Warnings: Spoilers for Season 7 but at this point...very minor!

A/N: I am working hard to update all my stories at least one more time before I leave for Virginia and a family wedding on Friday. I promise I will try not to leave you hanging too long when I return :). Also, I hope this is a satisfying conclusion to the last couple of chapters. Enjoy! And thank you everyone who has been kind enough to leave a review, PM me, favorite or follow. Wish I could thank you all individually!

Someone was shouting, loudly and just outside her door. Footsteps could be heard running up and down the hall to go with the vast amount of shouting. Something was going on, there wouldn't be this much noise, this much panic sounding chatter otherwise.

Natalie hid in the shadows, pulling her knees up to her chest. She hadn't been able to sleep since being separated from Tony. Saleem had been right—they were stronger together and apart…well…it wasn't going so well for her and she could only imagine that it wasn't going so well for Tony either. She hadn't been aware of how much stronger she was with him unitl they were no longer together and that he made her more confident, not as afraid. Perhaps…it was his obsession with keeping her safe that did that…but given how his last female partner had left him—and how Kate Todd had died…well…she could understand where he was coming from.

Across the room she noticed the woman lift her head as the shouting grew louder and louder. Natalie had been forced to witness Saleem's brutal interrogation of her, even if she hadn't been able to understand a word because he'd done it in Arabic. The woman had not relented and suffered because of it. When their captor had left the room, tying the woman up, Natalie had tried to help her—earning herself a few good licks from the guards. From that moment on she had stayed hidden in the shadows. Afraid. Waiting…

Natalie gasped when the door was kicked open. Outside she could hear the engines of jeeps idling, along with the men shouting and her heartbeat increased when she saw the feral look in Saleem's eyes as he stepped into the room. Cursing her in Arabic, he stalked over and pulled her roughly to her feet, dragging her out of the room. She didn't dare ask what was going on, fearful of his retaliation.

"Word around town is that Marines are asking about the missing American agents!" Saleem hollered, shoving Natalie into a chair across from Tony. "You have out stayed your welcome, Agent DiNozzo!"

"Well then…I guess we'll be going," Tony drawled, sarcastically. "Thanks for the hospitality, Saleem. But don't be offended if we never come back."

Saleem glared at him. He cocked his pistol and fired one shot through Tony's shoulder. Natalie flinched as Tony's face crumpled up in pain, as he bit down on his lip to stop himself from giving the terrorist the satisfaction of hearing him scream. "Next time I will put the bullet between your eyes…or perhaps," he snarled, holding the gun to Natalie's temple, "I will kill her."

Tony's jaw clenched—from the pain, from the fury—either way, he knew Saleem had him where he wanted him. "You got me, Saleem," he said, low in his throat, "now…what do you want from me?"

"Leverage, Agent DiNozzo."

"Leverage?"

Saleem pressed the barrel of the gun against Natalie's head. "What good are you to me dead? If the Americans are looking for you, if they are planning to invade me—I need something to stave them off."

Tony made brief eye contact with Natalie. "So…you're keeping us…alive? To stop them from invading?"

Natalie swallowed. Saleem wasn't going to keep them both alive. He was leaving. And he was probably only taking one of the agents with him, killing the other—to leave behind as a message to the Marines. Her eyes welded with tears because one of them wasn't going to make it out of this. "You're going to kill one of us," she finally spoke, eyes traveling up towards the captor holding a pistol to her head. "Use the survivor for leverage."

"Very good, Agent Callahan. You were listening. We are breaking camp, tonight. One of you is going to be joining us…the other will die. You have a minute to choose who," Saleem sneered as he left, slamming the door behind him.

Tony looked at Natalie, smiling at her sadly. "You're going to go with them, Nat, and you're going to keep telling them what they want to hear." Buy as much time as you can, so Gibbs can find you and save you. "And before you start arguing with me—don't make me order you. This is…this is the way it has to be."

Natalie looked at him with such a broken gaze, Tony wondered what she had been through since their separation. A single tear made its way down her sweaty, dirty cheek, tracing a path as it went. She didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. He was doing this to protect her, to give her a chance to be rescued and go home. He was willing to sacrifice himself to do just that—and yes, being the senior field agent, he could totally order her to be the one to go with Saleem. To be the one that lived, even if it was only going to be just a little bit longer. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay. Better someone who signed up for this than innocent lives," Tony countered, trying to put on a brave face. "You're going to be fine, Natalie. Gibbs will find you."

"It doesn't…it doesn't have to be this way," she said, fighting her emotions. "We could both refuse to go. Then he'd have to kill both of us."

"No," Tony snapped at her, glaring through the pain in his shoulder, "No, Natalie. You're going with them. If you do you have a chance of being rescued."

