AN: I'm running out of fire themed titles for chapters, lol! Originally this was only going to be a five or six chapter story, so I've reverted back to normal chapter headings.

Enjoy

Chapter 13 - Secrets and Surprises

As Jenny opened her eyes to the early morning sun, she suddenly became aware she was being watched. Turning slightly to her left, she saw Jethro staring at her lazily. Propped up on one elbow with a goofy grin on his face, he reached out and combed back her hair with his fingers.

"Morning beautiful," he said seductively, leaning forward and kissing her gently on the lips.

"Morning handsome," she replied running her fingers over his chest. As her hand began to creep downward, he caught it suddenly and, gesturing behind him, whispered, "Ziva."

Sighing regretfully, she lifted her hand and contented herself with playing with his chest hair instead.

"Well I guess that was something we didn't have to contend with seven years ago," she said.

Suddenly realising that the last time she was conscious she was also naked, she looked down at her body. Noticing she was dressed in one of Gibbs old marine t-shirts and her panties from last night, she gazed at him in wonderment.

"Now when did these find their way on me? I don't remember getting dressed."

"Well the panties you did yourself in semi consciousness and the t-shirt I slipped on when you promptly fell asleep again." Gibbs answered, grinning at her. "And, I might add, you are very difficult to dress when you are asleep. Not co-operative at all and," he paused to kiss the tip of her nose, "Rather grumpy judging by the expletives you grumbled at me."

"Oops, sorry," she said blushing. "I actually don't remember any of that."

Sighing she added. "I guess I'll have to get used to it though. Pity, I used to like waking up naked next to you." She raised her eyebrows and smirked.

"Shh Jen," whispered Gibbs.

Lifting up, Jenny peered over Gibbs shoulder to look at Ziva. Sprawled, spread eagled, the little girl was fast asleep.

"Don't worry," she said, placing her head back on the pillow. "She's out to it. I wonder if we can encourage her to stay in her own bed at night?"

"Nah, tried that," said Gibbs, placing his head on the pillow next to Jenny. "Used to find her asleep in all sorts of places, the living room, kitchen, Tony's bed. She's a wanderer. I guess all those years of getting up at zero four hundred has become ingrained. At least this way, I know where she is."

Jenny smiled, then ran her finger down his arm. "I enjoyed last night," she said grinning at him.

"Yeah," he answered a little hoarsely. "Me too."

"We'll, ah, have to do it again sometime," she added bringing her hand back to his chest and running her thumb over his nipple.

"Hmmm, could be a good idea," he replied.

Closing his eyes, he caught hold of her hand again. "Jen," he warned. "Don't."

"Spoil sport," she huffed, pulling her hand back and crossing her arms. "Well, seeing as there's nothing keeping me here, I guess I'll jump in the shower."

She pulled back the covers and climbed out. Standing up, she turned to face him.

"Care to join me?" she asked leaning forward and kissing him teasingly.

"Good idea," he murmured, climbing out next to her.

Looking down his body, she grinned and replied, "Hmm, ready for action I see."

"You bet," he answered, turning her towards the ensuite and smacking her bottom.

"Move!" he growled. "Before they both end up in here!"

Thirty minutes later, both dressed and about to head downstairs, they heard Ziva stir.

"Good morning pumpkin," greeted Gibbs as Ziva sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

Yawning she replied, "Morning Daddy." Then seeing Jenny she said, "Morning Jen, ah, Mommy," she corrected.

"Good morning Sweetheart," said Jenny, going over to her and kissing her head. "Did you sleep well?"

"Ah huh," replied Ziva, pulling back the covers and crawling out of bed. She raised her arms and stretched her body, yawning again. "I'm going to see if Tony is awake," she said padding towards the door. As she passed Gibbs he noticed she was only wearing her pyjama top and panties.

"Hey," he said stopping her. "Where's the rest of your pyjamas?"

"I got too hot," she replied. "So I kicked them off."

"Hmmm," hummed Gibbs reflectively. "It probably is getting too hot to wear those now. We should probably go shopping again and deck you two out in some summer clothes. You'll need some swimwear as well."

