Disclaimer: I don't own, i'm just playing with them. I promise they'll be in good condition when i'm finished :) All hail DPB. I only own original characters.

Family Life
Chapter 1

It had been 3 years to the day since the death of his beautiful wife Ziva, and Tony DiNozzo was having trouble coping without her there. Tony was standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast thinking about Ziva when a noise behind him got his attention.

He turned around to see his son and his youngest daughter wrestling in the living room, they did that a fair bit, and LJ nearly always beat Sarah.

LJ and Sarah were Tony's and Ziva's two youngest children. They had had four all together, but Ziva had died when there youngest was just one year old. Tony found them such a handful, but he loved them with all his heart.

LJ and Sarah both looked a lot like both their parents. Both with brown hair, but LJ's more darker like Ziva's then lighter like Tony's like Sarah's was. LJ though had Tony's bright green eyes, and Sarah had Ziva's dark brown one's. They were like opposites.

Ziva and Tony had decided to name their only son after Leroy Jethro Gibbs, there boss at work who was like a father to the both of them, but neither of them would do something as unfortunate to their only son and call him 'Leroy Jethro', and so they had decided on Lucas James, which could then be shortened to LJ, or occasionally Lucas or Luke. Sarah was the last born and the two of them together had decided to call her Sarah, meaning 'princess' in Hebrew. Tali also helped in the choice of this name, saying that she looked just like a princess. Their princess.

"Be careful LJ, she's not as big as you yet." Tony says to his only son.

"I'm always careful Dad" replied LJ innocently with a big grin on his face, reminding Tony too much of himself. "Yeah right" Tony mumbled to himself and continued cooking breakfast

The wrestling started to get out of hand and without turning around Tony warned his son,

"LJ, if you hit her you'll be grounded for a week." said Tony very seriously

LJ was shocked because he was about to punch his sister when his father spoke without even looking at the two of them.

He then decided to go against his father's word because he didn't believe Tony would be able to prove he actually punched Sarah.

But exactly when LJ hit her Tony turned around to look at his two youngest children and witnessed the punch. Sarah then cried out in pain and ran to her father who picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"LUCASE JAMES DINOZZO!" yelled Tony as LJ quickly ran out of the room, "COME BACK HERE NOW!"

"It's alright baby, you'll be okay..." Tony added quietly to Sarah, as he continued to hold her as she cried, as LJ walked guiltily back into the room.

"DIDN'T I JUST TELL YOU NOT TO HIT HER?!" yelled Tony very angrily.

"Whatever." replied LJ, rolling his eyes at his father.

"I DON'T LIKE YOUR ATTITUDE!" yelled Tony

"WELL I DON'T LIKE YOU!" replied LJ just as angrily

LJ turned around and hurried up the stairs, bashing past two girls who were coming down to see what was going on, and why there was so much yelling.

Tony yelled out "WELL YOU'RE GROUNDED!" as a bedroom door upstairs was heard slamming shut.

Tony kissed Sarah on her forehead, and placed her down on the kitchen counter. "Are you okay princess?" he asked her. She nodded yes, and he kissed her on the forehead again.

He then turned around looking at the breakfast which was now burnt to nothing, deciding toast was now a better choice then bacon and eggs.

The two young girls who were walking down the stairs were now in the living room, both of them curious and confused about what had just happened.

The two girls looked very similar in age, but you could tell there was at least a year between the two.

One looked incredibly like Tony, brown hair with bright green eyes; the other looked exactly like Ziva, darker hair with dark brown eyes. The elder of the two was Melanie.

Ziva and Tony had decided an English name for her, but when there second daughter was born, she just looked too much like Ziva, and she had asked him if they could call her Tali, after her sister who died when she was young. He had instantly agreed with her.

The older of the girls then asked, "What happened, Dad?"

"Don't worry 'bout it Mel, he's being juvenile again" Tony answered his eldest daughter, Melanie.

"Well he is only ten." said Melanie bluntly.

"Yes he is, but that doesn't give him the right to punch your sister!" said Tony getting frustrated again, and had stopped preparing breakfast.

"Dad?" asked the other girl, not knowing whether he was serious or not.

"Yeah he hit her. Tali, can you make sure Sarah's okay please?" Tony asked his second daughter, while he picked up his youngest and passed her to Tali.

"Sure." She answered with a smile, while taking her youngest sister and she walked into the living room. Tony then continued making breakfast again.

"So what happened?" asked Melanie.

Tony paused before answering her question. "They were wrestling again, and they were getting rough. I warned him but he took it too far." He finally answered.

