Thankfully Eli had left DC the following day without causing too much trouble. Gibbs had Monday off to be with Eliana for the day, he too was greeted with a "hey" when he entered.

"Shalom Lia." Replied Gibbs a small smile gracing his features at hearing the youngsters voice. Gemma, the dietician was supposed to be coming by this morning to discuss a new meal plan now that Eliana has begun to eat.

Eliana was also pleased to show off some of the new sign language she had learned with Abby. Gibbs had also taught Lia some sign language and she appeared to be a fast learner. Abby had phoned Gibbs after she visited on Saturday and told him how clever Eliana was, Gibbs wasn't surprised Jen had always been clever and Ziva certainly had her wits about her, the kid had cleverness in her genes.

A knock at the door indicated Gemma's arrival and Gibbs supported Eliana to sit up in bed for the session.

"Congratulations on managing to eat yesterday! I was hoping that from this morning you would start to have around ¼ of your calories for main meals by mouth rather than a tube. How does that sound?" Asked the dietician.

Gemma was very forward going, she didn't beat around the bush. Gibbs thought that ¼ sounded like a big jump but figured that if Eliana was okay with it then he would support it. Lia nodded but signed something to Gibbs, he translated the answer to Gemma.

"Lia says she would like to try because she doesn't like having the feeding tube in, but she isn't sure she will be able to eat that much, she wasn't given much food in Russia." Explained Gibbs

Gemma nodded "That's not a problem, as long as you are willing to try. If you can eat the food then we can give you some fortisip which is a calorie-containing milk drink, it can be warmed up for you too."

Eliana thought this sounded reasonable so agreed to it and allowed Gemma to continue explaining the new meal plan.

"Breakfast will be warm porridge, we will liquidise it for you so that it is smooth. Lunch will be vegetable soup and dinner will be mushroom soup. For the time being your snacks will be delivered through your tube as will the rest of your calories. We are going to start with small portion sizes so you don't get too full up and gradually increase them. You will have an hour to eat lunch and dinner and 30 minutes for breakfast and snacks. I also want you to start trying to drink so we can stop giving you IV fluids and just have a cannula for medicine."

Eliana was very excited, she finally felt that maybe she was getting better if they were going to let her eat and drink. Eliana asked Gibbs what would happen if she forgot to eat or drink and if she can't eat enough event after the fortisips. Gibbs related the question to Gemma who explained that the occupational therapist would be round later to make a food and fluids chart with Eliana to help her remember. Gemma then left as breakfast arrived followed by the physio.

The physios were trying to help Eliana gain arm strength at the moment in the hope of giving her more independence. Today they were assessing the progress she had made, having been in the hospital for two weeks now.

"Her grip has dramatically improved, arm strength has improved, the range of movement remains adequate," Leo spoke as he made notes and went on to congratulate Eliana.

"How is the pain where your burns have been?" Asked Leo. Eliana had over received a skin graft over her chest where she had received electric burns and another skin graft over her feet which had been soaked in acid to prevent her from escaping.

Eliana signed that her feet did not hurt at all, hardly surprising considering she had no feeling there but scored her chest pain at a 6/10, bearable but uncomfortable. Gibbs sighed not liking the reminder of everything Eliana had been through, he translated for Leo who was pleased to hear the pain had subsided a bit.

"In that case, we will begin to build up the strength so you can sit yourself up using the buttons on the bed and put a pillow behind your head without Gibbs or Ziva having to help." Eliana smiles, liking the sound of more independence.

After an hour with Leo, Eliana was becoming less pleased with the independence finding the exercise tiring and painful. Leo gave Eliana's body a final stretch and massage before leaving to allow the patient to sleep. Leo also left some laminated sheets of paper and a whiteboard pen with Gibbs, explaining that Eliana needed to practice tracing the patterns on the sheets of paper to help her learn how to write but also to further develop her fine motor skills.

The OT came round after lunch with a new tick chart for Eliana, this one was to help Lia remember to eat and drink. Lia subtly rolled her eyes, something Gibbs noticed but chose not to mention, she was frustrated at being treated like a baby, the chart was pink and had unicorns and rainbows around the border. Eliana decided she would comply with the hideously pink chart because it meant that she would be able to leave the hospital sooner.

