The sunlight shone through the net curtain into Tony and Ziva's bedroom as their alarm clock started making that familiar ringing sound. It was 6:00am Monday morning and they both had to be at work in an hour and a half. Ziva was the first to wake. She reached out her left arm and sleepily pushed the snooze button at the top. Slowly, she sat up from her comfy bed but before she could stand she was pulled back down by the strong hands of her husband, Tony. "Just five more minutes" he moaned as he raped his arms around her waist and squeezed her tightly. "We have to get up, my love" she said as she kissed his warm forehead. Just then the sound of small footsteps came running into the room followed by a light jump onto the bed. Tony gave Ziva one last peck on the lips before they were separated by the daughter, Aria. Aria laid down between them snuggling up to her dad and pretended to go back to sleep. Ziva smiled, got out of bed and went into the bathroom to have a quick shower. "Aria, munchkin, you can't go back to sleep, you have school" said tony, with his eyes still shut. Like father like daughter some might say. Aria let out a small moan which told Tony getting up was the last thing on her mind and with that he gave her a small tickle on the waist. "Okay, okay daddy, I will get up!" she said laughing. Aria slid out of the bed and ran back to her bedroom down the hall. Tony was quick to follow out of bed, walking over to the dresser and pulling out a clean suit to wear to work that day. Ziva came out of the bathroom, washed and dressed. "Does it really take long to get up Tony?" she asked as she walked over to her dressing table to put on her makeup. "Well, you know how kids are…" Tony replied. "Haha, I know how you BOTH are!" Ziva replied laughing. Once Ziva was ready she went down stairs to the kitchen and started to make up Aria's lunch box, one sandwich, a packed of chips, a bag of fruit and a bottle of Capri sun. That's all her little first grader ever wanted to have in her lunch box. She was very strong willed just like her mother. Just as Ziva was opening the cupboard to get out the breakfast cereal, Tony came hurrying down the stairs, "where's Aria?" he ask. "She's upstairs, isn't she?" Ziva asked panic in her voice. "She's not in her room!" Tony said as he ran back up the stairs quickly followed by Ziva. They both burst into Aria's bedroom and what they saw sent chills down their spines…
The window on the far side of their daughter's bedroom was wide open and Aria was nowhere to be scene. Ziva turned her gaze over to Tony as tears started to fill her eyes. Tony was just standing there staring, Ziva thought to herself "why is he not doing anything!, why is he just standing there, this our YOUNG daughter, and she is missing!" but then she realised she was doing the same, just standing there, terrified for the safety of their child. Ziva quickly wiped away the tears from her eyes "Tony!, we have to get to Gibbs, Now!" Ziva said grabbing Tony's hand a pulling him out of the door. Ziva go in the driver seat and Tony climbed in next to her, Ziva could tell how worried he was, he was quiet and kept clicking his knuckles. It only took a few minutes to get to NCIS, Ziva always did drive like a crazy person, but this time it was different. Ziva pulled into the car park, but before the car had even stopped Tony jumped out and ran into the building and up the stairs, he decided waiting for the elevator would just be wasting time they could afford to lose. Tony walk hastily up to Gibbs desk "your late, DiNozzo" Gibbs stated not looking up from his computer "and where the hell is Ziva" he asked raising his eyes ever so slightly "Gibbs, Aria missing" Tony said not raising his voice. Gibbs stood up behind his desk "McGee!, put an Amber Alert out for Aria DiNozzo, 6 years old!" McGee looked over at Tony worriedly and then started typing on his computer. Just Ziva came running out of the elevator "Gibbs! What are we going to do?!"
Gibbs walked over to Ziva and wrapped his around her "don't worry Ziva, we WILL find her" he said as he kissed her forehead. Ziva could feel her eyes filling up again, but quickly re-gained control. Gibbs let go of Ziva and ran up the stair towards the director's office. Tony walked over to Ziva and hugged her tightly, he had to be strong for her, he thought to himself. "he's right you know" Tony said pulling away from Ziva slightly so that he could see her face "we WILL find her, besides she's part YOU Ziva!" he said trying to lighten the mood any way he could. Ziva let out half a smile but then covered it with a frown. "this isn't the time, Tony, this is a 6 year old child we are talking about not a 16 year old one" Ziva said pushing Tony away and walking towards to ladies room. Tony walked round and sat at his desk, he sighed heavily and took out his wallet, in the see through pocket by his credit cards was the photo reel of Him, Ziva and Aria, they had taken just last week at the fun fair. They were the type of photos you see in movies, the top one had him in the middle with his girls kissing either cheek, the middle picture made him laugh the most, each one of them had their tongues sticking out as far as they could and the last picture had Ziva on the left, him on the right and Aria in the middle, they were all smiling happy and un aware of the future in store of them. Tony was woken from his daydream by the phone ringing at McGee's desk, Tony listened carefully to what McGee was saying "Yes, Yes, Okay, Thank you, We will be right there" McGee said anxious. He stood up from his desk and walked over to Tony, "the team collecting evidence at your house has found blood on the side walk, it belongs to Aria…"
