From early to very late... I know, I know! Sorry! But I am finally posting. If you have not already seen it, fiftyshadeswritergal and I have written another co-story. A few more chapters are still to come! Fiftyshadeswritergal and I would love for you to check it out if you have not already done so. This time the story is being posted on my account. It is called "The Thanksgiving Turkey Tales" and I think it will make you chuckle in places!
Back to this story... Thanks to all the reviewers since last time! Troubled-Angel-26, DS2010, xstargirlx123, JessicaRae95, Fashionoista-girl, didodado, Bohogal1998, A, Rhi, S (thanks for pointing out that error; I corrected it!), starie78, HappyGuest, dawnmarie1971. I would love to point out JessicaRae95's review in particular - "...Gibbs does need to try to understand the shell of displayed strength Ziva tends to hide in. You can't just 'discipline' that out of someone. Scars can make someone a totally different person, regardless of how their surroundings change. No matter how much you love people around you, there will always be a tender, sore spot that you will always protect and shield from the world." This was SO true and in upcoming chapters I hope that you will all be able to see Gibbs gently help Ziva learn, not try to punish her when she is unable to trust. Gibbs works through that a little in this chapter, and he and Ziva will be discussing it in the next chapter. (Hope that doesn't spoil it all for you!) Once again, thank you to all the commenters who share their valued opinions and ideas! I love you all!
Now, please enjoy!
...
Gibbs stepped into the living room after making a quick call to Jenny. Ducky was just pulling Ziva's shirt back down after finishing.
"All cleaned up, Ziva," Ducky told the young lady gently. He reached for his bag, searched, then took out a bottle of pills.
"I do not need medicine!" Ziva protested weakly as she realized what he was doing, but Ducky wisely did not respond. He simply measured out the pills, set them on the coffee table, then stepped back with a meaningful look at Gibbs.
"I believe that I will go get a slice of pizza with the others while you supervise the swallowing of the pills," Ducky told his old friend in a low voice. Then Ducky turned and went to the kitchen, leaving Ziva alone with Gibbs. Ziva shifted on the sofa, trying to turn into the cushions. Then pain in her side stopped her, as well as the touch on her chin by Gibbs.
"Be responsible and take them."
And without any more fuss, she did.
"Then let's get you up to bed."
"But everyone came to visit!" Ziva protested weakly.
Gibbs was just about to tell her that she had ruined the game night and there would be no more visiting for her that night, a direct and natural consequence of her foolishness, but one look at the repentant, tear-moistened eyes made him rethink. Removing her from the family event would not be appropriate under the situation - probably never. She was used to being removed from situations if she did not act the perfect part. She was used to being replaced and cut off from sympathy and love. A little, toned-down exposure to the team was likely exactly what she needed.
"Well, since you took the pills without a fuss, I guess that you can stay down for a bit," he said, trying to make it sound like it was a big concession instead of being so soft. It had nothing to do with her taking the pills easily. Even if she had shoved them down his throat, he would have been hard-pressed to deny her request.
"Then I want them all to come back to play games."
"I was thinking a movie might be better," Tony said, unexpectedly rambling in from the kitchen. "I brought several choices."
"She will be asleep within fifteen minutes anyway." Gibbs turned to find Ducky whispering in his ear. "The medication will have her feeling quite drowsy as it works to cut her fever and reduce her pain."
"Good job, Duck," Gibbs complimented his friend.
"Anytime, my old friend. Anytime."
The kids agreed on the movie, and back to the kitchen they went to make popcorn.
All except for Tim. He came in and took a seat next to Ziva.
"Hi, McGee," she said softly, ashamed of being weak in front of everyone. Yet she could not force herself to pull away and go to bed. She missed them so much and she really wanted to spend time with them.
"Hi, Ziva," he said, just as abashed. "Uh, sorry for not really calling or visiting. Tony and Abby were just talking about how they've come visited or called and ... I just thought that you would want your space. But ... anyway, I just realized how lonely you must have been and ... sorry."
"It is okay, Tim," Ziva assured him, although he was right - there had been times over the last few days when she had been lonely. But then again, she hated people seeing her when she did not feel well or was restricted in her freedom. She settled on feeling content that she had all her friends there in the moment.
"I brought you some of the sparkling fruit juice that you like. I put it in the fridge for you. And I put a bag of books that I thought you might like on the cupboard out there. Figured you might be bored and enjoy them."
