A/N: Long time no see, friends. And yet, there was no way I could stay away after "Family First." Here's a long multi-chapter AU that I've been working on for quite some time. We go AU after 11x02. ~xo. Cara.

Chapter One

July 2019

There is no perfect place to live in the world. Residents of one mid-coast Maine town, however, would beg that their home comes as close as can be.

Camden, Maine is classic New England. It's a fishing town, sprung up from the harbor. The center of town is just steps away from the docks that are lined with lobster crates.

It's not a sleepy town by any means, but the winter is long and people keep to themselves and their daily routines. There isn't much that goes on between the first snow and the first thaw. Late spring all the way to the fall brings everyone out of their homes. The small lakes that lie on the outskirts of town are filled with the sound of splashing water as families congregate on their small beaches. Sure, there are vacationers that come, but most of them are seasonal residents whose families have been frequenting Camden long before the resort popped up just south of the town line.

Because Camden is what one would consider a safe and quiet town, most people have had little contact with the town's chief of police. After all, he's only been there a few months. The gossiping old women know that he's not married, but they heard he's engaged. He has a daughter. She's somewhere between five and six.

Of course, all of that changes one March afternoon.

Maeve Burns slowed her car and turned right at the junction. She made her way into town. She hadn't been down here since the news broke just twelve hours before hand. Her electric bill, however, was over due and so, much to her chagrin, she'd gotten into her car this morning, driven past the yellow police tape that outlined her street and headed for downtown Camden. She wasn't surprised to see local news affiliate staked out on the common nor did the growing gathering of locals peak her interest. She'd expected them.

She parked her car and tried to avoid the questioning gaze of a throng of women from across the street as she got out and headed for the electric company's mailbox. Laurie Brown and Elizabeth Marks were part of said throng and she knew it was only a matter of time before one of them crossed the street and accosted her.

She was depositing the check in the mailbox when her cell phone rang.

"Mom." Kelly, her grown daughter was frantic. "Mom, is it true? Are these your neighbors?"

"Kelly, I can't really talk about it." Maeve responded. She cast another gaze across the street and caught Laurie Brown's eyes from the common. Maeve looked down.

"I don't understand," Kelly said. "What's the big deal? I'm all the way in California. It's not like I'll impede the investigation."

Maeve sighed. "Yes, this is the neighbor I talk about. That's all I can say."

"So it's the little girl you babysit?"

Maeve nodded, though Kelly couldn't see it. Her thoughts drifted to Maya. The way she filled the woman's days with the laughter and joy. Maeve hadn't had much of that in the years since her husband died and her children one by one moved away. And then a young family had bought the house next door to her. Both parents worked, but neither one had been comfortable with putting their young daughter in a daycare facility. That's where Maeve had become part of the family. And slowly, but surely she'd learned their story and she'd become invested in their lives, their future, just like they were her own children.

Tim surveyed the area as the charger pulled into town. He'd been to Camden many times before in the four years that Tony and Ziva had lived here. He and Delilah loved it in the summer. There was no humidity like they suffered through in Washington and he'd never seen a sunset like the one by the lighthouse. It was where he'd proposed – Tony and Ziva in the background, Maya getting into trouble on the rocks. There was no place he'd felt safer. Tim could have never imagined his next visit to the northern Maine town would be like this.

"Locals picked it up," Gibbs nodded, head extending toward the direction of the small crowd and news crew gathered on the commons. It was the first thing he'd said since they had landed in Portland. This was, after all, his Maya. His granddaughter.

Tim turned off the main road and headed for Tony and Ziva's street. Maya was someone that they were all protective of, for obvious reasons, but it went deeper then familial love.

Maya was their symbol of good. She was a physical reminder that good could trump evil. Despite all the bad that Ziva had endured in her life, all the things that had kept she and Tony apart, Maya was the good that gave them the courage to pull themselves back together. For something, someone to harm that, it was an act of war.

