Finally back, people! :D

Thanks to the reviewers on the last chapter - Ludy, Guest (I absolutely loved the adorable comment!), Fashionista-girl, DS2010, dawnmarie1971, Loads of Randomness, mrownoitcifnaf, didemi, Suzy Q1068, Sarai, JessicaRae95, Luvreading67, helltowngirl61, Troubled-Angel-26. Special thanks to quintawrites and Suzy Q1068 for their help in proof reading this chapter and giving advice. :) It is so appreciated, both of you!

I'm working on the final chapter, but it has taken awhile. Partly, I think it is because I don't want it to be done (although I'm excited for the sequel). The other part is that I finished school, then went home and packed up a huge amount of stuff, then came back to my apartment, had my roommates move out, and then started my summer job within the last two or so weeks. :) I'm hoping to kick start my writing habits again and finish up some other WIPs (or at least advance in them), but we'll see how it goes. Allergy season is about to start... duh duh DUH! Yikes!

Anyway, here we go. Enjoy our second-to-last story chapter! :) Blessings on you all!

...

Ziva was particularly upbeat for the rest of the day after her wonderful news in therapy. She decided to surprise Gibbs with the news at dinner, which she set off to cook with gusto. She mixed up and shaped meatloaf and put it in the oven to cook. She had also learned how to make coleslaw the day before her breakdown, and she found herself wanting to try it again now. She found the recipe on her phone and started chopping the vegetables.

"What are you up to?" Gibbs asked, coming up behind her. Ziva turned to him with a smile.

"Making dinner. Have you ever had coleslaw, Gibbs? It is very good and I learned how to make it about a month ago. I am going to make us some if you want."

Gibbs hid his smile at her question about a classic American side dish and nodded. "Yeah, it's good. Go ahead and mix it up."

He could sense that Ziva was brimming over with some happy secret and he had a good idea what it was. Jenny had not come to the conclusion that Ziva was ready to return to work all on her own. He had been very involved in evaluating their surrogate daughter's progress. He was proud of her and how far she had come, although he held no delusions that she was all better. There was too much trauma held inside her body to be cured with a few weeks of consistent love and attention, but this time of waiting and recovering must come to an end for her to keep growing. It had been good to have her out of the field, giving her tired and overstressed body time to recover and heal, not only from the injury she had sustained but also from a lifetime of overwhelmed adrenal glands. However, she needed to return to work now. Her active mind was too easily bored in the confines of an at-home routine, and her razor-sharp skill set needed to remain challenged. She loved her work, and as long as it was in moderate hours rather than her entire life, it would be good for her.

From now on, she would be monitored more closely. Jenny and Gibbs had discussed that they would both be intentionally watching her to give guidance on proper work boundaries in the future, no matter what role she chose for them to have in her life going forward. At NCIS she would also have the daily interactions with Tony, Tim, Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy - people who loved her and had her best intentions at heart, even when she was careless as to her own health and safety. These were friends who would slowly reteach her what was normal, what was good, what was fun, what was friendship.

What was family.

"Gibbs?"

He turned to her, realizing that Ziva had asked him something.

"Have a taste?"

He smiled and took the spoon she was offering him and tasted it. He nodded and smiled, then put the empty spoon in the sink. "Tastes good, Ziver." He looked at the oven. "What are you cooking?"

"Meatloaf."

"Sounds good."

"I think it is. I have made it a few times before. The leftovers are really good too."

He smiled, seeing her relaxing into her element.

"You're happy 'bout something," he commented.

Ziva turned to him excitedly. She had been wanting to surprise him during dinner with her good news, but Gibbs had already complimented her coleslaw and her soon-to-be-cooked meatloaf. She beamed at him.

"Jackie said she thinks I am ready to go back to work!"

He shared her pleasure, his eyes twinkling with joy that matched hers. He had missed her being an active agent. However, behind the great happiness that he felt about her recovery, he did feel a tiny bit of sadness. When Ziva had her breakdown, he had loved her deeply as a member of his team. But now? She had become a lot more precious to him. Instead of being a kid on his team that he knew was chock full of talent and unpredictability, she was now treasured as something much dearer - his kid. She had become a daughter. And the idea of his daughter - grown or not - moving out again left a little part of his heart lonely. But he would hide that. This was about Ziva, not about him. He would prioritize her and her feelings.