Ziva was touched by the thoughtfulness. "Thank you, Tim," she whispered as Tony, Abby, and Jimmy hurried in with the popcorn, and movie night began!
...
Ten minutes passed.
Ziva was still wide awake as the movie began.
Fifteen minutes had passed.
She was still awake as Tony pelted Tim with popcorn whenever the junior agent's back was turned.
Twenty minutes had passed.
Abby located some blankets so no one would get cold as the night brought the temperature down a few degrees. She retrieved Ziva's new one from her room at the ninja's request.
Twenty-five minutes had passed.
Gibbs was doubting Ducky's medical advice.
"Did she actually take the pills?" Ducky asked.
"Yes. I'm sure of it," Gibbs replied. He knew how to spot a faker and was fairly certain that Ziva had taken the medication.
Twenty-eight and a half minutes had passed.
Her eyes fluttered closed. Gibbs was pleased when they stayed that way, even when she stirred as Ducky checked her temperature again.
As fictional federal agents shot bad guys on the television screen, Gibbs tucked the blanket around her and let her sleep while Abby, Tim, Tony, and Jimmy sat clustered around, their eyes glued to the screen.
For someone who could wake from a "bat nap" at the tiniest sound, she was amazingly able to sleep through massive shootouts and cheering from her team.
By the time the movie ended, it was getting late. As the team tried to quietly pack up to leave, they inadvertently woke her. She groaned a little.
"The medicine is likely starting to wear off now, Ziva. You will need to take another dose."
Ziva grimaced and considered fighting it, but the concerned, covert glances from her teammates changed her mind. She knew without a doubt that Gibbs and Ducky would make her take the pills in the end. It would be better to concede in her own strength rather than be forced to do so after losing a battle that she had no strength to fight. Abby handed her a glass of water, Ducky handed her the pills, and Ziva reluctantly took both. She grimaced a little, but down they went.
"I think it is time for all of you to be getting home and to bed," Gibbs said firmly, turning to the other agents.
"Aww, Gibbs!" Abby protested. "Now that Ziva is awake, we could play a game."
"But Ziva's not feeling well, and you want to play charades," Tim pointed out to the scientist. "Those don't go too well together."
"Then we could play a different game. I'm fine with whatever anyone else wants," Abby compromised.
"No, there will not be any games. All of you have to be at work in the morning and Ziva needs to sleep off her fever."
"A short game?" Someone - Gibbs could not figure out who in the multitude of murmurs - suggested. He turned to Tony. "How about it, Tony? Do you want everyone under you tomorrow being exhausted and prone to making mistakes in the morning?"
Tony suppressed the desire to roll his eyes. None of them would go home and sleep, he was sure. Abby was too hyper for that - she would probably go home and sing and dance or call her best friend Quinta. Tim would likely write until 1:00 to up his word count on a writing challenge in which he was currently participating. He would likely go home and watch more movies online himself. He had no clue what Jimmy and Ducky did in their free time in the evenings, but he doubted that they were running straight home to bed. Even Gibbs would likely be up later than any of them, keeping any eye on Ziva's fever and working on his boat. But Tony understood that Gibbs was relying on him to make the house a quiet place for Ziva to rest and recover.
To make it quiet, he would make it noisy for two minutes as he cleared the grounds.
"You all had a movie and pizza, courtesy of me. We can do it all again soon, but Boss is right. Tomorrow's a work day. Abs, let me help you carry that stuff out to your car. We'll leave the pizza here for Ziva, since I got it for her. Actually, Tim, can you help Abby while I take the trash out? Jimmy, can you grab the empty pop bottles? You take those to the recycling plant the third Monday of each month, don't you, Abby? We'll put them in your car to add to the contributions. Tim, how is the writing project going? Awesome! Jimmy, need a ride home? Jump in with me. Night, Ziva. Save a slice of the leftovers for me in case I find out that my fridge is still empty tomorrow night - I might swing by. Feel better. Night, Boss. Thanks for hosting."
"Night, Tony. Thanks."
Gibbs meant "thanks for everything" and Tony knew it. He grinned and winked as he shepherded all of the younger teammates out of the door.
"I will write up a list of when she needs to take these two different medications that I have given her," Ducky told Gibbs. One needs to be taken with food, so she should take it with her breakfast in the morning."