Natalie closed her eyes tightly. As much as he wanted to protect her it was her job to do the same to him. But her mind was blank. She couldn't think of a way out of this where they both survived. Unless it involved the Marines or Gibbs or the Navy Seals staging a rescue operation at that very second—but the chances of that seemed highly unlikely. "What do I…what do I tell the others…if they rescue me?"

Tony cocked a grin. "That I went out spectacularly."

"Abby…is going to hate me more…you're her friend."

"And you're mine…Nat…either way…someone grieves somewhere."

Natalie opened her eyes and looked at him, saw the sincerity, the concern—the friendship. This was a horrible way for a new friendship to end, she thought angrily and she wanted to shout at God that he was allowing this to happen to them. They were good people right? They tried to do the right thing, didn't they? And they were the ones that were going to be punished…it wasn't fair.

"Well?" Saleem said, coming back into the room. "Have you decided?"

Tony took a deep breath, holding Natalie's teary gaze, trying to steady his own. When they had been taken prisoner he'd resigned to the fact that he was going to die out here and he had vowed to do whatever it took to keep Natalie safe. If that meant giving up his own life…

Glass shattered and a gunshot echoed across the walls. Natalie and Tony watched as Saleem fell in the very spot he'd been standing in, blood pooling underneath his skull, eyes frozen open in the moment of death.

Natalie felt her hands shake at the thousand different emotions that slammed into her at seeing their captor, their tormentor—dead.

"His gun, Nat!" Tony hissed bringing her back to reality. "Get his gun!"

"What?"

"His gun! You're not tied up! Get his gun and come help me out of these restraints!"

Natalie shook her head to clear her thoughts and jumped to her feet, snatching the dead captor's pistol from his grasp and then using his knife to cut Tony free. The SFA winced in pain as he stood, but he took her by the hand just as the door was kicked in. Tony saw the guard, automatic rifle pointed at them—and watched as Natalie let three rounds fire from the gun and into the guard's chest.

Tony pulled her along with him, grabbing the rifle at he went. Sure, his firing arm was injured, but he could still pull the trigger with his left hand. He didn't need to kill them, just needed to disarm them. And Natalie will finish the job, he thought with mild amusement since well—it was very ninja, assassin like of her.

Propelled by the sheer will to survive, Tony led her down the hall, could see the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak with the rising sun. But then that sun was blocked, their means of escape inaccessible. He swallowed when another terrorist confronted them, shouting at them and raising his rifle. But before Natalie could get her shots off another shot ran out, loud, vibrating off the stone walls. Both agents watched as the man who had confronted them pitched forward, falling onto the floor face first—blood seeping from a wound in the back.

However, their way was still blocked. Until the person blocking it shifted and came into their view. Tony felt a grin spread from ear to ear and he wiped the sweat from his brow as Gibbs eyed them, relief washing through the leader's countenance. "Let's go home."

It felt good to be clean. Even if he had to take the shower on an aircraft carrier and be mindful of his bandages, Tony was just happy to be rid of all the filth from the last few days. The gunshot wound turned out to be pretty superficial and the Navy docs had done a nice job of cleaning and dressing it, along with wrapping his bruised ribs—Gibbs had already ordered him to desk duty for several weeks.

Tony didn't argue. He knew how close he'd come to not returning from this ordeal and he was just grateful to be alive.

Using a towel to dry his hair, Tony made his way back to the berth that the ship's captain had given the NCIS team while they waited to make port in Naples, Italy. From there they would catch a flight home. It appeared that the SecNav thought it was cruel to make the agents ride on a military transport from the Middle East and had dispatched his personal jet to meet the team in Italy. Another thing Tony was not going to complain about. Being jostled about on a transport would only aggravate his injuries more.

Entering the berth he found that Gibbs and McGee were gone. Tony wasn't concerned about that…what he was concerned about was Natalie. She'd been silent since they'd been transported to the Enterprise. The doctors had stitched her arm up, had given her a full exam and found no other injuries—except some cuts and bruises—but she was acting like she had been assaulted in that camp. Distant, cold—she had barely eaten despite not having had a meal in days. Right now she was lying on her back, staring at the bunk above her.

"Hey," he said, perching himself on her bunk. "Gibbs and McGee off talking to the Director or something?"

"Vance wanted an update," she replied, so softly that he barely heard her.

Tony frowned and reached out, tucking her long hair behind her ears. "Nat…we're okay now. We're going home."

Natalie avoided making eye contact with him. "Home," she spat, almost angrily. "Is that even safe? How long until Eli David tries to use us again?"

"Eli David? Natalie…what are you talking about?"

