Chapter Ten

Tony walked into Gibbs' kitchen and went over to the counter, taking the pot out of the coffee maker and filing it with water from the sink. He poured it back in the machine then rooted around the cupboards until he found some coffee. Tony leaned back against the counter after finishing his task, leaning his head against the cupboards and closing his eyes. Today had been stressful and tiring, but in the end things had turned out alright. After he talked with Tali she made up with her mom and the rest of the day was spent basically lazing around. Jenny had stopped in at one point all smiles, tiptoeing around the status of Tony and Ziva's relationship, or lack thereof. Gibbs did the same, until about ten minutes ago when Tali had gone to bed and he suggested that Tony should go start a pot of coffee; clearly a sign that he was ready to talk about 'everything'.

Tony opened his eyes as he heard someone walk into the room. "Ziva."

"Tony." She greeted in return, copying his stance against the counter. "You know what he's going to want to talk about."

"I know." He sighed, scrubbing a hand across his tired eyes.

"What do we tell him?" she asked looking up at him.

"The truth?" Tony answered, more of a question then a statement. "What else would we tell him?"

"I don't know." Ziva murmured dejectedly. "I just don't want to be treated like a child. We were adults, we were mature enough to make our own decisions and even though he was our boss I don't feel like he had the right to tell us who we could and couldn't date."

"Ziva…" Tony began staring at the person who was now standing right behind her.

"I'm not finished." She said forcefully. "So maybe things didn't work out between us and yes I got pregnant, but it's not like we were being extremely careful. We knew what could happen, but we didn't care and that's our problem not Gibbs'. Right?"

"Um…" He wasn't sure if he should answer; agreeing with her, which truthfully he did, would anger Gibbs who she still didn't know was right behind her. But if he didn't agree with Ziva she would be angry with him and that was not something he wanted to happen if he was going to try and gain back her trust, her love. Thankfully he didn't have to do either of these things as Gibbs spoke up.

"Why don't you just tell me how you really feel, Ziva?" He said sarcastically, a small smile appeared on his face as he made his way over to the kitchen table.

Her eyes grew wide and she sent Tony a look of disbelief, seeming to ask him why he had not alerted her of Gibbs' presence. "I tried." He whispered with a smile and a shrug.

"Um...sorry Gibbs I did not know you were there." She bit her lip taking a seat across from him.

"Firstly, never apologize it's a sign of weakness." Tony smiled as he poured them each a cup of coffee, it had only been a day and Gibbs was already referring to his rules. "And secondly if you had known I was there I wouldn't have heard what you two really thought."

Tony furrowed his brow as he set the coffee mugs down on the table. "You two? Boss I never…"

"I'm not an idiot DiNozzo, you both think alike when it comes to certain things and I know had I not been standing there you would have agreed with her." He interrupted taking a sip of his coffee. Tony sat down beside Ziva and wrapped his hands around his cup. "When did you two start dating?"

"A couple weeks before the 'Couple Killer' Case." Tony answered. "We were surprised you never found out, you always seemed to know about everything that went on back then."

"Well I guess you just did a good job of hiding it DiNozzo." He said dryly. "When did you break it off?"

"A few days after Abby and Tim were gone." Ziva replied as she tapped her fingers on the table, avoiding eye contact with Gibbs.

"Why?"

Tony sighed; he hadn't talked about this in a while. "I couldn't stay in D.C. any longer; it didn't feel right to me anymore. Ziva didn't want to leave so we ended things, that's all there is to it." He tried to keep his explanation as short and simple as possible knowing that neither Ziva nor himself wanted to draw this conversation out.

"Why wouldn't you go?" He asked turning his gaze on Ziva.

"I don't know I just…" She paused, still unwilling to meet Gibbs eyes. "This was the first real home I'd had in years and even though Abby and Tim were killed I couldn't just leave. At that point I still had Tony, I didn't need to leave if you were there."

He met her eyes and felt his heart break, Tony knew the pain he had felt when they ended things was unbearable, but until now he had never thought about what Ziva had gone through. First he left her, then she found out she was pregnant and then she was alone when she had Tali. No wonder she went back to Israel. Speaking of which-

"Why did you come back?" He blurted out. "You were in Israel for so thirteen years before you decided to come back, why?"

Ziva ignored his question for a few minutes; the only emotion her face showed was of deep contemplation. "After I had Tali I went to Israel, I found my father and for the first couple of years everything was fine, great even. It was like he had changed, that coming back and bringing him a granddaughter had softened him. But after a few years he changed and I realized I was wrong." She paused taking a deep breath. "When Tali was about three and we had both laid down for a nap and when I woke up Tali was no longer in her crib. One of my father's men, under his orders, had set up a sort of obstacle course or maze and at the end was her favorite stuffed animal. I only woke up when she started crying because every time she did something wrong the man would hit her. My father was trying to groom her, train her for Mossad; I had already been down that road and I wasn't going to let him do that to my daughter. So I left, but it didn't take long before he found me and once again tried to take Tali. We moved around Europe for several years before I decided it was finally time to come back."

