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Chapter 1 – Summer/Fall 2005
"Rise and shine, honey," Jenny said as she pulled back the curtains in her daughter's room, watching as the three-year-old grumbled and turned around in her bed, grabbing the stuffed toy the closest to her and pressing it over her eyes.
Ziva chuckled quietly from the doorway, sure that she'd never been so grumpy in the mornings, but then again, she'd been running at the crack of dawn since she could remember.
"It's your first day at daycare, sweetheart, and you're going to miss all the fun if you stay in bed any longer," the redhead announced, sitting down next to Arielle and combing her fingers through her daughter's hair, gently easing her into the day.
"I don't want to go," Arielle said, turning her big green eyes pleadingly to her mother. "I can stay with you and Zee, Mommy," she offered, mispronouncing her th a little as she let out a yawn.
"Well, Zee and Mommy have to go to work, and you need to go to daycare where you'll have so much fun and make so many friends that you will not even want to leave when I come back to get you later," Jenny teased with a smile, sharing a conspiratorial look with Ziva.
"No, Mommy," Arielle gasped, rapidly sitting up in bed and throwing her arms around her mother. "I love you most! And Zee," she added, guiltily looking towards her sister who was stepping into the room, ruffling her hair.
"I love you too, little one," Ziva assured her, laughing again as Arielle climbed all over Jenny to reach her, kneeing the redhead in the stomach in the process.
"Remember when she was easy to handle?" Jenny asked sarcastically.
Ziva snorted. "When was that? When Tali tried to tie her to her crib?"
They both fell silent for a second as they remembered the pained expression on the teenager's face as she'd tried to study whilst Arielle constantly did her best to climb out of the prison that was the then one-year-old's crib.
"Something like that," the redhead replied, inviting some levity back into the situation. "Unfortunately, I frown upon parents who put a leash on their children, but maybe I should rethink that," she trailed off, happy to have put a small smile on the young Israeli's face again.
"Alright, honey, you got your delay, but now you have to get up," she then said to Arielle, lifting the little girl out of her bed and carrying her over to her dresser. "Because it's a special day, Mommy is letting you choose what you want to wear."
That seemed to cheer Arielle up and they arrived at the daycare center not even half an hour later. Signing the three-year-old up was easier than they had expected, and Arielle was quickly engrossed in a puzzle game with a little boy her age, only giving as quick hug to her mother and Ziva before they went on their way to work.
"Well, that was uneventful," Jenny commented as Ziva drove them to the Navy Yard, almost a little disappointed that her little girl seemed to have no qualms about doing her own thing.
"It is better than her begging we take her with us, is it not?" Ziva asked seriously.
"Sure, it's just – shouldn't she want us there with her?" the redhead asked, her voice revealing the vulnerability she felt.
Ziva looked at her briefly before she accelerated and sped around a corner. "Arielle still loves you best. And me," she repeated the young girl's words that morning, drawing a smile from Jenny. "Have you decided what you will tell the others?" she asked then.
"What will I tell whom about what?" Jenny asked back, her voice weary.
"You know what I am talking about, Jenny," Ziva replied pointedly. "Will you tell the team about Arielle, and if not the whole team, then at least Gibbs?"
"I should have never told you about Jethro," the redhead sighed ironically before she grew serious again. "I cannot tell them, Ziva. If they knew I had a daughter, if they knew you were Arielle's sister, they would have questions, especially Jethro. And I'm just not ready to answer them yet."
"I am sure Gibbs would understand," Ziva argued as she barreled into the Navy Yard, hazardously stopping the car in the director's designated parking spot. "From what you told me, I think he loves you."
Jenny shook her head. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. And even if that was true in '99, I've had another man's baby in the meantime, I do think that impedes your romantic vision somewhat."
"It is not as if you settled down and married the love of your life, Jenny," the younger woman admonished her as she opened the door of the car, waiting until she and the redhead had walked over to the elevator to finish her thought. "I will do as you say, however, you should know that these things have tendency to come out. How do you Americans say, the doors have ears?"
