Lie Again

The Past in the Present

First update to be written at college!

(All of this was written several days ago fyi)

*****

Tony watched Ziva's face as she knelt next to the body. She gave no hints of her emotions, but he knew she had to be feeling something.

The man on the ground was her ex-partner, someone who had once watched her back and she his. That bond could never be broken, not even by distance or time.

But death?

Yeah, death would do it.

"Did he suffer?" she asked softly, looking to Ducky for an answer.

The ME hesitated before saying, "Only very briefly."

None of them were fooled, but a lie was better than the truth.

Ziva stood up, and he caught the flicker of grief that crossed her features.

"Ziver." Gibbs gave Ziva a good, long stare, the infamous blue x-ray. "You don't have to work this one."

She shook her head, her face blank again. "I can do it. It is just another case."

'But he was your partner,' Tony wanted to say. He knew that if any of them were murdered, he wouldn't be able to rest until the killer was caught, but he still wanted Ziva to take some time to grieve. The usual double standard.

If lying to herself got her through the case, maybe it was for the best.

***

She was careful to keep her face void of emotion as she dusted for fingerprints and bagged evidence. She tuned Ducky out as he began to give Gibbs his initial diagnosis. She wasn't ready to hear it.

"Ziva," Tony said behind her.

She didn't turn around. She didn't want his sympathy.

"Ziva, if you need to talk... I'm here."

She didn't acknowledge him, although somewhere deep inside her mind she appreciated his offer.

Somehow she managed to get through the collection phase. It was a huge relief to return to the car, to headquarters, even though she was by no means away from Gibbs and Tony and McGee. She was aware of their worried gazes. Unlike her, their faces betrayed everything.

Ziva coasted through the rest of the day. The others left her alone, and she was thankful to spend the afternoon at her desk, reaching out to her various contacts.

The grief was still tearing at her heart, but it was joined by a determination to find who had murdered her partner.

She would do whatever it took.

Revenge was right in Ziva David's wheelhouse.

***

"I'm worried about her." DiNozzo's words were hushed even though Ziva had just left.

Gibbs peered at him over the tops of his reading glasses. What was DiNozzo expecting? A congratulations? A reward? A nudge?

DiNozzo held his gaze, like he was waiting for him to say something.

"Yeah?" Gibbs said finally.

"What do we do?"

"Our jobs. Find the killer."

"Ziva won't stop at just finding the killer."

"Ziva knows better," he said. She wasn't ruthless like her father.

"Are you sure about that? Because I'm not. You heard her. She was on her phone half the afternoon, talking in Hebrew. She's reaching out to her Mossad contacts. She isn't going to settle for just catching the killer."

Gibbs sighed. DiNozzo always overthought things when it came to Ziva.

"Should I talk to her?" DiNozzo asked.

"If Ziva needs to talk to someone, she will."

He could tell by the look on DiNozzo's face that this wasn't the answer he wanted. DiNozzo wanted to be told to go after Ziva, because he couldn't admit to himself that he wanted to go after her.

"Go."

"Go?"

"That's what I said."

DiNozzo grabbed his things and rushed to the elevator, almost tripping over himself in the process. If only he could be as eager about solving crimes as he was about going to see Ziva.

***

Tony knocked on Ziva's door, unsure if she would even answer. Honestly, he wasn't even sure that she was home. Her car was there, but he knew that Ziva liked to go running to clear her mind. And wasn't her gym nearby?

He knocked again, suddenly anxious to see her. He wanted to make sure she wasn't off doing something crazy.

"What?" she demanded, the door opening a few inches.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing," he said weakly, all too aware of the towel she was wearing.

"I was taking a shower."

Yeah, he definitely noticed. "Sorry."

She started to close the door but he stuck his hand out.

"Can we talk?"

Ziva sighed and adjusted her grip on the top of her towel. "Can we do this later, Tony?"

"No, right now works for me." He heard her sigh again as he walked into her apartment. He went and sat down on her couch, figuring that would be the best place to have the conversation.

"Now is not a good time for me." She let the door slam shut and then stood there glaring at him.

"You can finish your shower if you want. I'll wait."

"No, you will not. I do not want to talk. Not to you, not to anyone else."

Okay, that hurt. "I just thought maybe you'd like to talk about-"

"I just said I do not want to talk. I want to be alone."

"Are you sure?"

She gave him an incredulous look, like he was insane to even still be there.

"Fine. But if you need anything, you can call me. Doesn't matter what is it, what time it is. You can call me."

"Just leave. I want you to leave."

She met his gaze for a fraction of a second, and he was astounded by the grief, the swirling anger, he saw there.

"Okay," he said. He got up and slowly went to the door. "Call if you need anything."

She didn't even turn to look at him.

*****

Ooh. Tension.

This is a little short, but I'm not feeling too creative today, and there are people screaming down the hall. I think they're watching High School Musical.

Oh well. We are heading in the Tiva direction. You might notice that this is a going a lot like the Eli David death story line (I hope I didn't just spoil that for anyone), and that was sort of intentional. This, however, will probably be much shorter.

Vote, comment, share, follow. Boost my morale! Just kidding.