"My sister and I usually talk over the phone once a month so we know that the other one is alright" said Ari.
"Ziva right?" said Gibbs? Ari was not talking a lot about his family. He keeps most to himself. Just a little fond memory about his mother or sisters every once in a while. Most of the time he scolded his father. Gibbs knew, that Ari had a great relationship with his little sister but besides that not that much more.
"Yeah" said Ari with a sad looking smile on his face.
"She always tells me when she is on a longer mission and will call me as soon as she is back safe But this time she" he stopped for a second collecting his feelings again. "This time she did not call. The mission was not supposed to be that long. Maybe like 10 days but sometimes something comes between. Why am I telling you that you have been on many missions before" said Ari.
"No call, no message nothing. She did not contact me in any way. I waited a little bit but Rule 50 took over. She is MIA for 6 weeks now. That is not usual. I called an old friend at Mossad that owns me more than one favour. He confirmed my gut feeling.
The mission failed and she is not back. But I know that she is still alive. It that would not have been the case I would feel it Gibbs trust me. But I am scared, that they have her and that she is... I need to find my sister Gibbs." While talking Ari stopped working on the boat. Gibbs was looking at him with calm eyes just listening without any judgement.
"What can we do to help?" Asked Gibbs.
"I honestly have no idea boss" said Ari.
"I assume the call you had to take earlier was from your friend?" Asked Gibbs.
Ari nodded. "He owns me some favours" Ari said. "Told me he will call me again when he knows more".
"Is there a possibility that she had to hide and take cover?" Gibbs asked.
"If so I would know. We have a special code to communicate. As kids we sometimes did not want our father to know everything so we communicated in our own code" Ari explained.
The childhood as a kid of Eli David was not easy. They had to train from the moment they where able to walk. He wanted to have full control over his children so the only way to get some control back was to communicate in a code.
They came up with the idea when they where left alone in the woods one time. Back then Eli made them jump out of a plane. With parachutes of cause.
As always they had to find their way back. Took them a few days because the forest was huge.
The first night was very cold so they sat very close to the fire they made. They couldn't sleep so Ziva had the idea to create a language only they could understand and so every night they worked on that language. After a year they could communicate with it and no one ever figured it out.
"I just want her home safe" said Ari taking the bourbon Gibbs had just offered him.
"She is the only person left from my biological family that I still see as family" he said.
"Eli always tried to break our bond" said Ari. "But he was not able to do so."
"He raised her to be the solider, to be a weapon. Me to be the stratecic one. But Zeev always was my partner in crime as you would say" Ari said with a sad smile drinking the bourbon.
"She really means a lot to you?" asked Gibbs.
"Of cause she does" said Ari putting the glass away. "She's my little sister".
"Before doing something stupid you come to me" said Gibbs. "Before you decide to fly to Israel or anywhere else you talk with me. We can figure it out together" said Gibbs.
Over the last years he grew fond of Ari. He was like a son to him he never had. He could see how Ari turned into a great man over the years. He was not only that mossad killer anymore but also an investigator and a hell of a good one.
But still he has never seen him that emotional before. Although Gibbs never had siblings he could feel Aris pain.
"But what shall I do until then?" asked Ari.
"Go home and sleep" said Gibbs. Ari was about to say something when Gibbs continued. "Tomorrow you will tell us what you know and maybe just maybe when US marines are somehow involved we can make this a shared mission"
"Thank you boss" said Ari. His father would never do something like that for him not even if the mission was to save his daughter. Eli only had his career in his head. Nothing else.
But Gibbs was more about family under that typical Gibbs stare there was that hurt father, who he was because he lost his daughter, that was very protective about his team. They knew it even when he does not show often what they really mean to him.
His father would probably have already told him to shut up and would have sent him on a new mission.
But Gibbs... Gibbs wanted to help him. Help his sister that he has never seen before.
Before leaving Ari said "Hey boss"
"Yeah" said Gibbs looking up from working on the boat again."
"Have I ever shown anyone of you a picture of my sister?"
"Not to me" said Gibbs.
Ari took out his phone and showed Gibbs the last picture they took together. It was right before Ari had left for the US. They always took pictures together before leaving for a mission because they never knew which picture was the last.
"I can see the similarty" said Gibbs when Ari showed him the picture. "You have the same eyes"
"She is younger then you?" he asked.
Ari nodded. "She is 26."
Kelly would be 26 now if she would still be here. Thought Gibbs. If Kelly would still be alive the two of them would be as different as black and white. Both of them where raised differently.
When Eli David really let Ziva go through a way harder training then Ari, Gibbs whished not to know what that poor woman had to go through.
He still remembers how Ari was when he first came to NCIS. He was more like a robot then a human. If she was the solider and he the strategic she must be way worse. That hurt his already broken heart of a father, a girl father.
After Ari left Gibbs drank another bourbon and continued working on his boat thinking how he could help Ari.
When Ari was back home he checked his phone again hoping that he would have recieved a message but there was nothing. Still worried he tried to fall asleep.