Here we are - another chapter! I apologize that it has been so long. It was not my intention. I have been writing quite a bit. For those of you who aren't aware, I did post a lot since last time. I did some NCIS one-shots - "Long Live the Queen", "Back to the Farm", and "Bite Your Tongue". I also started and posted three chapters of a multi-chapter story about Tim and Abby getting into sibling-rivalry-based trouble - "Pushing for It". Mini Ziva fans got one-shot "Osich for Breakfast" and the first chapter of "Flower Girl", which will be about mini Ziva as Tony and Kate get ready for their wedding (will likely be updated sporadically as ideas come; I wouldn't be waiting for this one to be updated on a regular basis). And for any Bull fans, I've been busy in that fandom once again after a lot of binging - one-shot "A Little Bananas" and two new chapters (at long last!) for "Cable Concussed". There's also another project in the works for Bull, but I am waiting until it is all or almost all written before starting to post it so people won't have long waits between updates (hopefully). ;) Anyway, if you just follow this story and thought I abandoned my writing lately, I haven't. It just took me a bit to figure out what I wanted in this chapter. :)

Thanks to the readers and reviewers of the last chapter, specifically Troubled-Angel-26, helltowngirl61, didemi, Sarai, Loads of Randomness, JessicaRae95, Queenofwheels, Luvreading67, Brynhilder (new reviewer, I believe? Welcome!), DS2010, mrownoitcifnaf (two reviews!), "invisible reader" Guest (I wish that I could directly reply to your message because it was so sweet and truly appreciated), Suzy Q1068, KrisShannon, and Elphie-defys-gravity. I loved hearing from you all. Thank you for the encouragement and for letting me know people are reading and enjoying this story of Ziva and specifically of Gibbs but also of Jenny and Ducky and all the others too. :)

Enjoy!

...

Ziva finally frowned a little as she finished her bowl of cereal and fruit and turned to look at Gibbs.

"What?" she demanded.

Gibbs gave her a questioning look.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" she demanded.

"Like what?"

"I do not know. I can feel you watching me like you are worried. I did not do anything wrong, so you must be worried for some other reason," she concluded, looking at him with curious eyes.

He smiled a hair's breadth and nodded a bit. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine, I guess. Why?" she wondered, feeling like the strange looks and the question were disconnected.

"You had a nightmare. You don't remember it?"

She felt frozen with his calm announcement. The foggy memories of fear came back to her. She had managed to forget them in the span of peaceful sleep that followed, but now they returned.

"How did you know?" she asked sharply.

"You were sleeping down where I was working. I could hear you," he said, taking another gulp of coffee.

"Did I ..." She hesitated. Gibbs raised an eyebrow a little in that way of his that encouraged others to keep talking. She whispered, "Did I ... cry?" The shame of the thought flooded up her neck and across her checks.

Gibbs tilted his head to the side a little, indicating that she had. She dropped her eyes to her empty bowl and mumbled, "I did not mean too. I apologize for bothering you."

...

Gibbs briefly considered giving Ziva a head slap. Of all the foolish things his kids said, that was one of the most ludicrous ones! "Bothering him" for having finally trusted him enough for her subconscious to feel safe enough to re-explore bad memories?! He reminded himself that a head slap was not as needed as other, more positively affirmative actions.

"Didn't bother me," was what he answered. Ziva's troubled face indicated that she did not fully trust that. He would keep giving her time. So far that approach seemed to be working well.

He finally asked a question that had been active since she sobbed out last night. "You call anyone in your family 'papa'?"

Ziva hesitated, then shook her head. "No. I called my father Abba or father, as you would likely know. When I was young, some of my friends called their fathers 'papa' but I did not. Why?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Just wondering."

...

Ziva watched suspiciously as Gibbs refilled his cup of coffee. That was a fairly unusual question to ask for "just wondering". The only reason she could think of why he would be asking would be if she said something in her sleep. She was just about to demand if she had been sleep talking when she realized something - if she had said "Papa", it must have some meaning to her after all.

And she knew who.

There had been a moment last night, right before she fell asleep, when she had a nice thought.

