Thank you to everyone who is reading & reviewing. For those of you reviewing, I apologize that I haven't been able to respond personally to you, but know that I am reading each and everyone of them.

Special shout out to alix33 for catching my spelling & grammar errors. Know that I am working on getting them corrected & I hope they haven't taken away from the enjoyment of the story.

Here's something a little fun for you guys, I have a very small, teeny weeny, barely there, mention of a cross over. Let's see who can catch it & if you know what show it is in reference to ... I'll give you one hint, it is a currently running show but not necessarily on the same station as NCIS. If enough readers catch it, I may just give you a prize. Happy hunting!

Anyway, on to the story ... that don't any any of the characters of ... but so enjoy writing about!

The next two weeks went by without any change of routine. Five of the six of them visiting Tim. Four of them working, while the other two lamented their loss and suffered in their guilt.

On the day that Tony and Gibbs were to come back, Ziva had to admit to herself that she was a bit nervous. She knew Ducky understood, at least in part, why she wasn't going to the Loving Heart Center. Abby had somewhat begrudgingly accepted Ziva's explanation, although she was sure it was Ducky's intervention that calmed the Goth.

This would be the first time in a month that she had seen either Gibbs or Tony and she wondered what their reaction was going to be.

As usual Gibbs was there first. When Ziva came off the elevator, she nodded a greeting to her team leader, who nodded back. She noticed he seemed at peace with himself. He has come to terms with his actions and is making, what he believes is the proper restitution.

They worked in comfortable silence until DiNozzo arrived. He was the exact opposite of Gibbs. One look and anyone would see that he was full of anger. He slammed his backpack down, flopped into his chair, and pounded on the computer keys. He didn't greet anyone.

Ziva had a feeling there would be a confrontation coming soon with him. She sighed. I hope it is sooner rather than later. I do not want him interfering in what I am planning.

None of them knew how to break the now uncomfortable silence. They didn't have to suffer long. Director Vance came down and summoned them all to his office. Entombed in the same silence, all three marched upstairs, entered Vance's office and sat down.

Vance eyed each of them, he had never seen any of them this quiet. He took a deep breath and started. "Welcome back. I know the last month has been trying for all of you. Which is why we are going to reintegrate you slowly."

He paused waiting for some type of response from someone, but when none came, he continued. "You will start off on cold cases, then once I feel you are ready I will let you act as back-up support for other teams, until finally, I feel you are ready to be back out in the field."

Another pause, still no reactions.

"During that time, you will all be going through psychological counseling and evaluations. The counseling, I will have no access to, but the evaluations I will. Those will determine how soon this team returns to full activity."

He looked at each of them, starting to worried about his decision to allow them back. "Also, when needed, you can have the assistance of Cyber-Crimes ... I will not push you to replace Agent McGee's position."

Finally, the was some reaction, though nothing verbal. Ziva's eyes darted away from the Director and she looked someplace off to her left. Tony visibly flinched and stared at his hands. Gibbs eyes never moved, but a shadow crossed over them and he stiffened slightly.

"Do any of you have any questions?"

Still no one said anything. "Very well. I will have the cold cases brought to you. You are dismissed."

Everyone rose as one and filed out as they had come, still not a word muttered.

Leon watched them leave and sighed heavily once his door was closed. He had a feeling that none of them were going to come back from this and he was going to have to either reassign them or select a new team to be the MCRT. The thing was, he couldn't figure out why. They had bounced back from every death that had confronted them. Granted, McGee wasn't dead, but still ...

He shook his head, stood and walked over to the picture of Muhammad Ali. Maybe it was because of the unknown nature of why Tim was in a coma that had his team thrown off. What ever it was, he knew only time would tell. SecNav wasn't happy about having the top NCIS team grounded, but it was also the least of his worries. He had granted Vance the leeway he wanted in dealing with his broken team. Now, let's see if they can be fixed.

XXXX

Both Ducky and Abby came by the bullpen, trying to get things back to normal - but the vibe was just all wrong. With Tony's smoldering anger, it created a barricade that none of them could break through.

During the first week, Gibbs and Ziva found leads on their cold cases. Tony was too angry to focus on anything.

Ziva could feel his eyes on her any time she moved. When she met his eyes, she saw nothing but anger and contempt.

By the start of the second week, Ziva decided she wasn't going to wait anymore for Tony to make his move. She waited and watched. When he finally decided to march down to Cyber-Crimes for an attempted at a lead, she darted into the elevator with him.

He lasted all of three seconds before he flipped the emergency stop. "Why haven't you been to see Tim?"

Ziva closed her eyes, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and turned to face him. "Because he is not there Tony."

"What do you mean? Of course he's there!"

"His empty shell of a body is there, but all that made McGee who he is, is gone. Remember, we saw Death rip it out of him." She said with no inflection to her voice.

"Yeah, Ziva, I remember!" He slammed his fist on the elevator wall next to him. "I remember that I took my friend for granted. I remember that he was supposed to have been dead long before we ever met. I remember that Death was punishing us for being stupid!"

He pounded the wall again. "That's why you need to be there! It's our punishment, damn it!"

