Dare To Dream

"Avery. Elizabeth. C'mon. I have to go to work." Tony yelled up to the stairs as he tried to get his adopted daughters to come down. He slowly made his way up the stairs to hear not one set of sobs but two. He had a feeling that the second set of sobs was coming from the older girl, Elizabeth. He knocked and when Elizabeth answered with the usual 'what?', he walked in and saw Liz in the corner of the small, pink room and Avery on her lap. "Hey Av. C'mon. Liz and I need to get to work." He said as he lifted the younger girl off of Liz's lap and helped Liz up.

"Daddy. When's mommy coming back?" The five year old in the backseat asked innocently. She had been calling Tony 'daddy' since she was little.

"Never Avery. Stop asking that!" An agitated and annoyed Liz said desperately trying to get the point across that their mom was dead.

"Elizabeth don't talk to your sister like that." Tony said trying to get Liz to calm down. "Avery, You mommy's never coming back." He said as calm as he possibly could.

"Just for the record Tony she's not even my sister." Liz said looking out the window. The fifteen year old was annoyed at this point. Yeah Avery was more like her sister than her cousin and yeah there was a ten and half year age difference between the two because of birthdays but Avery was still her cousin.

"Lizzie. I thought you were my sissy?" Avery asked tears swelling up in her eyes.

"She is Av." Tony said trying to avoid anymore crying.

Liz just looked at the window, mad that Tony was paying more attention to Avery and not even caring about her feelings.

"DINOZZO! Your late!" Gibbs yelled as Tony walked into the Bullpen.

"I know boss. We had a rough start to our morning." Tony replied as Avery came out from behind his legs. Liz just sat down at her desk and started typing furiously.

She was chatting with Abby and Abby had told her to come down to the lab.

"If anyone cares I am going down to the lab." She said as she went to the elevator.

"Whats Liz's problem Tony?" Gibbs asked once she was out of hearing range.

"She wants Kate back." Tony said as he picked Avery up as she started to cry again.

The Lab

"Hey Abbs." Liz said as she walked into the lab.

"Liz. Whats wrong?" Abby asked as she pulled her 'niece' into a hug.

"Abby. Avery's ruining my life!" She said complaining to her.

"She is not. She is just being a little sister who misses her mom."

"I know. But no one ever asks me how I'm feeling."

"I'm sorry. Its hitting us all hard Liz."

"I know. But I'm tired of crying and no one paying attention. I'm tired of it all!"

"Liz. I know. But listen to me. You have lost about as many people in your life as the whole team combined."

"DAMNIT! Have you not heard a word I have been saying for the past three months?" Liz said as walked out of the lab, leaving Abby in shock and near tears.