I am sorry for the goof up earlier. Somehow chapter 9 got uploaded as chapter 11. Here is the real chapter 11.

Chapter 11: Family? and Confessions

The three waited until Ziva had finished her song. Then Tony quietly called out to her. "Ziva? It's time to go. Gibbs wants us to finish our reports before we go home."

"I am coming Tony. Just hold your ponies."

"Horses."

"What about horses?"

"The saying. It's 'hold your horses' not 'ponies' Zee-vah." By this time, Ziva had managed to settle Maddie back onto the bed. Turning to the other adults in the room Tony added, "Give us a call when she is released and we can arrange for her to come in and give her statement. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Harm, Mac. Maddie is a strong girl, she will be fine. She will start to remember more with time. She will probably have nightmares, it is nightmares yes?" at Tony's nod she continued, "for the next few nights. You can call me if you need anything." That being said, she allowed Tony to lead her to the car. Behind them Harm and Mac let out the chuckles that they had been holding in since the absurd exchange between the two at the end of her song.

"Those two certainly are a pair, aren't they? Do you think they are dating yet?" Mac mused aloud.

"Not yet, but I don't imagine it will be much longer." Harm chuckled.

At a moan from the bed, they turned as one to check on Maddie.


"You are not driving. We are leaving the hospital, I would rather not have to come back in an ambulance" Tony taunted as they neared the car.

"Fine. I am actually kind of tired anyway." After they had settled into the car she decided to pick up a different conversation. "So now that we have found the girl alive, we will have that talk you promised yes?"

"Yes Ziva. We will have that talk soon. But I don't think it will be tonight."

"Why not? You are not getting cold legs are you?"

"Feet. Cold feet, and no I'm not getting cold feet, but I think I'll take the Probie out for drinks tonight. We really need to talk too and the sooner the better."

"So McGee is more important to you then me then yes?" Ziva pretended to pout.

"No, but we have already worked through our stuff some and McGee is still not talking to me unless he has to" Tony replied missing the teasing nature of her question.

"Really, it is ok Tony. I understand. You do not like to be so at odds; this is a saying yes, with your little brother."

"Yes it is a saying and what do you mean my 'little brother'?"

"You may never admit it out loud Tony, but McGee is like a little brother to you. You love to tease him and play jokes on him, but whenever anything serious happens, you two take care of each other. And I have notice that you do not let anyone else mess with him. Just look at the way you were after he shot that cop. Sure you made fun of him for it, but you went to make sure that he was ok and you would not let any of the other agents say anything bad about him for it." Feeling that she had successfully made her point, she stopped talking and watched the city go by outside her window.

"Well … I uh … I let you mess with McGeek!" Tony finally shouted triumphantly. Her only response was to laugh.

Secretly he had to admit that she was right, although he would never let her know that. Tim was the little brother that he never had. If he stopped to think about it, Abby was like a baby sister, Ducky the eccentric uncle, Palmer the weird cousin, Gibbs the father he wished he had, and Jenny … well, he guessed Jenny was the step-mom who didn't always get him but meant well. He smiled a little to himself at his description of the team, his 'family'.


An hour later and Gibbs had managed to break O'Conner. He had been far too easy. All Gibbs had had to do was threaten him with the death penalty for killing Cotes combined with a glare and he began spilling everything. He had blamed Harm for his brother's imprisonment and decided that taking his daughter would be the best payback. He heard about Peterson through a friend of a friend. "Figured he'd be perfect since he'd done a kidnapping before." They had watched his apartment and noticed the two women leaving alone and decided to follow them. When they saw them cutting through the park, they took their 'perfect opportunity,' but "the one chick fought back and the girl ran. I didn't know he was gonna kill her, I swear! I just took off after the girl. She's what I was after anyways." They took her to the warehouse and locked her in the room. "Peterson hit her in the head when she wouldn't shut her trap in the van. He was just shutin' her up so no one would find us."

Peterson, on the other hand, was harder to break. It took a full half hour of Gibbs glares and the evidence of his fingerprints along with O'Conner's statement to convince him that he would not be getting a deal and he was definitely not getting out scot-free. He of course claimed that O'Conner had killed the petty officer.


By the time that Gibbs had wrapped up the interrogations, McGee and Ziva had already finished their reports and Abby had processed most of the evidence. The only one left with real work to do for the night was, of course, Tony.

They had all worked in near silence to finish their reports. Tony had attempted to joke with McGee to lighten the mood and bring back a sense of normalcy, but McGee wouldn't rise to the bait or even really acknowledge his presence. Tony noticed McGee getting his stuff ready to leave and decided that he really needed to talk to him now. "After all, the report can wait. I can't live like this much longer." Tony thought. He jumped up and ran to the elevator, sliding in with McGee just before the doors slid closed.