Chapter 19

Growing Up

August 2035

~~At the Beach house~~

Ziva eased herself down into her chair at the deck, looking at the morning sun rising over the beach; the ocean sending shimmering rays of sunlight in all directions. She smiled at the warmth from the sun on her face, and a slight breeze blew a few strands of her hair across her eyes. She reached up and stroked her hair away from her eyes as she looked out at the ocean crashing on the beach. Her nose picked up the smell of fresh-cooked breakfast, and she turned toward the sliding door as Tony walked up to the door carrying a tray of breakfast. Ziva smiled as she stood up and walked over to the door to open it for Tony. "Thought I smelled some food. You came right on time," she said as she held the door open for Tony.

"Just in time, thank you my babe" Tony said as he stepped out of the door, carefully carrying the breakfast tray. He flashed a smile at Ziva as he placed the tray on the table between their chairs, before sitting down on his chair.

"Oh my, the food sure looks delicious. It's good to have breakfast out here, for once." Ziva tilted her head to Tony and smiled at him as she sat down in her chair.

"Yeah, well, what better place than out here to have a good, hearty breakfast my lovely wife? Nobody around, just us two here. Well, at least for a few hours." Tony smiled at Ziva as he picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip of it.

Ziva nodded to Tony. "Oh, yes, I agree with you. It's been nice having a quiet few days out here alone, taking a break from everything for a few days," she said as she reached out a hand to hold Tony's hand, then with her other hand picked up some eggs with her fork.

"Thought you'd like your usual favorite breakfast," Tony said as he pointed to the food. "Here we go, one breakfast steak for you, and one for me." He slid the steak onto Ziva's plate and then put it in front of her.

"Steak looks perfectly done," Ziva said as she picked up the knife and started cutting the steak. She glanced up at Tony's steak and eggs plate. "You cook yours a little longer than mine?"

"Yup." Tony started cutting his steak into easy-to-manage cubes. "Not much longer, though. It was on the cool side of the pan, while yours was on the hotter side. Turned out good, though."

"Wonderful." Ziva smiled at Tony as she took a bite of her steak. Just then, she heard her phone ringing on the table. "I wonder who that could be," she muttered to herself as she picked the phone up and answered it. "Hello?" She listened for a bit, then said, "See you in a bit." She hung the phone up and smiled at Tony.

"Who was that?" Tony's eyebrows shot up, sudden curiosity on his face.

"That was Tali calling. She'll be here in a while, depending on traffic from the airport out to here," Ziva said.

"Ah, wait, she's in town already?" Tony sat up a bit straighter in his chair, smiling at Ziva.

Ziva nodded, smiling to Tony., "Yeah. I'm just as surprised as you that she's here. I wasn't sure when, or if, she was going to get some leave time."

Tony flicked an eyebrow up and down as he smiled, stabbing yet another steak cube with his fork. "Sounds like she did get the leave. How long's the leave for, did she say?"

Ziva shrugged. "She said it was a two-week leave. But you know how things are with the IDF. She could be recalled at a moment's notice."

Tony held up a hand in the air and nodded. "Well, at least we get to enjoy whatever time she has with us. How about us enjoying a bit of our time together before she gets here?"

Ziva chuckled as she gazed at Tony. "Let's finish this delish breakfast first. Then we see how things goes." She picked a strawberry off her plate, then swiped it through some whipped cream and plopped it in her mouth, smiling some more at Tony, almost seductively.

Tony took a large bite of his steak, smiling at Ziva. He knew exactly what Ziva meant with her comment. He pointed to the steak with his fork. "Mmmm. Good steak."

Much later in the evening, as the fire pit on the beach roared high with a blazing, cheery fire, the DiNozzo family sat surrounding the fire pit. "Well, I gotta say, it's been a very good day, wouldn't you say, Ziva? With all the kids here for the weekend." Tony looked over to Ziva and smiled. "Plus, a couple of surprise guests." He looked over to Antonio and Robert, Toby's social worker. "It's good to have you two here, though."

Antonio nodded and flashed a smile. "Your daughter's a very kind person. It was very nice of her to invite me to come with her to visit her family, get to put faces to names finally, meet you in the flesh." His voice still had the slightest hint of an Italian accent.

Tali smiled and nodded. "You know we've been seeing each other for a while now, so I thought it'd be a good thing for him to meet the family." She looked over to Antonio and put a hand on his and squeezed it gently.

