Title: Illuminated

Author: IronIsraeliButterfly

Chapter Title: I'm Coming Home So You Can Lean On Me

A/N: Zivacentric, this is for you… (you know why). Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them coming! (Check up these songs, they're absolutely beautiful.)

"Home
The world tried to break me
I found a road to take me
Home
There ain't nothing but a blue sky now
After all of my running
I'm finally coming
Home"

"Coming Home," Gwyenth Paltrow

Ziva stood in the lift, twisting her ring anxiously. This was her first time in six months being back in the NCIS building. She was nervous. She had no idea what the team would say. After all, she had made a scene and run out on them. Gibbs had said there was nobody that had taken her desk, and while she believed him, she wondered if they wanted anyone to take her desk.

When she had come back from Somalia, she had not felt like this. After all, they had come and rescued her. She had been nervous, because of Tony. But everything had sorted itself out. But now this was a whole different ballgame.

Who said they would accept her back? Why would they want her after she had left? Abby had said that she had wished Ari had shot her, Ziva, and not Kate. Maybe they really were good actors and were still suspicious that she was a spy for Mossad. After all, she had returned to Mossad when she went back to Israel. Gibbs had spent practically the entire plane ride and the better part of dinner and the night reassuring her that they wanted her back, that they had missed her, that Abby would not kill her. Yet the fears lingered, clinging to her brain. They were like puddles after a particularly fierce rainstorm, refusing to leave until a harsh bout of sunlight forced them to start packing.

When she walked into the office, they initially didn't notice her. She had forgotten about the skylight that shone directly on her desk. She noted that nothing had ever changed. Her Sig and badge were sitting on the exact space she had left it. Tony was sitting with his feet up, sipping his vanilla soy latte (she smiled that she remembered his coffee order) and talking into the phone. McGee was buried in his computer, muttering something about how the random access memory was destroying his CPU. Ziva was sorely tempted as she eyed Tony to do what she had done six years ago.

"Having phone sex?"

He would have known that voice from anywhere, and especially that comment. "I'll call you back."

The atmosphere in the office was frozen. McGee looked up, shock on his face. There Ziva stood, a slight smile on her face, looking down at Tony.

He stared back at her.

Unbeknownst to all of them, Gibbs entered and watched the scene unfold. No one was saying anything. McGee and Tony were staring at Ziva as if she was an apparition, something that had just popped out in their midst with no clear entrance point. Tony gazed at her for a long time and then began to speak.

"So that's how it's going to be, is it, Ziva?" he asked, his face and tone unreadable. "You're back?"

"I was stupid for leaving."

Tony raised his eyebrows. McGee cleared his throat and crossed over to Ziva. "But you're smart for coming back," he said, and enveloped her in a hug. "I missed you," he murmured, and Ziva nodded, showing that she felt the same way during their six month separation.

"And you think it's okay?" Tony asked, standing up. "Gibbs was all sorts of cut up when you left."

"Maybe that's why I came back?" Ziva suggested quietly.

"You're lucky, cause I would have crossed the world to bring your Mossad ninja ass back here if it made Gibbs happy." Then the angry look on Tony's face disappeared and he hugged Ziva. "C'mon, show the love."

Gibbs chuckled as he watched the two hugging. They broke part quickly and Ziva went to her desk, putting her ID and Sig in the drawer. Her computer password had not changed, and the security program McGee had installed was still there. Nothing had changed.

"Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow
Lean on me!
when you're not strong
and I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
for it won't be long
'till I'm gonna need
somebody to lean on"

-Lean on Me

Abby stared at the picture that she and Ziva had taken in the year after she had returned from Somalia. She regretted what she had said that horrible evening. Every minute that Abby wasn't working it sat on her conscience. She should have been a good friend, a friend who extended her hand to her friends and gave them her support. She should have been there like when she always used to.

Ziva stood in the doorway, watching her favourite Goth rub her temples with her fingers as she stared down at the picture.

"Abby?" she asked quietly.

Abby turned around, looking at the doorway. She looked at Ziva and her face went white. "Ziva?"

She stared at her for a very long time and then ran to her and enveloped her in a huge bear hug, tears streaming down her face.

"Ziva, Ziva," she sobbed.

"Shh, Shh," Ziva comforted her.

"I'm so sorry," Abby moaned into Ziva's shoulder, and Ziva stood there, rocking her friend back and forth.

"So just call (call) on me brother (hey)
when you need a hand (When you need a hand)
we all need (need) somebody to lean on!
(I just might have a problem)
I just might have a problem that you'll understand
we all need somebody to lean on!"