Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS but character plots and teenage Tali is all mine.

Chapter II - Blood

Sundays at the Dinozzo house were always centered around family time. Between the hecticness of work, school, basketball, cheerleading, ballet, and everything else they kept up with during the week, Sundays were always marked for rest, relaxation, and fun!

Tony came downstairs to the kitchen to find his 12 year old son, Anthony Dinozzo III, eating an extra large bowl of cereal and watching a video on his phone. He smiled and grabbed a spoon from the drawer then stole a taste from the boy's bowl.

"Daddddd", Anthony wined then laughed, "come on, get your own!"

"That is my own III", he tussled his son's hair, "I bought it!"

Anthony rolled his eyes, "yeah yeah".

Tony laughed as he poured cereal and milk in his own massively large bowl, "we better eat quick, your mom will kill us if she see's that we're using her good china again."

Anthony's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at his father and motioned for him to turn around.

"She's right behind me, isn't she?"

Anthony nodded and laughed as his mother tapped Tony's shoulder. "How does she do that?"

Tony slowly turned around with bowl in hand and gave his signature dazling smile, "good morning my little ninja, you're back early from your run."

Ziva looked at the bowl then back at him, "really Tony? Haven't I asked you guys repeatedly to ..."

Before her rant could even begin, Tony kissed her lips softly and apologized. "Let us make it up to you. III and I are obviously super hungry, and I'm sure you are too, so let us take you and Tali to breakfast someplace really really nice."

She raised an eyebrow and showed a coy smile, "I suppose I won't have to kill you today if you two also agree to clean the entire house, yes?"

"What, no way", Anthony clearly made his feelings known. "Ima please, can't dad just do the time for both our crimes? I mean, he's the one that started me on the 'good china bowls make for a better cereal experience' thing anyway! His dad influence got me in trouble!"

Ziva laughed, "so what you are saying is that you are just a victim who has been corrupted by the Dinozzo system, yes?"

"Exactly!"

She shook her head at her two favorite boys with a smile, "sorry my sweet boy, since you both are repeat offenders, my terms are nonnegotiable. Now go change and wake Tali to get ready so we can go to breakfast."

"Awe man", Anthony sighed as he headed upstairs.

"Really the entire house babe?" Tony sat the cereal bowl down and wrapped his arms around Ziva. He began leaving a trail of kisses down her neck. She settled into his embrace and moaned softly. "Isn't that a little harsh sweetcheeks", he asked as he bit down lightly on her favorite spot behind her ear.

Ziva let out a small growl as she felt herself giving in to Tony's obvious ploy to get out of cleaning the house. Ziva, contain yourself. She quickly pulled herself away. "Uhn uhn my little hairy butt. You will not trick me into overturning your sentence."

"But Zi", he kissed her lips again. This time with passion as he backed her up against the wall. She moaned into his mouth as he pressed into her harder. Her hands gripped his back and he took it as a sign. I've got her now. He broke the kiss and quickly dipped his head back down to her neck. Again she moaned. Tony slowed his advance only a little to pull back and lock onto her lustful eyes, "maybe now we can rethink that sentence? I think I have something worth your while."

Ziva smirked and pulled his lips back down to hers. Just as her hands reached for his belt, they were interrupted ...

"Ewwwwwwww, get a room", Anthony exclaimed as he re-entered the kitchen.

Tony quickly jumped back and Ziva laughed while trying to hide the redness in her cheeks.

"Sorry III", Tony said while getting himself back together, "kind of forgot you were here son."

The young boy rolled his eyes and took a seat at the center island. "I'm ready when you guys are. Seriously, I need bacon!"

Ziva shook her head, "You will have all the bacon I'm sure, but first let me go change. Your abba distracted me."

"Yeah I noticed, you guys are gross."

Tony scoffed, "how do you think you and your sister got here?"

"Ewww dad", Anthony covered his ears, "TMI!"

Both parents laughed. "Let me just take a quick shower and change." Ziva started to exit then paused, "you did wake your sister, correct?"

"No."

"Anthony, I thought I told you to wake her."

"Well I was going to but she's not in her room or her bathroom." He shrugged as he left to go to the living room and play a video game while waiting.

"That's odd." Ziva looked at Tony, "did Tali tell you she was going anywhere?"

"Nope, haven't seen her since she went to bed last night. Maybe she left before I got up and went to practice."

Ziva shook her head, "no, her practice got cancelled yesterday. She said she wanted to sleep in which is why I didn't wake her to run with me this morning. I wanted to let her rest."

"Huh, that's weird", Tony pulled out his phone to call Tali.

"WARNING! WARNING! YOUR FATHER IS CALLING! I REPEAT: WARNING! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, YOUR FATHER IS CALLING!"

Ziva curiously started walking upstairs to where the annoying sound of Tali's ringtone for Tony was going off. Tony quickly followed behind her. He hung up when Ziva lifted the phone off of Tali's bedroom floor.

Something isn't right. "Tony, Tali would never leave the house without her phone." Her confused eyes locked on to his as she held it up for him to see. "And she definitely wouldn't leave it on the floor." Her mind quickly went to the worst thoughts and Tony picked up on it immediately.

"Maybe III was just messing with us babe", he offered in hopes of shifting her thoughts. "She's probably just in the bathroom." He knocked on the door to Tali's ensuite. "Hey Kid, you in there?" After a few moments of silence, he opened the door but the bathroom was in fact empty. Where the hell is this girl? "Okay let's not panic. We're investigators, so let's investigate."

They both took a step back to take a quick assessment of the room. The curtains were closed as they typically were in the morning. Tali's laptop was open on her desk with her iTunes "Bedtime" playlist still playing softly, also normal. Her book bag was partially open on the floor next to her desk chair, still normal. Her favorite 'go to' late night reading books still sat on the night stand, normal. Nothing seemed out of place, except her bed and they both noticed at the same time.

"Does something seem ..."

"Off with her bed", Tony finished Ziva's question.

"Yes. Her sheets are never this wild, and her pillows are never on the floor. Tony, this doesn't feel right", her voice now matched the worried look on her face.

Tony didn't respond. Although his mind was saying the same thing, he wanted them to just be overreacting and reading too much into nothing. Maybe she snuck out. It wasn't in Tali's nature to go against the rules but it seemed better than what he knew he and his wife were both now thinking. I should check the windows.

Ziva walked over and opened Tali's closet door and immediately felt nauseous, "Tony?"

"Yeah", he kept his back turned while checking the locks on Tali's windows. All closed and locked. Something was off for sure. She couldn't have locked it if she climbed out.

"Tony", Ziva called again as she found herself stuck in the same spot. Unable to look away from the closet floor. There's too much.

He was lost in thought and desperately trying to shake the feeling that he was overlooking something. Why the hell would she leave without her phone? He looked again at the window then her bed, trying to piece together a logical explanation.

"Tony", this time Ziva yelled, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Her tone made him nervous, "What is it Zi?" He moved across the room to meet her by the closet. His eyes followed to where hers seemed to be fixated and he froze.

"Blood ..."