Disclaimer: Not mine :)

Author's Note: What if Ziva was able to stop Ari from killing Kate on that rooftop? insert the dun dun dun music here

Saving Kate: Chapter 1

Ziva David wasn't aware at first that Ari was watching the agents on the rooftop near hers. When she turned and saw him through her binoculars, she was shocked the see the sniper rifle in his hands. Some control officer she was. She'd been wrong about her own brother. She ran to the edge of the building. "ARI!" she yelled, hoping she could get his attention. Unfortunately he either didn't hear her, or he simply didn't care. She judged the distance between the buildings, and she made the leap to the other building.

Ari heard the noise and looked up from the sniper rifle. When he glanced to the side, the biggest surprise was seeing his half-sister running towards him. How had she known? He sighed and aimed the rifle again, attempting to make his shot before Ziva reached him.

Ziva couldn't believe he'd still do it even when he knew she was there. She saw him aim. She saw his finger on the trigger. And she hoped she hit him before he hit pulled it. She found herself struggling on the rooftop for control of the rifle. And she wasn't sure if she'd heard the shot or if she hadn't.

"Get the hell out of here, Ziva!" Ari yelled.

"Ari, stop! What is wrong with you?" Ziva said. She was making the attempt to pull the rifle from him when she heard the commotion coming towards the building that they were on. "What have you done?" she said, pulling away from him and the rifle.

Ari shook his head. "Listen to me Ziva.. I swear, Agent Gibbs, he is a bad man.. I am merely.."

Ziva narrowed her eyes. "I did not.. could not believe the stories.." she said quietly, taking another step away.

"So what are you going to do, kill me?" Ari asked, stepping back towards her.

Ziva kept taking steps back just as Ari remained taking more steps towards her. "Who did you hit?"

"No one."

"Liar," Ziva managed to get out through her clenched teeth. "Who did you snipe? Who did you kill?"

"I killed no one," Ari said again. "You ruined my shot."

Ziva managed to breathe a sigh of relief on that. At least until she realized the rage she was seeing in his eyes. It made no sense. Ari had always been everything except a monster towards her, everything except what she was currently seeing.. this was not the Ari she had previously known.

Ari glanced as the commotion appeared to be getting closer and closer. They must have figured out where he was by now. If he didn't take care of Ziva, he surely wouldn't get another chance at what he needed to get done. Gibbs needed to be dealt with, and though he did adore his half-sister, that was all she was. Half. "Sorry, Ziva.."

Ziva's eyes softened at the words. She had never heard her brother apologize to anyone before. "Ari.. you did not kill anyone yet, you can still stop this!" she yelled to him.

Ari let the barrier of anger down for a moment when Ziva took a step toward him. It was unfair, for her to give complete confidence in him even after what she'd seen him and stopped him from doing. It was unfair that he could not work up the courage to simply lift the rifle and shoot her between the eyes that reminded him much of their father. So instead, when she got close enough, he moved quickly, knocking the rifle against her temple and knocking her to the ground, nearly unconscious. "Like I said Ziva.." he began. "I am sorry.."

Ziva's head was spinning from the force behind the hit. How could she have been foolish enough to fall for his tactic? She lifted her hand to her head, knew that Ari was already gone, and then she glanced at her hand. Blood.. this was going to be absolutely wonderful to explain to their father. She couldn't even get herself on her feet, and instead she found herself turning onto her stomach in an attempt to crawl to her feet.

"Boss!"

Ziva groaned, and hearing the voice, she wasn't sure if she should have been worried or greatful.

"Find who took the shot, DiNozzo?"

"Don't think so, boss.."

Ziva attempted to look at where the voices were coming from, but she could hardly see straight. She imagined it was likely to be Gibbs and his team. Well thank goodness they didn't think that she had shot at them..

"You okay?"

Ziva managed to recognize Agent DiNozzo from his photos. She started pulling herself to her feet, and when he tried to help her, she nearly fell over trying to get him off of her. Accepting help to stand up from some American agent? Her father would be disgraced to hear of it.

Gibbs stared openly at the woman trying to get herself to her feet on her own. He was damn well ready to go over there and help her himself if she kept pushing Tony away.

"I.. am fine," Ziva told them.

Gibbs' eyebrows rose at her accent. "Want to explain what happened before we assume you tried to kill one of us?"

