A/N: The response to the first four chapters was fantastic. Thank you so much. I hope you continue to enjoy. Any questions, feel free to fire me a review or PM.

Ch. 5 As It Stands

The sun was barely up when McGee and Tony burst into the bullpen, Tony from the stairs, McGee from the elevator. Gibbs was taken aback when both marched up to his desk and started speaking at the same time.

"Gibbs, we need to talk," the agents looked at each other, both with an equally confused expression. They both spoke again.

"You first," they said at the same time, Tony rolled his eyes and spoke.

"Boss, we need to talk. Us and Abby and Ducky and Palmer. I have no idea why Probie needs to talk, but we need to talk about-"

"Ziva," interrupted Gibbs, looking between his two agents. Both nodded enthusiastically. Gibbs found the change in his agent remarkable. They'd been robots for the past weeks. They finally seemed back to being themselves.

"Let's go down to autopsy. Less chance of being interrupted." suggested McGee. Gibbs nodded his acquiescence. The trio knew that to be overheard by Director Vance was to invite the director's fury. The elevator stopped at forensics.

"McGee, get Abby. Meet us in autopsy." ordered Gibbs. McGee hurried out.

The forensics lab was quiet and had been so for the better part of three weeks. There was still music, but it was not nearly as loud as it usually was. Another difference was a picture of Ziva on one wall with a tally sheet beneath it. Number of days Ziva had been gone. It appeared as though Labby itself was depressed and knew that things were not right without Ziva around.

McGee proceeded through the doors and found that Abby was not in the main room. Upon further investigation, he noticed her in her back office, working on her computer.

"Hey Abby?" McGee ventured, not wanting to startle her.

"Hey McGee," she greeted. She sounded friendly, but her usual vibrancy was lacking. She like, her lab, was visibly down.

"Hey Abs, we're having a meeting down in autopsy."

"I thought you guys just finished a case. What's in autopsy?" questioned Abby, hers looking at McGee quizzically.

"We, are, um, we need to talk about some recent events." offered McGee. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't feel comfortable speaking about the autopsy meeting openly.

"Did you get a new case?" asked Abby, who was getting annoyed with McGee's evasiveness.

"Not that recent. More like three weeks ago." Abby was about to make a comment on McGee's weird hints until revelation dawned upon her, her face going from understanding to excitement, beaming with a more Abby like joy. She bolted out of her seat, grabbing McGee on her way out of the lab.

"Then why are we still standing here Timmy!?" she asked, clearly much happier than she had been moments before.

Autopsy

Autopsy was dark. The red light that indicated an extreme bio hazard was flashing, warding away all other intruders. And much like the last time Ziva was in trouble, her closest friends, this time including Gibbs, were huddled in a tight circle in the corner of autopsy, a single light illuminating their determined faces.

Gibbs spoke first.

"I think we all know that we're here to talk about Ziva. And it's obvious that three weeks without her hasn't made losing her easier, just worse. McGee and DiNozzo have something to say. When they're done, I'll let you know what I think."

"I'll go first," said McGee. Tony let him speak.

"Like you guys, Ziva's been on my mind a lot lately. I couldn't figure out why, but her departure irked me. Something wasn't right, or well, several somethings. I realized the thing that's been bothering me are the laptops. The one at Abin Tabel's and the one at Ziva's apartment. I know that the basic vibe from Mossad was that Rivkin was here under orders. I'm not saying that that's not true. But something tells me that that's not the only thing Rivkin was doing here. I think the answer is on the charred laptop. Except that, well, we didn't get a close enough look at it after we found out about the Somalian training camp. Vance told Abby and I to copy it onto a flash drive and then to catalog the laptop as evidence. Guys, I want another look at that laptop." finished McGee, a longing to finish a job that yet to be completed. The team nodded in understanding, but Abby frowned.

"McGee, you know that getting another look at that laptop is like, going to be virtually impossible. It's been logged under classified. Vance wouldn't leave the lab until he was sure that I logged it that way. Getting another look at it is going to require his signed permission. Something tells me he's not going to give it." McGee nodded knowingly, but looked back up at the group.

