Title: Once upon a Summertime

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

A/N: Hi, sorry it has taken me so long to update. I've finally finished chapter 17 and as an apology for taking so long to update I've also almost finished chapter 18 so I will also be posting that one in a few days. Please let me know what you think because it makes writing a lot easier. I hope you enjoy this one.

CHAPTER 17

EXPLORING

Tim's POV:

When we returned home that afternoon Gibbs and Jenny vacated to the living room, suggesting us kids go outside and play. Ziva made an attempt to sneak up to the room she shared with Abby with the feeble excuse she was tired and needed to rest. Jenny stopped her though before she could escape with the objection that she knew from her mother that the only time Ziva was ever tired during the day was if she was sick.

When Tony suggested we'd explore the neighborhood Abby and I agreed it sounded like fun, since neither of us had taken a look around before, except for driving through it while arriving the day before and going on the picnic. Ziva, however, claimed it unnecessary since she had already seen it before. She took off to sit in the tree house and said she would wait there while we explored. I thought it was strange, and I believe Tony did too, that Ziva had already seen the neighborhood. When could she have had time to see it? We had been inside the house, together in the backyard or on the picnic the entire time since we got here the day before. It was definitely strange.

The three of us headed out through the white gate with the rose covered arbor above and went out into the calm neighborhood street. We started walking up the street first. It seemed to be a quiet neighborhood. Probably not a lot of crime here or anything like that, I figured.

"Can I hold your hand?" Abby asked Tony who nodded and grabbed hold of her small hand.

"Come on, let's take a look around," Tony said and we continued on.

All houses had either nicely cut hedges or painted fences surrounding them. Three houses up Pineroad was an older house with an extremely overgrown garden. The house was an old, yellow wooden house and would probably have been beautiful if it hadn't been for all the Hydrangea bushes that was in the way of anyone's' view of it. It also could have used some new paint in a few places.

We stopped outside and peered over the wooden fence that was so old it looked like it was about to topple over in some places. Tony lifted Abby a little so she would be able to see too, being shorter than Tony and slightly shorter than me.

"Who do you think lives here?" I asked.

"Don't know," Tony answered absent mindedly as he stared at the garden. "It's…nice… sort of. It could use a little paint here and…there."

"And someone cutting the grass," I added.

Tony put Abby back on the ground again and we continued walking. We stopped when we realized Abby was still looking at the house and the overgrown garden.

"What is it, Abby?" I asked.

"I know who lives here," She said and turned to us with an enthusiastic expression. "It's Madame White!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

Tony squirmed a little where he stood. "Abs, this is not where Madame White lives."

Abby frowned as she stood on her toes trying to get a better look over the fence. "How do you know?"

Tony shrugged, "Well…uh…she lives in the neighborhood but it's not here."

"Who's Madame White?" a familiar voice asked from behind our backs.

We all spun around and found Ziva standing there with her hands in the small pockets of her tank top.

"Ziva? What are you doing here? I thought you said you wanted to stay behind," Tony said while stealing a glance at Abby who seemed to be on her way to the gate.

"Jenny made me come," she shrugged. "She and Gibbs gave me a key to the house. They went to pick up some groceries and told us to let ourselves in if we get back before them. So…" she looked expectantly at Tony, "Who is Madame White?" she grinned almost as if she already knew the answer. Or perhaps she just knew it would embarrass him to have to tell. He didn't have to though since Abby happily stepped in instead.

"She's the protector of this neighborhood, silly. She lives here." She pointed at the house. "This has to be it. I'm sure of it."

Ziva continued to look expectantly at Tony with a grin on her face.

"It's a long story alright," He said throwing his hands in the air. "Come on, Abby, this isn't Madame White's place, okay?"

"But..,"she started to protest.

"We need to get going or we won't have gotten any further than this old house by the time it's time to get back," Tony insisted, stepping back and taking Abby by the hand leading her along.

We were out strolling around the neighborhood for almost two hours, just scanning the area as Tony called it. It was a nice neighborhood. It gave us all a welcoming feeling. After a while I didn't think it would be possible for anyone to come to this neighborhood and not feel welcome. We met some neighbors and they all said hello and welcomed us to Pineroad. Everywhere we went we heard, "Oh, so you're the kids living with Jenny and Jethro in their little house." People were kind and it almost felt like they already knew us.