Ziva glanced at him from her seat on the rooftop. She hadn't bothered to try and stand up again, and she'd noticed two more agents coming onto the rooftop with their guns drawn. "Not if I am going to get shot on for it.."

"Shot at.." Tony corrected.

Ziva narrowed her eyes at the agent. "Besides, what did I attempt to shoot you with, my pistol?" she asked sarcastically. "Or perhaps I managed to throw my knife that far a distance.. I bet I could manage it if I really attempted to."

Gibbs managed to hold back the smile he wanted to let loose. He glanced back at Kate and McGee. At least Kate was alright. She'd managed to take two bullets to the vest. Thankfully it held against whoever shot her the second time.

Ziva was relieved to see all the agents alive, and she noticed both the bullet holes left in her kevlar. The woman was Ari's target?

"Gibbs?" Kate asked.

"Put your weapons away," Gibbs said, waving his hand. "She's not our shooter," he told Kate and McGee. "And McGee, get Ducky up here, I'd rather him check on our live witness then all the dead drug dealers.."

McGee nodded and went down to find Ducky.

Ziva tilted her head and then winced slightly. "Your live witness? And here I thought I would be shot."

"Shot for what?" Kate asked.

Ziva glanced at them. "You do not, torture, for information?" she asked. "I'm confused.. I have not provided answers to any of your questions."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow up at her along with each one of his agents. "We're not going to torture you.. Ms.."

"David," she replied. "Ziva David.."

"Israeli?" Gibbs asked.

Ziva eyed him suspiciously. "Yes.."

Gibbs had nothing more to say. Who knew which number of terrorist groups she could be a member of? It made sense. She was probably Ari Haswari's partner.

"Fine.." Ziva said, attempting to stand once more. She didn't quite make it all the way to a full stand before she saw stars.

Tony caught her quickly when she started falling back down, even with the expectation of being pushed away again for his efforts. Instead she simply allowed him to help her remain standing this time. "You sure you're fine?"

"I have been worse, so yes, I am fine," Ziva answered. She hated to tell on her own brother, but what could she do? She'd seen him, seen his anger. That had not been her brother. "Your shooter.. his name is Ari Haswari.."

Gibbs was shocked when Ziva finally gave them an answer to their question.

"How do you know Ari?" Kate asked.

Ziva glanced at the woman. "I am his control officer.."

Gibbs felt the migraine coming on. "And who.. exactly do you work for, Ms. David?"

"I am an Officer in Mossad.." Ziva explained. "If I had not seen the look of hate and been whacked on the head by him, it's likely I would not have rattled on him.." she admitted. "But there is something wrong with him, and he needs to be caught and handled."

Tony eyed her. "Tattled, not rattled.."

Ziva's eyes narrowed at Tony for correcting her statement once again, but once more, she let it go.

"Anthony!" Ducky yelled, entering onto the rooftop. "Put that poor girl down this instant, she should not be on her feet with a head injury!"

Ziva looked at the older gentleman coming towards her and she allowed Tony to set her back down.

"I am Doctor Mallard," he told Ziva, kneeling down beside her. "But you, my dear, may call me Ducky."

Ziva smiled warmly at the doctor. He was too sweet for her to simply ignore what he said to her, so she agreed. "Of course, Ducky," she said. It seemed odd to be so quickly tended too, because in Mossad, at times you had to wait days just get glanced at, and by then you are already better.

"My, my.. what a cut you have," Ducky said patiently. "What were you hit with?" he asked as he began to soak up the blood that was coming from the wound.

"A sniper rifle.." Ziva answered, her voice flat and emotionless.

Gibbs' eyebrow rose up immediately. So Ari simply hit her? Why hadn't he killed her?

"Well.. my guess is, whoever did it simply meant to incapacitate you, not kill," Ducky stated. "You're lucky, but I believe you may need to get a few stitches," he told her, placing the two small pieces of medical tape to temporarily hold before the stitches.

Ziva couldn't have found it to be more odd that they were being so nice, especially when they knew she was the control officer of the man who tried to killed them. She would make sure not to share he was also her brother.

"They're promoting control officers young these days," Gibbs noted as Ducky finished up with Ziva's wound.

Ziva smiled, but it didn't seem to reach her eyes. "They have to," she told him. "All the good ones are dead at your age."

Ducky and Gibbs both had to smile at the blunt answer that Gibbs had been given by Ziva.

Ziva glanced around at the team of agents. What could possibly cause Ari to want to harm these people? They were being positively caring and nice to her.

