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"How is she?", asked Tony, handing Ducky and McGee a coffee mug.

The senior officer was reassured, Ari was dead, and the nightmare had come to an end, but Kate had to give her life and the grief was still deep in him. She had been his partner, only for two years, but those two years seemed like ten to him. He liked her, was even very fond of her, and from one second to the next her life was snuffed out. A single shot. It came unpredictably, it didn't take long and according to Ducky she was dead before she hit the ground. She wasn't in pain, and that helped him deal with the pain a little.

"According to the circumstances, she took a solid hit and desperately needs a lot of rest to recover – from what I could tell, she has a decent concussion."

"Kate's funeral is already tomorrow, I assume the two of them won't be attending then either?"

"I can't answer that for you, Timothy, but I don't see any reason why Gibbs shouldn't go.", he answered the young junior agent's question.

"Is she even allowed to fly?"

"It's inadvisable. She definitely needed rest now for the next two days, physically as well as mentally. However, as far as I know her, she won't miss the opportunity to attend the funeral as well."

"The flight takes about an hour, what if you give her something to sleep in? Do you even have anything like that around?", asked Tony, taking a big sip of coffee.

"I'll have to check in with Gibbs later and see how she's doing." The older pathologist got up from Gibbs' chair, took the coffee mug in his hand, and let his gaze slide around the room. "You know where to find me if you require anything.", he said, and left the desk group.

"Ducky!", Tony called after him hesitantly, and the man stopped again.

It wasn't the right time, but there never was, and he wouldn't be Tony if he didn't worry about it. He knew Ducky had worked with Gibbs and the Director many years ago and might have noticed then if there was more than just partner and partner between the two. The kiss, which he could see in the surveillance footage, seemed pretty passionate, anyway.

"Oh ... Nothing, not that important.", he suddenly muttered when he recognized the pathologist's questioning look.

Ducky wouldn't tell him anything anyway, so why he even thought of asking him, the special agent didn't know himself. Besides, if Gibbs found out about this ... he could feel that head-scratching now. Barely recognizable, he shook his head and, with a small smirk on his lips, stared at Kate's table. He could literally hear her talking already.

"Don't even think about it, DiNozzo."

Grinning, he stared into space. He missed her already! She was his partner and in a split second her life was snuffed out, and only the lifeless body lay on the ground in front of him. A large pool of blood had formed under her head and her eyes were staring at him. Although he had seen many such corpses, this was a terrible sight. It was no ordinary body, no stranger he had never seen before, it was Kate, his partner. A person who was important to him and who changed his life, like a sister was to him. His heart ached to know she would never come back to laugh, talk and argue with him.

"Tony!", said McGee, snapping him out of his deep thoughts.

Silently, he turned his head to the right, staring questioningly at McGee. The young man must have said his name many times before, at least that's what his facial expression said.

"What are we going to do about Ziva now?"

"I don't know.", Tony muttered softly, running both hands over his face, massaging his temples. "I think Gibbs said she's flying to Israel with Ari's body."

"And, um ... us?"

"Go home, sleep, and get ready for the funeral."

"What happened?", asked Ducky to his friend right after he arrived at Washington Medical Center.

"She's in bad shape, Ducky. She hasn't been able to walk a step, collapsed on me while I was still at the front door."

Silently, Donald eyed the man in front of him. He didn't even want to deny not taking her to the hospital, in the end it was the right decision – he too had a feeling there was something more serious behind it.

"What did the doctors say?"

"They took her in for a head CT earlier, don't know anything yet.", Gibbs replied glumly, running a hand over his face before sitting down on one of the plastic chairs.

"It was the right decision."

Of course, it was the right decision, but it took him a lot of effort and strength to finally convince her that she was in much better hands here than at his home. He was the last person who couldn't understand why she was uncomfortable with the idea of going to the hospital – after all, he didn't like it himself. For Gibbs, however, it had been immediately clear not to leave her here alone under any circumstances, to stay with her; no matter how long it would take.

"About our conversation about your marriage...", he began to speak, but was rather abruptly interrupted by Jethro.

"You're right, believe me, I know.", Gibbs muttered, propping his arms on his thighs. "I don't know myself why I let her go then, I love her."

"I know.", replied Ducky curtly, taking a seat next to him. "She knows it too, but you have to show her by talking to her honestly, tell her about Stephanie and your divorce, and you'll see, she'll look at the situation between you two with completely different eyes."

Incredulous, Gibbs looked at him, but knew deep down that he was right – about everything and just as the Marine was about to continue this conversation, a man dressed in a white coat approached both men.

"Are you with Jennifer Shepard?"

Without hesitation, both stood up and Gibbs nodded in response to the question.

"I'm Dr. Jordan, I'm the attending neurologist for Ms. Shepard."

"Can you tell us yet what came out of the examination?"

Dr. Jordan gestured for both of them to sit back down before taking a seat next to them himself before he began to speak as well; "The CT scan revealed a level two traumatic brain injury. You're massively lucky and there's currently no need for surgery."

