Another short chapter that I'm not very keen on, but better stuff is coming soon, I promise. This time we're going a few years into the future. However I will be going back to the past again soon, where Alice is a baby. Forget linear storytelling ;)

Thanks for all your reviews, taking the time to give me feedback means a lot! I'm sorry I haven't had the time to respond to many of them this time, but they are very much appreciated and helpful.


Finding a sitter was impossible. The last one they had picked, Laurie, had managed to let Alice overhear her phone conversations. It had taken a few weeks for Abby and McGee to stop their daughter dropping f-bombs. So of course, Laurie had to go. No replacement had been found yet. They were looking into a few possibilities, but so far Alice had run rings around the potential candidates. The inheritance of Abby's energy and the consumption of neon breakfast cereals sometimes proved to be a lethal combination. The media were right about Froot Loops.

However, both Abby and McGee had been needed at work today, so they had no choice but to bring Alice to the office with them. They didn't like to bring her too often, she was still only young and her concentration span was short. It was hard for everyone to focus when she was around. The little girl loved spending time with the team and was always full of questions for everyone. Uncle Tony told her jokes and showed her how to play tricks on Daddy. An extra element was added to Alice's fun when Daddy got mad at Uncle Tony and not her. Alice loved sitting on Gibbs' lap and telling him all about her latest adventures; because Gibbs listened intently and didn't tease her like Uncle Tony, or nod vaguely like Daddy sometimes did. Auntie Ziva was nice too, Alice supposed.

It wasn't even lunchtime and Alice was bored. She had already exhausted the candy supply that Uncle Tony kept in his drawer, explained to Gibbs all about how tadpoles grew into frogs, with accompanying pictures, and played a couple of games of tic-tac-toe with Auntie Ziva. She had now been sat next to her father for some time, trying to engage him in conversation, but today he couldn't be distracted.

"Can I go and see Mommy?"

"Not now." He replied, his eyes not moving from the computer screen.

The little girl scowled and wriggled down from her chair. Both of her parents had agreed that she shouldn't spend too much time in Abby's lab. McGee was worried that she would find her way to autopsy or accidentally witness some particularly gruesome evidence that Abby had to process. Abby worried about this too, but she was also concerned about the potential damage that small, sticky fingers could do to her other babies.

The phone on Ziva's desk began to ring. She picked it up swiftly, as she had been expecting the call. Ziva's witness was here and would soon be ready to be escorted from the elevator. Getting up from her chair quickly, leaving it spinning in her wake, she made her way to the elevator to greet the man. They had just begun walking together, when the witness spotted another man in a Marine uniform. The witness was unsettled, the presence of the Marine clearly had negative implications for him. He turned sharply and as he did, Ziva caught his arm. A struggle broke out, as the witness panicked and attempted to shove Ziva away.

McGee leapt up from his seat, grabbed his daughter's arm and pulled her back roughly, stepping between Alice and the scene that unfolded a few feet across the bullpen. However his reactions were not quite quick enough, so his daughter had managed to get a clear view of Ziva and the man's struggle. Alice had seen Ziva bare her teeth in anger at the man who had dared to think that he could gain a physical advantage on her. She had watched Ziva quickly dispatch the man to the floor, where she now pinned him down with her knee. It had seemed that with no more than an effortless twirl of her arms, Ziva had thrown him to the ground. Peering out from behind her father's legs, she stared as Ziva snapped a set of handcuffs on the man and hauled him to his feet. Alice watched wide-eyed as Ziva dragged the man out of sight.

So now Alice's current favourite was Ziva. In Alice's eyes she could do no wrong. Ziva had found her new fan puzzling; she felt she had not changed her behaviour, so she didn't quite understand the attention.

---

Alice was seated at the breakfast table, eating her cereal and swinging her legs happily. The topic of conversation had turned to Ziva, as it had every morning for the last week or so. In the past few days alone, Abby had found her daughter practising punching and kicking in front of her bedroom mirror, and then McGee had caught her attempting to wedge a butter knife down the side of her shoe.

"Mommy, can you braid my hair like Auntie Ziva's again?"

Abby nodded and sighed. Every single day for the last week Abby had heard the story of Ziva's dramatic arrest, courtesy of her daughter. She had also been forced to answer a multitude of questions concerning Ziva. Abby had already explained some of the fundamentals of Judaism and why Uncle Tony was mean to Auntie Ziva. At first Abby had found her daughter's hero-worship hilarious, but now she was beginning to feel inadequate. Okay, so she couldn't slay a bad guy with one arm tied behind her back; but science could be cool…right? Abby had tried to hide her upset when Alice now asked for a braid in her hair instead of pigtails.

"Mommy, do you ever arrested anyone?"

"Mommy, do you ever arrest anyone?" McGee corrected, "Remember we already told you that Mommy doesn't do that kind of job, Ally."

Alice looked down into her cereal, clearly disappointed that she was receiving the same answer again. Reading her expression, McGee lowered his voice to a whisper and said;

"But I do know a story about a time that Mommy duct taped a bad guy to a chair."

Alice's eyes widened with excitement and she begged him to tell her more. After a little bartering, he had agreed to tell the story if she went and brushed her teeth. So Alice hopped down from her chair and rushed towards the stairs, with her father following fast at her heels, chasing her up the stairs. Abby was so thankful for his patience sometimes. He always had an answer for his daughter and he so rarely got angry with her. No wonder she was a 'Daddy's Girl'...

McGee narrated the story about Chip as Alice brushed her teeth. He left out a few details; Chip's attack on Abby, the mutilated legs, DiNozzo's spell in prison. The PG version of the story was less dramatic, but there was no way he was telling his daughter the whole gruesome tale. Besides, Alice seemed suitably awestruck by the edited version. Alice was now sat down on the bed, waiting for her father to help lace up her shoes, as he usually did. He knelt down in front of her and tied the laces. She could nearly do this by herself now, soon enough she would not need his help at all. He was both proud and sad; it was difficult to let go. He had no idea how he was going to cope when she started dating or went to college.

"Okay Princess, we're ready to go." He said, patting her shoe to indicate the he was finished

"Daddy, don't call me that! Auntie Ziva wouldn't like it if you called her Princess."

"Nor would Mommy…" He chuckled under his breath, as he watched his daughter scamper away.