A/N: Hello all :) Thanks for the alerts and reviews on "Blessed." I'm glad you all enjoyed it. This is the third installment of my five-part series! So, if you haven't read "For Better Or For Worse" and "Blessed" yet, I suggest you do that before reading this story! So, without further ado, here's chapter 1!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any original characters. I do own the characters that I created.

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It was silent in the DiNozzo household one October morning. The clocks all read 5:48; approximately twelve minutes before Tony, Ziva, Aiden, and Aaliyah would wake up and start preparing for school and work. Twelve years had passed since they had moved into their house, and Aiden and Aaliyah were now fifteen years old and sophomores in high school. They had grown a lot in their short lifetimes, and Tony and Ziva were very proud of each of them, although they could not always attend every event that they wished they could.

Aiden had turned into quite a talented basketball player, and had even gotten to start on the varsity team his freshman year. He knew that he would again be a starter in this upcoming season. Basketball had been his passion since he was old enough to learn how to dribble the ball, and it was the only aspect of school that he really cared about. During basketball season, he admittedly would only go to class and maintain passing grades so he could play. He lived and breathed basketball, and he was hoping for a basketball scholarship and to eventually make it to the professionals. It was far-fetched, but it was his dream.

Aaliyah, on the other hand, cared very much for school. She was nearly a straight-A student and was relying on academic scholarships as opposed to the athletic scholarship that her brother was hoping for. She wasn't only focused on schoolwork, though. Aaliyah was a varsity cheerleader and got to cheer at her brother's basketball games. She was also very involved in school organizations, being the vice president of the sophomore class and a math tutor for middle schoolers. Aaliyah was hoping to be initiated into the National Honor Society as a junior, and she was working very hard to maintain her grades to achieve that goal.

Finally, the alarm clock in Tony and Ziva's bedroom began to ring, signaling that the time had reached 6:00a.m. Groggily, Ziva flailed her arm over the side of the bed to turn off the alarm. She rolled onto her back and sighed, not wanting to get up. Next to her, her husband propped himself into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes, trying to focus his vision.

"Good morning," Tony said.

"Morning," Ziva replied, stifling a yawn. She laid in silence for another moment before sighing and pushing her blankets off of herself to stand from the bed. "I will go make sure Aiden and Aaliyah are awake." She left their bedroom and walked down the hallway to where her kids' rooms were. Reaching Aiden's room, she knocked twice and opened the door.

"Aiden, it is time to get up," she called into the darkness. Hearing a grunt in response, Ziva opened the door the rest of the way so the hallway light flooded the room.

"Okay, Mom," Aiden growled, pulling his covers over his head. "I'm getting up." Ziva turned toward Aaliyah's room and knocked again before opening the door.

"It is time to get up," she repeated into her daughter's room before opening the door to let the hall light shine into Aaliyah's room as well.

After waking Aiden and Aaliyah, Ziva went back to her bedroom to see Tony coming out of the steamy master bathroom with a towel around his waist, obviously having just showered. He crossed the room to his closet to pull out a suit and tie to wear that day. While Tony was getting dressed, Ziva took her turn in the bathroom. After having Aiden and Aaliyah, both Tony and Ziva had gotten accustomed to getting themselves ready for work rapidly. When Tony was dressed and ready, he left the room and went downstairs to go to the kitchen.

"Good morning," he greeted his children who were seated at the breakfast nook, still in their pajamas, each eating a piece of jelly toast.

"Morning," Aaliyah responded quietly as her brother grunted into his toast. Tony poured Aiden and Aaliyah each a glass of orange juice and placed them in front of each of them.

"Thanks," Aiden said, instantly taking a large gulp from the glass.

"So do you guys have anything going on at school today?" Tony asked, walking back to the refrigerator to find something for breakfast for himself.

"I have a student council meeting right after school at 3. Then I'm tutoring from 3:30-4:30, and I have cheer practice from 5-8," Aaliyah replied. Tony nodded; this was a typical day for Aaliyah.

"Not really," Aiden said. "Basketball conditioning doesn't start till next week. So I'll probably just chill with my friends for a while."

"As long as you're home in enough time to do your homework. Your mom would kill you if you had a repeat of last year," Tony said, making reference to the conference he and Ziva had with Aiden's history teacher a few months prior because Aiden had skipped six assignments in a row.

"Okay, that was in April. I was ready for summer break," Aiden tried to justify. "Besides, I hated that class. That man taught history in the most boring way possible."

"But if you do all of your work, you know you will only have to take each class once," Ziva said, entering the kitchen fully clothed and ready for work. Aiden rolled his eyes, and Ziva smiled and greeted her children with a cheerful 'good morning.'

"All right, well we have to get going to work," Tony said, looking at his watch. He grabbed his keys and he and Ziva walked toward the kitchen doorway. "Have a good day at school." He and Ziva told Aiden and Aaliyah goodbye and left the house.

"I'm going to go get dressed," Aaliyah said after her parents had left. As she left the room, Aiden pulled out his phone to text his friend.

Twenty minutes later, Aaliyah came back downstairs, fully clothed and with her hair curled and makeup finished. She checked in the living room, expecting to see her brother, but did not. When she walked back to the kitchen, she found Aiden still sitting at the breakfast nook in the sweats and t-shirt he had slept in.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Aiden looked up from his phone.

"Texting Ethan," Aiden replied.

"Why aren't you ready for school?" Aaliyah asked. "You're going to miss the bus."

"That's the plan," Aiden replied, standing from the nook.

"You're skipping again?" Aaliyah asked. "That's the third time this month."

"Yeah, and?" Aiden asked. "It's not basketball season yet. I'll have more fun hanging with my friends than I would spending seven hours in class."

