I promised I would update soon, so here it is! I know you all are anxiously awaiting the birth of the twins, as am I! They're coming just got to go through the motions first! I promise you, it's worth the reading (at least I think so!)

Here we go! Chapter 21! Enjoy :-)

I DO NOT own NCIS or anything related to it but I will one day…WATCH!

Arissa sat in the conference table hugging Teddy and Mr. Snuggles. Across from her sat that Owens family, a homely looking family of six. Henry and Patricia Owens were a humble couple in their early forties and their children Liam, Gloria, Andrew and Felicity ranged from ages twelve to seven.

"So Arissa, how old are you?" asked Henry.

"I this many," said Arissa shyly as she held up three fingers.

"But Arissa will be turning four next month," added Sharon.

"Really? Do you have anything special planned for your birthday?" asked Patricia.

Arissa shrugged her shoulders.

"Those are very nice teddy bears! Where did you get them?"

"My daddy gave me Teddy and Kate gave me Mr. Snuggles," a hint of joy came into Arissa voice when she said Kate's name.

"That was very nice of Kate."

"She very nice. I like her! Are you nice?"

Patricia laughed. "I like to think that I'm nice!"

"What do you like to do for fun?" asked Henry.

"I like watching movies with Nozzo."

"Who's Nozzo?" asked Gloria.

"Nozzo is Tony. He and Kate are the couple that Arissa is staying with."

"He funny!" laughed Arissa.

"My Mommy and Daddy take us swimming and to the park. You like to do that?" asked Felicity.

"I no know?"

Sharon looked at the child in frustration of her lack of willingness to interaction with the family. Sharon's cellphone rang. She looked at the screen and saw Tony's name. "Yes, Agent DiNozzo?"

Arissa jumped up. "Nozzo!"

"Well, as you know I'm in a meeting right now...No, I can just leave…What? Okay, okay, I'm on my way!" Sharon hung up the phone. "I'm sorry. We are going to have to cut this meeting short!"

"Is everything okay?" asked Patricia.

"There's been an emergency. Could we set up another meeting?"

"Yeah, of course! Maybe Arissa could come over for dinner one night? Would you like that, Arissa?" suggested Henry.

"I want Nozzo!" whined Arissa to Sharon.

"We'll set something up!" said Sharon as she took Arissa's hand and left.

Gibbs sat in the waiting room of the E.R., his face blank of any type of emotions as he rested his head in his hands.

"Gibbs!" shouted Arissa as she ran down the hall to the senior agent, hugging him. "Where Kate and Nozzo?"

Gibbs was speechless as he saw Sharon, stomping angrily up the hall.

"Where's Tony, Agent Gibbs?" asked Sharon.

Gibbs stood up as he tried to gather his words.

"He called me in the middle of a meeting with a potential family for Arissa and insisted that I come right over here! Now where is he? This better be important!"

Just then Tony walked out of a back room, like Gibbs his face showed no expression. Catching sight of Tony, Arissa ran to him.

"Nozzo, I meet the family like you said! I no like them but can I still have ice cream?" asked the three year old, innocently.

Without saying a word, Tony picked the little girl up in his arms and hugging her tightly.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Sharon as she watched the man with the child.

Gibbs took a deep breathe. "Kate was shot today, Sharon."

Sharon clasped her hand over her mouth. "Oh my god. Is she okay?"

Gibbs ran his fingers through his silver hair. "It was just a through and through to the foot. She was trying to take a gun from a suspect and went off hitting her in the foot. She has a couple of broken bones but she's fine."

Sharon took a moment to catch her breath. "See, this is the kind of stuff I worry about having her with them! What if Kate had of been serious injured or worse killed? How would that have affected Arissa? She already lost her mother and her father and you want me to leave her in an environment where she could potentially loss someone else close to her?"

"Kate is fine, Sharon."

"I'm glad to hear that Agent Gibbs but enough is enough! I am taking Arissa with me…tonight!"

Sharon turned to gather Arissa but was stopped by Gibbs grabbing her arm.

"Don't do that, Sharon!"

"Gibbs, being with Kate and Tony is no longer emotionally safe for her!"

"They need Arissa right now! If things had of gone differently Kate could have lost her life or they could have lost their unborn twins! This was my fault! I should have protected my team and Arissa and not let Kate go with us today. I will deal with that. Don't punish them for my mistake?"

"No, this is my fault for letting her stay this long!"

"Look at them, Sharon!"

Sharon looked down the hall at Tony, whose face now showed a relief as he talked to Arissa.

"You okay, Nozzo?" asked Arissa.

