Finding Lost Love: Escapes & Goodbyes

Chapter 1.

After the goodbye to Tony, Ziva didn't think there would ever be a harder goodbye to be made in her life, but here she was saying goodbye to the most precious thing that she had in her life, her daughter Tali. She knew though that sending Tali to her father was the best thing to do because he would keep her safe and protected from what was coming.

In the years since she and Tony had said goodbye to one another on the tarmac all those years ago, she had changed her life through volunteering for various organizations around the world and really enjoying her life, but even if she knew that she wanted to put all her old life behind her, she had still kept in touch with her various contacts, because she always knew that someone from that old life could come after her at anytime.

Once she had found out she was pregnant with Tali, she had come back home once again and had settled down at the farmhouse where she had conceived she and Tony's daughter to bring her up.

In time she had had some big regrets about having not told Tony anything about the pregnancy, especially when she was having a hard time with the morning sickness and dearly wished that he was there holding her hair out of the way and massaging her shoulders or neck, along with sharing those special moments like when she heard Tali's heartbeat for the first time and the first scan, along with her birth. She had her reasons for not telling him anything, but most of all she wanted to wait until the day that the couple would finally be reunited. The top reason was because she knew that if he knew the truth, he would leave the job he loved, and she didn't want that guilt on her conscience, or he would persuade her to return to DC with him, and even though she would have loved to have been there with her family sharing everything with them, she was still worried about being pulled back into having the life as an agent, but most of all she also knew that she would be possibly putting their daughter in the firing line if anyone came after them, and there was no way that she wanted to add to that danger.

The best thing that happened in recent years was her making friends with Tanya, and then discovering that they were actually related to one another and in many ways they had been very cathartic to one another, because over the years of knowing one another Ziva had told her all about Tony and her love for him. While she had helped Tanya through the break-up with her last boyfriend and the troubles she was having at her job, which had lead to the discussion about her giving her job up and coming to be a nanny to Tali.

It had been while Tanya had gone back to London again to get her things together, work her notice out and then returning to be with them in Israel that Ziva heard rumors of a possible danger coming, so she had got in touch with Orli and some of her contacts to find out how much of it was true.

That had been one of the things that had surprised her in some ways, in the friendship that had developed over the years with Orli, after she had gone to her as Tony had told her she should when they were in the car together, on their return from Berlin and just before Bodnar had then crashed into them. She had offered them a chance of protection, but Ziva had said she would much rather it be that Tali went to her father because she knew he would ensure her safety and protection. So when things were confirmed that it would happen just before the whole case surrounding Jacob Scott began at NCIS, at the same time they didn't know that it was Kort behind it all, as that was also still purely a rumor, but there were the rumors of something happening to her getting stronger, so she and Orli came up with the plan to fake her death in whatever happened and she would go into hiding. Before she then headed back to the farmhouse to get both herself and Tali packed up with their go bags, Orli had said to her "If anything happens to the farmhouse what do you want to do with the land?"

Ziva replied "I know Tony he will come here looking for answers when he does just leave it as it is. Once he has gone, I want you to keep it in trust for the three of us, I know that here in Israel will not be our home, but I would like us to have somewhere to come to when we do. You will have to work out a way of keeping my name off of things for a time because he will probably look for any clues as to the truth and anyone else will be able to do the same. Once he is gone I will say you can pull everything down and we can build another home once this is all over."

So with that Ziva went home for the final time and with a very heavy heart began to pack up go bags for both herself and Tali before heading back to Orli to look after Tali until the time came for her to take Tali to her father in DC. As she said her "Goodbyes" to both Orli and Tali, it was the hardest one of her life, but as she left them she found herself through her tears praying that everything would be over soon, so she wouldn't be apart from her daughter for too long, and that she could also then be reunited with the love of her life.

Before then going into hiding she went and just looked from a distance at the place that had been her home permanently for the last few years, then she disappeared to a house that Malachi had set up for her many years ago, and in the years since the two of them had just kept it on for their use only if they needed somewhere safe to go that no-one knew about.

When the farmhouse was firebombed the first time she knew that something was wrong, was as the phone she had not used for years sparked into life. She had kept the phone just in case she changed her mind at anytime that she decided to go back to DC, so she could then either get in contact with Tony or one of the others. When the phone started to ring for the fourth time and she picked it up just to look who it was, her heart was in her mouth when she saw Tony's name on it. Even if she was so very tempted to answer it, just so she could hear his voice again, she knew that she couldn't do it, especially as just after that on the burn phone she had got for Orli to contact her on, Orli sent her a short text to say they were on the way to DC with Tali. With that she turned the TV on to see the news coverage of the farmhouse on fire; with the report still saying it was unknown whether there were any survivors.

