Chapter 14: What She Left Behind

Once upon a time there lived a Secret Service Agent by the name of Caitlin Todd. With her training she managed to complete a case while partnering with Team Gibbs. It was there that Gibbs realized what a superb addition to the team she would be, and he recruited her.

Her team called her by her nickname; Kate. A neutral name that went well with her stereotypical Americanized being. She could pass for the gal next door until she reached for her weapon--then all bets were off.

Her past showed traces of Catholic schooling, but pure she was not. This made her human, this made her real, and unfortunately, this made her more appealing to her Italian partner.

Artistically she appealed to Abby, but it was true friendship that kept them close together. Their friendship was known because if it had not been then she would not have taken Abby's advice about getting herself a tattoo; nor would their outings to a weekend spa go unnoticed by the team, especially Gibbs who had informed DiNozzo in his last attempt to grab his full attention for a case.

Unusually, she became a friend to Gibbs. Perhaps his closest within the team if one would exclude his older friend, Ducky and his younger, more eccentric friend, Abby. It had been unusual because Gibbs kept to himself, even his reoccurring wives hardly were able to achieve success in grabbing his attention. Gibbs had been without friends; a loner.

She had been there to unlock parts to him that were unfamiliar to the team, even to Abby. Whether it had been a case where his goal was to purposely fall into a flirting match with a could-be suspect in the presence of her or if it were the little moments where Tony tried his best to make her feel foolish for sleeping with her weapon only to realize Gibbs took pride in her nightly routine; never once taking finding it laughable.

Sadly, Kate died at the hands of the team; a solid shot from Ari was all it took. When it happened everyone more or less wanted to blame each other. When a minimal amount of time had passed, everyone wanted to blame Ziva for Kate's death--especially Gibbs. It had been far more easier to take it out on the newbie rather than self-destruct, but no matter how much he succeeded and how much Ziva hit him full-on with her own pain of losing someone close to her, he could never rid himself of the guilt.

Kate died at the hands of the team, right there with her prying partner, and right there with her protective Team Leader. He had failed her, his friend--his possibly could have been…

Times were simple with Kate. Her presence was something of the norm. She was identifiable because she was a fitting reoccurrence on each day she appeared inside the squad room. Never was she intolerable, never was she feared. Even without full knowledge of what she did during her none-working hours, a mere thought of what she could do with her time away from the office was never mysterious.

Kate had set the team at ease, but still, naturally, her habits did not go unnoticed by her team. Sometimes a suspects' eyes were the open windows to their souls as far as she was concerned, and just enough of a weakness of hers that nipped at Gibbs' last nerves.

She was a thorny stem with a flowery head. Just enough prick to get her through tough days spent investigating never-ending cases and dealing with flirtatious comments from Tony, and just enough of a floral essence to make each of her squad partners and their Medical Examiner take notice that she was not only of the opposite sex, but that she was indeed a lady.

The team never meant for Ziva to feel unfitting, but their actions were enough to make her realize that her placement within the team had not been accepted. Of course they knew they would sooner or later need a new team member, but it was the later they were all praying for; the well deserved time they earned to grieve the loss of a dear friend and a loyal team member.

Instead they had to recompose themselves, individually, as quickly as possible in order to take on the unwelcome entrance of their newest team member: Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David.

Officer David came to the team with training they were only familiar with through pick-up conversations and hand-me-down information bundles. Gibbs, as sharp as the former Marine sniper he used to be, had never experienced Mossad training. Ziva was a true Mossad unrealistically from birth, but suitably when one took into consideration her mentality and her reflexes.

She was not superhuman, but she was not your average--and the team knew this. They fed off of her misplacement like it were a game. Gibbs had taken on a habit of reminding her how important it had been to investigate the suspects rather than killing them. Of course it was his duty to train her the best to his knowledge, but his way of doing so had been different from when Kate took residence of the desk nearest to him. Obviously Kate had been American trained, a former Secret Service Agent who held the responsibility to only kill a direct threat to the President of the United States--or any other high-profiled member of the government. Even if the time had presented itself where she would have to react, to take action, she knew of her options.

Her instinct had never been to kill.

Tony had his weekly field day with Ziva; sometimes two field days. She was a cold-blooded ninja assassin more than she was his average team member, and because she was usually paired with him as an order from Gibbs, she had to find each and every way to give Tony a taste of his own medicine. Thankfully, he enjoyed the taste even when his mind would wonder to his late partner. Ziva had been different from Kate, and Tony, more quickly than any other member of the team, was able to not only acknowledge the obviousness of the fact, but to accept it as well.; to take to the newness as if he was her protection and she was his protection when battling the big, bad monsters outside the office.

Once upon a time Caitlin Todd found an addition to her family within a small group of people that each held something special she had only heard of once or twice in her life. It had been these same people that greeted her on the majority of her mornings throughout the hectic and stressful years. It had been these same people that she had to leave behind without ever having a second to say goodbye.

…and once upon a time Ziva David made her way through the steel doors of the elevator, Gibbs' private office, unwilling to let anyone in her path inside--to her way of life and to her private feelings. Fortunately for her, what Kate left behind had been too powerful to ignore. These individuals formed an alliance with a fiery force she could not help, but be scorched by their blaze and be an absorbent of their warmth.

At times she wanted nothing more than to give them back what was rightfully theirs--to find a way to bring Kate back to them, but there were times she hated what had become of things. Kyle Branson took her dependable family away from her--one she never knew of during her days with Mossad, as if she were not worthy of their kindness and their humanly reactions to incidents and accidents.

…and there had been so many times since then where she had taken her doubt as an actual fact.

The loud knocking on the door steers her outside of her cloudy thoughts. Walking away from the window, she makes her way to her apartment door with her weapon already drawn. Her mind begins to question if she should address the visitor in Chinese or in English, but soon there is an even louder knock, almost frantic, and a familiar intake of breath.

"…Tony?"

"Open up, Ziva."

"I would much rather you go away--at least for the rest of the night." She wipes at her still damp eyes. "Please, Tony….take my patience as a sign of goodness."

"Your patience is costing me time."

"Time for what?" She knits her eyebrows, lowering her gun and placing her hand near the door.

"Getting back to Tel Aviv."

"You should not travel back in that fashion…." She opens the door slowly, indicating that her nerves are still somewhat on edge. "…it could be dangerous…"

"Direct orders." His focus is on hers alone, "From Director Shepard." He notices her confusion for the first time since she opened the door. "She can't reach them."

"Who is them, Tony?"

"Gibbs and McGee."

Her mouth falls open a little as panic forms inside her eyes.