"Why?" she asked excitedly. "Are we going to the pool?"

"Well not today," replied Gibbs. "But probably sometime over the summer. Ok, you go and wake your brother and we'll meet you downstairs."

"Okey Dokey Daddy-o," she replied laughing.

"You've been hanging around Abby for too long," said Gibbs, grabbing her and tickling her tummy before kissing her cheek and releasing her.

As she ran, giggling, from the room, he turned to Jenny.

"Fancy some clothes shopping today?" he asked.

"I'd love to, but I'm assuming you mean clothes for under twelve year olds?" she replied rather unenthusiastically.

"Yeah," he answered. "Although, you are going to need a swim suit too. Do you have one at your house?"

Eying him suspiciously she asked, "Why?"

"Secret," he said mysteriously. "So do you have one?"

"Yes," she said slowly. "Is there anything else Sir will require?"

"Yep," he said simply. "But I'm sure you'll have the rest at home."

"Oh come on Jethro," she whined leaning into him and looking up into his face. "I hate secrets. What have you got planned."

"All will be revealed when necessary," he replied annoyingly.

Narrowing her eyes, she said, "I'll with-hold."

Snorting with laughter, Gibbs took hold of her hand and led her out the bedroom, "Yeah right Jen," he said, still laughing. "And er, who was it this morning who couldn't keep their hands off me?"

Stamping her foot in frustration, she knew he was right. "Oooh," she grumbled. "I hate secrets!"

"I know!" he said, stopping to plant a quick peck on her lips, before leaving her on the top step huffing in annoyance.

Later that morning as Gibbs was buckling Ziva into her car seat, his cell phone rang. Standing up, he looked at the caller ID then, leaning against the car door, he answered, "Hey, Tim. How did you go?"

"All set Boss," came Tim's cheerful voice. "You've got it from three o'clock tomorrow until 10am Saturday morning. I'll text you the address and owner's details in case you need to contact them."

"Great, thanks for that," replied Gibbs. Looking into the car he could see Jenny staring at him inquisitively from the front passenger seat. Deliberately moving away from the car, he shut Ziva's door so that he couldn't be heard.

"So how much do I owe ya?" he asked Tim.

"I'll text you that too," said Tim. "But no hurry, I've paid on my credit card, so when you get back will be fine."

"Ok, thanks," said Gibbs. "Is there anything specific we need to bring? Linen, plates et cetera?"

"No, apparently everything is supplied. They even supply firewood in the winter," said Tim.

"Well hopefully we won't be needing that this time of year," retorted Gibbs.

"No," agreed Tim. "Oh, he did say there is great fishing in the lake so bring some rods. Also, the lake is safe to swim in, so swimwear is a must."

"Yep, getting that organised now," said Gibbs. Finding his keys in his pocket, he finished up the conversation saying, "Well thanks again Tim. I knew you'd have better luck sorting it out online than I would via the phone. I owe ya one."

"Not at all Boss," said Tim and Gibbs could tell he was smiling. "It was pleasure to help out. I was actually thinking it might be a great place for us all to go sometime, maybe next month when Abby and Ducky have some time off as well?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Gibbs. "I'll let you know what it's like. Thanks again Tim, Bye,"

Opening the driver's door, Gibbs got in and put the key in the ignition.

"What did Tim want?" asked Jenny curiously.

"Secret," he replied smirking at her.

As they pulled up into the parking lot of the mall, the four of them got out and headed to the main building.

"Jen!" said Gibbs in an exasperated tone. "You will know soon enough, now let it go. Even the kids have laid off asking."

"That's only because you threatened them with early bed if they didn't stop," she retorted.

"Yeah, well seriously considering the same for you at the moment," he growled.

"No arguments here," she replied grinning.

"Alone!" he added then grinned at her disappointed look.

As they entered the children's department store they had visited a couple of months earlier, Gibbs turned to Jenny and said, "You happy to split again?"

"Yep," she said. "I'll take Tony and you take Ziva."

Seeing the horrified expression on Gibbs' face at the thought of having to find a bathing suit, shorts and dresses for an overactive five year old, Jenny laughed.

