Hello! Okay I'm going to apologise. I was going to put this in the same chapter as the last one, but once I started writing this conversation, it just took a life of its own and became its own chapter. This is quite a quiet, transitional chapter which will lead up to Chapter 8: the last chapter of Part 1 in this story. Again I'm sorry for the late update, it's just been a bit of a hard month for my family. Guys, all of your support and love is getting me through some real rubbish right now so thank you all so so much, I'm so grateful to have you all in my life I just can't even begin to describe to you how much :)
I want to dedicate this chapter to my great-grandad, who sadly passed away on 6/5/16 and to my great-nan who sadly passed away on 31/5/16. Their beautiful love and marriage lasted over 60 years. This was a truly special partnership and I am sure that they have been reunited once again now. Thank you both for all of your love, support and wisdom, I love you both so very much xxxxx
Thank you to all of you who are following: 4susan41, 19Jessica98 , 82kt, 1994omi, Athenalarissa, Atlante41, Aubrey Etta, BlackWidowAndCapRule, Brightlight94, DetectiveInspectorSydney, Ebony10, EowynGoldberry, Fahrenhheit, Gehrl, HK Target Shooter, Hales23, HarrylovesGinny09, HoldxOn, Iluvgleetwilightthg, James the vet, JdnHwke169, Josette1807, Kim69etv, Krazzy Kezz, Lipush, LoveZoraLancasteranSonnyMunroe, LyanaDavid, MaileS, Mockingprettygirls, Mrs. Fitzgerald, Pheonix1995, Rach4, SJlove07, SUZITROUBLE, TZDDN, Tiva-Forever-08, TivaCallensi4ever, VivianaLockhart, ambermichele, angry penguin, anniemous27, arcadia132, bartiks97, beckums8685, bobisbusy, bunnykoko, cindy Seidenberg, countrygal64, egal77, fireandice1986, gallieni, giggles11228, heathergsu02, hejo.12, hopalong123546, ittybittyalissa, jenny1221, jgibbs7, ke31288, kfink77, kissedyouwithfire, klutzysunshine, krazymelmo5385, kurrumu, libs1709, littlecook28, love is only a dream, malec4eva, mama's-broken-heart, minihannibal65, moviesmadewithlove, nattlouu, ncisgirl18, runner229, scarredlove, seriously56, sjg563517, sonckad, tammy henson, tazmania081005, tere55, tiffanynloud and writeinspiredraw.
Thank you to everyone who has favourited: Anniefynn, BlackWidowAndCapRule, Cosmos89, DetectiveInspectorSydney, Ebony Ater, Gehrl, HarrylovesGinny09, James the vet, Kim69etv, Krazzy Kezz, LoveZoraLancasteranSonnyMunroe, Mlb080915, Mockingprettygirls, RAD092515, ambermichele, booklover321, cindy Seidenberg, emeraldcello, fireandice1986, gallieni, hlaughlin93, hopalong123546, jgibbs7, kurrumu, libs1709, love is only a dream, melitami, minihannibal65, missy841, ncisandsvuaddict, seriously56, srshibaharah, tammy henson, tazmania081005, tiffanynloud, writeinspiredraw and zivadavid03.
Thank you to moonclarinet for adding this story to your community: 'Favorite stories that I like'! I'm truly honoured and humbled by that, thank you :)
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Like always, I hope that those with FF accounts got my replies ok:. I love replying to you guys and getting your feedback. It feels like even more of a community :) Thank you to Debbie, Stella and Sue, here are my replies to you guys:
Debbie: Thank you for your review! Oh yeah there was a lot of information there to process. I'm glad that the I Will list makes more sense now, I really wanted to include it just not in the orchard scene. Thank you, I hope that you enjoy this chapter :)
Sue: Thank you for your review! Yay Tony finally got some answers. Thank you, I knew right from the start that I wanted Orli to be on Ziva's side. Thank you for reading this story! Tiva forever. You're so right, Cote brought chemistry to the show and her and Michael together = something magical and special. Same, I completely support her choice to leave, she made the right choice. I absolutely love The Dovekeepers and The 33 and I can't wait for Prototype! :)
Stella: Thank you for your review! Haha thank you, I think that my brain should listen to you more often, can you tell it to stop getting writer's block too, please?! Thank you for your lovely comments about my writing, it truly means a lot to me. You are totally right, it's been so lovely to be in this positive environment where you can share a common love with people who like the same things and spend time with amazing people from all around the world, this is truly special and unique. Wow, thank you for your beautiful comments (I so did not cry a little bit there). I'm more than honoured to be your friend. Stella, you are definitely an amazing friend and a beautiful person inside and out. I hope that you know how much I appreciate that. "TEAM ZIVA IS NOT DEAD" :)
Tuesday 24th May 2016 Nettie's House, Tel Aviv, Israel 7am
"I believe that I owe you an explanation. Both of you."
The room felt divided, the atmosphere a little tense. Orli sat on the edge of the couch, hands placed out in front of her. Nettie sat away from her in one of the armchairs looking less than impressed. Close to her on the floor of the living room sat Tony who was being entertained by little Tali. She lay stretched out on her front, holding Kelev and Shimpânza out in front of her, acting out a conversation between the two in her own babbled language.
