Eli

Vance had just finished explaining to the MCRT that Eli David was going to be in town for a couple of days for a conference that Vance was holding for educational purposes for future NCIS members with old NCIS members. Their job was to protect Eli and the people that he was coming with. Vance left without any other questions.

Tony turned to Ziva, who looked as though she were in shock over this news. She was standing as still as a statue and staring at the table as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. Tony picked his head up and glanced at Gibbs, who was also staring at Ziva. McGee was already on his way out of the conference room, accepting the news without further question. Gibbs' eyes met Tony's and he pulled his eyebrows together curiously.

"Ziva?" Gibbs asked. "You going to handle this okay?"

Ziva nodded lightly, but still didn't look away from the table. Tony was beginning to worry. Gibbs could see the worry in Tony's eyes. He could see that he was extremely worried about Ziva and the way she was reacting to this news, as though she were lost in some memory, though she didn't look like she was in pain over this memory, only lost.

Gibbs walked over to Tony and placed a hand on his shoulder as Tony was halfway to reaching Ziva, but dropped his hand to his side, realizing that his boss was still in the room. "See if you can get her to talk, DiNozzo. Take as long as you need," Gibbs said and left the room without another word, closing the door behind him and leaving his two agents alone.

Gibbs pressed his back against the door, lost in his own thoughts now. What was Vance doing? Why was he forcing Ziva to face Eli again? Obviously she wasn't ready to face Eli. Obviously this was slightly overwhelming to her. Gibbs only hoped that whatever was going on between Tony and Ziva was enough to open her up about it so that Tony could give her the comfort she needed. Hopefully they were smart enough to keep this away from the prying eyes of Mossad and Eli David, because Gibbs couldn't handle them meddling again, especially since Ziva was an American citizen now who also happened to be a Federal Agent that worked for him.

Inside the conference room, Tony hesitated a moment, studying Ziva carefully. He had seen this shocked look on her face before, more than once. The first time he saw it was when she found out that he was seeing Jeanne. The second time was when Jenny died. The third time was when they were reassigned. The fourth was when they were leaving without her and she was staying behind in Israel. All of those times had ended in some form of pain and Tony didn't want this to be another time on that list.

He stepped closer to her and put a hand gently on her shoulder and she finally looked up away from the table. Before she allowed her eyes to meet Tony's they swept the room and realized that they were alone for the moment. When her eyes met Tony's he could see a slight amount of panic and fear in them, but some pain and worry as well.

She took one step forward and wrapped her arms around Tony, placing her head on his chest, seeking the comfort that she could only find from his arms. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her as close to him as he could get her. He wanted to ask so many things, but he couldn't find the words or the right order to his questions. Despite his silence, Ziva started to talk quietly into his chest, trusting him with everything she had.

"He sent me there, Tony," she said quietly. "He sent me to Somalia knowing that it was most-likely a suicide mission. He was sentencing me to death and did not give me the choice. When Malachi was injured on the Damocles I called him, hoping that he would send me some back up. He told me to stick to the mission. I learned that he was hoping to break my American ties by sending me there. It was not a mission that he had planned originally. He wanted me back as his own and only loyal to him by the end of it, if I were to survive and if not, it was to be my punishment for serving the Americans with more loyalty than I had served him."

She sniffed a little and her arms tightened around Tony. Tony instinctively tightened his arms around Ziva. She continued speaking before he could find any questions to ask, knowing that he would have questions.

"I have not spoken with him since my return from Somalia. I do not really wish to see him, but I can handle it. I do not want to talk to him about it. I do not care what he has to say. He does not deserve my love, because he uses it to manipulate me, which was why I was afraid to love you," she continued without prompting and giving Tony more information that he had ever thought was possible to get from his silent ninja who didn't share deep personal things that explained the way she worked. "I love you and I know you would never do that, but I am afraid for the day when he finds out that I love you. He is probably still hoping that I come to regret my decision to become an American citizen. Vance dealt with him when that time came and I gave up my allegiance to Israel. I am sure that I he is angry. But, I cannot hide from this and run from this as I have done with many things in my past. I need to face it so I can continue to move forward. Tony, please, have my back."

"Always, Ziva," Tony said and that was all he could really think to say in that moment. All he could promise her was that he was always going to be there for her, no matter what demons popped up and no matter what her past threw at them, that he would always be there for her. He squeezed her tighter, having no words to express how he felt about her and how permanent this relationship was to him and how truly committed he was to Ziva.

"We cannot let him see this, though," Ziva warned him, finally meeting his eyes as hers filled with fear. "He will find a way to take it away. You remember how he reacted all those years ago when Gibbs was on retirement in Mexico."

"I remember, Zi," Tony said. "He won't see it. I promise. We'll behave."

She smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his lips. Again they found themselves breaking their own rules for how they were behaving at work, but they were, again, behind closed doors and they really couldn't avoid it at that moment.

A/N – Here we are reminded that Ziva is not fully healed. But, what a difference! She is turning to Tony right away instead of trying to deal with it on her own! We also learned another reason she was so hesitant to give Tony her heart and we see how much they truly care for each other! Review with thoughts, comments, opinions, you know the drill!