"I'm just saying, you couldn't have known what I had for breakfast this morning unless you've been stalking me." Tony argued.

"I do not stalk. I am psychotic." Ziva joked.

"What? I don't think you're psychotic. I mean, yeah okay maybe sometimes you go a little overboard, but you aren't psychotic." Tony frowned in confusion.

"What are you talking about? I was just joking when I implied that I could read your mind." Ziva's brows furrowed in confusion as well, mimicking the expression on her partner's face.

"Oh! You mean psychic! It's psychic Ziva, not psychotic. They are insanely different, mind you." Tony chided Ziva mockingly.

"To-may-to, to-mah-to."

"Hey at least you got that one right."

Tony's retort earned him a punch in the arm, to which he yelped. The two partners were spending their Christmas Eve afternoon arguing while walking up to a simple and small bungalow, a short distance from where they parked the car. As Tony rubbed his arm with a pout, Ziva rang the door bell. They heard the pattering of feet before the door opened just a crack, revealing only half a face. "Who are you?" Came the often asked question.

"NCIS. We are like...the Navy police. My name is Ziva, and this is my partner Tony." Ziva introduced, while flashing her identifications.

"Po-Po for the Navy? Daddy said that before." A younger voice came about.

The door opened further, revealing two green-eyed boys, neither possibly being older than ten. The older one had curly blonde hair while the younger one had messy brown hair. "Did you come here to put us in jail?" The older one asked with wide eyes.

"I promise I've been a good boy this year." The younger one looked a little more scared.

"No no we're here to bring you back with us to NCIS for a day or two, no jail." Tony explained slowly.

"Is that badge real? Can I touch it? Are you lying?" The older one dished out his insecurities.

Ziva sensed his nervousness and bent down to his level, making eye contact with those slightly wild green eyes. Fishing out her badge again, she let both boys finger the outline of it. With the softest gaze Tony had ever seen, she said "It is real. And I assure you, we are not bad people. I promise."

"You really promise no jail?" The younger one asked, ready to trust.

"I promise." Ziva said firmly as she smiled, hooking her pinky with his small outstretched one.

The older boy seemed to have sensed the truth in her words too as his tense demeanour relaxed. Tony stood there amazed. Ziva had just earned the trust of two boys, just like that, right in front of him. "I need you to go pack some clothes into your bags okay?" Ziva told the boys.

They nodded their heads and ran off into the house. "Awesome job just now." Tony nudged her with his elbow.

"I try." Ziva lifted her shoulders and dropped them back down.

In five minutes, the boys were back at the front door carrying their bags.

"Okay guys let's go." Tony announced, offering his hand to the younger boy, who stared at it in contemplation.

"It is okay. Tony is my friend." Ziva convinced.

Seeing that Ziva trusted him, the boy's little hand grasped two of Tony's fingers and they both started towards the car. Ziva offered her hand to the older boy who was still standing there uneasily. She flashed a smile at him in encouragement, and he gave a shy smile back, taking the offered hand.


As the elevator doors opened, Tony, Ziva and their two new young friends exited. On the way back to NCIS, Ziva got a call from Gibbs, putting her and Tony on babysitting shift while he and McGee worked the case. Abby and Ducky were working with their evidence and had yet to come to a conclusion yet as time was needed to process the evidence.

Gibbs and McGee were nowhere to be seen in the bullpen as Tony and Ziva unholstered their weapons and kept it safe and out of reach for the kids. Tony hit the men's room straight away as he had a stomachache halfway through the car ride. Thank goodness he could go relief himself now. Ziva almost went nuts with his insistent complaints of a stomachache throughout the car ride simply because she refused to stop for a toilet break. She took the kids to the break room after they dropped their stuff by her desk, and she gave them some snacks. Tony was still in the men's room and Ziva was sitting across from the kids, watching them eat.

"So I have told you Tony's and my name. What is yours?" Ziva asked, trying to make conversation. Of course, she knew their names. They had pulled up their victim's background and found out about his two sons. Their victim was Petty Officer James Warren, divorced. His wife left him for another man and gave up custody of her sons two years ago.

The younger one eagerly replied "I am Grayson Warren. Five years old." as he counted up till five with his fingers.

"I'm Gabriel. But Dad and Grayson call me Gabe." The older boy stated, getting bites out of his snacks.

According to the background they had pulled, Gabriel was nine. This boy obviously had trust issues. But who could blame him? His mom abandoned him two years ago. Lucky for Grayson he was too young to understand. At that moment, Tony walked in, relief on his face after his time in the bathroom.

"Tony, I need to pee-pee." Grayson said shyly.

"Alright buddy, c'mon." Tony gestured for him to follow, as Tony returned to where he came from just a while ago, this time with a young boy in tow. Ziva and Gabriel sat in silence, until the buzz of Ziva's phone interrupted them. McGee was calling her.

"Hello McGee."

"Hey Ziva. Case closed. According to Abby and Ducky's findings, James Warren commited suicide. Apparently he had a gambling problem and owed some bad company a lot of money. So he figured the best way out was to kill himself. Plus, his life insurance would leave his kids a big sum of money. Gibbs and I contacted the next-of-kin, James' elder sister living in New York. The earliest she can come get the kids is the day right after Christmas."

"Okay, thanks McGee. See you later."

"Yeah bye." And McGee hung up.

Ziva snapped her phone shut. "Can I ask you a question Ziva?" Gabriel asked tentatively.

"Yes?"

"My dad's never coming back right?"

Ziva paused. How could she put it gently? "I'm sorry Gabriel but your father killed himself."

"Oh." Gabriel's face fell slightly.

He went silent and he didn't want to communicate anymore. Basically he withdrew within himself. Different people had different coping mechanisms, and his was to withdraw. Ziva's heart broke for the kid. He was trying hard to stay strong, that much was obvious, and he was very much mature for his age. To an extent, he reminded her of herself when she was a kid, forced by circumstances to grow up quickly. Tony soon came back with Grayson, who was happily skipping beside Tony. Good, Ziva thought. A kid should be allowed to keep their innocence for as long as possible.

Once they finished with their snacks, Tony pushed his seat over, letting the two brothers sit side by side at Ziva's desk, one on his seat and one on Ziva's seat. Gabriel retrieved some crossword puzzles from his bag and started on them using one of Ziva's pens. Ziva laid some blank paper and different coloured pens in front of Grayson, and he excitedly started drawing his own masterpieces. While the kids were occupied, Ziva pulled Tony to McGee's desk and quietly told him what McGee had told her over the phone. Just then, Ziva's phone rang again. It was Gibbs.

"Yes Gibbs?"

TBC


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