The OT also spoke to Gibbs about arranging a home visit to make sure that the house had all of the adaptations necessary for Eliana. Gibbs agreed for them to come tomorrow he didn't want there to be any unnecessary delays, besides Gibbs wanted to try and make the ramps and bannisters for himself, that way he knew they had been made right and were good quality.

Whilst Eliana was practising tracing the various shapes Leo had left for her tears began to fall down Eliana's cheeks, Gibbs noticed and wiped them away, just he had done for Kelly.

"What's wrong Eliana?" Asked Gibbs, unsure as to what had upset Lia, the shapes she had traced were perfect so it couldn't have been that.

I am fine, replied Eliana, Gibbs shook his head and told Eliana that was exactly what Ziva says when she is not okay.

Ima. The simple word explained enough to Gibbs, he missed Jenny himself, she was his best friend, sure they flirted, even dated but both of them knew they were never meant to be together romantically. Gibbs missed the banter they often shared in the workplace, he missed the laughs and the jokes he missed not having her to lean on. Gibbs never had to explain anything to Jenny, she just understood.

It suddenly occurred to Gibbs that Eliana probably didn't know that her mother was even dead. Explaining how she died was going to be a difficult task.

"I miss your mom too but she is up in heaven looking down on us. She is with you, in your heart." Gibbs was proud of himself for that. He was fully aware that him giving advice on realigning with grief was rather ironic but this was important.

Eliana just nodded, still crying, she missed her Ima. Whilst Lia was happy that Gibbs was now her guardian and she didn't have to go back to Eli, she wanted to go back home with Ima where she was comfortable. Ima would lay with Eliana until she fell asleep and read her songs, Ima never got cross she just let Eliana be herself.

Eli wanted Eliana to be normal, he didn't want Lia to make funny noises that helped calm her. He didn't hold Eliana when she was upset, Eli would just leave her in a dark cold room at the Mossad Training ground. In the many years Lia had been in Israel not once had she been home with her father, she lived in the barracks at Mossad. At first, Eli had hired a nanny who looked after Eliana until she was 6. The nanny would sit with Lia whilst she ate and encourage her to read and learn languages.

Once the nanny realised Eliana was autistic, she told Eli in the hope that he would take his daughter to the doctors. Instead, Eli instructed the nanny to discourage Eliana from talking and to ensure that she grew up to be normal. The nanny did not agree but was not going to disobey the director of Mossad, she didn't have a death wish!

On Eliana's 6th birthday Eli took over "caring" for Eliana but after a week Eli grew impatient with his youngest daughter, he began to punish her for things that Eliana could not help. Jenny has always allowed Eliana to make her ticking noises, it calmed her, she also allowed her daughter to shake her legs and encouraged Lia to show her emotions as a way of expressing her needs. Eli would ask his instructors to discipline his daughter, even at just 6 years old. Making strange noises, twitching, rocking and anything else Eli considered to be abnormal was simply out of the question.

The punishments were not pleasant, sometimes it would be missing dinner other times it was fitness training. Sometimes the instructors would beat Eliana, and as she grew older, this kind of punishment became more common. Eliana shuddered at the memories, she didn't want to relive the pain of broken bones or concussions.

Gibbs could see Eliana was deep in thought and they didn't appear to be happy thoughts either, so he tried to put on one of the movies that DiNozzo had brought for Eliana. Gibbs fumbled with the TV on the wall of the hospital room, Eliana had noticed Gibbs by this point and was trying to hide her amusement. A small giggle escaped Eliana's lips, her eyes widened and her face fell as she realised she had just involuntarily made a noise.

Gibbs spun around, Lia had just giggled at his futile attempts of putting in the DVD, he noted that Lia looked like a deer in the headlights. Gibbs smiled at Lia and started to laugh too, he asked Eliana if she knew how to do it but was greeted with more infectious laughter. Once both had calmed down from the laughter, Gibbs got one of the nurses to come in and put on the movie.

The rest of the day included Eliana going for a walk and various therapy sessions, for once Eliana lasted the whole day without any seizures and a whole night without any nightmares.