AUTHOR'S NOTE: I had a request from a reviewer who dug this story out and dusted it off, to "conclude" it. I thought about it and realized that with the progress that Ziva has made in her acceptance to the team, I now knew exactly how to do that. Keeter, I hope this satisfies your desire to have this story receive closure.

Epilogue - Ziva

Ziva sat at her desk, only a few months before, occupied by another.

The squad room was dimly lit, the rest of the team having already left for the day. But Ziva had reports to finish, and she wanted them to be perfect. Her acceptance to this team at such an early stage was still precarious, to say the least. It was new, and delicate – not yet fully formed, but still somehow tangible, with promise, like an unborn baby.

She sighed, thinking. So, it seemed, Abby was finally beginning to warm up to her. It sure seemed like that when she'd thrown herself into Ziva's arms at least, upon her and Tony's rescue from the locked shipping container.

She settled down to work, wanting to finish before it got too late. She was deeply engrossed in her task when she nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of a throat clearing.

Ziva looked up, startled, and then the colour promptly drained from her face.

"Kate," she whispered, almost breathlessly, recognizing the woman that her half-brother had murdered with the cold blooded precision of an assassin.

The ghostly apparition before her merely nodded and smiled, hazel eyes barely visible. The spirit stood a moment, cocking her head, and seemed to concentrate deeply on something unknown. Suddenly, before Ziva's eyes, she became more solid and tangible.

"There," Kate said. "It took awhile to figure out how to do that. I mean, I was able to make myself somewhat solid to sit on McGee's desk when I visited Abby, and then to sit in Gibbs' chair…"

Ziva stared, not shocked at being in the company of a ghost, so much as the matter-of-factness that this apparition seemed to present herself with.

"I'm Kate," she said, reaching out her hand. Ziva stared at it as if it were pure flame. "It's okay Ziva," Kate said, reassuringly. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to thank you."

"Thank… me?" Ziva asked, utterly confused. She glanced around, her ebony hair swaying wildly as she searched the squad room for some other living being. Much to her chagrin, she found herself to be quite alone with this random spirit.

"Yes, Ziva. Thank you. I mean, there's the obvious… the others still don't know, but I was there when you shot Ari. You avenged me, Ziva. I should be able to rest in peace now, but I wanted to stay a while longer, wait until you'd been accepted by my guys and my best girlfriend."

"Well, the guys weren't so difficult. Abby, on the other hand… was stubborn as a mole."

"Mule, Ziva. Stubborn as a mule," Kate smiled, the sparkle in her hazel eyes finally visible. Ziva blushed.

"I wanted to make sure that all of you were okay. ALL of you, Ziva. You included."

Ziva cocked her head curiously. "Me too, Kate?"

Kate nodded, smiling warmly. "Yes, Ziva. You too. You came here a month after I died. You got a cool reception, to say the least."

"Yes… well, they saw me as trying to replace you. I know I could never do that."

"Abby saw you as trying to replace me. Tim saw you as a newbie, and he respected you for that. He offered you far more respect and acceptance than Tony and I afforded him when he first arrived, I'm ashamed to say," Kate said sadly. "I only hope I managed to make that up to him before I died."

"Timothy has been very helpful. I'll always be grateful for his friendship, he didn't seem to question my presence, he didn't seem to resent me," Ziva said, thoughtfully. "He offered acceptance when I felt so… unwanted. And he helped me in so many practical ways, as well." Ziva smiled at some of her earlier memories of her acquaintance with Tim McGee. "He made me believe that America really could feel like home, even when my heart still longed for Israel."

Kate nodded, smiling warmly. "That sounds like Tim, alright. Now, on the other hand, Tony was a bit more standoffish, I noticed. But to be fair, he was still hurting. Still trying to wash my blood off his face. He was understandably cool," Kate said.

"Yes," Ziva agreed, nodding. "Tony was a bit more… how do you say… grudging?"

Kate nodded. "That works. Tony finally came around, didn't he? I noticed that you like to provoke him sometimes. I never had the patience to deal with him. I mean, don't get me wrong, I liked him and all that, but… I guess we were just too different. You and he are very much alike."

Ziva grimaced playfully. "Oh, shoot me now Caitlin," she giggled. "Me, like Tony?"

Kate winked at her. "Yes, you like Tony. You keep him on his toes. He never knows what to expect when you're in the room. That's important, to avoid complacency. He got complacent with me. He ragged on me and I always reacted with the same mean spirited impatience. He never knows how you will react. It's good for him."

Kate paused a moment, as a sadness seemed to pass over her ghostly eyes. "Ducky was more accepting. You saw him as a patriarch of sorts, and you immediately respected him." Kate smiled in approval at this. Ziva smiled bashfully.

"Ducky makes it hard for a lady to not like him, and anyway, he demands respect, simply by virtue of his age and experience. But you are correct. He is our patriarch. I believe, that Gibbs holds our team together. Ducky holds Gibbs together." Kate nodded at this in agreement.

