Yay! Time for another chapter!

Thanks to fiftyshadeswritergal for the editing help! Thanks to Troubled-Angel-26, Ludy, NCISJunkie79, DS2010, Guest (I'm glad to hear that!), fiftyshadeswritergal, KrisShannon, Fashionista-girl, Greatcorals23, and AnnieQuill! The reviews have been wonderful!

I hope that you enjoy this chapter. The next chapter will bring in the rest of the team, but for now Ziva is stuck with Gibbs, Jenny, and Ducky!

...

Gibbs spent the night, sitting at the doorway to his room. Jenny had insisted on staying, and she was asleep on the couch in the living room.

"She might have nightmares," she had countered after Gibbs tried to get her to go home.

He went and got her a blanket.

Ducky had gone home around midnight, promising to be back in the morning.

Despite all the concern, Ziva slept through the whole night. She tossed and turned and sniffled and sighed, but she fared better than Gibbs who startled at every sound and slight movement.

"Does she always sleep restlessly?" Gibbs asked Jenny as he poured her a cup of coffee at 5:00 a.m..

"Mmh," Jenny sighed, breathing in the aroma. "Uh, yes, she does. Until she feels comfortable enough with her surroundings to go into a deep sleep and then" - she shuddered - "she often is unable to sleep."

"Why?"

"The nightmares."

"Bad?"

"Horrendous. Wait - someday I hope and pray she will trust you enough to be able to really rest and then you will hear the fear in her screams for yourself."

"Why would you want her to get to that point again?"

Jenny wearily rubbed her eyes. "Because only then will we be able to help her, Jethro. She is going to have to go back to some horrible places in her mind before she heals. But that is another reason why I brought her here, to you. It is the other side of keeping her safe."

"Understood."

"Jethro, are you sure that you will be okay taking care of her?"

"Yes. Tony can handle leading the team for a while - as long as you don't overload him!"

"I won't."

"Good. If I'm needed, I could still get away for a few hours if Ziva is feeling well."

Jenny laughed. "You think that she would still be here if you did?"

Gibbs smiled grimly. "Nope, but there'll be rules and she's going to learn them AND obey."

Jenny looked at her watch. "I can stay for another two hours, then I will need to head in to my office."

"I will let you know if we need you."

"Thank you."

Gibbs nodded toward the stairs. "I'm calling Abby this morning to come clean up the room so that I can move Ziva in there. The lighting's better - she'll like it more."

"Good idea. I'm sure that Abby and the others will be concerned."

"I'm sure they are. My phone keeps dinging. I don't know how to check the messages, but they always start making my phone do that when they are concerned about something but not quite ready to call yet."

A sound on the stairs drew both of their attention.

"Ziva!" Jenny scolded. "What are you doing down here? You should be in bed."

"Why should I? It is 5:30 - I have slept in, and I am fine," Ziva protested.

Pale face, bloodshot eyes, stumbling steps, head tilted, trembling hands. There were a lot of words describing how she looked. Fine, Gibbs reflected, was not one of them.

"No," he said. Ziva looked at him with big brown eyes. The shock he saw was not the surprise at his doubting her abilities that she wanted him to see. He had been in her position before - as had Jenny, Ducky, and nearly everyone else who worked in such a taxing career. At some point one would inevitably approach the edge. Some would hurl themselves over, some would run in the opposite direction and never look back, and the good ones, the ones who were created to be agents, would find a way across the chasm to the other side.

How was Ziva going to react?

"What?" Ziva protested, her voice still quavering with poorly-disguised weakness. "I am able to work."

"No arguing," he told her. "You are not well, Ziva, and you need to accept that fact, get back upstairs, and rest. And that's all you'll be doing until Ducky thinks that you're well enough for anything else."

Ziva's jaw tightened. "But ... I have to work."

Stubbornness engaged.

And why does this kid think that she always has to work despite each injury or illness? Sometimes I wish I had one of those travel-time-thingies from those movies McGee and Abby love. I would go give that father of hers a piece of my mind and ...

Jenny intervened. "You have the next while off work, Ziva. You need a break and there is no need for you to worry about your job."

Diplomatic, Jen, very diplomatic. Let's see how far that goes with Zi...

"But I CAN work! I WANT to!"

Yeah, diplomatic plays have little effect on our "liason". A more direct approach should work better.

