Title: Once upon a summertime

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

A/N: So here is chapter 14. I hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think. Thank you all so much for your reviews on the last chapter. They made me very happy.

CHAPTER 14

A DARE

Tony's POV:

I kicked the football high in the air and then bounced it on my knee. I was feeling a little tired. It was probably because of the interruption to my sleep during the night. Before heading out that morning I had looked into the girls' room and found that Abby was still asleep. She probably needed it. I myself had woken up as soon as I heard Gibbs and Jenny start stirring around in their bedroom. Knowing I would not be able to go back to sleep I got out of bed and got dressed right away.

Gibbs pushed the door to the veranda open and walked out. He stretched both arms above his head and yawned. "Good morning, Tony."

"Good morning," I greeted him with a smile.

"Did you sleep well?" Gibbs asked as he joined me on the lawn, taking the foot ball from me and kicking it into the air.

I caught the ball with a jump, "Yeah, sure." Right after answering I reminded myself that lying to a Federal Agent probably was some kind of crime and corrected myself, "Well, to be honest…"

Gibbs raised a brow and waited for me to continue.

"I didn't sleep all that good. At least not all night," I said and kicked the ball again. This time Gibbs caught it and kept it tucked under his arm. He seemed to be waiting for an explanation. "Well, what I mean is that Abby woke me up. She was kind of upset."

"How do you mean `kind of´? Did she have a bad dream?"

"Yeah. But I took care of it. Everything is fine now," I assured him.

Gibbs smiled. "Good work." he walked some distance away and then kicked the ball to me. "Ever wanted siblings, Tony?"

I shrugged indifferently. "Not really. Things are pretty good the way they are with just me and my dad." That wasn't entirely true either I realized but decided to give myself a break with that one. I had never really given siblings much thought, but things were however not always that good between me and my dad. I kicked the foot ball to Gibbs again.

"That so," was all he said. He caught the foot ball in his arms and walked over to me. "Breakfast time," he said and put an arm around my shoulders as he steered me towards the kitchen. It was as if he could feel my struggle to find something to distract him with out there to prolong having to sit down for breakfast. I had too much energy for such unimportant things. "Don't even think about it, Tony." I heard Gibbs say and looked up. "You can do whatever it is you want to do right after breakfast."

I sighed. This guy certainly was good at reading minds.

Gibbs, Jenny, Abby, Tony, Ziva and Tim were all gathered around the round breakfast table in the kitchen. Jenny passed the orange juice to Tim who filled his glass and then took a drink.

"Pass the orange juice please, Tim," Gibbs asked.

Tim lifted the glass pitcher and tried passing it slightly too fast. As he started to lose his grip his own hands were suddenly steadied by Gibbs's hands. He slowly took the pitcher from him and put it down on the table.

"Sorry," Tim mumbled with downcast eyes.

"It's alright. No harm done," Gibbs assured him.

"So, what's planned for today?" Tony asked, glancing at Gibbs and Jenny as he took a big chunk of his sandwich with ham.

Jenny looked up. "Today we thought we'd show you the park and have a picnic there. It's about half an hour's drive from here. Does that sound okay with everyone?"

"Sure." Tony said. Tim nodded, avoiding speaking with his mouth full. Abby played with a strand of her dark hair and Ziva absently looked out the window.

"Abby?"

"Yes, Jenny."

"Do you like the idea? A little ice cream, playground, kite flying perhaps?"

Abby folded her hands in her lap next to her precious duck. Jenny followed her eyes. "What do you have there, sweetie? Is it Philip?"

Abby nodded with a tiny smile.

"What does Philip think of the idea?" Gibbs asked.

Abby frowned and seemed to think for a minute. Then her face lit up. "Philip likes the idea. He was just worried because he didn't know he would be allowed to come with us." She looked down at her stuffed duck with a look full of sympathy on her face. "Philip is not allowed on school outings or in school at all. My teacher says school girls don't bring people like Philip with them. But Philip doesn't want to be left behind. He will be very sad and scared all by himself."

Gibbs smiled, "Well, here Philip is welcome, no question about that."

Abby broke into a grin and then took her first big bite from her sandwich that morning.

Gibbs turned to Ziva, who was sitting with her back towards him; still busy staring out the window. "Ziva, are you interested in going on a picnic?"

She turned a little and shrugged. "I guess." She said in a less than enthusiastic tone and went back to staring out the window.

"Uh huh. Glad to hear you think it's a good idea." Gibbs said a little sarcastically and returned to his coffee.