"And then, without thought or question or hesitation, you extended friendship and respect to Jimmy. He doesn't get nearly enough of that. I think he sometimes feels like the bottom of the food chain around here, like nobody really cares about him or how he feels. I wish I'd had more of a chance to tell him that somebody does care about him and what he does around here."

Ziva sighed. "Jimmy is a very sweet man. He makes me think of what Ducky must have been like in his younger days," she laughed softly.

Kate laughed gently at this as well. She took on another thoughtful look, and said softly, "Nobody realizes how intelligent and thoughtful Jimmy can be. He emulates Ducky, not just because Ducky influences him in that student-mentor relationship they have, but because he was already very much like Ducky, before he ever darkened our doorstep at NCIS."

Ziva grinned. "Yes, and he plays a mean Beethoven," she winked. Kate smiled.

"He's not bad with the jazzy tunes, either," Kate laughed, then said, "And I've also noticed, he's got a pretty damned good set of pipes, too."

Ziva blushed furiously and stuttered. Kate laughed out loud, and quickly elaborated for Ziva, "He can sing, Ziva. That means he can sing."

"OH! Yes, of course. Yes, he has the voice of an angel." Ziva cleared her throat delicately.

"Now Abby, she was the most stubborn of all, wasn't she?" Kate sighed softly. "I wanted to slap her into next week, if I could have. She took far too long to accept you."

Ziva nodded. "Yes, perhaps. But she did finally accept me, Kate. Abby would do anything for me now, I know that. And I would do anything for her. I forgot how good it felt to have a friend who felt like a sister. That's Abby."

Kate sighed in agreement. "Uh huh. Abby sometimes takes a while to accept new people, but once she does, her loyalty and love for you is fierce. She's like a mama bear sometimes," Kate winked.

"Yes, I know that now. A rabid mama bear with pms and a hangover. Do not cross Abby when she's in protective mode." Ziva laughed softly. "The guys are wonderful, Kate, I love them all to death. But sometimes a girl just needs another girl to confide in."

Kate shrugged. "I know the feeling. It's surprising how little estrogen it can take sometimes to balance out the overload of testosterone." She winked at the laughing eyes of her replacement.

"I like how you and Gibbs have developed a trusting relationship. I don't think you've realized this, but there was a reason that Gibbs trusted you without question." Kate smiled enigmatically. Ziva cocked her head, not understanding.

"I'm sorry, Kate… I don't quite follow you?" Ziva said, confused.

Kate took a moment, before answering. Even a ghost sometimes had to give thought to their words, and never speak in haste.

"I saw the good in you Ziva, even when you defended your brother so vehemently. I knew you would do the right thing, no matter how horribly difficult it would be for you. I'm so sorry that Ari betrayed your trust like that."

Ziva's dark eyes grew sad, misting over slightly at the memories.

"I've never spoken of this to anyone until now," she said to the ghost, her sultry voice barely a whisper.

Kate moved forward and rested her hand as best she could on Ziva's shoulder.

"I know," she said soothingly. "I got the message to Gibbs that you could be trusted. Anyway, that gut of his told him already, I think. I just verified it for him."

"Oh, Gibbs… I still don't know what made me shoot my own brother, why I would do that for this man I barely knew. Kate, you have to know that Ari wasn't always the man he became. There was good in him… once. I could never have loved him as I did otherwise."

Kate nodded. "I trust you, so I believe you, even if he never showed any of that to me personally. By that time he had already irreversibly become what he would ultimately die as. A cold murderer."

Ziva nodded, choking back tears. "You forgive me for betraying my own blood like that? Most people would find it unforgivable. Blood is thicker than water, so they say."

"These people, my people, they've become your people now, Ziva, your family. They may not be blood family, but they're family. I mean, there are the most annoying brothers ever, Tim and Tony, but they will stop at nothing to protect you, just as they know you'd do the same for them. They respect you and adore you as good big brothers would. Then there's Gibbs, our father figure. He doesn't always take the high road to justice but he always arrives where he's going. Ducky, our grandpa, he always has wisdom for us, when we don't want it but need it, and when we don't need it but want it. Abby, our sister. Well… not Tim's sister, but I think you know that. That's just hinky… But then, there's Jimmy… I'm not comparing Jimmy to any blood relative as far as you're concerned, Ziva. That's just hinky too." Kate winked, prompting Ziva to blush furiously. "Suffice it to say, Jimmy is very special to you, I know that. I think you do too," she smiled softly. "Maybe, someday…?" Kate gently hinted.

Ziva smiled bashfully again. "Yes, perhaps someday. We never know what may happen, do we? Kate, I am so sorry for what Ari did to you," she suddenly said, her voice becoming small.

"Ziva, what's done is done. Nobody can change what Ari did. And you made sure he could never do it again to someone else. Our team has found a new beginning with you. I'm proud of you, and I'm relieved. They needed a strong woman to pick up where I left off. They have that in you. Stay strong, Ziva. Never forget my legacy, and never stop continuing it…" Kate said to Ziva, the expressions on both their faces morphing from sadness to contented relief.

Kate's apparition faded away, leaving Ziva alone in the squad room, her sultry voice whispering softly and simply after the vanishing spirit, "Shalom, Kate."