"Mossad…they used us to gain access to Saleem's camp. They used us so they could get on the inside and kill him."

"Why didn't they do it that first night?" Tony countered. "We got them in. Why not kill him then?"

"Because," Gibbs said behind him, startling him slightly, "they were using you to get in to find someone."

Natalie and Tony both waited patiently for an explanation. "How do you know that boss?" the senior field agent finally asked, when it appeared Gibbs was not going to offer up anymore information.

Gibbs sighed and sat down across from them. "Vance spoke to Eli himself…just after you vanished. Of course he wasn't forthcoming but when we told him we had proof his people were in the area…well…he would only confirm that it was true. It wasn't until we invaded the camp and found you that we knew what his real plan was. In May a team did penetrate Saleem's camp…"

"But it was Cryer's information that alerted Saleem," Natalie said, recalling what she had been told.

"Yeah…he killed the entire team…with the exception of two," Gibbs replied.

"Only reason Eli would have staged an operation like this is if one of those people was…Ziva," Tony guessed. "The other?"

"Officer Ben-Gideon. He was injured in the ambush on the Damocles and sent back to Tel Aviv by Ziva."

"So…Saleem kept Ziva…alive…to what…toy with Eli?"

Gibbs could see the anger simmering just underneath the surface in Tony's eyes. "Ziva wasn't at that camp."

Tony blinked, slightly confused. "Then…where's Ziva."

"Presumably with Ben-Gideon."

"He used us as a distraction to get her out."

Gibbs simply nodded his head.

Tony stood up and angrily paced the room. "Nice of them to help us—I mean without us—they don't get into that camp!" If he ever caught up with Ben-Gideon he was surely going to punch him in the face to thank him for just leaving them there to die. "We could have died in there, boss! What kind of heartless bastard lures people into a dangerous trap and then leaves them there to die!"

"DiNozzo…" Gibbs cautioned, noticing the startled look on Natalie's face.

"I'm done with us being pawns in Eli David's game," Tony spat, hotly. "Vance better not just let this slide, again, because if he does…I'm walking!"

"TONY!" Gibbs shouted, standing up and pulling himself to his full height. "Enough! Vance and I will be handling Eli. I came in here to tell you I'm meeting Vance in Israel."

Natalie could see the surprise in Tony's demeanor. The SFA's brow furrowed in confusion and he squared his own shoulders to face his team leader. "Boss? What are you talking about?"

Gibbs raised his chin slightly. "In May…when you shot Rivkin…Vance sent you to Israel as a courtesy…so Eli could question you himself. He expected Eli to offer him the same."

Tony scoffed. "Let me guess…Eli refused."

"Said that your capture was inevitable the way you were snooping around out there."

"Vance is going to shoot him right? Because if he doesn't…I might."

Gibbs chuckled, noticed that Natalie had gone back to lying down and covering her face with her arm. He gestured for Tony to join him out in the corridor. The senior field agent took one look at his partner and then joined Gibbs. "Vance has assigned you all to desk work for the duration of our stay in Israel. Keep an eye on her, will ya?"

Tony crossed his arms over his chest, which was very painful given his gunshot wound in the shoulder. If it wasn't for the fact that Natalie seemed to be more messed up than him in all this…he would be demanding to go back to Israel with Vance and Gibbs…so he could give Eli David, Ben-Gideon and perhaps even Ziva a piece of his mind. Of course, the way Mossad had a way of popping up in their lives…he wouldn't be surprised if he got the chance later down the road. "Something happened to her, boss," he whispered, "when he separated us. Doctors said she wasn't raped…she'd been through a good thrashing…but…"

"She witnessed something else that she doesn't want to talk about…" Gibbs finished for him.

"Yeah. I'm worried about her."

Gibbs gently reached out and pat him on his good shoulder. "She'll be fine. She's in good hands."

Tony sighed. "Boss...I should be going with you to Tel Aviv."

"No," Gibbs said, firmly. "Director David has hurt you and Natalie enough."

"You don't need to protect me, boss," Tony snapped. "I can handle him...I can take care of myself."

"I know, Tony," Gibbs said. "But...Natalie needs you more than I do. Take care of my team, DiNozzo," the former marine said as he turned to go, "I better come back to them all in one piece."

Tony grinned and shook his head before calling after the boss, "I'm making no promises, Gibbs! But I'll try! Have fun in Israel! Give Eli my regards!" He saw Gibbs wave him off and disappear. Tony turned on his heel and went back into the berth. Natalie had, thankfully, fallen asleep. Tucking a blanket around her like he'd done the day they'd arrived out here, Tony whispered, "Everything will be fine, Natalie…you'll see. I promise."