Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. This story is entirely fictional and is based on my own experiences. Reviews and/or comments would be greatly appreciated as I am loving this story and it is a pleasure to write. Enjoy.

Xxxxxxxx

Ziva woke up, feeling peaceful. She had had the best night's sleep that she had in a long time. She felt like a burden had been lifted from her shoulders, even though she was slightly scared of the consequences that she would have to face when she entered the bullpen. She brushed her teeth, got dressed and then started running towards NCIS.

Xxxxxxx

Ziva arrived breathless from her morning run. It was exactly 0500 hours and Gibbs car was already parked in the reserved parking.

Shit, why is he here this early, I'm fucked

she thought as she slowly made her way up the stairs towards the bullpen.

She made her way up the last flight of stairs and approached her desk cautiously. She looked at it anger seething in her veins. Gibbs had removed anything sharp: scissors, stapler, the letter opener, pens and her gear for a case.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING" Ziva screamed, the anger building up with every word.

"David, first of all do not shout at me like that, you are in enough trouble as it is, secondly until you can prove that you can be trusted to not harm yourself this is the way things are going to be and there will be certain rules you will be expected to follow" Gibb's replied his voice low and firm.

Ziva turned and stalked off heading for her favourite stairwell, she cursed at herself for not bringing her blades with her, as all she needed and wanted to do was cut. She needed the pain to clear her head. She put her head in her hands, and as the anger started to subside she began to cry.

Xxxxxxx

Back in the bullpen Gibb's was writing his list of rules for Ziva. He would give her a hard copy as well as an electronic copy so that she had no reason "to lose" them.

Rule 1: Ducky will perform a full physical assessment each morning, to ensure there were no cuts and also to keep track of any weight loss.

Rule 2: Ziva would not be allowed to lose any weight below 115 pounds.

Rule 3: Ziva's weapons would be kept locked under Gibb's desk and would only be given to Ziva when a case came up, after the case she would hand the weapons back to Gibb's where they would be locked up again.

Rule 4: Ziva would see a psychiatrist weekly, a psychologist weekly, and a dietician fortnightly.

Rule 5: Ziva would eat according to the meal plan that the dietician described.

Rule 6: Gibbs would pick Ziva up from her house at 0430 hours to ensure that she was not running from her house to the navy yard.

Gibbs looked at his list of rules. He felt they were strict but fair. Ducky wasn't so pleased.

Flashback

Ducky "Gibbs I've told you this already the more you try and control her the more she will fight back. Anorexia is a dangerous disease and a very clever one. That coupled with the extensive training Ziva has had, she will defy your rules at every turn and you won't even know about it."

Gibbs "Ducky your just overreacting, I've got this under control don't worry"

End Flashback

Ziva calmed down and began to run up and down the stairs, once she had done 100 laps she felt safe and calm enough to walk back into the bullpen. She was prepared to take Gibbs head on, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

You are in control, don't let some stupid man think he can destroy you, you are STRONGER THAN THIS

That all familiar voice which was usually shouting and calling her ugly words was now on her side. Together they would get through this.

Xxxxxxx

Ziva walked back into the bullpen and acted as if nothing was wrong. She watched as Tony and Tim were arguing yet again, but could see no sign of Gibbs. She let out a breath that she didn't even know that she was holding in, and turned to her desk to sit down.

However on her desk was an envelope addressed to her in what she recognized as Gibb's writing. She smirked a little as she fumbled to open the envelope thinking that it was a apology letter explaining that he had just been pig headed and ignorant.

Her smirk turned to an evil glare that would have scared even the toughest arms dealer.

"Where is Gibbs?" she asked her hands and body shaking with anger.

"MTAC with the director" McGee replied slightly fearful of Ziva. In all the time he had known her and all the cases she had done, he had never seen her look so angry or evil.

Ziva ran up the stairs at lightning pace the letter all but torn in her hands, after getting through the security clearance and entering MTAC she walked straight up to Gibbs practically eye to eye with him and screamed "WHAT THE FUCK IT THIS. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE FUCKING DOING? DO YOU THINK YOU CAN TREAT ME LIKE A CHILD? THIS DISEASE IS MINE AND MINE ONLY, IT'S MY FUCKING BODY AND I WILL DO WHAT I WANT WITH IT"

"Ziva I think you need to calm down, so we can talk about this rationally" the director replied scared at the young agent's distress.

"I WILL NOT FUCKING CALM DOWN, AND YOU CAN HAVE YOUR STUPID PAPER AS WELL" she said throwing the paper at Gibbs and stalking out of the room. She needed to go somewhere, anywhere but here.

Gibbs watched Ziva leave, and for the first time in his life was speechless. He knew that she wasn't going to take it well, but he didn't think she would react like that either.

