Chapter 4 May 2024

Tim scrubbed a hand over his face as the three team members of Operation Silver Fox worked in the office at the DiNozzo house. He figured he'd had about three hours of sleep per night since Delilah, Johnny, and Morgan had been hurried off to protective custody. He glanced over at Ziva and then at Tony; he could tell the stress of not knowing where their daughters were was wearing at them. Tali, Arianna, and Ariella were also whisked away to protective custody about two weeks after his family.

~Flashback to April ~

Leon arrived at the McGee house followed by Tim's team. Diamond was the first to arrive on scene and helped Tony and Ziva secure the property. Tony was impressed with the young agent and mentioned it to Ziva.

"Tim's got a good Probie there," he motioned in the direction of the newest MCRT member. "Kid's got a future with lots of promise."

Ziva nodded, "I like him. He has a good eye for detail and he has good instincts. Tim chose well."

"MY influence," Tony smirked. "Remember Tim was my Probie."

"You flatter yourself as usual," his wife smirked and touched his face with her free hand. "He learned a lot from you; I WILL give you that."

Ellie arrived at the house, "Sorry guys, I was at a movie when the message came in. My phone was on silent and I forgot to put it on vibrate."

"You're here, which is more than I can say for the fourth member of the team," Tim came out to the backyard with the others. Leon was inside on a secure line to SecNav. "Anyone seen or heard from Torres?"

Both Ellie and Alden shook their heads; neither had seen their teammate since getting off work the day before. Tim's regular cell chimed with a text alert. He swiped the screen.

"Speak of the devil… 'stuck in traffic. Eta unknown'" he read from the screen. "Good thing we have two trained investigators to help out here," he nodded at Tony and Ziva as his way of letting his MCRT know that the couple were indeed part of the investigation.

'We got it; go home,' Tim shot back a message to the errant team member. He shoved his phone into his jacket pocket; whatever excuse Torres had was not going to derail his mind from the current situation.

"Boss," Diamond called out to his team leader. "Found something." He motioned to Tim from where he was standing alongside the collapsed bouncy house. Tim, Tony, and Ziva hastened to the man's side.

"What ya got?" Tony looked over at Tim as the words came out of the team leader's mouth. When had McGee started channeling Gibbs?

Alden used his pen to point to an indentation in the metal part of the air pump for the kids' fun space. Bits of the plastic housing were scattered around the area. "Looks like a bullet embedded in the metal," he moved so the others could examine the find.

"McGee," Ellie called out from where she was examining the hole in the bouncy house fabric. "Think I found the cause of the collapse." She pointed to a large shard of plastic from the pump housing that was caught in the shredded fabric. "Puncture by plastic."

Ziva looked towards the direction the bullet must have travelled; no obvious vantage point from which the shot could have been made jumped out at her. However, she knew well enough that a trained sniper could make a nest in the oddest of places.

Vance stepped out onto the patio, "McGee, DiNozzos; a word with you inside?" The three left Diamond and Bishop to gather evidence, to bag and tag items to go to Kasie Hines for analysis, and to wrap the remains of the bouncy house in plastic for transport to NCIS.

Inside, the three followed Leon to the inside hallway where Delilah waited. "What's up, Director, um, Leon?" Tim saw the look on his wife's face and tried to stop his mind from thinking worst-case scenarios. He moved next to her and held her hand as Leon brought the three up to speed.

"SecNav has approved relocation of Delilah and the twins to a safe house for protective custody. I have volunteered to stay with them for protection and for communication with the outside world. We both agree that this should take place immediately, given the credible threat recorded by Ziva during your conversation with the subject of interest. I have a go-bag in my SUV so I can leave as soon as transportation arrives. Delilah sent the kids to choose some toys and personal items to take with us," he looked from one grim face to another as he spoke. Damn, he hated to take Tim's family, but their safety was utmost. At this point, none of them could even anticipate the former agent's next moves.

"Damn," Tony whispered to Ziva. "That sucks for Tim." She nodded as the kids all came from the bedroom hallway. The DiNozzo girls had been sent to 'help' their cousins choose items to take along on a 'vacation' with their mom and Uncle Leon.

Tim leaned down to his wife, "Are you okay with this? I'm… I'm not… sure…"

De cupped her husband's face in her hands, "After hearing that threat, and with what just happened, I want to be where you don't have to worry about the safety of me or the kids. I trust Leon and I know you do as well. Hopefully this won't be for very long." Tears streamed down her face as she spoke; Tim started crying also.