Her eyes were glowing bright with happiness. He gently gathered her into a hug and kissed her forehead. She responded, hugging him back tightly and resting her head against his chest for a few seconds, before practically dancing back to her coleslaw and having another taste.

"I am going to call Jenny tonight and let her know just in case Jackie did not already. I want to go back as soon as possible."

"I guess you'll be wanting to move back to your apartment too," Gibbs slowly hazarded. He saw a small flicker of something on Ziva's face, but he could not quite identify it. He continued watching her as she busied herself with getting utensils out of the drawer, then turned to him.

"Yes, I will. I ... I think it will be nice to get back to my own space," she mused slowly and a little uncertainly. "No offense, Gibbs," she added much more quickly.

"None taken," he replied, amused. He had never deluded himself into believing that his house was particularly interesting to his team. Apart from the mystique of "It's Gibbs' house!" and the unanswered question of how he got a boat out of a basement, it was particularly well suited to grounding due to its lack of entertainment options. He was quietly impressed that Ziva had settled down so well over the last week. Although grounding her there had nearly been a disaster, she had been able to adjust when given at least a small amount of personal freedom. Some of the issues that had come up were probably her adjusting to the idea of being accountable to anyone other than herself or an official, on-the-job chain of command. He had no delusions that she was finished with the temper and the occasional, barely-contained insubordination, but he could handle all of those factors. He knew it was making a positive difference and he could keep putting up with it and teaching her better options.

"Do you know when you want to go back to your apartment?" Gibbs asked. He did not miss how Ziva immediately returned to the silverware and clattered them around a little before turning to the table and setting it with her head down a little. Her forehead was furrowed with thought.

She finally ventured, "I suppose you want your house back to yourself soon. It must have been a bother for you to have to share it for so long with me." She tried to hurry by him but Gibbs gently placed his hands on both her shoulders, stopping her.

"Look at me," he said softly, then waited until she listened and looked up at him tentatively. "Ziver, you are not a bother."

She tried to pull away but he held her there steadily. Finally she looked up again, her eyes asking "really?"

"Really," he answered the unasked question before pulling her into a hug once again. "Not asking you to leave, Ziver. Never. Just acknowledging you might want to."

From inside of the hug, he heard a small question - "Is it okay for me to wait until I for sure start back at work?"

He smiled a little to himself.

"Of course."

A timer went off and she flitted away to check on the meatloaf. It was time for dinner.

...

Gibbs helped Ziva was the dishes after supper, then helped himself to another cup of coffee before heading down to work on the boat again. It was getting near completion. Although he was back at work a lot now, he still was not putting in all the long hours that he normally did so that he could be back at home at night to check in on Ziva. When she was back at work and gone from his house, there would no longer be that motivation to hurry home. Thus, there would be less time for finish the boat.

As was feeling familiar at this point, Ziva eventually trailed after him and sat on the steps, reading her book. When she finished it she wandered over to the boat and took the sandpaper he offered. She began yawning around 9:00, which was a bit early for her to start wilting from tiredness. Gibbs took the chance to bring up a topic of conversation he had been wanting to mention.

"Not sleeping well?"

She looked up at in surprise, startled by the sound of him talking.

"Um ... it is just night now. That is why I am tired," she tried to explain away the yawning.

Gibbs did not look certain and repeated, this time as a statement, "You're not sleeping good."

Ziva shrugged. "It is fine."

"So you're going to sleep in your room tonight?"

She hesitated and looked toward the corner where she had been sleeping the last few nights. With that came thoughts of why she had not wanted to be by herself. First it had been to avoid the feelings of abandonment, and then to avoid the feelings of loneliness that came with the nightmares.

"Bad dreams?" Gibbs asked in that annoyingly persistent manner he had when he was making any of the four do things for their own good.