"What if it starts raining? I've heard rain is pretty common here in America." Ziva murmured with her chin resting on her palm, fingers almost covering her mouth.

"There's no risk for rain, Ziva," Jenny assured her and patted her head as she walked by on her way to the stove.

Gibbs exchanged a look with Jenny, suggesting to just ignore the girl's sulky attitude for now. "Then we'll head out an hour after we're finished with breakfast. Jenny and I will pack the picnic basket with lunch and some treats, and you kids will just make sure you're ready and wearing something you can play in. Sneakers are a good choice of footwear."

The car with the two federal agents and four children drove into the parking lot beside the park and stopped abruptly. The sudden stop made everyone' backs hit the back supports with a thud.

"Who taught this guy how to drive?" Ziva muttered in the back seat. Abby giggled and Tony pushed the door open and jumped out first.

"Wow!" he said as he stared out at the lush, green park with woods next to it and a big playground ahead.

"Mmhm, it's an adventure playground," Gibbs explained.

Tim was busy trying to get his seatbelt off.

"Oh yeah, I can see that," Tony said, having trouble tearing his eyes away from the wood playground a few yards ahead. "Come on, Tim, you're slowing everybody down." Tony sighed.

"Take it easy, Tony," Jenny reprimanded, "we're in no hurry," she assured him as she grabbed the picnic basket from the trunk.

Gibbs handed a big blanket to Ziva who took it and started walking off. She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hang on a second until everyone's ready to go," Gibbs said with a determined look, making her stay put. He wondered where kids got their energy from sometimes.

It seemed a lot of people had shared their interest in a picnic that day, judging by the number of families and couples that were crowding the big grass area around the playground.

"This place is packed," Tony said with a huff. "You sure there's room for us?"

"Oh, we'll fit alright. We don't take up that much room," Jenny said with a smile.

As soon as everyone was ready Abby ran ahead a few paces and stopped, pointing at a green spot next to a couple with a cat on a leash.

"Here is a good spot! Can we sit here?" she asked, Philip safely tucked under her arm.

The others agreed with her that this was a perfectly fine spot. Jenny had Ziva help her spread the blanket on the ground. Tony stood next to the blanket, rocking up and down on the balls of his feet.

"But we're not gonna eat now, are we?" he asked with a frown. "I mean, there's so much to do first. Food can wait right?"

Gibbs chuckled, recalling the event in the backyard earlier that morning. "No, we're not going to eat right away, Tony. You guys go play for a while first. "

Just as they were about to take off Jenny held up a hand stopping them dead in their tracks. "Wait wait." She turned to Gibbs, "Maybe we should accompany them. I mean it is their first time here." She glanced at the kids, waiting to be given orders. Tony, Tim and Abby seemed to be ready to explore the playground. Ziva had taken a seat on the blanket. Jenny wanted to let them go but she didn't feel she could trust them completely so soon and she wanted to feel safe while they were away. The adventure playground and the lawn were too packed for them to be able to have a visual of the kids during the time they were away. She wasn't fully comfortable with that. Tony was old enough to go off on his own, but she hadn't forgotten about the incident at the airport. He seemed to have an act for finding trouble. Tim was still very young and Abby was definitely too young to be on her own. However in the company with the others she would…

"Are you done conferring with your own mind, Jen?" Gibbs interrupted her thoughts. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "They'll be fine." He turned to the kids. "Right?"

Tony nodded, "Of course, Gibbs.

Gibbs turned to Ziva who by now had found a comfortable position on her back. "Ziva?"

"I was not planning on going with them, Gibbs."

He took two strides over to her and picked her up, planting her firmly on her feet. "You are going with them, Ziva, " he said. He wasn't angry, just determined.

She sighed deeply and threw her hands in the air as she joined the others.

"We don't need anyone to come with us," Tony assured them. "We're old enough to go on our own. And we'll take care of Abby," he glanced at Tim, "and Tim."

Timmy scowled at Tony, "I can take care of myself, Tony." He said in an offended tone.

Before Tony had a chance to speak again Jenny jumped in. "We know you can, Tim. "she looked at everyone of them, one after the other, and then addressed them all. "Alright, off you go then all of you. We're right here if you need us."

Tony took Abby's hand. He signaled with his other hand, much like the Generals seated on horsebacks did in old army movies when the wanted their troops to move forward. "Come on. Let's go people."

Tim joined Tony and Abby but Ziva hesitated. Jenny gave her a little push to get her moving.