"Current?", Gibbs inquired, eyeing the doctor critically.

"Of course, it can worsen again, but we do not assume that now. Jennifer is showing typical symptoms and the CT images are clear. We have moved her to the ICU for the rest of the night to monitor her vital signs closely.", the man continued. "However, there is edema on the images, triggered due to the forceful blow to her temple."

"What does that mean for her now? Do you still have to operate on her?"

"No, as I mentioned, not for the time being, because the edema is also not particularly large, and we will try to get rid of it with medication."

Thoughtfully, Jethro looked at the doctor and received confirmation that his gut feeling was not wrong, but if he had guessed how bad she really was, he would have taken her straight to the hospital.

"May I see her?"

"Of course, I'll take you to her."

Silently, he looked at the large bed and noticed how fragile she looked in it. Her skin was pale, the back of her hand had an opening in it, and dark shadows were very slightly visible under her eyes. Ari had put her through a lot, and it was all because he left her in the parking lot. It was his fault, and his guilty conscience was driving him crazy.

"How are you feeling?", he asked cautiously. "Are you in pain?"

She answered in the negative with a shake of her head. At least a little, he thought, and gave her a warm smile before reaching for her hand and carefully twisting the ring on her finger. He hadn't even noticed it yet, but hadn't necessarily observed it either, as he only had eyes for her beautiful smile. That moment in the video conference room when he saw her again after all these years was indescribable and had something almost magical about it.

"Tired?"

"I'm fine...", she murmured, swallowing hard; "It was just a bit much."

"If you want me to go..."

"No, stay." said Jenny sternly, managing to pull herself up into a smile. "You're the only person right now who can take my mind off all this for a little bit."

"Me, lie here because of me..."

She nodded rather confidently, however, and squeezed his hand a little tighter when she noticed his uncertain look.

"While I don't remember much of what happened, I'm pretty sure you didn't beat me up hospital style."

"I shouldn't have left you in the parking lot, should have ignored your stubbornness and given you a ride home."

"And yet it was you who brought me here and saved me.", she whispered the latter more hotly.

Jethro leaned over the bed a bit, propped his arms on the sideboard, and looked deep into her eyes.

"I will always come and save you, no matter from where and no matter how long it takes. I'll go with you everywhere, keep you safe, and have your back with the other directors and SecNav if I have to."

"So you're not mad that I took Morrow's offer?", she asked uncertainly.

"Why would I be mad? Sure, you've been a hell of an agent, one of my best, but I know you'll be just as good at these new assignments as you are at working with the team."

Jennifer smiled, trying in vain to suppress the tears that were welling up. Of course, she was afraid of his reaction and how he would handle the fact that she was now his superior and also had a say in one or two matters concerning his team. But hearing those words from his mouth, it took a lot of weight off her shoulders, and the senior field agent noticed that as well.

"Try to sleep, you need rest."

Gibbs gently pressed a kiss to the top of her head, careful not to hurt her, and just as he was about to get up, he felt her hold onto his arm, looking at him pleadingly.

"Stay, just a few more minutes."

The redhead slid his piece to the side, making clear signs for him to lie down next to her, and this silent request he complied without even thinking for a second. After all, it was a start, and he wanted to give her all the time in the world to open up to him, wanted to get closer to her again with small steps – without overwhelming her at all.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself very well."

Smiling, she flipped through the files on her lap, trying to get at least a little of the leftover work done.

"Jenny, I'm serious, you need to rest and lots of sleep.", she could hear him saying on the other end of the line. "Dr. Jordan was pretty clear about that, even if you were spared the surgery... don't do too much at once."

That he was right, she knew, yet she felt sick just thinking about all the files sitting on her desk. Besides, she didn't overextend herself, lay in bed as discussed with the doctor, recovered with enough sleep and took her medication for the pain. She was a real model patient, and what Gibbs didn't know couldn't worry him. Sure, it was silly that she couldn't fly to the funeral with them, but Tom Morrow took her place on the plane to represent her there as best he could.

"Our plane leaves tonight, I'll call you when we board."

"You do that, see you later," she said quietly before hanging up as well.

She wasn't going to get too much rest that evening, though; no sooner had she hung up and tried to focus on the paperwork again than the sound of the doorbell rang. Stumped, she glanced at the clock – just after noon, but she wasn't expecting any visitors and this couldn't be anyone from NCIS, they were all in Indiana at Kate's funeral.

Sighing softly as the ringing repeated itself, she put the file aside and slowly got up from the big bed. Discharged last night, Gibbs took her home with strict instructions to get back into bed immediately – after all, she was still very much spraying the aftermath of her attack. The dizziness when she got up was still there, her headache came back in varying degrees throughout the day. The only thing that held back halfway today was her nausea, and eating was also at least a little something she could do. That there was still a long road of recovery ahead of her, she was aware with a heavy heart, but at least she was grateful to still be here, after all, Ari could have killed her quite easily – why he didn't, however, was a mystery to which she would never hold an answer.

Once downstairs, she opened the large wooden door and was more than surprised at her visit.

"Ziva..."

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