Aplomb

Ziva thought it was bad before when she was simply left behind, but now it was even worse. At first she’d thought that they were just pranks that Tony was playing on her. It started out with little things like her stapler vanishing when she looked for it and reappearing 10 minutes later in a completely different place from where she left it.

The pictures and items on the wall behind her were constantly being rearranged and Ziva could not catch anyone at it. She swore her desk was trapped too as she’d open a drawer and next thing she knew she’d be surrounded by push pins. It was impossible for Tony to have done this by himself. No one could do something like this alone and frankly Tony was too useless to be able to plan something as cruel as this mental warfare.

However, that didn’t stop her from blaming Tony ever chance she got. Though trying to blame Tony only frustrated her more as Tony held his aplomb regardless of what venom and vitriol she spewed at him. So all her blaming Tony did, was make Gibbs glare at her and further decrease her chances of winning Gibbs over.

She was still using all her resources to solve as many cold cases by herself as she could, but in the light of what was going on around her she found it so much harder to concentrate and even when she turned in a cold case solved, Gibbs just looked at her like she could do better. She didn’t understand it at all.

To make matters worse Rivkin was still staying with her. Sometimes though, he would vanish for a time usually less than a week and a murder would take place at the same time. On the other hand, she knew he was under her father’s orders, so assumed that the killings were for a valid reason. That didn’t prevent her from taking him to task over them when he returned. She demanded to know if he was trying to get caught because that many murders was bound to attract attention no matter what he did.

He would simply scoff and ask, “How was your day at the office, love?”

She knew he was patronizing her and it killed her, but she was still sure that he was wrapped around her finger. Between the mind games Rivkin was playing with her at home and the mind games at the office, Ziva could hardly think straight and frankly she was beginning to wonder if she wasn’t going crazy. The idea that Rivkin could actually outsmart her was crazy and the idea that any of the fools at NCIS saw her for what she truly was was also crazy, so for her to be entertaining either one as truth meant she must be going crazy.

Still if forced to choose she would side with Rivkin over NCIS. In fact, she would bet that Rivkin would run circles around any of the NCIS agents which is why it came as a complete shock when she came home one day to find her place on fire and Tony and Rivkin having clearly battled to the death throughout her place. It especially shocked her to find that Rivkin was dead while Tony simply stood up with his normal aplomb and an apology on his lips. “I’m sorry, Ziva.”

Ziva couldn’t believe it. “No, it can’t be. I don’t believe it. You must have cheated. What were you even doing here?”

“I came to warn you about the bomb and found Rivkin instead. He challenged me and lost.” Tony explained, though he doubted it would even make an impact, so firmly was Ziva in her fantasy land.

“No. I don’t believe you. Get away from me. Tell Gibbs it’s either you or me. I can’t be on the same team as you anymore. You liar.” Ziva harshly responded as she stalked into her building to retrieve what she could, before her place was swarming with police.