Ziva smiled at Tali and Antonio. "It's wonderful to have you two here. It's amazing that you were able to keep up correspondence when you were in the IDF, Tali." She shifted her gaze to Tali. "Considering how busy you would have been in training."

Tali chuckled. "Well, we didn't see each other during my training. But I knew he was out there, somewhere. It wasn't until I had just graduated when I ran into him." She shrugged. "What else can I say? We spent a little time together before we flew out here."

Ziva raised an eyebrow as she smiled. Memories of how she rarely talked with Tony, yet how they were able to keep up correspondence, came back into her mind. She totally understood what Tali had meant by what she said. "Catching up with old times, right? How long was it since you've seen each other last?"

Tali shrugged. "It's been a few months now. Time's a blur in IDF training."

Antonio nodded. "She's right. We wrote a few letters back and forth, but didn't really get the chance to see each other until shortly after she graduated."

"What's the training like?" Zack spoke up. "Just curious if it's gonna be any different in the police academy that I'm getting ready to head out to, you know?" He looked over at Tali.

Tali chuckled. "Some aspects might be the same. Just not as intense. Police and military training are different enough because of the different requirements." She smiled at Zack. "I'm sure you'll do just fine there."

"Kinda like boarding school, I bet." Toby scoffed slightly. "Lots of drills. Left, right, left, right, about face, forward march." He snapped a salute to his forehead, then snapped it to his side. "Sir, yes sir!" He cracked a slight smile. "It's okay, I guess."

Robert chuckled slightly. "It's not that bad. You get some school time as well. It's not all about playing soldier all the time, you get some education, you know. Help you out in the real world."

"Like you'd know," Toby replied. He turned and looked at Tali. "I'm thinking about joining the Army Rangers, maybe."

Tali smiled and nodded at Toby. Internally, she had her doubts about Toby being able to join the military because of his behavior profile, and his overall personality. She knew that the Army intake testing protocol would have dinged him on his personality test, and most likely rejected him. Yet, she kept it to herself. "Well, that's if you are selected. The Army Rangers have a pretty strict criteria for selection. There are steps to follow within the Army in order to get into the Rangers."

"Oh, yeah, I know about that," Toby said a bit flippantly. "Join the Army, go through boot camp, then try out for the Rangers. How hard could it be?"

Zack chuckled. "Oh, it can be challenging. But not totally impossible to make it through. Just takes a lot of hard work. Get your building blocks in place first in boot camp, then you can start your real work." She held out a hand to Matty. "Look at him. Doing electronics and computers and astronomy. Already got people asking him for computer work, even though he's still in STEM school."

Matty beamed. "Just got done building a few computers for a small design firm. All that money I made went straight into school stuff. You know, electronics tools, computer software, and a newer computer."

Tony chuckled. "Uncle Tim's certainly rubbed off on you. You're gonna be giving him a run for his money one day."

Matty chuckled. "The world runs on computers these days, and someone's gotta fix 'em when something goes wrong. Good thing that a good portion of my work at school is remote now. Just gotta go in a couple days a week for labs."

Tony chuckled. "Your labs always blow my mind. I've seen a couple that really put the rest of his class to shame, they stood out so much."

Zack chuckled. "A few shares of accidents, too. One time I heard a loud bang, scared the daylights out of me. I ran in where Matty was, when he was building something, and something big had blown up. One of those, what do you call 'em?"

"Capacitors," Matty said. "I accidentally shorted one out and it blew up big time. I had to clean the mess up."

Tony chuckled. "We just about had a heart attack when that happened. I didn't know what happened down there."

Ziva nodded, and her mouth was an O on her face. "Oh my gosh, it actually sounded like a gunshot. And it really stunk the house up."

Matty let out a small chuckle. "Those big can type capacitors, the electrolytic type ones, will do that. It's the electrolyte making that smell when they blow."

Tali cringed her face, imagining the smell. "Yuck, that doesn't sound pleasant at all. What were you building at that time?"

"A radio," Matty said. "I was building a transceiver, I just got my ham radio license."

"Oh, nice! Way to go!" Tali said. "Was it hard to get?"

Tony chuckled. "I took him to the testing site, and he took three tests, passed them all in one sitting." His face changed, and his eyes went wide open as his mouth formed an exploding sound, as his hands blew outwards from the top of his head. "Blew the minds of those examiners. First time one of 'em had seen that happen. The other two said it doesn't really happen that often."

Ziva nodded. "You should have seen the look on his face when he came out of that room. He was so happy."

