Chapter 16: Epilogue

Abby sat on McGee's desk in the squad room, waiting for the parents to arrive. They were due soon. She knew they had been released; she'd been calling the CDC nonstop until they had released the information.

And Ducky had told her as well. She trusted him over the mean CDC doctors who wouldn't let her run her own tests on Mommy and Daddy's blood.

She just wanted to be sure. She wasn't sure if the CDC had released the right people. Maybe they had mixed up Gibbs and Jenny with two other people and the real Gibbs and Jenny had died while the other two had survived and been released under the wrong names…

Positive thoughts, positive thoughts, positive thoughts.

She had spoken to them! The CDC had to have everyone the right way around or else she would not have had that phone call! She breathed a sigh of relief as Tony arrived in the squad room.

"Have you seen them?" she demanded.

"In case anyone was wondering, I survived twenty four hours on the FBI's Most Wanted list," he announced.

"I knew you'd survive," she told him, jumping off the desk and enveloping him in a hug. "I never doubted it."

She ignored the snort from McGee. She would get him back later.

Ziva David watched as Abby headed back to her lab, Ducky on her arm. The kind doctor had decided she would be better off in her lab rather than waiting endlessly for Jenny and Gibbs to arrive. They were definitely running late…

She rubbed her eyes as she tried to work out whether Tony knew who had placed him on the FBI's list. He had to have figured out that she could not do it alone. She was hoping his thoughts were leaning towards Fornell. Now that would be an interesting conversation.

Tony sat in Gibbs' chair still. Clearly he had no intention of relinquishing it before their boss returned. Ziva privately felt that Gibbs would kick Tony into next week if he found out which chair he had been sitting in for the past fortnight.

As though he had read her thoughts, Tony stood up and moved towards his old desk. He paused in the middle of the squad room and turned to her.

"Ziva," he stated.

She stood up and moved around her desk to join him. "Tony," she replied.

"We should call a truce," he told her. "The war ends right now, before Gibbs returns."

She smiled softly. "Deal."

They shook each other's hands and Ziva moved over to McGee's desk as Tony arrived at his own.

Tony's chair collapsed the instant he sat on it.

Ziva and McGee laughed.

THE END