A/N: So this switches POVs a little. I decided to post this now because of all the feedback I've received on the last chapter. I do have a question for you guys though: Should I have Ziva reject Mossad and her father? Or should they have an amicable relationship? Let me know what you think in a PM or review.
An Unknown Child
36
When we made it back to the house, Quinn immediately went to the basement and locked the door. I knew she was still working on whatever she and Jethro were working on. I sat in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee machine to finish brewing some coffee. I poured myself a mug and grabbed my briefcase and set it on the table, before heading up to Jethro's room. I grabbed a pair of sweats and one of his tees and changed out of my work attire and into the comfy clothes. I padded barefoot back into the kitchen and started to read case files while waiting for Quinn to come back out of the basement.
"She's definitely Jethro's daughter." I mumbled to myself as I signed my name on the bottom of the last page of the first file. I got through three more files before I hear Quinn's steps on the stairs. I sign my name quickly as she walks through the kitchen and up the stairs to her shower. I put away the remaining case files and pull my laptop towards me and start to try and find the people I need to start the work on the basement that would be Quinn's room. I find three teams that are ranked the highest in the area, and make a note to call them and get quotes and references from all three before choosing a team.
I shut down the computer and place it back in my briefcase and head over to the fridge and pull out the pasta sauce and then I move over to the pantry and grab the spaghetti noodles. I have water heating on the stove by the time Quinn makes it back into the kitchen; she's also wearing a pair of sweats and a tank top. She pulls out a small pan and starts to brown some chicken to go with our spaghetti. I enjoy this time with her, and I'm once again struck by how bad we've been lately.
Right then and there, I resolve to be home before 6:30 whenever possible; I know that I'll sometimes have late night ops in MTAC. I also need to start relegating Jethro and Vance more work. If Jethro makes a full recovery and returns to work; I'm forcing him to stop going out in the field and concentrate on helping the other MCR teams in the world. We finish making dinner and serve ourselves plates of food. We sit on the counters and eat silently; but while the silence is not uncomfortable, it is thick with the knowledge of someone missing. I missed Jethro, hell, I even missed it when he'd barge into my office to make demands or when he'd come just to escape the immaturity of his team.
We ate our food quickly then cleaned the dishes, since it was only two of us we didn't bother to use the dish washer, but we did them by hand with Quinn washing and me rinsing before setting them on the drying rack by the sink. When we finished she raced up the stairs and came back with her backpack and she sat down on the kitchen table and I grabbed my briefcase again and we started to work on what we had; homework for her and case files for me.
After about ten minutes of silence; I watched out of the corner of my eye as Quinn sighed and got up. She ran back upstairs and came back down with her iPod and docking station. She plugged the station into an outlet on the counter and started to play her iPod. The music she had chosen was soft Native American flutes and though I didn't normally listen to music as I worked like she did; I found myself able to relax and complete each file quicker while still being thorough. I finished and watched as Quinn completed the review assignment for her test in Calc in the morning. I looked at one of the problems and it was way over my head. I didn't know how she could finish 75, plus problems in an hour. I watched as she went back through each problem before sliding it back into her math folder and setting the folder aside. She next pulled out her English folder and a stack of books. She had a book of Fairy Tales from Anderson, Brothers Grimm and a book of Fairy Tales retold by modern authors. She started reading and I turned back to my own work.
The next time I look up and glance at the clock, I see that its 2030 hours. Quinn has since put away the English work and has pulled out her sketchbook to work on her realistic human sketches for the next day. The iPod had moved on to playing some song with haunting vocals that I couldn't really understand at the volume it was playing.
"Quinn, what song is playing?" I ask. She looks up and cocks her head to listen for a few minutes.
"The song is 'Prospero's Speech' by Loreena McKennitt. It's based after Prospero's farewell speech at the end of the Tempest. It was one of Shakespeare's last plays." Quinn said. I smiled at her knowledge. My daughter the literature nerd.
"Speaking of Shakespeare, how did today go for you?"
"It went good. I did my piece today. Tomorrow will be Kaia, then David on Wednesday and Trevor on Thursday. We did find out what plays were doing next semester, though." She told me and her tone just begged me to ask; so I did.
"Which plays are you doing next semester?" I asked her as I moved to the fridge and pulled two things of berry iced tea out. She waited until I handed her one and sat down to answer.
