A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I actually am enjoying writing this story. AU is nice, but I am trying to keep to the show's timeline and themes. Enjoy this. It took forever to finish.

February 2007

Tony really had no idea how he was supposed to fly from D.C. to Montreal, Canada, pretending he was visiting his father of all things, put a camera in a suitcase, and then fly back again without Gibbs knowing anything was up. He had assurances from the Director that she would handle Gibbs and for him to focus on the op at hand. He made up some story about how he was going to Canada for a film conference to Jeanne, so that took care of that, despite her insistence she try to go with him. She was starting to get closer and closer to him. He was going to meet her mother soon and she had been dropping hints.

He felt his stomach twist again at the notion of that level of commitment. The only other woman whose parents' he'd met had been Wendy and that had been at the absolute last minute, long after they got engaged. He pushed it from his mind and focused on his task at hand, as Jenny had asked him to do, walking nonchalantly through the airport, acting like he had before, wearing the coveralls of an easy-to-blend in flight line worker, shoving his sunglasses up higher on his nose. He rounded a corner and then walked quickly down a set of stairs, like nothing was the matter, until he bumped into someone at the base of the steps leading to the Employees Only section, where Jenny had worked it with someone that he'd be able to get to the private aircraft hangar.

There was a woman waiting, leaning against the door looking at her phone. She looked like a regular mechanic, complete with the toolbox beside her. Except regular mechanics did not also have a case that could fit a sniper rifle, had at least three guns on them, and a knife in her boot. He knew this because he knew the profile. Also the ass, he thought, as she leaned over to pretend to work something with her laces. Except he saw the flash of the gun before she had a chance to draw, diving down to yank his out of his boot. "Drop it," he ordered.

Then the woman lifted her head, grinning at him. "Shalom, Tony," she said, pleasantly surprised.

He was half-tempted to drop it, but she was Mossad. He grinned. "You finally get the order to kill me?"

"You wish." She arched her eyebrow. "On three?"

"My three or your three? Do we drop on two or do we drop on three? After three?" he rattled off, smiling quickly at her scowl. "Lethal Weapon, classic back and forth between Riggs and Murtaugh."

She said something under her breath in Hebrew and at the same time they dropped their guns. "What are you doing? We had this hangar," she said.

"NCIS-only business," he said, reaching to press at the earwig in his ear. "Hey Director, we got company. Someone lit off their Star of David bat signal. How do you want me to proceed?" He waited a moment and then let go, looking over at her and smiling. "So what are you doing here?"

She squinted. "Business. Did you change careers?"

"Might just have," he said, reaching in to his pocket as his other phone buzzed. He glanced at Jeanne's number and hesitated, sending it to voicemail. He would pay for that later. He glanced up, but Ziva had already stolen a glance at the screen. "Do you mind?"

"Who is Jeanne?" she drawled, grinning. "Your girlfriend?"

"None of your business."

"Sounds French," she said, snapping her teeth at him. She turned and spoke into her wrist, a stream of strange sounds and noises he knew to be Hebrew coming out. So she was on a Mossad mission. She nodded. "Toda." She gathered her bags and smiled up at him. "Nice seeing you Tony."

"Called off?"

She merely chuckled, then turned and rose on her toes, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Tell La Grenouille I said hello." She winked at his surprised look and sauntered away. She turned quickly as she walked up the stairs and called down. "And the team as well."

What the hell was that, he wondered, pressing the earpiece again. "Director?" After discussing what just happened, Jenny called it off. Said if Mossad was working in the neighborhood they had to respect it and stay out of it. She said there was another chance, the following day. She'd work it with Gibbs. He sighed and gathered his things, leaving the airport and pretending to be a common tourist now. It didn't take long before he got to the hotel, dumped his things, left a message with the nurse's station for Jeanne that he would be longer than he thought, and shoved the phone away. He rubbed his temples. This was going on the sixth month. He wondered when Jenny would let everyone know what was going on.

Ziva, he suddenly thought. She jumped into his mind. What was she doing here? Did Mossad have an operation against La Grenouille too? He'd let Jenny handle it. He checked his phone, wincing again. This time there were about ten missed calls from Kate. Damnit. He hated lying to her. He was about to reply back to her when there was a knock at his door. He grabbed his weapon, edging closer. "Yeah?" he called.

"Bonjour Monsieur DiNardo, votre masseuse est ici!"

He groaned, whipping the door open and dragging Ziva beyond the threshold. "Will you shut up?" he snapped. His heart thudded in his chest, glaring at her. "How did you know I was here?"

