Summary: Gibbs gets a visit from his niece who accidently gets involved in a case.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on "NCIS".

Warning: Corporal Punishment of a teenager in later chapters.

"Uncle Gibbs!"

Gibbs turned his attention away from MCGee's computer screen and looked up. Everyone on his team did the same and did their best to act as if they were perfectly used to seeing their boss with a teenager. Gibbs stood and walked over to greet his niece who was running towards him, arms open.

"Heidi, it's good to see you." he gave the girl a hug and almost sneezed as his face was accidently buried in her long brown hair. She usually wore it braided but obviously not today. He released her and looked into those sparkling chocolate brown eyes, almost as brown as her hair. She had grown since he last saw her, and that was only a couple of months ago. She was beginning to look less like a child and more like an actual adult each day. And she must have gotten taller too.

Gibbs had informed the team the day before that they'd be getting a visitor for a few days. Heidi had a school break and sometimes during those she'd come stay with Gibbs for a few days. Gibbs brother Jim and his wife Carla had to work and they didn't consider Heidi old enough or actually trustworthy enough to be left alone all week. One or two days they were fine with, but definitively an entire week. And since Heidi didn't mind and Gibbs was glad to have her stay with him he didn't see a problem with her spending a few days with him. Though he had informed both Heidi and Jim and Carla that Heidi would have to hang around NCIS during the day time because he unfortunately could not take a full vacation while she was there. He had to work and the team needed him there. Heidi had been happy to hear that. She had met Tony and Abby before and she loved them both like older siblings and certainly didn't mind spending time with them and her uncle at his work.

Tony had watched the scene from his desk and now got to his feet to greet the little rugrat.

"Hey Heidi! What's up my little conqueror of Pin ball?!"

Heidi gave him one of her "Oh, you're so lame but I love you anyway" kind of looks and grinned. "Hi Tony! I'm fine and still leading, thank you."

Tony arched a brow at that overly confident comment. How could she be so sure of that? She certainly hadn't watched him play lately. He had gotten a lot better. "Well, it has been a while since I last saw you. A year at least. How old are you know? Ten?" he asked in a teasing tone with a smug smile.

"I'm thirteen, Tony!" she yelled loud enough for the Special Agent to almost take cover behind his boss.

"Okay, that's enough playing for now. People are trying to work around us." Gibbs scolded lightly. "Do you have any homework to do?"

Heidi opened her mouth to protest against doing homework as the first thing she did arriving at NCIS, one of her favorite places in the world with something going on all the time, but Gibbs beat her to it. "I know I know. It's your school break but I happen to know your math teacher gave you some homework to do during this week so you'd better get started on that. And what better place to get started than here at NCIS?" he grinned at her small pout.

"You know Uncle Gibbs, I AM old enough to recognize sarcasm when I hear it."

"I'll show you around later, I promise. As soon as I can. We're in the middle of wrapping up a case we've been working on so I need to finish that first, okay?"

Heidi smiled at her uncle. Gibbs always explained why he made her do something or why she wasn't allowed to do what she wanted and she really appreciated that. She started towards Gibbs desk to get started on her homework when she heard the familiar sound that Abby's shoes made when she moved really fast with small steps towards something she wanted.

"Is she here yet?! Is she?! Where?!"Abby was running from the elevator to the bullpen yelling excitedly and waving her arms in the air. When she was close enough she spotted Heidi and she flew at her hugging her and lifting her from the ground at the same time. She let out a small yelp but quickly relaxed and hugged Abby back.

"Hey Abs!"

Abby continued hugging her "You've grown! I'm so happy to see you and you've grown and I'm happy and Gibbs is happy and…"

"Give the girl some air, Abby" said a voice coming from behind them. Ducky had decided to leave autopsy and take the elevator up to see their guest. Ducky had seen Heidi quite regularly as she had grown up and he had also grown quite fond of the girl. "I wouldn't want to have to do an autopsy on another victim choked to death."

It was a good thing that Heidi had been around Ducky before, Gibbs thought. Therefore she understood his unusual sense of humor.

"Hello my dear, do you remember old Ducky?"

"Duuucky" Heidi sighed rolling her eyes. "it's only been a freaking year. Of course I remember you!" she was beginning to wonder why half of the people she knew at NCIS talked to her as if she were five years old. She had turned fourteen four months ago for crying out loud. But she decided not to say anything about it. She was just so glad to see them all again. She had definitively missed them.