Tony and Ziva turned away to give the couple a few moments of privacy; Tali, Arianna, and Ariella were saying goodbye to their cousins. The kids had a group hug; Tali sensed the mood of the adults and held her cousins extra tight.

Ziva bent down to Johnny and Morgan, "Take good care of your mom, and do as Uncle Leon tells you, okay?" She drew the two McGees into a hug, "I love you."

"Love you too Aunt Ziva," they chorused.

Ziva stood as Delilah called to her. She walked to her friend, no her sister, and hugged the younger woman. "We will be okay; take care of yourself and the twins. I will do my best to take care of Tim," she felt De hug tighter and sniffle.

Tony hugged the young McGees, "Bet you'll have some cool movies and TV shows where you're going. And the best part is you get to go on a vacation with your mom." He tried not to let the tear slip from his eye, but it rolled down his face anyhow.

"Tony," De spoke into the hug. "Watch out for Tim for me."

"We got his six, always; me and Ziva. The 'Three Musketeers' are a dream team," Tony swiped at his eyes as more tears threatened to leak out.

Leon's secure phone rang; he answered it and listened for a few minutes. "That was SecNav's head of personal security. He is waiting for us at the fast food restaurant near the entrance to your subdivision. We'll take my SUV to meet him and then swap vehicles. SecNav is giving us one of her armored SUVs to travel to the safe house." He nodded to Tim to say his goodbyes to his family.

Tim hugged each of his children, "Take care of Mom and listen to Uncle Leon. I'll see you soon." He mentally added 'I hope' to his words. "Go with him to his SUV now."

Tony and Leon escorted the kids out to the vehicle. Tim hugged his wife and more tears were shed. Ziva took her girls to the kitchen for a snack to give the other two some privacy.

"De, I will get him and then get you and the kids back home as soon as possible," Tim bit back a sob. "I… hope within the next two weeks…"

"Shh, Tim. Don't make promises you might not be able to keep," she ran her hand over the back of his head. "We gotta do what we gotta do." Tears streamed down from her eyes; she sniffled.

Tim smiled through his tears and backed up to see his wife's face, "Did you just quote HIM?" He kissed her gently.

"Time to go," Tony came back inside. "Kids are strapped into Leon's SUV." He watched as Tim followed De out to the vehicle and helped her into the passenger side. Tim folded her wheelchair and placed it in the cargo area. He shut the hatch and patted the back of the vehicle to let Leon know they were good to go.

Ziva came up behind her husband and wrapped her arms around him, "My heart is breaking for them; I hope we NEVER have to do similar."

"Never say never, Sweetcheeks."

"Tim?" Ziva's voice pulled him from the flashback.

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

Tim scrubbed his face with his hand, "Yes… um… no… um… I really don't know?" he looked at Ziva and saw the concern on her face. She knew him too well, but he appreciated her concern.

"I know you miss them," Ziva put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We will get him and bring them all home." She knew how much she missed her girls; she could compare Tim's hurt to her own there.

"Yeah, I know, but it's getting frustrating with nothing we can pin on him to take to an indictment, let alone get charges to stick," Tim sighed. "I know you guys miss your girls as much as I miss my family. At least we know they are all in good hands."

~Flashback~

About two weeks after Delilah, Johnny, Morgan, and Leon went into the safety of protective custody, the DiNozzo family had their own encounter. Ziva and Tony walked with the two preschoolers to meet Tali at her bus stop on a drizzly spring afternoon in mid-April. It was warm enough that they let the two little ones splash in the puddles as they walked.

The short walk was to get all of them out of the house after being cooped up for four days straight of rain, downpours at times. The parents were frustrated with lack of progress on the cases and finding anything that they could use to make an arrest or to take to higher ups to press charges against their former boss.

"I see da bus!" Arianna yelled out to her parents. "Tali is home! YAY!"

Ariella echoed her younger sister, "Tali's home! Yay!" She stomped in a large puddle with both feet to emphasize her words, making a big splash. Both girls giggled and splashed again. Ziva smiled at her two; it was worth changing their clothes when they got back to the house to see the pure joy on the children's faces as they played in the puddles.

Tali climbed down the steps of the big yellow vehicle behind one of the neighborhood boys. She waved to her friends still on the bus, "See you tomorrow." As her feet hit the pavement, two little bodies rushed to her, embracing her with hugs. "Hey, rug rats," she wrapped an arm around each of her little sisters. "Were you good for Ima and Daddy today?" Tali acknowledged her parents, "Hi, Daddy; hi, Ima."