He tapped the brake as the car carrying Fornell and his team in front of him stopped at the police checkpoint at the end of Tony and Ziva's street. They lived at the end of the road, over looking a small lake. Tim and Tony had built a small dock one summer for fun that turned into a piece of woodworking that could rival one of Gibbs' boats – ramp for Delilah included.

The FBI mobile command center seemed out of place, as it over looked the serene lake. He couldn't help but picture Maya cannonballing off the dock. After showing his badge, Tim was waved onto the street and his car crept along the road. Fornell had just got out of his own sedan and McGee could see Ziva coming down her stairs to meet him.

He approached just as Ziva ran a hand over her face and spoke to Fornell. "I didn't hear anything. I had just been inside a few moments." She turned as McGee approached and he watched her face fall.

"We're going to find her," he growled.

She nodded, but there were tears in her eye. "We're in Maine," she croaked. "I mean, it is not like Tony and I have made enemies."

"You sure about that?" Gibbs asked.

She turned on her heel to look at him, her face a mix of disbelief and utter shock. How dare he question her? She stumbled over the words. "No, I'm not."

Gibbs nodded, the epitome of calm on the outside, but McGee knew this was harming him just as much as anyone else. He just couldn't let Ziva know that. He had to be her rock.

"We'll run everything down," he assured.

Ziva nodded absentmindedly and then pointed to the deck. "Tony's upstairs with some of his squad. They're looking at traffic cameras."

Fornell and Gibbs headed up the winding stairs of the deck, but McGee stayed behind. He waited until they were out of earshot before sidling up next to her.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

She laughed, but it came out more like a sob. "Not well." She said. "I thought moving here would erase the possibility of something like this."

McGee nodded. He didn't know what to say so he just pulled her into a hug and held on tight.

May 2014

As usual, the bullpen was eerily quiet as the clock approached midnight. Tony, however, was becoming accustomed to the quiet that was only mediated by the occasional hum as the radiator roared to a start. He flipped through report that he'd finished almost two hours ago. He couldn't make it more perfect even if he tried. So he flipped it back to front again. Front to back.

Tony alone in the bullpen, the clock approaching and then passing midnight was a commonplace sight these days. He simply had no desire to go home. It wasn't that since his trip around the world last fall, his apartment had become quieter; it was simply that since his trip around the world, he'd realized that he didn't particularly like the quiet. So he stayed at the office as long as he could. He immersed himself in his work and he tried to save others because he couldn't save himself.

The ding of the elevator caught his attention. The maintenance crews had long since gone home. He watched as Eric, one of the late night security guards stepped out of the elevator. Tony looked back at his file. Some would say he was being obsessive; really it was just a distraction.

"Tony?"

He's not sure he'll ever be able to describe the jolt that shot through his body at the sound of her voice again. But his eyes shot up and all of a sudden there she was. His Ziva was standing right before him.

"Haa-hi," he stuttered, the air momentarily gone from his lungs. And then his eyes cleared and his brain focused and he realized that not only was Ziva standing before him, but there was a baby bump and a large one at that, that accompanied her.

He stood from his desk and awkwardly, but eagerly pulled her into a hug. He tried for a moment to relish that feeling of having her in his arms again but he couldn't escape the push of her swollen stomach against him. It was the proverbial elephant in the room.

He pulled back and looked down. "You're pregnant." He stated.

"Yes," she nodded.

"I…Wow… Congratulations."

She shook her head and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "I felt as though I had waited too long to tell you on the phone and I didn't want to not tell you, but I also didn't want to just tell you."

He turned his head at her and tried to read between the lines. "What…"

She shook her head and continued from where she left off. "I should have called you when I found out. I know. I'm sorry for it. I hope one day you'll… forgive me."

That was when he got it. It was somewhere between the tear hanging out in the corner of her eye and the way she looked like her entire existence was dependent on his next word.

"Mine?" he asked.