Sorry it took so long to even get the recap up.
If this sounds choppy, that's because it is. The actual story is the next chapter.
Don't skip this one.
Counting Stars is about the team learning that Ziva has been in a secret relationship with a Marine, but the name of Lieutenant Miles Shockley. But there is a catch. He has two daughters. Ella Brave is almost three, and Alison Joy is six months old. Their mother died by her own hand when the baby was a newborn because she and Miles were already headed towards ending their own marriage. She just couldn't wait.
Ziva comes into the picture, not long after.
The story begins with Tony at the local grocery store, picking up items to put into a care package for Ziva. He's been very concerned about her lately. She calls him and asks him to come over. He's confused because she would never ask this of him. But still, Tony goes. He receives a shock when he gets there because he sees Ella Brave and Alison Joy. Up until now, Ziva has never even dropped so much as a hint about them before. But Tony rolls with it. Ziva introduces Tony to the children, and explains her situation, but goes more in-depth after they're asleep. It isn't fun.
As it happened, Ziva was dumped by Miles because she tells him she's pregnant. He doesn't want the responsibility of another child. They argued. It culminates with Miles leaving his daughters at Ziva's place and bailing on them altogether. Tony is very surprised, but still decided to step up to take care of Ziva and her family.
He even stays the night that night.
What they don't know yet is that Miles has been shot dead in Rock Creek Park.
Ziva has an early-morning meeting with Director Shepard the next day to explain her situation. Jenny is very surprised. Gibbs also joins the conversation. He has the same surprised feelings, but by the end of the conversation, he and Jenny also promise to look out for Ziva and her family. Gibbs even promises to set Tony straight if he ever steps a toe out of line. Ziva is thankful.
Tony is waiting in the waiting room while this happens. By the time the meeting is done, Abby, McGee, Ducky, and Palmer have joined him. They had all been attempting to eavesdrop. So Ziva explains herself once more. Now everyone is in the know.
After Ziva and Tony return from bringing the kids to the nanny, they are directed to the morgue. The team has a new case. The body has even already been transported. Unfortunately, the dead person is Miles. When Ziva seems him on the slab, her first reaction is to vomit. She eventually cleans up and relocates to the conference room. Jenny comes to check on her and ask for her version of events of the past day. Ziva tells her everything. Jenny listens, and in the end, declares her fit for duty. So Ziva goes back down to the others.
She and Tony are sent to Miles' neighborhood to see if anybody knows anything about the final hours of his life. They also go to his apartment. And the more devastating item of information they find in the place is a letter. It contains words about his full plan to abandon his daughters with Ziva. He had previously left adoption papers in Ella Brave's backpack before. The letter also talks about plans to run away.
Ziva is heartbroken, but decides then and there to do everything be the mother that her girls deserve. She also wants to do everything she can to make sure they don't get separated. This was already her plan. Tony promises again to do whatever he can to help her.
In the end, it turns out that Miles had been murdered by a friend he owed a lot of cash to. Very petty. But that's what happened. So that's that.
During the case, Tony and Ziva grew very close. He even sleeps at her place on occasion. The girls have also come to adore him. All of this turns out to be in their favor, because one of Jenny's friends, a Judge Deborah Amos, has heard about Ziva's crazy circumstances and wants to help. Her suggestion to Ziva is to undergo the process of becoming an American citizen so she can properly adopt Ella Brave and Alison Joy. The fastest way to become a citizen is to marry one. That would be Tony in this instance. Judge Amos even arranges and secures proper guardianship over Ella Brave and Alison Joy by the end of the visit.
Later that night, Ziva invites Tony over, and tells him of what happened while she was with Judge Amos. It surprises Tony, but… he agrees yet again to help her. To marry her. But Tony still ends up in a chat with Gibbs and Jenny the next morning where he asks them for their blessing to marry Ziva. They say yes.
Time passes. Three weeks.
A new cases emerges.