"Wow," Zack said, impressed. "So that makes you, what?"

Matty smiled. "An Extra class ham radio operator. Just something for me to do when I'm not working with computers or in school."

"Right on!" Zack fist-bumped Matty. "I've been taking a couple of courses in college myself. Just general education stuff. I think I saw your name in one of the mentions on one of the bulletin boards there."

"Oh, yeah, computer work. I put up an advertisement there, you know. Get some computer repair experience for my future. Good to have a solid knowledge of computer hardware so I can understand how to do cyber security."

"Sounds like you got it all planned out, eh?" Tony smiled to Matty. "I like that." He shook a finger in the air, slowly nodding and smiling.

"Uncle Tim said he thought that'd be a good path for me to follow," Matty said, smiling. "I like it so far."

Zara sidled up to Ziva. "I had fun at school this week," she said.

Ziva turned and looked at Zara with a smile on her lips. "I saw the pictures you have in your room. They're beautiful."

Zara nodded. "Places I've been to, places I've read about. I also learned how to bake a cake this week." She beamed with happiness, remembering how happy she was when her cake came out perfectly done.

"Awesome! Maybe you can help me bake a cake tomorrow?" Ziva said as she smiled at Zara.

"I'd like that," Zara said, smiling widely at Ziva.

Toby stretched and yawned. "School's been keeping me on my toes. Go, go, go. Nonstop from the time I wake up to the time I hit the rack."

Robert looked over to Toby, but said nothing. He knew the signs of Toby starting to tire later in the night, because of the medication he was on. He made a mental note to himself to keep an eye on Toby.

Ziva also looked at Toby. "Sounds like school hands a lot to you on your plate. How's school been treating you?"

Toby shrugged. "The other kids're okay, I guess. I've been getting some good grades in class. Math's still a little hard for me to get, though."

Ziva flicked her eyes toward Robert, who gave a subtle nod to her, and a smile flickered on his lips. Her eyes flicked back to Toby as she smiled. "Sounds like you've been making good progress in school. Did they give you next quarter's schedule?"

Toby nodded. "I left it back at the school because I didn't wanna lose it."

Robert let out a small cough. "Not too many changes in his classes. Drills are a little more complex, now."

Toby glanced at Robert, then looked back at Tony and Ziva, the slightest hint of a scowl on his face. He felt a slight twinge of irritation, since he would have preferred to be the one doing the talking to his parents. "Right. New evolution on the drills, the drill instructor said. I guess we get to camp out for a weekend, near the end of the quarter," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Supposed to test our knowledge gained from the drills."

Ziva nodded as she smiled. "Sounds like fun, camping out in the woods, living off the land for a weekend." She remembered her basic training that she went through while in the IDF; the countless nights of camping out in the wild, under the skies, relying on her training.

Tony chuckled. "They'll make a man outta you yet, you just wait and see. I'm pleased with the progress you've been making at school."

Ziva nodded as she added to Tony's comment. "Overall, I'm also happy with how you've been coming along in school."

Zack chuckled, more to himself than out loud, and shook his head slightly. "Those drills sound a lot like what we'll be going through in police academy," he said.

Toby turned to Zack. "You've been talking about the police academy for a minute now, does that mean you got accepted?"

Zack nodded. "You haven't heard?"

"Nuh-uh." Toby shook his head. "School's been keepin' me under their thumb, always on the go, no time to check in with the family."

Tali chuckled. "That's how it was like for me when I was in IDF training. I didn't even have time to write but a couple of letters to Antonio, and maybe a couple to Ima and Abba."

Tony nodded and raised an eyebrow. "She's right. We only got maybe two letters from Tali. I'm not surprised the news hadn't gotten to you yet about Zack getting accepted." He turned and looked at Zack. "When'd you get the word?"

Before Zack could answer, Ziva turned to Tony and said, "I told you about it a few days ago, remember?"

Tony's face went blank for a couple of seconds as he tried to recollect the conversation he had with Ziva. After a few moments, he remembered. "Oh, right, you told me. Slipped my mind because we've been so busy."

"Yeah, few days ago, actually. I showed you that letter that day when we went out to that ball game, remember?" Zack tilted his head to Tony.

"Oh, now I remember." Tony's face brightened up. "You showed me that letter right after the opening pitch."

Toby let out a scoff. "Why is it that I'm always the last to know?" His voice had a touch of tiredness in it that caused Robert to look at him.