"Is that ..."

He cut her off before she could finish her sentence. "Or maybe you don't feel that you're being punished. Maybe your glad that the bumbling probie is out of the way. You never had much patience with him ... never really cared ..."

He didn't get to finish his rant because Ziva punched him hard in the gut. "Don't you ever question how I feel about McGee! He was the first one who welcomed me to the team! The first to say he would be proud to have me as an American! The first .." Her emotions got the better of her and she had to stop.

Tony straightened and glared at her. "Then why aren't you visiting him! Maybe, if we show that we're sorry ... that we realize how wrong we were ... maybe he'll give Tim back."

"When has Death ever listened to the pleas of the living!? One must confront Death and take what you want!"

Tony narrowed his eyes at his partner. "What do you have planned?"

"That is not your concern." She turned from him and put the elevator back into motion.

For the first time, something broke through his haze of anger. He reached out to offer comfort, but she jerked away from him. When the door opened she stormed off, leaving Tony to stare after her.

XXXX

Soon two more weeks went by and another month was gone.

Abby had stopped visiting everyday as cases kept her occupied, but still made sure to stop by at least weekly ... as did Ducky and Jimmy. Gibbs and Tony kept up their daily pilgrimage, Gibbs going both before and after work ... and the days trudged on.

XXXX

Ziva tiredly pulled herself into her apartment. She closed her door and leaned her back and head against it.

It had been a rough day. She had solved one of her cold cases, but it had hit too close to home. A Navy geek had hidden his tracks well after killing a former high school bully. It was now ten years later, and with the help of Cyber-Crimes, Ziva was able to finally bring him to justice. However, it didn't feel like justice.

Lieutenant Donovan Ford had kept his nose clean and had done much to advance Navy Intelligence since making a terrible decision all those years ago. When he was brought in, he was so much like McGee, that it was hard for Ziva to conduct the interrogation. She was glad Agent Brooks was there to pick up her slack.

Ford had stayed quiet until Brooks starting laying out the evidence, then he admitted everything. How his former tormentor, at the time Petty Officer Jason Chrissman, was trying to pick up where he left off in high school. The confrontation turned ugly and Chrissman was killed in self defense. Fearing no one would believe him, Ford covered his actions.

He looked directly at Ziva. "I felt so bad about what I had done. Thought many times about turning myself in ... about suicide ... but then I would get angry at Jason. Why should he still be taking things away from me when he was the one who was wrong?"

There was an underlying air of anger and entitlement that Ford carried. It was something never felt with McGee.

Ziva closed her eyes. I am glad that he has done so much good for both the Navy and military overall. He will have a good defense lawyer. Although, she knew his military career was over. She had never before felt such empathy for a suspect ... and she knew that was not good.

She had canceled her Latin lesson for today, knowing she wouldn't be able to concentrate. A knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts. She almost decided to ignore it, but changed her mind. She looked through her peep hold and was surprised to see the building manager.

She gently opened the door. "Mrs. Phillips, what can I do for you?"

The fifty-ish woman smiled sweetly. "You forgot to pick up your mail today. I noticed that recently, it seems like you've been looking for something." She handed over a medium sized package and some envelopes.

"Oh ... Yes, thank you."

Mrs. Phillips nodded and walked away. Ziva stood there for a moment, then closed the door excitedly. She put the envelopes off to the side and tore into the package. Once opened, she gently lifted out the mirror she had ordered from a New Orleans occult shop. The backing was pure obsidian, the reflective part polished to perfection, being held in by silver edging. It was absolutely beautiful.

Worried she might break it before it was needed, Ziva put it securely back into its packaging. Then stood and carried it gingerly to her bedroom. In a corner, hidden by her bed and nightstand, she had a backpack and other supplies amassing for when the day finally came for their use.

She smiled as she looked at her preparations, then it slowly fell. I still have not heard anything from the Priestess. I wonder how much longer ...

Now, she sighed and went back out into her living room. She saw the stack of envelopes, knowing most were bills. "I am not really in the mood to deal with something so ... materialistic." Ziva spoke out loud to no one. "However, I must keep pushing forward ..." she grabbed the mail and sat down at her counter.

She separated the bills from the junk ... until she came to an unusual piece. It was plain white envelope with Ziva's address scrawled in an unfamiliar handwriting, no return address, and post marked from ...

... Portland, Oregon? She thought in confusion. I know no one from there.

She almost threw it away as junk, but curiosity got the better of her. She opened it carefully, pulling out two folded pieces of pages torn from a book. After reading it, her excitement started to build again.

She had received a ... spell was the only thing she could call it. Yes, a spell ..., she nodded to herself, ... that instructs me on how to properly prepare the Nightshade. I was worried about that, I didn't think cut flowers would last very long.

She read the spell two more times, noticing that she would need more ingredients ... rosemary, thyme, sage and wolf's bane. Well, most of it I can get at my local farmers' market without drawing any attention ... but wolf's bane?

She flew to her computer, looking for a different occult shop that carried the herb. Ziva's energy skyrocketed as did her spirits. Now that she was starting to receive mail from the Priestess, she knew her time table was finally progressing.