There was a short silence, Mel not knowing whether to say something, finally she decided to.

"I know he shouldn't of hit her Dad, but…" she started

"BUT?! There is no 'but' here Melanie! He just shouldn't have hit her! That's it!" snapped Tony, interrupting her.

"Look, you don't need to get angry at me. I know what day it is too!" she said looking slightly hurt. Tony only ever called her Melanie when he was angry with her, every other time he called her Mel.

There was another long silence before Tony finally spoke.

"I'm sorry. I just miss her." Tony said quietly, not looking at his daughter, as he was embarrassed at his outburst towards her.

"I know. I do too." said Mel, as she jumped down off the counter, wrapping her arm around her father's shoulders. "Need help with breakfast?" she asked.

"Nah, its fine, but you can go and get your brother if you like? I don't want to speak to him" answered Tony. He knew he was being childish by not talking to his son, but he didn't care right now.

"Okay" said Mel, as she walked out of the kitchen

"Oh and Mel…"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you" said Tony with a weak smile

"Anytime" she said, and then walked upstairs to find her jerk of a brother. He was only ten, and she was only fifteen, but he just seemed so immature sometimes.

When she reached his bedroom door she knocked, being unsure to find what mood he was in.

"What?!" he barked as he opened his door just enough to see his eldest sister standing there

"Breakfast's ready" answered Melanie

"I'm not hungry." LJ replied, going to close his door, but Melanie had put her hand on it pushing it open. She was surprisingly strong, so he couldn't close it.

"What do you want?" asked LJ, who opened to the door to her and walked back into his room where he flopped down onto his bed.

"Just to see how you're doing… and to ask you why you hit her?" answered Melanie cautiously.

"To see what he'd do." LJ answered simply.

"So you were trying to provoke him?!" she asked in astonishment. "Nice work jackass! You do know what day it is, don't you?"

"Yeah, it's Saturday." He answered, thinking it sounded like a pretty stupid question seeing as they weren't at school.

"It's the anniversary of Mum's death!" she said disbelievingly in a slightly more annoyed tone. How could he have forgotten? She thought to herself.

"Oh. Yeah." He mumbled quietly, not believing he had forgotten.

Meanwhile, downstairs Tony, Tali, and Sarah were sitting at the dining table eating their breakfast, when Tony's phone rang.

"DiNozzo" he answered it, listening to the voice on the other end of the line. "Boss it's Saturday!" he complained but quickly stopped as he continued listening to Gibbs. "Yeah I'll be right in." he said hanging up.

"You got to work Dad?" asked Tali, disappointed.

"Yeah sweetie, I do. Sorry, I know we were going to hang out, but you can come to work with me if you want?" he answered her apologetically.

"Well I've got nothing better to do" she agreed.

"How about you?" he asked Sarah, who was already shaking her head no. "Oh why not?" he asked pretending to look hurt.

"It's too boring Daddy" she answered, pouting at her father.

"That is it princess. You can stay here with Mel, if she will stay with you." He smiled at her.

"Mel!! LJ!!" Tony called out to the two of them who were still upstairs talking.

Mel slowly came down the stairs but LJ was not following her down. He was still up in his room.

"Yeah Dad?" she asked

"I just got called into work, Tali's going to come with me, but Sarah doesn't want to. Will you stay here with her?" he asked

"Yeah, sure thing." She nodded.

"Thanks sweetie. Well then LJ's coming with me" said Tony walking up the stairs to his son's room. He walked in without knocking, "You're coming with me to work." He said simply

"Why?!" asked LJ, obviously not happy with this decision, because it meant spending more time with his father.

"LJ, don't argue with me! Sarah and Mel are staying here, so you can come with me. Got it?!"

"Whatever" said LJ, getting up off his bed getting putting his shoes on, and grabbing his iPod.

"Thank you." said Tony, walking downstairs to find Tali waiting for him and Mel and Sarah who were doing a jigsaw.

"Well Mel, you know all the rules. And lock the door." He said to her. She nodded, knowing all of this already. "And you know where my spare sig is?" He whispered in her ear like it was a secret, even though Tali could hear them.

Mel was trying not to laugh at her dork of a father, but she nodded yes. LJ then slowly grudged down the stairs and grabbed his jacket.

"Bye girls," Tony said to Mel and Sarah kissing them each on the forehead, before heading outside to the car, stopping just before he got in.

"Be good." He called back to his daughters.

"Oh we will. Bye." said Mel smirking.