Tali looked at Toby, surprise on her face. "Toby! I didn't even know about it until now. I just came in earlier today."

"Me either." Zara piped up. She was holding up a drawing. "Family sitting around the fire pit."

Ziva took the picture and looked at it under the flickering light of the fire in the fire pit. The detail was astonishing. "Wow, you did awesome on the drawing, Zara!"

Toby turned to Robert. "Did you know anything about this?"

Robert cleared his throat slightly, shaking his head. "I know only about you and your progress in school, not what goes on with your family." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Hmph." Toby slumped in his chair, arms crossed. He scowled at his family, but especially at Robert. He was irritated with the fact that Robert had to be with Toby at all times, when he wanted to spend some time with his family. He wanted Robert gone, but he couldn't do anything as the school had declared it necessary due to his situation.

"Well, I see someone's not totally happy with the situation." Tony sat up in his chair, stretching a bit. He let out a deep breath, then said, "Well, how about this: watching a movie before bedtime? Zack, Toby, anyone else, how does that sound?"

Zack's eyes brightened. "Sounds like a great idea." He reached out and clapped Toby on his shoulder. "We could watch movies like old times, if you want?"

Toby relented, and even allowed a small smile to form on his face. "That sounds great. First movie in months. They don't let you watch movies in there. Well, maybe educational movies, but they don't count."

Zack laughed. "I know what you mean."

"Oh, movies sound great." Matty stood up, a smile on his face. "What're you watching?"

Zack smiled. "You can help us pick a movie to watch together, if you want."

Toby got up from his chair and started walking to the house, but stopped himself after a couple of steps and looked at Matty. "Nope. I get to choose this time. I'll choose the scariest movie I can find and make you watch it with your eyes wide open," he said with a snarky tone in his voice.

Something in Toby's voice caused Robert to sit a little more forward, but he said nothing. He shifted his gaze to Tony and Ziva, watching their reactions closely.

"Toby!" Ziva exclaimed, her gaze following Toby as he walked into the house.

Tony's hand shot up and a finger flicked in the air. "Toby! C'mere, now." He turned and looked at Toby, a serious look on his face.

Toby stopped in his tracks, and turned to walk back to Tony. "What, Abba?"

Tony stared hard in Toby's eyes for a couple of moments. He had seen something in Toby's eyes a moment ago when he told Matty off. "What was that about with Matty, you saying you were gonna force him to watch horror movies?"

Toby chuckled a bit derisively. "Ah, I was just kiddin' with him. I'm not gonna do such a thing. I'll just let Matty choose, I'm a bit tired, anyway." He turned to Matty and waved him toward the house. "Anything you choose'll be fine."

Zack walked up to Toby and clapped him on the shoulder. "That's more like it, bro. Let's go in and watch a movie together."

"Sounds good, I guess." Toby turned and walked into the house, followed by Zack and Matty.

"Good night, boys!" Ziva called out after them.

"'Night, you three!" Tony called out almost simultaneously with Ziva.

Zack turned and waved to Tony and Ziva just before he reached the sliding glass doors. "Good night, Abba and Ima."

Toby turned and smiled at them. "Good night to you, too. See you in the morning," he said, then went into the house.

Matty held the sliding glass door and looked back at Tony and Ziva. "Yeah, see you in the morning. 'Night, Abba, Ima." He closed the door behind him as he went in.

"Hey!" Tali called out after them. "We're coming, too." She stood up and glanced at Antonio. "You coming?"

Antonio stood up with Tali. "Yes, I'm coming also."

Ziva smiled and waved at them. "Good night, you two. We'll talk in the morning?"

Tali nodded, a smile on her face. "Definitely. We do need to catch up, for sure."

Tony chuckled. "Looking forward to it. 'Night, you two." He waved them to the house.

Ziva nodded. "Good night to you two, and see you in the morning."

Robert let out a sigh. "Close call, there, with Toby," he said quietly. "He's been doing good lately, but it's been a long struggle just to get to this point."

Ziva let out a sigh and shook her head slightly. "It's hard enough dealing with his bipolar disorder with the ADHD on top of it all. When you throw in his aggression, it's a huge amount of work just to keep him in check. How's his medication?"

Robert shrugged. "I sent you a letter outlining his medication change, not too long ago. I wanted to explain further, in person, what that letter didn't say. Why the change took place."

"Yes, I've read the email," Ziva said. "You remember it, Tony?"

