Author's Note:

This oneshot continues the episode 15x01 "House divided". As i first saw it, i was disappointed that they didn't show the reunion of Bishop and McGee, so here is my own version. Please leave a comment so i can improve. The story was first wirtten in german.

NCIS Special Agent Ellie Bishop drove alone through the night. It was already close to midnight and the roads were empty. She felt as free as she had not felt since over two months. She still could not believe her luck, that they managed to safe Gibbs and McGee after over two months. Since the message arrived, that the paraguayan military was able to safe both, couldn't stop smiling.

She had carefully hidden it from her colleagues, but in the two months, she had spent more than one long dark night alone in her apartment crying, mourning for her missing comrades

Although she had always made sure that no one lost hope during the day, alone in her apartment she could not escape the doubts.

So on particularly dark nights, she had wondered more than once if her friends were still alive or if they were long dead and buried six feet under in a nameless grave in a foreign land.

She thought again of Gibbs. She had not liked the idea of leaving him alone in the office, but she knew that Gibbs could not be dissuaded from his decision. She had told him to call her if he needed anything, but she seriously doubted he would.

She made a mental note to drive past the office on the way back from McGee to see if he was still there.

By now she had arrived in front of McGee's house. She parked her car and took the stairs to McGee's apartment.

She hesitated a moment before knocking on the door.

Abby got up when there was a knock on the door. She ran to the door and opened it. She was still completely turned on and when she saw Bishop, she immediately locked her in a tight hug.

"Abs, please, do not crush me," Bishop managed to say, before Abby's embrace nearly suffocated her. She accepted her fate and hugged her as well.

When Abby loosened the embrace, she said, "You can let me go now, I am not the one two months missing. After these words, Abby fully released her and stepped aside.

Meanwhile, McGee had also got up from the couch where he had sat next to Delilah, while Torres had took the chair on the other side of the small table.

The small smile that Abby's behavior had provoked vanished when she saw McGee. He clearly had not shaved off his beard and so he looked fifteen years older.

He took a few steps into the room and then stopped and looked at Bishop. After a moment of looking at her he started to say something, but Ellie, who had stood there momentarily frozen, crossed the distance between them with two quick steps, raised herself on tiptoes, and fell around his neck.

He gave up trying to say something and hugged her tighter. "Nice to have you back, too," she said in a low voice, her face buried in his shoulder.

She said this so quietly that only he could hear her. At the last word he could hear her voice break

"Thank you for not giving us up," McGee whispered in her ear, "You are our hero Ellie.

Having said this, he released partly from the embrace and kissed her on the right cheek.

Unlike with Gibbs before, she could no longer control herself and a single tear of luck ran down her cheek.

McGee raised his hand and wiped it off. He then pushed her back against himself and hugged her even tighter than before.

They stood there for what felt like an eternity until they parted, but he kept his arm wrapped around her shoulders while her arm rested on his hips.

"Now that we are almost all here we should celebrate, Reeves should come any moment," Torres got up from his chair and went into the kitchen to get a bottle of champagne.

While he was leaving Bishop departed from McGee and walked over to Delilah and locked her in a tight hug.
Reeves arrived two minutes later. He also pulled McGee into a bone-breaking hug.

Later, when everyone was sitting in the living room, Bishop thought about the last two days. Her eyes fell on McGee, who was sitting on the couch next to Delilah, holding her hand while talking to the others.

While she was looking at him lost in thought, he looked in her direction. When he saw that she was watching him, he gave her a small smile before turning his attention back to the others

At that moment, she realized that her family was now complete again.