"Why was he so bent on training her?" Gibbs asked, though he looked deep in thought.

"I never found out." She sighed. "Why does it matter to you?"

"Because McGee and Abby aren't dead, but you two are supposed to be and your father is the reason why."

Tony's eyes grew wide, "What? Gibbs what the hell are you talking about?"

"Gibbs, they are dead. They have been dead for fourteen years." Ziva blanched.

"This is going to be impossibly hard to believe, but I need you to listen to me for a few minutes alright?" Tony and Ziva nodded their heads in response. "That day at NCIS it was supposed to be you two that died. Eli somehow found out about the two of you and he wanted it ended, in one way or another. It was simply a coincidence that a marine couple had been murdered before his men found you, well found McGee and Abby. That was their first mistake, the second was not being smart enough to set off the bomb at the right time. They believed that they might be able to get you in the room at the right time so it went off when you were there. But they were in the room when it went off, not Abby and McGee, but we all assumed it was them because who else would have been in there? Who else was nowhere to be found?"

"Boss, hold on, where is your proof?" Tony interrupted head reeling from what he had just heard.

"Abby and McGee were put into Witness Protection. It took some digging and needling certain people but I finally found them." Gibbs took out his wallet and set a picture on the table.

Tony pulled it towards him and his mouth fell open in shock. Three people stood in the picture, the first being McGee he had aged a bit his hair turning a bit gray on the sides. Next to him was Abby, her hair was still black but instead of the trademark pigtails it was pulled back in a bun and the tattoos on her fingers were absent; they had either been removed or were covered with make-up. In front of the two stood a girl about Tali's age who seemed oddly familiar. He studied her for a moment and it eventually clicked.

"Boss, that girl goes to the school where I teach." Tony exclaimed pointing to her.

"You sure DiNozzo?" Gibbs questioned leaning forward in his chair.

"Yes, I'm positive. Boss, that's not their kid is it?"

"One in the same, her name is Izzy." He answered. "I went down there the other week. Scared McGee half to death."

"Gibbs, if that is their daughter then that would mean that they live in the same town as us. That is impossible." Ziva whispered, resting her head in her hands.

"Not necessarily Ziva…" He stopped short and his head snapped toward the doorway.

"Boss?"' Tony prompted confused.

Gibbs held a finger up and slowly rose it up his ear; listen. Tony did and at first he didn't hear anything but all of a sudden there was a huge thump, some rustling and then a muffled scream. In an instant all three of them were upstairs, Tony was only halfway up the stairs when he heard Ziva say something about a broken window and Tali being gone. He sprinted back down the steps and out the door, stepping outside just as the back door of a black SUV slammed shut. The tires squealed as they began to take off, Tony ran after it getting as close as he could; he wasn't going to let these people get away with his daughter. He focused in on the back license plate, he knew there was slim chance of catching up with the SUV, but he at least had to get something. 983 TVIK, Tony repeated the sequence over and over again in his head as he kept running, and somehow he found himself behind the car, almost against the bumper. He didn't know if it was adrenaline or if he was actually in shape, but at the moment it didn't matter. Tony focused on the handle on the hatch and prayed hard as he launched himself at the car.

He let out a sigh of relief as his hand clasped the handle on the hatch and his other wrapped around the back of the vehicle. He pressed his face against the glass and could barely make out the struggling shape of Tali. The SUV had a two-door hatch so Tony shifted over and took a deep breath before wrenching the door open. Adrenaline took over as he launched himself at the nearest body. He threw punches left and right, and he faintly registered Tali screaming in the background. Tony felt like he was being pushed backwards toward the open end of the SUV so he began fighting back even harder, but it was in vain. There were at least three men in the back and his adrenaline was wearing off, but as he was pushed towards the back of the car he punched the man closest to him as hard as he could in the face.

"Damnit!" The man yelled in a thick Israeli accent, pulling out a gun. "Son of a bitch."

Tony heard the gun go off and felt a searing pain hit his right shoulder as he was pushed out of the back of the SUV. He hit the ground hard and fast, the momentum causing him to continue to roll even after he had hit the ground. Tony locked his jaw to keep from yelling as he put pressure on the shoulder where he had been hit. He couldn't tell how much blood he had lost or was losing but his vision began to blur until he could barely see a thing. He tried to stay awake but the darkness at the edge of his vision was more inviting then the pain he was experiencing at that moment. Tony could no longer fight his heavy eyelids and let them slide closed, welcoming the darkness that came with them.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I had a very busy Christmas. Anywho, hope you liked it and please send me a review. Happy New Year, whether it is already 2012 where you are or whether it will be in just a few short hours!