Title: Once Upon a Summertime

Author: VictoriaBard

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and great feedback on this story. I'm sorry I haven't replied to all reviews I received on chapter 10, I accidently deleted them from my mailbox before I had a chance to reply to them. I'm really sorry about that. I hope you'll keep reviewing anyway.

Someone asked if Abby and Tim and Ziva and Tony are going to fall for each other in the story. It's not really a plan of mine for this story, sorry. I prefer to see them as friends looking for adventures and a fun time here.


CHAPTER 11

Madame Black and Madame White

Leroy Jethro Gibbs quietly shut the door behind him. It was the second time now that he had tried to sneak out of the boys' room without waking up Tim, who seemed to be having some trouble finding peace this first evening in their home. He had asked to go to the bathroom. Gibbs had taken him. He had asked for a glass of water which Jenny had gotten for him from the kitchen. He had asked for some fresh air, and Gibbs had opened the window. Finally Jenny had gone to see to the girls while Gibbs had seated himself on the side of Tim's bed to wait for him to fall asleep. A few minutes ago he had at last closed his eyes. Gibbs had remained still a few minutes extra to really make sure he was asleep before getting up to leave.

Tony was lying in his bed with the light from the bedside lamp illuminating his side of the room. Now and then he would peer over at Gibbs and grin. He could see the Agent was somewhat eager for Tim to go to sleep, but the boy didn't seem to realize that he was probably keeping the man from his own bed or something else important. Gibbs never said a word about it though. He just told him to close his eyes now and then when he would discover him looking at the ceiling. Tony himself was busy reading a book. It wasn't something he did a lot but what else was there for him to do? There was no television in the house. Gibbs had told him that before when he had asked.

"But then what should I do for fun before I go to sleep?"Tony asked.

"Read a book." Gibbs replied with a shrug and a grin.

"A book?" Tony said incredulously.

"Yeah, you know. One of those things with pages that you turn."

"Oh…one of those."

Just as Gibbs had shut the door all the way and taken his first step away from it a familiar sound was heard from behind the closed door. He sighed and turned around and reentered the room again.

"Yes, Tim? What is it?" he asked gently.

"I…I…could you stay a little longer, please?"

Gibbs rubbed his own neck as he walked over to the boy's bed again and took a seat. "Sure, buddy. You just close your eyes and try to get some sleep now." He turned a little to look at Tony who was still reading. "Hey, Tony. Do you think you could turn off the light now? I think it might make this go a bit easier." He said with a discrete nod toward Tim.

Tony sighed but put the book aside and reached for the lamp switch. "Do you know what you need, Gibbs?"

"No."

"A TV downstairs."

"Go to sleep."

-%%%%The girls' room%%%%-

Jenny stroked Abby's hair from her face gently as she stood up. The small girl had fallen asleep immediately, being so exhausted from the day's events and all new impressions it had brought with it.

The NCIS Agent moved instead over to the older girl's bed. She reached for the blanket and tucked her in a little more and then stroked her cheek slowly up and down once. She took a seat, careful not to sit down on one of the girl's feet.

Ziva lay on her right side, facing the window. She had insisted to keep the window open a crack and even though Jenny had done her very best to try and talk her out of it she had not succeeded. Finally Ziva had gotten her will, at least for tonight. Jenny left the window open just a crack.

"Do you think you will be able to sleep now?" she asked.

Without looking up Ziva murmured into the pillow. "Why would I not be able to sleep?"

Jenny smiled at the girl's bravery. "I don't know. Maybe because you're in a new place. Or maybe because Abby has already fallen asleep."

Still murmuring into the pillow Ziva answered, "That will not bother me. I will be fine."

"All right then. " Jenny stood. "Good night, Ziva. I'll see you in the morning."

Ziva nodded but didn't answer until Jenny had reached the door. "Good night, Jenny." She said quietly, but loud enough for the woman to hear before closing the door behind her.

========================%%%% Ziva's POV%%%%==============================

Solitude. Being by myself. It was something I was used to. I even felt more comfortable by myself for some reason. I did not know why. Of course I could often feel lonely as well. But it was my choice to be alone. I needed to be alone. To be able hear myself think.

