The next few days, Gibbs watched with gritted teeth as Sarai’s flirting kicked up a notch, and he could hardly keep himself from dragging her away from Tony and making her forget the younger agent’s name. Younger. That was probably it. Back when she’d been in her twenties, older might have been exciting, but maybe she was hoping for someone closer to her own age now that she’d broken thirty. Maybe it would be better to let her go. But then he saw Ziva’s face across from her sister and partner and a grin broke across his face. She wasn’t flirting with Tony because she liked him, she was trying to make her sister jealous enough to make a move and claim what was hers. Brava Raz, he thought to himself. It’s about time those two dealt with the underlying emotions. Maybe they wouldn’t drive him so crazy once they were a couple.
Ziva glared balefully at her sister who was hanging off Tony’s every word. She wanted to demand what Sarai was doing, make it painfully clear that Tony was hers. But he wasn’t. Ziva was brave enough to stand tall against the most dangerous enemies, but she couldn’t stick her neck out to tell Tony how she felt. Sarai was perfectly entitled to stake a claim. But how could she? She sighed, and forced her gaze away from them. It fell, instead, on Gibbs and she was surprised to see a smile on his face and laughter in his eyes. What did he find so funny?
It annoyed Sarai to see the smile on Gibbs’ face. He’d been perfectly riled a minute earlier, so what had happened? She glanced at Ziva and swore silently. Her sister’s jealousy was so clearly written on her face that if Tony happened to look up, even he would notice. And Gibbs was better than Tony, so he’d already figured out what was going on. Well what the hell was she supposed to do with him now? Maybe Abby would have a better plan.
Abby and McGee were sitting in front of her computer, watching, amused, through a small video feed that Sarai had on her as Abby’s master plan unfolded. Ziva was hooked, line and sinker, and Tony still had no idea what was happening, but Gibbs had clearly figured out what Sarai was doing, so there would have to be some changes made. McGee snickered as Ziva’s head disappeared behind her computer screen. Palmer and Ducky came up behind Abby and McGee, setting down the snacks they’d grabbed from the vending machines. Palmer handed Abby a fresh Caf-Pow. “What’d we miss?”
Sarai tugged her hair tie out, dragging her fingers through her black hair to return it to its normal state. She snapped the video-barrette out of her hair and slipped it into her pocket as she climbed the stairs to the Director’s floor. Gibbs appeared by her side and she found herself being herded away from her mother’s office and into an empty conference room. He closed the door firmly behind them, just watching her for a moment. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, injured pride masked by his usual gruffness. “What difference would it have made who your parents are?”
She looked down, ashamed, and answered with a question of her own. “What chance have I ever stood with you?” her voice was so soft that he could hardly hear it. “Why should you give a damn about me? I didn’t want to give you any more reasons to push me away.”
“I’m not the one who pushed away, Raz, that was you.” Said Gibbs, itching to touch the black curtain and see if it was still as soft as he remembered. “You think I wouldn’t want you?”
She shrugged, dropping down onto the table in the room. Not paying attention as he walked up to her. “I guess you wanted me, but that’s not what I wanted. Do you remember when I finally lost you in Russia?”
“Yeah, I always wondered why you ran off like that.” he said thoughtfully.
“Because I knew that if I let you reach me,” she swallowed. “It would turn out just the way it did. You’re almost a decade older than me, but I could never forget that you’d watched me murder someone in cold blood and then let me walk away from you just weeks later, that you came by our house when Grandperé died, that you were…I was eighteen and I was bloody in love with you.” She growled, as if she were annoyed by the fact. “So I ran away. But when Tahlia died, I went out of my mind.”
He did reach out now, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, and she instinctively leaned into the touch. “I’m sorry for what I did.” He told her gently, not realizing that she would take it a different way.
Tears threatened her, and her eyes burned with the salty pools behind them. She jerked away from him, lips trembling. “But we’re going to do it again, aren’t we?” she mimicked, bitterly. “You weren’t sorry then, and that’s what I was left with. On top of everything else, I looked in the mirror every morning and knew that I was no better than some high class whore. Oh, but you were perfectly fine with it, it didn’t mean a damn thing to you. Just me. It’s always going to be just me. I should’ve known better than to fall in love, with you or with Tyler. It’s all the same in the end, isn’t it? Me alone with my goddamned job. That’s what I was born for, just to be a chess piece in the game of war, so why the hell should I get anything out of my life when everyone around me is perfectly happy to leave things as they are?” She was horrified to discover that with the end of her rant came more tears, but she was helpless to stop them so she just let them come, not caring that he held her close, petting her hair soothingly, or that she was losing the barriers that had protected her for so long.
