A/n this is a school essay I did. The italicized words are vocabulary words I had to use. It's kinda dark, but kinda cute at the end. It takes place basically from TruthorConsequences to Code of Conduct, and includes spoilers for those and others from season 3 on. The definitions of the vocab words I used are at the end.
Post-Somalia
It was a daunting task, what he was trying to do. To cheer someone up, when they were at their most abject. But he knew he had to do it. She was someone he cared about, and he had to help, when she was at her most forlorn. He had to be careful. One wrong move and he could inadvertently exacerbate her situation, or worse. She could become more taciturn, despondent. Somehow, in that cell, she had developed a claustrophobia that he was sure wasn't there in the cargo container, which they had been trapped in for hours and hours. It felt like so long ago, like it had happened in a previous lifetime as opposed to just a few years ago. If he said the wrong thing, it would enervate her, and she would abscond. He couldn't let that happen. Rescuing her had been harrowing enough, but now it was time to deal with the consequences. The consequences of what her father had done.
Eli David seemed formidable, but he was nothing more than a coward, more than likely the only person in the world horrible enough to leave his daughter, his only living child, in a Somalian desert. To cause her so much anxiety was something Tony could not understand. He shuddered, thinking of that desert. So desolate. And the state she had been in, was still in, when they brought her home. In that camp, she had been treated like a derelict. It had seemed like a redoubtable task, rescuing her, but trying to get her back to the way she was before everything was ten times worse. It was their job to allay her fears. It was hard to think about her, when Saleem pulled the bag off her head. Bruised, badly beaten. And her skin, it seemed almost diaphanous. That made the bruises seem so much easier to see, yet harder to look at.
But emotional wounds are harder to heal than physical ones. You never really know if the injury is completely healed. One slightly strenuous situation and it would burst right open. But he would give anything to hear one of her comebacks to one of his movie references. Just the other day, he had said something, and her response or the lack thereof sent him reeling. Something about it just didn't seem right. Just one austere comeback, something along the lines of "Your dying words will be 'I have seen this film'" would let him know that everything was going to be okay. He missed the person who would threaten to kill him with something as harmless as a paperclip, or the one who would say something like "Broken tape" as opposed to "Broken record". Now, she was withdrawn, almost feral. She used to treat everything he said as if it were reprehensible, but that person was now defunct. And the look in her eyes was blank, almost like canvas before the artist can get to it.
She was sedate, no longer the person he used to know. This was a person who has been through something he abhorred, and had aged twenty years in three months. Something no human being should ever have to go through. She had always been the strongest. That was evident in what she had done, which was survive a suicide mission. And they had to renovate her feelings, to the point where she was finally okay. Pacify her fears, until you could not tell what she had been through. But she could not go to a shrink. They would not understand. If she had to go to anyone, she would go to Ducky. Ducky knew her well, and would understand what she had been through. He knew what she had been through, like an uncle knows a niece. An uncle who is very close to the niece. And he had training in psychology, but he usually analyzed serial killers and dead people.
Ziva had taken it upon herself to pacify Abby's need to bring herself into a sobriety from Caf-Pow. Abby's love for it was what had helped them find Ziva. All because Saleem was addicted to it. He remembered the look on Gibbs' face when they were explaining that they had found Saleem because of something he always got, and Vance asked what it was. He remembered the look when Abby simply held up her Caf-Pow and said "Ta-da." And he remembered Saleem finding out how they had found him, and throwing his canteen of Caf-Pow across the room. Storming out, and bringing back the person with the bag over their head. Ziva.
It had been a month since everything had happened. They had just wrapped up a case where a Marine was killed by his own step-daughter. Tony walked in for work. No case today, but he still felt like he was sitting on top of the world. He had won the Larceny Lotto, and felt very affluent. He sits down. She has this grin, one he hadn't seen since she coated their binoculars with some sort of black pigment. He thinks nothing of it. She walks over and gives him a cup of coffee. Again, he thinks nothing of it. He takes a drink. She hands him a mirror, and he looks in it. HIS TEETH ARE BLUE!
Daunting: scary
Abject: utterly hopeless, miserable, humiliating
Forlorn: unhappy or miserable
Exacerbate: to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of
Taciturn: inclined to silence; reserved in speech; reluctant to join in conversation
Despondent: feeling or showing profound hopelessness, dejection, discouragement, or gloom
Claustrophobia: an abnormal fear of being in enclosed or narrow places
Enervate: to deprive of force or strength; destroy the vigor of; weaken
Abscond: hide
Harrowing: extremely disturbing or distressing; grievous
Formidable: causing fear, apprehension, or dread
Anxiety: distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune
Desolate: deprived or destitute of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited
Derelict: a person abandoned by society
Allay: to put (fear, doubt, suspicion, anger, etc.) to rest; calm; quiet
Diaphanous: very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or translucent
Strenuous: demanding or requiring vigorous exertion; laborious
Reel: throw off-balance
Austere: simple
Feral: funereal; gloomy
Reprehensible: blameworthy
Defunct: obsolete; no longer there
Canvas: a piece of canvas or a similar material on which a painting is done, usually in oils
Sedate: quiet
Abhor: hate
Renovate: to restore to good condition; make new or as if new again; repair
Pacify: to bring or restore to a state of peace or tranquility; quiet; calm
Sobriety: temperance or moderation
Affluent: rich