"Thanks, Duck. I'll make sure that she takes them."
"I can do that on my own!" Ziva protested, sitting up on the couch.
"Very well. I will leave the note here on the kitchen cupboard," Ducky told her, while giving Gibbs a significant look that implied that it would be the older agent that he would hold responsible if the sick girl did not take the medication.
"Going to bed now, Ziver?" Gibbs asked, hoping that she would do so on her own without an enforcement from him.
"I am going to have a shower, and then I will go to bed," she told him wearily.
"If that is what you are going to do, then perhaps I will stay to re-bandage your cut afterwards," Ducky said.
"It is fine, Ducky. I can do it myself," Ziva replied, waving away his concerns.
However, the doctor was not going to be easily fooled again.
"I know that you can, but I do not know if you will. So, until such time as when I believe that I can trust you to take sufficient care for your health, I will be keeping a close eye on your cut myself," Ducky said.
Ziva flushed at the rebuke but could not refute the truth of his words. Although she was not trying to deceive him now, she accepted that she fully deserved his doubt, no matter how painful it might be.
"I will only be five minutes," she promised.
"Take your time," Ducky said gently, sitting down on the vacated couch. "I will wait."
Ziva nodded, then turned and pushed herself to climb the stairs and find the necessary items for preparing for bed.
Left alone, Ducky and Gibbs took a seat. The few seconds of peace were broken by a quick rap on the door.
"Come in, Tony," Gibbs hollered, expecting that the agent had forgotten something while herding everyone out of the door.
"I'm not Tony," Jenny laughed, stepping inside.
"You're late. All the kids have already left," Gibbs grunted.
"Oh, stop that. I had a meeting - someone has to do it!"
"The two of you sound like an old married couple," Ducky commented, stopping the small argument from escalating. Gibbs and Jenny both flushed a little at the insinuation.
"How is Ziva?" Jenny asked. "Is the fever down?"
"A little," Ducky answered, "but she needs to take medication for the next few days to keep it so."
"Oh, good," Jenny sighed with a small measure of relief.
"I am rather disappointed she did not trust me to help her this morning," Ducky noted. "Something like that must have been causing her pain for several days now."
"Ever since she climbed out the window, she said" Gibbs supplied.
"The window?"
"Long story. She climbed out a window and up and down a tree the other day."
Jenny spoke. "I took care of the situation, but clearly neither of us thought to actually check that she had not injured herself further."
Gibbs nodded regrettably. "When I talked to her earlier she admitted that it had torn open again with all the climbing and pulling."
"How has she doing emotionally with the two of you?" Ducky asked, leaning back into the couch.
Gibbs exchanged a glance with Jenny, then answered. "Off and on. Sometimes there is the little flicker in her eye - you think she understands, that's she'll be okay. Then she's smashing plates and stomping up and down the stairs. I hope that I'm - we're - helping, Duck, but I have no idea."
"I do."
Gibbs motioned impatiently for Ducky to continue.
"Well, did you not see her earlier?" Ducky asked.
"Yeah. She took the pills 'cause she didn't want everyone to see her get in trouble if she made a big scene."
"No, I was not referring to that - although she did take them without even much of a token argument, which was impressive for her. But I was referring to the fact that she did not run off and hide, trying to get away from everyone. She was not wanting the team to stay just as a buffer between you and her. She wanted the team to stay and for as much as she was awake, she did seem to enjoy it despite the racket that must have bothered her headache. She slept - actually slept - in front of everyone. It took awhile for her to wake up and she allowed that to happen. She is feeling safe here and that - needless to say - is good. I would say that she is beginning to recover a little from her breakdown as well. If only the girl had not decided to risk her health so unnecessarily with refusing to allow me to help her. This will only delay her overall healing process."
Gibbs smiled a little. He had missed that small sign of trust in the middle of all the minor bickering and joking hat accompanied his team like the shell on a turtle's back. Jenny smiled as well, finally seeming to relax.
"I imagine that you are having some issues with house rules?"
"How'd you guess?" Gibbs asked wryly.
"Her personality."
"Yeah, some issues. I spanked her once."
"How did she respond to that?"