Tony shrugged. "Somewhat. I'm curious to know more about what happened. I did notice a little change in him from the last time we saw him and was curious why."

Robert's eyebrows flicked up ever so slightly as he shook his head. "Well, the week before we changed his medications around, he got into an altercation. Slammed a door on a kid's hand so hard he broke it. Kid had to be dropped from the boarding school."

Ziva's mouth was an O on her face. "Wow. What set him off?"

Robert shrugged. "What caused it is irrelevant. What's important is that Toby had his medications changed, and he has been penalized for his actions. That's why he missed visitation last month," his gravelly voice travelled across the fire pit to their ears.

"Oof, I guess that'll rule out watchmaker as that kid's future career path," Tony said. "And it's all because of Toby," he muttered more to himself.

Robert nodded. "Now you understand why he couldn't come last month. Let's hope the medication's doing its job this weekend." He stood up. "I'll go in and check on Toby, then head off to bed. You have a good night, and I'll see you all in the morning."

"Alright, sounds good, see you in the morning," Tony said, waving to Robert as he walked into the house. He turned to Ziva. "Watch the movie, or call it a night?"

Ziva turned and looked at Tony. "Call it a night, after I give Zara her medication."

"Yep, time for my medication for bedtime," Zara said. She had a smile on her face; she had always been very punctual with her medication. "Melantonin, Seroquel..." she started reeling off the names of the medications she was on, and the scheduled times for each one.

Ziva reached around Zara and put a hand on her shoulder and guided her to the house as she walked toward the house. "Right, you know all your medications, better than I do. You can help me with the medicines."

Zara smiled. "All in the pill boxes."

Tony got up from the chair. "I'll follow you all in, after I kill the fire in the fire pit."

~~Next Day~~

As the sun rose higher in the late morning sky, Tony looked out at the beach, where the children, and Antonio, were playing sand volleyball. "Well, they're having a good time over there, eh?" He raised a finger toward the sand volleyball game.

Ziva nodded, a small smile on her face. "It's good to see 'em having fun together, after having been apart for so long."

"Yes!' Toby's exuberant voice drifted across the beach to their ears.

Robert looked up from his laptop, and chuckled. "Sounds like Toby made a score just now." He went back to pecking out his report on the keyboard.

Tony smiled. "It's a good day for 'em. So far as nothing rains on our parade." He knew all too well how Toby had moments where he was extremely happy, and moments where the smallest things would set him off like a powder keg. He had reason to be wary of appearances that Toby would put on.

"That is correct," Robert said, not looking up from his laptop. "That's why I'm always on watch for anything that doesn't fall within our standards. Also to see how well his new medicines are working."

"One can be hopeful." Ziva hated the idea of her children taking medications, but knew there was no choice in their situations. Toby's situation being so different from Zara's, or Abe's when he was alive. It was hard enough keeping track of one child's medical needs, let alone three.

"The ever-eternal hope," Robert said, letting out a sigh. "Hard enough to hit a moving target like bipolar disorder. We're not quite sure this new combination works, which is why we've been giving it a couple of months."

Ziva turned to Robert and bristled slightly at his remarks. "I just don't like the idea of pushing pills on Toby like candy. But if that's the only way to gain control of his mood swings, then so be it."

"I understand." Robert held up a hand. "Many parents are against it as well. We don't like it either, but we find it helps some of the boys in there. You'd be amazed at the change some of them undergo once we find the right combination."

"Well, I still disagree with medication for children." Ziva looked out at the children playing sand volleyball. "But, our hand is forced here, and we have no choice."

Tony reached out and put a hand on hers. "Hey, it's okay," he said in a soft voice. "As long as it helps him at least somewhat. And the discipline at the school couldn't hurt any."

Ziva relaxed slightly at Tony's touch. "I'm grateful for that much. The last, what, five years, has been a real challenge with Toby." She looked over to Zara, who was sitting at the edge of the deck some distance away, busily drawing a picture. She nodded her head toward Zara. "At least with her, it's been easy, finding the right program that had exactly what she needed. An outlet for her artwork."

"Yeah, I'm surprised a couple of art teachers took notice in her art, and are giving her extra courses in artwork," Tony said. "You know, those extra after-school activities that they didn't quite have before Zara came along."

Ziva chuckled. "It's amazing how well the new program's benefited the group home as well. The other kids there really took to some form of artwork, so now Zara doesn't feel so alone."

Tony turned to Ziva and smiled at her. "Yeah. I also noticed something else. Zara's been improving on some of her life skills. You know, cooking, baking, for starters."

