Author's Note-I'm back. This story is coming quite easily so far so much so that I've written several chapters already. As always, comments and queries are welcome. I'll be doing the usual five reviews for a chapter, unless I get bored of waiting. So, with out further ado, I present my newest creation. Enjoy. NYLF xx


"Happy birthday to you." The team all finished singing as, with his mother's help, Oscar blew out the three candles that adorned the top of his cake. Everyone clapped and cheered while Tony switched the lights back on. Abby ruffled the little boy's curly hair with the hand that wasn't wrapped around the twenty seven month old on her hip.

"You're getting old now Bud. You'll have to come to work soon." She teased.

"I don't wanna work for Grampa Gibbs." He whispered, altogether unsuccessfully to his auntie. "He's scary when he's working." Gibbs chuckled heartily while Ziva smiled at him.

"You do not have to work for your grandfather Neshomeleh, not yet at least." She shot Gibbs a smile. "Now, you must be very careful." She placed the flat knife in his hands and covered them with her own. "Ready?" The small boy nodded enthusiastically. "Okay." She gently pushed his hands down through the cake producing more cheers from the surrounding group.

"Can I go play now Ima?" Ziva laughed gently, kissing the top of his head.

"Of course, Tateleh, off you go."

"Me too, me too." Ava giggled, kicking her little feet as she tried to relinquish her mother's grasp of her.

"Okay Sweetie but be careful okay?" Abby told her softly as she placed the little girl on the ground and watched her toddle off. McGee stood beside his partner.

"She's fine, Abs. You gotta let her play." She smiled at him softly.

"I know, she is just so precious to me." Abby sighed, watching her daughter and nephew embark on a very intricate and elaborate game that none of the adults in the room had any hope of understanding. Tony wrapped his arm around Ziva's hips, drawing her close as he kissed the side of her head.

"You did good Sweetheart. The cake looks amazing." Ziva had been up half the night decorating the foot long train. "When he's settled down I'm sure he'll love it." Ziva chuckled.

"You gave him chocolate before ten this morning, he will not settle." Gibbs looked on at his team, his family, realising just how close they had all become.

"Umm, Zi?" McGee asked several moments later.

"Yeah?"

"Can I put the twins down in Oscar's room for a bit? Those two are going to wake them up if they get any louder." Ziva chuckled.

"Of course. Here give me Ethan." She replied, taking the baby boy's car seat out of his arms. McGee followed Ziva down the hall into the nursery and placed both of the car seats under the window. "How are they?"

"They're doing really well, they've just discovered rolling." Ziva laughed, both fond and scary memories of Oscar at that stage filling her mind. "So we're up and down all night turning Ethan back onto his back, he cries every single time he ends up on his tummy, Isla loves it though." The twins, Ethan Mike and Isla Shelly, named after Franks and both Shannon and Kelly, had always been so very different from each other. Even from birth, Isla had been the more adventurous one, much like her mother. She was talkative and bubbly and never stopped smiling. Ethan, on the other hand was cautious, caring and sensitive, but he could be demanding when he had to be, very like his father. Now, at six months, their personalities were developing quickly, making raising them both rather a handful for the young couple. Add into that the very excitable bundle of energy that was Ava, they had their work cut out. Ziva led them out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"How is Ava taking it? I noticed she was a little jealous when they first came home."

"She was terribly jealous, but she's okay now. She loves them both." Abby smiled at her partner as they entered the kitchen again before turning her attention back to the two small children playing in the living room. Tony moved to stand beside Jimmy and Brenna, sipping his coffee.

"Kayla, sweetie, do you wanna play?" He asked, stroking the two year old's back gently as she sat in her daddy's arms, watching her cousins closely. She nodded gently. "Come on then." Tony carefully lifted the little girl out of Jimmy's arms and set her down beside Oscar and Ava. "Play nicely okay?" All three kids nodded before playing again while Tony joined the rest of the adults in the kitchen.

"Y'know Boss, I've been thinking..."

"Don't hurt yourself." McGee quipped receiving a glare.

"Has any rule ever been broken as many times as Rule Twelve?"

"Well, you and Ziver broke it first, then Abby and Tim. I changed it, Ziva got pregnant, so you keeping it out of the office became pretty much impossible, then I had to bench you four far too often for that to work and now I've had another two pregnancies, one of them multiple, after it was changed again." Abby laughed at the three agents' guilty faces.

"The short answer is apart from Six, which is broken quite a lot, no. Twelve is the most broken. Shockingly though, Ziva and Tony haven't broken this one yet." McGee laughed until he felt Abby's elbow make contact with his ribs. "Ow, what was that for?" Abby motioned at Ziva, whose eyes had dropped to the floor. "Sorry."

"No, not at all." Ziva murmured, taking several seconds to look up. "So, who wants cake?"

"Goodnight Neshomeleh." Ziva whispered, placing a kiss in his curls before getting up from his side, switching on his nightlight and pulling the door ajar. She entered her bedroom slowly, shedding her shirt and jeans as she did.

"He asleep?" Tony asked, looking up from McGee's newest book. Ziva merely nodded before pulling her nightdress on and releasing her hair from its tight ponytail. "He really seemed to enjoy the day."

"Yes, I think he enjoyed spending time with Ava and Kayla. With all of our schedules as crazy as they are, we do not get to do that as often as we should." She got into bed, kissed his cheek and snuggled down, facing away from him. "Goodnight Tony." He sighed, put his book on the cabinet and turned to face her.

"Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?" He asked gently, tracing patterns on her arm above the sheets.

"No." She said quickly but she didn't move from his touch.

"Talk to me Ziva." She turned onto her back, eyes glued to the ceiling.

"Do you ever think that, if the last time had not been so traumatic, we would have had another child by now?" He sighed again and kissed her shoulder before laying beside her and draping an arm across her abdomen.

"We might have."

"Do you ever think about having another?" Tony fell onto his back with a thud.

"Why are we having this discussion Zi? We can't have more children."

"We can. You just do not want to." Ziva replied tensely.

"And you do? You're willing to risk your life, Oscar's right to have his mother, my right to have my wife to have another child?" Tony's volume decreased as the tension in his words rose.

"Do not bring Oscar into this." She warned him.

"Why not? He'll be affected just as much if not more if you decided to leave us. Tell me Zi, why are you still so ready to die?" Ziva sighed before turning to face away from him once more.

"I am done arguing about this." She answered thickly. Tony faced the opposite wall.

"We weren't arguing." They both sighed almost simultaneously before Tony drifted off and Ziva wiped the tear rolling down her cheek away and settled into sleep.