It was Director Shepard that broke the silence. "Gibbs don't you think you were being a little too harsh? Maybe you could have explained it to her, so that she felt like you were caring for her rather than making it sound like she's in the marines?" Jenny asked whilst waiting for the older man's reaction. If there was anyone who could get through to Jethro it was Jenny.

Jethro rubbed his head in frustration. All he wanted to do was wrap Ziva up and take all the pain she was going through. Ducky had described it as "mental torture" and the statistics weren't good 20% of those with Anorexia died from their illness, 60% made a full recovery free from thoughts and behaviours and 20% remained living with it. A half-life essentially. He just wanted Ziva to get well, but he was clueless as to how to help her. Jenny seemed to be able to read his mind and interrupted his thoughts. "She's going to need time Jethro, especially after this morning. She feels like you're controlling her and the tighter the grip you have the more she will fight and then it will get to a point where you can't help her."

Xxxxxxx

Ziva was curled up in a ball in Ducky's office. She needed the older man's assurance that Gibbs was the one going crazy not her. She had things perfectly under control and she didn't need him to get in the way.

Ducky opened the doors to autopsy and was not surprised to see the young Israeli curled in a ball in the furthest corner of the room. The director had already filled him in about the "incident" that had happened that morning.

"Ziva, would you mind coming and sitting up here with me. An old man's body is not what it used to be" he said jokingly watching as the young agent offered a rare smile in return. Once they were both comfortable and after Duck's insistence that he make her tea, they both settled in for what was going to be a long discussion.

Ducky broke the ice. "So I heard about what happened this morning Miss David, would you care to share with me your thoughts on the situation, civilly I might add" He had not missed the anger that was starting to flare up again.

"I just don't want Gibbs to try and control me, and watch my every move. I'm fine Ducky I've dealt with this for the last 12 years and I'm fine. I know what my body can handle, and as I told Gibbs this morning it's my body not his so he should just leave me alone" she said slightly out of breathe from her small rant. She was praying that the doctor would just agree with her and tell Gibbs to back off, but she was pretty sure the situation wasn't going to be as clear cut as that.

"Well my dear I hate to disappoint you, but it's not a problem we can just sweep under the carpet and forget about. You do need serious help, but I think it would be better if you received that help at your own pace and not have it forced onto you. There will be certain conditions however." The doctor ended in a stern voice. His demands wouldn't be as strong or as intruding as Gibb's had been, but at the same time he was a Medical Doctor and the Oath that he had taken meant more than what Ziva realised.

Seeing no way out of the situation Ziva sighed and motioned for Ducky to continue.

"I will tell Jethro to give you your weapons back, and I trust that you won't use them to cut yourself. Secondly your weight is not to drop below 100 pounds or I will be forced to have you hospitalised. Also you will come to autopsy every morning so I can do a full physical examination and also daily blood tests just so I can ensure nothing goes wrong. Also I would like you to see your psychologist weekly. Is that all understood? The ME asked feeling that what he was expecting from the young agent was fair and reasonable.

"Yes Ducky, I think that is fair, but how are we going to explain that to Gibbs?"

"Ah my dear, you leave agent Gibbs to me. Now on medical orders go home for the day and I expect you here at 0700 hours."

"Yes Ducky, you have my word that I will be here"

Ziva turned and made her way out of autopsy a feeling of relief washing over her. Just before she went through the doors she looked back and said "Thankyou Ducky"

The ME smiled before his face turned to worry. Ziva was easy, but he had a feeling that that wasn't going to be the case with a certain Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Xxxxxxx

Jethro stormed out of autopsy after his "chat" with Dr Mallard. He was not happy that he would have no part in Ziva's treatment, but at the same time there was a small feeling of relief. He knew Ziva's illness was more than he could deal with, and maybe just being her boss and not her jailer would make things easier for the two of them.

Walking back into the bullpen he dumped one heavy box on each of Tony and Tim's desks. A simultaneous groan came from the pair of them but Gibbs decided to ignore their reactions.

"Cold Cases need to be done boys, and we haven't been called out, so these might as well get done" he barked sitting down on his desk with his cup of coffee. He never looked into the cold cases anymore as he had done that plenty of times when he was a probie under Mike Franks. He was not one to waste time however so he always checked in with the director to see if he was needed elsewhere.

"Um Boss where is Ziva" Tim asked cautiously, they hadn't seen her since this morning and he didn't want to upset Gibbs, but both him and Tony were burning with curiosity.

"Ziva has gone home for the day Dr's orders" He barked whilst picking up his coffee and heading up to MTAC where he would spend the next couple of hours. "There better be some leads by the time I get back" he added giving the younger agents the famous "Gibbs" stare.

Tony and Tim sighed, working in silence apart from the few times that Tony couldn't resist making a movie reference. It was going to be a long day.