The Gift of Family
Sign language
Hebrew
I own the seasons of NCIS, Michael and Jacob but other than that not mine. Everyone may seem a little OC but this is AU.
Characters are:
Leroy Jethro Gibbs "Gibbs", works for NCIS, husband to Jenny
Jennifer Gibbs "Jenny", stay at home mom, part time agent works at NCIS, wife to Gibbs
Mike Franks, NCIS Agent, Gibbs' boss
Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard
Tobias Fornell, FBI Agent friend of the Gibbs family
Ari David, eleven years old, orphan, brother to Ziva and Tali
Ziva David, five years old, orphan, sister to Ari and Tali
Tali David, six months old, orphan, sister to Ari and Ziva
Jacob Gibbs, ten years old, son to Jenny and Gibbs, brother to Michael and Kelly
Michael Gibbs, eight years old, son to Jenny and Gibbs, brother to Jacob and Kelly
Kelly Gibbs, eighteen months, daughter to Jenny and Gibbs, sister to Jacob and Michael
Ari, where is Ima and Abba. Five year old Ziva David asked her older brother.
"In Heaven, Little One." Eleven year old Ari David replied thinking of how his sister hadn't said a word since finding out their parents were dead. After everything that had happened they now had to fly to America to live with people they had never even met. Ari was pulled out of his musings when Ziva crawled up into his lap and Ari wrapped his arms protectively around her when they heard footsteps coming down the hall.
"We leave for the airport in an hour finish packing and you'd better make sure your baby sister is quiet." Mousad Officer Aaron Rivken said pointing to the six-month old baby lying on the bed next to Ari and Ziva.
Ari, would he hit Tali if she cried? Ziva asked
"He might not hit Tali but he'd hit one of us. Now go get packed so he won't find another reason to whip us." Ari put Ziva on the floor and got out three suitcases a black one for himself, a purple one for Ziva, and a pink one for Tali.
An hour later all the bags were packed and in the car, carry ons were stowed in the trunk with the suitcases, and the children were seen but not heard.
A few hours after that Ari, Ziva, Tali, and Officer Rivken were on a plane to America.
Ari, Tali has that look on her face like she's going to cry. Ziva said tugging on Ari's pant leg.
"Thanks, Zivalah, I'll be right there." Ari got up changed Tali's diaper put her in her car seat, tucked Ziva in and sat in his seat and fell asleep.
Ari, wake up we're landing. Ziva tapped his leg and faced forward.
In the terminal they grabbed their bags and hailed a cab. Officer Rivken gave the driver the address and they sped off. They drove to the suburban part of town and pulled up to a brown, brick house with two stories and a basement. A red haired woman holding a little girl who was about a year old was sitting on the grass under a tree watching a brown haired man play with two boys about ten and eight.
Officer Rivken got out of the cab and grabbed the bags out of the trunk asking the driver to wait.
Ari carried Tali on one side and held Ziva's hand on the other. Officer Rivken set their bags on the porch by the door then led them to the red haired woman. As they go closer the brown haired man and the two boys ran over.
"Jethro and Jenny Gibbs?" Officer Rivken asked the couple.
"Yes, and you must be Aaron Rivken." Jethro Gibbs said.
"Yes, and this is Ari, Ziva, and Tali." Rivken said pointing to each one in turn.
"I must be going you children be good and remember what you have been taught." He said and walked to the cab and left.
"Why don't we all say our name and what our hobbies are? I'm Jenny, and I like to cook," the red haired woman said. She had greens eyes that sparkled like the stars when she was excited Ari noticed.
"I'm Jethro, but you can call me Gibbs I like to work on my boat," the brown haired man said. Ari felt like Gibbs' blue eyes were piercing his soul.
"I'm Jacob and I like to read comic books," the ten year old boy said. He had brown hair blue eyes like his father.
"I'm Michael and I like to annoy my brother," The eight year old boy said with pride he had red hair and green eyes and was the spitting image of his mother.
"Michael James Gibbs!" Jenny scolded.
"Yes, Mama." Michael said looking innocent. He got the look in return.
"This is Kelly. She's the youngest and she's just learning to walk and talk." Jenny said still holding the little girl who had red hair and blue eyes.
