A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, but I had an extremelybusy week. But I'm back now for 8 more days before my trip! Oh, and for the final chapter of the Birthday Surpise from Church Girls, no, they did not. But I've moved on. : )

Today's chapter is a bit of a whoozy. A lot if explained. A crapload is not explained. Think I could be Shane Brennan's protégé? I think I could pull it off, if I do say so myself. ; ) Really though. Wow. This chapter. Maybe one of my favorites. I just love Tony here. It's another take on how Tony may react in the coming episodes when he learns of Ziva's capture and such.

Enjoy, my friends.

"Eli did this?" Tony cried.

"Ziva is his daughter," Levin pointed out. "He only called her, Tony,"

"No, his pre-paid phone called her," McGee said, reading from his screen. "Eli David is currently in Istanbul. He was even in a conference call with Vance earlier that day, direct from Turkey. This call was made down the street from Holt's house. Consistent with our theory,"

"What theory?" Levin asked.

"The theory that whoever forced her to fake her death was creating the right conditions for her to go somewhere alone and not be missed," Gibbs answered.

"How'd they know about Holt?" Tony asked McGee.

"My guess? They were keeping tabs on Ziva, so they knew what cases she was working on. They probably were keeping tabs on Holt too,"

"Clever," Tony commented dryly.

"No," Gibbs said. "Methodical,"

"So if Eli bought the phone… Is this a Mossad op?" Tony said, his brow furrowed with underlying anger. "I mean, it would match up with what you said the other day, Boss, in Ziva's apartment building, but…"

"Foreign agencies aren't allowed to operate on American soil," Levin reminded him.

"Eli doesn't care about that,"

"He cares about his daughter, though. Maybe that's why he was keeping tabs on her," Levin continued.

"Eli David doesn't care about anyone but himself, least of all Ziva," Tony said, his arms crossed. "And it still doesn't explain why he forced Ziva into hiding,"

"I think it's time for a little chat with Director David," Gibbs said.

"You think I was behind this?" Eli asked skeptically.

Gibbs and Tony stood in the dark of MTAC. Gibbs could feel Tony's growing fury, his hands clenched in his pockets, blinking numerous times to somehow set aside his anger.

"I think you have a lot to explain, Director," Gibbs replied. "You can start with why,"

"I do not see why you believe that I forced my own daughter to fake her death,"

"We have evidence that suggests it," Gibbs said, trying to keep his cool.

Eli sighed and looked around before returning his eyes to the screen. "I did not arrange it,"

"That's not true," Gibbs insisted. Tony looked down, hardly able to control himself.

"But I didaddress an old friend to speak with Ziva,"

"And does speaking include coercing her to disappear?"

"Ziva… She had grown soft,"

"Soft," Gibbs repeated.

"There was a mission," Eli continued. "A mission which required we,"

"We, meaning Mossad," Gibbs said.

"A mission which required Mossad to keep tabs on a terrorist,"

"Which terrorist?"

"His real name is not known, Agent Gibbs, but he is responsible for twenty-nine bombings in the last five years, all in Israel, and all involving American citizens, as well as dozens of major acts of violence,"

"So?"

"So, we gained intelligence that showed he was here, in America. We do not know where, yet, but we do know he is here. We knew the action that would be necessary to take could become… controversial,"

"Ah," Gibbs said, grinning knowingly in spite of himself. This was so typical of Eli.

"Officer David," Eli began. Tony flinched. "She was not fond of the plan. We knew we would require her assistance, but she refused to partake in any involvement,"

"So you had 'an old friend' talk to her," Gibbs completed.

"Yes, that is what I instructed him to do," Tony ran a hand through his hair.

Gibbs chucked. "Who is this 'old friend,' Eli?"

Eli cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, though his voice continued strong and certain. "He is a Mossad operative,"

"Who?" Gibbs demanded, raising his voice. Tony began breathing heavily.

