Gibbs set his SIG on the ground, motioning for Tony and McGee to do the same. They followed his lead and kicked their weapons across the bare floor of the unfinished apartment complex toward the two men armed with AK-103 assault rifles from the illegally imported crates that NCIS had tracked to this location. The door slammed as the third armed man maintained his position behind them. "That's smart. Maybe you'll all stay alive. Now keep your hands on your heads and lie down on the ground."

Another nod was all it took for Tony and McGee to comply with the order. Gibbs took his time, hoping they'd assume his age forced him to move slower. He was still kneeling when he said loudly and clearly, "I'm sure we can work something out, Lt. Haverbrook."

One of the men in front of him nervously said, "Shit, Buck, they know who we are!"

"Shut up!" Haverbrook wasted no time shoving the muzzle of his weapon into Gibbs' neck. "How d'you know my name?"

"You logged into your personal email account at a base computer."

"Fuck. Is that on file or are you three the only ones who know?"

Gibbs heard an odd series of taps from somewhere behind the wall and smiled. "Four."

"What?"

Gibbs dove forward, hitting the floor just as the drywall crashed inward and the thunder of automatic fire filled the room. When he looked up a moment after silence fell, Ziva towered over him, still brandishing two guns that were definitely not standard NCIS issue. After a moment when no one moved, Tony sprang forward, kicking weapons out of reach before placing two fingers on the necks of each man who'd been waiting to ambush them when they'd entered the room. "Both dead, boss."

"Haverbrook is alive," McGee said.

Gibbs allowed the standard process to proceed, with ambulances and backup and Ducky arriving over the course of the next twenty minutes. He sent Tony to the hospital to keep an eye on Haverbrook, although the precaution was not related to any fear of Haverbrook, with his multiple gut wounds, escaping. When Gibbs felt enough time had passed, he approached Ziva, who had stepped back through her wall shortly after bursting through and remained there. "You gonna put those down anytime soon?"

She looked up, but didn't loosen her grip on the weapons she was still holding. "What?"

"You got those from the crate they opened, right?" She nodded and he gently seized her shoulders. "We need to log those as evidence."

"Oh. Right." She rapidly stripped both, lining up the components in a precise order on workbench and saying as she did so, "I guess I was just remembering. The first weapon I ever fired was a Kalashnikov."

Words of comfort and permission not to feel guilty died on his lips. "Your first gun was an assault rifle?"

"Not mine, exactly." A long silence ensued before she finally continued, "My father had an old AK-47 he'd gotten when…it is not important. I should be…"

Before she shut down completely, Gibbs prompted, almost jealously, "Your father let you shoot with his gun."

"He made me." She took a deep breath and stared at the disassembled weapons in front of her. "I was not supposed to touch it. I was not even supposed to be in his study, but Ari…" she took a deep breath, "dared me. I think he believed I would not do it, but I cannot be sure. Not now."

McGee didn't need help cataloging the arms cache. Gibbs leaned against a beam bearing a jagged edge of drywall on its opposite side. He skipped any comment about Ari. "And your father caught you playing with the AK?"

"No, not playing. I remember just standing there, holding it. It was so heavy. I think once I took it down, I knew I could not lift it back up and…I froze. My father walked into the room and I don't know how long I had been standing there. I was so sure he would yell…"

"What did he do?"

"He took us – the weapon and I – to a firing range. I thought it was just a field at the time, but…anyway, I could not hold the weapon up once he had loaded it, so he had to help me. Even so, the noise and the recoil…I got so scared that I began to cry. I think I fell down as well. And he didn't tell me to stop crying or scold me for failing; he told it was his fault for waiting so long to…I suppose that part of it is my fault. I felt bad for being weak, so I asked to try again a few weeks later. I wanted to impress him. He let me use his Glock when…" Her eyes lost the cloudy aura of reminiscence. "Do we have to talk about this?"

Gibbs made an effort to keep his hands in his pockets and not to throw an arm around her shoulders. "Nope."

"Thank you."

"But I do expect you to…"

"I will get the boxes." She was very quiet for the rest of the time spent at the scene.

Tony was waiting when they returned to the squad room. "Hey, boss, got a probie sitting on Haverbrook in the ICU. And there's Ziva, warrior princess." He elbowed her in the ribs in an over-compensative gesture. "I'll buy you a burger after work if you promise not to use your round killing thing on me."

"What?"

"Nothing. It was a dumb TV show, anyway. Burger, though, right?"

"Sure."

Gibbs beckoned him over when Ziva slipped away to the head later in the day. "Don't push it, DiNozzo."

"What? I haven't said anything all evening! And that includes complaining about being stuck here well into the evening."

"I mean at dinner. Don't piss her off."

"Hey, you know me!"

"Exactly."

"I was gonna say that all you have to do is ask."

Gibbs eyed him critically, but said nothing, as Ziva had returned. "That's enough for today. I'll see you all at 0700." The flight was immediate.

"I will catch up, " Ziva called to Tony as he and McGee disappeared into the elevator. Gibbs gave her time to ensure that no one was listening in. "Gibbs, about earlier, I know I do not have to ask, but…"

"I wouldn't bring it up unless…"

"I won't," she stated firmly.

"Then I won't either." As she left, he wondered if it wasn't the right approach.