HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Big time jump here. Don't know where it came from, but it came to me and thus I just went with it. If I don't go with it my Muse tends to get mad.

A/N: Don't forget to check out the album I made for Four Days. It's next to Four Days under the Current Projects section of my profile. I did add a few more pics from this chapter so take a look.

Hope ya'll like! Hope ya'll have a wonderful Turkey Day!

VillageVoice

[18 Months Later]

"Hey Abby, I need those-"

"Finger print results?" Abby finished, twirling around as Gibbs entered her lab. "I'm working on it Gibbs."

"Work faster.

"Gibbs! I can only push my babies so fast before they french-fry, and I will not put any one of them through that again. Well, not purposefully." She smirked, turning back to her computer. Her nose twitched. "Do I smell Caf-Pow?"

Gibbs shrugged. "I don't know. Do I smell DNA results?"

Abby sighed. "I'm still working on that too." Gibbs just stared at her. "Gibbs, you do know that I work for all of NCIS, right? Not just Team Gibbs minus one?" She refused to call it Team Gibbs without Ziva, so she had promptly started calling the team Team Gibbs minus one shortly after Ziva left.

"Put a rush on it."

Abby turned around to face Gibbs. "You do know that I work for all of NCIS, right?" She reiterated. "Not just you."

"Eh." He walked away slowly, dangling a Caf-Pow. "Who else brings you these?"

Abby pouted and stomped her feet. She was swamped and as much as she would like to, she couldn't just make the computer or any of her other machines run faster with the snap of her fingers. She also couldn't put everything Gibbs brought her ahead of everything brought to her by every other team at NCIS. "I will try to speed things up here Gibbs, but it has been crime city these past few weeks. I have evidence that has been sitting here since last Tuesday that I haven't even had the chance to look at yet, never mind start processing."

Gibbs took a step back and crossed the threshold out of the lab - with the Caf-Pow still in hand.

"I'll put a rush on it! Well not a rush, because my rushes are backlogged by at least a week, but a rush-rush." She cocked her head, trying to remember how far her rushes were backed up. It was probably more than a week. "Maybe a rush-rush rush rush. . . Maybe?"

Gibbs walked back into the lab and deposited the Caf-Pow right into Abby's hands and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You're the best Abs."

Abby took a long sip of her over caffeinated drink and turned back to her computer. "I do what I can." She waited until she heard the doors close behind Gibbs and looked over at Bert. "Good thing he didn't ask about the ballistics."

Tony picked up his desk phone and dialed the extension for Abby's lab. The team had the night off and Tony knew that when they had the night off, Abby did too. A few rings later there was still no answer. He tried her cell, but that went straight to voicemail. "Abby's not answering so I'm going to go down there and see if she wants to come with us."

McGee nodded. "I'll be here."

Tony waited patiently for the elevator to drop him off at his allotted floor. When it finally let him off at Abby's lab, he felt all the energy and excitement he had for their night off drain from his body. He suddenly felt like something was holding him down. There was a weight that hadn't been there a second before.

He stepped into Abby's lab to find her sitting in the dark in her office, which wasn't unusual for the team's resident night owl. But she was sitting back in her chair clutching Bert close to her chest. Even Harley, a large now full grown dog with long flowing golden fur, barley lifted her head from her black, skull and plaid bed beside Abby's desk when Tony walked in. "Hey Abs!" He said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

Abby looked up and gave Tony a soft smile. "Hey Tony."

"Gibbs gave us the night off."

Abby nodded, bringing her chin back down to rest on Bert's back.

"McGee and I are heading to the bar. Wanna join?"

"Thanks Tony, but I'm not really up for it tonight."

"What do you mean you're not up for it tonight? You're up for it every night."

Abby took a breath and motioned Tony closer. When he was right next to her she popped up the digital calendar on her computer. "It's been eighteen months and two weeks today since Ziva was taken from us."

"Oh . . . I'm sorry Abby, I didn't know."

"It's okay." Abby sighed. "I just thought we'd get her back."

"You don't think so anymore?"

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what to think anymore Tony."

Tony wrapped his arms around Abby and held her tight. He didn't know what to say and he knew that where Abby was concerned, hugs were far better anyway.

