“Do you really have to beat the keys on your keyboard, Tony?� Ziva asked. She squinted her eyes and gestured in his general direction with her hands, questioning why he really had to hit them so hard. She wondered sometimes whether it was merely his way of annoying her.

“I have a faulty spacebar,� Tony retorted, sticking his nose up in the air in a snobbish manner, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world, hammering down on every key but his spacebar.

Tony DiNozzo was sat back casually in his chair, keyboard on his lap, with a even more relaxed look about him than usual. It was obvious he wasn’t actually doing anything constructive. Although, to Tony, annoying Ziva was always constructive... The team hadn’t had a case in a while, which was rather odd in itself, and it was beginning to take its toll on them all. Abby had little or no work. She was obviously pulling her weight for the other teams, but Gibbs was always the one that delivered her with the most satisfactory and challenging evidence, so for now, she’d decided her new home was in the bullpen with them. She was sat at McGee’s desk, on the chair she’d stolen from some poor guy wandering around looking for a replacement, drawing body art all over his arms in what he didn’t realize was permanent marker. I’m sure he’d discover it in his own time when he would no doubt helplessly be scrubbing at his arms to remove the odd mixture of spider-webs and unicorns. The only thing which really gave anyone anything to concentrate on was the banter between Tony and Ziva. Pick a side, any side... Their banter was always fun to watch, especially seeing as Ziva tended to stump Tony the majority of the time, and the bruised ego look on him was addictively amusing.

Never had anyone wanted to hear the ‘ding’ of the elevator doors open across the other side of the bustling room, with the brisk voice of Gibbs telling them to gear up moments later, so much in their entire lives. In fact, none of them were actually sure where their boss had disappeared off to. Probably another coffee run. His consumption seemed to have doubled lately, which judging by the amount he drank regularly, was rather disturbing. But still, the voice they longed to hear tell them they had a job never came.

Ziva’s long slender finger pushed against the sharp end of the wire of her paperclip in an attempt to uncurl it into a straight length. That was what her mind had been reduced to. Finding amusement in misshapen paperclips.

“This is ridiculous,� She finally called out after a rather long pause, sounding like she’d been wanting to say it for a while. “Surely, there must be something we can be working on?�

“Ziva, if there was something for us to do, Gibbs or the Director would tell us.� Tony stated firmly. He didn’t particularly see what the problem was. He loved quiet days when all the paperwork was done and they had nothing to do. But he knew what Ziva was like. She always had to be doing something meaningful with her time.

“Y’know he’s right,� McGee chimed in, looking at them both with a shrug, “If there was something, Boss would have told us by now.�
There was another long pause after McGee’s input, which wasn’t particularly meaningful in any way, in which Ziva only sighed due to a mixture of sheer impatience and boredom.

“I think you guys should be happy...� Abby smiled softly, clicking the lid back onto her thick marker. McGee’s eyes seemed to read the word ‘permanent’ written up the side of the pen, because he glanced down at his arms in horror, eyes wide. Abby continued innocently, “Because you’re not needed.. it obviously means that nothing bad is happening. And that.. Is good.�

“Precisely.� Tony smirked, peering over at Abby.

Before any of the team could say anything else, the anticipated voice of Gibbs was heard from above them. Tony leaned back on his chair in an attempt to see his boss, however the chair let out and awkward creak and threatened to buckle under the awful angle he was putting it in, so he decided to flop back down again and more sensibly, spin around to face his boss. Gibbs was standing on the steps leading up to MTAC, accompanied by a tall and slender, beautifully tan woman. She didn’t look any older than middle twenties, but she still had this experienced look about herself. It was strangely alluring. Ziva however, blatantly didn’t think so. She immediately jumped to her feet, her face filled with a scary look that none of the team had ever seen on her face before. It was like a mixture of hate, disappointment and awe all at the same time and it was directed straight at the woman.

“Someone here to see us.� Gibbs said in his husky voice. There was a certain respect in his voice, as if he was referring to someone important. Which, he was, they just didn’t know that yet.
Both McGee and Tony goggled at the woman. After all, it wasn’t particularly often that someone quite so kind to the eye found their way to be in their humble little bullpen. Feeling their gazes on her, she smiled to herself and made her way gracefully down the stairs in heels that Ziva could never even comprehend walking in. Wearing a a knee high, extremely figure-hugging pencil skirt and a similarly tight silk blouse, meant that Tony’s first thought was to check out as much of her as he could.
“Yael.� Ziva almost whispered. It was like now, she was half in disbelief, but with the added jumble of negativity towards her that she’d had in her previous expression. Her eyes followed the woman as she made her way to stand directly opposite Ziva. Perfect, now Tony got an excellent view of her ass too.

“Shalom Ziva.. Ma slomech?� Yael asked casually, yet her voice was still mysterious and alluring. She fumbled with some pencils on Ziva’s desk, pushing them around as if she wasn’t really waiting for a reply related to her question in any way.