Gibbs turned to his youngest agent, still seated by his computer. "Special Agent McGee!"

McGee almost snapped to attention when hearing his name. "Yes, boss!"

Gibbs grinned at the Special Agent's expression. "This is my niece Heidi. Heidi this is Special Agent McGee."

Heidi eyed McGee from his head to his very expensive shoes. "Is she new here?" she asked.

"Nah, not anymore. But he was on vacation last time you visited here, so you haven't met."

Heidi stopped deliberately making McGee nervous and took a step forward and reached out her hand, McGee took it in his and they exchanged small smiles.

"Hello Heidi, you can call me Tim."

"Hi, Tim." she said, eying him enthusiastically. She found it fun when the team got new members, especially when she could watch them trying to adjust to her Uncle Gibbs ways. He expected them to work hard and solve their cases effectively despite their heavy case load or exhaustion. But then, his team was the best, without a doubt. He sometimes treated her the same way as he did his team regarding her work in school. He expected her to do her best. He also had rules that he would sometimes recite to his team. Some of them applied to her too, but not all of them. She remembered the time she had put one of their kitchen knives in her school bag and brought it to school. She had been ten years old then and had heard Uncle Gibbs tell Tony, "Rule number 9, DiNozzo, never go anywhere without a knife." One of the other kids had spotted it during their lunch break and alerted a teacher. Heidi had been brought to the principal's office pronto for some explaining. He had called her parents who had been told to come pick her up. Later at home all hell had broken lose. Heidi had tried to explain to them that Uncle Gibbs had told her it was very important to always carry a knife in case something unexpected happened but they unfortunately didn't feel the same way about it. Since Uncle Gibbs lived a few miles away they had called him on the phone and let him talk to Heidi about the incident. She had argued that if the rules were so important then they should apply to her too, not just his team. Gibbs had said that she had a point, so he was going to sit down at some point and write down the ones suited for her to follow and then hand them to her written down on paper so she could study them. Heidi had been thrilled to hear that but she had stopped jumping up and down while holding the phone, when Gibbs had added, "But if you ever so much as touch a knife again with the purpose of using it for anything else besides cutting food or eating, I'll put you over my knee faster than you can say rule number 9"

After that she had had a Gibbs rule of her own to follow regarding knives. And she followed it. She knew Gibbs didn't make empty threats.

Heidi was thrown back to reality when she heard Abby ask, "When is Ziva due back here?"

"She was supposed to be back here two hours ago." Tony answered sounding worried.

"Who is Ziva?" Heidi asked. There had obviously been some changes around here since her last visit.

"Ziva is another Agent here who has been working under cover for the last fourteen days. We're expecting her back today." Gibbs explained to her and then glanced at the elevator, obviously hoping to see her exiting it soon.

"So the case is finished today when she returns?"

"Yes." Gibbs answered her. " She is supposed to have collected enough evidence for us to go in and arrest the one we've been after."

Heidi had always shown a certain interest in the work at NCIS and Gibbs felt a certain pride in that. She asked questions because she wanted the knowledge which was a good thing.

Finally the elevator doors opened and the former Mossad officer approached them. She looked perfectly all right but very tired. She was wearing something that definitely didn't resemble her usual outfits for work. She stopped in front of her colleagues who seemed a bit shocked at the sight, all except Tony who just seemed amused. No one on the team had yet seen her in the outfit she had had to wear while under cover. It was a tight top with yellow bright stars on and a short black skirt, shoving way too much than any woman in her right mind would be comfortable with.

Tony opened his mouth to speak but Ziva put up a hand in the air, warning him not to speak. "NOT…A…WORD, DiNozzo!" she said and then turned to Gibbs. "I look like a prostitute." she stated upset.

"Well, isn't that what you went undercover as?" Tony teased and smiled while eyeing his partner.

For a moment Ziva almost smacked him. "No, Tony! I went undercover as a waitress, NOT a prostitute!" she corrected him, even though she knew he knew that.

"Oh, I see, so this was just a bonus for us then?" he grinned.

Ziva reached for a stapler to throw at him but Gibbs grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Hey, don't hurt the office equipment!" he understood Ziva's frustration with Tony's teasing but he wasn't going to let her beat up Tony…at least nor right now. He had had to put in a lot of work convincing her to go undercover the way this case had required in the first place and Ziva had been most reluctant with the idea from the start.

