Title: Once Upon a Summertime

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

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I just want to get everything right. Anyway, here is chapter 25.

CHAPTER 25

Tony's POV:

A knock on our bedroom door brought me awake and I sat up in bed.

"Tim," I whispered across the room. "Something's going on. Wake up."

I heard a groan from the other bed and Tim sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What?"

The door opened and Ziva padded in wearing her white nightgown.

"Ziva, "I said annoyed. "What are you doing? It's only seven o'clock in the morning."

Ziva rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her. "I know that, Tony, but I thought I should tell you that Gibbs and Jenny have been up for an hour talking on the phone and to each other about break -ins."

Now it was my time to roll my eyes at her. "Well, of course they're talking about break-ins, stupid. There was one here last night!"

Tim just pulled the covers back over his head and groaned again.

Ziva placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. "Do not start yelling at me, Tony DiNozzo. I know there was a burglar here last night. I am not without a memory. I mean another break-in at another house."

She now had Tim's attention too. "Another break-in?" he asked, peaking out from under the covers.

"Yes. They are talking about it now. Get up and let's go listen at the stairs." She turned and headed back out the door into the hallway.

"I have a better idea," said Tony.

Five minutes later

Abby's POV:

We were all sitting together on the bathroom floor, surrounding a loose pipe underneath the sink. Tony had noticed it was loose the other night when going to the bathroom and when removed he could hear into the kitchen downstairs. We could hear Gibbs and Jenny talking down there about burglars breaking into people's homes. We all tried to keep still so we could hear them better.

"Mrs. Tapps had her jewelry stolen too?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes, she just called. She was really upset to hear about the break-in here. However, I'm more concerned about her. They took all her jewelry, Jethro." Jenny said with a sad voice. "Maybe we could make some calls and find out what the police are doing so far."

Gibbs cleared his throat. "I'm sure the officers in charge of this are doing everything they can, Jen."

Jenny sighed. "I know. I'll tell her when I talk to her again. There certainly are a lot of break-ins in this neighborhood right now, Jethro. First Ms. O'Hara and Fabricio LoRusso's house, then Mrs. Tapps and now us. "

"I agree. " a chair scraped against the floor. "I'm going to get the kids out of bed now. No point in them sleeping forever just because of this. We can talk about it later."

When we heard that Tony got up so fast he hit his head on the basin and said "ouch!" really loud. He looked a little annoyed when I put a finger over my lips and shushed him. I didn't think he should be the only one to do that. There had to be justice in the world. I was first at the bathroom door and flung it open.

"Hurry, all back to their beds!" Ziva said in a low voice.

We all hurried. I jumped back in my bed and pulled the covers up and Ziva did the same, right after snapping her fingers under the bed so the dog would run in under there and hide. Soon the door opened and Gibbs poked his head in.

"Wake up, girls. It's time for breakfast."

He came inside and took a seat on my bed. I held my breath. What if the dog poked her head out or barked. I pulled the covers back and opened my eyes, trying to look like I had just woken up.

"Hey, Gibbs," I said. "Er, weather nice today?"

Gibbs smiled a little smile at me and stroked my head. "Yeah, it's sunny and warm. And time to get up," he said and jokingly pulled the covers back and picked me up. I couldn't help but laugh because it happened so fast.

"Eeeee!" I yelled. "Giiiibbs! Put me down!"

And he did. He put me down right on my feet and handed me my slippers.

"Ziva come on now." He said and started to bend down to take out Ziva's slippers from under the bed. I gulped and put a hand over my mouth but just then Ziva sat up straight and yelled.

"No! I do not want slippers!"

Gibbs stopped and stood up again looking surprised.

"Er, I mean uh..sorry, Gibbs. I am just really hot because I forgot to open the window last night. I am going to splash some water in my face and then I will be right down for breakfast."

Gibbs still didn't look convinced at first. But then he stopped looking at Ziva with that special Agent investigator look he had and headed for the door.

"See you downstairs," He said as he closed the door behind him.

Tony's POV:

Gibbs decided to paint the stairs inside the house around noon that day. He said it was something he had been putting off doing a long time now and Jen seemed pleased he was getting to it. We weren't very pleased though, since they told us that meant we had to stay outside the entire time and play. No going up or down those stairs until the paint's dried, Gibbs said. Ziva whispered something in Hebrew that sounded like a curse. She didn't like not being able to reach the dog when she wanted to. After breakfast we were ushered outside while Gibbs went to stalk up on paint tins and brushes. It was another hot day so we had all dressed as lightly as possible.

"We should have a secret meeting," I said and brushed some grass from my red sneakers.

Abby nodded. "Yes, I want to have a secret meeting."

Tim and Ziva agreed that it was a good idea.

