"I'm telling you that this isn't normal."

"Well, Ziva hasn't exactly been normal recently, has she?"

Unfortunately, Raphael had a point. But that was beside the point. No matter how weird Ziva had been acting recently it didn't mean that it was normal for her to go completely silent for weeks. Weeks! Not a phone call, not a text message. Nothing!

Amelia sighed. It was all quite worrying. But maybe Raphael was right. Maybe this was just how Ziva was currently and they technically had nothing to worry about.

The only problem with that was that it didn't stop her from worrying. She couldn't help it! She was a worrier. Everyone knew this. Which was why what they were about to do was actually a pretty mild reaction if you thought about it.

Yeah, so they were kind of hovering outside of a federal building. Well, across the road from it because doing that right in front of it would look really suspicious and getting questioned by federal agents really wasn't something she wanted to happen to her. It was cool on TV but she doubted it was cool in real life.

Anyway, she had managed to persuade Francisca and Raphael to come along with her. Well, Francisca had invited herself and Raphael was happy to come along for the ride. They might not be the best people for this sort of thing, they thrived on drama after all, but they were back up and back up was always good.

They were simply going to go across and request to see Ziva. Well, they were until the current security guard was replaced by a far more intimidating one who had shoulders the same width as all three of them put together and she was not slim, let her tell you that. Hence the loitering.

"Well, we might as well check on her," Amelia said, resolutely squaring her shoulders.

The security guard couldn't be that scary. He was just doing his job. With a frown on his face. And big muscles.

"But what if she has a case?" asked Raphael.

"Well, you're just a little ray of positivity today, aren't you?" She said irritably.

He gave her an offended look.

"I am just being realistic."

Well, Amelia didn't need him to be realistic. She needed him to be optimistic. Ziva was her friend. Their friend. And she didn't want to lose her. Because that's what felt like was happening. That they were losing her. Like she was drifting away.

Or maybe she really was busy. Being an NCIS Agent couldn't be easy, after all. Oh, Amelia didn't know what to think.

"I am not scared of that security guard," Francisca told them, straightening up. "I will go and ask for Ziva."

"No!" Both her and Raphael shouted, grabbing her.

Knowing Francisca, she would probably say the wrong thing and vet them all in trouble.

"I am not waiting around any longer!"

"And you won't have to," Raphael suddenly said, pointing over her shoulder. "Look, there's Tony and Tim!"

Amelia looked over and tried not to gasp (that was a bit dramatic). So, it was! There were Ziva's co-workers.

"There is no Ziva," Francisca pointed out.

"She's probably with her boss," Francisca dismissed.

"No, there he is," Raphael said, pointing to the older man approaching the younger two.

And there was no Ziva following him.

"Maybe she is inside?" Amelia offered weakly, not believing herself.

Raphael and Francisca gave her pitying looks. Yeah, okay, that was a little bit desperate.

"So, are you going to ask them?" Raphael asked.

"Yeah, sure," Amelia said more confidently than she felt. "Just as soon as their boss leaves."

That Agent Gibbs was scary looking.

"Amelia? Is that you?" Tony asked, suddenly appearing in front of them. He looked very tired. "Hey, McGee! I was right. It's Amelia and the Scrabble night people."

"They have names, Tony," McGee said with a sigh. "Hi, Raphael. Hi, Francisca."

They all waved in return.

"So," Tony said. "What brings you here?"

"Ziva," Francisca said bluntly before anyone else could get a word in.

Something subtle shifted in Tony's face but Amelia wasn't sure what that meant.

Francisca, unfortunately, took this as an opportunity to pester him with questions that all basically boiled down to "What's the matter with Ziva?"

She barely gave him a chance to breath never mind speak.

Though Tony did eventually manage to and he haltingly explained that Ziva had returned to Israel. For good. For good? That raised more questions than answers.

Francisca tried to start up again with fresh questions but Amelia pushed her hand over Francisca's mouth to get her to shut up. She grinned at the two men. Hopefully they didn't realise how forced it was.

"You know what? We're sorry for bothering you. Well just get out of your way now. Thanks for everything! Bye!"

And with that they quite abruptly left. Thankfully, Tony and Tim didn't try to follow.

Francisca shoved her hand away.

"What was that for? I was trying to get answers!" She said, annoyed.

"I know and that's why I stopped you."

"Excuse me? I was doing more than you!"

"Exactly."

She was doing far too much. Amelia saw that look in Tim's and Tony's eyes. It wasn't a good look. It was a sad and a guilty look. A pained look. The kind of look she read about in sad stories where all hope had been lost. There was nothing good about that look.

"You are not making any sense."

Amelia just shook her head at the older woman while Raphael looked back at the Navy Yard thoughtfully.

"They did not seem to be very happy about Ziva no longer being in America."

"Well, they're much closer to her than we are. Were," Amelia corrected herself. "They're obviously missing her."

"I saw that," Raphael agreed.

"Well, I could still have got something from them. Something more," Francisca insisted.

"No, you really couldn't have."

"And why not?"

"One, you were starting to insult them in Spanish and I'm pretty sure they know Spanish," Amelia told her. "And two, I don't think they have any answers."

"You do not know that because you would not let me ask the questions that would have given us answers!"

Amelia pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You would have just interrogated them."

"Exactly! It would have given us answers!"

"Or a criminal record," Raphael muttered.

Francisca glared at him.

"Okay, enough," Amelia said, tired of all these antics.

Actually, now she was just feeling very tired. All this worrying and for what? Ziva returning to Israel? And not telling them? The three of them were silent for a moment.

"So, I suppose we are not going back 'another time'?" Francisca asked.