"It's been eighteen months Tony! That's almost two years. McGee has given up, you've given up, Director Vance never even tried to get her back, even Gibbs-"

"We haven't given up Abs." Tony reassured the Goth as he kneeled down beside her. "We will keep fighting and searching until she is standing right here in this lab do you understand me?" Abby slowly nodded. "We will get her back Abby."

Abby looked deep into Tony's eyes for several seconds before throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his neck. "I miss her so much Tony."

"We all do Abs. You sure you don't want to come out with us tonight?"

Abby shook her head and offered Tony a smile, slipping out of Tony's embrace. "Thanks, but no. I can't. Gibbs would kill me."

"Why?"

"Well beside the fact that I'm having dinner with him tonight, apparently I drink too much."

Tony scoffed. "Go figure."

"I still maintain that it is perfectly normal to get passed-out drunk at least once a week." Abby called over her shoulder as she headed into the bathroom to change.

Tony headed toward the elevator. "That explains so much."

Gibbs never used any part of his house often besides the basement. He ate at NCIS, he slept at NCIS and he even showered at NCIS. But for Abby he dusted out his oven and cleaned off the dining room table, even plugging his refrigerator in and buying groceries. He had made a cheese and broccoli ravioli, something Kelly had loved and thus he was pretty good at making it. It was one of Abby's favorite dishes as well.

He walked back into the kitchen with the last from the table to find Abby washing the dishes in the sink. "Figured the dishwasher was just for show."

Gibbs added the plates to the pile Abby was working on and opened the dishwasher door. He couldn't remember ever even having the thing installed. "You probably figured right. But you don't have to do the dishes Abs."

"One person cooks, the other cleans up after. That's how it works."

"Is that how it worked with you and Ziva?"

Abby handed a plate to Gibbs to dry. "Yeah."

Gibbs put the dried plate in the cabinet and took the next Abby was holding out. "You did most of the cleaning then."

Abby chuckled. "Yeah."

"I'll bet you haven't used your kitchen since she's been gone either."

"No." Abby admitted softly.

Gibbs reached over and turned off the water and unplugged the drain. "You've gotten thin Abs."

Abby ignored him and picked up the glasses, turning the water back on to wash them. "I'm fine Gibbs."

Gibbs put it aside for the moment. He would keep a more careful eye on her and make sure she was eating by bringing food rather than Caf-Pows down to her lab, and by making these dinners a more frequent occurrence. "What did you want to talk to me about tonight Abs?"

Abby turned off the water and turned around to face Gibbs. "I'm going away Gibbs."

"Where?"

"Not relevant. What is relevant is that I've been at NCIS for many, many years now and it's time for a change."

"I'm listening."

"I've gotten around three or four job offers every year since I started this job, but over the last few months I've been getting that many every few weeks. So . . . I have decided it's time for a change. I'm leaving NCIS."

"What brought on this need for change Abby?"

Abby cringed. So she was back to being Abby now. That was never good; Abs, yes – Abby, not usually. She had managed to hide from Gibbs for a couple of days, but Tony and McGee were out of the office so neither was able to call down and warn her that Gibbs was going down to the lab. Abby looked up from her microscope. "I can't be here anymore Gibbs, it's too . . . Walking up to tell you or McGee or Tony what some test results showed and seeing Ziva's desk empty day after day. It's too hard." She turned back to her microscope.

Gibbs remained silent. He knew the best way he could help Abby was to let her talk and she would work things out for herself.

"I thought she'd be back by now Gibbs. You said you would get her back – you promised me that you would get her back. It's been eighteen months! That's . . ." She walked away from her microscope and started pacing around her lab, walking past the wall she had covered with pictures of Ziva as well as a post-it with the day count of how long she'd been gone. "That's . . . eighteen months! Everyone says that there's still hope she'll come back, that they're all still fighting. But fighting what Gibbs? If her father doesn't want her to come back no amount of hope or fighting is going to bring her here. I just," She shook her head, stopping to look over her Ziva shrine. She ran a finger over the picture of Ziva she has taken with her cell phone all those years ago.