"But we need to have it somewhere private, where nobody will be able to hear us," said Ziva.

Tim pointed at the tree house high up in the proud maple tree. "Up there! That's a good place."

Ziva and I smiled. She seemed to be thinking the same thing I was thinking. Tim had been so afraid of climbing up there until I tricked him and Gibbs had gone up after him. It seemed to have changed his mind a lot about the tree house.

I turned to Abby. "Abs, are you okay with coming up there with us? You've never been up there before and it's really high."

Abby shrugged. "I'm fine. I want to and so does Philip." She hugged the stuffed duck close to her chest. The yellow stuffed animal melted together with the yellow t-shirt she wore with black sleeves.

"Alright then," Ziva said. "Gibbs did say it was ok to bring Abby up there as long as we made sure she did not fall down."

"I won't fall down," Abby assured us and ran for the maple tree.

We all climbed up the ladder. Ziva was up there in a flash, Tim took it real careful and I climbed behind Abby, helping her take one rug at a time and slowly make her way up to the tree house. Up there we sat on the floor, facing each other with our legs crossed.

Ziva started to whisper.

"There's no need to whisper," I reminded her. "No one can hear us up here as long as we don't shout."

"Good. So we should talk about how we are going to prove that Ms. O'Hara and Fabricio are the burglars who broke in last night."

"We don't have any evidence yet, "Tim said with a sigh. "Except for Fabricio's red jacket being torn and him disappearing from Ducky's dinner right when the break -in must have happened."

Ziva nodded and rested her chin in her hand with her elbow supported against her thigh. "No. And we cannot use the dog having the piece of cloth in her mouth as evidence either because we cannot tell anyone about her."

"I don't like Ms. O'Hara," Abby said. "She's not nice. She didn't like when I interrupted her and Gibbs."

"No, she really hates kids." Ziva frowned and looked stood up on her knees to see out the window. "I am really worried about the dog. It does not feel good that we cannot go up and check on her until that stupid paint has dried."

I waved my hand dismissively in the air. "Oh, come on, Ziva. Don't worry so much. So far she hasn't left the room except to chase out that burglar Fabricio so it's not likely she'll leave now either. And the paint will probably be dry before she needs to go outside since you took her out before Gibbs and Jenny woke up."

She sat back down and crossed her legs again. "Maybe you are right."

"Of course I am. Everything is under control. But we need to come up with a plan to find some evidence that Ms. O'Hara and Fabricio are the burglars. Otherwise they're gonna rob someone else besides poor Mrs. Tapps and us."

"But they didn't take anything from us," said Tim.

I rolled my eyes at him. "I know that. But that's only because the dog stopped them. And besides, they have no business coming here. This is our house, not theirs."

Abby nodded so her pig tails bobbed. "Yeah, it's our house."

We all looked at each other. None of us had really liked the idea of being here in the beginning but now things had changed. We had a mission to stop the burglars of the neighborhood, Ms. O'Hara and Fabricio, and we had a common friend to protect, the dog.

"I just thought of something else," I said, leaning forward a little. "What's her name? The dog I mean. We haven't called her anything except the dog."

"Yeah, she should have a name," Tim agreed. "A nice one. Like Spot or Brutus."

Ziva raised an eyebrow at Tim. "She is a girl, Tim. Brutus is not really on the list."

"Oh, okay," Tim said, a little disappointed. "How about Molly or Sugar or something cute like that?"

"Molly and Sugar?" I couldn't believe my ears. "What are you, a girl or a boy?"

"Tony!" Ziva said sternly and glared at me. She turned to Tim who looked a little hurt. "I do not think those names will fit her so well, Tim. But the right one will probably hit us when we least expect it. "

"All right," I impatiently got us back on topic again. "Does anyone have any ideas about the plan to get the evidence?"

Abby suddenly raised her hand as high in the air as she could.

"Yes, Abby."

"Sneaking," she said.

Ziva frowned. "Sneaking?"

Abby nodded proudly. "Uh huh. Sneaking into their house. Then maybe we find something hinky that will lead us to Madame White's jewelry."

"Hinky?" I asked and wrinkled my nose. "You mean suspicious?"

Abby nodded. "Yes."

"Oh, I don't know, Abby," I said with hesitation. "Sneaking into their house sounds real risky."

"I'm not sure I want to sneak into anyone's house," Tim said and bit his bottom lip.

Ziva switched position to sitting on her knees. "Perhaps not into their house. But how about we sneak up to their house. We could just spy on them through the window without them seeing us."

"That's not a bad idea," I said. "We'll do some surveillance. Watch the bad guys a bit and see what they're up to. Good plan, Abs."

Abby beamed.

