Ziva pulled up to the home, it was about to hit ten. The only light was the warm glow coming from the lamps in the living room. She walked through the unlocked door, and the ember light that streamed out from the windows got a bit brighter. She felt as if she had been spotted, like she had been caught with a murder weapon and the gun residue stuck on her hands.

A sanding sound was coming from the bottom floor.

He could hear a woman, by the light tap of flats at the top of the stairs.

"Come on down." He hadn't looked up from his work.

Taking this as permission, she quietly and steadily descended the stairs.

He was wearing his usual after-work blue jeans and an old grey NIS sweatshirt. When she didn't say anything like he thought she would, he looked up, "Ziver."

She liked the way it sounded, like old rust coming off a bike. "Gibbs."

Motioning her to take a seat, "well, ya look…" he wanted to say alive, "good".

She sat down in the corner of the room, where his work lamp and tools gathered on the wall, took a breath to respond to this vague statement, "well, I feel…good".

He emptied a glass that contained old nails and replaced it with the notorious bourbon, "who called first?"¬

Not much for drawn out sentences only statements that drew a clear point, Gibbs had always made a great investigator; he got to the truth. She knew he was asking about DiNozzo.

"I called first. I knew he would go looking for me when Orli introduced him to Tali."

He corrected her, "he would go looking for you when he thought you were dead."

She takes a much needed drink and finishes what he wants to hear, "I know Vance and you knew what I was doing (over there). I could not leave Israel and bring Tali here."

"I know."

"With Kort still alive, someone had to get Tali to Tony…I trusted Orli. I kept the fact that that little girl was mine to very few people." An attitude of resilience shows on her face, "my father, my sister, any other casualty…no one will ever take what is mine again. Ever. "

He nodded and leaned against the table, facing her. "That's what happens when you become a parent, Ziva."

"Yes, it does."

A moment passes and then he brought out a chisel from his tool case. "Remember this?"

Her eyes light up, "My apology gift to you, of course".

They both share a small smile. "Still a nice chisel, one of the best ones I got."

"I feel like I should go out and get you ten more!" Her voice changes, "I am so sorry." She stands up and walks to him.

"Don't be. Apologizing…" He shakes his head, "not necessary". Of all the people, even Anthony, he knew better than all of them what Ziva had to do. He too had a past that was drudged with ache that turned vengeful at one point.

Quietly she says "thank you" and then gives him a tight hug then reaches for the sandpaper, "so, no boat?"

"Finished boat. Working on a new project."

She picks up an unfinished wooden leg of some furniture sort, "table?"

"Chair."

Putting down the leg, she scans the room, almost like she's looking for evidence, "Amazing. You say you just finished a boat…but there is no boat here."

Gibbs shows a brief amused smirk before he returns to his automatic Gibbs face, "Uh-huh"

"Tell me, how do you get the boat out? You said yourself you would tell me one day and-"

"Yeah, one day. You're not dead, you can wait."

She was persistent, "Gibbs! But you could have thought I was dead."

"Never did."

"Ugh! You are unshakeable."

Ziva wasn't one of his employees, she was family. A few years had mellowed him out and her presence was so welcomed he thought to make her day.

"Ziva."

"Yes?"

"I'll tell you" he wipes his hands on a rag, "if you tell me how you went about breaking my rules".

Her eyes dart side to side, a dear caught in the heads lights, then her natural Ziva returned, "I will take you up on that offer".

"So."

She begins, "So, some rules were meant to be broken?"