Recap: Monday, 2nd November 2009. Two days after Halloween. (Including spoilers for Code of Conduct !) Reads with Army of Gummy bears.

~ The vengeance of the Gummy bears ~

"Boss, I think something is wrong with Ziva..."

Only just having returned from his coffee run, Gibbs looked at the small girl, who now had her eyes open, but still lay quietly on her side on the mattress.

"Ziva?"

As she just looked at him with listless eyes, Gibbs immediately became concerned and knelt in front of her. "Hey," he quietly greeted her, gently laying a hand on her forehead. "No fever..." He looked back at McGee who looked on helplessly.

"She wouldn't talk to me."

Gibbs nodded and turned back to Ziva, who regarded him wearily. Different than usual she seemed absolutely spiritless and wasn't playing with her favorite toys or 'reading' one of the books Ducky had brought for her

"You feeling sick, kiddo?"

Her only answer was to stare into the distance again. However, as Gibbs gently ran his hand through her unruly hair, he could see the beginning of tears brimming in her eyes.

"Hurts," she finally whispered as the first tear rolled down the side of her nose.

Softly wiping the tear away, Gibbs tried to pry more information out of her. "Where?"

Mini-Ziva sniffed. "Tummy bad..."

The team leader momentarily closed his eyes. He was relieved by her answer. While he surely wasn't happy to see her in pain, he had a pretty good idea why she was feeling so sick right now.

As he let his gaze wander over Ziva's appearance he noticed the baggy pockets of her cargo pants. Gibbs frowned and carefully opened one of the them.

"Ziv..." He smirked, - he had been right -, "Haven't I told you to leave the sweets at home?"

"Mine," she whispered teary-eyed, trying to turn back on her side in order to curl up, after Gibbs had made her lay on her back.

"How much did you ate?"

"'ibbssss," the little girl whined over dramatically. She really wasn't feeling like answering all those questions right now.

Gibbs sighed but smiled at her, "Ziv, I can't help you feeling better if you don't tell me how much you ate."

Mini-Ziva suddenly looked sheepishly at him, "Dunno..."

"Yeah right," he thought smiling, "No wonder your tummy is upset with you."

"Why?" she frowned at him. Her tears momentarily forgotten.

"A person can't only eat sweet stuff. If you do, you'll feel sick, like you do right now."

"They nice..." mumbled Ziva.

The team leader brushed a strand of hair out of her face, "I know. But from now on, I'll decided about the amount you eat, so your tummy won't get so upset again, okay?

Mini-Ziva sighed. She really wanted to eat more but her stomach actually wasn't feeling good at all.

"You no eat 'em?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"I promise not to eat anything from your sweets." He grinned and held a hand up as if to swear an oath.

"... o'tay."

"Good. Come on, let's empty those pockets of yours now. Then I'll put the sweets in my desk and when you feel like eating some, you ask me and we'll see if you can have some." He explained as he gently helped her up.

A few minutes later all sweets were stored in a lunch box and safely locked away in Gibbs' desk.

"'ibbs?"

The agent looked at the girl, who now stood right next to his chair, clutching his upper leg, "Yeah?"

"Still feel awfuwl."

"That bad, huh?"

"Uh huh," she mumbled, her free arm wrapped around her upper belly, right under her ribcage.

Gently, as not to upset her stomach, he pulled her sideways on his lap. "Can you describe how ya tummy feels like?"

Mini-Ziva shook her head, hiding her face in Gibbs' shirt.

"Do you feel like you need to puke?"

"Lo."

"You sure?"

"Lo..."

"I see," he carefully secured Ziva with one hand while he used the other to open his middle desk drawer, pulling a package of cookies out of it.

"Here," he handed his shrunken agent one of the cookies, "It should help to calm your stomach."

"No wanna," Ziva regarded it with distaste. Normally she loved to eat cookies but today she felt as if it would reappear soon after she finished eating it. If not even sooner.

"Just a few bites. You don't need to eat all of it." He started to tell her but was interrupted by her whispered croak.

"'ibbs, me no..."

Gibbs noticed how her body tensed up and her shoulders stiffened. Reflexively he snatched the wastepaper basket from underneath his desk as his other hand grasped her hair in order to hold it up.

Not to a second later, as he had the basket in front of her, the little girl started to throw up, whimpering pitiful as her hands gripped the edge of the basket.

"It's alright Ziv. It will be over soon." Gibbs tried to calm her.

"McGee!" he barked at his subordinate, who looked quite shocked of what was happening. "Snap out of it and get over here!"

On his lap, Mini-Ziva stiffened as he shouted. "Sorry Ziv, it will be okay," he quietly whispered in Ziva's ear.

"B..Boss?"

"There's a hairband in the left pocket of my jacket," he motioned with his head to his jacket, which hung across his seat, "Get it and keep her hair from falling into her face."

Without a word, the agent did as told, giving Gibbs the chance to use at least one hand to run up and down Ziva's back. The little girl finally had stopped dry heaving and was merely clutching the basket.

"There some wipes in the bottom drawer.."

"Got it, boss," McGee swiftly rounded the desk, taking out the desired items. "Ziva?" He gently called for the little girl's attention, who looked absolutely devastated with her flushed face, teary eyes and running nose. Gently he cleaned the remains of the bout of sickness of her face and hands, while Gibbs kept stroking her back and uttering quiet reassurances to her.

Mini-Ziva sniffed loudly and hid her face in Gibbs' shirt before McGee had the chance to clean her face completely.

The team leader wasn't sure if it was out of shock, embarrassment or because of ongoing stomach troubles.

