Chapter 2: If a cat barfs at night, you will find it in the dark with your bare feet.

The sound of crying from the baby monitor woke both Tony and Ziva. Eleven month old LJ had been teething for the past week or so. Ziva was sure he was cutting molars. "Go back to sleep, Zi; I've got this one," Tony kissed his wife and rolled out of the warmth of the bed.

He grabbed his sweats, yanking them up as he padded softly across the room. He could hear LJ's cries increasing in volume and figured the little boy had pulled himself up in the crib. Besides the teething, the baby was also learning to walk. He stood up every chance he could and tried to take steps. Asher, the family's greyhound would let LJ hold on to his back and walk slowly with the boy. Tony liked to joke that they had the only kid who was learning to walk from a dog.

He pushed open LJ's door and saw his son standing at the crib rail, his pajamas soaked in drool. LJ spotted his Abba and reached out his arms to be picked up. Asher was watching the whole thing from his bed in LJ's room.

"Hey, big boy, let's go get you a teething ring from the freezer and get you into dry clothes." Tony picked up the baby and kissed his forehead. He felt warm, but it could be from crying. He would check again after he changed the boy's sleeper.

He carried the baby to the kitchen, and opened the freezer door. He took out a teething chew ring and handed it to LJ. The baby put the cool ring into his mouth, almost immediately covering it in drool. LJ smiled at his Abba.

Tony headed back to LJ's room, noticing that Callie had come running out as he approached in the hallway. He put LJ on the changing table and pulled a dry sleeper from a drawer and a clean diaper off the stack. He took the wet sleeper off and tossed it into the laundry hamper.

He changed LJ's diaper and put the new sleeper on him. He looked on the shelf for the baby pain reliever drops and gave the little boy another dose. LJ continued to chew on the teether as Tony put the medicine back on the shelf. He picked up the baby and headed to the rocking chair, figuring he would try to get the little boy back to sleep before placing him in the bed.

His right foot stepped on something lukewarm and wet. Whatever it was squished between his toes. "What the?" He remembered the cat running from the room, "OH SHIT!" He curled his foot upward to keep from getting any more of the slimy mess between his toes and walked to the changing table. His left foot hit another pile of cat barf. "SHIT!" He curled his left foot upward and took the last two steps to put LJ on the changing table.

As Tony was grabbing wipes to clean his feet, Ziva appeared in the doorway, "Are you okay, Tony? I heard you yell over the baby monitor."

"Cat barf, both feet."

Ziva tried not to laugh, "I will check for more."