It is almost like I am in a movie. I have the nice parents. Gibbs and Jenny are like the papa and mama characters. I could never call them that, of course, but it is a bit like that. I always wondered what it was like to have that kind of family. Mine was nice but this ... this is unusual, yes, but I think it is more like how it is supposed to be.

If she had yelled "Papa" in her sleep, she had been calling for Gibbs.

I wonder how I fix that.

She settled on distraction, remembering that she had a good excuse. She looked at her watch.

"I've got an hour to therapy."

"Really? That's today?" Gibbs asked. "I thought you had it tomorrow."

Ziva got up and checked the calendar on a tiny nail in the wall next to the fridge. She had penciled in her appointment times after Jenny had insisted on one of her visits, and Ziva could recognize her scrawling note now.

"It is definitely today, Gibbs."

He nodded a little. "Good."

That dream must have sounded bad. I wonder what it was?

"Want to drive yourself or want me to take you?" Gibbs asked, distracting her completely from any rumination over nightmares.

"Drive myself?" she asked, a little confused.

"Tony and McGee brought your car over last night."

"Really?!" she asked delightedly, racing over the window and looking out excitedly. She had not seen her car since the day of the "incident". Gibbs and Jenny had not seemed eager to have a runaway-prone, mentally-stressed former assassin with easy access to a vehicle. In retrospect, she could acknowledge their reasoning, but she had not liked them for it over the last month. Granted, she could have tried to "borrow" Gibbs', but the time spent rebelling against other rules had distracted her and the consequences of other actions had deterred her from trying that particular plan.

"You aren't gonna drive off and leave the country?" Gibbs asked teasingly as he walked over to her. There was a slight waver in his tone and Ziva identified that he was not entirely joking with her. He was still concerned. He did want her!

Just like a papa would.

Her heart swelled with pleasure and she smiled a little to herself.

"No, I promise I will come back," she said. She turned and looked up at him trustingly. "There is no reason why I would not."

She saw the spark of happiness in Gibbs' eyes - finally, she was putting joy in his face rather than frustration, disappointment, or sadness. He reached in his pocket and pulled a keyring that she recognized as her own.

"Then I won't be too worried about you having these back."

She took the keys and then she did it - she hugged him.

And he hugged her back. Tightly.

...

"It sounds like you've made some real break throughs this week, Ziva," Jackie said as she looked up from her notes at the end of Ziva's session. At last, she had to be the one who indicated that their time was up and Ziva had looked reluctant to have her time of self-discovery end.

Ziva nodded, agreeing with Jackie.

She does not know the whole of it, she thought to herself, reviewing mentally the many more personal moments between Gibbs and Jenny and herself that were too private to share. She smiled.

"I do have to say that you look like a different woman this week. You look relaxed and a lot happier."

"I am," Ziva replied simply.

"I am so pleased to hear that. So, so pleased," Jackie said.

Ziva smiling changed to beaming as she nodded.

"I think I have some good news for you as well. I recently got a call from your employer, Ms. Jenny Shepard, looking for an update as to whether or not you are ready to go back to work."

Ziva caught her breath.

"As I explained to you at the beginning, anything that you say to me is confidential and so I did not tell her anything, despite our agreement at the start of your sessions that you were fine with me telling both Ms. Shepard and Mr. Gibbs about your progress. As this wasn't an emergency situation, I wanted you to give consent first."

Ziva nodded for Jackie to continue.

"What she told me was that she had seen changes in you that she thought indicated that you were ready to go back to work. I agree with her, and if you agree with both of us, then I will give Ms. Shepard a call about having you be referred for a psych evaluation before returning."

Ziva's face glowed. "Yes! I want to go back as soon as I can."

"And you feel ready for that?"

Ziva replied without any hesitation.

"I know I am."

...

I plan to have just two more chapters after this, likely, and then there will be a sequel. Please let me know if there is anything that you think absolutely needs to be included in the final chapters. :) No promises they will be included, but it doesn't hurt to let me know. ;)

Review if you have a moment - it'd be appreciated. And whether or not you can review today, know that I appreciate you for reading it.