“What do you think you are doing here?� Ziva asked dangerously, ignoring the girl’s casual question predictably. Ziva placed her two hands down on the edge of her desk as support as she leaned her torso towards Yael, obviously so that she could hear her lowered voice. Ziva’s eyes narrowed as she observed the girl opposite suspiciously. “Answer me.�

The girl merely laughed slightly, turning her head around to observe McGee and Abby over her bony right shoulder. She was curious of her company, regardless of Ziva’s attitude towards her. She pouted her bright red, lipstick stained lips as her black ringlets cascaded down her back. McGee thought she looked like a Goddess. Even Abby seemed almost as impressed as he did. Yael turned her attention back to Ziva once more, her gentle smile had disappeared and she gave Ziva her very own, much more intimidating dangerous look.

“Bevakasha.� Yael snarled, making each syllable defined in a way which sounded incredibly threatening. She pushed Ziva backwards into her chair, to the teams surprise, without retaliation.

Ziva seemed intimidated and stayed silent. This, was purely horrifying to the rest of the team. Ziva was never intimidated. She was always the one doing the intimidating. It was just too weird for them to comprehend that she could be put in her place by someone so.. Not intimidating. Or at least she didn’t seem intimidating physically. Questions ran through the team’s mind. Who was this girl? And how the heck did Ziva know her?

Tony snuck a questioning glance at Gibbs, but he was ignored. Gibbs turned his attention to the two women. “Are you finished?� He asked, brining his cup of coffee to his lips. He tilted his head back and took a long drink, but still didn’t manage to lose eye contact with Ziva David.

“Very much so Agent Gibbs,� the other woman spoke. She turned away from Ziva, who was contemplating stabbing out her eyes with her unfolded paperclips whilst her guard was down. But Ziva knew full well, she would be out-fought almost immediately if she’d tried anything. In fact.. she had tried, in the past.. and had failed, miserably. Yael faced Tony as if she was expecting some line of questioning from him.

“Who are you?� Tony asked, trying to seem courageous. He looked at her curiously. She was phenomenally beautiful, but there was something about her that just told him she was not one of those girls he could do the harmless flirting with.

“Officer Yael David.� She smiled brightly, seemingly more innocent and harmless now than she had been when she was talking to Ziva. She looked at Tony, and cocked a perfectly-shaped eyebrow, “And you are Anthony DiNozzo, yes?� Yael made her way over to Tony, tracing her fingers gently along the edge of the desk. She didn’t drop her gaze from his. It was like her eyes were demanding an immediate response from him. Of course, he was happy to oblige her.

“You can call me Tony..� Tony said, too curious about the fact she shared Ziva’s last name to say it with any kind of allusiveness in his voice. He was well aware that David was a common name in Israel, but the fact that Ziva knew her as well, was just too odd.

“Tony it is,� Yael nodded, running her tongue along her lower lip, before turning her attention towards the perked up Abby and McGee. They were obviously sharing some of the same thoughts that had been running through Tony’s mind. “And you..� Yael said, pointing a long, bony finger at Abby, “You must be Abby Sciuto.�

The most immediate thing that the team had noticed was that, she too, had an Israeli accent. Hers seemed to differ slightly from Ziva’s, but she definitely had one. Her English was a little harder to understand though, but funnily enough, Tony didn’t think poking fun and her pronunciation or word mix ups would benefit his health in any way.

“That I am, Miss David.� Abby smiled, a little too sarcastically. Yael would have had to have been mentally retarded not to have picked up on it. Abby hadn’t been so keen on Ziva when she’d first replaced Kate, but now, her and Abby had their own special bond and friendship. Anyone who intimidated one of her friends wasn’t particularly on the ‘oh my goodness, so happy to meet you!’ list of hers. Yeah, that’s right.. Abby kept one of those mentally.

Gibbs had chosen to interfere with good reason. He didn’t want any bitch fights in his bullpen. Especially ones that would probably result in the death of his Forensic Scientist in a rather quick and brutal manner. Besides, Yael had business to attend to before she got all friendly with his team, which he was quite frankly reluctant about, but he wasn’t going to argue with Eli David â€" the director of The Mossad. At least not today.

“Officer David is here to replace Ziva.. Temporarily.� He added, glancing over at Ziva whose glare was burning right through him. Replacing Ziva? What the hell was he talking about?

“And where exactly am I going, Gibbs?� Ziva asked, sounding less than amused. “This is the first I have been told of this...�

“There is an assignment back home for you and your presence is demanded.� Yael smiled, cutting back into the conversation flashing a set of pearly white teeth at Ziva. Obviously she wasn’t fazed by interrupting Gibbs.
“By whom?� Ziva questioned impatiently, tilting her head up so that her gaze switched from Gibbs’ to Yael’s. She was working for NCIS now, and didn’t see why she should have to bow down to anyone’s request of her ‘presence’.

“By our father.