Gibbs shrugged. "Acted okay, but hard to tell how she really felt. Jenny was there to comfort her after she had a little cool-down time. Jen's spanked her twice since she came here. Easy to see that she hates it but she seemed more comfortable after the last one. Definitely not Abby level, but not as ashamed as the first time. The time I spanked her it took a lot of assurance from both Jenny and I that we loved her, respected her, and were just concerned for her safety. When Jenny spanked her for climbing out the window, it seemed better. She pretended to sleep, so we just pretended along with her and told her how much we loved her and wanted the best of her while she lay there with her eyes closed."
Jenny smiled as she remembered the occasion. "Silly girl," she said fondly.
Ducky smiled as well. "Ah, she does not understand quite how adept you are at dealing with tricky people."
"Experience with Abs," Gibbs chuckled. He frowned a little as his thoughts returned to a question. "Duck, I want your opinion here. Do you think that we're doing more harm than good in enforcing discipline with her?"
"Yes, we've been wondering that," Jenny seconded.
"I would not say that. I believe that she needs the consistency. She does not need military rigidness, so be careful not to be too strict, policing every little thing."
Gibbs' mouth quirked at the corner and Jenny rolled her eyes a little. Ducky saw and chuckled. "She pushes you and that is how you respond, correct? Ah, well, try to relax on the smaller things and then she will respect that measure of freedom and hopefully obey the main rules. Divide and conquer the big areas, Jethro, not every little sign of temper. What is it that I heard you tell Tony one time? Three ... D's, was it?"
"Direct disobedience, deliberate disrespect, and most of all, putting themselves in danger will always get them a spanking." Gibbs could not help growling out the answer a little at the very thought of his team doing any of the three offenses.
"Then stick with those. Be lenient on the disobedience and disrespect, as so much of what she has been trained to do comes across as disobedient or disrespectful. In those areas she is helpless. It is not her fault and she needs to be taught differently. Gently. Keep her safe. When she jeopardizes that ... like during the past week with refusing to take her of her wound ..." Ducky winced, sadness in his face as he continued. "She does deserve to be disciplined. And you will need to be consistent, because inconsistency will be your greatest enemy as well as hers. She needs to know that she can trust you to be consistent in discipline and loving her. Both are equally important and they are intertwined. Whether or not you chose to spank her for this, make sure that she knows it is unacceptable BUT that you understand why it might be difficult for her to tell you the truth."
"She reacts so differently than the others," Gibbs told Ducky.
"I am not saying to treat her the same. Any parent of multiple children knows that the same technique may not always be effective with different children. The idea is to find what works for each person, then use it as required."
"Oh, and Ducky, we've been wondering something. When I discipline Ziva, she reacts much differently than when Gibbs does - not just with spankings but scoldings as well. She - well, it't not quite crying, but she whimpers and squirms - and acts out with me way more, but with Gibbs she seems terrified to even let herself get teary eyes."
"Ah," Ducky said with a wince. "Let me see how I can say this without betraying any confidences... Try to imagine how you believe a strict father with narcissistic tendencies would treat a child versus how an over-compensating mother would. She had all harshness from one side, all love from another. She may have a difficult time trying to combine the concepts of punishment and love. From Jenny I would assume that it would be easier because the associations are good with a mother figure. For you, Jethro ... it will likely take a long time. Just be gentle when she had difficulties. Maybe over time, you will be able to help her overcome those wrong perceptions, so engraved that she cannot undo it on her own, of what a father figure is."
The bathroom door upstairs squeaked. "Ducky! I am ready!" Ziva called.
"Duty calls," Ducky said, smiling as he stood. He patted Gibbs' shoulder as he passed. "I know that you will find the technique that works for her," he assured both "parents" before heading upstairs to ensure that Ziva was not going to endanger her health anymore.
"I think that I will go up as well to say 'good night'," Jenny said.
"I'll go up when Ducky's done and make sure she's settled down," Gibbs said. Jenny nodded.
"I will tell her."
Gibbs stayed seated on the couch, listening to Ziva and Ducky's muted voices upstairs, then Jenny and Ziva's, while he prayed that he really would manage to help his special girl recover, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.
...
Thanks so much to fiftyshadeswritergal who helped me SO much with this chapter! Her edits were key!
Please comment! How do you think Gibbs will discipline Ziva? (I'm still working on that myself!) Should Tony come back the next night? What do you think Ziva might do to keep from getting bored while getting over her infection?
See you soon! Hugs!