head, staring up at the ceiling. As he approached, he noticed faint dark streaks down her face – tear stains, where her mascara had run. She wasn't crying now... she was stoic, and barely even acknowledged him as he came to stand in front of the cell door.

"Hey."

"You here to give me more good news?" she inquired sarcastically.

"Yeah. Your breakfast is coming," he smiled. It was true; he'd passed the guard with the trolley on the way down here.

"It's about time," she grumbled.

"Doesn't smell half-bad, actually. Although I'm sure it's nothing like your cooking."

She shot him a sideways glance. "What would you know about my cooking?"

"I know you make the best Carabaccia I've ever tasted."

She sat bolt upright, and focused her widened eyes on his. The follow-up question was unspoken, and unnecessary. Instead, an accusation. "You were in my apartment again."

Then, an admission. "Yup. I went to feed your cat."

"That was Pete's job," she replied tersely.

"Yeah, well, I made it my job. Pete had other priorities last night."

"And you went into my fridge and ate my leftovers?" she asked incredulously. "That's pretty ballsy."

His face flushed, but just slightly, and not enough that she'd notice it in this dim light. He grinned. "Well, never let it be said that Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo doesn't do a thorough job investigating a scene."

"I suppose you were in my bedroom, too."

"Damn, you're good. You sure you're not an NCIS agent?" Tony quipped.

"If I were, would I be sitting here, behind bars?" She'd had enough of this inane banter.

His voice softened. "Yeah, you might be; happened to me once." Now he truly had her attention; the expression on her face told him she wanted him to elaborate. "About five years ago - I guess it was just before I met Pete. I was framed for murder. I spent the night... right over there." He pointed to another cell, kitty-corner to the one she now occupied. "Lots of fun."

She got up from the cot and approached the bars, never letting go of his gaze. "How did you prove your innocence?"

"Forensics. The truth will set you free, as our resident expert Abby says."

"I think that was Jesus, actually."

He stood in stunned silence at this remark, unsure how to respond. Then, he remembered the rosary in his pocket. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I thought you might be wanting this." He retrieved it and held it out to her through the bars. Her hand shook slightly as she took the beads from his grasp, tears of gratitude welling up in her eyes. She swallowed, and attempted to drive them back. Instead, they spilled down her cheeks.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He reached out and gently wiped the tears away with the back of his fingers. "Everyone's working hard to prove you didn't do this," he reassured her. "We'll figure it out. We're getting closer already."

She smiled at him through bleary eyes. "And to think I was afraid you didn't believe me."

"Louisa...there's something I've been meaning to ask you." She looked up at him expectantly. "What did you say to Ziva the other day, as you were leaving the staff lounge?"

She took a step away from him. "Oh... I wish you would just let that go."

"Why? It can't be that bad..."

"Oh, yes it can." She turned away from him, fingering the rosary, her head lowered in embarrassment. He let the silence linger in the air, and after a painfully long moment, she realized there was no way out. She turned back to face him. "All right, look... you have to understand... I was angry, and scared, and – "

"Louisa."

He was holding out his hand to her through the bars. She took it, and he pulled her towards him. She pursed her lips, averted her eyes, and blurted, "The rough translation is... big dick, tiny brain."

He burst out laughing, much to her relief, and she giggled shyly. "I prefer that to the other way around," he joked.

"Tony!" she exclaimed, in mock disapproval. Then, her expression turned serious, and she gazed up into his eyes. "Big heart."

He smiled softly, and cupping his free hand behind her neck, he drew her towards him and gently kissed her forehead through the bars. He let his lips linger there for several seconds before pulling back and gazing down at her. "Five years... where've you been all this time?"

The tender moment was rudely interrupted as the breakfast cart arrived. Tony backed away to make room for the guard, but didn't immediately let go of her hand. "Well, I'd better go." He caressed her fingers, then pulled his hand away. "Hang in there. We'll have you out of here soon."

"Thank you for coming," she murmered.

Her eyes followed him as he strode purposefully back down the hall, and a guard let him through the secure doorway to the outside world. He didn't look back. If he had, he would have seen Louisa Penachetti smiling more brightly than at any time since this ordeal began two days ago. Her heart was thumping in her chest, and she felt flushed. This man was nothing like she'd imagined, and she felt ashamed of the assumptions she'd made about him in the beginning. She understood now why Pete counted him as such a good friend.

She sat down on the bench that ran along the wall beneath the tiny cell window, and fingered her rosary beads, completely ignoring the breakfast tray that had been deposited on the floor just inside the bars. She made the sign of the cross, and began her recitation, as a sense of peace and joy came over her.

10:35 a.m.

CNN was being broadcast on the TV screen behind Tony's desk, and Ziva kept glancing up from her workstation to observe the latest developments. The U.N. Security Council was demanding an international inquiry into the attack on the Mavi Marmara, but she knew that would never happen. As she expected, the latest debriefing in MTAC had confirmed that the U.S. had blocked the Security Council, and a compromise had been reached whereby Israel would carry out its own investigation, with international observers present.

The ripple effect was just beginning – Egypt had bowed to international pressure, and the Rafah border post with Gaza had been opened, at least for the purpose of importing humanitarian aid. It was only a matter of time before Netanyahu would be forced to ease restrictions at the port as well. As she dug deeper into Jake Halden's past, she wondered whether he was the one who had sent the message. If so, this could not have been the intended result.

She was on the phone, carrying on an animated conversation in Hebrew, when DiNozzo breezed back into the bullpen. She wore her headset, and typed furiously as she spoke. Tony swung around behind her chair to examine the screen. But he didn't cosy up to her like he usually did, instead keeping a respectful distance as he watched the images appear one after another.

"Toda." She hung up, and hit a keystroke combination that brought the images up onto the main plasma screen. "Gibbs! I have something." The supervisory agent was on his feet in seconds, and the three gathered in front of the plasma. Tony looked sheepishly at Gibbs, who chose not to make an issue of his continued presence. Ziva walked them through the evidence. "I checked with one of my old contacts in the Mossad. He confirmed that Jake Halden is really Jacob Halpern, a 'sleeper' agent. He was born in the U.S. but lived in Israel from the age of four. His father taught engineering at the Technion International School of Engineering, in Haifa, where Halpern himself also studied. He arrived back in the U.S. in 2007."

She hit the remote, and a photo of a much younger, bearded Israeli man in camouflage appeared on the screen. "Halpern served with the IDF for 6 years before joining the Mossad in September 2006. He was a personal friend of Gilad Shalit. He took Shalit's capture by Hamas personally, it seems, and wanted to seek revenge."

"If he was a sleeper, and initiated contact early, that would be a serious breach," Gibbs observed. Ziva nodded in agreement. "They would know it was him by the code he used. Would Mossad take any overt action against an agent who went rogue like that, Ziva?"

"Yes. He would be a liability at that point. Most likely they would eliminate him." All three looked at each other, as the pieces finally fell into place. Ziva and Tony raced towards the elevator, each eager to be the first to reach Abby's lab.

"Not you, DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked, brushing past him. Tony froze instinctively, and Ziva jumped onto the elevator next to the Boss, sticking her tongue out as the doors slid shut.