Ziva twitched a little as she tried to avoid answering. Gibbs had to hide his amusement that her face was so expressive. She often forgot to mask her emotions around him now, and he could tell that she was trying to get out of this conversation.

"Got plenty of them myself over the years. Awake and asleep," he said simply, giving her an entrance to the conversation that would not degrade her self-dignity. It worked.

Gibbs has bad dreams too? It can't be that embarrassing to admit to then, if he just did.

"Sometimes," she said cautiously. It was not an admission that she had them over the last few nights, but she would not dispute Gibbs if he drew that conclusion.

"Anything help with them?"

She shrugged. He looked up and made eye contact and finally blurted out, "Sometimes not being alone helps."

He nodded, turning back to his tools like normal.

"Well, you're not alone at this house. Or as long as you can call me."

A surge of warmth in her chest made Ziva's heart beat a little faster.

It was nice to feel at home.

And although she was not quite yet willing to call him that to his face while fully conscious, it was because he was her papa and she felt more secure in his love than she had in anything for a long time.

...

Ziva was startled by the gentle "Not tonight, Ziver."

She had been about to lie back down in her downstairs nest. After her micro confession earlier that bad dreams were more manageable when she was around others, she had not expected him to stop her from being near him while she slept.

"You've got to sleep in your bed tonight, Ziver. Better rest that way, especially as you're going to be back on the team soon."

"I do not want to," she protested, sliding slightly into the realm of sulkiness.

Gibbs put down his tools and moved toward her. She froze a little, worried that the protesting would at least earn her a swat or a headslap, but it did not. Gibbs simply gathered up her bedding and then guided her up the stairs to the main floor.

"Want hot chocolate?" he asked.

"Yes," she quickly agreed, wanting to put off going to bed and nightmares as long as possible. She was already tired, but a short delay might, somehow, keep the nightmares from recurring. It had not happened to date, but perhaps hot chocolate would be the magic charm.

"You go up to your room and I'll make it for you," Gibbs said, passing her bedding to her. She considered marching around and taking it back downstairs, but that would be childish. If Gibbs did not want her down there, then she should respect his space. Besides, his point about sleeping better in her bed was likely valid in theory. Her body was a little bit more sore the last couple days due to sleeping on the ground, despite the sleep mat. However, she doubted that she would sleep soundly as long as the nightmares were hounding her. Still, that was not on Gibbs. She reluctantly took the bedding - and a Peanut - up to her room and began remaking her bed, taking the time to grumble about how awful nightmares were and why could she not just dissociate from them as well.

...

Gibbs could hear Ziva grumbling as he came up the stairs with her hot chocolate. It only took a few sentences for him to understand what was going on.

Poor kid. Gotta help fix it, somehow.

He knocked at the open door and came in with the hot chocolate. He noticed how slowly Ziva sipped at it, trying to make it last as long as possible. Not giving any recognition to the stalling technique, he walked over to the window and looked out.

"Nice view of the stars here. Mind if I sit here a bit to watch them?"

Ziva gave a tiny, crooked smile and nodded. The rest of the hot chocolate disappeared more quickly, and it did not take too long for her to climb into bed and turn off the lights. She seemed restless, rolling over again and again. After thirty minutes of rustling, Gibbs finally asked, "What's bothering you, Ziver?"

A tiny, ashamed voice replied, "What if the dreams come back?" No more denial of them would be helpful in this moment.

He walked over and gently kissed her forehead before whispering in her ear, "They won't. I won't let them."

For some reason, the completely unfounded and illogical claim that was said with such sincerity and love had affect when years of attempted relaxation techniques and various sleeping positions had not. Gibbs the guardian could attest to that, as he accidentally spent the night in the chair by her window, falling asleep as the stars above scintillated half a universe away and Ziva's steady snores kept time across the room. Not once was he awoken by Ziva in a nightmare.

...

Only ONE MORE CHAPTER! Oh my goodness - we're almost there!

Hugs to you all. See you in the next chapter! (Not sure when it will be posted, but we'll see.)