"I won!"

"Nuh uh. My car passed the line first."

"They're both my cars."

"I know, but the one I had won."

"Did not. McGee?"

Ziva looked up from where she was loading the dishwasher as McGee said, "I think it was a tie. Why don't you race again?"

As she condensed the leftover pizza into one box, she watched Harry and Tony line up the small toy cars at the top of a makeshift ramp made of books and the coffee table. Tony's face was screwed up in a competitive scowl as they waited for McGee to give the signal. "Ready…set…go!"

The small cars picked up speed as they rolled down The Giant Panda Today, a new, very large coffee table book the National Zoo had sent her that included a still taken from the PandaCam the night one of the keepers had attempted to kill Tai Shan. Harry had peppered her with questions about her encounter with the small bear, and then about the elephant after Tony had shown him one of the many clips on she wished weren't available on YouTube. She hoped they'd finished with that topic as she found space in the refrigerator for the large pizza box.

A cheer and a groan told her that Harry was the uncontested victor of the tiny car race. He appeared to be through with the game as she returned to the living room, although Tony was trying to discourage him from disassembling the ramp in order to stage a rematch. As soon as Ziva sat on the couch, Harry joined her, toting the large book and his stuffed panda. "Can we look and see if Go Go Bear is in your Panda book?"

Tony dropped onto the couch on her other side. "Why would your toy be in that book?"

"Not my Go Go Bear – the real one!"

"Riiiight. We'll just look for the picture of the table-dancing panda in funky boots."

Ziva ignored Tony's mutter, as Harry had not seemed to hear it. He was carefully turning the glossy pages, saying, "My mom used to take me to the zoo all the time when we lived in San Diego. That's where I got Go Go Bear and I named him after the panda there. They have pandas there, just like the zoo here. Is he in here?"

"I do not know." Not wanting to go through the entire book, she flipped to the index. There was nothing listed under 'Go Go,' but she did find a reference to 'Gao Gao.' She turned to the appropriate page. "There. Gao Gao, the male giant panda at the…"

"I can read it!" Harry interrupted. She followed along as he read aloud, helping him as he tripped over some of the longer words.

As he read the long caption that accompanied the photo, she noticed the volume of the television going up. By the time he finished, he was barely audible. She brought her lips close to Tony's ear. "Can you turn it down?"

He tried to casually toss the remote to McGee and announced, "I was just going to say the same thing to our hearing impaired colleague."

"Hey!" McGee, realizing he was holding the remote, dropped it on the floor.

"Tony, seriously," Ziva replied with an eye-roll added for good measure.

He picked up the remote and adjusted the volume to a more acceptable level. "Better?"

"Thank you."

Harry piped up, "Can we watch Spongebob?"

"Spongebob isn't on right now," Tony answered.

"It's 8:30, and Spongebob comes on at 8:30 on Nickelodeon." He crossed his arms. "My parents let me watch Spongebob before bedtime."

Realizing that it was probably getting late for a seven year old to be up, Ziva decided to go along with the plan. "All right. You can watch Sponge…Bob, and then at nine o'clock you'll have to go to bed."

Harry nodded enthusiastically, but Tony pouted, pointing at the basketball game. "But…Buckeyes!"

"Go watch it upstairs."

"On the little TV?"

She glanced at the screen. "There are only five minutes left in the game."

"Basketball minutes, Ziva! And the game is so close that they could take a half hour!" When she didn't relent, he turned to McGee. "Back me up here!"

"Frankly, I think I'd rather watch cartoons."

"Don't you have any…oh. Did MIT even have sports teams, or was it all chess clubs and math fiestas?" The barb went unacknowledged. Apparently seeing that he had more adults on his side, Harry reached over, took the remote from Tony's hand and found his show. Tony stood and went upstairs, grumbling, "Sure, make yourself at home, kid."

When the show was over, Harry seemed like he was having trouble staying awake. Ziva nudged him gently. "Time to get ready for bed."

