She was found next to a body, covered in blood her small body curled together protecting her arm, which was broken, her hair was streaked with blood from the wound on her head. That's where Ziva had found her, after realizing she was alive- but only just she requested an ambulance and both she and the child were taken to the hospital. The rest of the crew were left doing their job.
The child slept restlessly her small body buried underneath the covers, her curly, long ebony black hair covering her face. She felt pain but it was a numb dull, but it still hurt she stirred not wanting to be pulled out of the depths of sleep.
Ziva looked on at the small child in the hospital bed, her arm and head covered in bandages. She gazed from the outside window, as she then turned to her partner Tony she asked " Tony, what if she never wakes up" Ziva stated " She will, the kid may be tiny, but she's a fighter" Tony stated, the little child had already pulled through two surgeries revolving around her head. Tony then pulled his Israeli coworker into a bear hug "You promise tony" "Yes, with all my heart". Ziva then broke away from the hug and turned to see the small child stir, walking in there she sat down and waited for the unnamed child to awaken.
She opened her hazel eyes to a blinding light, overwhelmed by the intensity to her delicate eyes she closed them again quickly. She opened them for a second time, this time slowly and looked around, the first thing she noticed were the many wires running from her body to the machinery around her, she turned her head slightly and saw a mysterious lady sitting beside her and a man behind whispering in her ear.
Ziva turned from Tony to see the child looking groggily at her, her hazel eyes staring at Zivas brown ones. "Hi sweetie, glad to see you've finally awoken. My name is Ziva and this is my partner Tony, do you remember your name sweetie?"
The little girl thought but all that came to her mind was the man and the gun, she frantically tried to help the man in front of her, but it was too late, her hands were too tiny to help cover the wound. She looked at them and shook her head, her curls bopping as she did " No" "What is the last thing you remember then?" she stopped to think "I tried to save him, after the man shot him, but I was too slow and little and then I heard footsteps behind me and everything went black and now im here" "would you be able to describe the man you tried to save?" she nodded "what about the other one" "no I didn't get a very good look, I just saw his shadow and his feet before everything went black" and after that she sobbed, Ziva pulled her into a gentle hug stroking her hair, and sung to her and the little girl slowly dropped into a deep sleep. Tony watched his coworker as she sung to this small child with love and smiled, he really liked Ziva but never knew how to tell her. He was determined to find this child's identity and then he would confess how he felt to Ziva.
A few weeks passed with no leads on who the child was or anything on the case. The child, who Tony had nicknamed Pixie, due to her small size was finally well enough to leave hospital, two days prior to her discharge Ziva requested to have the little girl put in her care. She asked her boss Gibbs as soon as she arrived at work "Gibbs can I take Pixie until we find her real parents" Gibbs looked at her and sighed "okay Ziva, but you know having a child bring a whole lot of responsibility "Ziva looked directly at him " yes Gibbs I'll take good care of her". Two days later Ziva walked into the girl's hospital room with a bag of items in her hands. The little girl greeted her in a hug "okay cutie, it's time for you to leave this place, you're going to come live with me okay?" "yay " "look I bought you some things" and with that she pulled the assortment of clothes from the bag she had bought with her, Ziva had bought a dress, PJs, shorts, t-shirts, skirts plus heaps of other items and also a stuffed panda. "Thanks!" the little girl then grabbed a pair of purple shorts and a lime green t-shirt that had a picture of Paris and ran into the bathroom and changed into it, she then ran out and put on the pink sandals. "ready" and with that the two girls walked out, Ziva signed the discharge forms and placed the little girl in the backseat of the car, in the car seat McGee installed as it was discovered that the little girl was 6 so she had to use it. She then closed the door and went to her seat, started up the car and drove to NCIS headquarters.
As the elevator door opened to the bullpen Ziva walked through taking the child to her desk she placed her in the corner behind her with coloring books and pencils. The day wore on, with the team members passing in and out, Tony came regularly to check in, the small child had eventually grown tired and curled up and gone to sleep.
Her dream was so real, almost like a memory, and then she saw it, it was that night, with the sailor, she heard the gunshot and rushing over to the man's side she tried to help cover the blood, but the ,man stopped her and looked deep into her hazel eyes "Aria, baby girl I need you to run and go get your mummy and leave this country, but daddy can't come, no baby don't cry you be a big girl now okay?" she nodded "now do you promise that no matter what, you will never ever stop being you" "I promise daddy" "now go, run Aria and remember I love both you, your mummy and the baby so much okay" she then leant down and kissed her father's cheek and got up "I love you daddy, forever and ever" "forever and ever baby girl " suddenly Aria can hear footstep she screams as feet approach her all she can hear is her father yelling "no not her not my baby let her live" as everything goes black. Aria jolts awake screaming and finds she is in NCIS headquarters and in Zivas arms, she is softly humming to her, Aria turns "Ziva?" "yeah baby" "I remembered, that night, that man, he was my daddy, he told me to get mummy, to leave this country, and my name its Aria" "oh baby "
As she said that Gibbs walked in "Gibbs, her name is Aria, the man is her father" Gibbs turned to look at the small child and walked over he beckoned Aria to come to his desk "Aria, I'm so sorry but the police found your mother's body this morning, she gone too" Aria burst into tears and collapsed to the floor just as Tony walked in, rushing to her side he picked her up and cradled her "Boss, what happened?" "Little Aria here remembered and I just informed her that she is now an orphan" "oh my god, poor baby" with that he hummed to comfort the hysterical Aria. Ziva walked off knowing that the little girl was safe for now and went to Director Vance's office.
She knocked on the door and once granted entry she walked in "Director Vance I would like to adopt Aria Montgomery, the child of the deceased Byron and Ella Montgomery" "ah okay you will have to go through social services but it can be arranged, the only problem is that you do not have a partner" "why is that a problem?" "social services like homes that are safe and secure" "okay then thank you for your time" and with that she walked outside and back to the group, leaving Aria with McGee she takes Tony's arm and goes to the elevator once inside she presses the emergency stop button. "What's up Ziva?" "I love that little girl so I'm going to adopt her, the only thing is that I don't have a partner" "Listen Ziva I love that girl just as much as you so if you're asking what I think you're asking then yes of course" "Thank you Tony!" Ziva yelled and then caught within the excitement she kisses him. She jumps back, ashamed but Tony just looks at her and pulls her back and hungrily kisses her, Ziva relaxes and joins the kiss, the kiss was so passionate and the two eventually had to break apart, " You have no idea how long I have been wanting to do that" Tony grins as he holds her, Ziva whacks the back of his head and leans across and flicks the elevator back on. She turns to leave "So David, where does that leave us now" with that he strolls out the elevator, Ziva soon follows in a confused daze and collect both hers and Arias belongings, says goodbye to her teammates, her eyes lingering on Tonys and then grabs Arias hand and they leave the room.