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It had been a couple of weeks after Abby's outburst. This time lunch had gone a lot better. At least until McGee was dumb enough to talk before his brain caught up with his mouth. There had been a news report on ZNN earlier that day about some terrorists finally being found, Mossad reporting that with these criminals found the world was a little safer again. Thanks to the hard work of their officers. Stupidly asking Abby if she thought Ziva had had anything to do with it. As if thunderclouds suddenly surrounded them Abby once again stormed off. Note to self, keep my mouth shut McGee thought as he came down to his desk. There he saw that his desk was taken by someone ells. One of the people who worked under him.

"Boss" Josh said

"What are you doing by my desk Josh?"

"The..uh…Director Vance assigned me as leader, and uh..you are pla-placed back in your old team."

Dazzled McGee walked back to the elevator and pressed up, and indeed as he walked into the old safety of the bullpen he saw that his stuff was placed in boxes on his desk. It took him the rest of the day to put all of his belongings back to where they were before the summer started. He only saw Gibbs for a moment when he walked past the desks on his way to the elevator. They shared a look, Gibbs giving a short nod to McGee. Him taking it as a sign that Gibbs was pleased he was back. The other two desks stayed empty. No traces of the temporary team having been assigned to Gibbs but also no sign of their previous occupants.

The next morning when he excited the elevator and came to the bullpen he saw that one of the desks had been filled.

"Probie!" he heard before he saw him.

"Tony, what are you doing here?"

"Being reassigned back. Was beginning to worry I had to stay on the ship forever. I got the orders yesterday, flew back in the evening. It's good to be back." Both men shaking each other's hands "How long have you been back?"

"Yesterday afternoon, after having lunch with Abby"

"Yes, I should go say hello to her." Tony started to make his way through the bullpen to the elevator when he stopped in front of Ziva's desk. "Did our Mossad ninja get back yet?"

"She's not here Tony. I have been wanting to ask you, have you heard from her?"

"No, I thought you would have , I mean I have been on a ship all this time. I thought there was a problem with communication. Do you remember at the start I would get all the emails from Abby and you from a whole week all at once. You should have asked Abby maybe she's heard from Ziva." He turned to continue his way to the elevator and down into Abby's lab.

"You better not do that Tony" McGee answered him "I had just lunch with Abby she asked about Ziva and when I did not know anything she kind of flipped"

Still Tony left, but after he came back he gave McGee a look that said that Abby was still in the same mood as McGee had last seen her in. Tony had not even gotten the chance to ask Abby anything. She had reacted just as he expected when she saw him, jumping up and down. Hugging him until he could not breath. After she almost shooed him out of her lab. Stating a lot of work backed up needing to fully concentrate. He had tried to ask her about Ziva then. Abby had shushed him said "Ask McGee" and actually closed the door to her lab behind him.

With just being back and not wanting to disturbed the forces that be neither McGee nor Tony dared to ask Gibbs if he knew if Ziva was coming back. And so for the rest of the week they tried to get into their old rhythm again. Being fully aware one of the matching beats was missing.

Eyes slowly opening trying to focus and a slight soft moan was how Ziva woke the next day. She felt sore all over, feeling drowsy and on edge at the same time. It took her a while to piece her memory back together from the day before. With remembering came the wish she never had. A feeling as if ice cold water ran down her back. The news from the doctor and even worse her father leaving. Why had she thought he cared for her like he had once? Looking next to her she saw Liat, still sleeping in the chair next to her bed. With the sight of her friend the feeling of cold got a bit better, warmed up the slightest.
With each passing minute she woke up more and more. Waking up completely was paired with an increase in pain. A headache also blooming behind her eyes. The sounds she made caused by the pain was what made Liat wake up. At once she was at the bedside of her friend. Noticing the pain she pushed the button to call the nurse in.
Not a minute later a nurse entered the room, this time not Miriam. She asked Ziva some questions about the pain. Where was she feeling it, could she describe the way it hurt. While finally pushing some pain medicine in Ziva's IV she explained.

"They gave you some strong sedatives yesterday. You can feel a bit groggy because of them. You are off that dose completely now and the pain medication needs to be balanced out now. This should help. If you start to get more pain or even start to be more uncomfortable push the button"

Just as quickly as she had come she left after that. Giving the medicine time to do its job Liat sat silently beside Ziva. After half an hour Ziva stopped scrunching up her face in pain, the pain having subsided enough.

Turning her head to Liat "ask."

Knowing what she meant and never one to keep her opinions for herself "Your father came yesterday. Didn't he?" Her father was the only option. No one ells could cause Ziva so much distress they had to sedate her last night. Not waiting or really needing an answer she continued. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"He left. He is not coming back. What ells is there to say." bottling up their emotions was something they had in common. Then a request came. One both asked of each other plenty of times before. "Make me forget"

That one sentence brought Liat back to the last time Ziva had spoken them to her. After she returned from America the first time, after her brother had died. Just as it brought her back to all the times she had been the one to mutter the words at Ziva. Having said them often, each time home became too much, each time her father crossed a boundary. Not wanting to talk about it that had become their sentence. If either of them said it to the other they knew what needed to be done. Ziva's method, when they were teens, had often been to grab the first book at hand and read to Liat. At this moment she chose the same method, taking her book out of her bag and starting to read out loud.

"This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it."