Rifiuto: Non Miriena
"We were there four months, Sarah and I. It was fine, but... but the night of the embassy dinner, everything shot to hell." He turned back to the window, setting the photograph down. "Dad forced us both into our best and... dragged us to the dinner. I brought a book, and sat at the table reading while Sarah danced with the Deputy Director of Mossad. At one point, Ziva startled me, and offered to sneak us out of there and go get coffee. I couldn't resist any chance to get away from that stifling dinner. So we left."
Ziva sat listening; she remembered that night well. It was the night that had literally changed her life forever. She glanced down at her son, who looked up at her.
"You left the dinner?" He turned to Sarah, who's mouth had dropped. "Daddy looked for you! He sent people to search the entire embassy! He thought you'd been snatched against your will and taken out of the building!" Tim shook his head.
"I left with Ziva, went and got coffee and... we talked, for hours. About everything we could think of. By the time we returned to her parents' apartment, we were both quite proud of ourselves for escaping. Neither one of us were thinking of the consequences or how our parents would react." He sighed, turning to meet Ziva's gaze. "We made love that night. It was the first time, for both of us. We were young, we weren't thinking, we didn't use protection." Tim thought a moment, his gaze going to the boy in Ziva's arms. "So we did something we could control; something our parents couldn't dictate. We gave in and we had sex. We made love. And I just... I remember waking up in her arms the next morning, and it was the most beautiful sight in the entire world."
"So it was not a dream." He shook his head, propping himself on his elbow to watch her. Her hair was down around her shoulders, her skin soft and glowing in the light.
"I thought so too, but no. It wasn't." She smiled, reaching up to trace his jawline.
"Good." He leaned down, kissing her gently.
He closed his eyes, the memory fading away. "It was so quiet, so... perfect. And then it wasn't." Ziva closed her eyes, tears coming to her eyes as she remembered being caught.
The door slammed against the far wall, and the two looked up, to see Deputy Director David stride into the room. He swore in Hebrew, as they tried hard to hide any indication of activity, but they were teenagers, and the evidence was scattered all over the floor. "I come home, expecting my daughter to be asleep in her bed, to find my daughter alone, and this is what I find?" He snapped.
"Abba-"
But instead of acknowledging her, his gaze landed on the young man by her side. He grabbed Tim's arm, pulling him close. "I trusted you! I put my trust in your father! And this- this is how you repay me! By tricking my daughter to allow you into her bed!"
"It was not like that, Abba!" She cried, reaching for him, but he shoved her away. Then, he struck Tim hard across the back, shoving the younger man to the ground and kicking him hard in the stomach.
"You defiled my daughter! You destroyed her! You filthy swine! To think, I let you around Talia as well-" She pushed him away; the blankets had been pulled from the bed, and she knelt next to him, handing him his clothing.
"I am sorry-" Eli yanked her away, shoving her into the bookcase as Tim quickly dressed and stood. He grabbed Eli's arm as he reared back to smack her, and the older man turned.
"Don't touch her!" In response, Eli shoved Tim back, into the mirror hanging on Ziva's wall. The glass shattered, embedding chunks and shards into his back and shoulders.
"Get out! You get out of this apartment before I have you jailed for rape!"
"It was consensual, Abba! We decided-" But she didn't get a chance to explain, as Eli pulled Tim to his feet and shoved him out of the room. She crumpled to the ground, sobbing, the destruction of her room and her heart taking precedents over the secret she now carried.
"When Dad found out; I was rushed to the hospital and..." He sighed, not wanting to dwell on what had been the very real possibility that he probably would never have been able to walk again if not for the surgery. "That's why Dad shipped us home the next day, Sarah. I was given a day and a half to recoup, and then they sent us home. Mom and Dad returned to the States not two months later, any hope of drawing up peace with Mossad gone. They were off Britain two weeks later, where Dad became an Ambassador for the U.N., and then they were off to Japan."
Sarah wiped a tear off her cheek, as did everyone else, she noticed. "Timmy, I-" But he shook his head.
"I don't know what happened after we left, but I never stopped thinking about Ziva and Tali, or any of them."
"So, this is where your stories, converge and... split?" She asked, turning from Tim to Ziva and back.
"Just because we left, doesn't mean our paths split, Sarah." Tim whispered. "Our paths were still very much converged." He glanced to Ziva, who took a deep breath. She knew that she had to give her side of the story, for it took up where Tim's left off. Silently, she pressed a kiss to Asher's head, before having him slip off her lap, and she stood. She went to Tim, picking up the photo, a smile crossing her face. When she finally started to speak, she kept her eyes locked on Tim's, as though they were the only people in the room.
"I started to get sick, about a week after Tim left."