And on with the fic. Enjoy. Thanks for all the awesome comments.

Gibbs woke suddenly, his breath catching, eyes squinting in the dark room. Something, something had pulled him out of sleep, and his first thought was Kate. Reaching beside him, he felt the empty spot, though the sheets still held a little warmth. One hand rubbed at his face, the other pushed back covers. Scooping up his gun on the nightstand, he padded silently toward their adjoining bathroom first.

The weapon was comforting in his grip, although he reminded himself to be extra careful with it. It wasn't a normal night, with only him and his wife. There was Natalie, Abby, and at least two agents downstairs.

Carefully stepping over the creaky spot in the floorboard, he slipped into the hallway and paused to listen. A soft cry came from down the hall, and he slipped past the stairs and eased the door to the nursery open.

Kate was sitting on the futon that once held place in her old apartment. She was wrapped in her robe, hair a mess of tangles, arms full of a sobbing little girl. "Sssh, sweetheart, it's okay," she murmured over the cries, one hand rubbing the girl's back.

"M-momma… wan' momma!" came the protest, punctuated by sniffles and hiccups, culminating in a wail.

"Ssssh, please… Nat, she's getting help. And I've got you, I promise, sweet girl." Kate was starting to sound a little frantic herself, trying to shift the girl who would have none of the comfort.

"Ma-aaah-mma," Natalie protested again, coughing and making a wet noise that had Kate shifting her upright.

Gibbs cross the room, sliding the safety back on his gun and setting it on the floor by their feet before taking a seat beside the girls on the bed. "How long?" he asked, unable to believe he'd slept through this and wondering why she hadn't wakened him to help. Kate needed to be resting, not dealing with… this.

Weary amber eyes met his, and she sighed, patting Natalie's back as the girl continued to beg for her mother. "Half an hour, I think?"

He glanced around again, spying Burt the Hippo on the floor. "Abs?"

"I sent her to get a cup of water. I think Natalie's about to make herself sick, but she won't calm down," Kate admitted, looking a little emotionally wrung out herself. Taking a deep breath, she shifted the girl again, her lips next to the small shell of an ear. "Sssssh… sssshhh, it's okay, sweetie. You're okay."

Gibbs reached out, one hand rubbing Natalie's back in an attempt to soothe her, the other hand rubbing Kate's. "C'mere," he said quietly, trying to take Natalie.

The girl squirmed away, head shaking so hard she nearly bumped her head into Kate's face. "Want MOMMA!" She pushed again, squirming hard and then going limp and whimpering when she couldn't get free from the arms around her.

"L.J., get some sleep," Kate urged. "You've got plenty of work tomorrow, especially if you want to try to get into the office."

His head shook. "Nah, if you're up, I'll stay up."

Her head tilted, even as she tried to shift Natalie again, the girl's cries softer but still catching. The kid was a snotty mess, and he hoped she didn't choke or throw up. "This isn't gonna work. We have to work out something here," Kate protested. "What happens when ours comes along? We can't both get up every time. That doesn't even make sense."

"We'll figure it out," he promised, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "And you need rest, too."

"Hey," Abby called softly from the door, giving them a small smile and offering up the cup of water and holding up a little bottle. "Maybe this'll help."

Gibbs took the pills. "Thanks, Abs." He perched beside his wife and caressed Natalie's head. "Hey, kiddo, look up at me."

Shadowed eyes lifted, tears still dripping down her cheeks. "Momma?" she whimpered.

"Is your arm hurting?" he asked gently, using his thumb to brush away the tears.

"Yuh," she sighed, sniffling and giving another little hitched sob.

He offered up two chewable aspirin and then a drink of water. "Ready to go back to sleep now?"

Natalie shook her head then nodded, tears welling up again. When Kate shifted her against her shoulder, she curled close out of instinct. Natalie's head plunked against the shoulder, and she gave a little sigh before going limp.

"C'mon," Gibbs urged quietly, cupping an arm under his wife's elbow and helping her up as she still held the little girl.

"Where…" Kate asked, glancing between him and Natalie in her arms.

"Compromise," he replied, giving Abby a soft goodnight before leading the other two back to the master bedroom. "You calm keep calming her down—she's just about out. And if she's up early, I'll get up with her so you can sleep in."

Kate nodded, agreeing and letting him help her settle into their bed. She winced as Natalie shifted sleepily in her arms, a small elbow pushing against her chest. "Ow," she hissed softly.

He bit back the smile. She was tender lately, sometimes going so far as to sleep in her sports bra for the extra support. It took a few moments, a little adjusting, until she finally relaxed into the pillows and let her eyes slide shut, hand still rubbing slowly over Natalie's back as the little girl drifted closer toward her own sleep.

NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS* NCIS

"Abby?" Kate called, coming into the lab and glancing around as she spotted the goth but not the little girl that should have been there, too.