"I am a spy," she said, tapping his chest. She grinned at him. "How are you?" Of course she figured out where he was staying. Question was, why? He narrowed his eyes, waiting on her to speak again. How was he? He was fine, what was she doing here? Last he checked she hadn't been happy about returning to Mossad and here she was bouncing around like she was in the happiest job in the world. She pursed her lips, twitching them slightly. "I wanted to let you know I spoke with Director Shepard. Your secret is safe with me."

Jenny told her what was going on? "You realize this is not…known," he said slowly.

"I do not speak to anyone, what would I tell them?" she murmured. She smiled again and then pressed her hand to his chest, her eyes twinkling. "It was a pleasant surprise to see you. Whatever you are working on, best of luck with it."

When she left, he'd fallen into a bit of a funk. Gibbs' returning deepened it, as he returned to the Senior Field Agent position and no longer had his own team. He'd said no to the Rota, Spain job because he didn't want to leave them. They were his family and he wasn't ready yet. So Jenny gave him an assignment, just for him. He'd thrown himself into it, forgetting about the enigmatic Israeli who had captured his attention for a year. Forgot the job he used to have. When he'd been in the funk, Kate had called him out on it. "Grow up Tony. She was just a woman. It's not like you guys have some sort of cosmic connection."

Maybe we do, he thought suddenly. How else to explain her random appearance? Of all the gin joints… He smiled again. "You want to grab dinner?" It came out before he realized what he said. He blinked, surprised at his own forwardness. He was technically in a relationship, no matter how….he pushed the thought into a box and locked it away.

She seemed as surprised as him. After a moment, where he watched her face, trying to find some sign of emotion as the Mossad Ninja stared back, it broke into a smile. "That sounds nice." Okay then, he thought, nodding affirmatively. He grabbed his jacket, hotel key, and walked out of the room with her, the two of them going down the street and finding a small café. After the waitress had brought their drinks and they'd submitted their orders, she sighed, dropping her chin into the palms of her hands. "I love Montreal. It reminds me of a colder version of Paris."

"You like Paris?"

"J'adore Paris," she said. She smiled over the rim of her wine glass. "It is my favorite city. Except perhaps Tel Aviv or Jerusalem." She paused, dropping her wine glass back to the table. "Or a little village in Israel where I was born. Paris does rank up there of course."

Of course, he thought with a small smile. He cleared his throat. Making smalltalk with a Mossad officer was tricky. He had to remember she wasn't with them any longer. "You enjoying being back with Mossad?"

"I miss NCIS," she said in response, her voice faraway. The wistful sadness in her eyes disappeared into the dark irises, leaving him with stony ninja again. "You are on an assignment, very secretive of course. Tony DiNardo." Make it about me, not about her, he thought, silent. Quiet draped over their table in a blanket. Minutes passed and she finally lifted her eyes to meet his. "You do not need to say anything to me, naturally. We are no longer on the same side." She cleared her throat again, whispering. Allowing herself another moment of familiarity. "How is everyone?"

I guess everyone else is a relatively safe topic. Barring any current activities they may be doing that Mossad might find interesting. "They're fine." He chuckled. "Kate came back and curses the day you were born. She's never been able to get her chair the same."

"I did that on purpose."

"Mossad Ninja move?"

"Psychological torture," she chirped, sipping her wine again. She laughed. "Along with how to kill a man with a paper clip we learn that messing with chair heights also has an effect."

They talked like that through most of dinner, keeping to safe things like movies (she had not seen one since she left the United States, to his horror) and books (he barely read the newspaper and received a lecture on the finer points of literature from her, again) and the ongoing activities of those at NCIS. It turned out she occasionally spoke to Abby, who viewed her as a sort of "Pencil Pal" she said. "Pen Pal" he corrected, feeling a slight ache at the ability to mock her English again.

When dinner concluded, she walked with him back to his hotel room. He received at least two calls from Jeanne while they did, sending them all to voicemail. She watched him as he sighed with the second one, putting his phone carefully into his pocket. "You are upset," she said.

He glanced sideways, his hands tightening into fists in the pocket of his jacket. It was freezing in the Montreal winter night. He was stupid to only bring this, but then again he also thought he'd be hanging around the airport before returning to D.C., not standing outside of a hotel on the front step with her of all people. She naturally was prepared, wearing one of her black overcoats that reminded him of something an extra from Sean Connery's sub in Hunt For Red October would wear. He cleared his throat, which was just a time wasting thing to do. "I'm not upset, why would you say that?"

"You do not want to ignore this woman's calls and yet you are." She clicked her tongue, smirking. "Afraid of commitment?"