"Okay." He yawned and trudged down the hall to the spare room where they had pulled out the sofa bed for him. They'd actually moved the sofa into the office from the small bedroom where they also kept the treadmill; Ziva had decided a room with no windows would be best, given the circumstances. Harry came out dressed in colorful pajamas a few minutes later, clutching a toothbrush. "Ziva, can I have some toothpaste? And a cup?"

"Sure." She thought for a moment. Toothpaste would be in the cabinet in the master bathroom. "I'll be right back." She jogged up the stairs.

Tony was watching television, sprawled on the bed with his feet on the pillows. "Can I come downstairs yet?"

"Not if you want to keep watching…" she glanced at the TV, "Michigan? You hate Michigan."

"Aw, you do pay attention when I talk about important stuff like college basketball." He raised his voice so she could hear him as she went into the bathroom. "Anyway, they're gettin' killed, which is almost as good as a Buckeyes' win. Which they did, by the way." A moment later, he appeared in the doorway to watch her search the cabinets. "Looking for something to medicate the kid?"

She closed the cabinet door and pulled out a drawer. "He is already tired. I don't think sedating him will be necessary."

"Oh. I thought he was sick today or something." He shrugged when she looked up in alarm. "Wasn't that why the grandmother said he stayed home from school?"

"I didn't even think to ask him. He has been eating all day and hasn't complained of any pain. He seemed all right, all things considered."

"Yeah, aside from…"

"I feel fine," Harry said, unexpectedly squeezing past Tony into the bathroom. "I had a tummyache this morning, but I felt better after I threw up. Why do you have two showers up here?"

"One is just a bathtub." She pushed the drawer back in and pulled out another, only to quickly close it due to some of the items it contained. Not for children's eyes, she thought, glancing at Tony, who was grinning at her discomfiture. Or maybe he was thinking about what was in the drawer. Either way, it was best to just check somewhere else for the… "Ah! Here it is."

Tony looked at the fresh tube of toothpaste she handed to Harry. "That's what you were looking for? There's a tube right on the counter."

"Just because I share your germs doesn't mean he has to."

"Are we having a little English fun, because I know you know the difference between the toothbrush and toothpaste – not that we're even talking about toothbrushes, so what are you even talking about?"

She gently guided Harry back toward the stairs. "I was just commenting on the fact that it is not necessary to jam the tube into the brush to get the toothpaste onto it."

She couldn't hear his reply, but the sound of him flopping back onto the bed was perfectly clear. McGee gave her an expectant look as she passed, though she couldn't imagine why. Following Harry to the door of the bathroom, she opened the medicine cabinet over the sink to retrieve the paper cups. She glanced around the small room to take a quick inventory. "Have everything you need?"

"Uh huh." He squeezed an excessive amount of blue toothpaste onto his toothbrush. "Can you get Go Go Bear? I think I left him on the sofa."

"I'll put him on your bed."

"Ziva?" He was holding the loaded toothbrush just in front of his mouth. "Will you read me a story?"

"I…" She had a sudden inspiration. "McGee is really the professional storyteller. Maybe I could convince him to tell you a real wizard story."

"Really?"

"I'll ask him right now."

"Thanks!"

She closed the bathroom door behind her as she returned to the living room. "McGee, I told Harry you'd tell him a wizard story."

He looked up in alarm. "What?"

"Don't tell me you can't make something up."

Tony's voice carried down from the loft, "Yeah, Mr. Big Shot author – tell him about some magical wizards named Tibbs, Tommy and Lisa maybe!"

McGee blushed, but avoided the topic of his McNovel. His novel, Ziva mentally corrected. "Does it have to be a wizard story?"

"Yes," she replied. "He was very excited about it."

"You did tell him no wizard stuff so Voldemort wouldn't be able to track us down," he protested weakly.

"That was just to stop him from asking us to perform spells. But if you'd prefer to demonstrate some magic for him…" He stood and tried one last pleading look. When she remained immovable, he walked down the hall, much in the same plodding manner Harry had done earlier. "McGee…" He turned quickly, just in time for Go Go Bear to hit him in the chest. "Take the bear."

