Sorry it took so long.

Anything written in Italics is being said in Hebrew

Jenny is still alive!

All the shops I'm talking about are real and in my local shopping centre.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Talia, Abigail and Pippy. I am not making any profit from this story.

Chapter 4

Abby, Ziva, Talia and Abigail arrived at the huge shopping centre. Abby and Ziva had been driven mad by Talia and Abigail's questions about everything they saw. Having never left the tiny apartment until three days ago, this was understandable though.

"Where to first?" Ziva asked Abby. "I have not been here for ten years so I am sure it has changed."

"What about Primark? Their clothes are pretty cheap"

"Primark it is then."

They arrived at the huge shop and went straight up the escalator to the children's department.

"Why don't you two look around, and I will go and find you some basics. If there is anything you particularly like, bring it back to me. OK? Stay together though."

The two girls happily skipped off holding each other's hands tightly. Ziva and Abby wondered through the shop occasionally stopping to look at various items of clothes.

Very soon Ziva had chosen several pairs of jeans each, a handful of t-shirts and blouses, some jumpers, pyjamas, underwear and trainers.

She shifted the hugely overloaded basket in her hand to a more comfortable position, and noticed Abby doing the same. Laughing at how crazy they had been they went to find the girls.

Typically, they found them looking at a rack of very pretty, and utterly impractical dresses.

"Did you two find anything?"

"I got this dress"

"Well I don't like it but I think that this one is really nice"

Ziva looked at the dresses that her daughters had picked out. Talia's was navy blue and knee length with large silver buttons going down the front. It was nothing fancy and Ziva could easily see Talia wearing it. She added it to the basket and turned to Abigail's dress. Hers was a deep pink and knee length with a zip up the front. It suited her taste and Ziva could also see it being worn so she added it to the basket.

The group went over to the till where Abby pulled out the money from the team to pay. Seeing the large amount of money the girl eyed them suspiciously, but didn't comment.

"I need caf-pow" declared Abby, clearly on a shopping buzz. She took off out of the shop and practically sprinted towards the lift. Ziva wearily picked up their many bags, took Abigail and Talia by the hands and followed her. Although she would not say anything, she was in a large amount of pain from her wounds on her back, but she could do with a coffee.

By the time they reached Cafe Costa Abby had already ordered and paid for a caf-pow, coffee, two chocolate milkshakes and four pieces of apple pie. They sat down sipping at their drinks and enjoying the sweet stickiness of the pie. Ziva relaxed. To an outsider they could have been a family, which they were in a way, but tragedy ran deep between them.

"So, have you talked to Tony yet?" asked Abby. Of all her friends on the team, it was only Abby who had known just how deeply Ziva had cared about him.

"No. I just have not had time."

"I take it that means he doesn't know that he's a dad then?"

"Abby! How did you know?"

"With those green eyes? Who else's would they be?"

"It was a few days before Michael came to DC. We were both lonely. It was never meant to happen, but it did and I suppose something good came out of it."

"Ziva, you have to tell him. He's changed. None of us know if he's even had a date since you left. He certainly has stopped talking about them if he has."

Ziva sat back in her chair and contemplated this news. It had been ten years. Anthony DiNozzo did not go ten tears without a single girl.

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when a waitress pointedly asked them if they would like anything else. Taking the hint, the group gathered up their bags and left the café. Ziva decided that she would get a few books for Talia and Abigail so that they could practice their English.

In the bookshop the two girls got very excited. They had seen very few books in their lives and what they had seen had been written in Hebrew. Ziva had taught them to read, but again, having only Hebrew materials meant that they could not read English. Nor had they ever even seen the Latin alphabet.

Heading over to the children's section, Ziva chose the Under the Hawthorne Tree trilogy by Marita Conlon-McKenna, which included Under the Hawthorne Tree, Wildflower Girl and Field's of Home. They made their way to the till and paid.

The girls were lagging behind, so Abby and Ziva decided to head into Boots to pick up essentials and then head back to Abby's. They bought toothbrushes, shampoo, shower gel, bubble bath and then headed back .

McGee was at work and Abby was due in after lunch. She had been given the morning off to help the Davis's settle in. She ate a hasty lunch with them before rushing off.

Barley ten minutes after she had left, there was a knock on the door. Looking through the peep hole, Ziva was relieved to see that it was just Ducky. She let him in and took him to the kitchen were the girls were polishing off the last of the soda farls.

They nodded shyly at Ducky, before trying to sneak out of the door. Laughing, Ziva caught them around the waist and pulled them back into the room.

"I told them why you were coming" explained Ziva. She lifted up her top to show her daughters the large bandage on her back. "Ducky did this to make me all better. He only wants to make sure that you are alright".

Talia, who was the bolder of the two, went over to Ducky, clutching her doll, Meira. Ducky lifted her onto Abby's kitchen table. He prodded her for a while and took her blood pressure making her laugh the entire time. Ziva held her hand as he took blood and Ducky then proceeded to reward her with a lollipop.

Then it was Abigail's turn. She also sat still and allowed Ducky to do what he had to do, but she cried when he stuck the needle in her arm. Ducky soon had her laughing again though and when she was done, the two of them skipped off happily to enjoy their lollipops while Ducky gave Ziva the verdict.

Ziva sighed with relief as they were given a clean bill of health despite the cuts and bruises. Ducky would get Abby to run a tox-screen but he couldn't foresee any problems that a kiss and a lollipop wouldn't make better.

About an hour later Ducky excused himself saying that he had to get back to work while Ziva, Abigail, Talia, Meira and Raya settled down to read Under the Hawthorne Tree together.

Thanks for reading this. Under the Hawthorne Tree is a real series of books which I highly recommend. It is set during the Irish Potato Famine in the 1800's and focuses on three children who flee the workhouse to travel hundreds of miles to find their Aunt's.

I have a new poll on my profile about what is going to happen in the upcoming chapters so vote and decide what you want!

Review..................... Please!!! They make me happy and encourage me to write faster.