The good-natured humor from her was something he endured on a similar basis from Kate. The only difference was he felt it came from somewhere else in her. Kate did it because she enjoyed annoying him. She also probably wanted him to see what he was doing and change his behavior to fix it. Ziva did it because she was….well he wasn't sure why she did it, but she may have also liked annoying him. Except she seemed so honest and genuine. They hadn't spoken in almost six months and here she was laughing at him and teasing him of commitment. They shared a dinner like they were back at NCIS together. I have a Mossad friend, he figured. If that's what she would accept being called. Friend. "Have you…" he looked at the phone and then around at where they were. Ironic. The last time they stood in the night on a hotel stoop, she told him about her sister's death. He didn't realize at the time that that was a huge deal for her. Ziva did not like to show emotion or the squishiness inside of her. Guess it's my turn, he thought. What the hell. "Have you ever lied to someone you love?"

He half-expected her to walk away at such a personal question when they were not personal friends. They were coworkers who sometimes hung out and hadn't spoken because they worked for two separate countries. Kizmet, Fate, whatever you called her, decided to put them together tonight. Might as well take advantage. Ziva however, surprised him, and in her very Ziva-like way, nodded smartly. "Yes," she whispered. She looked vulnerable, her face uncertain and searching his for some reason why he may have asked her that. She squinted. "You love this woman? You lied to her?"

"It's nothing," he said quietly. He couldn't get into it. Didn't even know why he asked. He locked ita way again, smiling quickly. "Forget it."

She reached for his arm as he turned away and then looked at his face again, searching some more. Whatever it was, he hoped she didn't find it, but it seemed she had, because she smiled softly, her touch gentle on his arm, squeezing reassuringly. "Sometimes in this job we have to do things we do not like. We do them for reasons beyond ourselves. It is a necessity. You must determine if lying is a necessity for the mission. Or if it is something you must compromise the mission for."

He stared back into her eyes, frowning slightly. That was so horrible. That clinical response. They did a number on you, he thought, seeing the pain evident in her gaze now. He reached for the hand on his arm and squeezed it, lifting it away from him and dropping it back to her side, where she stood again. "Thank you," he whispered. He grinned and reached his hands to her shoulders, patting lightly. "I'm frozen. It's like the Ice Man Cometh. See you around Zee-vah."

The sadness changed into annoyance. There you are, he thought with a cheeky smile. She smirked, saving face and locking away her emotions just like he did. "Goodbye Tony. Good luck." She rose on her toes and quickly kissed his cheek, smiling again and wiggling her fingers. "See you around."

He watched her saunter off into the evening, cross the street, and turn a corner. He sighed. Ordinarily he might have thought he'd never see her again. Except he had a sneaky suspicion Ziva would pop back up again, especially if she was keeping tabs on him. His phone rang again and he didn't even need to know who it was, lifting it to his ear. "Hi Jeanne. Yeah, I'm sorry I missed your calls um…I ran into an old friend and was catching up." He turned and went into the hotel, locking away the emotions again. It was a necessity.

May 2007

"Do you know what we were thinking?"

I can imagine, he thought, looking at Kate, who was standing in the center of the elevator, glowering at him in the dim lighting from the emergency strobes. The elevator company has to wonder why this thing stops all the time, if they keep tabs on it, he figured. He nodded to the elevator. "You ever wonder if they know somewhere we do this all the time?"

"Don't change the subject."

He hit his head against the wall of the elevator. It had been one of the hardest things in his life to do. Lie to his friends, lie to a woman he honestly cared about, and lie to himself. Worst of all, he lied to Gibbs. To the only people he viewed as his family. He looked over to her, seeing the hurt in her eyes. They'd been partners for four years now. Through thick and thin. He watched her get shot and almost died for it and heard then it had been her turn. Except she saw him blown up on a television screen, thought it was his body in autopsy. She was the one who noted there was no scarring on the lungs. Hell, she'd been there when he was in the process of receiving the scarring on his lungs. Almost watched him die then too. "Kate," he whispered, shaking his head. "It was a job."

"You should have told her," Kate said.

Told who what? Jeanne? "I couldn't," he said, frowning at her. She knew that. It was part of the job. To get close and pretend to be her boyfriend, and feel like he was her boyfriend, could have something nice like that. Commitment had been the hardest thing he'd done, but he'd done it, hadn't he? Except it had been part of the job. That's what he'd told her. He deserved the hate she'd thrown back at him. He'd burned her envelope, the request to choose one over the other. This was his family. "It was a job."

Kate scowled at him. "I'm not talking about Jeanne Benoit." She laughed and moved to lean against the elevator wall with him, their shoulders bumping. She tossed her bangs out of her eyes. "I'm talking about Ziva David. Director Shepard had to ban incoming calls from Israel. She was there for some meetings and found out about La Grenouille's plans, chatter talking about a US Navy cop. They called to warn us but apparently it was too late. McGee said that she blew up his phone too demanding answers."