She clung to him, feeling like a child, and when he kissed her, maybe she couldn’t breathe, but at least the tears stopped. She couldn’t resist him, she’d never been able to, and this was no exception. Her lips parted and she was drowning in him, never wanting to see the surface again. Time hadn’t helped her recover, it had made her love him that much more. Her soft moan of pleasure brought them both tumbling back to reality, but Gibbs didn’t let go of her, too relieved to have her back in his arms. “I meant I’m sorry I took advantage of you. But what the hell was I supposed to do, Raz? You can’t just walk into a man’s house and kiss him like that and expect him to keep his head.”
She smiled softly. “Somehow, I don’t think I ever did. I told you I went a little crazy when Tahlia died. That night was the last of my insanity. I left and everything made sense again, except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You. I couldn’t figure out where you fit into everything and why I cared whether you did or not. But I figured that out too, and then it was just me doing what I’d always done. The only difference was that I couldn’t make myself cold anymore. You’ve no idea how much that hurt.”
“I think what you call insanity was what most people would call common sense. Walking away from the thing that was destroying you piece by piece.” He frowned, annoyed that she could only let herself love him when she was going crazy. “You should have done it the day you reached the age of majority.”
“I always loved my work.” She laughed. “You should have seen Ziva and Tahlia and I whenever we lost an agent. Every loss made us that much more determined. And when it was Tahlia we were burying, Ziva threw herself so far into her work that it took our father betraying her with Ari to make her let it go. I was never that strong. My response to everything was to run, it has been for as long as I can remember. Maybe it wouldn’t have been if….” She closed her eyes. It was one thing with sweet old Ducky who already knew, but to admit her shame to Jethro, that took so much more than she had. “If things had gone differently.” She sighed, separating their bodies. “Jen’s going to send out a search party if I’m not in her office soon.”
“You’ll never stand up to your parents, will you?” asked Gibbs, curiously as he released her.
She shook her head. “Not in this lifetime.”
“What have we got?” asked Sarai, staring at the plasma from Gibbs’ desk. No one was sure where Gibbs was or how she dared to sit there, but they figured it was better not to ask. “We know who, we know why, but there’s no way in hell we can prove it.”
“He hasn’t made a move since the letter.” Said McGee. They’d been keeping an eye on the Alley and the friends Sarai had made in her new life. “But why would he come all the way from Israel just to do some minor damage?” he winced, feeling three sets of eyes turn on him, and realizing that his partners thought the damage had been anything but minor.
“Watch it Probie.” Warned Tony.
“No, Tim’s right.” Commented Sarai, surprising everyone. “Michael could have done much worse. He could’ve turned me in, and everything would’ve come out to the world, Jen would lose her job, and I would have to serve a prison term and I would be useless in the game of war. Professionally, that’s the worst thing he could do, and he hasn’t touched it.”
“He made it personal.” Realized Ziva.
“Everything he’s done has centred around hurting you emotionally.” Agreed Tony. The proof that he was succeeding lay where no one but he had the privilege of seeing. She woke up crying every night from her nightmares, and he was beginning to feel very protective of her, pouncing on anyone who upset her. “So what’s left for him to do?”
Sarai closed her eyes, leaning back in Gibbs’ chair. “Nothing, as long as I’m in hiding.” She replied bitterly. “He can’t do a damn thing unless he’s looking me in the eyes when he does it.”
Ziva straightened. “Don’t even think it!” she warned. No matter how many times she’d wanted to hate her sister, she’d never want her to die.
“It’s the only option.” Shrugged Sarai easily. “What’s the big deal? It’s what I’ve done all my life, why is this any different?”
Tony bristled, finally understanding what they were talking about, and even McGee was opposed to the idea. “We’re not going to use you as bait, Raz.” Declared Tony, and she was outnumbered. “You’re not up to it right now.”
The older Davíd’s hand flicked out and something flew across the squad-room. The three agents turned, stunned to see that her knife had embedded itself in the flimsy wall directly behind Ziva. Another few centimetres down and to the left and it would have had to go through the Mossad officer’s shoulder to get there. Sarai gestured to the blade, calmly. “Does that look like I’m not up to it, Tony?” she asked quietly. He glanced back at her. If this was her not at her best, how the hell could someone have caught her so off guard that her sister had been forced to save her?
Gibbs paused by the entrance, glancing at the knife in the wall and his team’s shocked expressions. “I think I’m going to have to have a talk with Jen about our metal detectors.” He observed.
“Don’t bother.” Sarai said, pushing herself to her feet and striding over. She pulled the knife out and handed it to him, obviously not worried about the removal of one weapon. “It’s not metal. I did mention I wasn’t going to be walking around unprotected, yes?” She sat down at the empty desk instead of Gibbs’ and Ziva frowned. The two sisters began to argue in Hebrew, growing more heated as they went on, and the men just stared, not sure what to make of it. Finally, Sarai said something that made Ziva huff with annoyance and the debate ended.
