Warnings: Minor spoilers for Season 6. Again might not be very nice to Ziva.

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back with more. There is one more chapter after this one for this arc and then we'll be moving on from Mossad (for a while at least). I am sorry if I did not get back to your reviews, the site was wonky for me the day that I posted the last chapter. But I did read them all and thank you! Enjoy!

Trapping her, someone's hands were trapping her. Forcing her to stand there and bear witness. She fought. She struggled. He laughed. And the more she cried, the louder he laughed… until her cries turned to screams.

Natalie startled awake, springing up from her spot on the floor by her desk. The blanket she had been sleeping under was kicked off and someone reached out from the dark and grabbed her arms, gently yet firmly so she wouldn't get hurt. Instinctively and out of fear she tried to pull back, until she heard Tony's soft voice tell her that she was okay—that she was safe.

Tony was crouched down in front of her, worried eyes searching her own. He let go of one of her arms and pushed the sweaty pieces of hair out of her face. "It's okay, Natalie," he said again, gently. "You're safe. It was just a bad dream… nothing more."

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself but it came out as a sob. Being back in that room…even in dreams… was too much to bear. Her hands trembled at just thought of… "When is it going to stop?" she cried, startling him as large tears rolled down her cheeks. "All of this… all this is just one bad dream! When… when is it going to end?"

He swallowed and wiped the tears, falling back onto his haunches he sat down against her desk and opened his arms to her. It… well… it wasn't something he would have done with Kate... not this soon in their partnership at least… and Ziva… well… she hardly sought his comfort to begin with… but there was Natalie, needing a shoulder to cry on—needing his comfort. Tony wasn't sure if she'd take it but he had to offer it anyways.

Natalie surprised him. With a cry she flopped against him and buried her face against his chest. She felt his arms draw her closer, incasing her in their warmth. Tony let her cry, gently rubbing her back. She's scared, Anthony…Ducky's words came back to him from the day before. She was vulnerable to begin with… and now with everything that was going on with Mossad… he wasn't sure when to tell her this was going to end… because he wasn't sure it would ever end with Mossad. Her body began to ease in his embrace and looked down at her. She had stopped crying and was drifting back to sleep.

Tony let out a slow breath, his heart rate settling now. He'd left her asleep by her desk to go talk to Gibbs and Vance in MTAC, to bring them up to speed on what was going on. She had been still, silent, in a deep sleep that he assumed was something she needed—and Tim was there in the bullpen with her, sleeping in his desk chair. Tony thought it was going to be okay to leave her alone… apparently it wasn't… because as he'd been coming back down the stairs he'd heard her crying out, almost screaming. For a horrid moment he thought that Mossad had found their way in and was hurting her.

Finding her in the middle of a nightmare was little relief. Pulling her from it hadn't offered much either. In fact, his heart had broken seeing the desperate look in her eyes… pleading, begging him to stop this. He was going too. He had too.

Slowly he ran his fingers through her hair, watching as her chest rose and fell with each breath she took. Her muscles had relaxed some and perhaps she was in the middle of peaceful dreams now and not nightmares.

Tony shifted trying to find a more comfortable spot but consider he was leaning against a metal desk, with Natalie pressed against him—it was going to be difficult. He didn't want to wake her though. She needed the sleep. "Take one for the team, DiNozzo," he mumbled, leaning his head back against the desk, "take one for the team."

"I asked you in May, Leon, to tell me if we were winning…" Eli David said to him quietly. "There are many days that I feel we are not."

"In order to win, Eli, I need you to using me and my agency," Vance stated firmly. "And to stop lying to me."

Eli rubbed his temple. He had called the meeting in anger when he was told that Mossad did not have Natalie Callahan at the Embassy. She had either ran off on her own or she was being hidden by Tony DiNozzo. Taking his brief encounter with the American agent, Eli would not put it past him to be hiding his partner. DiNozzo could play the fool all he wanted, Eli could see that beneath all that was a talented agent that had a fierce, protective streak in him. "I had no intentions of harming Agent Callahan, Leon. Rest assured that she would have been treated with respect at the Embassy."