Tony let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I'm just really happy to see you! I really needed a hug!"

"Did you miss me?"

Tony laughed. "Yeah, I missed you!"

Arissa hugged Tony. "I missed you too, Nozzo!"

Sharon looked Gibbs square in the eyes. "I cannot wait for this to be over! You let Agent Todd and DiNozzo know that the clock is winding down on their time with Arissa!"

Inside the room, Arissa's mouth was wide open as she saw Kate sitting in the hospital bed, her foot bandaged inside of a walking boot.

"Kate, you got hurt!" gasped Arissa.

"Yeah, I got hurt but I'm okay," replied Kate.

"Thank God, you were only hurt," interjected Tony, as he put Arissa down on the bed next to Kate.

Arissa hugged Kate. "You have to be careful, Kate. I no want you hurt!"

Kate hugged Arissa back. Much like with Tony, something about the little girl made the situation better.

Gibbs walked in the room. "From now on, Kate, you are on light duty! I want you at your desk at NCIS from here on out!"

"But Gibbs…" exclaimed Kate.

"No buts, Kate! You can't take chances like that anymore."

"Totally agree!" interjected Tony.

"You're on light duty too, DiNozzo! Unless, I tell you otherwise you are to only do interviews and interrogations, got that?"

"What? Why?"

"I because I said so! If I need someone in the field I'll pull up another agent. I'm not letting this happen again."

"If you say so, Boss. What did Sharon have to say?"

"She's pissed! She wants Arissa away from you two as fast as possible."

"She not going to take Arissa is she?" asked Kate.

"Not today but you can believe that she is going to speed up this adoption process as much as she can."

"I no want to go!" said Arissa as she rested her head on Kate's chest.

Gibbs stared at the little girl. "Come on! Let's get you guys home."

Tony and Arissa helped Kate as she wobbled through the apartment on her freshly shot and broken foot.

"You comfy, Kate?" asked Arissa, as she pulled the covered around Kate in bed.

"Yes, Arissa. Thank you!" replied Kate.

Tony walked into the room carrying a glass of water and some pills.

"Nozzo, Kate say she comfy!" said Arissa.

"Good job, sweetie. Why don't you go play and I'll go get dinner ready," suggest Tony.

"Can I eat in here with Kate?"

"Sure, now go play!"

Arissa ran out the room leaving Tony and Kate alone.

"You can't have painkiller so I thought some Tylenol would help," said Tony as he gave Kate the water and pills.

"Today was a close call, huh?" sighed Kate as she took the pills.

"Too close! I'm glad you are on desk duty though I'm not too happy about being on light duty as well."

"I haven't been that scared since I faced Ari in autopsy. But this was a whole other kind of scared. I wasn't as worried about myself as I was the twins."

"I think they call that maternal instinct."

"I have two other people who are going to need me, Tony! Every day when I walk out that door, there is a chance I won't come back."

"Don't talk like that Kate. Today was just one of those days, honey! You can't let it scare you away from the job!"

"What if thing had of gone differently, Tony? I love being an agent but is my love for my job fair to our kids when there a chance that I could die doing this job?"

"Kate, you can't let this stop you. Life just like this job is unpredictable. But I'm not giving up and either are you! Let's just put today behind us, okay? You're fine. The babies are fine. Everyone is fine!"

Kate laid back in bed. "Not everyone! What about Arissa? After what happened today, Sharon isn't going to let her stay with us much longer. We are too much of a risk!"

"I know. Who would have ever thought that a three year old would play such a huge part in our lives? I thought we would watch her for a while, she would leave and we would move on but now I can't image going a day without her. In fact, when everything went down today, she kept popping into my mind."

"I wish we could just adopt her and have the twins and just be one big happy family!"

"As nice as that would be, after what happened today you know Sharon isn't going to go for that."

Kate was silent in her thoughts. "You know, it's really not up to Sharon. The judge has the final discussion on what happens to her."

"So what are you saying? You want to try and adopt Arissa?"

"Today has given me a whole new outlook on things, Tony! Arissa is meant to be here with us! The least we can do is try?"

Tony said nothing.

Arissa stood in the bedroom doorway. "Nozzo, I no want to play, I want to sit with Kate."

Tony smile to himself. "Come on!"

Arissa ran over to Kate's side and Tony gently placed her at Kate's side allowing her to cuddle up next to Kate. The vision of the two of them spoke volumes.

"The least we can do is try."

What do you think? You really didn't think I was going to hurt Kate did you? Reviews and comments are welcomed and an update is coming soon :-)