NCIS
WHERE'S DINOZZO?
DISCLAIMER: NCIS and characters do not belong to me.
Summary: Tony goes missing and no one knows where to start looking for him. Will they find him and will Ziva finally tell him she loves him, or will it be too late?
CHAPTER 21: FOUR YEARS LATER...
FOUR YEARS LATER...
It had now been almost four years since Ziva had left.
Tony had changed his mind about quitting NCIS, but as the days went by, he found it harder to work there. His thoughts often turned to her and he would wonder...where Ziva was and how she was doing.
No one on the team had heard from her since she had left. It seemed she had made a clean break and the team really missed her.
Though Agent Lexie Martin had become part of the team, she always felt more like an outsider to them.
Abby had kept her distance and had not wanted to get to know her.
First Kate and then a few years later then Director Shepard had killed…it seemed that when Ziva had left, that had been the final straw for Abby.
Abby and Tim had their hands full with their daughter, Caitlin Annabel McGee, who had just turned three-years-old.
That is when something happened that shook the team.
One morning Abby got up and went to check on Kate as they called been calling her since the day she was born, but there was no sign of Kate anywhere.
ABBY & TIM'S HOUSE…
"Tim!" Abby yelled her voice full of panic and fear. "Abby, what's…?" Tim stopped as he looked into Kate's room and did not see her. "Kate…" Was all Abby said before she began to cry.
"Let's check the house before we jump to conclusions." Tim told her and tried to stay calm.
They checked the entire house with no sign of the little girl. Then called Gibbs and Tony, who said they were would be there as soon as they could.
"Abby, what happened?" Gibbs asked.
"I-I don't know. I got up and went to her room, when I got there she wasn't there." Abby said sobbing.
"We didn't hear anything last night after we put her to bed. I checked on her before Abby and I went to bed last night, Kate was sound asleep." McGee told Gibbs.
"Don't worry. We will help you find her." Gibbs reassured him.
ISREAL...
ZIVA...
It had been years since she had seen or spoken to any them, it seemed to be a lifetime ago.
She had tried to move on and had a few dates now and then, but nothing like what she had with Tony.
She had gone back to working for her father at Mossad.
Whenever she thought of, Tony and what had happened she would still feel angry and sad, but she missed Gibbs, Ducky, Jimmy, Abby, and Tim.
She had cut off all contact with all of them and though she had received e-mails. She had deleted them and after awhile the e-mails had stopped.
She often wondered what had happened with Abby and Tim, and if they had had their baby and if it was a boy or a girl.
There were times she wanted so much to return to the United States and go back to work at NCIS, but the thought of Tony still being there. She could not stand the thought of working with him everyday again.
She had lost him, the day she had lost their child.
'It has been too long. I need to go back and at least visit...to explain,' Ziva thought to herself one day.
Even though her father tried to talk her out of it, Ziva packed a few bags and caught a plane to the United States.
It seemed forever, but the plane finally landed.
After landing in JFK airport in New York and transferring planes…she had finally made it to DC.
She was walking through the airport in DC, when she saw her. A little girl no older than three was crying and trying to get away from the women holding her hand.
The little girl looked familiar and then it hit Ziva. The little girl's hair was a lighter color...could it be Ziva began walking toward the little girl and the women.
"Kate?" Ziva asked and the little girl looked at her in surprise.
Then Ziva realized this must be Abby and McGee's daughter, but what was she doing with this person.
"Who are you?" The women asked Ziva.
"Ziva David. Why do you have this little girl?" Ziva asked as she grabbed the women's arm and forced her to let go of the little girl who had answered to the name of Kate.
"I don't see who that is any of your business, but I am her mother." The women replied. "You are lying." Ziva told her. "How would you know that?" The women demanded.
"Because I can tell when people are lying." Ziva said as two security guards walked up. "What's going on...?" One began.
"Hey, that girl looks like the one on the poster we received." The other said. "If I am right she is the daughter of Abby and Tim McGee." Ziva told them.
"How would you know that?" One guards asked Ziva. "Be-because she looks just like them and I used to work with them." Ziva replied.
