She didn't realize how much she needed her before she was gone. The whole team was supposed to come back. That was how it was supposed play out, but no Ziva just had to try to find herself in a very distant country. Then Tony, of all people, got to go and look for her, to bring her home. He failed, she wouldn't have. Even Gibbs should have known that she, Abby, could have gotten Ziva back with no problem.
After he returned, scruffy and without Ziva, he gave her a cell number. He told her to call it as soon as she got home, told her that she was waiting for her to call. She was stuck at the office, working for another team, till around 1 in the morning. She didn't want to wake her, but she figured since Ziva knew her work tendencies and understood the late working schedule, she would already know Abby wouldn't be home till late. She didn't have a lot of time to procrastinate since her phone started ringing, showing the number Tony had given her.
She answered with a cheerful hello and got a little hello in return. Ziva explained how she couldn't wait any longer to for her to call so she called her instead. She said how she missed her and wished she could come back. Ziva answered with a miss you too and a mumble of I wish I was there too. She got a little mad at that, saying you could come back if you truly wished to. Ziva said no, she couldn't. Ziva said she had to find herself before she could come back and she didn't know how long that would take so everyone just had to move on. She said I love you and Ziva said it back before disconnecting the call.
She came to the conclusion, hours after Ziva had hung up, that even though there was no way of knowing if Ziva would ever come back, there was no way she was going to give up on her or move on. She loved Ziva and she knew she would never love someone else the same way. Even if Ziva never came back, she would always be in Abby's heart.