"I don't about the rules anymore. Not for this. Even if looking at that laptop means I lose my job. I can't help but feel that something on that laptop is going to effect Ziva in a negative way."

"I agree Probie," cut in Tony, using his declaration as a cue to speak.

"You weren't in Israel, so you don't know this but only yesterday, I realized that the facts of whatever happened don't add up. First, Eli David never denied Michael's presence at the SecNav's house. Which means, Rivkin was under orders and Eli David knew whatever it was that meeting was about. Ziva couldn't have known about that order because she didn't immediately know what had happened. We spent plenty of time analyzing that crime scene. Ziva didn't really know what was going on. She can't have. When I found out about the Internet being used by Tabel's computer at Ziva's place, I went straight there. I didn't call her. She called to have Michael extracted because she reasoned for herself that he was a liability. I think somethings wrong, dead wrong. We're missing something that went on behind the scenes and honestly, I think that Ziva's is in trouble because of it." Again, the team nodded their agreement. This time it was Jimmy who spoke up.

"Um, out of curiosity, who else knew about that meeting? Other than Rivkin and well, the people there?" Gibbs answered, his face unhappy.

"Vance knew. We got his car on tape driving past the house." Gibbs knew more, but wasn't ready to let on yet. He knew that Leon Vance knew the meeting was about him. He also knew that SecNav intended to use Vance as point man on an op. An op to get information on Mossad. Gibbs focused on the meeting at hand, not wanting to jump to conclusions before getting the facts.

"I agree with both of you. Ziva killed Ari," Gibbs put a hand up to silence the exclamations of surprise that the sudden questions. "Ari was going to shoot me and so Ziva shot him to save me. When I lost my memory, she came to the hospital. It was her telling me the story, reliving the pain, that brought my memory back. What I'm trying to say is that I have never questioned Ziva's loyalty and that it was stupid to start now and what Tony just said proves it. Vance told me she was under Mossad orders to kill Ari and that saving me was part of a plan to gain my trust. Regardless of why Ziva did it, she saved my life by killing her own flesh and blood. I trust Ziva. She's never given me reason not to. Now Vance, Vance is the one I don't trust. I have some suspicions about him. I won't voice them yet, because they need confirmation."

"So in essence," cut in Ducky's clear voice, " we can conclude that while we all may be hurt by the suddenness of everything, after the smoke has cleared, we still trust Ziva?" he posed the question, looking at the small contingent of friends for an answer. Each looked Ducky in the eye and nodded their accent. "Excellent. So then, as Ziva is still our friend, the question must be raised: why hasn't she contacted us? Any of us?" They were silent for a moment, considering the answer. Tony spoke, his voice quiet, his eyes downcast.

"I think it's because she's in trouble. I know that I screwed up with Ziva. I hurt her bad by killing Michael and I haven't apologized for hurting her. But that wouldn't stop her from contacting at least Abby." He looked up, meeting everyone's eyes. " I think somethings up, because at the very least she would have written to say that she was settled. She knew we'd worry. She's known us way to long not to know."

"We have to find her," said Abby.

"This what we need to do. McGee should focus on getting that laptop. I've got a connection down in evidence who owes me a favor. Abby should focus on finding Ziva, or a least some way of contacting her. If she's off the grid, there's got to be some sort of paper trail indicating where she is or what she's been up to. Once McGee gets the information he's looking for off of Tabel's computer, Tony and McGee should investigate any leads they come up with from the computer. Agent Gibbs should follow his suspicions about the director. Dr. Mallard and I can be around to advise and offer suggestions." the looks Jimmy received at that moment were nothing short of bewilderment. At least, everyone except Tony was surprised. Tony grinned at Palmer, proud of his go- to man for advice. Seeming the confused and astonished look, Palmer's beaming grin faltered slightly. His voice became hesitant, less sure.

"O-o-or we c-could, um, do something else," he offered weakly. Gibbs smirked.

"No, I think that that's a solid plan of action. Today is Wednesday. Friday night, eleven o clock. We meet here again. Bring all the information you can find." the team nodded and backed away, ready to start the day. Tony grabbed Jimmy's arm as the assistant walked past him.

"Nicely done, Special Agent Black Lung." he muttered under his breath before striding out.