Orli Elbaz was annoyed. Despite being a Mossad operative for over forty years, a senior official and now director for five years, her assistant had managed to screw up her tea again. She could not understand how such a simple, menial task could be mishandled so badly. She sipped the now lukewarm tea, grimacing as the taste hit her and checked her email. One stood out as something that had flagged from an ex operative who had immigrated to the states. As she scanned the email, she realized it was concerning the operative Ziva David. Orli had known Ziva for a long time however it had been several years since she had last spoken to her. She could remember Ziva's rage the last time they had spoken where Ziva had blamed her for the loss of her daughter. Despite being one of Eli's closest confidantes, Orli had had no knowledge of where the child was as Eli had never spoken of it. The email was from a routine check on all ex Mossad operatives and it showed a picture of three people. She instantly recognized Ziva and she could see that Agent DiNozzo was also in the picture standing with his arm around her but what was most interesting was the young girl that stood between them. A comment underneath said "Ziva David, Anthony DiNozzo Jr, and unnamed? Child suspected to be missing child of Ziva David and Anthony DiNozzo reunited. Unclear as to how this happened." Orli stared at the photo for a few minutes as she began to pick out details of the child. Curly hair that was pulled up into a ponytail, eyes that seemed to match that of the man beside her, skin the same colour of Ziva's. "Leyla. I need to make a call." ************ "So you're saying that Dad got expelled from three different boarding schools?" Sophie stared at Senior with disbelieving eyes. "Three different ones in four years?" "He did. It took a year at military school before he was able to straighten himself out enough to go to college." Senior chuckled as they both sank down onto the couch of the living room. "I mean, I thought I was a trouble maker but that takes it to a whole new level. Dad, what did you do?" Sophie said as Tony sank down into the chair opposite them and ran his hand through his hair. "Ummm. A few things… I thought I told you to set her an example not give her ideas." Tony said to Senior as Senior turned to face the eleven year old next him. "Well mostly it was stuff like persistent disobedience. Talking back to the teachers although there was one time where he snuck out of his dorm room and ran across the rooftops naked claiming that he was free spirit." Senior added as Sophie started laughing. "James Mortesting bet me fifty dollars that I wouldn't do it. I proved him wrong." Tony said as he smiled faintly at the memory. "The principal caught me and i had to explain with a straight face why I was naked on the roof of my dorm room. I don't think he even gave me an hour to pack my bags before I was gone." Sophie tried to straighten her face out as she laughed at the idea of her forty something old father streaking across a rooftop. "Well, anyway, I am sure it is not as bad as some of the stuff that Ziva got up to in her youth." Senior said as Ziva went to sit next to Tony. "No. I was the good child mostly. Although my father's definition of a good child was definitely very different. I was a ballet dancer for a long time but that stopped when I turned sixteen and was enlisted." Ziva said. "You were a dancer?" Sophie asked staring wide eyed at Ziva. She hadn't imagined that at all. With her mother's trademark cargo pants and hair tied up in a pony tail, she had imagined her to be running through the dirt and beating up people rather than a young girl in a tutu. "I was for a time. Ballet is a sport of complete control - something my father endorsed. It made for good practice when it came down to fighting." "Oh right. That makes more sense I guess." Sophie nodded. They didn't really teach dance at Unit J, preferring to start the children off early with martial arts. Sophie had always excelled in any form of martial arts, her technique always made up for her small stature and she wondered if in another life, she would have been a ballet dancer as well. Her knowledge of dance was limited. She had seen a bootlegged copy of the Nutcracker and it looked super hard. Ben had laughed at her when she had attempted to do a turn on her tip toes. She had laughed at him when his version of a leap looked more like someone slipping on a banana peel. "So Miss Sophie, why is it that I have only heard about you now?" Senior's voice jerked her from the memory of Ben's attempt at a ballet leap. She had no idea what to say. The classified version couldn't be told and she wasn't about to spill secrets of Unit J to him. She looked in panic up at Ziva who was biting her lip, hands clasped together as she thought. "My father did not approve of a pregnancy." Ziva started as she tried to find the best way to tell this story. "Sophie was born in Israel and my father, well, he was a very controlling and powerful man as well as my boss. He took Sophie away shortly after her birth and made it incredibly difficult for me to see her. Sophie was eventually sent to…" she paused as she tried to stick close to the truth but there was no way she could reveal the existence of a secret government society. "a school in the UK. A boarding school that takes in kids very young. I wasn't able to get any information out of my father and it became fruitless to try and I hoped she had been adopted out to a loving family." Ziva finished although this wasn't the answer to the question that Senior had asked. Senior stared at her for a few seconds. "Junior said that he couldn't tell me how she came back to you." Senior said confused. Sophie looked down at the floor. "We can't tell you the full truth. That is, in essence, what happened. There are a few details missing but that is the truth." Tony said as he looked at his father. "Why can't Sophie stay with you full time? Why is it that she is only allowed visits?" Senior pressed and Tony was reminded of an interrogation tactic where this was commonly used. "It's complicated." Tony said trying to end the conversation. Senior sensed the finality in his tone and backed off slightly. "Whatever they have got you guys mixed up in, I hope it works out okay." Senior said as he stared at the young girl. She looked far too young to be mixed up in all this. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around a park near to the apartment. Sophie had spent the majority of her young childhood running around fields and woods with the other junior agents so being outside surrounded by greenery was welcome. She walked side by side with her grandfather who reminded her of a retired James Bond type, except for him being old and a bit swarmy. She had met types like him before on missions, usually the more senior directors who were patronizing and couldn't see past the idea of a child being able to complete a mission. He didn't seem like that though and she guessed it was because he had no idea what she did. So instead of talking about her life, she asked him about his past. After listening to him talk for a few minutes about his business dealings, she realized that it was a very real possibility that he would have ended up on the watch list of Unit J and possibly have been taken down by a new recruit. She guessed he would have been a C list mission with a small amount of time going into it. A list missions were the big fish missions that were designed to bring down international threats such as terror groups, international cartels, mafia type missions. Ones that pose the biggest threats and would require time and agents. B list missions were those limited to a single country but were still powerful such as gang related violence, cartels within the UK etc. These would also require time and agents but little international involvement. C List missions were those types of missions that were short and would require a single agent. These were often shady businesses and business dealings. D List missions were copy and destroy type missions which were a short burst of focus which was designed to get information but wouldn't require agents to have a complicated backstory. Sophie's past two missions were A list missions although her Gaza mission had been significantly more dangerous than her Mexican mission. Still it seemed that Senior, despite his shady business dealings, his heart seemed in the right place. He talked of funny stories and of private jets. Maybe he was just used to charming money out of people but not actually robbing them. He bought her an ice cream from a street vendor and Sophie decided that she liked him. "Did I ever tell you about the time that I was accused of murder?" Senior suddenly asked her as Sophie nearly choked on her ice cream. "What no!" Sophie started at him gobsmacked. Senior accused of murder. "It was NCIS that accused me actually." Sophie turned to stare at her parents who had taken a sudden interest at the weather. "I was framed for the murder of Navy Reserve Lieutenant who I had a business dealing with but then he backed out and I woke up the next day in a Rolls Royce with his body in the back." Sophie nearly fell over when she heard that and she thought she had seen some crazy stuff. "How did you end up there?" Sophie asked wondering how on earth that must have happened. "It turns out I was drugged and placed there and someone else killed him and put his body there. Junior had every right to arrest me." Senior reminisced as they walked through the park. "Dad arrested you?" "Well, him and the team did. They figured it out though. Miss Abby really works wonders." Senior remarked as Sophie finished off her ice cream. "Abby does." Tony said as he and Ziva caught up to them. He reached forward and swung Sophie up into the air so she was sitting on his shoulders. She felt a little embarrassed because who gets carried when they are eleven but she couldn't suppress the smile and she looked down at her family. She was completely unaware that all of them were being watched. ***************** Officer Ivan had had a pretty awful week. First of all he had messed up in the office in Tel Aviv, causing a screw up that had nearly compromised two operatives and nearly cost them their lives. It had been a miracle that the extraction team had been able to get there in time but the screw up had caused there to be lost information and a setback of nearly six months. Being pulled into the directors office had cemented his knowledge that chances are, he would either be losing his job or his life and the possibility of both. After the intense screaming session, it had almost been a relief when he had been told that he was being sent to DC for a surveillance mission and a month of docked pay. He felt that he had gotten off lightly. The apartment in DC was terrible located above a crack den but after the intense screw up he had made, he wasn't surprised that they weren't shelling out thousands of dollars for him to live a life of luxury. He had been through worse though and listening to junkies throw up at night was a small price to pay for keeping his job. His only job was now to watch the lives of three people. An NCIS special agent, an ex Mossad Officer and what looked like an eleven year old child who was probably their kid. he vaguely recognized her but couldn't place her and wondered if he had seen her before. The ex Mossad Officer her definitely recognized but more by reputation than any actual meeting. Who could forget the infamous Ziva David who was Director David's daughter? She didn't look anything like her would have imagined as she walked hand in hand with the NCIS special agent. He was known only to Officer Ivan from the surveillance photos and the elderly man with them was his father. Posing as a wildlife photographer meant he could get away with taking pictures of anything and he easily snapped three photos of the man lifting the girl onto his shoulders. He wondered why Director Elbaz was so intent on getting photographs of the little girl.