It has been three months since they rescued Ziva from Somalia. She is finally returning to her normal state of being. Gibbs smiles proudly at the agents he has come to love.
Dinozzo has his feet up on the desk, Gibbs would smack him on the head for that later, and his head is tilted back as he sleeps.
McGee's head rests on his desk. Gibbs silently prays that Dinozzo had not super-glued it there.
He averts his gaze to Ziva and smiles. She is working on old case files.
"David." Gibbs calls gently.
"Yes Gibbs?" She asks as she glances up at him. He wants to ask her how she's doing, but doesn't want to bring anything up.
"It's late," he states finally. "Why don't you go home and get some rest."
She nods her head knowingly and begins to gather her things. She is about to grab her study guide when he stops her.
"Leave that here, Ziver." She looks up at him questioningly. "It will be here in the morning. You know when you get up and come back to work."
"Thank-you, Gibbs." She glances at her two co-workers.
"I'll send them home too," he states. "And Ziva?"
"Yes Gibbs?" answers.
"I do not need to see you here until nine. Understand?"
"Yes Gibbs." She calls from the elevator. She is relieved when the doors finally close. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply. She curses herself silently and thinks, "What is wrong with me?" She takes another deep breath. Then the elavator doors open and she walks out.
When she got home, she barely even thought to eat before collapsing onto her bed. She woke up at four in the morning and remembered what Gibbs had told her the night before.
"Great, now I have five hours to do nothing." She grumbled. She crawled out of bed and made her way to her dresser. She put on some sweats and running shoes. She decided that she would run for two hours, leaving three hours to shower, do her hair and eat. Running felt good, on her skin, in her heart, and in her mind. It made her forget everything.
While running through the park, Ziva felt a twinge in her stomach. It made her stop to look around. Truthfully, it was dark and she couldn't see her hand in front of her face, let alone the man standing ten feet away from her. But she still could not shake the feeling. She continued running and could have sworn she heard something behind her. Before she had time to turn around again she was grabbed form behind with a cloth pressed to her face. She tried frantically free herself from the death grip.
When she finally went limp, the man picked her up and walked towards his car. The air was silent. He tossed her in the trunk and began drivng away. Only the man hadn't noticed the rag and the cellphone which he had left behind on the grass.