Hello, people! I'm back, and excited about this story!

In the meantime, I've been posting some different one-shots and such. I posted another chapter to "Half of the Story", and did "It's Different" and "Smacked" (second chapter hopefully coming soon). I've been getting TONS of ideas too, so hopefully I'll be able to squeeze more out between assignments.

Now, back to "Echoes", my baby! We're working up to the climax now ... I'm so excited to see how you are going to respond! :D

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and had the patience while I went through my little break there. Here's to you, Loads of Randomness, Sarai, DS2010, didemi, Troubled-Angel-26, Guest, four NCISLover10s (I think it's the same person, but there were four reviews, so thank you!), another Guest, and ZivaObsession (love the name!). Also thanks to Quintawrites, who as always has been supportive and helpful!

...

Ziva napped off the side effects of the spanking, then woke up with a fresh realization.

This was not working and she needed to figure out why.

I wish I could call some... Oh, I ... could!

She got up, found her cell phone, and dialed Jenny's number.

...

Jenny was working at her home desk, finishing off a few pieces of paperwork she had brought home to accomplish while eating leftovers from last night's dinner she had made - shrimp and rice noodles.

Briiiiiiing!

Jenny looked at her cell phone's caller id before she answered the phone. Once she saw who was calling, she answered gently, "Hi, Zi. What's going on with you today?"

There was a small pause, but she could hear breathing on the other end and knew that Ziva was there.

"Hard day, sweetie?"

Finally a snuffled, "Yeah," answered. Jenny set down her pen to fully focus on Ziva.

"Are you feeling ill?"

"No."

"Having trouble with Gibbs?"

"Umm ... yes."

Jenny smiled understandingly, even though Ziva would not be able to see it through the voice call.

"What caused the trouble?"

"Not me!"

Jenny rolled her eyes but patiently asked, "What happened, Zi?"

"Gibbs was unfair and then he made me go on a walk and then when I got back he was all angry at me and punished me even though he was the one who forced me to go on the walk!"

...

Ziva felt a little guilty complaining about Gibbs again, but she really wanted today to have been all his fault. It would be so nice if it was.

But ... something was happening in her mind. After all the craziness of the last couple weeks and her desperate attempts of earlier in the day, maybe something was starting to awaken.

Clearly, Gibbs had a reason for continuing to care about her. Maybe ... maybe she should care about him a little bit more.

Maybe she should try to use some logic to look at things from his side.

...

"I wonder what the story would sound like from Gibbs' perspective," Jenny mused aloud on her end of the phone call. She heard a heavy sigh, then a far less indignant Ziva answered.

"I think maybe ... I was disrespectful too."

"Maybe," Jenny said neutrally when Ziva seemed to come to a pause. She hoped that the non-judgmental comment would help put Ziva at ease to keep talking about the situation. It - and the distance provided through a phone call rather than a face-to-face conversation - seemed to help. Ziva kept talking.

"I was ... disrespectful a lot today."

Jenny listened quietly.

"And I came home late from the walk."

"That sounds like a choice that probably didn't work out well," Jenny mused.

"It did not."

"Oh, honey." Jenny felt badly for Ziva, even though she knew any correction from Gibbs would have been appropriate to the situation and well-earned.

There was a little pause, then Ziva gasped out, "Jenny, why do I keep doing this?"

Jenny opened her mouth to answer, but the call suddenly ended.

...

Ziva threw her phone onto the bed, angry that she had allowed herself to nearly break apart with Jenny.

"Jenny, why do I keep doing this?" - How much more pathetic could I be?! I will never convince her that I am ready to go back to work if I speak like that! I sound out of control of myself. Maybe ... But ... I was the one who made all those decisions today and I did a horrible job. Maybe she would be right not to let me back. Maybe I am as bad at making choices as I am at being a daughter - or a good guest.

She cringed as she thought of how ashamed her mother - who had always been so proper - would feel if she knew how disrespectful Ziva had been to Gibbs all day.

And that is only counting today!

Why do I keep making decisions that keep backfiring and making me feel even worse? Why can I not make a good choice by mistake at some point?! And now I just hung up on Jenny which is probably going to get me in trouble from her and that will be awful too because then I will feel horrible for having been disrespectful to her as well and ...

The phone rang, breaking off Ziva's Abby-esque thought process. Ziva winced as she looked at the caller id.

Jenny.

There was no way that ignoring a call from the director was going to be unnoticed so she took a deep breath and answered.

"David."

"Ziva, I know you know it is me."

"Um ... Director... I am..."

"Not 'Director', Zi. It's Jenny."

Ziva took a deep breath. "I am sorry I ended that call ... Jenny. I will not ... or I will try not to do that again."

Jenny's voice was warm and comforting on the other end of the phone, like one of the apple cinnamon fritters that Ziva loved to eat on cold, cloudy mornings.

"You were overwhelmed, sweetie."

Ziva breathed a little more easily as she processed Jenny's understanding of the situation.

"I ... suppose I was."

"I don't want you to do it again," Jenny said gently, "but I know why you did it this time, so we'll leave it at that. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. We don't want you to feel alone while going through this."

Ziva knew instinctively that Jenny was referring to Gibbs with that "we". She considered being annoyed by it, but the idea of both people loving her so much was not necessarily a bad thing. She took a few shaky deep breaths and blinked away a few annoying tears, then nodded.

"I am okay."

She could hear Jenny shuffling some papers, which she soon connected with being her calendar when Jenny continued with, "I am in meetings all evening, but how about I come pick you up for lunch tomorrow? We could go out somewhere - your choice."

Ziva felt a smile stealing over her face. "That would be nice."

"Good. It's almost supper time, so I'm guessing Jethro will be wanting you to go help him, but I will try to give you a call later between meetings before you go to bed."

"Okay."

"I love you, Ziva."

"I ... thank you, Jenny."

"Bye."

"Bye."

...

I hope you enjoyed!

Please review if you have a moment! :) I always appreciate it. :)