Here it is, the last chapter!

I know a few people are sad that this is the last chapter. However, I'm thinking of doing a follow-up where Ducky sits down for a chat with Mosuma Daoub at her flower shop. What do people think?

Chapter Six: Parting Words

"Gibbs will want me back on duty fairly soon – from the sounds of it, Tony and McGee have been driving him crazy while we've been away," Ziva said. "But you can stay on for a little while longer. Any plans?"

"I was thinking of going over to Amsterdam for a day or two. There's a colleague who invited me to meet him for coffee if I was ever in the city," Ducky said. "And there are some museums that I'd like to see, and the Anne Frank House as well."

The tribunal had finished up for the day, at long last. Ducky and Ziva were sitting out on the plaza in the court complex, waiting for the security detail to take them back to the hotel. The sun was setting, and the air had started to grow cooler.

The proceedings themselves were far from over – it was likely that the tribunal would continue for another week or so at least. But the tribunal had concluded that there was no need for Ducky to come back and testify a second time.

At this point, there was a very strong case for a guilty verdict. Even on this first day, the evidence that Mr. Pain had tortured Javid and the refugees was overwhelming. And the tribunal had also said that Mr. Pain's intentions to torture Ducky would be taken into account at the verdict and sentencing.

"It's amazing," Ziva said. "Not once while he was up there did he show any signs that he was sorry for what he did."

"For a long time, I thought that in Jalozai, I'd seen the worst of what humanity had to offer," Ducky said pensively. "But then I think of what I've seen since then. Massacres in Bosnia and Rwanda, bombings in Northern Ireland...sometimes I wonder how I got through it all."

"I'm not sure it's supposed to get any easier," Ziva said. "I've seen a lot of things in Mossad that I'd rather not talk about. And we've seen our fair share at NCIS."

"Dr. Mallard!" a voice called from the other side of the plaza. "Officer David!"

Ducky and Ziva turned in the direction of the voice. Marjan had come out of the court building. She was now crossing the plaza at a brisk stride, her overcoat flapping behind her in the breeze. "There you are - I was afraid that you'd both left already," she said, smiling. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute, Dr. Mallard."

"Certainly, by all means," Ducky said. "Is that all right, Ziva?"

"Go right ahead," Ziva said. "Tell you what. I'll go and wait for the car while you two chat."

She headed off across the plaza at a brisk trot. Marjan sat down across from Ducky.

"I do remember a little girl who never went anywhere without her favorite stuffed elephant," Ducky said, smiling.

"And I still don't," Marjan grinned, pointing to one of her bracelets. An array of gold and silver elephant charms dangled from it.

"I suppose it's true what they say, elephants never forget," Ducky said. "Have you finished testifying for the duration?"

"I'm staying on for a few more days of the tribunal, and then it's back to work for me," Marjan said.

Both of them were silent for a moment.

"You have to wonder," Ducky said pensively, "once the tribunal is completed, whether that will really be the end of it."

"I doubt it," Marjan said. "I think Jalozai is only one head on the Hydra. At the very least, Mr. Pain is getting his day in court."

"And at the end of the day, there's still all the survivors with their assorted wounds." Ducky cast a glance down at his right hand, still in its doctor-issued compression glove. "In my time with NCIS, I've found that closure can be a rather elusive beast."

"As I have seen in my own work," Marjan said. She paused. "I can't imagine that testifying today was easy for you."

Ducky shook his head slowly. "A lot of people at NCIS tried to talk me out of coming here. Said it would be too much for me, after everything I'd been through. To be honest, there were moments where I tried to talk myself out of it as well."

"What made you decide to testify?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I wish it was purely for a sense of seeing justice done," Ducky said. "But I wonder also if it's an attempt to find meaning in something that was so utterly meaningless." He paused. "And some of Creighton's words hit home for me. Maybe I was trying to salve my own conscience over what happened to Javid. I've been carrying it with me for so many years."