"Why did he hit you?" Gibbs finally asked.

Ziva glanced up at Gibbs and the look in her eyes darkened slightly. "Like I said, I am his control officer and it would look very bad if he were to have killed me."

Gibbs stared at her. There was something in her eyes that told him she had something that she wasn't telling them. Some sort of relationship with Ari, maybe? "What were you both to each other?" he asked.

Ziva's confusion was clear as day. "Excuse me?"

"Good friends," Gibbs suggested. "Lovers?"

Ziva rose immediately to her feet despite Ducky's warnings to sit back down. "Chutzpah! Go to hell, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs was surprised at the outburst. She seemed calm and in control, then she'd yelled, and now she was immediately back to calm and controlled. Perhaps he'd hit his mark on lovers, or perhaps their connection ran deeper then that.

Ziva managed to keep her mouth closed once again. And now she merely felt the dizziness and the headache from getting herself up so quickly.

"And here's the crash.. Anthony, please catch the young lass before she bumps her head once again," Ducky insisted.

Tony did. He glanced around at his boss and the team and simply gathered her up in his arms. For someone who was supposed to be some super killer, she felt as though she were light as a feather. "Bring her back to NCIS, boss?"

Gibbs nodded. "McGee, stay with Ducky until he finishes here, Kate, DiNozzo, with me back to base."

()()()()()()()()()()()

Jenny Shepard stared as Tony came walking into her office holding onto an old friend of hers. "What's going on?" she asked. "And what have you done to Officer David?"

Tony stared at the woman behind his director's desk. "Uh.. who are you?"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow up as he walked in as well. "Jen?"

Jenny just smirked. "I am the new director of NCIS, Director Shepard. Now explain to me what's happened to Ziva."

"You know her?" Gibbs asked, ignoring what he'd just been told.

Jenny nodded. "I worked with her in Cairo two years ago," she explained casually. "Now will one of you tell me what happened?"

"Ari Haswari," was all Gibbs managed before he noticed Jenny's face go sober.

"He attacked her?" she asked.

Gibbs sighed. "She's yet to tell us why, or what she was doing there in the first place."

Jenny shook her head. "What she was doing where, exactly?"

"On the same rooftop as Ari, who attempted to kill Kate, ma'am," Gibbs explained.

Jenny narrowed her eyes at Gibbs before looking to Tony. "Put her down on my couch, Agent DiNozzo," she told him. "And let me speak with Agent Gibbs alone."

Tony glanced at his boss who nodded. He put Ziva down on the couch where he was told and walked out of the office, shutting the door behind him.

"Something you want to tell me, Jen?" Gibbs asked.

"Perhaps you should tell me what you think," Jenny suggested.

Gibbs was silent for a moment. "I think Ari didn't expect her to be there, she surprised him, caused him to miss killing Kate," he explained. "He didn't kill her, simply hit her hard enough that she couldn't go after him. I figure.. it's possible she's more then just his control officer. Perhaps lovers, ma'am."

Jenny stared openly for a moment at Gibbs' statement. Ziva and Ari? She supposed it may have been possible, but many stories went around Israel about Ziva David and Ari Haswari. "You think he let her live because they were sleeping together?" she asked.

"You have a better explanation?" Gibbs asked.

"I do."

Both Gibbs and Jenny glanced over to see Ziva sitting up on the couch.

"Do tell," Jenny said, walking over to her old friend and sitting down beside her.

"Ari Haswari is simply a family friend.." Ziva finally explained. "We've been friends since children."

Gibbs guessed that it made sense for Ari to resist killing Ziva if that was the case. "You could have just told me that before."

"You forget, Agent Gibbs, that English is not my first language, and that I do not always understand the way you word things," Ziva explained to him.

Gibbs nodded. "I see."

"Shalom, Ziva, how do you feel?"

Ziva smiled at Jenny and they did the friendly kiss on each cheek. "Shalom Jenny," she said. "I am alright, thank you."

Jenny nodded. "Good, I'll get a direct link to the deputy director for you in MTAC, come."

Gibbs watched both women leave the room. How was he suppose to find Ari, with Jenny taking his star witness into MTAC before he could get everything from her?

()()()()()()()()()()

Hopefully this chapter was interesting enough for you. Never fear. I've multiple chapters written and ready to go. Of course they're subject to change when they're not up yet, depending on if someone gives me any good ideas :) but at least we know they exist already!

-Rei