"I'm kidding Jethro," she said placing her hand on his chest. "I'll take Ziva."

Grabbing Tony's hand, Gibbs pulled him towards the boys' section before Jenny had a chance to change her mind.

"Meet ya in the food court in an hour," Jenny called.

Gibbs acknowledged her with a wave over his shoulder as he and Tony disappeared into the shirts and t-shirts.

An hour and twenty minutes later, arms laden with various shaped packages and bags, Jenny and Ziva appeared outside the store. Gibbs and Tony were sitting on a nearby bench looking thoroughly bored.

"What took you so long?" asked Gibbs, a slight edge of annoyance in his voice. "We've been waiting for thirty minutes."

"Well, girls take longer to shop for," retorted Jenny. Looking at the couple of bags sitting in front of Gibbs she asked, "Did you get enough?"

"Yeah," he replied defensively. "How much does he need, a couple of pair of shorts, couple of t-shirts and some summer pyjamas"

"I hope you got more than that!" Jenny asked incredulously.

Gibbs grinned at her indicating that he was only teasing.

"Daddy!" said Ziva excitedly. "You should see my new bathers. It's a purple bikini and has this yellow all around the edges."

Gibbs eyed Jenny. "Bikini?" he questioned. "Is that appropriate?"

"For god sakes Jethro, she's five! Of course it appropriate," retorted Jenny. "Besides, she looked adorable in it."

"Are we having lunch or just a snack?" asked Tony not in the least bit interested in what swimwear Ziva had bought but, rather, eyeing off his favourite pizza stand.

Checking his watch, Gibbs noted that it was just past twelve.

"May as well have lunch," he suggested, looking at Jenny for confirmation.

"Fine with me," she replied, taking a seat and unburdening her arms.

"Woohoo! Pizza!" said Tony. "Pepperoni with extra cheese please," he said doing a little dance in his excitement.

"You always have that," said Ziva rolling her eyes. "Why don't you have something different?" she suggested.

"I don't want anything different. Why change it if I like it," he added logically.

"Good point Tony," agreed Jenny, stepping in before the discussion turned into an argument. Looking around at the various stands she said, "I might have a salad roll I think."

"Me too," said Ziva. "That sounds yummy."

Once they had finished eating, the four of them grabbed all their bags and parcels again and headed back to the car. As Gibbs turned onto the freeway, he could hear Ziva humming in the back seat. He tried to listen carefully to see if he could recognise the tune but the humming was too quiet. However, a minute or so later, he was in no doubt of the song when Ziva started singing,

"When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad,"

From the front, Jenny joined with her.

"I simply remember my favourite things, and then I don't feel so bad."

"Oh no," Tony groaned. "It was bad enough last night."

"You said you liked the movie," said Ziva slightly offended at his attitude.

"Yeah, well I like the story, but the singing was a bit much," he replied. "Especially all that lovey dovey singing. Yuck!" He shuddered to prove his point.

"Well what about this one?" said Jenny. And she began to sing,

Do, a deer, a female deer,

Re, a drop of golden sun

Ziva soon joined her

Mi, a name I call myself

Fa, a long, long way to run

As Jenny and Ziva sang out the rest of the song, Tony joined in with the odd word as best as he could remember it.

When they sung the last line, he turned to Ziva and asked, "How do you remember it so well? You've only seen it once like me?"

"I don't know," she said shrugging her arms. "Just lucky I guess. I've always been able to remember things really quickly."

Jenny and Gibbs looked at each other. As adults, everyone had just accepted Ziva's photographic memory for what it was, but it was interesting hearing from a child's perspective.

"How come I can't remember things like Ziva, Dad?" Tony asked directing his question at Gibbs.

"I'm not sure Bud," replied Gibbs. "I guess Ziva's mind works a little differently. We all have things we're good at and that's one of the things she's good at.

"But she's good at heaps of things that I can't do," he said disgruntled. "And she's only five!"

'Five and a half," interrupted Ziva.

Ignoring her, Tony continued. "Like, she can shoot really good, and she climbs heaps better than me and she remembers things really easily. Why can't I do those things?"

