In this world you tried
Not leaving me alone behind
There's no other way
I'll pray to the sky that he'll stay
The memories ease the pain inside,
Now I know why

All of my memories keep you near
In silent moments
Imagine you here.
All of my memories keep you near,
Your silent whispers, silent tears

Within Temptation
Memories



"I'm by Sarah's house," Tali mentioned her best friends house, at the same time as answering Ziva's question of where she was. "And thanks Ziva," Tali said over the phone. "I wouldn't have gotten out of the house if you hadn't pushed me to."
Ziva could hear the genuine happiness in her little sisters voice. She was glad that she had told her to go out. Otherwise, Tali would still be stuck in the house, doing nothing.
"No problem sweetie," Ziva replied. "I'm just glad that your finally out and about. You sound a lot better than you did this morning."
"Yeah, see I-" Tali stopped mid-sentence. Ziva thought the other end of the line was eerily quiet.
"Tali?" Ziva asked warily. "What's the matter honey?"
"Ziva," Tali said quietly. "There's this gut walking in front of me, and he's holding what looks like a bo-" Again, Tali stopped half-way through her sentence, but instead of everything going quiet, there was a loud bang.
An explosion.
"Tali?!" Ziva screamed down the phone. She rushed into her car, and sped along to where she knew Sarah's house was.
Once she got there, she saw a big crowd and what looked to be like rubble covering the floor. At a closer look, Ziva realised that Sarah's house was no longer there. It must have been blown apart in the explosion.
Even though in the back of her mind she knew it was practically impossible, Ziva prayed that Tali was okay. She hoped that, as she neared the crowd, Tali would come running out towards her, crying.
Ziva parted through the crowd, got to the front on the large circle, and spotted something on the ground, shining in the sunlight. Ziva walked towards it, picked it up, and stared down at it while tears filled up her eyes. They began rolling down her cheeks as she took in the amazing artwork on the gold pendant and thin golden chain. She turned it over and saw the message on the back

To a Special Sister,
Ziva

It was Tali's necklace.
Tears rolled down Ziva's face as she felt some one's hand on her shoulder…

*****

Ziva awoke with Tony kneeling besides her, shaking her shoulder. He looked concerned.
"Are you okay, Ziva?" He asked worriedly.
"What? Um…" Ziva said tiredly. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."
"Funny, usually when people are fine they don't cry and scream out to some unknown person when they're asleep," Tony said matter-of-factly. Ziva wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and began to sit up from her lying position on the floor, where she'd been sleeping. They'd had no cases lately, so they were mostly doing paperwork. Because of that reoccurring nightmare, Ziva hadn't been getting much sleep lately, and must have fallen asleep on the floor. It didn't help that the paperwork had been boring her to death either.
"It was just a bad dream," Ziva admitted quietly. "Don't worry about it."
"Sure?" Tony asked, rubbing her back, trying to comfort her slightly. Ziva nodded slowly.
Getting up from the floor, Tony stood up and went to sit on the edge of Ziva's desk.
Ziva got up too, only to feel her legs buckle underneath her, and fell back again. Tony rushed over to her and caught her just before she hit the ground. He helped her back to feet.
"Thanks," Ziva mumbled, trying to pull herself together.
"Are you sure your alright, Ziva?" Tony asked, a really concerned look on his face. "You were rolling about like you were on fire when you were asleep. I was trying to wake you up, but it's like you couldn't hear me. And you look really tired. Ill almost."
"Yeah, thanks Tony." Ziva retorted. "And I'm fine. I just haven't been able to get much sleep, that's all." Ziva sat down on her chair before she fell again. She turned away from Tony and towards her computer screen.
Tony walked back to his desk, looking back at Ziva as he rounded it. There was something going on. Something strange. He'd find out what it was soon enough. Nobody could resist the DiNozzo for too long. Not even Ziva.
Ziva could feel Tony's stare burning her skin, and turned towards him.
"So," she sighed. "Gibbs and McGee gone home?" She asked, looking at their empty desks.
"Yeah," Tony said, following Ziva's eyes. "They went home hours ago."
"How come you didn't go with them? It's gone 11."
Tony looked a bit sheepish as he answered that. "I didn't want to leave you here on your, just in case anything happened."
"Yes," Ziva said encouragingly. "Like what…"
"I dunno," Tony said shrugging. "You might have had a uh…a thingy or something…" He turned to his computer screen with a slight blush on covering his face.
Ziva gave him a satisfied smile, and turned back towards the screen. Her smile quickly faded as her mind involuntarily went back to her nightmare. The same nightmare she'd been having for the past two weeks. At first, she hadn't thought that it would last long, and that she wouldn't let it interfere with her work. Boy, was she ever wrong. It had lasted half a month, and because of her lack of sleep, she had become tired and her reflexes lacked their usual fire. She was worried Gibbs would notice it and tell her to take time off work, but she new that would mean more sleep and more nightmares, so she had tried her best to hide it. Gibbs' concerned stares had stopped, and Jenny had stopped checking up on her every 5 minutes.
Tony was the only one concerned about her now. And knowing him, he'd try and find a way through Ziva's barriers. God knew he'd give it his all.

