Magnets

1. Plot Twist

           

The woman doesn't put up much of a fight when they catch her in the Navy Yard. There is something familiar about her, but she keeps her face down and doesn't speak.

She clutches her hajib as she sits in the proffered chair.

McGee takes a seat across from her and waits for Gibbs to come in.

The older agent is a few minutes, and he slams the door shut behind him. "Well?" he asks, sitting down. "Why did you do it?"

She stares down at the table, silent.

"Why did you sneak onto the Navy Yard via the pier? Did someone drop you off by boat?" Gibbs hadn't wanted to assume anything about this woman, but something about her put him on edge. "Why are you here? What is your mission?"

"I have not come to cause trouble," she murmurs. A heavy accent veils her words, not unlike the scarf she wears over her head.

"Then why are you here?"

"I have come to see my daughter." She finally raises her head to defiantly meet Gibbs' eyes.

McGee jumps a few inches backwards in his chair. "Ziva?"

"Hello, McGee. Gibbs. I did not mean to cause any trouble."

Both agents are speechless. Even Gibbs, usually mute by choice, has been struck wordless. Never did he dare to think someday he might see his Ziver in front of him again.

"Is Tali still here?" she whispers, defiance leeched away by anxiety.

Gibbs rubs his face and then nods. "Yeah, she's in the conference room while DiNozzo packs up and says his goodbyes."

"What?"

McGee speaks up, still pale with revelation. "He quit. He's taking Tali to Israel, and then to Paris, to find you."

Ziva tears up a little. Sending Tali to Tony was a good decision after all. "Did he guess? That maybe I was not... dead?"

"Desperate hope, more than anything."

She suddenly stands up. "I need to see Tali."

Gibbs and McGee also get up. McGee starts to open the door and then quickly remembers that Ziva spent eight years of her life walking these hallways. She doesn't need any help finding the way.

They weren't entirely sure what she would do, but Ziva continues her masquerade as a distraught hajib-ed woman, even falling in behind the two agents.

McGee wonders if maybe she finds news of Kort's death too good to be true. If perhaps she still fears being found.

But she drops her scarf at the door to the conference room and dashes to the beaming child in the stroller.

"Ima!"

"Oh, Tali..." She scoops the little girl up in her arms and holds her tightly.

Gibbs watches the two, a pang in his chest. He knows she must fear being separated from her daughter again. Ziva is especially bad with goodbyes.

"Should I find Tony?" McGee asks.

At the sound of his name, Ziva looks up. "No!"

"No?"

"I mean..." She pauses, mouth slightly open as she thinks. "I do not think it would be a good idea. Not at this point. He will be angry."

"He's going to be angry if we don't tell him you were here. He still thinks you're gone, Ziva." Tony won't be the only one angry. Already there's frustration rising in McGee's eyes.

"I know."

"And you're going to let him continue thinking that?"

"It is for the best. I will stay away from Israel and Paris. He will not need to know."

"You expect us to keep this from him?"

"Please, McGee!"

Gibbs does not want to watch any more of this. He leaves to find his coffee.

Ziva clutches Tali tighter. "McGee, if Tony finds out, he will come looking for me. There are other people looking for me too, and it would not be good for Tony to cross paths with any of them. They are not friendly people. They would kill him in a heartbeat."

McGee sits down in the nearest chair. "I want to know what happened."

"What happened?" She looks a little dazed by the sudden turn of events.

"Yes. What happened to start all this."

She decides to sit down, Tali on her lap. "I guess you deserve that much."