Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS

'Junior!' cried Senior as he answered the phone. 'How are you? How's Tali and Ziva? Ziva promised to send more photos.'

'I'm good Dad, so are Tali and Ziva.'

'Why are you calling?'

'Um, I was wondering, do you have any old family photos?'

'Of you, me and mom?'

'No. Well, yes, but also of your parents, and mom's. Maybe write down some dates, birthdays. Things like that.'

'Yeah, I can dig some up. It's all up in the attic.'

'Thanks Dad.'

'What's brought this on? You've never asked before.'

'We have this case at the moment. This guy, a Nam vet, he was making these videos for a friend's granddaughter. Telling her

everything about her grandfather who died in Nam. I just want to make sure that Tali knows about her family.' Senior smiled, though Tony couldn't tell.

'I'll dig some things up. Email over any information I can remember off the top of my head. And remind Ziva about those photos.'

'I will. And thanks Dad.'

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Tony turned to Gibbs, who was sitting next to him on the flight.

'Why did you give Bishop an 82?' Gibbs looked at Tony, then turned away. 'She's good Gibbs. Really good and has potential.'

'I know she does.'

'Then why give her an 82?'

'I told you, I've changed the system.'

'Since when? The system perfectly fine for me, McGee, Ziva and Kate. So why not Bishop?'

'Don't talk about Kate.'

'If you have a reason for changing your system and teaching, fair enough. But if you do, you owe Bishop an explanation.'

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'Hello' answered Ziva, picking up the phone. Tali was in the nursery, napping.

'Ziva, hi, it's Ellie.' Ziva's mind kicked into worry.

'What is it? Is Tony OK? Is Gibbs OK?'

'Yeah, as far as I know. I think they're still on the plane.'

'Then why are you calling?' Ellie hesitated.

'I need some advice.'

'About what?'

'I got my probie eval back from Gibbs.'

'Oh, how did you do?'

'I got an 82.'

'Oh.'

'See, you know that an 82 is bad. You all do. Even Jimmy. McGee for 63, Tony got 58. So, why did I get 82? Is Gibbs going easy on

me?'

'Ellie, the only person who can answer that is Gibbs himself and something tells me, he has not.'

'No. He just kept saying that he's changed the system and that 82 is good score. So why did the system work for you guys but not me?'

'Again, I cannot answer that. Only Gibbs can. I will say this though.'

'What?'

'Gibbs only has the best on his team. He would not have offered you the job if he did not think you were up to the challenge.'

'Yeah, I guess so.' Ellie sounded defeated.

'Ellie,' said Ziva. 'You and I have not worked together, but you have worked with Tony and Tim. And they both trust you in the field.

Do not let an 82 defeat you.'

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Ziva walked down the stairs to Gibbs basement. Gibbs and Tony had returned from Vietnam the day before. Tony was having some quality father/ daughter time with Tali. Ellie had called Ziva again after talking to Gibbs.

'Ziver.'

'Gibbs.'

'What are you doing here?'

'I spoke to Ellie. Twice.' Gibbs continued to sand the piece of wood, attempting to ignore Ziva. 'She told me what you said, that you

think it is your fault that Kate and I are no longer at NCIS.'

'Isn't it?' asked Gibbs, turning to Ziva.

'No Gibbs. Kate was killed.' Emotion bubbled in Ziva's voice. 'And nothing you did influenced my decision to resign.'

'Whatever.' Gibbs turned back to his project.

'Gibbs, Kate died. She was killed. You did not pull the trigger.'

'It should have been me who died.' Ziva stared at Gibbs.

'After these years, you still blame yourself.'

'You're damn right!' They stood in the basement, silently. Ziva was waiting for the right moment to start speaking. Gibbs was ignoring her, sanding away. Slowly, Ziva made her way to stand nearer Gibbs.

'You once told me that everyone has a reason for what they do. Your reason has always stayed the same. As has mine.'

'Tali?'

'My sister, yes. For years I wanted to hunt terrorist's responsible for attacks like the one that took my sister's life. Even when I came to NCIS as a liaison, and later as an agent. But when I went back to Israel after Eli died, I realised there were other areas of my reason I wanted to explore.' Gibbs stopped now, listening properly.

'I have helped catch those responsible for terrorist attacks, but Gibbs, Tali had such a generous and creative spirit, even as a child. I wanted to honour that side of her. I had focused so much of my life on Tali's death that I forgot about her life. So now, I chose to focus on that, do something that honours Tali's life instead of her death. You had no influence, or control or power over my decision

to resign. It was down to me and only me.'

Gibbs sat down on a stool. He looked tired, though that might have simply been the jet lag.

'Kate dying is not your fault either. A man called Ari Haswari killed her.'

'Your brother.'

'No, Gibbs. That man was no longer my brother. Just someone who looked like him, who had been twisted and manipulated over years by forces that were beyond our control.' Ziva moved closer so that she was sitting opposite Gibbs.

'I choose to remember the good memories, to focus on them instead of the bad ones. Even when the bad ones come to the surface, the good ones are stronger than them. That is how I choose to live, how Tony and I will raise Tali.'

The corners of Gibbs' mouth turned up ever so slightly into a smile. He was proud of where Ziva was in her life, the changes she had made. Now that they had talked more about why she had resigned, he felt like he could trust his teaching method. Even though Ellie had asked to be pushed, Gibbs was still unsure, for fear of pushing her too much, too far, like he had thought he had done with Ziva.

But, he had been wrong. Ziva also seemed to be in a better place regarding Ari and the death of Kate Todd.

'Ellie wants to be taught the way you taught me, Tony, Tim and Kate. She told me that she wants to be like you.'

'She told me too. Wants to be like Tony and McGee. Called them amazing.'

'They are Gibbs' said Ziva. Gibbs nodded, agreeing with her. 'Tony has worked for you fourteen years and Tim, eleven. There's a reason why they've stuck with you, not taken the promotions they have been offered, something that both us know to be true. They are here because they want to work with you, with this team. You are a good teacher, Gibbs. Trust your gut, Gibbs. You taught us that.'

Gibbs smiled again.

'When did you become so wise?'

'I had a good teacher. We all did.' Gibbs chuckled. Ziva's phone buzzed, alerting her to a message from Tony. 'I better go. Tony says dinner is ready, which means the pizza has arrived.' Gibbs chuckled again. He was amazed at how tuned in to each other Tony and Ziva were.

Before she walked out of the basement, Ziva turned back to Gibbs.

'Please think about what I said.'

'Will do Ziver.'

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