Ziva was worried about him? A tiny flicker of pleasure at that notion was snuffed out by the reality that she was probably just keeping tabs on him for future "contact" opportunities. Besides, they hadn't really talked since that run-in in Montreal. He shook his head. "Probably just mad we got to La Grenouille before they did."

"He sold arms to HAMAS and Hizballah, of course Mossad wanted him too, but he was NCIS's catch. Probably because of some fancy liaison." Kate said it the way that Ziva used to say it, all fancy and French. She rolled her eyes, not a fan of the Israeli intelligence service or its occupants, for good reason of course. Their rogue agent had shot her. "Whatever I think of that woman Tony, she obviously cares about you."

He scowled. Ziva David may have tolerated him from time to time, but it wasn't going to last. They couldn't stand each other for long periods of time. The occasional dinner hadn't been bad, but together for any significant length of time and….boom. Fireworks. Cat and mouse game, Ducky had joked, when he casually said that he'd run into Ziva, leaving out that it was in Montreal. Made it sound like it was in DC. Despite her smiling and silence on the matter, he could tell she wasn't happy. It was nice to have a contact there, Director Shepard had said to him once. They could help you out of a tight jam. Had contacts all over the world. Especially one who was a David. Ears and eyes everywhere.

"She just needs a person to call when she wants something," he said, reaching over for the elevator switch. Before he lifted it, he looked over at his partner. The worry on her face etched through her brow, furrowed in his direction, her lips set in a tight line. She was worried about him. It had been known to happen. The obvious nature of it was rare though, usually Kate hid her feelings about him, unless she was annoyed. Which was often. He smiled and then pulled back. "Hey. I'm fine."

Kate looked up at him again, shaking her head and then laughing in an exasperated relief. "You lied to all of us Tony. I don't care if that was because the Director told you. I'll forgive you when Gibbs lets it go." They fell to silence again. Until she scoffed loudly, her hand coming up fast from her side and slapping him on the head. "And I hope Gibbs hits you harder." Then she wrapped her arms quick around him. Her voice was muffled in his chest. "And if you tell anyone I did that I will blow up your car for real."

Insane. He remained frozen, his arms at his side, too surprised to do anything. I'm surrounded by insane women, he thought, blinking in shock. "Wow. Okay…fine." She leaned around him and turned the elevator back on, returning back to her position at his side, her arms crossed over her chest and glancing up at the lights above the door. He smirked. Were they ever going to talk about this again? He pointed to her and then to him. "You hugged me. Without a bet or request. Not like you'd honor one anyway."

She glanced at his direction, her dark eyes impatient. Okay, he felt like things were sliding back into normalcy. "And as I said, you tell anyone and you're dead." She quickly grinned. "And Abby will hide your body for me."

That was probably true; Abby was one of her best friends. He didn't have that whole sisterhood of the covenant of the whatever that women had with each other even if they didn't like each other. The doors opened as he chuckled, feeling the forgiveness already start. He stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the squad room, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of someone standing and talking with Gibbs and McGee. The dark curly hair tumbled down her back and instead of army fatigues and cargo pants she wore a rather fetching black suit, but it was still her, no question about it. "Hey," he called, dropping his bag by his desk. "What are you doing here?"

She turned on her heel quickly and something that sounded like Hebrew curse words came out of her mouth in a stream as she hurried towards him, stopping herself before she reached for him. It didn't go unnoticed by the team, who all exchanged looks of surprise and curiosity. She cleared her throat and smirked. Oh I see, he thought, we can't show emotion right now. Got it. "You do not look dead. Or…extra crispy."

"Disappointed?"

"A bit, I thought we were finally rid of you." She quirked her lip up. The Israeli sun had tanned her skin, which had been ivory pale in Montreal. Then there was the time she'd casually dropped into the office, claiming how unreachable he'd been. Between her and Kate, he figured he'd never be able to go off the grid. They'd both find him and if they worked together he'd be dead before he had a chance to drop his first cell phone. "Too bad."

Kate walked over and laughed, her hand going to her hip. He barely glanced at her. "Yes, he's still with us. I hear the Israelis lost La Grenouille. Is he in some jail cell in the middle of the desert now?"