I was sitting up in my bed, watching Abby sleep peacefully in the bed next to mine. I gazed longingly at the open window. In Israel I was used to being able to go wherever I wanted in our neighborhood during the day. At night of course I had to stay inside, but I did not always follow that rule. More than once I had snuck outside to be alone and watch the moon shine brightly down on me in the dark.

I sighed and felt restlessness grow inside. I needed something to do. I started braiding my long brown hair to occupy myself with something. I thought back to the incident with the maple tree an hour earlier. Gibbs had not been angry I had gone up there. He had given me a small scowl when I got inside but that was pretty much it. He felt very tolerable somehow. But I could tell he was the sort of person who expected his orders to be followed once they were given. I respected him for that. And for the way he seemed to accept me.

I looked around the small room. Abby was still sound asleep. I did not feel tired at all. No, I could not just sit around and do nothing until I got tired. I needed to do something. Suddenly it occurred to me that I had not yet taken a look around the neighborhood. None of us had. There had not been time.

I rose from my bed and made my way over to my suitcase. We had not yet had time to unpack and all my clothes were still in there. I quickly changed out of my linen nightgown into a pair of soft cotton pants and a sweatshirt. I chose to ignore the socks. I did not really like socks and avoided wearing them if I could. My sandals were downstairs, and since I was not planning on using the door I did not feel like taking the long way down there to retrieve them first, so I chose to remain barefoot. Before going to the window I grabbed my clothes and a quilt from the foot of the bed and tucked them underneath the cover, making sure they covered my own length perfectly. I stood back and admired my work. It looked just like I was asleep in my bed.

Quietly I climbed up into the window seat. I pushed at the window and opened it all the way. The view over the back yard and the street was nice. I had deliberately chosen the bed closest to the window. Windows made me feel free. I leaned outside and confirmed what I had noticed earlier. The roof right outside was flat enough for someone to sit on without accidently sliding down and falling to the ground. I hoisted myself up and sat crouched at the window opening, looking out. I inhaled the fresh air deeply and smiled. I then took the first step out onto the roof. Knowing the size of the house I figured the window that belonged to Gibbs and Jenny's room was on the other side of the house, so as long as I was quiet enough not to wake Abby I would be safe.

I stood up on the roof tiles and took in the view once more. It felt great to be out here and free. I took a few steps to the right and one step closer to the ledge and then sat down on the tiles. I just sat there listening to the crickets and the sounds of the untamed night. I thought of my homeland and my parents. My mother had insisted I would come here for the summer. I never understood why. My father had not been too happy with the decision but he had went along with it in the end anyway. My mother did not often tell him what to do, but this time she had been very persistent and determined about my future. I wondered how my mother and Jenny knew each other and from where. All my mother had told me was that they had become friends in Israel, not in the US. I figured I would find out the truth eventually anyway.

I glanced towards the ledge. Earlier I had noticed the trellis against the wall and decided it would probably hold my weight. I could easily use it as a ladder to get down to the ground. It would be much better than using the front door inside the house where I would risk running into Gibbs or Jenny or accidently waking one of them up.

I decided I had been sitting on the roof long enough and that it was time to go exploring. I needed to know my way around the neighborhood.

I stood up and walked the rest of the way to the ledge. I stood there peering down for a moment assessing how far it was to the ground. A fall would not be good. But I was not planning on falling down. I sat down again with my feet over the edge and then turned around and grabbed hold of it. From that position my bare feet could feel the trellis and I started climbing downwards, one step at a time, all the way. When there were only three steps left I jumped and landed with a thud on the soft grass.


Time: 0130 am

Tony's POV:

I opened my eyes. There was that muffled sound again. At first I thought it was just in my dream, but now that I heard it for the third time I realized that it wasn't. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my fists and my eyes then darted around the room. From the position on my back I glanced over at Tim who was asleep in his bed. He didn't seem to have made the sound. It had been soft and quiet. If it had come from Tim it would have been louder since he was laying so close to me. Reason number two would be because he snored.

