I AM SUCH A BAD PERSON! :(((

I am SO sorry for the late update. As some of you may know, I try to update every Saturday/Sunday, but this week has been crazy stressful, and I seem to have been tired all week... *sigh* but I hope you all still want to read!
thank you SO much for the reviews! you guys really like Ari! as in, I love Ari, but you guys REALLY love Ari. So on that revelation, I have tailored this chapter to your tastes! enjoy!

Chapter 22

Ari sat in interrogation, wringing his hands nervously, as he tracked the flashing red dot of the camera in the corner of the room. He had been in interrogation rooms numerous times before, first in Mossad, where the red dot in the corner was off more than it was on, and later at NCIS offering legal advice to all kinds of people, ranging from the ones he wanted to help and those scumbags who he had no desire to assist, yet were given the right to legal advice by law. And now there he was, sitting on that side of the table, treated as nothing more than those common criminals. And the worst part about it was that he had no idea why.

Ari cursed his late father in his mind, as perspiration began to drip off his brow. Even in death the man could still cause such hassle, such an inconvenience in his life. He could not honestly say that he was sad to see his father go; Ari thought that if someone else had not got to it first, he would have been the one to fill his father up with bullets. But now that Ari had been sitting there for hours on end, there was nothing he wished more than for his father to be alive. Eli was not even supposed to be in the US, and yet somehow his body was cold in an American morgue. It must be some sick twist of fate, some horrible coincidence. It must have been some man who happened to look exactly like his father, with eh exact same expensive air about him with his immaculate haircut and pressed suit that had died. Except for the fact that DNA did not lie.

The metal door to his prison swung open heavily, and Ari jumped in surprise. He should have been more at ease, it was in his training, but this was something that he had never encountered before. And for the first time in his life, he was not steely and calm as a sniper, but was more of a jittery mess. And it was all because of Eli David.

"Ari Haswari," the agent addressed him. Agent Yule, if Ari remembered correctly from the introduction at the dance studio. The stoic man was someone who Ari would have never feared, had the circumstances been different. But under this situation, where this man was going to determine whether he was locked away or set free, Ari was completely at his mercy.

"I am going to make this quick, and I want you to answer simply and quickly. Do you copy?"

This man had clearly had some kind of military training, his direct and to the point approach spoke of military precision and a no-nonsense attitude.

"Yes," Ari managed to choke out. Here he was, being treated like the criminals that he so despised. It was chilling and frightening.

"It says here that you have a background in medicine, before you trained to become a lawyer. Am I correct?" Yule asked.

"Yes," Ari said quickly, the surprise in his voice too clear to mask. He expected to be asked about what he was doing earlier that day, or be asked about his relationship with his father. But his medical background? If Ari had not been pushed off balance before, this was the push that had him falling over the edge.

"So, correct me if I am wrong, I am able to deduce that you have great knowledge about the body and the effect drugs have on it."

Now Ari was getting a better picture of the events, and how they resulted in him being pulled into the chaos. So his father had been drugged. And that was the reason why Ari was a suspect. What had first appeared to be natural causes had been anything but natural, crafted by a skilled craftsman. But with Eli David being the director of Mossad, he would have made many enemies, and many of them would have been able to concoct such a deadly cocktail. Ari may not have had a solid alibi, but there was one fact that overruled any suspicions. Ari did not actually do it.

"Haswari, if I may call you Haswari," Yule said suddenly, and Ari felt his mind be pulled off in another direction once again. The trick of using the suspects name multiple times in the one sentence was a tactic he had seen on numerous occasions. He had even used it himself in his time, "I want you to answer this with a yes or no. Is this you speaking to the late Eli David?" Yule motioned towards the mirror, and noise began to fill the room. And Ari paled. He knew what conversation was about to be played to him.

3 weeks earlier

Ari paced the hallway of his apartment, his mobile phone glued to his ear as he waited for someone to pick up and the other end. The connection from America and Israel had been slow, and that fact had only made his mood shorter than it already was.

"Hello?"

The voice at the other end of the line finally spoke, and Ari wasted no time.

"Stop contacting Ziva," Ari said briskly.

"Ari? Is that you?"

"She does not wish to leave this country, let alone return to yours," Ari said, ignoring his father's question.

"Is she unable to tell this to me herself?" Eli spoke, and the muffled sound of background shuffling told Ari that his father was most likely leaning back on his chair at work, in that arrogant way that Ari had seen him do too many times throughout his childhood.

"She has been. For a long time. And yet you still do not listen to her," Ari said.

"Ari, be reasonable… I-"

"I need to be reasonable. I am serious, if you do not stop contacting her, I will make sure that you are never able to contact her again."

"Is that a threat?" Eli asked, arrogantly, as if mocking Ari for his inability to touch the illustrious Eli David. The casual drawl only heightened Ari's anger, causing words that he should have not let spill out, spill out.