Ziva stood at the sink in the ladies room looking at her reflection. "How could I let this happen" she thought as she splashed her face with cold water. Ziva could feel the anger building up inside her, like there was no space left in her body for anything else. She clenched her right first and took a swing at the wall beside her, it left a mark and her knuckles turn red. Ziva heard the sound of the door open and in walked Abby. She wrapped her arms around and hugged Ziva gently, she knew that Ziva was going through a horrific time at the moment and felt that a hug was enough. Ziva pulled away after a few moments "It's okay, Abby" she said looking down at the ground. "We are going to find my daughter, or I will die trying", "I know" Abby said starting at Ziva with comforting eyes. Ziva was surprised with how little Abby had to say! Usually she would be rambling on and on about how much pain she must be in and how she can imagine what it must be like, essentially make the situation worse. "I have to get back to the office, I need to stay updated" Ziva said as she walked through the doors and back into the bullpen. As the two girls approached the rest of the team, Ziva could sense something was seriously wrong. Gibbs and McGee were standing by Tony's desk, Tony was sitting down the other side with his face in his hands. "What is wrong?" Ziva asked with panic in her voice, she looked at all three men, they weren't answering her, "WHAT?!" she repeated. Gibbs placed his hand on Ziva's shoulder and encouraged her to sit down. "Tony just got a call, it was from the people that took Aria, they…" Gibbs was finishing his sentence what Ziva stopped him in mid flow " Tell me you recorded it?" she asked looking over at McGee. He nodded "let me hear it" she ordered. McGee looked over at Gibbs for approval, he nodded and with that McGee hit the play button. "We have your daughter, she is safe.. for now…If you want her to make it through to her next birthday, you will do EXACTLY what I am about to ask. We require the confidential files to access the NCIS data base. We will also be expecting a sum of $100,000 to be paid, for the complete return of your daughter. And yes you head me correctly, if you do not do what we ask we will still be sending her back to you… piece, by piece"
"McGee, get a trace on that call!" Gibbs ordered. McGee sat down at his computer and rapidly started typing, "This guy is good, the trace is bouncing all over the globe" McGee said looking up at his team. Gibbs returned to his desk and grabbed his gear "Tony, Ziva, come with me" I said as he walked out of the bull pen and towards the elevator "where are we going" Tony asked in a small voice. "To your place, to see if they missed anything" Gibbs replied. Once they had reached the car park Gibbs got in the driver seat, Ziva and Tony sat in the back. Ziva moved closer to Tony and rested her head on his shoulder, she felt his hand move towards hers and he locked his fingers in with hers. Tony started to get that feeling in the pit of his belly, they one he hated feeling, that he only felt in situations where he felt not in control, he wiped his eyes and kissed Ziva gently on the top of her head. Ziva squeezed Tony hand even tighter. Once they arrived at the house Gibbs ordered Tony and Ziva to go round a check for anything that was out of place, missing or anything that could like to the people that took Aria. Tony started with the back door working his way up to Aria's bedroom. He walked into the room and saw Ziva standing next to Aria's bed, holding what looked like a photograph , a single tear running down her face, Tony moved to stand next to her and what he saw scared him immensely. The picture Ziva held was of Aria, she was tied onto a chair, gagged and she was crying.
"Oh my god" Tony said under his breathe. Tony took the photo from Ziva, she didn't need to keep staring at it, it would rip her to pieces. Just then Gibbs walked into the room. "Boss" Tony said as he handed the picture to Gibbs. Ziva snapped out of her daydream and walked over to the two men "Looks like she is in some sort of basement?" Ziva asked as all three of them analysed the photograph. "Get this to Abby, she might be able to pull a finger print from it, she has also been picking apart that phone call" Gibbs said. All three of them headed back to the navy yard, this time Ziva drove. Once they arrived at the office Gibbs ordered Tony and Ziva to stay up in the bullpen with McGee, he wanted to find out the information Abby had found before Tony and Ziva, so that he could let them in on it easy. Gibbs walked into Abby's office and immediately noticed that there was no music playing, and he knew why, this was a serious situation, this child was like a niece to all of the team, they had been there at her birth and been to every birthday party, they spoiled her rotten. "What have you got Abs" Gibbs asked. "Oh um Gibbs, um " Abby stuttered as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I managed to pick apart the phone call, if you take away the man's voice from the audio you hear this "…..mommy, daddy…" Gibbs looked at Abby, "I didn't come all the way down here to hear that innocent child crying for help did I Abs!" Gibbs questioned. "didn't you hear it?" Abby asked "under Aria's voice". Abby typed on her computer and managed to mute Aria's voice from the call, she hit the play button "…wooh, wooh….". Abby turned to Gibbs and Gibbs turned to Abby "it's a boat, she's at a boat port!" Gibbs kissed Abby on the cheek and handed her the picture they had found back at the house, "try and get a finger print from this" Gibbs said as he left the room to go and tell Tony and Ziva the news.
McGee, Tony and Ziva all stood up as Gibbs walked into the bullpen after meeting with Abby. "She's at a boat port, we have teams searching the ones on the out skirts of the City, McGee your with me" Gibbs said as he gathered her gear. Tony and Ziva started to gather their things also, they wanted to be there when their daughter was rescued or at least found, after all they still didn't know if she was alive. "Not, you too" Gibbs said. Tony and Ziva looked at each other "she's our daughter boss" Tony stated looking over at Ziva. "It's too risky, it could be a trap, you stay here" Gibbs said and stepped into the elevator. As soon as McGee and Gibbs had gone out of sight, Ziva broke down into tears, she had been holding them in for so long and he couldn't help herself any longer, she was scared, what if her little girl was dead, she wasn't there to protect her when she needed it, she had failed Aria just like Eli had failed Ziva. Tony moved over and squeezed Ziva tightly in his arms, he wanted to make everything right again, he wanted everything to go back to the way they were only hours ago. There was no doubt in either of their minds they couldn't live without Aria. Tony knew that there was no way to calm Ziva down at this point, he simply stroked her face and kissed her forehead, shedding a tear or two of his own.