Ziva's POV:

An hour later we got a surprise visit from a friend. Mrs. Tapps showed up to have tea with Jenny in the kitchen. Wearing her usual white cotton dress and with her hair worn in a bun she walked up to the front door, just using her right hand to feel what was at her side. She ran her hand across the square porch column before taking the last step up. We just got back from the store after picking up some baloney Gibbs was going to cook for dinner when we saw her. We all rushed over to her and Abby threw her small arms around her waist and hugged her. Mrs. Tapps gave a little surprised yelp and steadied herself with her hand against the door.

"Oh, hello, my sweeties. How lovely to see you. Jenny has invited me over for tea and I of course couldn't resist."

"Er, Mrs. Tapps?"

"Yes, Ziva, what is it?"

"I was wondering if we could talk to you later, after you have had tea? It is really important."

Mrs. Tapps smiled as she kept her eyes staring out over the street behind us. Being blind she rarely looked directly in your eyes.

"Of course that will be alright. "

"Thank you," Tony added. "We sort of need to ask you a favor."

"Oh, that sounds exciting. I cannot wait to hear what it is. But now I must head inside before Jenny starts to wonder what's keeping me."

As we walked away I reminded Abby who wondered why we wanted to talk to Madame White that it was because we had to ask her to let the dog stay in her house for a while. It was getting harder and harder to keep Gibbs and Jenny from finding her.

Jenny poured tea for Mrs. Tapps and sat down next to her at the kitchen table. "It's going very well with them. They are all wonderful children."

"Don't they miss their parents?" asked Mrs. Tapps.

Jenny pushed an annoying sling of her red hair from her eyes. "Yes, that has been an issue of course. As it always is with kids. But I think they're really starting to like it here. At least Jethro and I are very glad to have them here."

Gibbs entered the kitchen with both hands covered with white spots from painting the stairs.

"How are the stairs coming along, Jethro?"

Gibbs smiled friendly at Mrs. Tapps. "Quite well. It's finally finished. Now it just has to dry."

"That's a lot of work you just put in. But now it's finally been done," Jenny said and exchanged a grin with him.

"Yup, finally happy now?" Gibbs asked with humor in his voice. "Is there nothing stronger than tea brewing?"

"There is coffee in the thermos for you."

Gibbs moved over to the bench next to the sink and grabbed the thermos. "Thanks. The kids out in the backyard?"

"I met them out front when I arrived half an hour ago," Mrs. Tapps said and took an oatmeal cookie from the plate on the table. "I think they headed out the gate."

Gibbs went and opened the front door a crack.

"Yep, they're out there on the street drawing with a piece of crayon on the ground," he said from the hall.

Mrs. Tapps snickered and Jenny turned.

"On the street?"

Gibbs came back to the kitchen. "Relax, Jen. It'll disappear as soon as it rains."

Jenny figured it didn't matter much as long as no one complained. Because what if it didn't rain for weeks.

"Well, as long as they're staying out of trouble I'm happy."

Tony's POV:

Waiting for Mrs. Tapps to come out of the house we had started a game of hopscotch on the street right outside the little white gate leading to the garden. It had been Abby's idea and although I hadn't been too thrilled over the idea of hopscotch, which I saw as a girls' game, I went along anyway. I think Ziva was anxious to do hopscotch but she did her best to cover that up by huffing about it.

"My turn!" Abby yelled and threw the rock which landed in the fourth square. She squealed with delight as she jumped after it on one leg, pigtails bouncing.

"All right, Abby, now pick up the rock while you are on one leg." Ziva said as we watched Abby go.

"Move aside, you brats, before I kick you out of my way," a low and hoarse voice surprised us all.

Ziva and I and Tim spun around while Abby dropped the rock in fright and let her other foot hit the ground. We all stood there with our mouths open, staring at a man dressed in black worn down jeans and a dark leather coat. In his mouth was a burning cigar. He took two steps closer to us and his heavy black boots seemed to make a noise similar to thunder clashing.

His slim mouth opened. "Are you all deaf?!"

Now I began to get irritated. What right did he have to just come around and order us to move aside. We lived here. He didn't.

"We're not deaf, Mister," I said. Abby had snuck up and stood between Ziva and me. She snuck her hand into mine discretely.

"What's your problem then? I said move!" he thundered.

We all remained in place.

"We will not move for an animal abuser like you!" Ziva suddenly leaned forward a bit and yelled. I looked at her and saw her face blanch as she realized her own mistake.

The man's yellow eyes fell on Ziva. "You little…" he said. "You have my dog! Where is she?! I want her back right now!" he took a threatening step forward and Tim and Abby stepped back.

"I…I do not know what you are talking about." Ziva tried, glancing worriedly around as if looking for something to grab to defend herself with.

"The hell you don't, you little brat! You have until the count of three to make her appear or I will become really unpleasant."

"What the hell have you been up until now?!" I yelled.

