"I got a GPS signal, Headly and Bruins are at Tom's Junkyard." Kasie says over the phone hastily. Gibbs thanks her and McGee hangs up the phone as Gibbs speeds up.

"What is the plan Gibbs?" Ziva asks, leaning forward in the middle seat so her head was between the boss and senior field agent.

Gibbs is quiet as he thinks of a plan, it wasn't until Torres' "Boss?" comment that he finally says something.

"Bishop and I will go around to the west, McGee and Torres will go around to the east. I trust that if you go by yourself, you can take the south without getting caught?"

Ziva scoffs. "Oh please, you know me better than that."

McGee is about to say something when his boss cuts him off. "Just don't get yourself captured Ziver." No one notices the pain in his eyes, but she knew it was there.

"They're still there." Kasie says with an update 30 minutes later. The team gathers around the trunk to pull on their bullet proof vests when Ellie notices a problem.

"Gibbs, there's only four vests in here, one of us is going to be without protection." Gibbs sighs, handing his vest over to Ziva.

"Here, take it."

Ziva gives him a questioning look. "No Gibbs, keep it. I have worked without one for years and not been killed. I will be fine. You need it more than I do."

The team stares at the confrontation between the father and daughter, but they choose not to say anything.

"Please Gibbs." Ziva asks one last time, pushing the vest into his chest. "I can't lose you too."

He gives her a look, one that screams that she better be careful with herself. One that says he can't lose her again. Neither one loses eye contact with the other, each vowing that they will not die today. And with that, everyone gets ready.

When Gibbs makes the signal, the team leaves the car, drawing their guns, and splitting up.

Ziva ducks down low and makes her way to the back of the yard. She sees the two men they are looking for, along with three other men with them. This was the team that's been tracking her down ever since she got onto American soil again, trying to out her to her enemies that could decide to go after her. It was time she was going to end them so she could be free. So her value to them would be useless.

Into the earwig, she tells the team, "I count five of them."

"Expect them to be carrying." Gibbs' voice says over the ear piece.

Taking one last look, not spotting any more, she slowly makes her way to the back. She only has to sit with her gun drawn for a moment when she heard Gibbs shout from the other side of the clearing. "NCIS, put your hands up!" On cue, Ziva charges towards the clearing, her gun trained on the largest man of the bunch.

One of the men spots her and starts yelling. "It's her! She's here!" Ziva instantly aims her gun at him and the man pulls out his own gun, but before he has a chance to shoot, she double taps his heart. Before the body hits the floor, the four men pull out their guns.

The fire fight starts.

She swerves through the commotion, just missing each of the outsourced surveillance team for the splinter terrorist group. These were the last of the people who could give away her location, who would sell her out to any group in the world. This was it. This was the end of any connection to Sahar, even after months of her being dead. Ziva can finally live her life again.

A shot goes off to her left and she feels sudden burning but ignores it. She turns to where the sound came from, spotting a young man hidden behind some old tires. She aims and gives off one shot, shooting him between the eyes, killing him.

Behind her, a man charges, his hands covered in blood. "ZIVA!" Ellie shouts, firing her gun at the large man. She spins on her heels till her gun was trained on his chest. He continues to charge for her, not slowing with each bullet digging into his back. Shocked that he's not faltering, she hesitates. It takes her a blink of an eye to bring her back to the moment, with only a meter in front of her, she shoots him in the chest and he finally falls. Only, he lands on top of her. Ziva yells out, dropping her gun beside her, staring into the cold dead eyes of the large henchman.

"ZIVA!" Gibbs yells to her once the gun shots stop. She turns her head, her vision blurring, to see Gibbs and McGee running to her. She pushes the man off her body, grunting as the burning in her stomach intensifies. "Ziva!" He yells again, helping to pull the body off of her. She takes a large gasp of air as she gets free.

Together, the two agents help her to her feet, wavering she leans on McGee for support. "Are you okay?" He asks. She nods, glancing over at the body behind her.

Gibbs cups her cheek, looking down at her bloody clothes. "Is this all his blood?"

She nods again, glancing over at Ellie and Torres, both whom were walking her way with their guns in their holsters. "Yes, Gibbs." She confirms even though she has a strong sense that she was going to throw up any second now. She gulps down that feeling, placing her hand on her stomach, and winces in pain.