Vance let his brow furrow in anger. Thank God I banned Gibbs from this meeting. Eli would be dead by now. "Respect? You throw her to the wolves, Eli, and then think we are going to trust that you will respect her? Listen… I know all about Ari, how you sent him to America—fed his obsession with Gibbs—and then sent your own daughter after him. You ordered your daughter to kill your son to get someone on the inside. And you used Ziva's friendship with Jenny Shepard against her too. I let Ziva back on the team because I thought I could trust her. I thought we were doing some good, Eli, by having that liaison between our agencies."

"When you live in a world like I do, Leon, you have to bend the rules," Eli snapped.

"Bending the rules ended the life of Kate Todd, it nearly took the life of Anthony DiNozzo and Natalie Callahan and your own daughter," Vance pointed out. "Sometimes it's safer to play by the rules."

"Saleem Ulman is dead. That does not happen if we play by the rules."

"He's dead because a Special Ops team had to go rescue my agents."

"And the world is a better place because of it."

Vance continued to frown. Tell that to DiNozzo and Callahan. "Be honest with me, Eli—what is your real interest in Callahan?"

Eli glanced at the photograph of his children on his desk. "I am only a father that is trying to protect his daughter. Agent Callahan…is… standing in the way of that." He wagged a finger at the NCIS Director. "She is hiding these things from you, Leon. Trust me on that."

"You think you have softer ways than our shrinks to get these things out of her?"

"Your Marines have handed over several survivors from that camp. But my…government does not want me to just execute them without just cause… they seem to think I am a little trigger happy lately… and they want more than my daughter's word. They believe that she is lying for me. Undermining what she went through because of who I am. I need Agent Callahan. Only her words can put a stop to this, Leon."

"Agent Callahan made no reference to seeing Ziva in that camp… neither did Agent DiNozzo."

"But she did see Ziva. She just did not know it."

Vance scratched behind his right ear and let out a sigh. "The woman she watched Saleem and his men interrogate and torture was Ziva."

Eli nodded. "Yes. It was."

Vance folded his hands in his lap. "Officer Bashan is free to question her—at NCIS with Agents DiNozzo and McGee present—and Agent DiNozzo has say when the interview is over. You maybe a father protecting his daughter… but I'm a director of a federal agency protecting one of my agents."

Eli held his hands up in mock surrender. "What other choice do I have, Leon?"

"Also… if I'm going to allow Bashan to speak to her… you have to promise me something, Eli."

"What is that my friend?"

Vance narrowed his eyes. "To never use my agency like that ever again. You breached my trust. Played me. And nearly got two of my people killed. If I had done the same to you.. you would have sent someone to slit my throat in the middle of the night."

Eli chuckled. "Fair enough. It is probably for the best I accept these ground rules… your Agent DiNozzo has caused me enough headaches. I have enough without him. I do not want more."

"Remember…DiNozzo gets to put a stop to the interview if he feels it is too upsetting to Callahan. We have reason for concern when it comes to her emotional health."

"Very well," Eli sighed, holding his hands up again in mock surrender… because really he didn't have any other choice.

Gibbs waited. He was pissed at Vance for not allowing him to attend the meeting with Eli. And judging by what Vance had learned in that meeting it was probably for the better. Besides, now that Vance had spoken to Eli and they were waiting for a flight home, he was free to leave Mossad Headquarters and deal with something that was bugging him. So, he waited. If he knew Ziva like he thought he did she would be leaving her apartment and going for run. She would ignore any medical advice, any psychological advice to take it easy. Sure enough, like clock-work she emerged. "Doctors know you're still jogging, Ziver?"

Ziva glared at him. "My knee may slow my time down… but I am fine. Are you here to lecture me about my health, Gibbs?"

"Nope."

"Then why are you here?"

Gibbs finished his coffee and tossed in a near by trash bin. "I was just curious about something… your father sent an officer over to Natalie's apartment last night… he claimed that he was extended an invitation from your father for her to go be his guest at the Israeli Embassy. Fortunately… Natalie wasn't at her apartment… but Tony and McGee were. Once the officer realized that Tony wasn't going to give up Natalie's location… he claimed that your father believes she has more information for him. Now… I'm wondering… how can he or your father possibly know there are 'holes' in her report if neither one of them were there?"