"Ziva had a very different early life to you Tony. She was taught how to do those things when she was very young," said Gibbs trying to explain things but not wanting to make Ziva feel uncomfortable either. "You remember her telling us about how she was driven in the forest with her brother and then made to find her own way out?"

"Yeah," said Tony remembering some of the horror stories Ziva had told him. "I guess I'd rather not know how to do those things if it means not being lost in a forest."

"I had Ari," said Ziva cheerfully. "He helped me a lot. He taught me most of the things I know how to do."

As Gibbs listened to her he felt a pang of sadness for her future. So much anguish still to face.

"I could teach you Tony," she suggested. "I could teach you how to climb and how to shoot and-"

"No Ziva," cut in Gibbs suddenly. "I don't EVER want to see or hear of you using a real gun without either Jenny or myself with you?"

"But," she began.

"No!" he said again more firmly. "I don't care if you have learnt how to use one Ziva. You are five years old and while you live with us, there will be no reason for you to ever need to pick up or use a gun by yourself. Now I hope that is very clear Ziva, because if I ever catch you playing with a gun you will be in BIG trouble young lady. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she grumbled. "And I'm five and half," she added for good measure.

"That's fine," said Gibbs calmly. "I'm happy to give you five and half spanks when you're naughty."

Looking at her through the rear view mirror, he smirked when she huffed and crossed her arms, a definite show that she wasn't impressed with his reasoning.

"So what am I good at then?" asked Tony still concerned that his five year old sister was able to out-do him in most things.

Thinking back to the adult Tony, Gibbs replied. "You're very good at problem solving."

"Huh?" said Tony. "What does that mean?"

"Well, you're very good at figuring things out on your own. You don't really need to read instructions or follow steps, you can see how something should end up and you can figure it out on your own.

Gibbs thought for a moment then said, "You remember that Lego spaceship Tim got you a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah," said Tony. "That was fun to put together."

"But, do you remember how Tim got out the instructions and was trying to put together the shuttle and how he was amazed at the way you had almost managed to put the main ship together without even looking at the instructions."

"Yeah, that's right," laughed Tony. "He couldn't figure out what pieces the paper was telling him to use and I was able to look at the picture and hand them to him."

"Exactly," said Gibbs. "Not many people can do that sort of thing. Most people need to follow the instructions but you can figure it out just by looking at the finished product. It's kind of like what we call, seeing the big picture. You're able to work things out by looking at it in a different way. That's a really good skill to have. It will help you when you're an adult."

Gibbs smiled, thinking at all the weird and wonderful ways adult Tony was able to solve crimes by thinking outside the box, much to Tim and Ziva's annoyance most times.

Tony leaned back in his seat and smiled.

"So there is something I'm good at then," he said.

"Tony there are lots of things you're good at," corrected Gibbs. "Don't sell yourself short kiddo."

"Yeah," added Jenny, "Look how good you are with those DS games. You're the best in the family at those."

Tony nodded. "I guess," he said.

"You're the best at farting," added Ziva. "I can't fart anywhere near as good as you."

"True," said Tony. "I am pretty good at that."

"Now's there's something to add to your CV," said Jenny to Gibbs who laughed at the thought of Tony going for an interview with farting listed as one of his skills.

"Tony," he said getting the boy's attention. "We are all good at different things. The world would be pretty boring if we could all do the same thing. There'd be nothing to learn. Our job is to take the gifts and skills we have and help others to learn them."

Tony turned to Ziva.

"Ok, so you can teach me how to climb like you do, and I'll teach you how to fart, ok?" he said.

"It's a deal!" She held out her hand for Tony to take and they shook vigorously.

He then leaned in closer to Ziva and whispered, "And you can teach me how to do that pressure point thing,"

"OK," she whispered back.

"What are you too whispering about back there," asked Gibbs suspiciously.

"Nothing," they both replied.

"It better not be anything about guns," he said sternly.

"It wasn't Daddy, I promise," said Ziva earnestly.

Gibbs nodded his head. One thing he knew about his kids was they had never lied to him thus far so he was confident Ziva was telling the truth.