There it was again. I sat up. The bed made a squeaking sound and I winced hoping it would not wake the younger boy up. It had taken him forever to go to sleep. After all, I needed my beauty sleep. I looked around the room for whatever it could have been that made that sound. From my new position I realized it came from the room next to ours', the girls' room. And the reason it travelled so conveniently all the way in here was probably because of the wardrobe uniting the two rooms.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I fumbled for my slippers in the dark and finally managed to find them. I hurriedly up from my bed because I now knew what that sound was. It was someone crying. Odds were it wasn't Ziva so it had to be Abby. Hearing her cry made me feel so sorry for her. I really didn't like hearing her cry. The fact that she was crying though didn't bode very well, I thought. The girl needed to get some sleep. I had to go check on her. I wanted to do that preferably without waking up Gibbs and Jenny so instead of heading for the door to the hall, I turned the door knob to the closet and entered, quietly closing the door behind me.

I tiptoed across the floor in the wardrobe in my pajamas and carefully pushed the door to the other room open. I entered and glanced around the room. The window was open.

"Hmm, weird." I thought. I walked over there and closed it. "That's better."

I continued to look around the dim room and noticed Ziva's sleeping form in the bed closest to the window. Man she looked stiff when she slept. However, when I looked over at Abby's bed it was empty. Oh no, I thought. Had she gone out the window? There was no sniffing sound anymore. I was about ready to jump out the window after her when I noticed the small foot sticking out from underneath the bed. I sighed in relief.

I walked over to the bed and crouched down next to it, lifting the covers and blanket to peek in under it. "Hey, Abby? You under there?" I asked even though I already knew she was.

A small pathetic "Uh huh." Came from under the bed, accompanied by a sob.

"What are you doing under there?"

"I…I g…got scared." She sniffed. "I hid."

"Oh." Now I understood. "Well don't you want to come out now? There is nothing here to be afraid of."

"No! Not coming out. Wanna stay here."

I threw my hands up in front of me as defense, "Ok! It's fine." This girl could obviously be very determined when she wanted. I glanced over at Ziva, she was still asleep. Abby's cry hadn't woke her up. "I'm coming in, Abby."

She didn't object. I lay down on my stomach and pulled myself under the bed. The younger girl lay flat on her tummy with her face buried in her arms, crying. I placed myself next to her and gently pulled one of her braids. "Hey, hey, why are you so upset?" she didn't answer. Okay maybe this was going to be harder than I thought. "Do you miss home or something?" I asked, hopeful I would guess the right reason.

She sniffed and nodded into her arms. "I miss my mommy and daddy." She started crying again. She then looked up at me, eyes over flooded with tears waiting to escape down her already puffy cheeks. "And I'm scared."

There we had it. Something I might actually be able to change. "Of what? There is nothing here to be scared of, Abby."

This time she didn't move her face from her arms. "I'm scared of the lady in black." She said in a muffled tear filled voice. "She's gonna come and get me when I sleep. She said so."

"Did you have a bad dream? Is that why you are so scared?" I asked in a soft voice to try to calm her. She had now started to hiccup because of all her crying that had probably been going on for a while.

"Yeah…." She had to stop because of a hiccup, "I dreamt about the lady if black. But she is gonna come and get me…and Philip too. She's real!" She looked up at me, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm scared, Tony."

Gently I put my arm around her and brought her closer. "You don't have to be scared Abby. I won't let her take you..." I grabbed Philip who was practically drenched in tears lying underneath her folded arms."Or Philip."

"Tony, I want to go home." She cried.

I suddenly remembered that I had no idea what had brought Abby to Gibbs and Jenny for the summer. "Where are your parents anyway?"

"In K...K…" she couldn't seem to remember the name. "In Africa." She settled. "They are doctors and they are helping people who are sick. I was not allowed to come."

"Oh. Bummer."I tried to make my brain work. I needed to think of a way to make everything ok for Abby so she could sleep. I hardly had the power to transfer her parents here from Africa in one minute so I had to come up with some other way to comfort her.

"Abbs?"

She quietly nodded her head.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Uh huh."

"Good. Well, since you already know the truth…about the lady in black being real and all, I'm going to tell you the full story about her and the lady in white."

Abby's eyes grew big as saucers. "The full story?" I handed her Philip and she hugged him tight to her chest. "How do you mean?"

"You mean you've never heard the story about Madame Black and Madame White?" she shook her head and I sighed deeply for dramatic effect. "Ts tsk tsk. Well then, I'm going to tell you the story, so you understand why you won't have to be afraid of the lady in black anymore." I held up an index finger close to her face. " It's a true story, and I'm not kidding about that."

