Sarah was made to spend a few days in the hospital after waking up from surgery but she did not spend a moment of that alone as she always had either Ziva or Jen with her. Ziva had taken time off of work in order to be with her daughter and Jen would go to the hospital after work as well as before work in order to make sure that the two of them had what they needed.
Despite Jethro's eagerness to meet his daughter, he refrained from going to the hospital as they agreed that it would be best to wait until she was home from the hospital. The decision had been made as the young girl was already rather overwhelmed and fearful of so many things.
Jen did, however, make sure to tell her husband everything that she could about his daughter so that he was not left out on what was going on, although Ziva was updating him regularly too and had even sent him a few photos of the child. One of the photos had been of Sarah asleep with her head in Ziva's lap, another had been of her awake but just looking at the camera although that one looked rather haunted, another was of her listening to Jen telling her a story and she had a small smile on her face, and the latest photo was of Sarah looking out of the window as she watched a squirrel playing in a tree.
The girl did not like any of the nurses or doctors coming near her and watched them with suspicion whenever they dared to go near her, even if it was for genuine medical reasons such as checking her stats or taking her blood. Sarah had, however, taken almost an instant liking to the Director who had comforted her from the very beginning and she had been told so much about her mother by her aunt that she felt bonded to her which allowed for a level of comfort in the child.
Jen's idea of being 'just Sarah' was a foreign concept for her despite it being something that she was rather keen on as she hated being an Officer and hated taking part in the things that her grandfather had forced her to. She knew that one day she would have to tell her mother what had happened but for now, she simply did not want to talk about it and there was nothing that any of them could do about that fact.
Ziva had gone to take a shower and to get changed as well as to go and speak to Jethro so Jenny had stayed behind at the hospital with Sarah.
The young girl was lying on the bed, propped up as she listened to what Jen was telling her about her mother. The woman had decided to tell Ziva's daughter selective memories of the time she had spent with the woman and Sarah was loving it. She rather enjoyed hearing about the adventures of her mother and the fun times that she had with Jen whilst abroad.
There was a soft knock on the door and a young nurse stepped into the room, "Good Evening Sarah", she said softly, "I've just come to take your bloods".
Sarah looked wide-eyed at the nurse and shuffled back on the bed so that she was further away from the nurse and closer to Jen who she was increasingly viewing as her 'protector' because in her mind if the Director of NCIS could not protect her then nobody could. She was clearly not happy with the idea of the nurse being near her and definitely not okay with the idea of the blood tests.
Medical care was not something that she was used to as she had been seen to by a medically trained person who was employed by her grandfather rather than a doctor or nurse in an actual hospital. This arrangement was something that helped to keep the child under the radar and off of official records. These medical exams and treatments were rather unpleasant and she was not comforted at all which led to a slight fear of medical practitioners despite knowing that the majority was trying to help people.
"No", the girl said simply with a shake of her head in a negative manner.
Jen took hold of Sarah's hand gently and spoke reassuringly, "It's okay Sarah, she's just going to take a bit of blood so that they can do the tests that they need to do to make sure that you're healthy".
"No", Sarah repeated as she moved back even further.
"I have an idea", Jen announced gently, "How about I sit with you?".
Sarah looked unsure as she did not fully understand what the woman meant, "You are already sitting with me", she said as she looked down at the chair that Jen was perched on the edge of at that moment.
Jen smiled reassuringly, "I'll show you", she replied before cautiously climbing onto the bed and moving so that she was sat behind the girl. The Director put her legs either side of Sarah and tugged her back to lay back against her chest before wrapping her arms around her, "Is that better?".
The child hesitated for a moment as she was unsure of what to do and uncertain of the position but after a moment she eventually nodded, "Yes", she whispered very quietly.
The NCIS Director smiled softly as she was glad that she had been able to provide some comfort to the young girl who had recently been declared as her goddaughter. Being her godmother was a title that the redheaded woman was rather proud of as it showed the level of trust and love between herself and her best friend. The two of them had grown close over the time that they had worked together and they never lost contact, no matter what.
"Would it be okay to take your bloods now?", the blonde-haired nurse asked cautiously as she stepped closer at a slower pace than she would usually do.
Sarah observed her for a moment, taking in the flower-shaped watch that was clipped to her left breast pocket and the typical uniform worn by nurses in the hospital as well as the horrid black crocs that resided on the woman's feet. Eventually, she nodded her consent and after a brief squeeze from Jen, she offered up her right arm for the blood to be taken for the tests.
"My name is Allison", the nurse introduced herself as she moved closer with her small metal trolley that carried the items that she needed in order to take the blood from the girl.
The blood had not taken long and had not hurt as much as the girl had anticipated that it would although she remained in the same position. She had apparently decided that she was rather comfortable lying back against Jen so she did not make any move to change position or to allow for Jen to get up from the bed.
Jen, however, did not mind at all as she sat on the bed, leaning back against the raised head section of the hospital bed and holding her goddaughter close to her. After asking the child's permission, Jen managed to take a photo of the two of them on the bed and send it to Ziva and Jethro.
"Are you ready to go home, Sarah?", Ziva asked her with a smile as she sat down on the edge of the bed and took hold of her daughter's hand.
Sarah nodded although not fully understanding where it was that she would be going or whether it was truly as safe as both her mother and godmother insisted that it was. According to the two women, she was going to the house that belonged to her father and godmother for a while and that her mother would be staying with them too. It was a safety precaution whilst the investigation was going on.
The investigation had quickly been taken over from NCIS and it was now in the hands of INTERPOL instead. It was something that the team were annoyed about because they wanted to control the case and get justice for 'their Sarah' but they knew that it made sense too because INTERPOL had more resources than they did and also because they knew that knowing all of the details would make them want to kill the people responsible rather than to arrest them and put them on trial for their crimes.
"Okay", Ziva said softly before putting her hand out for her daughter to take, "Let's go".
Sarah climbed off of the bed as she took her mother's hand and sat down in the hospital issue wheelchair as it was hospital protocol that a patient that was being discharged must be taken out of the hospital in a wheelchair in order to get into the car waiting to pick her up from the collection point.
Ziva carefully pushed the wheelchair out of the room whilst Jen carried Ziva's bag as well as the gifts that had been sent for the girl from the team which included a big smile emoji balloon bouquet.
The little girl had been more amused by the balloons than any of them had expected her to be but Abby was over the moon that the girl liked them even if she had not yet managed to meet the child. Abby had loved seeing the photos of the girl and was amazed by the brightness of her blue eyes and how they resembled the boss'.
Jen had parked her car in the collection area and so it was not far for them to travel from the entrance to the hospital and once Sarah was in the car then a blanket was placed over her lap before Ziva climbed in beside her.
On the way back to Jen's house from Bethesda hospital, they stopped for Starbucks where both of the adults had coffee and the young girl had a bright pink strawberry drink along with a chocolate chip cookie.