Just then, an angry outburst rose up from the sand volleyball game. Robert slammed his laptop shut and looked up. "Something's up over there," he muttered.

Tony sat up straighter, as if he was about to get up from his chair. "Yeah, I see that. Not sure what's going on over there."

Ziva watched as a couple of kids broke off from the group and stormed up toward the deck. "Tali and Antonio, they look upset."

"Uh-oh. Did Toby do something again?" Tony muttered. "I thought I recognized that voice."

Tali reached Tony and Ziva, an angry look on her face. "Toby blew up again. Hit Antonio in his stomach."

Antonio sat down carefully, holding his stomach, grimacing slightly in pain. "Caught me totally off-guard," he grunted.

Toby caught up with them. "Tali started it!" he said, his voice breathless from his running to catch up with them.

Tali scoffed. "No, you started it! When you hit the ball out of bounds and got called for it. You grabbed that ball and chucked it at Antonio and said you weren't out of bounds."

Zack reached them, trailed by a panting Matty. "He was out of bounds when he spiked the ball to our side. He hit the ball way too hard and it blew past us outside the playing field."

"Wait up!" Matty caught up with them the best he could, clasping his tablet to his chest. "Don't leave me out there alone!"

Zack turned and clapped Matty on his shoulders. "No, we won't. Toby's being all out of shape over nothing."

"No, I'm not!" Toby fired back as he gave Zack a two-handed shove, causing Zack to almost lose his balance.

"Hey, watch it!" Zack protested as he regained his footing. He took a step toward Toby.

"I got him!" Tali flashed across the decking and grabbed Toby in a chokehold before she realized what she was doing. She glowered at Toby. "Not here, not now! Enough with your self-centeredness!"

Ziva gasped as Tali tangled Toby up in the chokehold. "Tali!" she exclaimed.

"Ooh, we got ourselves a little ninja in our household," Tony half-whispered.

Ziva glanced at Tony and batted him on his arm. Her eyes said to Tony, "Not here, not now." She turned to Zack. "Zack, please go inside and take Matty with you. See if he needs a breathing treatment."

"He's not worth my time like this, anyway!" Zack stormed off past Toby toward the house. He turned to Matty and waved him toward the house. "C'mon, Matty. Let's go inside."

Robert cleared his throat and stood up. "Let me check something, I might have a little hunch," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He walked into the house, taking long loping steps, following Zack and Matty inside.

Tony watched the tall figure retreat into the house, then rounded onto Toby. "Now, you tell me, what exactly happened out there?"

"Did you actually take your morning medication, Toby?" Ziva asked, before Toby could answer Tony.

"Yes, I did!" Toby protested. "With breakfast!"

"Well, if you did, why are you acting out like this?" Tony pointed his finger at Toby.

Tali looked at Toby, holding him in her arms from behind. "I really wonder if you did take your meds, Toby. You're much better when you're on them." She squeezed on his neck a touch harder.

Toby gasped for breath and coughed a bit, as he squirmed in Tali's firm hold. "I did!"

"You hit Antonio hard!" Tali fired back at Toby.

Toby shook his head, still struggling to get out of Tali's chokehold, but failing miserably. "I didn't hit him that hard! I just tossed the ball to him!"

Tali pulled hard toward her and shook Toby a couple of times, causing him to yelp in pain. "You lie to us! I don't think you took your medication this morning. I didn't see you take 'em!" She suddenly let go and shoved Toby hard enough to cause him to lose his footing and fall forward, then stormed off into the house.

"I'll go see if she's okay," Antonio said as he got up, still holding his midriff. "I'll be fine." He walked into the house, following Tali.

Toby lay on the ground, writhing as if he was in pain. "Ow! She pushed me! You see that? She pushed me, that hurts!"

"Toby, get up now! You're fine!" Ziva looked at Toby, fire in her eyes. It hurt her inside to see Toby act out like this when he had been doing so good last night, but she refused to fall for his tricks anymore.

Tony walked toward Toby and, reaching under his arm, hoisted him up to his feet, then grabbed a handful of Toby's shirt and spun him around to face him. "Now, you cool it! We're not gonna accept that kind of behavior in this house!" He whipped a finger toward the house. "Go see if you forgot your medication, and take it. Now."

Toby scoffed. "Why should I? I don't like the way they make me feel. Like I'm in this fog. I can't think when I'm doing my schoolwork."

