Hey!

Thank you for the reviews! I am sorry I can't be more enthusiastic than this, but I am so tired. Like, literally, my eyes are about to fall asleep, and my eyes hurt. I'm really sorry that this chapter is a bit short, but I felt like I needed to upload something this weekend, seeing as next week is going to be crazy. sorry for such a sleepy intro...

DISCLAIMER: all characters= not mine

Chapter 26

The phone ringing at five o'clock in the morning was never going to be good news. Those were the first thoughts that entered Ziva's head, as she heard the shrill clang of her phone from her nightstand. Grumbling to herself, she cursed the overly cheerful ring of her mobile, and her eyes scrunched up in protest against the bright light. Looking at the caller ID through narrow eyes, she picked up.

"What?"

Her muddy brain clouded in sleep was awake enough to notice that it was her darling brother who was attempting to call her at... She glanced over at the clock, five in the morning.

"They have released our father's body. His people want us to know whether we wish to return to Israel to observe Shiva.

"Who are they?" Ziva grumbled, trying to compute what was happening. The hour only added to the insanity of the moment, and Ziva's sleep fogged mind was unable to handle the pace.

"The FBI. They said something about pressure from Mossad to release the body," Ari replied, and Ziva envied his ability to sound so awake at such a ridiculous hour of the morning.

There was something strange about Ari referring to Eli David as their father in one sentence, and then as a cadaver in the next. It was as if one moment, Ari felt some kind of attachment to the late Eli David, and then the next he felt nothing at all. But she understood his turmoil. He had been older that her, and everything Eli made her do, Ari had to do, except five times better. Eli was never happy with what Ari did, but wanted what he did not do. Eventually, Ziva knew that he would crack under the pressure, and would do something drastic. She was glad that they all did not hang around to see that day.

"Are you?"

"I have not decided. I wanted to know what you and Tali were doing."

Ziva didn't like this pressure that she felt. Tali would most likely be looking to her for guidance. And she would have looked to Ari, what with him being her older brother, and her having some strange tie to him meaning she would always want to please him, no matter what. But he seemed so concerned with caring for his sisters that he was willing to abandon his feelings in favour of honouring his sisters' views. Which, as nice as it was at times, was annoying

"I will ask Tali in the morning."

"It is the morning," Ari said, and Ziva could practically see that irritating smirk on his face. In retaliation to his unsaid humour Ziva showed her appreciation by hanging up on him without another word.

Ziva lay back on the bed, after throwing her phone carelessly onto the night stand, marginally missing the mug of night-old green tea also on the surface.

Closing her eyes again, she tried to let the sleep she so desperately craved consume her once again. But her brother's call had shattered any hope she once had about the luxury. The thought of returning to the land of her birth filled her mind with images, the fuzzy type belonging to childhood, the type that didn't allow her to separate facts from fiction. Some were the product of storytelling from her mother, who told stories so vividly that she could have sworn she was there. Others were mere snapshots of the place she once loved, the yellow of the bright kitchen, the smell of exotic food from market stalls.

And then there were the painful memories. The memories of being so thirsty that when she eventually fell asleep at night, her dreams were filled with running streams and lakes. Memories of her mother and father arguing, and flying objects that would occasional catch one of the children in the crossfire.

Did she really wish to put herself through all that again? The past was just that, the past, and what good would it do her to revisit it?

Ziva lay there for hours, staring up towards the blank of the ceiling, trying to rearrange her matted thoughts. But as she heard the tell-tale signs of Tali moving out of her bed to splash her face with water in an attempt to wake herself up, she knew that all attempts had been futile, and that she might as well get up. Hauling her aching body out of bed, she padded across her room, and down into the kitchen.

"Morning," Tali said, drawing out the word, just to annoy Ziva.

"Hello," Ziva replied, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands, and flicking on the kettle. Mercifully, the water boiled quickly, and Ziva poured herself a cup of tea quickly, desperate for her morning brew.

"Ari rang," Ziva said casually.

"Yeah I heard your phone go. It woke me up."
"He said that FBI has released the body, and he wants to know whether we wish to attend Shiva in Israel," Ziva said.

"Are you going?"

"I was going to see what you were doing before making a decision," Ziva said, not willing to admit that she was too indecisive to make the decision independently.

"Can we afford the plane ticket?"
Plane ticket. Ziva was in emotional turmoil, with advantages and disadvantages of the situation flying around her head at a million miles an hour. And Tali was asking if they could afford the plane ticket?

OK, maybe she Ziva could see her point.

"We can worry about that later," Ziva said dismissively.

"Is mum going?"

Ziva had to think about that one.

"I don't know, I'll ring her later."

"Don't bother. I'm going to go round for lunch, I'll ask her then," Tali turned to face Ziva full on, "now can we worry about this later? It's too early in the morning to be stressed out over it."

Ziva glared at her sister. But she did have a point. Maybe Ziva was making a big deal over something that really was nothing. Returning back to her childhood home would not change who she was, or determine who she became. She was not limited by memories of the past, she was exactly who she was now. Ziva David, owner of one of the most renowned dance schools in the city, and fiancée of Anthony DiNozzo. The final part was the part she liked the most. It would be good to visit her relatives to deliver the news of her impending marriage in person. And she could bring Tony, and they could visit all the places that she remembered from her childhood… A smile broke on Ziva's face. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all…

"Thanks," Ziva said to Tali. It was Tali's attitude that had triggered that train of thought after all…

"No problem…?" Tali said, shaking her head at her sister's retreating figure. And she was the strange one…

oooOOOooo

"Hey, what are you doing next week?"