"I am Ari and I like to fight. I am also fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, and I am still learning French. This is Ziva. She likes boats and to draw. She is fluent in Hebrew and Arabic and she is learning English, however she has not spoken a word since we found out Ima and Abba was dead. This is Tali; she is only six months old." Ari said.
"Now that we're introduced we'll show you to your rooms." Gibbs said grabbing some suitcases and motioning for Michael and Jacob to help since Ari was busy with the girls.
"This is the living room, the basement is down through that door, the dining room is connected to the living room and the kitchen is through that doorway." Jacob said pointing to various doors. When they reached a flight of stairs Gibbs led them up it.
"This is Mama and Dad's room," Michael said pointing to the first door on the right, "and right across the hall is the bathroom. Next to it is the boys' room and next to Mom and Dad's room is the girls'." Jacob finished. Gibbs, Jacob, and Michael put all the suitcases down in the girls' room figuring Ari would sort them out.
The girls' room had pink walls and carpet. Two handmade cribs and a single bed stood against the far wall, the heads of each against the wall with a yard between them. A closet was to the right of the door and a dresser and toy chest was next to the door.
It's too pink. Ziva signed to Ari.
"At least we're away from rat faced Rivken." Ari said causing Ziva to giggle.
Ari put Tali in one of the cribs and started to put away her and Ziva's things. When he was done he told Ziva she could go explore the house just to be careful and he checked on Tali, who was happily playing with one of her toys, before heading over to the boys' room.
The boys' room had blue walls and blue carpet a bunk bed and single bed was set up against the far wall the heads of each against it. A closet was to the left of the door and a dresser, bookshelf, and toy chest were next to the door. The top bunk had orange sheets and blankets which Jacob was laying on and the bottom had green which Michael was laying on. The single bed had blue sheets and blankets.
Ari unpacked his clothes and put them in the closet and dresser. Next he unpacked his books and movies and put them on the shelf, and finally he unpacked his photo albums and put them under his bed.
After Ari left Ziva jumped off 'her' bed and went to explore. She walked through the kitchen and giggled watching Jenny trying to give Kelly some Cheerios. Ziva finally got tired of that and went into the living room. Not seeing anything interesting she went down the basement steps to watch Gibbs build his boat.
Would you like to help? Gibbs asked the little girl.
You speak sign language? Ziva signed.
Yes, I do. Now would you like to help me sand my boat? Gibbs asked again.
I don't know how and I don't want to ruin it. Ziva signed.
You can't hurt anymore than I have. Gibbs replied, a smile on his face.
OK. Ziva signed smiling back at him and climbed onto the stool Gibbs had pulled out. Gibbs went behind her and placed her hands on the sander before covering them with his bigger more calloused ones.
Two hours later Gibbs and Ziva were still in the basement, Jenny was finished trying to feed Kelly, and Ari was coming down the stairs with Tali to feed her.
"Mrs. Gibbs-."
"Please call me Jenny."
"Jenny, would it be alright for me to feed Tali down here?"
"Of course, this is your home now to."
"Thank You." Jenny watched Ari get out the formula in the bottle, fill it up with warm water, put the lid on and shake it before testing it on his wrist. When he was satisfied with the temperature Ari fed Tali.
"You're a pro, how at eleven do you know how to do that?" Jenny asked obviously impressed.
"Thank you; our parents were gone always busy with work so I always take care of Ziva and Tali." Ari smiled down at Tali with such love that Jenny was shocked.
"I'm going to see what's taking my husband so long." Jenny said heading down to the basement and smiled when she saw Gibbs and Ziva sanding the boat together and not wanting to waste the moment ran upstairs to get her camera.
When Jenny came back downstairs she took a picture of Ari feeding Tali then went down the basement stairs to get the picture of Ziva and Gibbs. When she took the picture they were so lost in their own world they didn't even notice her until the flash went off.
"Ziva, why don't you go upstairs and wash up. Dinner will be done in a few minutes." Jenny said but at the confusion on the little girls face Gibbs signed everything to her. Ziva gave Jenny thumbs up and ran upstairs. When she was out of sight Jenny and Gibbs chuckled.
"Jethro, I think Ari may have been abused." Jenny said in a rush.
"Jen that's a pretty big accusation. What makes you say that," Gibbs asked.
"Well, when Ari was feeding Tali his sleeve came up and it looked like someone had grabbed his arm and just squeezed." Jenny said.