The guards escorted Ziva, Kate and the kidnapper to separate rooms. Then called NCIS to tell them they may have found Kate.
Half an hour passed, then the door to the room where Ziva was opened.
In walked Gibbs, Abby, and Tim and... Tony.
She looked at everyone, but refused to look at Tony. Abby was holding the little girl close as the little girl clung to her.
It was a long ride back to NCIS and Abby had taken Kate down to Ducky to have her checked out.
NCIS…
"What are you doing here?" Tony asked his voice sounded like ice to her. "I have come back to see..." Ziva began.
"Come back to see us, why now? It's been almost four years!" Tony yelled at her.
"Calm down, DiNozzo." Gibbs warned.
"Tony..." Ziva began. "No! You left me, and said you never wanted to see me again! Now it's almost four years later and you say you came back to see...who?" Tony yelled. "Can we take this into a conference room, Tony? We need to talk." Ziva told him.
"Why? You said you never wanted to see me again! There is nothing for us to talk about!" Tony said as he turned and made his way to the elevator.
THE ELEVATOR...
He stepped inside and just before the door closed, she slipped in behind him and flipped the emergency switch. When he tried to reach around her, she slapped his hand away.
"We need to talk." She told him again. "Why? Why now?" Tony asked. "Because it was four years ago today or have you forgotten?" Ziva asked.
"I never forgot. Every year I remember the day we lost our child, the day you said you never wanted to see me again and the day you decided to leave!" Tony told her and she could see the pain in his eyes.
'The pain I caused.' She thought.
"Tony, I am sorry. I do not know what else to say. I was hurting and did not know what else to do, I left because I knew it would be hard to sit at a desk across from you and not remember losing our child." Ziva said and took his hands, but he pulled away.
"I e-mailed you, mailed you letters, and tried to contact you every way I knew how. McGee even suggested that I go and see you, but I wanted to give you a little more time. Time passed and I tried to forget you...forget what we had and everything we went through, but I couldn't. Do you know how much it hurt the day I came back to work and found a new agent at your desk?" Tony asked refusing to look at her, but she took his face and made him look at her.
"I do know how much it hurt, because it hurt me too. I missed you and I tried to forget you, but I could not because you were on my mind. Every day and every night, I thought about you. That's why I decided to come back, I could not go another day...without coming to see if I could come back to a place I felt was my true home." Ziva told him as tears fell down her cheeks.
Without thinking what he was doing, he reached out and began to wipe her tears away. They were only inches apart, but neither of them pulled back.
"It will never be the same; we can't go back and change the past." Tony told her.
"Then let us make a new start, Tony." She told him and a thought came to mind that she wanted to kiss him, but didn't know how he would react.
So for what seemed a long time…they just stood there, then his hands slipped away from her face and he took a step back. She let her hands fall to her sides, because she now had her answer. She would not return to NCIS, unless she could work things out with Tony.
"How did you know that Kate was McGee and Abby's daughter?" Tony asked after a few minutes. "She just looked familiar and then I realized she looked just like the both of them." Ziva replied.
"You never did get a chance to say who you came back to see. I didn't let you finish." Tony told her.
"You," Ziva said simply. "What?" Tony asked in surprise. "I came back for two reasons, Tony..." Ziva began.
"What are those reasons?" Tony asked.
"I came back to see if I could work things out with you and decided if we worked things out..." Ziva started to say.
"What? You said there were two reasons." Tony reminded her.
"I decided if we could work things out I would like to come back and work at NCIS again." Ziva said and looked at the floor. "Really, Zi, are you serious?" Tony asked and she looked up surprised at what he had just called her.
He had not called her that in years and it brought back memories of happier times.
When they had worked together before and when they had finally become a couple. Before she had lost their child, left him and hurt him.
"Yes, Tony, if we can work things out. I will be coming back to NCIS. I think I will have to go through everything to become a U.S. citizen again, but it would be worth it. I have missed everyone and I have missed you. I thought of you almost every day." Ziva confessed to him and this time he was the one to take her hands.
She looked up at him in surprise and saw the smile she had not seen in years, but there was also a hint of sadness in his eyes.