Save Ari

Like many of you, I was appalled by the rewriting of canon that happened at the end of season 6 and the beginning of season 7 with regards to Ziva killing Ari in the episodes aptly titled "Kill Ari." On rewatching Kill Ari a couple months ago, I tried to reimagine the story from Ziva's POV with the new information. Here's what I came up with...

Chapter 1

"Ziva?" Mordecai's eyes narrowed as she stared at him in shock. "Maybe it's not true. I shouldn't have told you."

She shook her head once. "I will deal with it. Thank you."

Her tone dismissed him simply, and Mordecai smiled as the younger agent reminded him of her father. "Shalom, Ziva." He slid out of the booth and left her alone to nurse her drink in the dim bar.

Ziva watched him walk out, then her eyes drifted to the glass between her hands as her attention turned to the news she'd just been given: a whisper had escaped from the Assistant Director's office that a death warrant had been signed for Ari Haswari.

She tapped the glass to the rhythm of the music as she thought. It was clearly a lie; her father could never order his own son's death. Mordecai or whoever had made up the lie didn't know of Ari's relationship to her, to their father. She and Ari were friends, that was publicly known, but it wasn't clear to Ziva what anyone could hope to gain from telling her was in danger. She frowned. Perhaps it was a warning.

Sighing, Ziva stood, glancing covertly around the bar as she stretched. There was only one person in this agency besides Ari whom she could trust unilaterally. Ziva left her glass half-full and headed back to headquarters.

xxx

It had been many, many years since Ziva was allowed to show weakness in her father's presence, but she took comfort nevertheless in the arm he wrapped around her shoulders, the perfunctory kiss on her cheek as she entered his inner office.

"What is it, daughter?" Eli David asked as he sat at his desk, leaving Ziva standing before it.

She sighed. "I have heard a disturbing rumor, Father."

His brow darkened. "Of what?"

Ziva felt the temptation to bite her lower lip, a childish habit that still came upon her when her father made her nervous. She suppressed it; he wouldn't like it. "That someone in Mossad has ordered Ari's death." Her father's sharp glance sent a wave of horror and nausea through Ziva before she could even begin to process what it meant.

He stood abruptly. "Come with me," Eli ordered, leading the way out of his office. Ziva followed silently as he dismissed his aide and led the way to his car.

"Father-"she began in the car, but Eli again waved her to silence.

As they drove through the quiet evening streets of Tel Aviv, Ziva felt chilled. Whatever her father was about to tell her, he was waiting until they were somewhere they could not be overheard. She wasn't entirely sure what it meant, but if Eli had known nothing of the rumors, he wouldn't be doing this.

"Come," Eli said sternly as the driver let them out at the David estate at the edge of the city. He led her to a circle of paving stones at the end of a path in the overgrown garden that had once been Ziva's mother's. Then he turned to Ziva, his expression suddenly regretful.

Ziva swallowed hard. "Is it true?" she asked simply, trying to keep emotion from her voice.

Eli sighed. "You see him as a brother, Ziva. But Ari's loyalty to our country has been compromised."

Her eyes flared in defense.

Her father shook his head once before Ziva could speak. "He is a liability, Ziva. I could only do what I would do with any other agent who turned traitor. It grieved me, but it had to be done." Eli turned and walked toward the house, leaving his daughter to stare after him in shock at the admission of emotion.

She sank down on the paving stones as the door slammed behind him, the deeper meaning of her father's words washing over her. The grass between the stones had grown up and tickled her ankles. Ziva thought back on the last times she had seen Ari: in Paris, in Jerusalem. He had been grieving himself, for the loss of his mother to an Israeli bomb, but Ziva remembered too how he'd cried with her when a Hamas attack had taken Tali's life. He'd fought for the opportunity to infiltrate the organization, to take down his sister's murderers. No, there was no way her brother's loyalty was now to Hamas.

Then a doubt crept into Ziva's heart. Ari might not be loyal to someone else, but there was a chance he no longer wished to be part of Mossad. Agents who tried to leave tended to be assigned one last dangerous mission by her father.

Ziva swallowed hard. There had to be a way to warn Ari, to protect him. He was the only sibling she had left.

The cool evening wind carried sand past her, raining it down over her hair. Ziva rose before she got buried and headed toward the house.

"Enter," Eli called out as her knuckles rapped against the door of his home office.

Ziva slipped inside.

He looked up, glancing over Ziva's expression as he tried to read her. Her mouth was tight, her jaw set. "You are angry?" he inquired sternly.

Her chin jerked once, up and down. "How could he betray us?" she snapped. She didn't miss the slight easing of her father's shoulders at her words.

"He was ruined by his mother's death," Eli answered with seeming regret. "It is a pity he has gone to such extremes in holding Israel responsible for the accident, but there can be no excuses made. He has shared our secrets with Hamas and it cannot be allowed."

Ziva shook her head as if furious. "Let me do it," she said angrily.

"Do what?" Eli David raised his eyebrows in surprise as he processed her meaning.

"They killed Tali," Ziva snapped. "And now he is working with them. I want to do it myself."

He frowned at her for a moment, then nodded once. "He is on a mission in the United States, undercover with Hamas. We will tell him you are his control officer. I will issue you your orders in the morning."

"Thank you, Father." Ziva stepped around the desk to kiss her father's cheek before leaving.

"Good night, Ziva," he called after her.

Trying to keep from shaking as she moved through the dark house, Ziva snatched Ari's keys from the pegboard by the back door and slipped into the garage.

Astride his motorcycle, she flew through the night back into the city, toward her apartment. Inside Ziva packed a bag, forcing her thoughts away from the man her father truly was. Instead she focused on the only thing that mattered: finding a way to save Ari.

xxx

Ziva had her orders the next day and called Ari at once. On the phone she knew better than to give anything away, though she couldn't help wondering if Ari's long pause after she told him she'd be his new control officer was meant to be a warning to her. He said nothing though, merely asked for the profiles he needed.

At the end of the conversation, Ari added one final comment: he wanted her, he said, to get him a back up plan in case the American agents who were already biased against him tried to blow his cover with Hamas. "I'll need a passport," he told her. " And some money."

Ziva smiled with relief. "Absolutely," she said. She was sure she knew what he really meant. After all, he was her brother.