Ziva sighed. She totally understood how Toby felt. But she had to lay down the law. "I understand, but sometimes you have to take the medication, despite the side effects. A small sacrifice for improving your life."

Just then, Robert stepped out of the house, holding up a pill bottle. "Missed the last two doses. I counted."

Toby fired back at Robert. "But I hate how they make me feel! That's why I've been trying to tell the doctors, but you don't listen!"

Tony rounded onto Robert. "I would have expected these medications to work by now. Why isn't this fixed already?"

Ziva's eyes bore into Robert's, fire in her eyes. "This is the reason why I dislike medications so much. Miss even one dose and you never know what happens with their brain chemistry."

Robert shook his head slowly and let out a sigh. "Believe me, I know. I personally don't like 'em either, but the school leaves me with no room to say one way or another." He looked down at Toby. "You know what this means," he said to Toby.

Toby let out a scoff. "You telling me I gotta go back? I thought we didn't have to go back until tomorrow," he retorted to Robert.

Something in Toby's voice tugged at Ziva's heartstrings, and a tear leaked from her eye and rolled down her cheek. She bit back her words, because she knew that Toby had violated school codes by having that outburst and hitting someone. Yet, she felt for him because his visit was going to be cut short.

Tony let out a sigh as he looked at Toby. "You heard the man. Go get your stuff. You're going back to the school until you're straightened out on the medications."

Toby turned to Robert and grabbed his arm. "No, I'll be good, I promise! I'll take the medications as I've been told."

Robert shook his head. "No can do, kiddo. You've lost that chance when you violated school code." He pointed toward the house. "Pack up. We leave in ten minutes."

Toby let out a squeal of protest. "But we just got here yesterday! It's not even a full weekend yet!"

Tony took two full steps closer to Toby. "You're going back to the school, now!" It hurt him inside to say that, but he had no choice. The boarding school left no room for argument. He pointed a finger to the house. "Get up there and pack your stuff up like the man said."

"You're just like them!" Toby fired back at Tony, running off into the house. Moments later, the sound of a door being slammed really hard floated through the house walls to their ears.

Ziva gulped as she wiped the tear from her eye. She had just seen a bit of Ari in Toby at that very moment. She stepped to Tony and grabbed ahold of him and buried her head in his shoulder, letting the tears flow.

"Hey, it's okay," Tony whispered into her ear, holding her close to him.

"No, it's not," Ziva whispered. "Not another Ari."

Robert strode over to the house. "I better make sure he's packed up. I'll head out the front door with him and his things. We'll just head out in my car."

Tony nodded as he glared at Robert. "Yeah, fine. Go. Fix this, now. I -" he glanced down at Ziva, then back up at Robert. 'We want our son back to his sweet old self again."

Robert sighed and shook his head once, slowly. "Tryin' our best to, sir. We'll get it fixed." He opened the door and stepped into the house.

Ziva let out a sigh, then stepped back from Tony and looked into his face. "What do we do about this?" she whispered to him.

Tony shrugged. "You know, I don't really know the answer to that. Only time will tell."

Just then, Tali stepped out of the house. "Toby just left. Didn't say a word to any of us." She held her hands up in the air. "Hope he'll be okay when he gets back."

Tony nodded. "Yeah. That was an impressive move you did on Toby. But was that really necessary to do that to him?"

Before Tali could answer, Ziva reached out and put a hand on Tony's arm. "She reacted in exactly the same way I would have, years ago."

Tali let out a sigh. "Just never thought I'd have to use the training on my own brother." She sat up a bit straighter, then cleared her throat.

Ziva chuckled. "I know how that goes." She changed the subject. "How's Antonio? He okay?" she asked.

Tali smiled and nodded. "He'll be okay. He's playing games with the boys. Watching 'em play chess, I think."

Tony let out a low chuckle. "Doesn't hurt to have two ninjas in the family, eh?"

Ziva let out a chuckle, and batted Tony on his arm. "Oh, you, stop it."

Tony chuckled. "You gotta hand it to her. She can take care of herself, for sure."

Ziva smiled at Tony, then turned to look at Tali. "Now that you're done with the IDF, what are your plans?"

"Well, I've got a two-week leave from the IDF." Tali shrugged her shoulders. "I'll stay with you guys a few days, and then we're planning on going to Venice, to visit Antonio's family."

"Oh, that's nice!" Ziva's eyebrows rose to full mast and a wide smile appeared on her face. "Beautiful place, Venice. You've been there before?"

