Thanks for their reviews to louise, Zivacentric & horseninja!

II

Three days later Ziva rang the doorbell of Ducky's house in Reston. She was alone, having managed to convince her security detail she didn't need protection while visiting a friend.

The door opened and she found herself face to face with the old ME.

"Ducky!" she exclaimed, embracing him as she noticed how tired his face looked.

"Ziva! Welcome, my dear, welcome. This is such a surprise. Anthony didn't tell me you would be coming," he exclaimed, gesturing her inside the house.

"That is because I came straight here after dropping my luggage at the hotel. I hope I am not disturbing you."

"Of course you aren't! It's such a pleasure to see you again, even though I wish the circumstances were different."

"I know, Ducky," Ziva said, briefly patting his arm. She looked around, scanning the large, luminous rooms opening on the hallway.

"Jethro is in the garden," Ducky said, guessing who she was looking for.

"How is he?" Ziva asked, staring at him with a gaze that meant 'spare me nothing'.

"Physically he's fine, but for his legs, of course." Ducky took off his glasses and cleaned them with the handkerchief he kept in his breast pocket. "Psychologically… that's another matter."

"Tony told me he has fallen into depression."

Ducky shook his head, "No, not really. Oh, Jethro's current behaviour is similar to depression: lack of appetite, lack of personal care, lack of interests, but there is a big difference. Depressed people behave like this because they have no strength or will to do ever the simplest activities. They don't react because they can't do it, it's like they are empty—but Jethro isn't like that. He has the will. He has the strength to react, but he doesn't want to."

"Why?" Ziva asked, puzzled.

"I believe this is the antechamber of a self-destructive behaviour. This is why the door and the gate are always locked and you won't find anything that can be used as a weapon on this floor," Ducky said, gesturing with his arm. "Jethro hates himself right now. He feels useless. Being in a wheelchair is a living nightmare for a man like him. I believe he is also thinking he doesn't deserve our concern and care and he is trying to push us away. First he tried with anger, but when he failed, he turned the anger into this…passivity and apathy. But he isn't fooling me, that is why I asked Tony to call you. I believe you can be the one able to reach him, Ziva."

"You all seem to think it, but how can I do it, Ducky? I'm not a psychologist," Ziva asked.

"You don't need to be one, my dear. You just need to be your practical self. Jethro has always admired and respected you—and you him. There has always been some kind of bond between you two. You might be able to convince him being in a wheelchair isn't the end of the world…"

Ziva nodded, and took a deep breath to steel herself for the confrontation that would come.

"Is the garden that way?" she pointed to her left.

"Yes."

"Then it's time I go to take the beef by the horns."

"Bull, Ziva, not beef."

"It doesn't matter; they both have horns, yes?"

-----

Ducky's garden was large, but it was easy to find Gibbs sitting in the shadow cast by a big oak tree.

He was thinner than she remembered, his hair shaggy and his beard scruffy as it had been when he had returned from Mexico to help her when she had been framed. But back then his eyes had been full of his inner fire, contained yes, but still burning. Now instead they were empty, as he stared straight ahead, apparently unaware of Ziva getting closer.

It was painful to see the man she loved like this, but somehow it gave her the resolve she needed to work to make him right, even if it meant being brutally honest or hurt him—and herself.

"Hello Gibbs," Ziva said, stopping near him.

"Officer David," he said flatly. He threw her a brief glance, before he dismissed her and returned to stare in front of him.

Ziva gritted her teeth and grabbing the arms of the wheelchair, she turned it toward her, so that she was now blocking his field of vision.

"I didn't fly all the way from Israel to be ignored," she hissed.

"Then you shouldn't have come. I don't need you— or anybody else," he answered with a bit more emotion than before.

"Well, perhaps we need you," Ziva replied, encouraged by that small change. She needed to make Gibbs keep on talking…and reacting.

"Highly unlikely. DiNozzo has his team now, he doesn't need me. McGee has grown up and can fend for himself; he doesn't need my advice anymore. Ducky has his job and his doctor lady friend—he just has to get rid of me and go back to them."

"What about Abby?" Ziva pressed. Surely the mention of his favourite lab rat would make him see how much he was still needed.

Gibbs shrugged. "She has Tony now. He'll take care of her."

"And what about me?" Ziva blurted almost without thinking.

"You, Officer David?" he grimaced, an unpleasant expression for sure, but she thought she saw a flicker of the old fire in his eyes. "You certainly have no need for me. You left us, remember?"

Gibbs didn't wait for her answer, but returned to stare straight ahead which, given their position, meant at Ziva's midriff.

Ziva bit the inside of her cheek. Here he was, dismissing her again. It was the moment to use the iron fist since the gentle manners were obviously not working.

She leant forward, so close to his face she could feel his breath on her skin and said, dangerously low, "Yeah, Gibbs, why should we need a man that drowns in self-pity and doesn't care how much he hurts the people that love him? That leaves his team down and behaves as a coward. I wonder how you managed to get your Silver Star by being such a coward-"

"I'm not a coward!" Gibbs all but roared, slamming his fist on the wheelchair arm as he raised his furious face to look at her.

Ziva's heart started beating faster; the fire had returned to his blue eyes!

"That's it!" She shouted as loud as him. "You aren't a coward! You're a fighter—so fight!"

"What for?" he challenged her. "I've nothing left to fight for. That damned mine has taken away my legs and Vance took away my job." He paused and Ziva saw his eyes start to shine in a suspicious way. "I've served and protected my country for my whole adult life. I don't know anything else. What can I do if I can't serve my country anymore?"

There were tears in Gibbs' eyes now and for the first time Ziva realized it wasn't the loss of his ability to walk that bothered him, but the loss of his job, of his ability to make the difference as he used to. That's why he was trying to push everyone away, because they were still doing what he longed to do.

A sudden idea sparkled in her mind and without stopping to ponder it more, she said fiercely, "If you can't serve your country anymore, then come to Israel and serve mine."

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Oh-oh! Cliffhanger! How will Gibbs react to this? Will he say yes or no? Let me know! And remember, reviews make me update faster.