Ziva looked up to find everyone watching them, and rolled her eyes. “I told her she shouldn’t be sneaking weapons into NCIS. But she’s got a point. If Michael’s after her, he’ll be armed and she won’t be able to fight him on her own.” She explained. “Now, can we get back to the earlier conversation? You can’t put yourself out in the open as bait.”
“Why not?” demanded Sarai, exasperated.
“Yeah, why not?” mused Gibbs. They all looked at him and he continued. “He doesn’t seem to be making any moves without her on the streets, so we can conclude that his next move was going to involve them being face to face. That can’t happen if she’s in protective custody, and if we keep her there, then eventually he’ll go home and wait it out, but she won’t be safe. Our best shot is to send her back into the open, put a tail on her, and hope that he follows a pattern.”
“Thank you.” Sarai nodded to him gratefully. “So now that’s settled, I think I’m going to go pay a visit to my friends.”
Sarai knocked on Cathy’s door, and when it opened, she was surprised to see Genevieve standing there. The blonde gaped at her, then threw herself at her friend. “Kyra! Oh, you’re okay! We thought they’d arrested you, what happened? Are you okay?”
“I’ve had better days, I suppose.” She replied, startled by the lab tech’s enthusiastic response. “But I’m fine.” Genevieve ushered her inside, looking incredibly jumpy. Cathy hurried over and hugged Sarai, startling her again.
“Where’ve you been?” demanded Cathy. “I just get a call saying that you’re taking those vacation days you’ve built up and then neither of us hear from you again! It’s been almost three weeks!”
“I was staying with my parents.” Replied Sarai, sheepishly. “I didn’t realize you’d be so worried, or I’d have stayed at home.”
Genevieve looked surprised. “I didn’t know your parents were still alive.” She said curiously. “In fact, I didn’t even know you had family. You never talk about them.” Cathy shushed her, but Sarai just smiled.
“I don’t talk to them much, either.” She replied, regretfully. “I just figured it was the best thing to do.”
“So have they figured it out yet?” asked Cathy cautiously.
She shook her head. “No, but they’ve got some suspects. Not me anymore, thank God.”
“I never got to ask, what was that about? Cathy said something about letters on Tyler’s body, and about the police thinking they had something to do with you.”
“No, they just thought I might have an idea about what they are. You were getting a little protective, Cathy, and you’d promised not to.”
Cathy had the grace to blush. “I’m sorry, Kyra, I just didn’t like the implications. So are you going to be back to work soon?”
“No.” Admitted Sarai, licking her lips nervously. “I came to say goodbye. I’m going home, guys. Frankly, I never expected to be here this long anyway.”
“Why not? You belong here, this is where your friends are!” exclaimed Genevieve in dismay.
“Friends don’t outweigh family.” She said, thinking about Ziva and the family she’d created for herself at NCIS. “I’m sorry.”
“Well what am I supposed to tell the guy who came looking for you?” demanded Genevieve. “He was really annoyed that you weren’t there, said he’d come all the way from Tel Aviv to find you. It sounded really romantic.” She laughed, hoping to bring a smile to her friend’s face.
“You never said anything about that.” said Cathy curiously.
“Well right after he left, you called to say you thought Kyra had been arrested for murder, so I forgot until now.” Protested Genevieve.
“Genevieve, what did this man look like?” asked Sarai quietly.
“Um, dark, tall, I don’t know, I wasn’t paying much attention.”
“Did he leave a name?” she prompted.
“Yeah, he said, uh,” the blonde frowned, trying to remember. “Michael. He said you’d remember him and know how to reach him. That’s what I meant about it being romantic.”
“I don’t think she agrees with you, hon.” Realized Cathy as she watched the face of her employee and friend twist with pain before returning to a neutral, if paler, appearance.
“If there was one thing I’ve ever wanted in my life it was to never have to see a Tehran again.” Replied Sarai sharply. “But if I do, I’d rather it be here than back in Tel Aviv.”
“Is there something we’re missing here?” asked Genevieve cautiously.
“I move around a lot.” Was all she offered as an explanation. “So, I’m going to pick up my things and I’ll be out of here by morning.” She leaned in and kissed both of her friends on the cheek. “I’m glad I got to see you both before I left.”
“Did you catch all that, Ziv?” asked Sarai quietly as she strode through the dark streets of Virginia, ignoring the catcalls from the midnight citizens of the area.
“I got it.” Came Ziva’s voice through the ear bud. “How are you supposed to reach him?”
She smiled grimly, speeding up. “Where this all started of course. The Alley. Everyone has a pattern, Mija, and this is his.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Michael can't make another move until Sarai goes back into the open, and despite popular opinion and her recent miscarriage, she decides to give him what he wants.