"Ziva and I had become much closer over these last few years." Orli began. "We repaired many wounds. Both of us agreed that we had been through too much and lost too much to continue to argue. Over time, we became friends and I still treasure this friendship with her to this day. I know that she would say the same. I have no other family left and Ziva was starting her life again. We understood each other."
"How did she get back in contact with you?" Tony asked while tying Tali's little mess of curls up so that they would be out of her face. This wasn't helped by the fact that Tali kept wriggling, not keen to have her hair put up, much to Nettie and Orli's amusement.
"After Ziva chose to stay in the farmhouse, she tried to isolate herself from her old life. And she did, for the first few weeks. I became worried about her after she had asked you to go back to America. She shut herself off from the world and I knew that her self-loathing at that time made her a possible danger to herself. I did not know what she might do. So I watched her: if she left the farmhouse, who came to see her, if she tried to use a computer or phone. From this, I knew that you (she indicated to Nettie) and Ziva spoke on the phone every Friday at 2pm. But then at the start of December, I saw that Ziva went to a doctor's office and she later missed her phone call to you. I also saw that you came to visit her that evening and that you then stayed the night."
"I was worried that she may have done something silly so I went back to the farmhouse the next day and confronted her about her appointment. You had gone back to your house to get some supplies as Ziva explained to me that you would be moving in with her for a while. That was when she told me that she was pregnant and that you were the father, Tony. She was terrified about being a mother; she did not think that she deserved to be. But she knew that she wanted this baby and she never gave that a second thought. In a way, being pregnant and having Tali gave Ziva some of her light back, some of her spark." Although Nettie was not overly keen on the woman, she nodded her head in agreement to what Orli had said. Tali had Ziva a purpose, a new lease of life.
"After Tali's birth, I would check in on her and Ziva every week. It was quite a normal routine: they would sing, play, laugh together. Ziva was a natural mother. But a few weeks ago, Ziva passed on some concerns to me. She was beginning to feel like she was being watched, being followed. In the market place, in the streets… she was worried about Tali but she was not sure if she was being paranoid or if someone really was following her. I told her that I would look into this for them."
"What did you find?" Tony questioned, ruffling his daughter's hair slightly. She stared up at him, her little eyes full of wonder and she giggled slightly before turning her attention back to her animal friends. Orli smiled at this sight, nodding slightly to answer Tony.
"Mossad were able to identify two men who had been watching Ziva. Mercenaries. Guns for hire."
Tony sighed, shaking his head slightly in disbelief. God Ziva, why is it that you are always followed by mercenaries? This is like 3 years ago all over again. "So why didn't they finish the job then? If they wanted Ziva dead, why did they wait?"
"Because their first mission was to spy and report back only. There were there at first to gain information. Watch Ziva, see what she did, who she contacted, if and when she left the farmhouse. Once they had what they needed, they could finish the job. These types of people do not like to wait around, but they were offered to chance to get to Eli David's only living child. And a big pay-out. They were keen to be a part of that."
Nettie looked appalled and stood quickly, walking over to stare out of her front window. How do you always find yourself in trouble, Zivaleh? Why did you not tell me? Tony could only shake his head slightly. While he was still angry with Ziva, he wanted her to finally deal with her old life and have a new start. A better life. But it seemed that it didn't matter where she went, her past would always catch up to her.
"Who hired them?" Nettie piped up.
"Initially, we assumed that it was Jacob Scott. We had received the message from your people in America that he was a person of interest who was targeting former and current agents around the world from different agencies. We knew that this made Ziva a target, but it made thousands of people targets. She had no connection to him, so we thought that he would leave her alone. But after she began to be followed, we could not think of nor find anyone else that it could have been. It did not make sense to us why he would want Ziva, but there was no one else. Until we discovered that the mercenaries had ties to Trent Kort."
"I bet Ziva didn't take that well, that blast from the past." Tony commented, placing Tali onto his lap know. She squealed and began to squirm slightly, trying to find a comfortable position to sit. Tali quickly continued to play with animals.
"Ziva panicked to start with. She never wanted Tali to be involved in that world. She only wanted to protect her daughter. I told her to pack a few things together and stay with me until the threat had passed. She thought about bringing Tali to America and to you, Tony, but she did not want to leave the country at this point. It would risk Tali, it would make them both open targets and Ziva was adamant that she would not allow her daughter go underground. They were quite comfortable here. But when the farmhouse was attacked, Ziva and I both realised something." Orli paused for a moment and looked around the room for a moment, as if she was searching for the right words.
"We had both seen first-hand that if it was announced that she was still alive, then Kort would continue to look for her. While the files had been destroyed, he was aware that Ziva knew too much and that she had to be dealt with as well. Bodnar had gone after Ziva, Parsa was persistent with his search and we knew Kort would be even more so. Ziva did not want to go underground: she was done with that life, but she did not want to spend any more time looking over her shoulder, worrying about when Kort would find her. So we agreed to let everyone believe that she had died in the fire. It was almost perfect. Kort would have Ziva out of the way and Ziva would be able to protect Tali."