"Tony, don't..." Abby pleaded with trembling voice.

"What, Abby? I'm right." I threw my hands, palms up, towards the sky. "Go," I whispered discretely to Ziva without moving my lips.

And she did go. Through the gate and into the back yard she went, fast as a panther.

"Hey, come here!" the man yelled and took off after her. He was pretty fast, but Ziva was faster. I hadn't thought he would follow her into the back yard, but he did. He probably didn't know there were too federal agents living there with us. Ziva ran in below the maple tree and he followed. She circled the tree and he did the same. She came out and disappeared behind Gibbs work shed and he followed behind there as well and they emerged on the other side. Abby started to cry and Tim stood frozen in place. I wasn't sure if I should go get Gibbs or Jenny or help her myself. This guy was furious and even though Ziva was fast she would sooner or later get tired and slow down. What if he didn't become tired.

Inside the kitchen

"So then I got off the ship from Africa and…" Mrs. Tapps' mirth filled voice trailed off in the middle of her story and a frown appeared on her face. "Did you hear something?"

"Yeah, I did." Gibbs got up from the table and over to the door leading to the porch to look out. At first he didn't see anything. Then he saw Ziva practically fly past at the speed of lightening. In pursuit was a much bigger figure dressed in black. Gibbs didn't even take the time to ponder why the occurrence before him was happening; his hand just immediately fell on the door handle and pushed it down, opening the door a crack. But before he could rush outside a bark made him spin around. A white furry cloud dashed into the room at full speed. It jumped onto the empty chair by the table and onto the table filled with tea cups, saucers, green porcelain tea pot and oatmeal cookies. Everything came crashing everywhere in the kitchen as the furry thing managed to knock the round table over with a bang on its way down. Mrs. Tapps yelled and Jenny stood shell shocked with her hands on top of her head.

"A dog!" she shrieked. "Jethro!"

Gibbs who stood with the door open didn't have time to react before the dog was already out the door and half way across the small lawn outside. She headed straight for the maple tree.

Ziva's POV:

I heard myself yell and then felt the grass underneath my hands and knees as I hit the ground. I had tripped over a tree root underneath the maple tree. Why had I not noticed that stupid root before? I felt two hands grab me and roughly stand me up. The hands did not let go and they spun me around. There I was standing face to face with the angry rugged man in black. He must have dropped the cigar because it was no longer in his mouth. His thin lips were pursed together in anger. Wrinkles were under and at the corners of his piercing, yellow eyes which were wide open and glaring at me. He had each hand wrapped around my upper arms and suddenly my feet left the ground as he lifted me up like I was nothing more than a toddler. I kicked my feet, aiming for his knees but he held me so far away from his body that it was impossible to reach him. My head went from side to side as he shook me.

"Now you're gonna get it, you little thief." He said with a growl.

"Let me go!" I yelled with a loud voice. He stopped shaking me back and forth. "Put me down or I swear you will regret it, you big ogre!"

His face became so red that he looked like he was about to explode. For a moment I was afraid. But then I just felt anger again at the thought of him hurting my dog. His arms dropped some, closing the distance between my feet and his body. I took a deep breath and kicked my right foot up as high as I could and with as much force as I could muster. It went straight up his groin. If possible I think his face became even redder and he let go of me. I fell down on the grass, landing on my butt.

Then everything happened so fast. I saw him raise his hand, ready to strike me from above and I saw a white cloud of fur fly into his side, knocking him straight from his feet. It was the dog! Tumbling on the ground with the dog on top of him he tried to fend her off by grabbing the fur at the side of her head and holding her at arms' length.

"Away, Fang! Away!" he yelled, desperately. He managed to push her away but she immediately went for his leg instead and bit him there. "Aaaaaah!" he roared in pain and shot up and backhanded her across the nose. She gave a surprised whine. Quickly I got to my feet. I pushed aside a low branch and turned around.

"Hurry! Come!" I yelled to the dog and she looked over at me and stopped growling at the man. Then his leg came flying, trying to kick her, but she caught the movement and skidded to the side. There she sunk her teeth into his black boot instead.

"Aaaah! Stupid mutt!" he yelled and kicked his leg to get free.

The dog let go and ran. I held aside the branch so she could pass and then followed her out. Halfway across the small lawn we were met by Gibbs, shirt with paint stains flying in the wind behind him as he was crossing the lawn to get to us.

"Ziva!" he pushed me behind him and then spun around, grabbing my shoulders in a firm grip. "What's going on? Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "No!"

"Where's that man who's chasing you?"

I did not have time to answer his question before he ordered me and the dog into the house and took off towards the maple tree. I remained in place for a second, watching his back as he went, but then I did as he had told me.

To be continued

A/N: Please take the time to send a review.