*****

It was 2:30am before Ziva had finally finished all her reports and other paperwork. She stretched, yawned and closed all the windows on her monitor. After shutting down the computer, she got up looked around to find Tony. She couldn't see him. Surely he wouldn't have left without saying Goodnight? And besides, I would have noticed him walking out. She went over to his desk, only to find him with his arms crossed on the table, his had resting on them.
He was asleep.
Ziva knelt beside his chair, and gently shook him, while whispering "Tony? Tony wake up."
He awoke slowly, and blinked his his eyes a few times before focusing his attention on her.
"What? Is something wrong?" Tony asked sleepily.
"Nothing," Ziva replied, shaking her head. "I just wanted to say I've finished my stuff, so I'm going home. Have you almost finished?" She asked, looking up at his screen.
Her expression turned into that of a frown, as she noticed all of his work was done. She turned on him.
"How come it's all already done.? How come you didn't go home?"
He looked her straight in the eye, and shrugged. "After you had that nightmare earlier, I didn't want to leave you on your own, just in case you nodded off again. I mean, b te look your face when you woke up, you were obviously thankful that someone had been here to wake you up."
It was true, if he hadn't woken her up, the dream would have carried on, with her screaming at the sky for her loss.
That was the worst part. Knowing Tai was never coming back...
"Thanks, Tony," Ziva said, smiling up at him. "You leaving then?"
"Um...Yeah, I'm just gonna print these off and put them on Gibbs' Desk," He pointed over to where Ziva's files where. "You go on home, I'll see you Tomorrow."
"Ha! In about 6 hours, more like!" Ziva said as she walked out of the squad room, and towards the elevator. "Night, Tony!" She called back.
"Goodnight Ziva." Tony said quietly as the elevator doors closed. He stood up as the machine printed his words onto the paper. As he put the said papers on Gibbs' Desk, he saw something sparkle on the floor next to Ziva's desk.
He bent over to pick it up. As he straightened, he turned the beautiful pendant over in his hand. To a Special Sister, Ziva
He knew Ziva had a Sister, but he'd never seen this before. He laid it down on Ziva's Desk, and retrieved an envelope from one of her drawers. As he did, he noted the three guns in there, and smiled to himself. He placed the necklace in the envelope, along with a small piece of paper saying that he had found it on the floor where she had been sleeping, and has assumed it was hers. He carefully laid the envelope on Ziva's Desk, grapped his gear, and walked towards the elevator.

*****

Ziva sat upright so quick she clicked her neck. Rubbing the back of her neck, she looked around as she allowed the nightmare to sweep over her. This wasn't her usual nightmare. It wasn't Tali who died in this dream. It was Ari...The memories of that memorable night rushed through her, and she could taste the salty tears running down her face once more. Pictures of Gibbs and Ari staring at each other and Ari's dead body on the floor rushed through her mind. Laying back down on her bed, she tried to sleep.
It was impossible.
She got up, and walked to the kitchen to pour herself some juice, sat down on the coffee-coloured sofa, and turned on the T.V.
Not like there was anything better to do.
But no matter how hard she tried, she could shake the haunting pictures from her mind.
Here come the waterworks
How she wished she wasn't so right so often.

*****

Getting out of his car, Tony turned to the sound of tires squealing to find Ziva's car pulling into a parking space opposite his. Only Ziva could make that turn.
He grabbed his bag, shut his door, and made his way over to Ziva's car.
When Tony reached the trunk of Ziva's car, she got out and slammed the door. Tony flinched at the sound of the car door being shut with such force. Ouch, he thought, shaking his head, I really wouldn't want to be that car right now.
"Hey Ziva," he tried to lighten the mood, but even he knew he wasn't doing any good. But he never really learnt when to shut up. "Got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"
When she scowled at him, he took the bag from her reluctant fist and started walking away with it. A few moments later he heard her running to catch up with him as he got into the elevator.
The doors closed just as she made her way to the back of the elevator to lean against it. She sighed audibly.