Effervescence

A family party turns into an emergency after the younger kids get into the adult beverages by accident. July 2025

Effervescence: bubbles in a liquid; fizz.

"Ima," Anthony tugged at his mother's shirt sleeve as she was talking with Aunt Ellie, Aunt Breena, and Aunt Delilah. "IMA!" he was more insistent as she didn't respond at first.

Ziva turned to her eight-year-old, "Yes?"

"Um, LJ, Rivka, and Asher are all acting weird…" he pointed to his siblings and the family's greyhound lying on one of the large dog beds. The two children were rolling on their backs imitating Asher's greyhound 'roaching' and giggling uncontrollably.

Ziva looked around for Tony, wondering if he'd noticed the preschoolers' silliness. "Where is Beth?"

Anthony shrugged, "I don't know, Ima. I've been playing with the Hot Wheels with John, Katie, and Charles in the playroom. We set up an awesome track too!"

Ziva excused herself from the others and walked over to the dog bed. "LJ, Rivka, are you okay? What is so funny?"

"Dah fuhn…" Riv slurred her words as she pointed to the dog. "Me be da..dok.. him…" she giggled and rolled on her back.

LJ gave his Ima a silly look and giggled, "Oooofff…"

Ziva knelt down by the children and noticed that both had dilated pupils and were slightly flushed. She looked around for Tony and noticed Jimmy Palmer standing by one of the tables of snacks set out in the family room.

"Jimmy," she got his attention as she helped LJ sit up. She noticed the smell of beer on the little boy's clothes. "Jimmy!" she called out with more urgency.

"What's up, Ziva?" the medical examiner rushed over to Ziva at the tone of her voice.

"I am not sure, but LJ smells of beer and is acting a bit off. Now that I have picked him up, he is a bit lethargic," Ziva was worried.

Jimmy checked over the child, "Ziva, I think he may have ingested some alcohol. Rivka, did you and LJ drink anything from the grown-up's cups?"

"Fiz-zee," she nodded and pointed to a plastic cup on the table with a small amount of what appeared to be beer in the bottom. "Feel…" the child suddenly vomited on the floor.

"What do we do?" Ziva tried to keep LJ upright in case he also threw up.

Jimmy checked Rivka's pulse and breathing, "I think she will be okay since she seems to have vomited up most of the alcohol. We need to keep an eye on her, but I am more concerned about LJ at the moment. He seems to have more of a reaction to the beer than Riv."

LJ blinked his eyes several times as he tried to focus. Jimmy pulled out his cell phone and dialed Poison Control. He identified himself as a doctor and then described the situation.

Ziva and Jimmy listened as the Poison Control Center operator stepped him through checking LJ's possible alcohol poisoning. The child began having trouble keeping his eyes open and Ziva mentioned that to the operator.

"Call 911 immediately and keep him awake and sitting up if you can while you wait for the EMTs to arrive."

Anthony had found Tony meanwhile and brought his Abba to the situation.

"What's up?" Tony noticed Jimmy checking LJ's vitals and Ziva's worried look.

"We think he ingested some of the beer from the cups left around on the tables," Ziva explained while trying to keep the little boy looking at her. "Riv did as well, but she threw up most of what she ingested. She seems to be okay…"

Jimmy looked up at Tony, "EMTs are on the way. I'm very concerned about LJ and I think you should have Rivka transported to the ER as well just to be sure. I can ride along if they'll let me or go with you and Ziva…"

"Eee-mmm…" LJ moaned and shook as his body expelled some of the contents of his stomach. Ziva held her baby as he puked.

Tony sent Anthony to wait by the front door for the ambulance and EMTs. By now, several of the other adults were realizing that the young DiNozzos had a medical emergency. Ellie and Breena collected all the empty or nearly empty cups that were sitting on tables and tossed them in the trash.

Tim went with Anthony to await the emergency medical personnel, reassuring the worried boy that LJ and Rivka would be getting help soon.

Ziva was allowed to ride with LJ and Rivka in the ambulance and Jimmy rode with Tony following the emergency vehicle to the ER. Rivka was checked and cleared. LJ threw up twice more in the ambulance and once at the ER was given glucose solution via IV. Riv was allowed to go home within a few hours with careful observation for twenty-four hours. Ellie stayed with the other DiNozzo kids overnight.

LJ spent the night in the hospital with his worried parents by his side. The little boy slept most of the night sitting up or on his side with Ziva holding her baby. He woke in the morning with a huge grin on his face and asked his Abba for breakfast. Ziva was sleeping with the boy in her arms.

Tony hugged the little boy and kissed his forehead, "Kiddo, if the docs say it's okay, I'll buy you the biggest breakfast you want. I'm just glad you are okay."

Ziva stirred, "Is he okay?"

"Hi, Ima. Why are we in the hospital?" LJ had no recollection of the events of the past half-day or so.

Tony put his hand under his baby's chin, "Do you remember drinking the left-over beer in the cups?"

LJ frowned and nodded slowly, "Sort of…"

Tony made sure he had LJ's attention and locked gazes with him, "You had alcohol poisoning, LJ. It means you were sick from just the little bit of beer that you did drink. It could have been a lot worse if Anthony hadn't noticed that you were acting strange. Ima and I were really worried about you. I need you to promise me that you will not drink from any cups or glasses that are sitting around, especially if it may contain a drink that is for adults, like beer, wine, or other alcohol."

LJ's bottom lip started to quiver and he tried not to cry at his Abba's stern words, "Um… okay… I promise, Abba." Tony and Ziva hugged the little boy to them.

"I think we have all learned an important lesson from this," Ziva commented.

A/N prompted by a family emergency of an acquaintance. Kids can get into stuff in the blink of an eye.