Jenny looked at her, surprised that Ziva still managed to get her idioms wrong. "The walls, Ziva, the walls have ears. However, that would require us to talk about our little secret outside my house where the team could hear us, which we will stop right now."
The Israeli nodded, still looking thoughtful as the elevator opened to the bullpen and the two women stepped out of the cart. "I still think doors probably have ears, too. If the walls do, why not also the doors?" she asked seriously, causing Jenny to laugh and shoo her away to her desk before she climbed up the stairs to her office.
The weeks had passed since that first day, and as the last of summer had faded into fall, Arielle, Ziva, and herself had fallen into a quiet rhythm.
"Director?" she heard Cynthia's voice over the intercom. "There is a woman on the phone for you who says your daughter is enrolled in her daycare?"
She could clearly discern the skepticism in her assistant's voice, silently amused that the woman was more likely to think this was a code in some covert operation than a simple fact of her life since she'd come back to the states with Arielle and Ziva in tow.
"Shepard," she said as she picked up the phone, preparing herself for whatever her three-year-old could have done in the couple of hours since she'd delivered her to daycare for the first time.
"Miss Shepard, this is McKenzie from Bright Horizons Early Education, you recently enrolled your daughter with us," a perky young voice announced in a tone that was only succeeding in giving her a headache.
"Has something happened to Arielle?" Jenny asked. Arielle was usually careful, especially in relatively new places, but she'd gotten some of Ziva's fearlessness and, deep at heart, she was a little drama queen, destined to drive any educator up the wall.
"No, ma'am," the woman on the other end of the line cheerfully told her, "You forgot to fill out the allergy form when you first signed her up, so I just wanted to make sure she's allowed to have a cookie."
"A regular cookie?" the redhead questioned, feeling her temper rising.
"Well, it's kid-sized, of course, and we try to buy healthy snacks, so there's less sugar and salt, and –"
Jenny sighed silently. "And what has Arielle told you about being allowed to have a cookie?"
"Well, she said she gets cookies like these at home, but –" the other woman started again, before she was interrupted.
"She can have a cookie. In fact, I would assume this situation has arisen before over the past couple of weeks, so if it didn't kill her then, it is unlikely to do so now," Jenny replied sarcastically, trying to keep a lid on her temper. Didn't these people have better things to do? If her daughter had any severe allergies, she most likely would not have forgotten to let the staff know, and Arielle was clever enough for a three-year-old not to eat anything that would actively harm her.
She let the daycare worker drone on the background, wondering if she had gotten too relaxed in her everyday parenting style after spending the first three years of her child's life in the Middle East, where frankly they had had more pressing concerns to worry about than cookies.
"Director?" Cynthia's voice came on over the intercom again. "There is an encrypted call for you? The caller wouldn't say their name."
She covered the mouthpiece of her phone with her hand, pressing the button to reply to her assistant. "Thank you, Cynthia, you can patch them through in a minute," she said before going back to her current conversation. "Thank you, McKenzie, wasn't it?" she butted in. "In the future just assume that Arielle can eat anything, we haven't discovered any allergies yet. If you don't have any other questions, I'll pick her up this evening."
"Thank you, Miss She-" was the last she heard before she'd hung up, switching to her other line.
"Hello?" she asked cautiously, not giving her name.
There was static noise for a moment before a voice came on that sent a shiver down her spine. "Director Shepard."
"Deputy Director David," she greeted back, trying to stay calm and giving her tone a cynical edge. "How can I help Mossad?"
"I wanted to inquire about Ziva's posting. I don't like having one of my best operatives tied up in a foreign country, doing regular crime work," he answered in a condescending voice.
Jenny gritted her teeth. "We had a deal, Eli. I don't talk, and Ziva comes with me to D.C."
"Well, I've come to reevaluate that deal. Don't you think I got the short end of the stick here?" he asked sarcastically. "I would like to cash in some favors."
"I don't owe you any favors, you'd do better to remember that," Jenny said lowly, her tone becoming more threatening, ironically the most angered by his skillful command of English idioms when his daughter managed to butcher them one after the other, even after all of Jenny's lessons on the subject.