Ziva's shoulders tensed up. She shook her head. " I was not aware that my father had concerns about Agent Callahan's report. I have barely spoken to him since returning. He asked me a few questions about what happened to me and he was done with it."

"Have you read Agent Callahan's report?" Gibbs questioned, his eyes hardening.

"I have not," Ziva answered.

"Natalie reported that there was a woman in captivity with her, when she was separated from Tony. Do you know who that woman is?"

"I did not see much besides my own cell."

Gibbs raised his chin a little. "Yet… you were aware that there were American agents present in the camp."

Ziva sighed in frustration. "Yes! When Malachi and Liat helped me escape they told me that they used American agents to get into the camp and were going to use the attacking Marines as cover to get out of the camp! We had to move very quickly so we were not caught by the Marines or by any of Saleem's men, but I know what they told me before we ran for it!"

"You told me the other night that Officer Ben-Gideon and Officer Tuvia informed you of their plan when they first found you. Which story is it, Ziva?" Gibbs asked, darkly, "Is it the one where Ben-Gideon and Tuvia told you that they were laying low and waiting for the Marines… or the one where they told their plan as they were helping you escape?"

"Does it really matter when they told me?" Ziva snapped, glaring at him.

"Yes… because either you're lying to me now or you were lying to me last night!" Gibbs shouted, angrily.

Ziva shook her head and began to limp away. "I do not have to answer to you—you are no longer my boss, Gibbs."

Gibbs didn't have to do much to keep pace with her. "Oh… you'll answer to me Officer David. You know… funny thing about your father… he was very cooperative about sharing information once NCIS hid Natalie from him." He saw her tense up at this remark and she stopped her feeble attempts at getting away from him. "Natalie was in that room with you. And Natalie wrote in her report that she was interrogated over and over again about NCIS, the Navy, and her mission in Africa. Your father knew this. He read her damn report! And he knew that if you told me you were aware that there were NCIS agents in captivity with you, used to get you out… that I would never trust you again."

"It was not my idea to use NCIS agents."

"That's not what Officer Ben-Gideon told me."

Ziva turned and faced him, her face clouded with a hundred emotions. "You spoke to Malachi?"

Gibbs nodded. "Yes. He sought me out. Seems like he was remorseful using Tony and Natalie in that way, which is more than I can say about you or your father. But they were orders and he had to follow them."

"What exactly did he tell you?"

"Before he headed back to Tel Aviv he said that you suggested using NCIS agents to get into the camp if you failed. Cryer's body had to turn up sometime. NCIS would be investigating. And since Saleem was buying information from Cryer about the Navy and the Marines… what better bait to gain his loyalty by bringing him agents from NCIS?"

Ziva glared, her upper lip turning into a snarl. "I was not expecting to fail. I told him to use it as a last resort! And I never told him to use Tony!"

Gibbs shook his head. "Doesn't matter, Ziva. NCIS… Tony, McGee…me… we were never really people that you were loyal too. I failed my team… Ziva when I let Jenny get her way. I thought… well.. you didn't give up your knowledge about Shannon or Kelly… you kept my secret for me and I felt I owed you to keep yours. Let's just consider our debt paid and go about our separate ways."

He turned and began to walk away from her, it was her voice shouting after him, "This is not the last time we will see each other! I just hope you do not regret your choices!"

His fingers curled at his sides and he spun on his heel. Ziva had fire in her eyes, a fire that he had seen countless times—when Tony was annoying her, when she was yelling or shouting at a suspect—he was not afraid of that fire now. "Oh. I don't doubt our paths will cross again, Ziva. And I regret a lot of choices… choosing Tony over you in May is not one of them… neither is Natalie Callahan."

"I hope she gives you all what you need," Ziva spat, angrily.

"She's got a lot of potential to be a great agent," Gibbs replied, coolly, not faulting her for her anger. This was a woman who'd been tortured for an entire summer. Anyone would be angry after enduring that. "And in the end… that's really all I need from my team, Ziva. Great agents doing their jobs. People I can trust and depend on. I don't foresee Natalie putting the knife in my back like you have." Once again he turned and walked away, but this time she did not stop him.