The first thing that happened to Ziva as she entered Raphael's home was Raphael himself. Which was to be expected - as she said it was his home - but what was not expected was the fact that he embraced her in a way Abby would. She could not see anything except for him and she did not like it. Who did like to be attacked in a way that masqueraded as a hug? Not her.

To demonstrate this disapproval, Ziva automatically grabbed him by the arm, twisted him in a way that was definitely painful and pushed him forwards.

"Argh!"

Of course, that got everyone else running into the hallway, including his wife.

"What did he do?"

"He attacked me. Bonsoir, Amy, by the way."

"I - ow - only hugged - ow - her!"

"He attacked me," Ziva assured her.

"I believe you."

"Ow! Hey!"

"Can you please let him go?" Amelia asked in exasperation.

"Must you?" Amy asked teasingly.

"Amy!" Both Raphael and Amelia yelped.

Ziva smirked in return and, upon given his arm a final twist, released him. He jumped away from her and shook out his arm with a glare.

"That hurt!"

"It was supposed to."

Ignoring her injured husband, Amy busied herself gathering items into her bag and grabbing her keys.

"Allons y, Chloe!" She called to their daughter.

There was a patter of feet as the rather small girl appeared, gave her father a kiss and ran to the car with her little sister.

Soon the only people in the house were those who were playing Scrabble.

"What in God's green earth made you greet Ziva like that?" Amelia demanded.

"It is not my fault that I was the only one not to see Ziva when she first returned," Raphael complained as they were led into the dining room.

"The only reason that you weren't there was because you were overworking yourself," Lucas scolded. "So, yes, it is your fault."

Raphael pouted. "You could be more sympathetic, you know!"

They all disagreed with that, much to his disgust.

"You should know better," Francisca scolded.

"You are an idiot," Lucas put in his opinion.

He really should know better than to greet her like that.

"Excuse-moi for missing my friend," Raphael sniffed.

"You can do that without being dramatic about it."

"I should just kick you all out."

"Because you are afraid you will lose?" Francisca taunted.

"I am not afraid of you. You haven't won any of the last five games!"

"I will today."

"You said that last time."

"And I came second, did I not?"

"I'm hearing am awful lot of smack talk and not a lot of playing." Amelia said. "Which I am going to win, by the way."

No one agreed with that statement. Amelia had the worst record out of all of them. Well, her and Francisca.

"Liu isn't here so I have a chance," the American continued, not sway by their disagreement.

"Liu was not the one stopping you from winning," Ziva teased.

Although Liu's presence almost certainly meant that none of them were going to win.

"Shhh, let me dream, Ziva."

"That is the only thing that you will be doing," Francisca said confidently. "Because I will be winning."

The good-natured teasing and bragging continued as the tiles were doled out. Lucas would be going first and everyone went quiet as they contemplated what they could do.

"So, anything new with you, Ziva?" Amelia asked as she frowned at her letters.

Ziva shook her head. "Not really. Except for discovering that my boss has a father."

That got her odd looks from everyone. She didn't know why - that was a perfectly normal statement and it made sense.

"Pretty sure everyone has a father, Ziva."

Unfortunately, she thought, thinking of her own.

"I meant alive and who he talks to," she explained. "He has never mentioned him."

She wasn't sure what she thought the relationship between Gibbs and Jackson was. He wasn't on any of the intelligence she had gathered prior to getting involved with NCIS and, of course, Gibbs didn't speak of him. Or of anything personal. Hence why no one thought he existed.

"From what you have told me of this Gibbs, he doesn't mention much at all." Lucas commented.

"Well, no, but it was still odd."

Odd that they met him and that he was so... unGibbs-like not that he existed. And it was oh so satisfying that it was her and McGee who had discovered this and not Tony. She had yet to let that particular fact go, much to Tony's annoyance. He would have been even worse of it had been him. He also probably would have all but interrogated Jackson - which he did not deserve.

"Is he like Gibbs? Or is Gibbs like him is probably the way round it should go."

"Somewhat."

She didn't really want to divulge more than that. This was Gibbs they were talking about, after all. And Ziva wasn't sure how she could answer that anyway. At first meeting the two men were very different - Jackson being open and friendly, Gibbs being closed off and cold. But Ziva noticed that certain mannerisms were the same; the way they both analysed things, how they watched people.

"Children do tend to take after their parents," Raphael said. "Chloe, now, she has my sense of style and fashion."

"Heaven help us all," Amelia teased.

Raphael ignored her as he continued, "Leonie is very like her mother. Full of energy and very cute."

"You just described your daughter like she was a dog."

Ziva frowned in thought. Did children really have to take after their parents? She thought of her father. Being like him was not something she ever wanted to be. She wasn't like him, was she? If you put the two of them side by side would people notice similarities?

She was interrupted from her thoughts by Francisca giving her a sharp nudge. How did someone who was all soft curves have such pointy elbows?

"You're turn, Ziva."