Ziva had been sent to pack her things, not that she had that many things to pack. Since she was taken hostage and dragged out of the country so she did not exactly have time to pack, but she had bought a couple changes of clothes and a toothbrush while she was down there, just the essentials. She was being sent back to the states one week before the presidential dinner and was to ensure everyone at NCIS that things were fine and that she had to go away suddenly for a week but apologized for not calling. That way she would not lose her protection duties of Director Vance to someone else. Her father had told her that he was putting two wires on her that she was to wear at all times, one so that he could hear her and her conversations with others and another so he of a GPS tracker so could keep watch of where she was and what she was doing. If they were removed for any reason, other than showering and changing clothes of course, they would murder someone from the NCIS team, kill one of her friends. For the moment her father said that he would believe her on the fact that she did not tell Tony but anything that led them to believe she had and he would promptly executed as would anyone else who seemed to know of her mission.

Ziva was to be ready to leave in an hour and she would be flown back to the US and then drove to her apartment. A phone call to the director was to be made to explain her absence and she would return to work Monday, the day after tomorrow. Her father had left nothing to chance but Ziva knew that she would find a way to fix this, change the outcome. The bomb would not be going with her back to the states. Obviously it was going to be controlled by a switch from her father instead of one by her and there was to be some sort of alerter to let him know if someone was messing with the bomb's system. He was going to contact her the night before the dinner and they were to meet somewhere and he would strap the bomb on her along with a GPS fix on the bomb so there was no way she could ditch it in a dumpster or something.

Ziva was scared, terrified. As of right now her mind was drawing a blank on how she would get out of this one. Yes, she could right notes to communicate what she did not want her father to hear but that did have it's limits. To disarm the bomb without her father realizing would be impossible since it would be strapped onto her and then she was to go to the dinner. Her options were seemingly limited. Limited to the point of only two options, follow through or sacrifice herself hoping and praying that someone could stop her father before he found some other way to destroy his alliances and much more importantly America.

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It was official, Tony hated waiting. Not that no one knew that before, because they most definitely did, but now it was painfully obvious. They still did not know when Ziva would return to the states and it was now two days after their visit to Israel. Gibbs was thankful that there were no calls on Friday and that everyone got the weekend of because he could tell that no one could focus, not even him. Now, on Sunday, the team was trying their best to not be consumed by this whole ordeal, or at least pretend that they hadn't been. Abby was at church, Gibbs was working on his boat, McGee was writing a new book One that dealt with the disappearance of Lisa. Ducky was at home with his mother, Palmer was...well what does Palmer do when he's not at work? Tony was at home rereading Ziva's letters running through his mind on the different ways of how they could stop the bomb, stop the inevitable. Ziva had told Tony a very limited amount about her father but he knew that the man certainly knew how to cover his tracks and would not make it even slightly easy for them tochange anything.

They had not yet told Director Vance about the threat of a terrorist attack and they did not plan to until or if it became absolutely necessary. If the man would not believe them about Ziva's abduction from her father why would he believe them about the same man intending to blow up the president? Tony wondered just what he wanted to gain from all of this. Was he going to join sides with Hamas or Gaza? Had he already done so? The way Tony looked at it the man was setting himself up to lose a whole lot. His alliances with America, most likely quite a few people who worked for him, and his daughter. A lot of loss for minimal to no gain, it didn't make any sense. But it wasn't that important to Tony, he didn't care if Eli had a hundred excuses, there was no reason to be doing any of this, and it was as simple as that.

Tony had so many questions for Ziva, they all did. He was still feeling the after effects of relief when he realized that she was still there, still alive and well, well physically that is. He had feared so many things and although he had wanted to have faith that she was okay the more time he had to think the more he realized that it was just as easy for her to be dead as it was for her to be alive. Needless to say when he heard that McGee thoughts he had spotted Ziva he was mentally beating himself up for not insisting he be the one who was sent in there in place of being the back up/decoy. His thoughts were interrupted when his cell phone started buzzing alerting him of an incoming call. The name "Gibbs" flashes across his cell phone's screen. No, not today. The last thing I need today is to deal with another dead marine. Tony thinks before answering the call with a simple "Yeah."

"Vance spoke with Ziva," Gibbs says and Tony is immediately pulled from his melancholic state of mind, his thoughts now placed on Ziva.