"Dad, could you teach me how to shoot?" asked Tony.

"Not until you're twelve Tony," replied Gibbs. "When you turn twelve we'll talk about again."

"How old were you when you learnt?" asked Tony.

"I was twelve. My father gave me a shot gun for my birthday and taught me how to use it properly. I was never allowed to touch it on my own, and he always kept the bullets locked away."

"Did you ever disobey him?" asked Ziva.

"Nope," said Gibbs firmly. "Not when it came to the gun. When I was eleven, one of the boys in my class was accidently shot by his brother because they were fooling around with their father's gun. I never forgot that and it taught me respect for all weapons."

"Did the kid die?" asked Tony wide eyed.

"No," said Gibbs. "But he was shot in the back and it damaged his spinal cord. He had to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life."

"That's awful," said Jenny listening in horror.

"Yeah, it was," said Gibbs glancing her way. "It was a hard lesson to learn."

Looking again through the rear view mirror, Gibbs said, "That's why I don't want you anywhere near a gun Ziva. You may know how to use one, but there may be people around you who don't or something nearby could spook you and you pull the trigger by mistake. Accidents happen and there's no way of going back."

She nodded, "Yes Daddy," she said. "I won't touch one. I would hate it if I accidently hurt someone."

And he knew she meant it.

As Gibbs took the exit off the freeway, Jenny suddenly said, "Where are we going? This isn't the way to your place."

"Nope," said Gibbs agreeing with her. "It's the way to yours."

Jenny gave him a look which clearly said, "Explain?"

Laughing at her, he replied, "You're going to need to pack a bag."

"And?" she questioned.

"And what?" he said. "You're going to need to pack a bag, nothing more."

"Well dear," she said adding emphasis to the last word. "Unless you give me more information I'm not going to know what to pack now, am I?"

Sighing Gibbs replied, "I guess not. Ok, all will be revealed when we get to your place, satisfied?"

Rolling her eyes, Jenny chose not to respond, but sat quietly until they finally pulled out front of her townhouse.

"Right," said Gibbs turning around in his seat once he'd parked the car and switched of the ignition. "I have managed to rent out a cabin for the next four days. It's overlooking a lake where we can swim and fish or just laze about and enjoy the scenery"

"Cool!" exclaimed Tony.

"Yay!" squealed Ziva.

"How did you manage that?" asked Jenny.

"Well I had a little help," confessed Gibbs.

"Tim," said Jenny, suddenly thinking of the earlier phone call.

"Yep," said Gibbs. "So, you need to go inside and pack a bag to suit four fun-filled days of swimming, relaxing, walking and generally doing nothing that's remotely like work."

Smiling at him, she leaned over, cupped his cheek and laid a gentle kiss on his lips.

"Thank you," she said softly. "This is just what I needed."

As they stood on the front porch waiting for Jenny to unlock the door, Tony asked, "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning," replied Gibbs. "It's about a three hour drive but we can't check in until three in the afternoon so I thought we might stop a couple of times along the way and take our time getting there."

Tony nodded and, as Jenny opened the door, the four of them stepped in.

"Oh wow!" exclaimed Tony.

"What?" asked Jenny looking around to see what Tony was looking at.

"Is this your house?" he asked opened mouthed. "It's amazing."

"Look at that beautiful staircase," added Ziva, also staring in awe.

"Ahh, but it doesn't have a backyard," said Jenny, smiling at the two children.

"Who cares," said Tony. "You could spend all day just in here."

Laughing at them Jenny said, "I do agree with you, it is a lovely house. I enjoyed playing in here when I was a child, but I did miss not having a backyard."

"Can we go upstairs?" asked Tony peering up the staircase.

"Yep, I'll give you the guided tour," replied Jenny.

As they reached the landing, Tony saw a smaller staircase further along the hall.

"Where does that lead to?" he asked pointing to it.

"That goes to the attic rooms," said Jenny. "There's two up there. One of them used to be my room when I was a little girl."

"Can we go see?" asked Ziva.

"How about you two go up there on your own and explore and I'll go and pack my bag?" suggested Jenny.