Tali smiled and nodded. "A couple of times, to see Antonio. I keep being drawn to him. There's something about him that draws me close to him."

Tony tilted his head. "You sure it's not just his accent or the cut of his clothes?" he needled Tali, but only just to get a rise out of her.

Tali scoffed at Tony. "Abba! You know it's not any of those things. You'd know if you saw a guy from across the room and your eyes clicked and you knew, that's the person for me."

Ziva looked over to Tony. "Just like I did to you, right?" she asked quietly, smiling at him.

Tony chuckled. "Ya got me there, babe." He turned to Tali, a smile on his face. "If he's the guy for you, then don't lose him. He's a real good guy. Never had any problems with him."

Ziva nodded. "Well, when you go to Venice, have a good time with him and his family." She held her hands up in the air, then dropped them back in her lap. "I'm just in awe of how much you've grown to a wonderful woman. And finding the right man for you on top of everything."

Tali blushed a little. "Thanks, Ima. I'm just not sure what I'll be doing after my leave is up. I'm sure I'll get a posting, though a friend of mine's been talking to me about the Mossad."

Ziva nodded to Tali and smiled. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she got the chance, Zara came up to her, interrupting her. "Ima, look at what I did!" She held up a large drawing.

Ziva turned to Zara and smiled. "What'd you draw this time? Can I see?"

Zara held out the drawing for Ziva to take and look at. "Lighthouse, over there." She pointed toward the lighthouse.

Tony craned his neck over to look at the drawing. "Wow, you really nailed it this time." He pointed to the painting, and said, "That should be in a museum, or something."

Tali stepped around to look at the picture. "Wow, you're really good at drawing all the little details of the lighthouse. I didn't know there was a fence around it." She looked up at Tony and Ziva. "When'd they put that fence up? It wasn't up there the last time I was here."

Tony sighed. "Big storm came through a few weeks ago, caused some damage to the lighthouse. They're trying to fix it up now."

Tali nodded, understanding now. "Must've been right before I graduated. I read something in the news about a big storm system hitting the east coast of the States."

"Yeah." Tony nodded. "I gotta tell ya, every time Zara draws something, it blows my mind just how much detail she can put in her drawings. She's a machine when it comes to drawing and artwork."

Ziva chuckled. "It's like she's a recorder of scenery, if you could call it that."

Zara smiled. "I just like to draw. It relaxes me. My own world."

Tali smiled. "You're really good at drawing." She pointed to the picture. "I could never draw that good. Most of my drawings end up like stick figures."

Ziva nodded. "I'm impressed with the drawing as well."

Zara nodded, then looked at Ziva. "Ima, I'm hungry. And I want to bake a cake."

"Oh, you want cake for dinner?" Tali asked Zara, smiling at her.

Ziva chuckled. "Yeah, I was wondering the same thing."

"No, not for dinner!" Zara laughed. "I meant after dinner!"

Tali laughed. "What do you want for dinner?" She turned to Ziva. "Maybe we could find something."

Tony smiled. "We could raid the refrigerator, or we could always order Chinese takeout."

"Chinese!" Zara jumped slightly once, in excitement. "That sounds good."

"Oh, you want Chinese?" Ziva smiled at Zara. "I don't see why not. Your reward for drawing such a beautiful picture."

"Yeah!" Ziva clapped her hand together once. "I better tell the boys!" She twirled on her heels and dashed into the house.

"Hey, wait up! Your drawing!" Tali held up her drawing as she hustled to catch up behind Zara. "Man, she's fast," she muttered under her breath.

As Tali walked into the house, Ziva smiled at her retreating figure. "Wow, how she's grown," she half-whispered.

Tony looked down at Ziva and smiled. "I'd say Tali's turned out really well." He put an arm around Ziva's shoulders and hugged her close to him. "And it's all how we raised her, right?"

Ziva snuggled up to Tony and smiled. "I think she'll do fine." She looked up at Tony. "I worry about Toby, however. I just hope he turns out fine."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, me too. Only time will tell," he said. "Only time will tell," he repeated to himself as he looked out over the ocean and hugged Ziva closer to him.

Ziva turned and looked out over the ocean, then at the lighthouse that Zara had drawn the picture of. "Yeah. Time will tell." She snuggled closer to Tony and smiled to herself as she took in his warmth.

A/N: Thank you for enjoying this chapter, there will be more to come, it will be soon. Also thank you in advance for the reviews, tweets, messages, and kudos.