"Well hello to you too," Tony said as he walked into work, his gear slung over one shoulder as he carried his phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

"Yes, hello. Now answer the question."

"What got your knickers in a twist, Miss David?"

"How do you feel about meeting my family?"
"I thought I already did?" Tony said, dropping his stuff on the floor by his partition and plopping down on his chair.

"All of it," Ziva said, and her cheeky grin was almost audible.

"As in, your family in Israel?!" Tony said, now alarmed. It was bad enough meeting Ziva's outspoken mother, her protective older brother and her childish sister who was going to get him in trouble. Now he was going to meet the rest of the David clan? And from what he had heard from Ziva, it was a pretty extensive network of people. It was going to be quite something…

"What is the occasion?"

"They are transporting my father's body back to Israel," Ziva said, and Tony reached the root of the bizarre situation (not that anything about their situation was normal. For goodness sake, she was the one who proposed to him…). Maybe this was Ziva's weird Mossad ninja way of asking for his support at a time when she needed him.

"OK, should I book the plane tickets?"

Tony heard a noise of protest.

"What is it with everyone this morning and plane tickets?!"

Tony's eyebrows shot up as he heard the dial tone that signalled Ziva hanging up (she had been spending far too much time around Gibbs…). Was it something he said?

Tony turned back to his desk, and unholstered his sidearm. Booting up his computer, he flicked his phone open to check on his twitter account. Not that he would tell anyone that he had a twitter account. Because most likely, Kate would make a comment about him following another man's tweets… Speaking of the devil…

Kate breezed into the squad room with one of those expressions on her face. The type that mean that she was trying so hard not to smile, but she was too happy not to smile. And Tony would not have been Tony if he did not make a comment about it.

"Well someone is in a good mood," Tony said, "good Valentines day?"

Tony and Ziva had spent the evening as promised laughing and joking by the half light of Pizza Express. It hadn't been like one of the scenes in those movies he so dearly loved, where the lighting was perfect, and his woman was in a beautiful cocktail dress. In his scene, the beautiful woman was his fiancée, who didn't need anything more that her after-work tracksuit to look stunning. It may not have been a scene out of a movie, but it had been real. And reality was so much sweeter…

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," Kate said, and to say Tony was surprised was an understatement. Kate was never the kind of woman who admitted that kind of thing. But her encounter last night had clearly left her acting like an internally squealing fangirl…

"So, who is the lucky one?" Tony said, leaning his head on his hands to look at Kate more closely as she slipped off her jacket and slung it over the orange partition.

"No-one…" she said trailing off, the smile never leaving her face. And then she seemed to abruptly realise her expression "damn, what am I, in high school?"

"So, who was it?"

"Why do you immediately assume there was a man involved?" Kate shot back, eyes narrowed.

"I never said anything about a man…" Tony said, and Kate was trying to decide whether to kill him, or not. But then she decided that the wrath of Ziva was too much hassle to deal with.

It was at that moment that Gibbs decided to grace them with his presence, breezing in with his signature cup of coffee steaming in his hands.

"Morning boss. Kate wanted to tell you something," Tony said, cutting in before Kate could protest. Gibbs looked expectedly at Kate, who overcame her initial shock to speak.
"I didn't have anything to say," Kate denied. Gibbs cocked his eyebrow at her, and she sighed.

"Tony wants me to spill about the man I spent Valentine's Day with. I refused."

It was at moments like these that Gibbs felt like he was the father to this merry bunch of misfits, whether he embraced it or not. With a smirk, he decided to mess with them, just a little bit.

"Well?" he said, drawing out the word an uncharacteristic drawl.

Kate's eyebrows shot up under her fringe.

"You too?" Kate said, and then she sighed, "Children. I work with children."

Kate thought for a moment.

"You keep asking me, I'll tell McGee that you have a twitter account."

It was just at that moment that McGee walked into the squad room, only catching the last words of the sentence.

"Who has a twitter account?"
"No-one," Tony said, too quickly to look natural. McGee gave him a look, but decided to leave it. For the moment.

"McGee," Kate said, remembering how Ari told her that it was McGee who gave away her location last night, "Do you make a habit of giving strangers the location of your co-workers."

Suddenly McGee looked terrified, and Tony was flashing back to the days when McGee could not get a word to Kate out without stuttering like crazy. Back when McGee was a probie in every sense of the word. Those were the days…

"Ermmm… well, Ari isn't a stranger?" McGee said, and Tony's eyes lit up in realisation.

"It was Ari! You spent the evening with Ari!"

"I am going to kill you," Kate said to McGee, and McGee swallowed loudly. The way Kate said it made the words sound more like a promise than a threat. But it was too late. The secret was out.

"Ari Haswari?" Gibbs said, and Tony's nod confirmed his suspicions.

Gibbs still felt something of an unease about this man. And the fact that he was trying to become romantically involved with Kate did not alleviate his suspicions. But Kate was a grown woman, and capable of taking care of herself. And he was her friend, her boss. Nothing more. Any feelings that he may have felt had dissipated into something that hardly amounted to anything. In another life, he may have pursued her romantically. But in this life, the circumstances, his past and her future did not align. And he was good with that. As long as she was happy.

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