This time, the dead person in the alley is Ziva's almost-fiancé, from Israel. His name was Ibrahim Yosef. Ziva is the one to make the identification. The last time she saw him was at her mother's funeral, half a decade prior. They fell out of contact after that because they moved on from each other. One thing Ziva knows for sure is that Ibrahim was being groomed to be the next leader of Mossad. Now the question is, why is he dead on American soil? It all seems really out of the blue.
But before anyone can even start to work on figuring things out, Ziva hears the sound of a crying baby somewhere nearby. It startles her because of how out of place it is. She finds a baby girl in a stroller, just behind a dumpster some feet away. Just as she and the others try to figure out what she's even doing there, a voice call to them from the edge of the crime scene tape, facing the street. The person in question is Eli David.
He was in town looking for Ibrahim because he had recently turned in his resignation. Eli's goal was to talk Ibrahim down from that. But he was too late. Now his concern is over Ibrahim's daughter, Aaliyah—the baby in the stroller. Ziva shows Eli that they found her. In turn, Eli tells the team to keep an eye on the baby because she has been known to have seizure episodes from time to time. Her most recent was two weeks previously in Israel. Eli also tells them that Ibrahim came to D.C. because he was going to meet his wife, Rachel. She is American, who had been forced to leave Israel because her visa had expired. Rachel's first stop was to see her mother in New York City. She also took her sons with her, so Ibrahim could stay focused on Aaliyah while she was recovering in the hospital. Ibrahim and Aaliyah make it to D.C. before the rest of the family. He is murdered before that can happen. Eli also gives the Major Critical Response Team that the rest of the Yosefs are also in town. They also came to convince Ibrahim to go back home.
Ziva is put in charge of looking after Aaliyah at the hospital. She is treated to for exposure and is to be monitored overnight, for good measure. Eli visits them. While he's there, he learns of Ziva's pregnancy, and of her plans to become an American citizen. He also realizes that it means that his daughter will have to resign from Mossad. But Eli makes his peace with it because he just wants her to be happy.
In return, Ziva gives Tony's number to Eli so they can talk. She also warns him to be on his best behavior—otherwise, he won't be invited to the wedding. Eli agrees. Father and daughter part on good terms.
Tony and Eli have a 'get to know you' chat that night at a local restaurant. It goes very well. Eli even gives Tony the engagement ring his late wife had long ago set aside for Ziva's future-intended to propose with.
Come early next morning, things go for a real turn. Ziva is woken at the crack of dawn by a phone call from the doctor looking after Aaliyah. The baby has had another seizure. Ziva goes to be with her at once. She cares for Aaliyah while she's in the hospital.
In a call to Gibbs later, he delivers her of some news. Aaliyah's family is en route from New York. Gibbs also tells her that Rachel requested for her to take care of Aaliyah until they arrive in town. Rachel's biggest worry is the Yosefs will try to use Aaliyah as leverage to get her to do things their way, with burying Ibrahim. Ziva is very happy to be the little girl's guardian. She already feels responsible for her.
With Tony's help, Ziva and Aaliyah make it back to NCIS to wait for the baby's family.
Upon the reunion, Ziva and Rachel have a quick chat. Ziva learns that Rachel has known about her because of stories from Eli. The other woman also admits that Eli looks after her the way a father would because she has none. Ziva says she is not jealous. Just pleased that someone could be there for Eli. Rachel also tells Ziva that it had already been in Ibrahim's plans to resign from Mossad because he loved his job, but he loved his family more. Ziva and Rachel agree to keep in contact. They even part as friends.
The rest of the day yields naught but dead ends, but Ziva's and Tony's plans for the evening end up going awry after they leave the Navy Yard. Ziva is abducted.
She is brought to a warehouse by the docks. Rachel is also there, coming down from a hypoglycemia attack. Ziva comes to her rescue with an insulin injector pen. The two of them are then locked into the room with no immediate means of escape. Both of them have been abducted by Abdul—Ibrahim's younger brother. He is a wildcard. Although Abdul did travel with D.C. with his parents and Eli, he hasn't been around much because he does what he wants. The others aren't too concerned.
Tony is brought to the hospital by a good Samaritan.
