Ziva always felt comfortable with Gibbs. She really needed him now. Ziva followed Gibbs as he crossed the unfinished basement to his workbench. He tossed out some nails from a glass jar and started to wipe it out with a rag. He was about to pour her some whiskey, but she waved her hand to indicate she didn't need any. He paused to take a swig from the bottle. He pulled two stools near one another. He put his hand out, motioning for her to sit next to him.

"What in the hell happened to you?" Gibbs remarked.

He couldn't help it; she had really been roughed up. He put his rough hand on her forehead as he gently tilted her head back to see her facial contusions closer. As soon as she started talking, he could see the tears stream down her face. She had been broken. But how? The Ziva he knew took time to open up, but this Ziva looked like she was ready to talk.

She explained the significance of her father's hatred for the North African terrorist training camp director that NCIS had helped retrieve the intel on from the fried laptop Rivkin had obtained. It was an old wound that would not heal – the training camp director had killed Eli David's oldest son, Ziva's older brother. The same brother that was in the picture of Ziva in her apartment. Hadar knew it, too, but cared about himself more, instead of carrying out the assignment.

Ziva told Gibbs that her father had sent her and Hadar on the mission to North Africa to assassinate the terrorist training camp's director. They found the camp, but Hadar was captured, and it only took him minutes to expose her position. He turned on her and told the Somalians that she was NCIS. They relished that information since they were planning an attack on the U.S. naval ships that would be ported in Israel for the peace accords that the President would be participating in the upcoming months. They tortured her for information.

Hadar was released, supposedly so he could lure her father to come for her himself, or to solicit a ransom for her return. But, a rescue mission never came for her. Her father had betrayed her. It caused her the worst kind of pain. It was completely unforgivable. Gibbs wondered if that broke her more than the horrendous torture.

Ziva swore she did not give up sensitive information on NCIS. Gibbs knew she was telling the truth. If she would have given up classified information, she would already be dead. She was a well trained Mossad agent, she knew how to handle herself in captivity.

Ziva told Gibbs how she was finally saved by a former Jordanian contact she once knew. Samir had infiltrated the same camp in an effort to protect his Jordan homeland from potential attacks. He recognized Ziva immediately, but they hid their previous knowledge of each other.

Samir devised a plan where he promised the camp's director to assist moving Ziva to a more secure location. During the transfer, he staged a road-side blast that killed her accompanying captor. Samir hid her in a safe house for a week where she received some basic medical attention. She was severely dehydrated, malnourished and needed time to heal. Samir then arranged for her travel to the U.S., smuggling her on a private plane out of Mogadishu. She needed to get back to the U.S., the only place she had trusted friends. That is, if they'd take her back. She was convinced now that these were the only people in her life that did not use her as a pawn and respected her despite her flaws.

Gibbs listened and knew that Ziva was a changed woman. But he also knew that her experience would haunt her for a long, long time. He wanted to help her, but it would all take time.

Ziva pleaded with Gibbs to help her convince Vance that she would be worthy of having back at NCIS. Gibbs shook his head. He wanted the same thing, but was still trying to overcome his worries about their broken trust. He knew Vance wouldn't be easily convinced, but he also knew that Vance wanted some answers and would want them straight from her.

After taking Ziva upstairs to the kitchen for a warm meal, he directed her to his guestroom for her to sleep. "Tomorrow," he told her, "we'll talk to Vance."