"Yep," both replied at once as the girls headed in the direction of home with their parents behind them. The two youngest DiNozzos filled their big sister in on the day so far as they walked.

Ziva squeezed Tony's hand in hers, "I love that the two little ones adore their big sister."

"She is a great big sister, isn't she?" he agreed with a smile. While Tali had been a bit apprehensive about adding a sibling when they'd told her about the pregnancy with Ariella, she had been totally enthralled with the little one from the moment Tony brought the then almost six and one half year old to meet her baby sister at the hospital. When told about the second pregnancy, the elder DiNozzo child had grinned.

"That's a GOOD thing; my sister will have someone to play with when I'm at school," the girl had reasoned out loud. She had not been old enough to understand that Arianna had been totally unplanned and her parents' oops baby. Fifteen months difference in age was becoming even less noticeable as the two little DiNozzo girls grew.

As the family walked back to their house, both parents were constantly checking the area for any unusual activity, people, vehicles, etc. All seemed good until the family turned into the driveway; Tony spotted the familiar truck parked about three houses further up the street.

"Shit!" he muttered under his breath and nodded in the direction of the truck to Ziva. "Figured he be around sooner or later."

"Yes, I did as well," she replied. "Play it calm; I do not want to alarm the girls if we do not need to."

"Agreed," he watched the truck and his family. Tali held Arianna up to check the mailbox; the little girl grabbed the sale flyers and other advertisements from the box as if they were a found treasure.

Ziva watched the truck slowly approach their driveway; she met gazes with Tony as the girls happily chatted on the way to the front door.

"When you gonna introduce me to those little ones?" the familiar voice broke the couple's eye contact from each other.

Tony took a deep breath in as Ziva squeezed his hand; she knew of the less than happy parting between her husband and their former boss. She'd not spoken to the man since leaving NCIS to return to Tony and Tali in 2019.

Tony stepped towards the truck, trying to lock eyes with Gibbs, "When you apologize for treating me like shit and ignoring my daughter when I left." Gibbs didn't bat an eye as his former SFA continued, "AND for not even asking me what I believed when I gave you plenty of clues that night I came to your basement…"

Ziva listened to her better half; she knew just from Tony's tone of voice that he was letting go of some of the hurt from so long ago. He'd let go of the anger after realizing that it was only hurting him, and that his focus needed to be on Tali and keeping her safe from the threat on her mother.

"Wasn't talking to you, DiNozzo. Got nothin' to say to you." Gibbs knew how to hurt even with his words; Tony gritted his teeth and exhaled a sigh.

Ziva stepped between the two men, "When cows fly; I have nothing to say to you until you make it right with Tony." She hoped her mangled idiom would comfort Tony even slightly. "My family is none of your concern."

Gibbs smirked, "Sure would hate to see you have to be apart from your children again, Ziver. Better keep an eye on those girls at all times. Be careful what you do and say these days." He floored the accelerator and shot off down the street.

"Damn him!" Ziva spat out. "Let us go inside and call Tim."

Three hours later, the heart-wrenching separation of family played out yet again, this time in the DiNozzo house. Tali, Ariella, and Arianna were loaded into Tim's NCIS car to meet Leon Vance at a highway diner to make the transfer for transport to the secure location with the McGee family.

"Ima, I'll watch out for my sisters; you and Daddy watch out for each other," Tali hugged her mother. She was old enough to understand a basic overview of the situation and what was about to go down. At almost ten years old, she quickly processed what her parents told her and assured them that she would be her little sisters' guardian.

Tony wept as his little girls hugged their Daddy. "Love you munchkins; be good for Uncle Leon and tell Aunt De and Johnny and Morgan we say hi."

As Tim backed out of the driveway, the DiNozzo parents held each other tightly and sobbed. Tony made a silent promise to his girls that he would bring them home as quickly as possible.

"Sorry, I was remembering…" Tony looked over at his teammates. "We do this for them," he reiterated as he grabbed one of the new case files they'd acquired and began making notes. Those were not tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes.

~Vigilante~

In Alexandria, a lone figure descended the stairs to the basement of a familiar house. The man already present glanced up from sanding the boat hull.

"Anyone suspect anything?" he asked the newcomer.

Nick Torres grinned, "Not a thing." He handed the older man a folder of computer-printed pages. "Here's all of the info you requested."

A/N I welcome all reviews of the story but anonymous comments that have nothing to do with the story will be deleted.