"Right."

Ziva waited until Harry had pulled McGee into his room to hear his story before looking up. Tony was watching her over the railing. "What?"

"Nothin'" he sing-songed, moving toward the stairs. "I just think it's cute you let McGee play too. He was starting to get that Saint Bernard face. Hey, we should get one of those little barrels for him to wear around his neck."

"Brandy casks? What are you talking about?"

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled down into his lap on the couch. "The way you just made McGee feel like he was still one of the kid's favorites – that was nice."

"I still don't know…"

"Please. He likes you best. It's obvious."

She held his face between her palms and looked him in the eye. "You mean Harry? Since when are you so perceptive?" After a beat, she added, "Or…when are you so forthcoming about being perceptive? Because that I knew."

"I just wanted to remind you that I liked you first." He beamed. "You really think I'm perceptive?"

"To a point." She played with his hair as he kissed her neck. "Now tell me what you're up to."

"Oh, I'd say first base."

Her jaw dropped briefly as she felt her bra unclasp. "I told you, not tonight."

"But we haven't had sex since…"

"Last night?"

He chuckled. "Well…I'd say I was hoping you'd forgotten, but…"

"Yeah." She took some time to appreciate what a good kisser he was.

McGee interrupted them a few minutes later. "Um…Ziva?"

She pulled her shirt down as she slipped out of Tony's lap. "Is Harry asleep?"

"He, um, wants you to tuck him in."

"Okay." She grabbed a hoodie off the back of the couch and put it on, zipping it up. Not that she was worried about jiggling, but…she pushed Tony's hand off her waist. "Did he like your story?"

"Oh, yeah." McGee brightened. "I ended up telling him that fable about the three brothers from Deathly Hallows."

She nodded knowingly. "Beedle the Bard."

"Nerds," Tony scoffed. When she pinched his arm, he amended, "Sexy nerds. Well, you, not McGee. No offense."

"Um, none taken?" As she walked away, she heard him ask, "Why is there a bra on the sofa?"

"Ever see Flashdance, Probie?"

Harry was waiting for her, covers conspicuously disarrayed when she entered. "Did McGee tell you a wizard story?"

"Uh huh. He said it was a really old one that wizarding families tell." He yawned. "Wish I lived with wizards." Unsure of what to say, Ziva pulled the blankets up and patted the stuffed panda on the head silently. Harry eventually asked, "What will happen if You-Know-Who comes here tonight?"

"He won't," she stated confidently, "and you're very safe here. McGee is going to sleep on the couch. I'll be right upstairs and…"

"Where is Tony going to sleep?"

"Upstairs."

"Why can't I have the other bedroom upstairs?"

"Because there is only one bedroom upstairs."

"But there was only one…" He seemed to be on the verge of saying more when his eyes got wide. "Are you and Tony married?"

"Well…" she twisted her engagement ring around her finger self-consciously, "not yet."

Harry considered her with childish seriousness before apparently coming to a decision. "Don't worry. I won't tell my grandma."

"Okay." She waited for him to say something else, but he seemed very tired. "Well, goodnight."

"'Night, Ziva." She softly closed the door and returned to the living room.

By the time the late local news was over, McGee was showing signs that he was ready to go to sleep as well. Ziva grabbed a few blankets and a pillow for him before checking the locks on the door and following Tony upstairs. She noticed that he was careful to hold the toothpaste tube far over the brush when she walked into the bathroom to brush her own teeth and wash up. He frowned when she tossed him a pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. "Really?"

She struck a compromise she knew he'd agree to. "If everything goes well tonight…tomorrow morning in the shower?"

A few minutes later when they had settled into bed, his hand slipped up her tank top. "Tony…"

"C'mon, just make a few happy noises to mess with McGee."

She pushed his hand away and pecked his lips. "Goodnight, Tony."

"G'night, babe." He reached over to turn off his bedside lamp, plunging the apartment into darkness. Ziva loosely gripped the gun under her pillow as she drifted off to sleep.