Kitten

"Please Ima?"

"You will have to ask Daddy."

"But please?"

"Talk to Daddy."

"But Ada wants to too." There was silence as the young girl pled her case with her hands and Tony could only wonder what his family were arguing over and what it was that he would have to decide as he walked through the front door and placed his bag next to his wife's.

"What are we asking Daddy?" He walked into the kitchen where his wife was sat on one of the barstools and his two children were sat on the tiled floor. There was a small scuffle as the twins moved to conceal something behind their backs.

"How was your day?" Ziva looked up innocently.

"Fine." He drew the word out, hesitating slightly. There was a tug on the leg of his slacks and he looked down.

'Daddy?'

'Yes, Baby?' Tony signed, crouching down before his four-year-olds. Before Adabelle could respond, a small mew came from behind them. "What was that?"

"Me. Meow." Ichabod grinned. "I like kitties, don't you Daddy?"

"Sure." He stood up and turned to Ziva. "What have you done?"

"Wha…? I have done nothing!"

"Ziva."

"We were out for our walk after lunch and we walked past a house just as a little kitten ran out. The owner said he did not want him and we could not just leave him on the street, so…"

"So you brought him home." He sighed and nodded, looking down at the children. "And now you want to know if you can keep him."

'I love him, Daddy.'

"Let me see him." He asked and signed. They pulled out a ball of mottled black, white and grey fluff and grinned. He had bright blue eyes that stared up at Tony and meowed, as if pleading for acceptance.

"The children love it." It was the argument he always dreaded, because they both knew that what his children wanted, his children got. Most of the time, anyway – their argument being that the time Ada asked for a baby sister did not count on the grounds that she did not know what she was talking about.

"But I do not."

"I do." His second weakness. His wife. He sighed, knowing he was never going to win.

"Fine. But it goes to the vets tomorrow

"It kinda reminds me of Gibbs."