Chapter 3

Abby came up from her lab prepared to take a DNA sample from this woman. "Open up!" Abby held out the cotton swab, but the woman just frowned viciously.

"Okay," she put a hand on her hip. "The think tank wants Arianna back…Now!"

"You can't just take my niece from me!" Ziva shouted at the woman. "I have proof she is my niece, DNA tells all!"

"That is fine and dandy, but her mother put in her will that she should be left with us." The woman retorted.

Ziva's jaw dropped. How could a person give their child to a think-tank? Then again, most people never think they are going to die before their children.

"I will see you in court. And she stays with me until the final ruling." Ziva stated, picking Arianna up and holding onto her so that the woman couldn't attempt to run off with her at any point.

"Fine. See you in court." The woman agreed, walking away from NCIS.

Ziva sighed and waited until the woman was fully out of sight to put down Arianna. "She can't do this to me; can she?" Arianna asked Ziva.

"Well…I don't know." Ziva replied. "In America, usually courts rule with family, but sometimes they will take a will over the family. I just have to hope and pray that they rule with family."

"I can't believe this!" Arianna pouted. "How could my own mother leave me to the think tank?" She asked.

Ziva's mind started racing. "What was your mother's name?" Ziva asked.

"Alessandra Olivero. Why?" Arianna asked.

"Maybe she was once at the think tank too…" Ziva began typing furiously into the computer. "Maybe she was forced to give you to them…" Ziva got access to her file, which was public knowledge, and then she had McGee and Arianna work on hacking into the think tank's computer system.

"Sounds like yes, you do get your genius gene from her." Ziva read the file aloud to Arianna. "Alessandra Olivero, deceased at age twenty five, car accident, one daughter Arianna, father of Arianna unknown, no family in the United States, any children to be left to us, 'The Center'." Ziva frowned. "They call themselves 'The Center'." She stated.

"Yes." Arianna looked very sad at the name. "It's a crazy place…" Her voice trailed off. "I refuse to ever go back." She added.

"What else did they do to you other than turn you into a love expert and make you hack into computers?" Tony asked.

"They would hook me up to machines and make me run simulations. I would try so hard to solve them, and once I had solved them, they would give me more. It was torture in and of itself. I was not allowed to not solve them." She looked so sad at the memory.

Ziva nodded and went to give Arianna a hug. "I will not let you go back there…"

"You can't make that promise." Arianna stated.

"I will kidnap you if I have to…You will not go back there!" Ziva had a stressed out look on her face.

"Calm down Ziva." Gibbs came down the stairs. "What is going on here?" He asked.

"Ummmm…." Ziva's voice trailed off and Gibbs began to piece it all together. Tony filled him in on the little details.

"You will win in court." Gibbs stated. "There is no way that they will get Arianna after they tortured her with those simulations and stuff."

"I hope your right." Ziva replied to that.

The court date had been set for two weeks from then, and the time seemed to fly. Ziva, Tony and Arianna all arrived at court, and Ziva had the proof that she was Arianna's aunt in her hand.

The judge seemed to be a family type who was willing to side with Ziva and Tony over 'The Center'.

"So let me get this straight," the judge began to reiterate. "She ran away from you at 'The Center' to find her aunt because you were doing experiments on her?"

The woman representing 'The Center' frowned. "They were just tests, to see if she was smart enough to complete them."

"And was she?" The judge asked.

"Yes." The woman replied.

"Tell me," the judge began. "Has she ever had any interaction with people her own age, or just adults?"

The woman from 'The Center' sighed. "Just adults."

The judge nodded. "Well, that is certainly not healthy. According to the law, a family member can claim the child of their sibling if their sibling dies. According to the files I have, Ziva is Arianna's father, Ari's, sister. Although Ziva was not born in the US, nor was Ari, nor was Arianna's mother Alessandra, Ziva is the only family she has. And Ziva does have citizenship here in the United States. Therefore, under the law, I overrule anything that her mother's will says and grant Ziva David-DiNozzo and her husband, Anthony DiNozzo, full custody of Arianna Haswari-David."

The woman from 'The Center' tried to protest, but the judge overruled her. Ziva beamed. "We won!" She smiled widely and hugged both Tony and Arianna.

But still, Ziva was worried about someone maybe taking Arianna from her. She was worried that perhaps Arianna would be kidnapped.

Arianna was probably the most happy about the ruling. She knew she would never have to do anymore experiments. She knew she would now be enrolled in school. She was excited for everything that the future had in store.

The judge had given Ziva and Tony Arianna's birth certificate and they signed adoption papers. There was no way, legally that was, that 'The Center' would get Arianna.

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Yes, I did take 'The Center' from 'The Pretender'. I might just make the dark haired lady Miss Parker in later chapters. Don't think you have heard the last of them!