Author's Note: This is my first Tiva story so plese go easy on me. Leave comments and suggestions please!
I only own Miranda and the story. Everything else belongs to CBS.
Grab Your Gear
I woke up at my desk at NCIS covered in my coat with a half-eaten box of pizza on my desk. I looked over to see Ziva David and Timothy McGee still fast asleep. I moved the mouse on the computer and covered my eyes against the bright light coming off the monitor. It was 4:56am. I looked at Gibbs desk and wasn't surprised to find that he wasn't there. I lied back on the chair and covered myself up with my jacket and went back to sleep.
The next time I woke up Ziva was shaking me away saying sweet words in Hebrew. I opened my eyes and looked up into her puppy dog brown eyes. She covered my mouth with her index finger when I opened my mouth to say something. I raised my eyebrows in question and whispered softly in my ear, "McGee is still asleep and Gibbs has not shown up since he left last night. Just so you know it is 9am." I looked up at her and she knew that I wanted to kiss her then. So she leaned down the short distance from our faces and my lips met hers.
I wrapped my arms around her and her fingers went though my short hair. I stood up slowly and kept holding her, hoping I could never let go. I opened my eyes to look over to the elevator, then the stairs to check for Gibbs. I thought I saw movement over in the probie corner and ducked down. Our lips broke away from each other, each wanting more. That's when my life changed. When I had decided to show that look in my eyes and Ziva had leaned down to my lips. Someone must have seen. We just needed to find out who.
Gibbs had the skill to walk in at the perfect moment and I was just glad that he hadn't burst in when me and Ziva were breaking rule number twelve, no dating other co-workers. I looked at Ziva and my eyes met hers. We couldn't tell anyone about this. Never. I looked at McGee as he took in a long breath signaling that he was waking up. Ziva got up from behind my desk and hurried to her chair to look asleep. McGee opened his eyes.
"What time is it?" He asked, still half asleep.
"About nine, McSleepy." I answered. He got up out of his desk chair and stretched and looked around.
"Where's Gibbs?" He asked loudly. I winced and put my finger to my mouth while my other hand pointed at Ziva who moaned. She wasn't asleep, but McGee thought so. He made a small nod and raised his eyebrows and mouthed "Where's Gibbs." I shrugged. He walked out of the squad room and down the hall to get some coffee for the team from a cafe a few blocks away.
I quietly walked over to Ziva, hoping she wouldn't notice. I held my breath as I leaned over her face studying her. I crouched down as an NCIS agent walked by then got back up and whispered quietly to her.
"McGee's getting coffee. I thought you did well. He thought you were sleeping." Her eyes fluttered open then her whole body grew tense.
"Get to your desk. I hear the elevator." I jumped as I heard the ding of the elevator behind the stairs and threw myself at my chair and made small talk with Aiva from across the room.
"I see you're awake. You didn't snore last night." I said
"Well it was because I could not sleep with you falling off of your chair every thirty minutes."
"Why were we sleeping at our desks in the first place?"
"Because there was a snow storm DiNozzo. Look outside." Gibbs answered walking into the squad room. I glanced at the window covered in snow. "Grab your gear. There's a twelve year old girl with a dead marine dad." I slipped into my black coat and thanked God I decided to bring the heavy one yesterday. I grabbed my backpack and threw on my NCIS hat. Ziva was struggling to put her coat on. I could understand, it was her first real padded coat of her life. This was her fourth winter at NCIS but she never had a coat like this.
I grabbed a side and held it out to her as she slipped her arm in and threw on her backpack. I ran to catch up with Gibbs at the elevator as Ziva followed close behind. "What about McGee?" I asked as the elevator doors closed shut and we began to fall down to ground level.
"He'll come with Ducky." He answered. We got into the car and I prepared to be pushed against the seat when Gibbs started the engine, but it never came. The snow was making the car slow down and drive at a normal speed. He pulled out of the parking garage and sped down the highway. We arrived at the home and pulled up to the curb. It was a cute little house. Two floors, long windows, small, brick, regular sized front yard with decorations of a light up wire reindeer and penguin. The gutters were covered in multicolored Christmas lights with a small green wreath on the front yard. I walked up the snowy drive and up to the front door and knocked.