She smiled as Ziva and Tony ran off towards the second set of stairs.

"Do you want me to keep an eye on them," asked Gibbs as he too watched the two children scamper off.

"Nah, they'll be fine. There's nothing they can hurt up there," replied Jenny.

Tony and Ziva quickly mounted the second staircase and found themselves on a small landing from which there were three doors.

Opening the first, Tony said, "This one looks like it could be bedroom but there's just heaps of boxes in there now."

"This one is a bathroom," said Ziva opening and closing the middle door.

She headed to the door on the right and opened it.

"Oh wow Tony, come and look in here?" she gasped, stepping into the room.

As Tony followed her he saw that the room was set out as a bedroom. On the right there were two dormer windows facing out onto the road below. Along the wall on the left was a wardrobe and dressing table. In the middle of the room stood a beautiful four poster bed with white, lace curtains gathered at the four corners.

"This is like my canopy bed that I used to have," said Tony suddenly remembering. "Sometimes when I was feeling sad, I used to close the curtains and hide in there."

"It's beautiful," said Ziva breathlessly. "I wish I had a bed like this."

As Ziva walked closer to the bed and gently ran her hand up the ornate wood carvings along one of the posts, she wondered whether this used to be Jenny's bed. She was just about to climb onto it when Tony said, "Hey Ziva, what do you think is in here?"

Turning, she saw Tony crouching in front of a tiny door set in the wall between the wardrobe and the dressing table. It was only about two and half feet tall.

"It's like a mini door," said Ziva. "Open it up and see what's inside?"

As Tony turned the handle, the door swung outwards back into the room. Peering inside, all Tony could see was darkness.

"It looks like a little room or something," he said.

Crouching down next to him, Ziva strained her eyes to see what it was. Spotting string hanging down on the left, she touched it.

"I wonder what this is for?" she said and, pulling on the string, it clicked, suddenly filling the space with a gentle yellow glow.

"Oh wow!" gasped Tony. "It's like a cubby hole."

Peering in, the children stared at the space in front of them. It was roughly six foot across from left to right and went back to a depth of about four foot. The walls were panelled in a dark mahogany wood and, once Ziva had crawled through the little door, she was able to stand upright.

"It must be about four foot high," said Tony who still had to crouch down a little once inside the space. Sitting down so that he wasn't bent over, he shut the little door effectively closing out the world around them.

The floor was covered in an old threadbare rug, the colours of which would once have been a brilliant green with yellow and red flowers sprinkled through the weave. Underneath the rug, the children could see the floor was wooden. Unlike the rest of the house though, it wasn't polished and there were cracks and gaps scattered about.

"This is amazing Tony," whispered Ziva.

Although just an ordinary roof space to most adults, in the eyes and imagination of a child this little room had the potential to be almost anything. A hidey-hole for notorious criminals fleeing the police, a dungeon in which to keep unruly prisoners, a secret passageway to places unknown. All it took was a little imagination.

"I wonder if there are any ghosts in here?" asked Ziva looking around her as if she expected one to suddenly appear.

"I don't know!" whispered Tony, annoyed that she should bring it up. "Don't talk about that sort of thing. It's creepy enough with thinking about that!"

"Do you think anyone died in here?" whispered Ziva. "Maybe they got locked in here and were never seen again. Maybe if we pulled back the floor boards we'd find their skeleton laying und-"

"Shut up Ziva!" commanded Tony.

As they sat there in the silence, now thinking about ghosts and bodies, they suddenly heard a loud creaking sound as if someone had opened a noisy door.

"What was that?" whispered Tony, his eyes widening in alarm.

"Shh," said Ziva, creeping to the closed door.

She reached out her hand and took hold of the handle.

"Don't open it Ziva," said Tony. "Who knows what's out there!"

As Ziva was about to take her hand off the knob, the door was suddenly wrenched open.

"Augh!" screamed Tony and Ziva together backing themselves up against the far wall.

Appearing in front of them, they were soon greeted by the smiling face of Jenny.

"I see you've found my hiding spot," she said.