"Akim Azaria. I have not spoken with him in several months,"

"But you didn't need to, did you?" Tony finally spoke up, staring Eli in the eye. "You trusted him to get the job done. You knew she wouldn't be a problem anymore. You figured if she just shut up, just went off the grid, you could do whatever you want. Didn't matter if she had to leave her entire life behind, didn't matter if she had to fake her own death. All that mattered were your precious plans! Did you even ask her? Ha, I highly doubt it. Tell me, Eli, how didyou get her to go along with this little charade? I gotta hand it to you, that's a pretty big feat. You know how stubborn she is. Probably got that from you. Only, she stood her ground so as not to ruin international relations with the United States. And now you know what, they have her. I don't know who it is, but if she's harmed, if you have anything to do with this, I swear… How can you even call her your 'daughter'? How can you even call her by her title. 'Officer David'. That's all she is to you. A pawn. This is all a game to you. Her life, her feelings, they don't mean a thing! As long as the job is finished, the mission completed, nothing else matters!"

Eli sighed condescendingly. "Are you done, Agent DiNozzo?"

"No, I'm not. I won't be until she is back here, at NCIS, safe and unharmed,"

"Back in your arms,"

Tony drew a breath and opened his mouth before shutting it once more and then finally deciding to speak. "Sir, Ziva was my partner for five years. I was responsible for her life. Then one day, she disappears and leaves behind a pool of blood and a badge. I was hospitalized, for PTSD, because the stress was just too much on my body. I pretty much gave up on life, and you wanna know why? Probably not, but I don't freakin' care what you think.

"Ziva was, no, is, the most incredible person I have ever met. She's strong and beautiful and caring and she thinks she isn't compassionate like Tali was, but she feels more than she lets on, to me or to anyone else. She is amazing, and you don't even see it! And then one day I get this letter, telling me that I, I, changed her! Telling me that somehow, I changed her! And then I realize that I owe her everything. Because she changed me too. Every day, she challenged me to be a better person, to be a better man. And then I try, I tried really hard to do everything she asked, to be the man she always knew I could be. And I don't know if I've become that man yet, but what I do know is that I owe her my life because she gave me mine back. And I will go to the ends of the earth to save her from whoever has her, because she deserves it. And you may not realize it now, and you'll probably realize it, but what you have is one incredible daughter. You've never realized what was right in front of you, and she's been there from the beginning. You never got it, and I can't figure out how for the life of me. So yeah, I won't be done until she's back here, in my arms, safe,"

MTAC had grown completely silent. The techs had stopped breathing, typing, and moving for that matter. Gibbs had merely watched him the entire time, his eyes quiet on his senior agent, on the boy who had become a man. Eli's eyes seemed to search Tony's face.

And Tony just stood there, heart on his sleeve, yet still sure and hopeful and serious.

"I might have an idea of who took her," Eli finally said. His eyes had grown softer as Tony spoke. "While Azari isa Mossad operative, there have been reports that he has made some… questionable moves. Questionable, even for Mossad,"

"He was rogue?" Gibbs asked.

"We had our suspicions, but no evidence. I was keeping him on a short leash,"

"So you asked him to talk to David about okaying some more questionable moves?"

"He was the officer assigned to tail our terrorist. We… I, had no reason to suspect that he might go to such extreme lengths. I really did instruct him to just talkto Ziva," Eli promised.

"Why'd you put such an unstable man on the job in the first place?"

"Like I said, we were keeping tabs on him too. I was watching his every move, but we did not want to alert him,"

"So explain to me, then, why you didn't do anything when he forced her to fake her death?"

"What was done was done. Had her certificate of death been signed then repealed, he would have been compromised. We could not take the risk, and--"

"And it solved the problem with Ziva," Tony finished. He began to pace a little, though he had calmed down significantly.

"When he brought her back to Mossad, I spoke with him about his actions. He seemed quite resentful, quite angry. He did not return the next day,"

"So he's been MIA for months and not even Mossad can track him down?" Tony said.

"I did not say that. There was little contact for three weeks. We moved Ziva from time to time, and he would guard her now and then. But he was tailing our terrorist and we could not afford more communication than that, not until three days ago."

"What happened three days ago?"

"We found this," Eli said. He began to type, and a photo appeared on one of the screens. One obviously Israeli sat in the backseat of a car beside a shadowed figure. "Azari and our terrorist. Not even our best technicians could fix the image,"

"You think he sold out Ziva's location to the terrorist?"

Eli nodded. "Azari is the best, and that is why we did not take out of the operation earlier. However--"

"He's unstable," Tony finished.