"Go on and join them, Ziva. You can't hang around here all day."

"I was not planning to," she mumbled as she glanced off to the woods to their right. She then followed the others anyway without protest.

They walked off towards the playground which seemed overcrowded with kids all different ages.

Tony's POV:

I looked out at the adventure playground in front of us. I didn't really like playgrounds but I could see this one was special. It was a wood playground with bridges high up in the air that you had to cross to get to different little huts. There were several lookout towers that you could only reach by climbing a rope. It was immense. A little further away were several sets of swings. I saw Abby eyeing them.

"I'm going to go climb," Ziva said and quickly walked away. I saw her grab hold of the bars determinedly and start to climb higher and higher. She certainly had no fear. Secretly I wanted to show her I could climb a lot higher than her. But I could see Abby was longing to go to the swings.

"Do you want toswing?" I asked her while still staring up at Ziva, now hanging upside down from a bar with her braid dangling down.

Abby nodded.

"Tony,"

I stopped and turned to Tim. "Yeah,"

"You really want to climb, don't you?"

"I can do that later." I lowered my voice some, "I don't think Abby can get swinging by herself."

"I can push her," he insisted. "You go climb with Ziva."

An irritated voice from below interrupted us. "Hey, I can too get swinging by myself! I don't need anyone to push me. I've known how to do that myself like…forever now."

I peered at Abby with one eye open and then smiled at her. She was obviously quite a spitfire when she wanted to be. I considered this for a moment. She didn't seem to mind if I took off climbing either. She was holding Tim's hand and Philip tucked under her left arm, wearing a scowl. "Ok, fine," I said, "We'll meet you over by the swings in a little while."

The two of them walked off hand in hand while I went to do some exciting climbing.

I looked around for Ziva. Looking up, squinting I saw her high up in the mightiest lookout tower. To get up there I had to climb a rope all the way up.

When I finally reached the tower I was panting. Not wanting to show that to Ziva I turned my face away while I tried to catch my breath. When I finally turned she had disappeared. Stunned I looked out the tower window to see if she had silently jumped down. It wasn't very likely though because of how high up we were. I jumped when suddenly someone fell from above the window and a face stopped right in front of me while I leaning out the window.

"Aah!" I yelled and took a step back.

I quickly recovered as I recognized it was Ziva's face. She was hanging from the roof with her legs wrapped around something.

"Shalom," she said with a grin.

I straightened my t-shirt, "Sha-what?" I yelled, frustrated and a little embarrassed that she had caught me off guard. "Don't do that again."

She rolled her eyes at me. "It means hello in Hebrew," she swung back and forth with her arms hanging down past her head. "And I will do what I want. Not my concern that you scare easily."

"I wasn't scared! Just…surprised," I protested loudly, "And I wouldn't want Gibbs and Jenny to catch you doing that. They'd freak."

She shrugged, as best she could from her position. "Maybe." She replied carelessly. As her face was starting to turn red she pulled herself up on the roof again.

"You're not the only one who can do that, you know," I yelled after her with a frown. "I can too." I knew she hadn't exactly challenged me in the sense of using actual words but something in her eyes kept telling me she was challenging me in her own way. Only without actually saying it.

"Oh, sure you can, Tony," I could hear her chuckle up there. That made me mad and I decided to show her. If she could do it then I definitely could too. I was stronger than her. Not to mention faster. I had proven that at the airport. I stepped up into the window and turned around so I was facing the inside of the tower. I grabbed the ceiling edge and pulled myself up onto the roof. It was quite the view from up there. I happily got to my feet and dusted my hands off while smirking at her.

"See," I replied. "You're not the only one who can climb. "

"Where are Abby and Timmy?" she changed the subject. She was sitting with her back to me right at the edge, dangling her legs.

"Over by the swings."

She nodded and continued staring off at something.

"You looking at the woods or something?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

She shrugged again and answered with her back still toward me. "Because I'm considering going there to take a look around." She stated casually as if it was the most ordinary thing a person could do.

"By yourself? Just like that?" I could feel my mouth was slightly open so I made sure to close it.

Slowly Ziva turned around with her eyes suddenly resembling a cat's slit- like eyes , "Yes. Why not? You do not think I dare go there on my own?"

At first I thought to protest and tell her I believed her. I wouldn't want her getting into trouble. But then my mind drifted to how she had intentionally embarrassed me minutes before, and all that good intention disappeared for a moment. Instead I grinned at her and raised a brow.

"I dare you."

To be continued