The other thing she was hating through all of this was not being able to say anything to the woman that had become her best friend in the last couple of years or so and that was Tanya, but she knew that somehow she knew that they would somehow reconnect eventually in their lives, her only concern was knowing that at that precise moment Tanya would be on the plane to Israel from London, coming out to join them as Tali's nanny. In some ways she had a wish that Orli may put she and Tony in touch with each other, because she knew that if there was anyone that was to bring her daughter up with him for however long this all took, it would be Tanya and she would also be the only one that could also help him with Tali and her Hebrew.

In the next few hours she worked hard on trying to find out what she could from her contacts, and found out for definite that Kort had been behind things, but there were also rumors that his actions had paved the way for more enemies to come forward, some of these people were rumored to be members of the remaining members of the Brotherhood of Doubt that had managed not to be picked up. The strongest rumor was that the current leader was making his way to DC to talk to the person who would give them the finances for the group to get together again and become bigger than they were before. She knew that there would be a big danger not only for herself but also for Tony and Tali if she returned there, so as there seemed to be some of the group heading for London, she decided to hide out and also find out what she could about what was happening there. So she got packed up and using one of her many undercover aliases booked herself on a flight to London. Before heading there though there was just one final job that she wanted to do, which was to see the wreckage of the farmhouse, as no matter how hard it would be for her to do it, she needed to do it.

When she got to the farmhouse she was devastated by what she saw and thinking about all the memories that the place had held for her, including all those happy times she and Tali had had together there, and the times she'd had with Tanya there included. Most of all it was her memories of those few days she and Tony had shared there when he had gone on the search for her, and even though they had shared some very special and intimate moments in that time, the biggest moment of all had been that final night together when they had had little sleep, and it was the night she was convinced that she had conceived Tali, but it was tinged with some sadness because of it being the night before they had said their final goodbye on the tarmac as he returned to DC.

As she was saying her goodbye to the house, she was suddenly bought out of her reverie by a car door slamming, when she turned to look she could see that it was Tanya, so she quickly hid herself in the shadows, she watched for a few minutes before then going off to quickly dig up the box that contained her 'Will' that she and Tony had written all those years ago, where she slipped the notes she had written the night before for Tony, Tali and Tanya, she didn't know if they would think about checking it, but she quietly hoped that they wouldn't because she thought she would like their reunion to happen in that very spot and that they could then get rid of those letters together and look to their future together as a family.

By the time Ziva had then got back to the place where she had been hiding in the shadows, she watched Tanya still standing there looking at the wreckage of the farmhouse, and she had a heavy heart as she thought about the grief that Tanya was going through. Then suddenly her attention got bought to her different place as she heard the squeal of Tali's voice yelling for "Auntie Tanya." And jump into her arms when she got close enough to her to do it. She then swallowed hard as Tony's familiar figure came swimming into view, still looking as good as he ever did. Actually seeing him in the flesh even at the distance away she was from them, still bought up the regrets that she had over having not told him about Tali and having walked away from the man that she had loved for so very long, she kept watching them as they talked for a few minutes in that spot, before they then all walked off together. As the two of them then sat there talking in the place she had followed discreetly to, she had to be that more careful with her hiding as to not let them see her, but she was also being alert on what Tali was up too with the way that they were watching her as she was prowling around.

After the conversation she knew that the two of them were ready to go and with her ever-growing emotions she watched them return to where they had started from, and even with the tears beginning to fall, she watched as Tony put the arm around Tanya's shoulders he had free from carrying Tali in the other arm and then change to take her hand as they walked back to the car that he had arrived in. She was feeling happy in some ways that the two of them had met and it was looking like the two of them would remain together, which she was quite happy and relieved about because she knew that Tony would do whatever he could to keep the two of them safe and protected.

A/N: Here is just a one shot to go alongside the story Finding Lost Love, telling the first part of the story from Ziva's

point of view, which I hope that you will enjoy! I may do more stories periodically throughout the story like this, but I

don't want it to be a multi chapter story, some may end up being just one chapter and some may possibly end up being a couple of chapters or so

long! Xxx. D. :0)