They had gotten a report two weeks ago that the body of the female Lieutenant Melissa Andrews had been found in an alley three blocks from a bar owned by a man named Freddy Collins, a known drug dealer. The bar was usually crowded with people drinking and doing different kinds of drugs. Collins had also made a habit out of using the waitresses working for him for other things than just serving drinks. Some of them were occasionally taken to the back of the bar to please either him or one of his important customers. Hence Tony's teasing. Lieutenant Andrews' shipmates had told NCIS that she had been seeing Freddy Collins for about two months. She had spent a lot of time hanging out at the bar but when she had noticed that some of the waitresses were under age and that they were also forced into the back of the bar to be raped, she had gotten scared and tried to leave him. She had according to one of her shipmates received a phone call from Freddy Collins early the night she was murdered, saying he needed to see her one last time. She had gone to the bar and never returned to the ship. The cause of death had been an over dose of heroin but her shipmates claimed they had never suspected she was using and her CO claimed she had never acted strangely and he had never suspected she'd be the type to use drugs at all. Ducky had also found bruises from several people holding her down right before the heroin was injected into her vein. Gibbs had sent Ziva under cover as a waitress hoping she might be able so catch Freddy Collins in action either with minors, drugs or find evidence of murder, since they hadn't been able to find anything tying him directly to the Lieutenant's murder. He was however their prime suspect and Gibbs was determined to catch the "dirt bag" as he had called him after seeing the bruises and expression of fear on the dead woman's face. Although it had not been the cause of death, the Lieutenant had also been submitted to torture before she died. The rumor was that no one ever leaves Freddy Collins.

Ziva had been under cover for thirteen days now and finally collected enough evidence against Collins for NCIS to bring her out from under cover and bring Collins in. Ziva had worked hard on getting close to the man and he now believed she was loyal to him, not to mention under his control.

"We can go get him, Gibbs. I have a witness who saw Lieutenant Andrews being dragged into Collins' office. She also heard screams coming from there and claims she caught a glimpse of our Navy Lieutenant being tortured by Connell before the door was closed. She will testify."

"Good work, Ziva. Anything on the heroin?"

Ziva grabbed a chair and sat down, massaging her temples for a moment before answering. "Yes, we have him on film using. I also know where he keeps the drugs in his office, underneath one of the floorboards under his desk."

"Good then it's time to go get him. Is the witness safe?" Gibbs asked.

Ziva wiped at her face with the back of her hand. It was raining outside. "She left the bar with me and I told her to go home and wait to hear from us."

Heidi was beginning to feel a bit ignored standing around listening to a woman she had never met briefing her Uncle Gibbs. Sure, she found many things at NCIS interesting but she knew there wasn't a chance in hell that she would be allowed to go with the Agents when they made an arrest, so she found it boring having to listen to them planning to make one. Finally Gibbs noticed her bored expression. "Before we move I should introduce my niece, Heidi, to you Ziva. She's here visiting me for a few days."

Ziva looked with tired eyes at the girl. "Hi." she said and gave the girl a small smile and a nod. She was not very good with kids and definitely didn't feel like wasting the little energy she had left on entertaining some kid, even if she happened to be Gibbs' niece. Not when she had a case to wrap up.

Gibbs looked at Ziva. He hadn't often seen that tired expression on the determined former Mossad Officer's face. She had been out in the field, under cover, for a long time now and there was definitely no shame in her being tired for once though. In that moment Gibbs made a decision. He looked at first Heidi and then Ziva. "Well, you two will have some time to get know each other now." he said as he retrieved his gun and badge from his desk.

Ziva gave him a puzzled look. "Wait a minute, Gibbs! Are you telling me we're waiting to arrest Collins? Why? Why don't we move now?" she asked skeptically.

Gibbs strapped his gun on. "We are moving now, Ziva. Me and McGee and DiNozzo. You, on the other hand, are staying here. You're going to get cleaned up and get some time to rest here at NCIS." he declared.

Ziva could hardly believe her ears. There was no way she was staying at NCIS while the rest of the team captured a criminal that she had been under cover, collecting evidence against for fourteen days. "Gibbs!! I'm NOT staying behind on this one! That man is a monster and I have had to basically suck up to him, waiting on his hand and foot for days! I want to be there when we take him down."