"I will say this once. If you contact Ziva again, it will be the last thing you ever do," and with that he hung up

Present

Ari grew more ashen as he heard the malice in his own voice. This was not good. He had literally threatened to kill Eli, and then Eli had turned up dead. And just after having met with Ziva. The evidence, no matter how tenuous, was certainly damning, and even Ari himself would not argue with it.

"I ask again, is this your voice," Agent Yule said calmly, breaking Ari out of his thoughts.

"Yes," Ari said quietly, and that was all Yule needed. Standing up, Yule left the room, and Ari was left alone once again.

oooOOOooo

Ari didn't know how long he had been waiting in this room. He did, however know that the red light in the corner of the room had flashed 396 times throughout his stay, at exactly three second intervals. As he counted, his mind continued to spin with the possibilities. He had no alibi; he had been at home for the whole of the day, alone, with no-one there to confirm his presence. What if he was sent to jail for a crime that he did not commit? What if he had to leave Ziva on her own, with her hands full with their mother, Tali and now this new boyfriend who he had not quite grown to like (it was nothing to do with Tony. It was just the fact someone was dating his little sister…)

The door swung open again, but much to Ari's surprise it wasn't Yule's shining face that greeted him. This man had an air about him that spoke of power and respect. His steely blue eyes seemed to juxtapose with the sharp edges of his marine haircut. Ari recognised him as the infamous Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He had the privilege of his acquaintance briefly when visiting Ziva with Tali while Tony was in hospital. The memory of sharing take-out on the hospital floor along with both his sisters put him vaguely at ease. However, somewhere in the back of his mind, he noticed the insistent flashing of the light in the corner of the room had stopped. Which made Ari sit up a little bit straighter.

"Did you kill him?"
Gibbs' question was straight to the point, his no nonsense attitude clear from the moment he stepped into the room.

"No. I swear I didn't, Ari said, ready to get onto the defensive. He has spent the whole morning being treated like a criminal. And now this man could be the key to getting him out. He was going to take this chance.

"Why not?" Gibbs asked, sitting down and fixing his icy gaze on Ari.

"I wouldn't do that. Not to Ziva," there was a dark look in Ari's eye. At Gibbs' look, Ari took a breath and looked away, "for some reason Ziva loves that man. And I couldn't cause her more pain," he looked back up at Gibbs, "I don't know how much more she can take."

Gibbs sat staring into Ari's eyes, and Ari couldn't look away. It was as if the older man was searching his soul, trying to find the truth in the world of lies. Abruptly Gibbs stood up, pushing his chair back noisily, and he left the room.

Out in the corridor, Gibbs closed the door softly behind him. Collecting his thoughts, he turned to Tobias, who had been the key to getting Gibbs those precious few moments with Ari. Ziva was heartbroken that her brother had been taken by the FBI, and like a father, Gibbs felt the need to involve himself with the FBI's investigation. Despite the fact he had absolutely no jurisdiction, there were more than a few FBI agents who owed him favours, and were willing to look the other way as he poked his nose in places that were really none of his business. That in addition to the fact Tobias was the closest thing he had to a friend (as sad as the fact was) meant that the door was open for Gibbs to walk in. Fornell had been responsible for those off the record few moments. And that was all Gibbs needed.

"You can't hold him here," Gibbs said.

"We can," Fornell argued back softly, as if worried that Ari may overhear their conversation through the thick soundproof walls of the interrogation rooms. It seemed like an automated response for Fornell, to argue against whatever Gibbs was suggesting. Fornell would say his response was because most of the time Gibbs was wrong which got himself into trouble, pulling Fornell into the mess with him. Others would argue that it was because Fornell and Gibbs bickered like a married couple, as disturbing as the idea was to both parties.

"On what?"

There was a silence as Fornell contemplated this. It was true, they had no solid evidence that Ari had killed his father. The only thing that linked Ari to Eli's death was a motive. And there were thousands of people with the motive to kill Eli, albeit for less personal reasons. Suddenly Fornell felt tired. The list if suspects had grown throughout the day, and frankly he didn't have time to hold Ari there on the basis of a family grudge. He had so many members of the alphabet soup breathing down his neck about this one. This death on American soil could cause an international incident, and Fornell was feeling the pressure. He wished that he was assigned this case. However, there was something in him that meant that he didn't want anyone else to take the case, other than him.

"Take him," Fornell said, immediately regretting his words. And then he caught a glimpse of Gibbs' boyish grin, his blue eyes lighting up, and the corners of his eyes forming deep creases. Fornell couldn't help but chuckle at Gibbs' expression. Damn that cheeky bastard…

tehehehe :P I hope this is some resolution, but the situation is DEFINITELY not resolved. next chapter will see the team's reaction to the news (especially Kate... ;D) and some other ideas! the more reviews, the faster I update! :D