"Well, for the first quarter we're doing 'Beauty and the Beast', the Broadway version and then after Spring Break we're working with the middle school drama department for 'Annie'." She was practically bursting with the fact that they were doing her favorite plays. She told me that she'd always loved Annie; in fact she owned the version with Anne Reinking and Albert Finney. And since Ducky took her to see 'Beauty' a few weeks ago, she's been dying to play Belle; she told me that Belle was the only Disney princess that she liked. She wasn't as dependent as the others.
"So I'm going to guess that you're Auditioning for Belle?" I asked her smiling as we sipped our iced tea.
"Yup, and I'm debating between trying for Miss Hannigan or Grace for 'Annie'" she told me smiling. I smiled back and decided to watch a little TV before heading up to bed. We both headed to the living room and turned on a rerun of 'Whose Line is it Anyways?' on ABC Family. We were soon laughing at the improv sketches.
"Did you get someone to help with Dad?" She asked, and I suddenly felt guilty for having fun with our daughter, while my lover is in the hospital.
"Yes, I did. His NIS mentor: Mike Franks. He should be landing shortly before you get out of school tomorrow. I was going to pick him up then pick you up." I told her, hoping she wouldn't ask if he knew about her.
"Is he prepared to meet me?" Damn, this kid was sharp, and I'd forgotten that. Damn, again.
"No, not in the slightest. He is a total chauvinist so it was hard enough to convince him that I really was the Director of NCIS. I didn't want to completely freak him out. I don't even know if he was told that your biological mother was pregnant. So I didn't tell him. I'll just tell him tomorrow that you're my daughter. He can figure it out himself." I told her, completely honest. Quinn stared at me through eyes narrowed with suspicion for a few more minutes before nodding and leaning her head against my shoulder as she focused back on the TV. We watched the rest of the episode before heading up to bed.
About three o'clock in the morning I woke up to someone else crawling into the bed. I turned on the lamp and turned around to see Quinn climbing into bed with me; her eyes were red and puffy. She'd been crying, and I was immediately alert.
"What's wrong Quinn?" I asked as I sat up and pulled her into my arms.
"I miss Dad." She half mumbled, half whimpered. I sighed and just held her tighter.
"I miss him too." I told her.
She stayed there for a few minutes and I fell asleep with Quinn with me.
We woke up the next morning groggy and emotionally exhausted. We showered and ate a light breakfast before my detail picked us up.
We dropped Quinn off and I didn't leave until I had confirmation that Tobias was shadowing my daughter; the gut feeling was back, and it was stronger than the day before. I then headed to the Navy Yard and worked on case files and helping Tony get what he needed to figure out what happened to Jethro. I worked like that for the entire day; sending Cynthia out to get lunch for the both of us. I spent the afternoon dividing my time between fielding calls from other agencies (business as usual) and the calls offering help.
Finally it was time to pick up Mike Franks then Quinn. I left with my security detail, after telling Cynthia to finish whatever she was doing then go home. We parked at the airport and I walked into the airport with my detail trailing behind me. Twenty minutes later an elderly man approaches me, and my detail intervenes before he could reach me. He pulls out his ID and shows Melvin who nods for him to pass.
I stand up straight and hold out my hand for him to shake.
"Thank you for coming. I didn't know who else to call." I told him as we shook hands.
"Why not his wife, Diane?" He asked, and something in the way his eyes glittered told me that he knew why.
"Ex-wife. Jethro has since married two more times and both of those have also ended in divorce." I told him as I lead the way to the town car. "We're making a pit stop to pick up my daughter before we head to the hospital." I told him, and nodded at Hector to start driving.
Ten minutes later we pulled in front of the school and I saw Kaia, holding a tissue to her nose, the tissue fast becoming soaked with blood. I looked around for any sign of Quinn or the boys. There was none. No sooner had I noticed this, than I was out of the car and running for Kaia.
"Kaia where's Quinn?" I asked panting as I reached my daughter's best friend.
"With the nurse, something happened with her leg. Let me call David, he went with her and Tobias." Kaia pulled out her phone and hit a number and send.
"David, its Kaia. Director Shepard is here." She told him before listening for a few seconds. "Sure, I can and no it hasn't quite stopped, but it has slowed way down." She made little yes sounds for a few more seconds before hanging up and turning to me.
"Come one." She said and led myself and Hector into the school.
