A slightly longer one, and a bit more case related for a while.

IV. Great Trees Cast More Shadow Than Fruit

"Gibbs, in here!" McGee called, standing in the doorway to an upstairs bedroom of the house.

"What do you got, McGee?" He asked, taking the stairs two at a time to stand looking into a nursery. "Hello, there." Gibbs said, walking over to the crib and scooping the small infant up in his arms.

"Boss, the liutenant and his wife had a daughter." Tony said as he climbed the stairs of the crime scene.

"I know, we've got her here." The boss said, bouncing the three-month old in his arms.

"No, boss, an older daughter, I'd say from the photos she's about six." DiNozzo said, handing McGee a photo frame.

"They looked happy." Tim sighed. The Lieutenant had died in a training exercise gone wrong and his wife had been shot the next day. It was awful.

"Yeah, well, they aren't going to be too happy anymore." Tony said.

"I have searched the whole house for the girl, cannot find her anywhere. Do you think she has been kidnapped?" Ziva asked, joining the crowd in the entrance to the nursery.

"Yeah, it's a possibility!" Gibbs snapped.

"I will get a BOLO out now." She ran down the stairs and took her phone out, the group at the top of the stairs dispersing, McGee going back to bagging evidence, Tony back to scene photos and Gibbs taking the baby down for Ducky to check for any problems.

"Since nobody reported hearing gunfire and she wasn't found until the postman came to drop her mail off, I reckon they used a silencer. Abby will tell us for sure." The pathologist said, placing his hat on his head. "Lets get her home, Mr Palmer."

"Duck, I need you to check this one for injury." He handed the child to Ducky just as she started wailing.

"Well, she certainly has a set of lungs on her." He chuckled. "Oh, you have a lovely nose."

"Duck." Jethro cautioned. "Is she alright?" Just then a cop came in, looking like he had been running.

"You Gibbs?" He pointed as the agent nodded. "There's a little girl in a tree down the road, neighbour identified her as the daughter of the victim. She climbs higher every time someone tries to get her down."

"Got it. ZIVA!" He yelled the Israeli's name.

"Gibbs." She ran through.

"I want you to go with him to the elder daughter. She is sat in a tree. No one is to try and get her down until I join you. Understand?"

"Yes, boss." She said, following the man out of the door and down the street. "Sir, can you step back please." She said to a man who was walking to the base of the trunk.

"She's so high up!" His panicked voice pleaded with her.

"I can see that, could you just step back sir." She steered him back to the gathering crowd. "Could you get these people out of here?" She asked the police officer who had escorted her to the tree. He complied and started pushing the people backwards.

"Here." Gibbs slung a pink backpack over her shoulder as he walked up to her.

"What is this?" She asked.

"Negotiations. You get her down." Gibbs said.

"No, Gibbs, I am not very good with children, I think you would be much more suited." Ziva said, frowning.

"Ducky reckons her mother's killer was a man of about my height judging by the angle of the bullets entrance. I don't want to spook her."

Ziva exhaled. "Ok. What is her name?"

"Elsie." Gibbs said.

She breathed again, trying to calm herself down. It was just a child, how hard could it be to gain a child's trust? She moved closer to the tree. "Hello, there. My name is Ziva, I would like to talk to you." She inched closer.

"Okay." The small voice replied.

"Do you mind if I join you? Then I will not have to shout." She watched as the girl nodded and she started to climb the tree, picking her path carefully, testing each branch before balancing her weight upon it. "It is a long climb." Ziva smiled, sitting on the branch on the other side of the trunk to the child. "I am with NCIS, we want to help you." She said. "What is your name?"

"Elsie." The girl whispered.

"That is a very pretty name." Ziva smiled as kindly as she could. "You did very well to climb this tree."

"Daddy taught me to climb trees." Elsie whispered. "My Mummy and Daddy are dead."

"I am sorry." Ziva said. "Elsie, what is your sister's name?"

"Mina, she's still a baby." The little girl said, tugging at her dungarees.

"Mina is safe, we are looking after her." Ziva smiled. "Would you like to go and see her?"

The girl shook her head. "I want to stay up here. It looks nice from up here."

"Ok, we can stay up here. I have to agree; it looks very pretty from up here. Do you mind if I join you on that branch?"

"Okay." The small voice said again and Ziva climbed skilfully across to the same branch. "Did your Daddy teach you to climb trees?"

"Yes." Ziva laughed.

"I like the way you talk." Elsie smiled for the first time.

"Thank you." Ziva nodded. She guessed she was doing ok.

"What is in the bag?"

"I do not know." Ziva smiled. "Shall we have a look?" She unzipped the pink backpack and pulled out two juice cartons. She read the label and smiled. "I used to drink something similar when I was a little girl." She handed one to the child and kept one for herself, piercing the lid with the straw.

"I like these. How did you know I like these?"

"It was a very lucky guess." Ziva smiled and removed the next item from the bag. "Do you like cupcakes?" She smiled, placing a chocolate chip cupcake in the empty palm of the child as she slurped juice from the carton in her other little hand.

"Yeah." She took a bite and grinned. "Is there anything else in the bag?" She asked, trying to peer into the dark bag.

"There is one last thing." Ziva reached in and pulled out a soft toy monkey. "Is this yours?" She smiled.

"That's Narna." The girl nodded, eating another mouthful of cupcake and taking another sip of juice.

"Narna?" Ziva frowned, looking at the monkey. He looked rather sorry for himself. He had lost an ear at some point in his life and had the wound stitched up, along with what looked like scars from previous surgeries crisscrossing his original stitching.

"Like 'Banana' only just the middle bit." The little girl handed Ziva the empty carton and cupcake paper. "I'm tired. Can we go down now?" She asked quietly.

"Of course we can." Ziva smiled. "Would you like to climb onto my back so I can carry you?"

"Please." The child nodded and Ziva placed the litter from their little treetop picnic into the bag and then tossed the little pink rucksack down to where Gibbs stood, missing Gibbs by about a foot and hitting DiNozzo in the head. Ziva, standing on a branch next to the one they had sat on, allowed the child to climb onto her shoulders, told her to hold on and then began the descent down, making sure every three branches or so that Elsie was alright. As she hopped down off the last branch, Elsie's grip appeared to grow slightly tighter. "Thank you." She whispered into Ziva's ear as she let go and dropped to the ground, staying slightly behind Ziva when McGee, Tony and Gibbs drew closer.

"These are my friends." She crouched down to be the same height as the girl. "This is Agent Gibbs," she pointed to the older man, "Agent McGee." She pointed to Tim, "And this is…"

"Very special agent Tony DiNozzo." He jumped in, earning a scowl from Ziva.

"Why are you very special?" She asked.

"Because he needs a lot more encouragement than the rest of us to work." McGee whispered loudly, making Elsie giggle.

"You have been a very brave girl." Ziva said, placing her NCIS cap on the child's head. "That is for you to keep."

"Thank you." Elsie said. "Where am I going to live?"

"Well, we'll think about that later, but right now I want my doctor friend to take a look at you, is that ok?" Gibbs asked, smiling as she nodded and slipped her hand into Ziva's.