McGee looks down at her when she flinches, watching her hand as she pulls it back. "There can't be that much fresh blood of his on you." He says, but she can hardly hear him. He was faint, Gibbs' face in front of her was becoming harder to see.

She barely makes out the words "I made a mistake" before she falls unconscious into McGee's arms.

She throws herself into a sitting position with a gasp, finally able to breathe again, and thankfully, the burning pain was gone. She looks around her, no longer was she in the clearing at the junkyard, but she was at her childhood bedroom. The same one Tony met her in over six years before.

"Ziva, ahuvati, aren't you going to come out and say hello?"

Ziva's heart stops at the voice. One she hasn't heard in nearly two decades. "Ima?" Slowly she lifts herself from the bed and makes her way to the door of her childhood bedroom. She peeks into the living room, her eyes widen at the sight. Before her was her mother, years younger than when she last saw her, kneeling before a three year old Ziva with a bundle in her arms.

The young girl looks down at the tiny white blanket, curiosity in her eyes. "Ima, who is it?"

Her mother laughs softly. "Oh ahuvati, this is Ima's baby."

"From Ima's tummy?"

"Ken ahuvati." She tells the young one. "Her name is Tali, and she is your baby sister."

Stepping closer, Ziva watches her younger self play a hand on the baby's clothed head. "Tali…"

"Can you make me a promise, Ziva?" Rivka asks her daughter.

"Ken Ima."

"Promise me that you'll protect your sister, you'll protect Tali, for as long as you can?"

"Ken Ima, I will protect Tali forever and ever."

Ziva watches from her bedroom, her heart beating rapidly from her hiding spot.

"Breaks your heart, doesn't it, sister?"

Ziva reaches from her gun, only to find she doesn't have it, and turns around to find the last person she was expecting to see. "Tali?" The teenager smiles at her from her bed, her legs crossed up on the covers. "Wha- what are you doing here?"

Her little sister smiles at her, rocking back and forth. "Why I have come to see you, of course!" Ziva looks her sister over, the innocent little girl she was before she died was present on her face. No cuts, no gashes, no lifeless eyes. It was the sister she remembers, the Tali she loves.

"Am… Am I dead?" She gulps, looking over her shoulder to find her mother has disappeared.

Tali doesn't answer her question, instead she unfolds her legs and walks over to her, her eyes soften. "You grew up, dear Ziva." Ziva lifts her hand to reach for her face, but hesitates. The young girl takes a step forward, lifting Ziva's hand with her own, and places it on her cheek. "I'm here." She whispers. "I'm really here."

"I miss you, every day."

She smiles, looking up into her eyes. "I have been watching over you, saw your accomplishments, your angst, your happiness. Your daughter. In which, I got to say, quite honoured to have my name carried on."

"You do not mind?" She whispers, feeling her throat starting to catch.

Tali places her hand on her sister's cheek, stroking it. "Not at all." Ziva presses her head to her sister's, missing this closeness that the two of them shared, the secrets they never kept from one another. "I have watched Tali her whole life. She is happy with her Abba, but she still misses her Ima." Suddenly Tali lets out a laugh, shaking her head. "I still cannot believe you are an Ima!" Ziva feels her eyes start to well up. "Last time I saw you, you were getting ready to go on a mission for our own Abba."

The tear runs down her cheek. "I lost you that day. Our father still wanted to see if I could go undercover. Instead…" Ziva's eyes harden at the memory. "Instead I went after the people who murdered you. I vowed to avenge your death. As I vow I will protect my daughter."

"And you have." Tali whispers, wiping away the tears. "You have protected your daughter from the harms of evil."

"But I have failed." Fresh tears well up in Ziva's eyes. "I have died. I will never see my daughter again."

'Ima!'

"No you have not, dear Ziva."

"Ima!"

"Tali?"

Her sister takes her hand into hers, holding it up to her chest. "Mazal tov laakhoto hayeqarah."

"Ima!"

"Tali!" Ziva says with a gasp.

The grasp of Tali's hand on hers, she holds on tight. "Ziva?" Suddenly she's aware of where she was. No longer was she in her childhood bedroom with her baby sister. But she was in a hospital room. She looks over to the one beside her, staring deep into green eyes. Her mouth moves to say something, but suddenly it's too dry. "You're awake."