At NCIS, Jenny and Gibbs are about to leave when they receive strange company: Rachel's mother and sons, her in-laws, and even Eli. They inform them of Rachel's vanishing. Rachel's mother also explains how she knows for sure that Rachel is in danger. Gibbs and Jenny take them at their word. They invite the others to stay at NCIS because it's the safest place to be. Jenny also sends out a summons text to the rest of the team. When everyone but Tony and Ziva arrive, they start to get suspicious. It's their luck that Tony calls moments later to tell them what happened and where he is. Everything falls into place after this.
Gibbs and Ducky go to collect Tony from the hospital. He also tells them his version of events. They bring him back to NCIS, where he's reunited with Ella Brave and Alison Joy. The nanny had already brought them there for their protection when asked. Tony is also brought up to speed on the situation.
While the team knows about the current circumstances, they work together to figure out what exactly happened to Rachel. It is deduced that she was taken from the local shopping center. They also catch onscreen via surveillance camera footage that she was pumped full of ketamine, and is wearing a diabetic alert bracelet. It's a twist they weren't expecting.
Rachel and Ziva are located sometime later.
A shootout ensues between the warring parties. NCIS wins. Abdul is the only person from the opposition to survive. He is then taken into custody.
Ziva is taken to the hospital. She is admitted when diagnosed with anemia. Tony stays with her for as long as he can. He even proposes to her because he doesn't want to wait any longer. She says yes. Rachel, meanwhile, is admitted so she can have the ketamine flushed out of her system. Both stay overnight.
At NCIS, Abdul confesses to murdering—in his mind, Ziva was the only one good enough for Ibrahim. Not Rachel. Abdul is taken away, and his parents disown him. The case is closed.
Eli visits his daughter in the hospital the next morning. He congratulates her on her engagement, and also informs her that he is going to accompany Rachel and her family back to New York to bury Ibrahim. Eli also asks, because it's very close to Christmas, if he could visit Ziva and her family on the day of. He wants to bring presents for everyone. Ziva invites him over, and to the NCIS' Christmas Eve Gala, where she will be performing in the talent show portion. Eli accepts both invitations. He parts his daughter's company in high spirits.
Ibrahim's parents, Mohammed and Salma, visit next. They just want to check on Ziva. She expresses her sympathy for their loss. She also tells him she is pleased that Ibrahim could be pleased that he could still be happy with someone else. Mohammed and Salma thank her for her kindness and wish her well before they go. They also tell her that they are pleased she could have her happy ending, as well. Mohammed and Salma depart from Ziva as friends.
A little bit later, Judge Amos drops by to check on Ziva. She says that Jenny sent her. The judge's arrival is most opportune: Ziva has learned that her daughter is facing horizontal and needs help turning around. Amos elects to keep Ziva company when invited to accompany her on a stroll. She also comes to say that she found an extension clause in her journey to become a citizen. The process had been slightly derailed. Now things are back on track. Rivka Faith even moves back into the proper position. And Judge Amos also departs from Ziva as a friend.
Morning.
Ziva is visited by Rachel. She has recovered first, and has made arrangements to return to New York. She wanted to see Ziva before she left. They've since bonded since getting to know each other, so Ziva invites her and her family to the wedding. All is well.
Ziva returns to NCIS. As she is welcomed back and things eventually descend into the usual organized chaos, she officially begins the email to her father that will sever her ties with Mossad.
Christmas Eve. The whole team, and Eli, have gathered at a banquet room in a local hotel where the talent show is to happen. Everyone is just happy to be together without looming peril. Ziva opens the show with a performance of 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.' Later, during a couples dance, she even reflects on how wonderfully her life has turned out.
That was where I stopped.
The story will pick up the morning after, on Christmas Day.
Abby and McGee are together, and expecting twin girls called Sarahjane and Magnolia. Gibbs and Jenny are also together. It was a whole thing of them getting over themselves and finally admitting their feelings. It just happened while the others weren't looking. Gibbs and Jenny are also expecting, but Jenny has been of the mindset that there is more than one baby in there. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
I know it's a lot to keep track of, and a lot of kids, but that's the way the story goes. I can't change it. Please don't waste my time or yours with complaints. Thank you.
Now, on to the story!