"Why did she not take Tali with her? She and Tali have never been a day apart, their bond is so special." Nettie questioned.
"Ziva realised that it was too dangerous for Tali to stay with her. There were people looking for her who would not hesitate to hurt or kill her and they would not worry about hurting a child. Ziva did not want Tali to be caught in the crosshairs, she wanted her safe and out of harm's way. And she felt that the only person that she would trust with Tali is you, Tony. She did not want you to have to meet your daughter this way, but she knew that you would be an amazing father." At this point, Tali had grown tired and had dropped her animal toys to the ground. She turned around to face Tony and curled up in his arms, placing her little head onto his shoulder, using it as a pillow. Tony wrapped his arms around her and began to run his right arm up and down her back, comforting her. Her little eyes slowly drooped shut.
"Why didn't you tell us that it was Kort, not Jacob?" he questioned.
"We did not know if there were any moles who would inform Kort that we knew that it was him. If we informed you and other agencies, then Kort would have most likely found out, or he would have gone underground."
"Why did you let us think that she was dead? Why didn't you tell us sooner? Why did Ziva let us believe that she was dead?" Tony could feel himself getting angrier, but tried to keep himself calm as he had Tali with him. He didn't want to scare her or wake her up.
"Believe me, Ziva did not want to hurt anyone by letting them believe that she was dead. But she had to do what was best for Tali. She knew that there were to be consequences for her actions, but Ziva will always put Tali before anything else. Your reactions to her death needed to be genuine. They were able to convince Kort that Ziva really was dead and so he did not go underground. It meant that your team could take care of him once and for all."
"Did Ziva know about this?" Nettie questioned.
"She knew that you would all be informed of her death, however she believed that the two of you at least would be told that this was false. Ziva did not want either of you or Shmeil to think that she was dead. I am sorry, but your actions and reactions needed to be genuine. That is why I did not inform you until now."
Tony managed to work his way to stand up and he carried Tali through into the spare room, putting her down for a nap. He was not going to shout at Orli while his baby girl was there. Nettie looked in anger towards the other woman and opened her mouth to say something when Tony came back into the room. He looked fuming.
Orli tried to apologise. "I am so sorry to both of you, for putting you both through this. I can only imagine what that must have felt like – "
"How that felt? HOW THAT FELT! HOW DO YOU THINK IT FELT, TO BE TOLD THAT THE WOMAN THAT YOU LOVE IS DEAD! THAT SHE'S NEVER COMING BACK! TO KNOW THAT YOU CAN NEVER TELL HER THAT YOU LOVE HER! KNOW THAT YOU CAN NEVER SEE FROM HER, HEAR FROM HER EVER AGAIN! NO! Tony fell back onto the sofa, sobbing into his hands.
Nettie quickly sat beside him, rubbing her hand over his back as he had done for Tali a few moments ago. She glared at Orli now. You've hurt my family now. "Why are you telling us all of this now?" she asked. "This is not exactly how Mossad normally operates. Or you for that matter, Orli?"
"I was always going to tell you both the truth, but it needed to be the right moment. I wanted to wait until Kort had been dealt with and Tony and Tali had settled a little bit. When I found out that you were coming to Israel, Tony, I knew that you would soon come to see me. So I chose to wait until then. I do not want to keep your family apart any longer."
Tony had managed to calm himself down mostly now. He straightened back up and took hold of Nettie's right hand within his left hand and squeezed, as if to say thank you to her. Nettie smiled at him and squeezed his hand back.
Tony looked up at Orli, not bothering to wipe away the tears. "So… Paris. That's a pretty big city. Got any more cryptic clues for us?"
Orli looked down at her hands and sighed. "Tony, I do not know exactly where Ziva is. Really I do not. She did not tell me where she was going. It was safer that way. Ziva knew that if you did try to find her, then she did not want you to spend months chasing after her as you had done before. She said that if you wanted to find her, then she would go to the obvious escape place for you both. But she understood if you did not."
"I need to find her. We have a lot of things to talk about, deal with and figure out. She has a lot to explain to me. But most importantly, our daughter deserves to grow up with her Ima. I know what it's like to not have a mum in your life."
Tony paused, taking a moment to process everything. He placed his chin into his hands, thinking. He'd got the answers to his list of doubts. He'd found Ziva's suitcase full of knowledge and beauty. He knew what needed to be done; where to go next.
"Tali and I have everything that we came here to Israel for. We've found our answers. It's time for us to go to Paris."
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'm sorry if by now Paris seems a little cliché, but Ziva being anywhere else in the world made no logical sense to me. I thought a lot about her being somewhere else but my heart just screamed Paris. Ziva and Tony shared something special there. It means something to her, it's her safe place. I have finally worked out where in Paris to go (and it only took me a week to figure that out. Yeah…)! Where do you think we will end up in Paris? I would love to hear your ideas and see if anyone can guess or get close :)