Marjan nodded, a faraway gaze in her eyes. "It's the same with me. And why I did the Voices project. It's to help people who were in Jalozai, yes, but it's also an attempt to help an eight-year-old girl put her nightmares to rest." She fiddled with the clasp on her briefcase. "My sisters and I lived in fear for years afterwards that we'd end up back in a place like Jalozai."

"What happened after you got out of the camp?" Ducky asked.

"I'll give you the abbreviated version," Marjan said. "Went to England after we got our visas, and then to the U.S. After high school, got a scholarship to Columbia. Married fifteen years, husband also a psychologist. Three kids. A house full of cats and parrots. What about you?"

"Well, NCIS, of course. Worked as an ME in London and Hong Kong. Taught a semester in South Africa in the early nineties, once met Nelson Mandela himself. Worked with a couple of UN peacekeeping and crisis response missions. Wrote a few articles for different journals."

"Wait a minute, didn't you just have something in the Journal of Forensic Psychology?" Marjan asked.

"Ah, yes, a joint project I did with young Dr. Reid from the FBI," Ducky said.

"You have been busy," Marjan laughed. Then her expression turned serious. "Dr. Mallard, I don't mean to pry, but have you ever sought counseling?"

At Vance's request, Ducky had sat down for a consultation with Dr. Cranston before returning to work full-time from his injury. But aside from that, he had not.

"I've never been keen on the idea of counseling," Ducky said. "I've always seen it much like taking a lie detector test. Opening up your thoughts and feelings for someone's scrutiny."

"I understand," Marjan said. "But all the same, if you change your mind at any point…" She opened her card case and handed Ducky a card. It was for a psychologist and therapist named Patrick Collins, and he had an office located close to the Navy Yard.

"He's an old army doctor, the same as you. He does a lot of work with war crimes victims, soldiers with PTSD, a lot of people with war-related trauma. At the very least, even if you don't want to go for a formal session with him, he'd be glad to sit down with a cup of coffee and swap war stories," Marjan said.

"Well, that at least sounds reasonable," Ducky said as he slipped the card into his wallet. "But in truth, I've been wondering…especially with what Creighton said..."

"You've been wondering if you should try to speak to Mosuma Daoub." Marjan prompted.

Ducky nodded. "Part of me is afraid that it would come across as an attempt to beg for forgiveness. What happened in Jalozai is all Mr. Pain's doing, but I'm still the one who took Mosuma's brother from her."

Marjan nodded. "About that…I actually reached out to Mosuma a month or so ago, before I was invited to testify. And she sent me this."

She reached into her briefcase and pulled out a letter. "It's the same one she sent the tribunal," she said, handing it to Ducky.

Ducky read it over, and one passage in particular jumped out at him. "…in doing so I made a terrible, tragic mistake. There were so many things I hadn't known about what happened to my brother. I thought I was avenging Javid, but instead I attacked the one man who'd tried to help him, and us."

The letter ended with an appeal for the tribunal to give Mr. Pain a sentence fitting what he had done in Jalozai.

Ducky lowered the letter.

Ziva came walking back up. "Ducky, the security car's ready to take us back to the hotel."

"Well, we should be on our way," Ducky got to his feet. "It was a pleasure to meet you again, Dr. Nuristani. If you are ever in my neck of the woods, you are welcome to visit us at the Navy Yard."

"And if you're ever in New York, look me up." Marjan shook hands with Ducky and with Ziva before walking away across the plaza.

Ducky and Ziva got into the car that was waiting for them. As the car pulled out into the city traffic, Ducky was lost in thought, once again.

He'd been carrying the memories of Javid and Mr. Pain around so long, he'd forgotten how much those memories weighed.

Finding meaning in the meaningless, he'd said of his reasons to testify. But that was what he, and Gibbs, and Tony, Ziva, McGee, Abby and Palmer did every day.

"How are you feeling, Ducky?" Ziva asked.

Ducky paused a moment before answering. "Better."

And he meant it.

xNCISx

So what'd you think? Reviews welcome!