Relief washed over both children as they came crawling out of the space and rushed into Jenny's arms.

"You scared us," said Ziva, almost in tears.

"Yeah, we thought you were a ghost," added Tony, snuggling into Jenny as hard as he could.

"No ghost," replied Jenny putting her arms around both children. "Just little, old me."

When their breathing and heart rates had returned to a normal rhythm again, Tony and Ziva stepped back and sat on the bed behind them.

"Did you used to play in here?" asked Ziva. "You said it was your hiding spot."

"This used to be my bedroom when I was a little girl," said Jenny. "And in there was my special place where I used to go. I would imagine it was a secret doorway to magical lands. Oh I had so much fun up here." Jenny sighed wistfully as she remembered her childhood days.

"Was this your bed?" asked Ziva. "It's beautiful."

"Yes," said Jenny walking up to the four poster and running her fingers through the lace curtains. "I got this bed for my fifteenth birthday from my father. I thought I was so grown up having a double bed."

"How come you don't sleep in it now?" asked Tony.

"After my father died I decided to sleep on the level below so I didn't have so many stairs to climb," Jenny said laughing. "I did think about taking this bed with me, but it would have to be dismantled and I thought about how much I liked it up on this level. So I decided to turn it into the guest bed and I bought a new bed for my room."

Jenny ran her hands up and down the post. "It's such a lovely bed this one," she said softly.

She turned to Ziva.

"Do you remember when you were going to spend the night at my place when we had our girls and boys only weekend?" she asked.

"Ah huh," said Ziva nodding.

"Well, this was the bed that you and Abby were going to sleep in," she replied.

"Oh really," said Ziva looking around her at the bed. "That would have been fun. Maybe we could still do that one day?" she asked.

"That sounds like a good idea," said Jenny. "So are you two ready to come back downstairs? My bag is packed and I'm sure Daddy is pacing the floor wondering what we're doing that's taking so long."

Both Ziva and Tony stood up.

"Let's go!" shouted Tony. "Race you to the bottom floor," he said as he ran out the door.

"No running on the stairs!" yelled Jenny as Ziva flew out the door after Tony.

When the two children reached the first story landing, Ziva suddenly said, "Jenny I need to use the bathroom."

Showing her where it was and making sure she was fine to stay on her own, Jenny and Tony made their way to the ground floor where, as Jenny had predicted, Gibbs was currently pacing and giving an occasional look up the stairs.

"Finally!" he exclaimed when he saw Jenny and Tony making their way down. "What on earth have you been doing up there?"

"Reminiscing," said Jenny smiling at him when she stepped off the bottom step.

"I thought I was going to have to send out a search party," said Gibbs still slightly annoyed at having to wait for them. Looking around he asked, "Where's Ziva?"

"Bathroom," replied Jenny.

From above them they suddenly heard a little voice proclaim, "Look out below, here I come!"

And, with legs either side of the banister and facing backwards, Ziva slid down the railing until she was stopped at the end by the post.

"Hey, I wanna try that," yelled Tony as he began to make his way back upstairs.

"No," said Gibbs firmly stopping Tony in his tracks. "That's not a good idea. And you shouldn't be doing that either young lady," said Gibbs looking sternly at Ziva as he lifted her off the banister.

"Do you know, I used to get my bottom smacked for doing that when I was a little girl," said Jenny.

"Why?" asked Ziva. "That was fun."

"Well, that's what I thought too," said Jenny. "But now I can see how dangerous it is. Look up there at how high you were. If you fell, there'd be nothing to stop your fall except the hard floor."

Shrugging her shoulders, Ziva said, "It was still fun."

"Come on, let's go," said Gibbs distracting everyone. "The rest of us still have to pack and at this rate we'll be up until midnight."

As everyone headed to the front door, Tony whispered to Ziva, "This is the best house. I wonder if we could ask Jenny if we could stay here for a couple of nights."

"Yeah," said Ziva. "And when no one's looking, we'll slide down the banister. That was cool," she added giggling.

Grinning at each other, Tony and Ziva walked to the car, thinking and planning of all the things they could do if they were ever to spend a night in this wonderful old house.