Gibbs just took her arm, ignoring her balking, and led her back toward the stairs. "Back to bed," he ordered.

"No! I don't need ...," but her complaints were ignored. Up the stairs they went and back into the room. Ziva jerked away and reluctantly climbed into bed as Gibbs was blocking the only door. "Stay here until Duck comes to check on you."

"Grrr!"

...

"Ziva, you are not to be thinking of work for a long time," Ducky said gently an hour and a half later, patting her cheek. Even though it was 6:30 on a Thursday morning, Ducky was still incredibly patient.

I would like to bite your hand! Ziva thought viciously. One glance at the other two standing at the bedside changed her mind. Ducky did not scare her - apart from the mysterious power he had concerning her going back to work. But if she bit him she had a feeling that any chance of convincing Jenny would disappear. And Gibbs? She did not want to find out what he would do.

Jenny narrowed her eyes at Ziva. She seemed to be able to tell that Ziva had some questionable thoughts and that glare was meant as a warning to behave. So Ziva pushed off any thoughts of biting for another day.

"I want to go to work," Ziva muttered again. Ducky gently tipped her chin up so he could look her in the eye.

"No, Ziva," he said, softly but with power. "You are not fit - physically OR mentally - for going back to work."

"You cannot make decisions about my mind!" Ziva protested.

"But I trust Ducky's judgment so he DOES get to make the decision," Jenny said firmly. "You will not be going back to work until you have both a psyciatrist's approval AND Ducky's. And I trust that Doctor Mallard will hold to an even higher standard. You might as well accept it now, Agent David."

Ziva disappeared under the covers. "I will not," she muttered rebelliously.

Gibbs shook his head, exchanging disbelieving gazes with Jenny and Ducky. Something about Ziva's breakdown seemed to have loosed her tongue. Never one to be careful with her words, she was on the edge of igniting the infamous tempers of a couple of her caretakers. She confirmed this by suddenly throwing back the sheets, sitting up, and looking them all in the face with a fierce frown.

"You cannot make me stay here!" she fought, her eyes flashing defiance and a challenge to make her do otherwise.

Gibbs took a deep breath and placed his hands on her shoulders. Ziva tried to shrug him off but he maintained his hold. It was time for him to do something difficult for him - speak from the heart.

"Ziva David, you listen and listen well. You are pretty low on choices at the moment. Either stay here - where people who love you want to care for you - or you can choose to go back to the hospital where, if you keep acting like you did yesterday, they'll probably admit you to the psych ward. Now, those are your options. What's your choice?"

Ziva froze. Gibbs had just cornered her - HER! - by responding to a challenge that she put out to them. And now they were all surrounding her bed, waiting for her answer. Oh, how she hated giving in to them! Having to listen and obey them? Ducky would be easy - he would only be there for short times, she was sure. Jenny would be more difficult, because she knew Ziva's tricks better. However, Ziva felt like she could manipulate Jenny if needed. But Gibbs? She could tell in his face that he was going to be hard to work around. And for once in her life, Ziva was questioning her ability to win.

She sighed dramatically. "If it would make you feel so much better, I suppose that I could stay here for a few days."

"You will either stay here as long as Ducky determines as you progress, or you will go to the hospital now," Gibbs declared.

Oh, bats! He caught on to me!

Ziva crossed her arms and tried to out-glare him. She lost in ten seconds. Ziva slid down in the bed sulkily.

"I will ... stay," she chose.

Not like there was much choice!

"Good choice," Jenny praised, settling the blanket around Ziva.

"I must agree. You should do better here than in a hospital environment," Ducky affirmed. He pulled some peppermints out of his bag. He always had peppermints in case of sore throats. Several months ago Ziva had discovered that fact and ever since she had been pestering the doctor for the treats. He left a handful on the nightstand.

Gibbs closed the curtains on the window.

"Rest, Ziver," he said. But then, as he was passing her, he lowered his voice and said, so softly that only Ziva would hear, "I'm proud of you for making the right choice."

Ziva just exaggerated her pout.

That is, until everyone left the room. Then she snuggled down into the blanket, snagged a peppermint from the nightstand, and closed her eyes in the darkened room.

They sure are bossy, but something about it is almost ... nice.

Sometimes, even the toughest fighters need to lose so that they can be loved on and babied. Under the sulkiness, Ziva was actually feeling rather loved and cherished.

...

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