Many thanks to everyone who left reviews on Chapter 1! I wasn't sure about this fic at first, and it was so encouraging to know that people wanted to read more. I think Chapter 2 turned out to be more about Ziva & Ducky than Ziva & Gibbs. All I can say is, God loves Ducky!

Chapter 2
Day of Atonement

Gibbs keeps his hand on Ziva's back for their entire walk to autopsy, even though it's not necessary. She knows the way there as well as he does, after all. But he can't bring himself to remove it. As they walk down the deserted stairs, their footsteps echoing in the stillness, Gibbs can feel Ziva's wild pulse through his hand on her back. Feel how she still hasn't quite caught her breath. As angry as he is with her for doing something so stupid... he's concerned, too. What the hell did Eli say to her?

He's relieved when they reach autospy and find Ducky still there. He's standing at one of his exam tables, his back to them, packing up his medical bag. When he hears the doors slide open, he glances over his shoulder.

"Ah, Jethro and Ziva," he says. "And what brings you two down here so late in the d – " Then he notices Ziva's hands. He spins around and quickly crosses the room to her and Gibbs. He carefully takes Ziva's hands in his and brings them close to his face for a better look. Under the bright autopsy lights, Gibbs could swear Ziva's cut her knuckles to the bone.

"Good heavens," Ducky murmurs as he examines Ziva's hands. He raises his eyes to her face and asks gravely, "My dear girl, what happened?"

Ziva cannot bring herself to meet Ducky's gaze. "I was punching one of the storage lockers," she answers flatly. As she hears herself say the words, she realizes how thoughtless it really was. Punching one of the storage lockers – she's lucky she didn't shatter every bone in her hand. No wonder Gibbs is mad at her. She can feel his anger through that tense hand still on her back. Why won't he remove it?

She feels trapped between them when Ducky puts his hand under her chin and raises her face to the light. He scrutinizes her, an inner war waging between the doctor and psychologist in him. He's equally concerned for her physical wounds as for the distraught state of mind that led her to do this to herself. But her injured hands are the more immediate concern, so the doctor wins. "Well, sit down and let me look at them," he says, gesturing to his exam table. But Ziva doesn't move until Gibbs gives her a push.

Five minutes later, she's sitting on the edge of the exam table, her hands held stiffly out in front of her as Ducky wipes away the blood. Ziva winces as he brushes over her pulsing, shredded skin, but the pain feels strangely good. It's a distraction from thinking about what Eli said. But just as Ziva relaxes, Gibbs starts asking questions again.

"You said Eli called you," he says softly. He stands close to Ziva, leaning against the exam table. Ducky's eyes shift between the two of them, understanding now what made her so upset. "What'd he say?"

Ziva's mind races, but with Gibbs and Ducky both waiting for her answer, she can't find a way to avoid it any longer. And she knows after what she just did, Gibbs is considering sending her to the shrink again. Ziva swallows hard, and Ducky gently squeezes her wrist with his free hand, steadying her.

"It started out... well enough," she begins hesitantly. "He said he was calling to apologize."

Ziva is quiet for a moment, letting this sink in. Gibbs and Ducky raise their eyebrows at each other, unable to hide their surprise. Then Ducky goes back to work, picking up a pair of tweezers from the medical supplies he's spread out on the table beside Ziva. "Try to keep your hands still, Ziva. I better get those pieces of metal out before they infect you."

Ziva nods and glances at Gibbs, nervously waiting for his response to what she said. She bites her lip as Ducky digs his tweezers into a deep gash on her finger, but she keeps her hands still, and her eyes never leave Gibbs's face.

Gibbs is tempted to blurt out, "He said what?" because of all the things he suspected Eli might have said to Ziva, wanting to apologize was nowhere on the list. But instead he asks, "And what did you say?"

When Ziva speaks again, her voice is no longer slow and hesitant but fast and angry, the words spilling out of her mouth. "I told him that I did not believe him. I said that if he had really wanted to apologize to me, he would have called sooner. He would not have waited until today. And I said that for him to call me asking to apologize on this day – "

She stops short, winded, struggling to reign in her anger before she loses it again. The effort causes her hands to twitch, and her knuckles bump hard against Ducky's tweezers. Ziva hisses at the pain, and Ducky quickly presses a bandage over the fresh flow of blood.

"Sorry," Ziva and Ducky say to each other in unison. Ducky smiles a sad smile that doesn't reach his eyes. Ziva looks away, staring hard at one of the morgue drawers, as if there's something there that only she can see. She seems to be talking to herself when she adds softly, "Of all the days he could have called."

Gibbs goes over the date in his mind. It isn't a holiday, it isn't Ziva's birthday, it isn't the anniversary of the day Ari died. It isn't an important day at all, as far as he knows, but it must have some meaning in their family. Could it be Eli's birthday? Or the the day Ziva's sister died? Before he can ask, Ducky saves him.

"You mean because it's Yom Kippur? Could you spread your fingers out a bit, my dear? Just... yes, that's good. It is Yom Kippur, isn't it?"

"Yes." Ziva's voice is barely audible.

Ducky teases a large bit of metal out of one of her cuts and drops it into a dish on the table. It lands with a ping that seems loud in the silence. He explains to Gibbs, "Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of atonement. Asking forgiveness for one's sins. It's traditionally observed by a fast, from sunrise to sunset, that serves as a sort of penance, although many choose to forgo..." Ducky's voice has settled into that rhythm it gets when he could talk for twenty minutes on a subject, but Ziva interrupts him.

"Yom Kippur is the single most important day in Judaism," she says, slow and halting, as if the words cause her physical pain to say. "If someone asks for your forgiveness on that day... you have to forgive them. You have to."

Gibbs has trouble controlling his own anger at this. That Eli would call asking for Ziva's forgiveness on this day when forgiveness is required, right after trying to frame her for Cryer's death – even for Eli, it sets a new low in manipulation. No wonder Ziva was punching that locker, he thinks grimly. He feels like punching something himself.

Ziva barrels on, her breath ragged. "I told Eli that I had never... never once seen him observe Yom Kippur. I had never seen him daven, or fast, or go to temple, and I told him if he thought could – " But she chokes on her words and falls silent. Ducky's head stays bent close over her hand, focused on a last stubborn fleck of metal, but he presses his free hand on Ziva's knee. Her anger flares.

Why is he restraining me? I have kept still this entire t – Then it hits her. He's not restraining her, but trying to comfort her. And she wonders what it says about her, and her past, that she didn't realize this right away. Nothing good.

Gibbs allows her only a second of silence before he presses, "He say anything else?" He knows Ducky would say to give her more time, but he also knows if he doesn't ask her now, while her guard's down, she'll never finish it. There's more – he can tell Ziva's still holding something back – and if he waits, she'll never talk about it, no matter how much she might need to.

When she doesn't answer him right away, he digs in his heels. "Ziva, what else did he say?"

Ziva finally raises her head and looks him in the eye. She takes Gibbs by surprise again with her answer. "He talked about you."