He grimaced slightly as he noticed a bit of green jelly on his shirt, but he rather put up with such things than pushing Ziva away from where she sought shelter..

"Let's clean you up a bit more," he whispered into Ziva's hair as he tightened his hold on her while standing up.

With the wastepaper basket still in one hand and Ziva on the other arm, he walked to the restrooms.

"Hey Harry." He greeted the bypassing janitor with a small smirk. "Would you mind?" He handed the basket over as though nothing had happened with it.

Harry Cooper looked from the reeking basket to the small girl in Gibbs' arms, before rolling his eyes, "Thought you would keep her from eating too much of that sweet stuff." With a shake of his head he put the basket on his cleaning trolley and left.

Gibbs momentarily looked after the janitor before continuing his own way. He paused briefly in front of a door, before walking through another.

If Agent Jones was surprised by his appearance in the ladies restroom, she didn't let it show.

Gibbs put Ziva down onto the black counter while he busied himself with getting the tap to run. His range of movement was slightly hindered as Ziva wouldn't let one of his hands go. The team leader smiled at her as he carefully freed his hand so he could wet a paper towel.

"The worst is over, you'll be feeling better soon," he quietly promised her. With a gentle smile he made her blow her nose and proceed to clean her face. "Do you think you can wash your hands, Ziv?"

The little girl was still sniffling slightly but nodded.

"Boss?"

"McGee?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow at seeing his agent in the ladies restroom.

"I thought you could use these." The agent held Ziva's toothbrush and paste up.

"Lo..." the little girl protested hoarsely as she saw the objects.

"Good thinking, McGee."

"'ibbs..."

"You can protest, but you or I are going to brush your teeth anyway," Gibbs teased gently, taking the now readied toothbrush from his agent. "You going to do it yourself, or should I do it for you?"

Mini-Ziva looked accusingly at McGee, knowing that he was responsible for the appearance of the hated object.

"You can glare as much as you want." Gibbs announced, holding the brush close to her mouth. "Now, open up."

McGee actually started to feel bad for bringing the oral care products as he watched Ziva begrudged obeying his boss. Though he couldn't help to be in awe at the gentleness Gibbs used as he thoroughly cleaned her teeth.

At the end Mini-Ziva was pouting and all to happily leaving the room after Gibbs had made her admit that she actually felt much better without the aftertaste of vomit in her mouth.

"You think she'll be okay now?" McGee asked as the two men followed their shrunken partner back to the team's area.

"Not sure. If you can manage the case for today, I'll take Ziva home." "A warm bath should help to sooth her."

"Sure, boss."

"McGee," Gibbs stopped them and looked straight into his agent's eyes, "I mean it. If it's too much..."

"It's alright boss. I know what to do."

Gibbs gave him one of his glares, "You need help, you call me. Got it?"

"Will do, boss." McGee actually felt relieved to know that Gibbs was just a phone call away. The role as senior field agent wasn't new to him, but now he hadn't Tony as team leader, who watched Argus-eyed over the team's work or Ziva, who already knew what to do and did her work without needing to be told. No, he had two complete newbies on his back, who waited for instructions and used to mess things up more than once, leaving him to correct their mistakes while doing his own work at the same time.

Back in his team's area, Gibbs found Ziva once more lying on the small mattress.

"Ziv?"

"Still hurts," mumbled the little girl, hugging her stomach while she lay on her side.

"We'll go home soon. You'll have a nice warm bath and then we're going to crash in front of the TV." Gibbs reassured her once more as he collected some files to work on at home.

"M'Goo?"

"He'll watch TV, too."

"No here."

Gibbs sighed, "I know, Ziva. I promise you we won't forget him again." Due to their late start into the day he had plainly not given the stuffed animal any thought. Like Ziva, who had only mentioned the missing dog once they were at the navy yard, on their way up to the bullpen.

Mini-Ziva slowly nodded and covered the distance between them. "Disney?" She hopefully asked, looking at the agent with big brown puppy eyes.

Gibbs laughed lightly, "Sure, whatever you want, Ziv."

(Gibbs' Houshold - Later)

"How does your tummy feels now?" Gibbs gently asked, while letting Ziva enjoy the soothing warm water a while longer.

"Me no more sweets..."

Gibbs, who sat on the edge of the bathtub, smirked, "At least not for today."

Ziva shook her head, fiercely disagreeing with him, "Lo! Sweets mean..."

The team leader mentally shook his head, knowing that she sooner or later would crave some candy again. "Yeah, some mean sweets. They even found their way into my coffee." He teasingly mentioned his messed up coffee. "I wonder who put them in there..."

To his surprise his shrunken agent looked directly at him, "Me..."

Gibbs smiled, "And why would you do such a thing?"

Ziva directed her gaze to the water in front of her, "Lo, me no..." She huffed and looked frustrated at Gibbs, willing him to understand what she couldn't express.

The agent smiled as he recognized that look from her adult self,"You didn't wanted the bears to fall into my coffee?" He offered.

"Uh huh." Mini-Ziva admitted quietly, looking back at the water.

"Hey," Gibbs lifted her chin with his finger, "It's okay, Ziv. But you need to promise me that you'll never do anything to my coffee again. Okay?"

The little girl nodded slowly. "P'o'mise."

Gibbs grinned, "Good girl. How about we watch that Disney movie now?" He went to fetch a big fluffy towel from the rack nearby.

Ziva followed him with her eyes, "Wif' M'Goo an' Tony?"

"Not sure about Tony, but I think Goo is already waiting in front of the TV."

For the first time in a few hours, Ziva finally smiled widely again.

~ Fin ~