"Ziva flinched whenever I touched her back but that may have been from the accident if she was in it," Gibbs said more to himself than to Jenny.
"Jethro, we don't know if any of them were in the crash and if they were and they were abused then we have more trauma to deal with." Jenny said.
"I'll try to get Ziva to open up more." Jethro said.
"And I'll try to get Ari to open up." Jenny said finishing Gibbs' thought.
"I'll call Ducky to come and see what's going on, ok." Gibbs said pulling Jenny into a hug.
Meanwhile
When Ziva had run up the stairs she ran straight to Ari so she could tell him about working on the boat with Gibbs, in sign language of course.
"Wow it sounds like you had fun." Ari said and Ziva nodded her head at him.
"You two go get cleaned up and tell the boys too also. I'll take Tali until you're ready," Jenny said taking Tali out of Ari's arms.
Dinner went well, Michael and Jacob told about their day playing with the next door neighbors, the Fornells. Gibbs told about his day at the office, and Ari translated for Ziva, occupied Tali, and ate dinner all at the same time.
Ding Dong
"I'll get it." Gibbs said.
"Hello, Jethro. Where are the new additions to your family you were telling me about?"
Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard asked.
"In the kitchen, Duck." Gibbs answered shaking the Scotsman's hand.
"Uncle Ducky." Jacob and Michael said running up and giving Ducky a hug.
"Hello, boys." Ducky replied chuckling.
"I'm Ari; these are my sisters Ziva and Tali." Ari said pointing to both the girls in turn before sticking out his hand to shake Ducky's.
"I'm Dr Mallard but you may call me Ducky. I'm here to make sure you and your sisters are healthy." Ducky said shaking Ari's hand and setting his medical bag on the counter.
Ari frowned before nodding and passing Tali to Ducky so he could examine her.
"Michael, Jacob, clean up the table, please." Jenny said glaring at them just daring them to argue.
"Yes, Ma'am." The boys chorused, gathering the dishes.
"Tali looks like the picture of perfection. Ari I'll do yours next since Ziva doesn't look too thrilled about the whole thing." Ducky said looking between Ari and Ziva who was hiding behind his legs.
Ari and Ziva followed Ducky into the living room where he asked Ari to strip to just his boxers revealing burns, cuts, and bruises.
Gibbs wrapped his arms around Jenny as she covered her mouth with her hand. Ducky continued his exam taking extra care that all the wounds were cleaned and the ones that need bandaged were.
"There you're all bandaged up and you're very healthy other than the burns, bruises, and cuts. Why don't you go to your room while I look at Ziva?" Ducky said gently.
"Yes, sir." Ari said quietly and got dressed and headed to his room. Ziva seeing that her protector had left the room went and hid behind Gibbs.
"Jethro, can you coax Ziva out here." Ducky asked.
"I'll do my best." Gibbs answered talking softly to the small girl. Ziva came out from behind Gibbs still scared but more reassured.
Ziva stripped down to her underwear and under shirt, she too had bruises but she had welts and no burns. Jenny controlled her emotions better but Gibbs still comforted her and himself. When Ducky finished his exam and bandaged Ziva up as well he sent her upstairs with Ari.
"Jennifer, Jethro, I'm afraid to tell you that is the most severely beaten children I've ever seen. The bruises were only a few days old and so were the burns and cuts no more than a week but they were inflicted by someone who knew where to hit to be the most effective. Before this they were treated very well good muscle and bone health. Therapy will be a good idea both for their parent's death and for the beatings." Ducky said.
"Ducky, their parents died a week and a half ago." Jenny said.
"Well then whoever was looking after them was beating them." Ducky replied.
"Rivken." Jenny and Jethro said together.
"I suggest whoever they trust the most talk to them. I have to go Mother's nurse will leave soon." Ducky said grabbing his things and heading to the door. Gibbs walked with him to where they both stopped.
"Jethro, those children are going to need a stable home and a lot of help." Ducky said.
"Yeah, Duck, Jen and I are already going to adopt them and we're just waiting on the paperwork and talking to the kids." Gibbs replied.
"I think that's just what they need right now. Well I have to be on my way, goodnight, Jethro." Ducky said.
"'Night, Duck." Gibbs said.