A blond girl in jeans and a white and black sweater answered the door. She had blue green eyes and flushed cheeks that were covered in blood. Blood covered her outfit and the tips of her hair. She sneezed into a tissue as I grabbed my gun and signaled for Ziva and Gibbs to surround the house. She stepped to the side as she let me through and walk inside.
"There's no one here but me. And my dad." She said in a sweet voice. She stood up to her full height that looked to be about five feet. She sneezed into a tissue again then walked into what looked like the kitchen. She pointed to the dead body looking at me with sad eyes. I felt like I wanted to kill the person who put this girl into so much pain. She was too young for this kind of torture. I whipped my head around when the back door opened at Ziva and Gibbs walked in.
"I'm sorry that I messed up the crime scene. I was just upset and crying and hugging him and oh my god I'm sorry." She said with wet eyes. Gibbs took one glance at her then to the body then the girl again and I saw pity in Gibbs eyes. I knew that he felt bad for her too.
"DiNozzo. Take this young lady to get her things." Gibbs ordered. I nodded and held the girl's shoulder as I walked her out of the room and she showed me to her room. She sat on the bed and I sat down next to her and took out a pen and notepad.
"So can you tell me about yourself?" I asked the nameless girl.
"My name is Miranda. I have a cold, I'm twelve, a little taller than five feet, this is my natural hair color and I don't know my mother. I don't have any close relatives err, well I don't know any... now." She said
"Now?"
"Yeah, I had some cool uncles. Uncle Jack, Uncle Nik, Uncle Conner. They were all really fun. From the army. Not real relatives. But they... they went to war one year... and never came back. It was a MIA."
"So you go get some clothes. A few outfits. Your going to be 'living' at NCIS until we find you a foster home."
"Okay." She got off the bed and lied on the floor and grabbed a brown and pink suitcase from under the bed and walked over to the closet. It was a nice room. A dream room for any girl her age.
The walls where a deep chocolate brown with soft, light pink dots about a foot wide covering the walls in a pattern about two feet between. The bed was almost the exact brown as on the walls with soft pink vine-like lines on it with pink pillows with brown vine-like lines. The floor was wood with a fuzzy brown rug with pink edges covering the middle of the chocolate brown wood flooring. There was one window on the side the bed was pushed against with pink trim and a sill with potted pink flowers.
The drapes where brown with small pink flowers. The room also had a bookshelf, desk, and a bedside table with a brown lamp and a pink light that radiated from it. There was a sweatshirt draped on the desk chair and brown boots with fur at the top near the door.
Miranda stepped away from the closet and put her hand on the brass handle of the door to leave.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Just to get my tooth brush and stuff. The bathroom's right at the end of the hall."
I got off the bed and let her lead me to the bathroom. It was blue and white with a bathtub that also served as a shower, and a counter right next to the door with a sink and mirror. Miranda opened the top drawer and grabbed a brown toothbrush and Vanilla Mint toothpaste. I grabbed them from her.
"I need those you know." She said.
"Yeah, well we have to test them for poison and throw them away. We'll get you some more."
"Okay fine. As long as I can keep the toothbrush."
"No."
"Yes. I need it. It was my friend's that she never used. She had it and didn't have any money to get me a really amazing gift."
"Then let her get you another."
"You don't get it. She moved. To Kentucky."
"Fine. I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you!" She almost screamed as she hugged me.
"Go on get your other stuff and I'll need to test it too, just not throw it away." She pushed open the shower and reached in. She pulled out two pink bottles along with a yellow vanilla smelling bar of soap.
"Shampoo, conditioner, and soap" she said as she placed them in evidence bags as I held them open for her.
"Good lets go." I said as I grabbed the bags and the suitcase as she walked in to the kitchen again. "Her name's Miranda, she has a thing for brown and pink things, has no known relatives, that's her natural hair color, and she has blue green eyes." I said to Gibbs and Ziva.
"Any allergies?" Ziva asked.
"Didn't ask." I answered.
"Well go get 'em DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered keeping his voice down. I walked over to Miranda with an empty notepad.
"Hey, Miranda. Do you have any allergies?" I asked leaning down on one knee.
"Um, yea, let's see... cats, pollen, bee stings, oh and tree nuts. Your standard stuff." She coughed. Ziva ran over.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, just a cold." Miranda smiled.
"Let's get her back to NCIS." Gibbs said walking out the front door.