"Hey," Abby replied quietly, nodding toward her office where Natalie was curled up on the futon with Burt and her two stuffed animals. "She's been out for half an hour."

Kate studied the small figure for long moments, shifting uncertainly before she pulled out a stool and got comfortable. "What did you find?"

Abby chewed her bottom lip and glanced between screens, stalling. That was never a good sign. "It's… well… not good."

"Yeah," Kate sighed. "I was afraid of that." She offered up the Caf-Pow that her husband had somehow managed to find, despite the snowy streets and mostly closed businesses.

Abby took a long sip, then set it down and typed in a string of something on her keyboard. "Okay… Angela Wright was definitely onto something hinky. She has several files of pictures, under some good old-school encryptions. It's, well… I don't know if this is something Ziva can interpret or not…" Another tap of the keys, and she had the screens filled with documents in a mix of German and Arabic script. "Unless you speak…"

"French," Kate sighed. "And some Latin. This," she waved at the screen, "I don't know what it means, but it doesn't look good."

"Yeah," Abby agreed, bringing up a file and opening it. "These pictures suggest a lot. Looks like she was spying on some meetings, storing up pictures. Evidence." Turning to regard her friend, green eyes wide, Abby added, "I think she was hoping to take down the cell."

Kate nodded. "I finally reached her boss, and he said that she had Sunday off. Several of her friends said she's been acting strangely lately—withdrawn, secretive, but that she's asked them to watch Natalie more often than usual." She suddenly realized that Abby was fidgeting. "What?"

"That's not the worst of it," Abby admitted. She picked up the remote to the screen and clicked forward. "She was in touch with NSA. Monday morning she had a meeting, and I'm betting it had to do with that stuff."

"FBI was looking into it, too," Gibbs spoke up from the doorway with Ducky beside him. He glanced at the screens. "That can't be good."

"Sprechen Sie Deutsch, Gibbs?" Abby asked.

His silver head shook. "No. Russian, yes," Gibbs sighed. "French. Basic Spanish…"

"I know that," Ducky intoned, slipping past them to peer more closely at the documents. When Abby relinquished the remote, he switched back and forth between several in German.

"You speak German?" Abby asked in surprise, moving close to join their M.E. at the monitors.

"A bit. I don't recognize some of this, but that," he emphasized, poking at kleines Madchen, "Is German for little girl."

Kate turned as Abby did to regard the small figure curled on the futon, figure almost lost under the large NCIS jacket.

Kate came to a sudden stop at her husband's desk, glancing between the adults working steadily. Ziva's was the only one empty—she was still at Ducky's, ordered to get some extra rest, keep him off the streets, and continue working her contacts through the international intelligence communities.

Her husband offered up a nutrition bar as he finished the call, giving her a measuring look. She was grudgingly getting used to that look these days—placated that he was trying not to be overprotective. And trying to remember that she was pretty hormonal these days, privately trying not to over-react when he suggested an extra snack or that she wrap up her day early.

"Where's Nat?" she asked, glancing around again. "With Abby?"

Gibbs nodded behind him, and Kate rounded the corner of his desk to spy the child lying on the ground, slightly curled on her side, his NCIS jacket draped over her.

Kate leaned back against his desk, her hand squeezing his forearm lightly. "She looks exhausted."

"Crying half of the night will do that," Gibbs agreed, judiciously choosing not to add any more comments about the others who were up with a crying kid. "She looks like you when she sleeps like that."

Kate nodded, letting herself muse for a little bit. It hadn't escaped her notice that the little girl did bear a resemblance to her. The security guard downstairs did a double take when they made it in this morning, and even Abby had commented. "It's going to be hard to walk away after this one, L.J."

"Yeah," he agreed with a sigh before deciding that they had some calls to make, and he didn't want to risk Natalie waking up and overhearing. He had carefully picked up her and the stuffed rabbit she'd dragged to work, moving her downstairs in finish her nap.

Kate's eyes narrowed as she saw the same German words scattered through out other documents. "I want to find this bastard and cut off his—"

The ringing phone interrupted her, and she paused as Gibbs fished it out and answered.

"Yeah, Gibbs," he clipped, brow creasing as intense blue eyes flickered over the correspondence still displayed on the screen. "Yeah… let us know. Talk to our M.E. It'll be less explaining," he sighed, voice tight, letting Kate know almost immediately that the news was anything but good as he handed over the phone to Ducky.

"What happened?" she asked, swallowing hard. When he didn't say anything immediately, a thought settled in her mind. "Angela Wright."

"Slipped into a coma. Doctor says she's developing a chest infection. He think it's only a matter of time," he sighed.

"Pneumonia, most likely," Ducky agreed, handing the phone back to Gibbs.

Abby's hand was over her mouth, the tears already welling up. "What… what do we do? Gibbs, she's only three!"

"We get her next of kin out here," he sighed, pulling Abby in for a hug, exchanging a sympathetic glance with his wife. "And until then, we take care of her."