Her eyes wide, she watches as he brings her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. Finally, she's able to get a single word out.

"Tony?"

He smiles. "It's good to see you." She looks him over, noticing how much he's aged in the years they've been apart. Watching her family from a distance keeps her from noticing small details as such.

She works on wetting her mouth, glancing over to see a glass of water beside him. Without saying a word, he parts a hand from hers and gives it to her, letting her drink it through the straw.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" She whispers weakly.

He touches her cheek with one hand and holds her hand against his cheek with the other. "I guess I couldn't live without you." His words echo in her mind, taking her back to that unforgettable day all those years ago. "I didn't think you were dead. I had that feeling, not to mention the clues. I never saw you, but I never gave up hope."

Ziva raises her fingers, brushing her fingers against his lips. "Tony, I am sorry. I-I-"

"I should be angry with you. I want to yell at you, ask you how you could keep my own daughter from me. But seeing now, knowing that you have been kept from your own daughter. Our daughter. I couldn't yell at you for that. We've both been kept apart from her, and from each other."

"Tony…" She feels the tears well up in his eyes. "I am so sorry."

He opens his mouth to say something when the door opens to the private room. Breaking eye contact, the two look over to the nurse that walks into the room. "Ms. David, it's good to see you awake dear." Tony drops her hand on the bed and takes a step back to let the nurse see to his friend.

The nurse closes the curtain and checks all her vitals before pulling her blanket back. Tony takes the queue. "I, I'll just step out…" He says, pointing to the doorway. Neither one say a thing as he leaves the room.

Still drugged, Ziva watches him leave before her eyes were averted to the nurse as she lifts her gown, only to show the bandage on her stomach where she was shot. "You were very lucky Ms. David, the doctors were able to stitch you up nice and good."

"I should have been quicker." Ziva mumbles, looking down at the bloody bandage. The nurse works on placing a fresh one on, cleaning her up. "I could have lost everything today because of it."

"But you were not alone, Miss. You had someone looking out for you."

Ziva catches her eye. "I did."

The nurse leaves a few minutes later and Tony walks in. "I talked to the boss, he agreed to let us talk. A real talk, Ziva." He walks over and sits at her hip, careful to not pull on the sheets covering her stomach.

"Where is Tali?" Ziva asks after many moments of silence.

Tony smirks. "I was wondering when that question was going to come up. She's with Palmer and Victoria. Our girls are about the same age, so whenever we come to DC, the girls have a sleepover." Ziva's heart swells. "Do you want to see a picture of her?" She opens her mouth to say something, but second guesses herself and closes her mouth and nods.

She didn't expect him to have the photos open so quickly, she would even suspect that he already had them open, ready to show her.

"Here." He says softly, holding the phone up to her. Before her eyes was her not-so-little girl. Her throat hitched when she saw her outfit. "I put her into ballet when she was showing interest in dancing." He let out a short laugh. "She would take me to the piano and just say 'muziqah', so I'd just… play whatever song came to mind. Tali would just sing and dance." He looks down at the picture. "I thought of you, and what you wanted to do before your training… So I did it, I put her in classes." He turns her head to look at her. "And she loves every minute of it. This photo was taken after her first recital."

Ziva smiles up at him. "You are a wonderful father, Tony."

"Half the time I don't know what I'm doing. I just go with the flow and try not to do what my own father did." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a worn piece of paper that has some dried blood on it. "Gibbs' pulled this out of your pocket before the ambulance arrived at the scene. I noticed someone in the background." He gave her the look. "You couldn't keep away."

"No I couldn't. I have thousands of these photos. All of them with you and Tali in the background in Paris."

"Why didn't you say 'hi'?"

"I was being watched… Hunted. I couldn't put your life into jeopardy. I kept you in the dark, and I didn't want to hurt Tali's feeling all over again by leaving. It was hard enough the first time."

"They are gone now."

She reaches out for him, taking forearm in her grasp. "Yes they are."

"And?"

"And I can come home… If you'll have me?"

He leans forward, placing his hand on her cheek, stroking her lips. She raises her hand from his arm and places it on his chest. He rests his forehead on hers and whispers. "Do you promise you're done running?" She closes her eyes, raising her hand to his cheek.

"Yes."

"Then, please, come home with me."