Gibbs sighed inwardly. He actually understood Ziva, however, this was not a debate, it was an order, and she was not going to get her way on this one. "Ziva, you are tired and you need to rest. I don't want you in the field bringing in suspects in the state you're in right now." he explained, trying to be patient, for her sake, for his own sake but mostly for his niece's sake. He didn't want her to see him lose his temper with one of his agents on her first day visiting him for a long time. However enough was enough, he felt when Ziva started to protest again. "Officer David!" he roared. "You're staying!" he stood in front of her, staring at her. "I have another assignment for you until we get back. One that doesn't require as much effort as bringing in Connell.

"Oh?" she said confused.

"Look after Heidi while we're gone. Show her around NCIS, it's been a while since she saw the place."

Once again Ziva just stared at her boss, stunned at his words. "Gibbs, I am not a babysitter!" she complained.

Gibbs grinned a little at the field Agent's distress at the situation. "I know. But I am giving you an order and I expect you to follow it." he said sternly.

"But why can't Abby or Ducky…?"

Abby stepped in. "I would love to take her Ziva, but I haven't finished with the DNA samples from the Commander Yarrow case last week yet. I need to finish it." she looked apologetically at the Agent, wishing she could help her out.

Ziva turned to Ducky "Sorry, my dear, but Gibbs does not want Heidi down in autopsy."

Ziva glanced at Gibbs who nodded. "Her parents don't think she's old enough to see dead bodies." he explained calmly, glancing at his young niece who was beginning to look impatient.

Ziva looked pleadingly at Gibbs for a second. She would have liked a better explanation for why she was being forced to stay behind but she realized that Gibbs shouldn't really have to offer one. An order was an order, no matter how stupid or unfair it was.

When Gibbs felt sure Ziva had accepted her fate he turned to Heidi. "Honey, as you heard I have to leave for a while now with Tony and McGee. While I'm gone you'll be with Ziva, okay?"

Heidi wasn't fond of the idea. Usually Gibbs would try to avoid leaving NCIS when she was visiting and if he had to then he would leave her with Abby. Abby had said she didn't have time now, so Heidi understood that she would just have to respect that. "Why can't I stay alone? I'll sit at your desk and do my homework, I promise."

Gibbs smirked. He remembered the last time she had promised that. He had found her watching an interrogation behind the glass. The interrogator hadn't even known she was watching so sure, she hadn't really been hurting anything. But she HAD made a promise and then broken Gibbs' trust by choosing to go do something she knew she wasn't allowed to do without Gibbs or someone else on his team present. Gibbs had punished her by making her swab the floor in Abby's lab an entire afternoon.

"Sorry, Heidi. You'll be in Ziva's care this time until I get back. I won't be that long, I promise. Ziva is going to take you around NCIS and then out to get some ice cream at the coffee shop around the corner." he did his best to try and cheer her up.

Heidi groaned a little. So far she didn't like Ziva. It was just a feeling she had that told her that they would not get along. Ziva also didn't seem crazy about having to watch her, or "babysit" as she had chosen to put it. She wasn't a kid, she thought. She shot the woman a quick defiant glance. It was quick but Gibbs caught it. Not wanting to embarrass the girl in front of Tony, McGee, Abby and Ducky, he guided her a few steps away from the group.

Knowing that his little niece had a habit of getting into trouble and also knowing that she could be very defiant at times, especially towards people she decided she didn't like before even giving them a chance to show her that they were actually decent people, he fixed her with his Marine stare.

"Now I want to make some things very clear to you, young lady. While I'm away Ziva is in charge. If you misbehave or disrespect her in any way I will find out when I get back. And believe me, you won't like the consequences if I hear of such behavior. Have I made myself clear?" he asked, hardly even blinking as he spoke calmly to her.

Heidi swallowed hard. She knew how Gibbs had sometimes chosen to punish her for being disrespectful over the years. She knew how much a spanking from him would hurt and she did not want to find herself over his knee any time soon. "Yes, Uncle Gibbs." she mumbled.

He replaced his Marine stare with a warm smile and patted her on the shoulder. "I'll see you soon."

A few minutes later Gibbs, Tony and McGee headed out, Abby returned to her lab and Ducky had joined Palmer in autopsy. Ziva was headed for the showers to clean up, with a sulking teenage girl reluctantly following her.

To be continued