Hey guys! Welcome back! This is third in the SSAOST series, and I thought I'd give you the first chapter today. This is like an introduction back to the characters, and it's set two years after 'SSAOST2: The Story Continued'.
Oh, and I'd like to mention a special thank you to 'Almost A Teacher' for her French translations.

Well, enjoy the chapter!

Tony groaned as the light from the corridor hit his eyes, waking him up from his sleep. He opened his eyes to see the bedroom door creak open.

'Who is it now?' he thought as he looked over at his alarm. It was 2 am. He closed his eyes and lay back, hoping to fall back asleep, when he heard a pitter-patter of feet on his carpeted bedroom floor. He was about to drift off when he heard a voice.

"Daddy?"

He turned on his bedside lamp and sat up, rubbing his eyes as he looked for the origin of the voice. Two pairs of bright green eyes were staring up at him. He sighed.

"Yes?"

"Bad dweam."

It was then that he noticed Kate was hugging her green teddy bear – Snuggles, as she insisted Tony called him – and TJ was clutching her embroidered blue blanket. Wondering why he hadn't heard them on the baby monitor, Tony swung his feet off the bed and lifted the twins up, laying them next to a sleeping Ziva. She opened one eye when she felt the bed move.

"Tony?" She looked up at him.

"The twins had nightmares," he told her as he tucked the comforter around the girls. Ziva nodded and fell back asleep. The twins started up at him with sleepy eyes.

"Go to sleep girls," he whispered as he kissed their foreheads. The little girls complied, closing their eyes and snuggling closer to each other and their mother. Tony waited until their breaths evened out before lying back down and turning off the lamp. He smiled as he felt TJ's hand move onto his chest before falling asleep himself.

Tony woke up the next morning to two girls bouncing on his bed. He groaned.

"TJ, Kate, fermarlo ora, (stop it now)" he ordered.

"Svegliarsi, il papà, la veglia su! (Wake up, daddy, wake up!)" TJ yelled in Italian.

"Oui, lèves-toi papa! (Yes, get up, daddy!)" Kate added in French. Tony turned on his back and groggily opened one eye. He glared at the little girls. They froze.

"Oh oh, tu l'as reveille! (Uh oh, you woke him up!)" Kate whispered to TJ.

"Era la tua idea! (It was your idea!)" TJ protested.

"Non, c'était la tienne. (No, it was yours.)" Kate pointed out. TJ bit her lip.

"Oh si, (Oh yeah)" TJ murmured.

They watched as Tony slowly got up and stretched, eying the little girls as he did so. The little girls slowly backed off the bed and stepped towards the door. Tony watched the girls and grinned.

"Come here," he beckoned. The girls shook their heads. He motioned for them to come over. They shook their heads again. That when he decided to get off the bed. The girls watched him with wide eyes. Tony took one step towards them.

"Fuyons! (Flee!)" Kate yelled before the girls went screaming down the corridor. Tony laughed and chased them down the stairs, roaring and pretending to be a monster as he did so. Finally he chased the girls into the kitchen where Ziva was making breakfast.

"Mommy, mommy!" they cried as they hid behind her legs. Ziva couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Tony run into the kitchen.

"Did you wake daddy up again?" she asked the twins.

"No!" they cried.

"Liars!" Tony pointed at them. "You will pay!" The girls screamed and hid further behind Ziva's legs.

"Tony, not now. It is breakfast time," Ziva scolded.

"But–"

"Maria! Venir ici, en vite! Ton petit-dejeuner c'est prêt! (Come here, quick! Your breakfast is ready!)" Ziva shouted up the stairs.

"J'arrive! (I'm coming!)" was the response as Maria came bounding down the stairs. "Bonjour! (Good morning!)" she greeted as she sat at the table and grabbed her breakfast.

"Not if you got woken up," Tony pointed out as he sat to eat his own breakfast. Ziva sat the twins in their highchairs.

"You would have slept in late otherwise," Ziva pointed out.

"But I'm tired."

"Hey, at least we're all happy," Maria pointed out. "One big happy family."

Tony smiled. She was right. It was just over two months until his and Ziva's second wedding anniversary, on 17th July, and it was one week until the twins' third birthday. They'd been pretty happy so far, with minimal arguments – mainly on Maria's part, since she was sixteen – and more overall productivity around the house.

"Tony, you know my seventeenth birthday's coming up…" Maria hinted.

"You aren't getting a car," Tony said bluntly.

"What's the point of passing driver's ed if you don't have a car to drive!" she yelled at him.

"Shush! I eating!" TJ scolded Maria, pointing her spoon at the teenager. Everyone laughed.

"Yup, one big happy family," Tony said proudly.

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