"Unfortunately," Eli sighed a little.

"So what now?" Gibbs asked.

"I would like the details on Ziva's kidnapping,"

Gibbs stared at Eli for a moment, studying him. "We arrived at the scene about forty-five seconds before Ziva did. She got out of the car, turned around, and then a black van comes flying out of nowhere. Three passengers and a driver, all armed. The door was open, they drove behind her car, grabbed her, and drove off before we could do anything. We were outnumbered," he said. "Tell me, Eli, why did Ziva want to meet with us today?"

"I do not know. She was with Azari all day, Agent Gibbs,"

"You trusted Azari with your daughter's life?" Tony asked angrily.

"No, I trusted my daughter with her ownlife. She can take care of herself, surely you know that of all people, Agent DiNozzo," Tony shook his head and smiled in frustration as he walked around mindelessly. Though Ziva could take care of herself, she wasn't perfect, not in the way she tried to be or tried to appear. Eli eyed Tony. "You do not agree," his words were much more of a statement than a question. Whether Ziva likes it or not, she is her father's daughter.

"Ziva is human, Eli. As strong as she may be, we all have our limits. You seem to have forgotten hers," Eli rolled his eyes in frustration. Tony grinned. "Glad we're both on the same page here, Eli,"

"Agent DiNozzo, Agent Gibbs," Eli began, sighing. "You will have Mossad's full cooperation," Gibbs raised his eyebrows as he glanced at Tony. Weird, Tony thought. "I will have one of my officers send you the information we have,"

At that, Tony had heard all he needed to hear. He walked briskly out of MTAC and went down to the bullpen.

"Abby got an ID on the shooter in Ziva's apartment," McGee announced as he walked in. Abby stood beside him, smiling to herself in triumph despite her obvious worry for Ziva. "Just got a hit," Tony walked over to him as he sent the image to the plasma.

"Noam Lev, resident of Tel-Aviv. Banker," Abby said.

"Banker… Never heard that one before," Tony commented sarcastically, remembering Michael Rivkin's cover.

"My gut told me it was Rivkin, not Ziva. Sometimes my gut just... sucks. But if Ziva knew something, I wanted to give her a chance to explain it to me," Tony said to Vance.

"To protect her," He completed.

"If she needed it,"

"You jeopardized your entire career and for what?" Ziva cried angrily, her eyes raging with more than mere fury. It was pain.

"For you," Tony said honestly. Her eyes filled with surprise. How desperately he wanted to keep it at that, the purest and sweetest truth he had ever known. But he couldn't. "He was playing you, Ziva," he added.

Those weeks had been hell, the knowing, the not knowing.

He hadn't been able to protect her then.

But he could now.

"Tony," he finally heard McGee's voice. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Tell me more about Lev,"

"Not much else to tell. No criminal record other than a couple traffic violations,"

"Sounds like Mossad," Tony and McGee shared a smile for a moment, remembering Ziva's driving skills, or better put, lack thereof. Levin stared at them, eyes blank with confusion. Tony grinned. "Never mind,"

"Or ex-Mossad," Gibbs said, striding in. He began to fill in the rest of the team with the intel Eli had shared, only in fewer words; typical Gibbs-style.

"That too," Tony sighed, staring at his shoes for a moment. He glanced up at Gibbs. "You think they'll make demands or something?"

"Depends,"

"On what?"

"On who it is 'they' is, and what it is 'they' want,"

"So… you want me to find out who 'they' is?"

"The proper term is 'they are," McGee pointed out.

"I was just… nevermind," Tony said, shaking his head. It was then that his cell phone rang. He pulled it out. "DiNozzo," he answered.

"Tony," Ziva. Her familiar voice sounded weak, as if she were on the verge of tears. Ziva never cried. Tony motioned to McGee urgently. He put it on speaker as McGee began to trace the call.

"Ziva, where are you? Are you okay?"

"Tony, I--" her words stopped short as he heard her cry out a little.

"Agent DiNozzo," began a man's voice, thick with accent.

Tony stiffened. "Where's Ziva? What do you want from her? I swear, if you hurt her--"

A sadistic laugh escaped the man's lips. "It is not what I want from her, Agent DiNozzo,"

"Then who?"

"You."