"And?" Tony asks. He has a hundred and one questions but it seemed like it would be a lot easier to just let Gibbs tell him what happened how the conversation went.

"She told him that she had to go back to Israel to take care of some things and said she was sorry for not calling."

"But that's not what's going on?" Tony says as more of a question than a response.

"Ya think, DiNozzo?" Gibbs says. "Apparently she'll be at work Monday."

"Why would she do that?" Tony questions more to himself than to Gibbs.

"Her father could have been with her when she made the call."

"I didn't think of that..." Tony says and lets his mind wander. So she was in Washington? In her apartment? Why hadn't she called him or contacted him someway? Didn't she know that he wanted to talk to her, needed to talk to her? Did she think he was angry with her? Was he angry with her? Did she regret her confession in the letter? Did she mean what she wrote in the letter? Did she fear he didn't feel the same? Did she even want him to feel the same?

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asks but gets no response. "DiNozzo?" Gibbs says again a little louder but when there is still no answer pulls the phone away from his ear to make sure the call hadn't been dropped. It hadn't of. "Hey!"

Startled from interruption of his series of rambling questions Tony nearly drops the phone but manages to catch before it falls to the floor. "Yeah, boss?" Tony asks to regain his composure.

"Go over to her apartment and do not mention anything about the terrorist attack or anything else you might say if her father was there," Gibbs says forcefully want to make sure that DiNozzo followed orders.

"What?" Tony questions confused on Gibbs' request, or more so demand.

"Did I stutter?"

"No. Sorry, boss," Tony replies."Why though?"

"The same reason why she told the director that she 'had to go out of town to deal with things' someone might be listening and saying anything about the terrorist attack or letting on to the fact that you know about it could get both you and Ziva killed."

"Right," Tony says and then it stays silent for a moment.

"Well, go," Gibbs tells him and then hangs up.

Tony smiles at the idea of going to see Ziva and eagerly grabs his car keys and a movie, just in case.

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"Follow the rules and no one will be harmed," Ziva's father says to her as they exit the small plane.

"Until Saturday," Ziva says disgusted with him now more than ever. She had recently been told that Michael would be going with her back to DC to keep an eye on her and to murder her if necessary. Although as of right now they wanted to avoid that or else the terrorist attack would have to be planned somewhat from the beginning again. Michael would be staying at a hotel not too far from her apartment or NCIS and would be keeping also tabs on her to make sure she did not try to fool them by messing with the GPS or hearing wire.

"Yes, until Saturday."

Ziva faces her father, glaring at him, trying to show all of her hatred and anger in that one look. "You are a monster," she tells him. Right now was one of the last times she would ever see him again and he was going to have her killed maybe watching her mouth would no be quite so important.

"I am sorry, bat," he says but Ziva does not see nor does she hear the slightest bit of sadness or sincerity in his apology.

"No," Ziva wanting to say a few more words to him. Words that might just possibly hurt him, hurt this cold hard stone of a person. "You are not sorry and you never have been. You destroyed Ari's life and you took Tali's!" Ziva says lowering her voice as though it would make the words less painful or maybe it was to make them more. Her voice was a hiss practically, venom pouring out of each word she spoke. "And now you are forcing me to carry out your evil plans. You are a despicable man, one who deserves to die, yet you have murdered everyone in your family and you are the one left standing. Funny how that has worked out, yes? If anyone should rot in hell it should be you," Ziva stares him down, but he does not cower he is not even unfazed. Not even the hurtful words she had just spoken could cause him to feel him the smallest amount of remorse. Maybe this is why she hated him so much, not only for all the things she had just said or all the lives she has destroyed, but because that he does not care what he has done, the damage he has caused. He cares only of himself. "I despise you," Ziva says, the final words before he turns and gets back on the jet and before she is grabbed roughly by the arm and dragged over to a black Prius, the same she arrived in.

A week had passed, only a week, an entire week. She was back where she was taken from, she was a now a stranger. She would return to work on Monday, yet nothing would be the same, nothing could be the same. One week had changed everything and in one more she would not be here.

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I was going to have Tony come to Ziva's apartment in this chapter but thought I'd save it for the next one. I hope the chapter was okay, like I said things are starting to progress some of course who knows where they'll go? Well why don't you review and maybe you'll find out.

Happy New Year! Here's to hoping that 2009 is filled with fun, blessings, and happiness!