Abby was listening intently; I could tell I had her full attention from that moment on. "Do you want to hear the story?"

"Please."

"It's a little scary at times but I swear it all works out in the end, okay?"

She nodded and wiped her tears away with the sleeve of her pajama jacket. "Tell me."

"Ok. Just hang on a second first." I started to get out from under the bed when she grabbed my sleeve.

"Tony, don't go."

"I'll just be a second. I'm just gonna get the blanket and a pillow in here." I assured her and then continued to make my way out. As I was standing on my feet again I considered getting my flashlight from my suitcase but then decided the moon light coming from the window was illuminating the room enough as it was. It would do. I grabbed the blanket and a pillow from Abby's bed and then made my way in underneath the bed once again. I took my place next to Abby and then pulled the blanket over both of us and gave her the pillow to rest her head on. I smiled a little when she instead put Philip there and made sure the duck was comfortable before telling me to please start the story.

I rested the side of my head on my left arm and turned my face towards Abby. I had never heard of the lady in black before and was pretty sure it was something Abby had either made up herself or just dreamt, but I figured that didn't really matter. "Okay so you've heard of the lady in black, right? Well, her name is really Madame Black. She's a middle aged woman dressed all in black. She wears a black dress that falls all the way down to her feet, and a long black cloak in silk with a hood that she sometimes wears over her head. Her fingernails are painted black and she has her grayish hair pulled back in a strict bun. You sure are right when you say she's bad. She's really bad, evil in fact. And she is scary. She's also very strong and powerful and she hates people, everyone in fact. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. She still hates you. So no one wants to run into her anywhere, because if you do, she will take you, and you will most likely never turn up again. " I paused to keep a yawn from escaping. Abby had now moved Philip from her pillow and was hugging him close again. I took a breath and was about to continue when I was interrupted by a little tap on my right arm. I sighed. My arm was probably going to fall asleep but what the heck. I stretched my arm out and allowed Abby to scoot a little closer and put her head on my stretched out arm. "Better?" she nodded so I took the opportunity to continue. "Madame Black is not human herself, oh no. She's something else, I just don't know what, but it's not human. She is the bad element so to speak. The dark side of everything." I could feel Abby shudder and hurried the story along. It was even starting to scare me a bit now. "But as always when there is evil, there has to be a force…" no that was star wars, I reminded myself, "I mean a power, that is good. There has to be balance between the two. Because otherwise…nothing works in the world. And that good power also has to be strong, so it can protect everyone against the dark power, which is Madame Black. The truth is that that good power is Madame White." I could feel Abby relax a little and she pulled the blanket up to her chin. "She is the opposite of Madame Black. She is dressed completely in white. She wears a white dress and a white silk cloak with a hood sometimes hiding her face. She's very beautiful but like Madame Black, she's also very powerful and strong. She is the protector of the people, of us. And she keeps Madame Black away, because Madame Black knows that as long as Madame White is around, she can't hurt anyone, and if she would try, she would get hurt herself instead."

Abby's head shot up, "How? How would she get hurt?"

"Well… she would get attacked by a kind of lightning bolt in white. It sort of happens automatically if she tries to hurt someone and Madame White is close by." I explained.

"But if Madame White is far away when Madame Black tries to hurt someone or takes someone away? What happens then?"

"Then that person unfortunately gets taken by Madame Black. But don't worry. Because I happen to know that Madame White protects this very neighborhood. It is her kingdom, and she sees anyone living her as her people. She feels extra protective of the neighborhood and the people living here. Especially children like you…"

"Like us, Tony."

I rolled my eyes slightly, not really willing to admit being a kid to someone so much younger than me. But I gave in."Okay fine, like us then. Anyway, I know for sure that Madame White's not gonna let anything happen to you. Madame Black doesn't have a chance to get close to this little house."

Abby looked very seriously at me. "You promise?"

I held out my pinky for her to hook her own pinky onto. "You have my word, Abbs."

That seemed good enough for her. She wiped the remaining tears away with the back of her hand and sniffed a little, but no more tears came. "You feel like lying down in your bed now?" I asked and was relieved when she nodded her head slowly. I could tell she was getting sleepy and could hardly keep her eyes open. "Come on then."

Before going back to my own bed I tucked Abby in and took a final glance at Ziva. That girl sure was a heavy sleeper.


To be continued