"I need to get away from here. I need to move on – well not move on, but go on, continue on." She looked to Gibbs. "My brother and his wife just had another baby- another two actually, twin boys. And my niece has been feeling neglected and asking for some Auntie Abby time. I've been getting pretty impressive offers from this one place that have kept getting more and more impressive each year and they made their final offer about a month ago and I accepted. My own state-of-the-art lab, normal working hours with nights and weekends completely off, vacation time, a salary three times what I'm currently making . . . I couldn't pass it up Gibbs. And it's only twenty minutes from my brother's house.

"This place, it kills people Gibbs. It kills people and it lets its valued employees be ordered back to foreign countries thousands of miles away against their will and it sends people to live in the middle of oceans . . . I need to be somewhere where I don't have to pray that my friends will make it into work in the morning or home at night. I don't want to have to pray every single time one of you leave the building that you will return. I don't want to keep getting calls at two in the morning saying someone is in the hospital or someone's been shot or stabbed or someone is in a coma. I've been attacked how many times in this lab? I just . . ." She looked down at her hand. "I want to be able to watch my niece and nephews grow-up. I need to be reminded that there is still good in the world Gibbs."

Gibbs took a minute to take everything in. Abby was the last. He had officially lost every last woman in his life. "Family's important." He had let her down. She was his family and he let her down. He turned and walked out of the lab.

"Do you have your passport?"

Ziva raised an eyebrow and held her passport up for her father to see. This wasn't the first time she was going to another country for a mission. She knew what she was doing.

"And your bag?" Eli asked.

Ziva kicked the bag at her feet. "I have done this before."

Eli nodded. "Of course of course. It is just…"

"It is just the first time you are letting me leave alone on a mission in the eighteen months since you ordered me back to Israel."

"Ziva are you really still on that?" He opened a drawer and pulled out a large manila envelope, tossing it to the edge of his desk. "As you said, it has been eighteen months. People have moved on." He nodded to the envelope as a sign for Ziva to take it. "Including your dear Abby."

Ziva remained where she was until her curiosity got the better of her and she grabbed the envelope off her father's desk on her way out the door. Her father did not deserve the satisfaction of seeing any reaction she may or may not have.

"Ziva." Ziva paused at the doorframe. "Congratulations." He said.

Ziva ran out the door. How could he know? He couldn't know, she barely knew. She pushed the thought far from her mind and got into the car waiting for her. Slowly she opened the envelope and poured the contents into her lap. Abby had moved. The first picture was of her and a man in a suit with a some real estate company nametag pinned on his pocket. He was handing Abby a key and a packet of documents. It was a big dark stone house with a big yard just like she had always wanted, and the dog she had been yearning for was sitting obediently at her feet. She also had a new job Ziva noted, picking up the next picture. Ziva felt a picture slip off her lap and reached down to pick it up. Abby had a new family too. The photograph showed Abby and a handsome man with dark brown hair and striking blue eyes fawning over two newborn infants. They looked very happy.

Ziva wiped a tear from her eye and stuffed the pictures back into the envelope. She did not need to see the rest. It took nine months, give or take a couple of days or weeks to have a baby. That means Abby only waited for her for her to return for nine months. Ziva shook her head. She didn't even wait a year.

Half an hour later the driver dropped her off at the airport and waited until she was inside the departure gates before he got back in his car and drove off. Ziva stepped out of the check-in line and dialed a familiar number into her cell. "Ben? . . . It is time."

"What about the pictures?" He asked, stepping out of the men's room next to Ziva.

Ziva shut her cell. "I do not care. I cannot do this anymore." She walked over to the trashcan and dropped the envelope and the pictures into it. "I do not want to." Ben held out a matchbook and Ziva smiled up to him. They were safely on the plane by the time anyone noticed the flames shooting out of the barrel.

Abby packed her last leather studded dog collar into her bag and zipped it shut, taking one last look around the room. She would leave Ziva's things where they were. Eighteen months later it still hurt like the first morning she woke-up without Ziva. Ziva's whole side of the bureau had remained untouched since the last time the Israeli touched it. Tony and McGee would secure the drawers before they moved it into the truck so that nothing would fall out. Everything would stay where Ziva had last left it. Ready and waiting for her return.

