Rifiuto: Non Miriena

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"Abba?" Tim looked up from his paperwork. Asher was kneeling in front of his desk, chin resting on his hands. "Can we go home?" Tim sighed, glancing at Gibbs before gesturing for the boy to come closer. He pulled his son onto his lap, wrapping his arms around him. The boy looked up at him, listening silently.

"Asher, we can't just go home whenever we feel like it. I have a job to do, a very important job, and as much as I want to go home and spend time with you and Ima, we're working a case, and right now-"

"Go home, McGee." Tim's head snapped up, to find Gibbs watching him and the tender way he talked to his son; most likely reliving some long ago memory of Kelly. He struggled to form words for several minutes, before,

"Boss?"

"Go home. You and Ziva both. Spend some time with your son. You've earned it." Asher's face lit up, and he turned wide green eyes to Gibbs.

"Really?" The older man nodded. "Toda, Mr. Gibbs! Toda!" He cried, climbing off Tim's lap and rushing across the bullpen to throw his arms around the older agent in a hug. Gibbs did well to hide his surprise, and instead, just watched as his parents gathered their things and met at the entrance to the bullpen. As he walked the boy back to his parents, he leaned towards Tim, whispering,

"You have us, too, Tim. You'll always have us."

They picked up takeout, because neither one felt like cooking. As Ziva dished the food out onto the plates, Tim slid his arms around her from behind and pressed a kiss to her temple. She giggled, turning to look at him. Asher watched from his perch on the sofa, the book in his lap virtually forgotten at the sight of his parents acting domestic together. "You sure that you and Asher can have Chinese? I know they use some beef, but the pork is... well, pork." Ziva shrugged, grabbing a bottle of something and adding it to the chow mien before adding a packet of something else and mixing it.

"Honestly, I have not been paying as much attention as I should to what is kosher and what is not. My father would say that... America is ruining me." Silence fell between them for a moment before she snorted in derision. "I think the opposite. It is improving me." She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Just like you are." She held out a chopstick with chow mien, and he rolled his eyes, but let her play out her little fantasy.

"What did you add to it?" He coughed lightly, surprised at the spice. She grinned.

"Tabasco and soy sauce." He raised an eyebrow.

"Tabasco and..." He rolled his eyes. "Has Sarah been getting to you?" She shook her head.

"No." She turned to face him, grinning.

"Well then, have you tried it yourself?" She shook her head. "Oh, so you have me play the guinea pig." He replied, grabbing a pair of chopsticks and forcing her to try her own concoction. She accepted the noodles after some coaxing, and giggled, finally swallowing the bite. She licked her lips, nodding.

"Not bad. If I say so myself." She slid her arms around his neck, capturing his lips in a quick kiss. "But I like this better." She whispered against his lips, as his hands slid around her waist. He pulled her closer, drinking in her taste; she giggled softly, tangling her fingers in his hair. Asher watched his parents at the kitchen counter, and after a moment, he got up and grabbed a pencil from his backpack, crossing off the first thing on his list.

He glanced back at his parents, but they hadn't moved.

One down, five to go.

"Can we eat?" The two broke part, to see their son standing in the kitchen, watching them intently. "Are we going to eat? Soon?" Blushing, Tim stepped back from Ziva, and then rushed to grab the tea kettle before the water boiled dry. Once they sat down to eat, Asher glanced at both his parents, before turning to Ziva, asking, "Ima, what is Mossad?"

She choked, dropping her chopsticks. "Where did that come from, my angel?" She asked, after catching her breath. The boy looked up at her.

"You mentioned Mossad today. What is it?" Ziva glanced at Tim, sighing. She pushed her plate to the side and folded her arms on the table.

"Asher, you have to understand, that some of the things I have done in the last eight years..." She licked her lips. "They are not good things, and I regret them more than anything. But the one thing I never regretted was you." He looked at Tim before turning back to Ziva.

"What did you do, Ima?" She sighed.

"Mossad is the Israeli Intelligence Agency-"

"So the police?"

"Kind of." She glanced at Tim, who stayed quiet, knowing this was Ziva's story to tell. "We... collect information, and analyze intelligence and perform secret operations outside of Israel. That is why I am stationed here. I am a liaison for NCIS, which means we work together."

"But... what does Mossad do?" She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Sometimes, our operations involve... committing murders..."

"Like... killing people?" She nodded. "Like Tali Doda?" Her head snapped up and she shook her head violently.

"No. No, Asher. Tali's death was not Mossad's doing. Tali died because of Hamas. They killed her. And I..." She swallowed, taking a deep breath, tears beginning to come to her eyes. "I killed them in revenge. I killed them, to avenge my sister's death..."

The bomb was set, now all she had to do was wait. The wait was not long.

She watched through the car window, waiting for her target to start the ignition. And then her heart plummeted into her shoes. The man she had targeted, the man who had killed her sister, was sitting in the car, waiting as a woman- most likely his wife- buckled their daughter into her car seat in the back. She could stop it, she could just walk away, now. Except it was too late. The bomb was strapped to the bottom of the car, and as soon as he started the ignition, the whole thing would blow. Killing all inside.

One murderer and two innocents.

When the bomb exploded, all she could hear was the child's screams. Tears in her eyes, she gunned the motor and rushed from the scene.

She sniffled, the tears dripping off her chin onto the table. "It is strange, you know, to think of one's self as... an assassin." She looked up at them. "So you... you have to... think of yourself as something else then." She shook her head. "That night, I became no better than the man who took Tali from us." Her gaze shifted to Asher, who sat watching his mother silently. "I returned home that night... and you... you were the reason I made the choices I did. You are the reason we came to America. It was too dangerous; I was too deep in Mossad, and if I went any deeper... I would have never come back. I needed to get out, to save both of us."

She sniffled. "Mossad... we are supposed to be righteous... if I lose that, if I lose you, or Abba... that is my soul. I do not expect you to understand, my angel, or to ever forgive me, but... but I had no choice. I could not sit back and let Tali die for nothing..." She broke down then, only to look up when Asher climbed into her lap and wrapped his arms around her neck.