"I do not know nor do I care." She glanced at Kate, sizing her up. When the two were in the same room together he was pretty sure that the Earth moved. There was even a time that McGee said they slapped each other, but that was just McGee. He would believe it if he saw it and oh like hell how he wanted to see it. He blinked at them both, slightly afraid. In a gunfight he had it on Kate. Woman loved her guns. A knifefight…eh, Ziva and those blades of hers. Fistfight….hmm….he dragged himself to reality, watching them. It might have to be a draw there. They both could play dirty. Kate frowned at him and he blinked out the image of them both, because she could probably read his mind and knew what he was thinking. Ziva smiled again. "I should be going. Early flight."

"You're leaving?" Kate asked, tearing her look from him and then grinning cheekily at Ziva. "Aw, that's too bad. Have a safe trip back." She went back to her computer, not at all sounding like she cared.

She turned her head to peer at him and then looked at Gibbs, who had been watching all of this with utmost curiosity and silence. "I will be returning to Israel, yes, but rest assured, I will be only a phone call away." She seemed disappointed. The disappointment locked itself away, because Ziva could never be allowed to feel anything, he thought with annoyance. She smiled again and stared straight at him. "I will be around."

Was that an invitation? He followed her with his gaze as she waltzed away, clearing his throat. "Uh Boss, catch up in a minute?" He didn't even wait to see what Gibbs's response was, probably a very bad miscalculation on his part, and ran after her. Wouldn't be the first time he broke the Rules. Probably wouldn't be the last, even if he tried. He pushed the elevator door open as it began to close and grinned at her. "So you're leaving again? I drove you away?" He only half-joked with that.

"It has nothing to do with you."

"You can't live without me so you're mad, pushing me away," he teased. He was upset she was leaving. She only just showed up again. This didn't seem right.

"I could very much live without you. In fact, I'm contemplating trying to kill you so I can take your spot here, would you like that?"

He frowned. "Actually I would not. Since I'd be dead."

"See it all works out," she teased, walking across the elevator floor towards him. She waited a moment and then pulled him into the elevator as the doors closed, spinning around as he flicked it off. Second time in less than half an hour in the stopped elevator, he thought. Must be a record. She sighed and looked up at him, shaking her head and pausing. "I…" The confidence in her entire being disappeared and she reached up to give him a hug. He held her there, his hands splaying out over her back, reminded of how tiny she could be sometimes, when she allowed herself a moment to strip away the bravado. Her voice was quiet, speaking into his shoulder. "I am very glad you are not dead."

He hugged her back tighter, smiling and pushed his nose into her dark curls. "Yeah. Same here." After a minute, he pulled on one of the spirals, sniffing it. Hey, he had a chance, might as well. "Hmm…coconut?"

She smacked his head. Serious time over. "Jasmine." She pulled back and then turned away from him. They stood in quiet for a moment, decompressing and composing themselves again. Then she went in for the kill shot, he thought. "So no following the pretty doctor to parts unknown?" she murmured, turning the elevator back on. The whir of the engine pulled him into the reality that the door would open soon and he didn't have time to gather his thoughts or form any sort of composed response.

How did she know…he didn't ask. Of course she knew. Mossad. He leaned back against the wall, waited a moment thinking of how to reply, and shook his head. "Naw, you know me. One women for all time…kind of isn't my thing." His stomach hurt. The idea was nice actually. It just wasn't real. It was real for Tony DiNardo, but Tony DiNozzo was a cop. NCIS was his life, it was his family, and he couldn't leave.

The doors opened on the first floor and she stepped out, turning quickly and looking over at him. Her eyes sparkled like black diamonds. "You know I know when you are lying," she called. She waved and before he could follow after her and demand to know what the Tell was, since he had no tell, the doors closed with a soft ding. He waited another few minutes and sighed hard, staring down at his feet. Damn. He was lying. About what though, even he didn't know. Seemed like Ziva sure did. Hopefully she'd tell him, he thought. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He only had one phone now. He took it out, thinking it might have been McGee wanting to know where he was. Little Probie had been so upset at the thought he was dead, he'd been pleased to hear. He stared at the number. 972. Israel. He answered, saying nothing. After a moment, she spoke softly. "If you want to know where to find her, you need only ask."

He waited and steeled himself against the wall of the elevator, feeling it rise back up to the squadroom floor. He closed his eyes tight and shook his head. "Thanks."

"Shalom Tony."

Peace, Ziva, he thought, disconnecting. That's kind of all anyone wants, now don't they? The door to the elevator opened up and he looked ahead, Kate standing there, her arms to the side. "Are you done chasing after your furry little Israeli? Director wants us in MTAC to finish going over this stuff."

He glanced at the phone again and then put it back in his pocket. He had a lot to think about, but he wasn't sure he was going to take her up on the offer. Maybe he was lying. Guess he'd have to figure that out soon enough.