"Abby, anything else you need us to grab before we start on the furniture?" Tony asked, poking his head into the room. He didn't dare to enter without expressed permission, preferably written and notarized with a witness present.

Abby took a deep breath and slung the bag over her shoulder, shaking her head. She smiled as she passed Tony, stopping at the front door. "Actually Tony, could you get my album? It's in the first draw on the left in the bureau." Abby asked. "Please?"

Tony groaned and walked into Abby's room. Damn her adorable pout. She was like the little sister he never wanted because she always got everyone to do everything for her. That wasn't really true. Abby was pretty independent and did just about everything for herself. But still, no one could resist that pout. Not even Gibbs. He entered the room and walked over to the bureau. He opened a drawer and his eyes went wide. He picked up a camo and pink lace bra and just stared at it.

When Tony didn't come out after a few seconds Abby walked over to the doorframe of her room. She smirked. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you, Tony."

Tony was too entranced to let go of the garment. "Why not?"

Abby crossed her arms over her chest. "It's Ziva's."

The bra immediately fell from Tony's grasp. He looked over at Abby. "No it's not."

Abby raised an eyebrow and reached over, picking up the bra. "I could show you pictures." She returned the bra to the drawer and closed it shut. "But I don't think Ziva would appreciate it."

"Oh no, she would." Tony protested.

Abby put her hands on her hips. "Gibbs in that bra."

Tony immediately snapped out of it. "That was not nice."

"Neither is imagining my girlfriend in her bra."

"Good point." Tony admitted defeat. "But did you have to say Gibbs?" He shook his head. "It's going to take a while to get that image out of my head."

"Would you rather I'd said Ducky?"

Tony put his hands over his eyes. "Why Abby?"

Abby chuckled. "And for future reference Tony." Abby began, opening the drawer next to the one Tony had opened and picking up a small black and silver photo album. "This is the left."

Tony followed Abby and the album with his eyes. "Hey," His feet quickly caught up with him and he ran after Abby. "Are those the pictures?"

Abby laughed and let him grab the album as he ran past her out of the apartment. "Tony!" She called after him, tossing him her bag. "I'll be down in a minute." Tony nodded and ran toward the elevator, afraid Abby would take the album back. Abby shook her head and smiled. It wasn't even their private album. That was safely tucked away and hidden among her underwear, and Tony and McGee both had good enough sense not to go anywhere near that suitcase.

She walked back into the apartment and took one last look around. She wasn't above moving the furniture herself, but Tony, McGee and a couple of her other guy friends had offered and Abby didn't dare encroach on their manly masculinity.

"Are you Abby Sciuto?"

Abby turned around at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. "Depends on who wants to know."

The man picked up a package from beside him that had been hidden by the door and held it out to Abby. "Delivery."

"Oh yeah, then I'm her." She took the package.

"Sign here please." Abby took the clipboard and scribbled what only she would ever be able to identify as her name.

Abby took the package and noticed there was no return address on it. "Is there a return address?"

The delivery man checked his sheet. "Sorry ma'am. Have a nice day."

"You too."

She watched the man walk down the hall and closed the door once he was out of sight. "I'll ignore the fact that he just called me ma'am." She said to no one, taking the package and setting it on the dining room table. "What could you be?" After careful inspection that it was not emitting any sounds, smells or vibrations that it would blow up in her face Abby made short work of the tape holding the package together. Something told her this was nothing that was going to hurt her.

Under pounds and pounds of packing peanuts was a furry jet black stuffed bear. It was wearing a red ribbed tank top with a black rhinestone scull in the center, a red, black and white plaid skirt, pretty adorable mock platform boots with red laces and chains, and even an adorable little white lab coat with NCIS embroidered over the pocket. The forensic scientist's heart broke. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen. "You are so cute!"

She put the bear down to look at her and noticed something poking out among the packing still in the box. Tears immediately sprung to the Goth's eyes as she unfolded the small paper. All it said was,

'Paris'

"Hey Abby you ready?"

Abby quickly wiped her tears and pocketed the letter. She picked the bear back up and turned to McGee with a smile on her face. "Yeah." She looped her arm through McGee's. "Let's go."