"Aren't you worried Mom and Dad are going to find out?" Aaliyah asked, to which Aiden laughed and placed his hands on his hips.

"Mom and Dad aren't home enough to notice," he replied. "And no, I'm not scared of them. What are they gonna do, ground me? They're never here anyway, so it's not like they'd know if I'm here or not."

"They post your attendance record on your grade card which they mail home," Aaliyah stated. "Addressed to Mom and Dad."

"Oh well," Aiden said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm gonna go chill at Ethan's. You have fun at school, LeeLee." He walked past his sister and started up the stairs.

"Stop calling me LeeLee!" Aaliyah called after him. She sighed and shook her head before grabbing her bookbag and leaving the house to head to the bus stop.

Meanwhile, Tony and Ziva had just arrived at NCIS headquarters. Ziva turned the corner into her team's squad room, which was right next to that of Tony's team. Ziva's new squad room was the one which EJ Barrett's team had previously occupied years prior. Twelve years ago, after Gibbs had retired and passed the team down to Tony, Ziva had remained on the team for another two years. She, Tony, McGee, and a forth agent by the name of Victor Larson had worked well as a team, but when Ziva was offered a position to lead her own team, there was no question to her and Tony that she should take it. So, Tony and Ziva now each led their own respective teams.

Ziva set down her belongings and sipped the coffee that she and Tony had stopped to purchase on the way to work. The other three agents on her team had bid her good morning, and she returned the gesture. She was, in fact, happy with her new team. Agents Mark Tuttle, John White, and Melissa Buchanan were who composed her team now, and each of their individual personalities made for a diverse group, and they had a great dynamic among the team.

Next to her squad room was Tony's. He had remained in the same location and at the same desk that he had always used. He, too, was the only member of their original team left. McGee had accepted a higher paying job offer six months after Ziva had gotten her own team, so Tony's team needed rebuilt as well. Victor Larson stayed and had become Tony's senior field agent. The agents who had taken Ziva and McGee's spots were Trevor Daniels and Steph Sullivan.

After greeting his team and sitting at his desk, Tony pulled a small stack of files out of one of his desk drawers and began working on paperwork. Around him, Victor, Trevor, and Steph were each working quietly at their respective desks as well. While Tony knew that he had a well-run team, he sometimes missed the old interactions between his old team that Gibbs had been in charge of. Even after twelve years, Tony still found himself asking what Gibbs would do in certain situations and taking risks just because his gut told him to. It was something that Tony was sure would never change. Roughly an hour and a half after arriving at work, Tony's desk phone began to ring.

"DiNozzo," he answered. The caller was Vance, who was still director of NCIS.

"I need you and Ziva to come to my office," Vance said bluntly.

"Yes, sir," Tony said before hanging up. As he stood from his desk, his team each looked up at him, awaiting orders. "Stay here."

"Are we going to be going somewhere?" Victor asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Tony replied. He walked over to Ziva's desk, and Ziva looked up at him, surprised at his early visit.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Vance wants you and me in his office," Tony explained.

"Did he say why?" Ziva asked.

"No," Tony replied, shaking his head. Ziva nodded and stood from her desk to accompany her husband to the director's office. They entered to see Vance sitting at his desk waiting for them.

"Thank you for getting up here so quickly," Vance said as Ziva closed the door.

"What is this about?" Ziva asked.

"Something happened," Vance began. "There was a bomb placed on a ship at the Navy base."

"Did it go off?" Tony asked when the director paused. Vance nodded.

"It went off when the ship was still in port," he replied. "Many men were killed and injured. Obviously, this brings the question of traitors as well as of terrorism."

"Well surely there would be surveillance of some sort," Tony said. Vance nodded.

"It just happened this morning. The press are already all over it, as is to be expected," Vance said. "As two of NCIS's best agents, I want your teams to work together on this case. I think it will maximize the efficiency and solve it as soon as possible."

"No problem," Tony nodded. He and Ziva were dismissed from Vance's office, and they left to inform their teams of their new assignment.

"All right gang, grab your gear," Tony instructed when he reached his desk. He saw as Ziva received a phone call on her cell phone before she was able to instruct her team the same thing. Tony paused and watched her facial expression turn to anger before she ended the call.

"Grab your gear. I will give you instructions, but I will have to meet up with you in a little bit," Ziva said to her team before walking back over to Tony.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just got a call from the high school," Ziva replied. "They said that Aiden has not shown up for any of his classes today. Apparently, this is the third time he has skipped this month and the sixth time this year."

"Really," Tony sighed, disappointed. "So where do you think he is?"

"Well, my guess would be Ethan's house because that is where he and his friends hang out all the time," Ziva replied.

"Okay," Tony said. He then turned back to his team. "There was an attack on a ship at the Navy base. We aren't sure if it's terrorism or what. Go with Ziva's team, and we'll meet you there as soon as we can. We have a family emergency we have to take care of first."

"You got it," Victor said instantly as Trevor and Steph shared concerned looks with each other.

"Keep me updated until I can get there," Tony said. Victor nodded, and Tony and Ziva's teams left for the elevator together.

"Let's go find Aiden," Ziva said angrily.

"We just talked to him this morning about his behavior in school," Tony said as they walked toward the elevator. "I don't know what his problem is."

"Neither do I, but I would certainly like to find out," Ziva said as the elevator door opened. The stepped inside and left to locate their son. Hopefully, they would be able to get Aiden's behavior under control quickly so they could return to this case that they were sure would serve them with its fair share of obstacles.

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A/N: Well there's chapter 1! I hope you all like it and think it's off to a good start! Please remember to review and tell me what you think!