Eli snorted. "All I'm saying is that I could order Ziva back to Tel Aviv in a second. I'm not asking for a lot here, Jenny, just some intel every once in a while. It's your choice," he finished nonchalantly.
"It's Director Shepard to you," the redhead said furiously, her temper finally erupting, "and I was done doing what you wanted me to do two years ago. Don't you dare try to exploit my weaknesses now!" she hissed, throwing the phone into its cradle with such anger that she thought she might have broken it.
She leaned back into her chair, fighting against the panic that threatened to overwhelm her, making it hard for her to breath. She sucked in some large gulps of air, forcing herself to calm down.
Jenny stood up, controlling her shaking legs, and slowly marched towards the door. She couldn't be in her office for a second longer. Instead, she found herself stopping in the middle of the catwalk, letting the feeling of accomplishment and, weirdly enough, safety wash over her as she looked over the teams below her.
Gibbs wasn't at his desk, and she found herself somewhat grateful for that – no doubt he would have noticed her little moment of weakness. She laughed bitterly. Her thoughts started racing in her mind again, not noticing as the back elevator opened to her level.
Gibbs left the elevator, a paper tray with two cups of coffee firmly in his hand. Jenny was leaning against the railing of the catwalk like a queen overlooking her kingdom. He noticed how her gaze was almost absentminded – hadn't he taught her to always pay attention, no matter how safe she felt in any given environment?
"Jen," he said, touching her wrist to make his presence known. She startled at the touch, her eyes widening for a second before they glazed over, her pupils not moving at all as she stared into the empty space in front of her. She shook her head to get herself out of whatever flashback she was reliving in her mind, plastering a thin smile on her face.
"Jethro," she answered, trying forcefully to keep her voice calm.
"What was that?" he asked as he moved a little away from her.
She shrugged. "Nothing," she replied quickly, her right eye twitching. He observed her reaction, trying to figure out if it would be worth questioning her about her little lie. She moved on, however, killing his chance to interrogate her.
"Is that for me?" Jenny asked with a grin as she grabbed one of the coffee cups, letting the hot black brew scald the roof of her mouth, chasing away the last of the dark thoughts the phone call had left in her mind.
Gibbs just nodded, quietly observing her. Something was clearly bothering her, and his quick touch seemed to have caused it. He wondered for a second if he'd misread their new friendship, or maybe just the situation as a whole. Maybe she had a significant other nowadays and wasn't as into him anymore as he was into her, even if he tried not to admit that. The thought brought on a headache, so he forced himself to come back to the moment.
"Ziva is fitting in well, don't you think?" She asked as she watched the Israeli rounding in on Tony, holding a stapler menacingly in her left hand, her right touching the trigger of her gun suggestively.
Gibbs snorted.
"I bet you're glad to have her on board now. I'd even bet that she's the best probie you've had in some time, but of course you can't admit that," she teased, a grin on her face.
"Don't gloat," he commented gruffly. "It doesn't suit you."
"Hm. You're just jealous I knew Ziva would do well right away," she fired back before her gaze became more thoughtful. "I'm just glad she's here now, I wouldn't want her to be in Israel or at Mossad all on her own."
"Apart from Daddy David, of course," Gibbs replied.
Jenny smiled sadly. "I don't think Deputy Director David has ever seen his children as anything other than weapons for Mossad."
"You care a lot about her," Gibbs remarked, clearly fishing for information but Jenny just shrugged her shoulders.
"I told you, she saved my life in Cairo, and she was there for me in some pretty unpleasant situations even before that. It's the least I can do to show her how grateful I am," Jenny replied.
He was silent, watching her as she squirmed a little under his gaze.
"Is there anything else I can do for you, Special Agent Gibbs, or did you just want an opportunity to pry into my past?" she teased him.
He shrugged his shoulders before he tapped on the lid of her cup. "Enjoy the coffee, Jen," he said as he moved past her towards the stairs.
He chanced a glance back at her when he was at the first landing, seeing the soft smile on her face as she stared at her cup. Maybe he still had a chance.
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