"What happened Kaia?" I asked as we walked across the foyer to the rear of the school's ground floor.
"We had a fire alarm pulled about twenty minutes before school was released. We evacuated and were on our way back to the school. Quinn and I were in the rear of the class and we were chatting as we walked, and out of the blue Quinn threw me to the side; I hit the pavement and watched as she grappled with this guy. She managed to kick in the groin and behind the neck, causing him to hit the ground, but; he did something to her leg and she went down too. I called for Fornell and he and David came running full pelt. Agent Saks followed; he took the guy into custody as David and Fornell carried her to the nurses' office. I was in there for a few minutes but decided to wait for you to get here; Quinn said that you'd pick her up." She told me and finished just we made it to the closed door.
I didn't bother to knock on the door, and when the door slammed open in the best Gibbs fashion, Fornell jumped up from his seat and his hand moved to his sidearm. He relaxed as I moved into the room; to Quinn. She was lying down and the nurse was fixing a piece of gauze over her upper thigh. I nodded to the nurse and sat down near Quinn's head. I stroked her hair as the nurse finished. When she taped the gauze over the wound she turned to me.
"You, must be her mother?" She started and I nodded, holding a hand out for her to shake; which she did after removing the latex gloves she wore to treat Quinn.
"She was stabbed in the side and has a few knicks on her forearms; I suggest getting her to a doctor to prescribe antibiotics and to stitch it up. I put a couple of sealing bandages on it, but those are only temporary." The nurse told me as Quinn sat up and leaned into me. I relaxed slightly and wrapped my arms around Quinn's shoulders.
"Is the priority level for that enough that we should go to Bethesda or can it wait until we reached Portsmouth; her father is there right now." I asked as I was further reassured by the feeling of Quinn's heartbeat against my skin.
"It can wait." The nurse replied; thinking that her dad was a doctor not a patient.
"Thank you." I lifted Quinn to her feet and pulled her arm across my shoulders, David took the other side and Kaia walked out between Fornell and Hector. We reached the town car and Franks and Melvin hopped out and helped me get her in. We put her in the middle so she could prop her right leg on the console. Franks climbed in on her left, behind the driver and I turned to Fornell.
"I'll be right behind you with Kaia and David. If you could call Jordan and have him meet us there? I think that might be for the best." He told me, and I nodded.
"The guy who attacked them, where is he?"
"Agent Saks arrested him and was in charge of taking him to NCIS, I thought that your agents might like to relieve some of their stress by interrogating him."
My smirk was malicious at that thought. I knew immediately who would do that interrogation: Ziva. I nodded and climbed into the car.
We headed to the hospital. Out of the corner of my eye I watched as Franks kept looking at Quinn, who didn't notice as her head was buried in my neck, trying not to show the pain I knew she must be feeling. She started to bleed through the bandages and I put pressure on it causing her to gasp aloud in pain and scrunch her eyes shut to block out the tears.
"Move Faster!" I practically screamed at Melvin, who complied. I looked at Franks and he nodded taking over putting pressure on Quinn's leg. I got out my phone and txted Kaia, telling her to tell Fornell that Quinn was bleeding again. Then I called Jordan and told him to head to the hospital because Kaia had broken her nose. He promised to be there immediately after picking up his wife.
The rest of the drive passed in silence and we arrived just as Quinn started bleeding for a second time in the car. Franks hopped out of the car and pulled Quinn out and carried her in his arms. Todd was at the front desk when we came in and he called for two X-Rays and had Franks carry her with Kaia following to the rooms. I trailed behind, after telling David and Fornell to stay and wait for Jordan to arrive. They had Kaia first and her X-ray was taken then they got Quinn on the machine and had her in and out.
We went down to a small two-bed room. Franks put Quinn down on one bed and I climbed in next to her. Kaia decided to sit in the middle of the same bed on Quinn's other side. She held one of Quinn's hands with her own as we waited for the doctor. Ten minutes later; the doctor still hadn't shown up, but the door was blown open and Jordan rushed in followed by his wife, Ava. Kaia smiled at her parents and shook her head and pointed to her nose when they tried to hug her. They nodded and took the two remaining chairs.
Fornell started to tell them what happened while I focused on Quinn. She was silently crying from the pain. I let her bury her head in my neck and just rocked her torso back and forth, constantly aware of Franks' eyes on me.
Ten minutes later, the doctor finally came in.