Most houses had white picket fences or fences painted in warm colors like red or green. The houses weren't luxurious but they were nice enough and all very cozy and homey looking with curtains in bright colors in the kitchen windows and outdoor furniture with lemonade pitchers and an occasional apple pie on the table in the backyards.

We walked until we reached the last house furthest up the street. We could see a shrubbery from some distance away but before anyone had time to go any closer Ziva suggested we'd go to take a look at a store she had noticed earlier while we were driving by. We all agreed.

We walked past Jenny and Gibbs' house and a couple more and turned right. We left Pineroad and entered the somewhat bigger avenue instead. At the end of the avenue was a slope. The neighborhood was situated on a hill and to get there you had to walk or drive up the slope. We made our way down the slope and in the middle there was a small market place. It was the one Ziva had meant. We went inside and it was actually smaller than small, it was downright tiny, but still seemed pretty well organized. The owner introduced himself as Fergus with the "Best prizes and best service in Washington DC.". He was in his mid twenties, had curly brown hair that didn't go past his ears and wore overalls. He smiled at us, patted us all on the head and gave us a lollipop each, letting us choose any flavor we wanted. We all thanked him before leaving his store.

On our way back Abby insisted she wanted to see Madame White's house one more time before heading inside. She insisted even though we all thought it might rain soon so finally we gave in and walked right past Gibbs' and Jenny's house with our sight set on the aged yellow wooden house. Between that house and Gibbs and Jenny's house were two other houses. The one next to Gibbs' and Jenny's was a wooden green house with white corners and the one next to what Abby referred to as Madame White's house was a wooden light brown house with white cornersWhen we were passing the red house we noticed it had a different kind of fence behind the white picked one. It was more of a grating and inside three big German shepherds strolled around. They all glared at us from the other side of their prison and showed their teeth and growled.

I took a step back as one of them fixed me with a dark stare and barked at me aggressively.

"What's wrong, Tim?" Tony chuckled. "You afraid of the dogs?"

Looking down at the ground I tried to hide my blushing.

"Stop teasing him, Tony," Zivaadmonished. "Maybe he just does not like dogs. Especially dogs like that. Who would keep dogs like them," She wondered.

Tony nodded, "I'll bet they're there to keep burglars away," he said, "A person would be crazy to even go near…"

"Where's Abby?" I exclaimed as I looked up from the ground. She wasn't behind Tony anymore.

Tony flailed his arms behind his back and quickly spun around in search for Abby. "What the…she was here just a second ago clutching my t-shirt."

"Well, when did she let go?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know."

"You did not feel her let go?"

"No! Now stop bugging me and find her instead."

Ziva sighed, "She certainly has a way of disappearing into space."

"The term is without a trace, Ziva," Tony corrected.

"Whatever."

While they were busy arguing I stepped to the side of the house and noticed agrating gate. It looked to be the way to enter the back yard but the odd thing was it stood wide open.

"Tony! Ziva!" I called out to them. A second later they came running. "Look!" I pointed at the open gate.

A look of fear spread on Tony's face and he rushed to the gate with Ziva not far behind. I carefully entered carefully behind them. What we saw once inside scared us all witless. Abby was approaching the dogs who were all growling at her to keep her distance.

Tony and Ziva treaded carefully towards Abby. "You know any ways to ward off dogs?" Tony whispered.

Ziva shook her head. "I do not."

I stopped by the gate. I wanted to continue but I just couldn't bring myself to go any closer to the growling four legged creatures from that place which name I'm not allowed to speak. Their eyes kept darting back and forth between the four of us and froth escaped their mouths. One of them was digging his front paw into the dirt like a bull ready to charge forward.

Suddenly Abby turned around and glared at us with a frown on her face. "Go back;" she said forcefully with a frown, "They don't like you. That's why they look so mad."

I could feel my bottom lip quiver and I wanted to yell for Abby to run.

Ziva turned her head towards me and told me to stay there. I didn't really have a problem with that. Ziva and Tony were both faster runners than me anyway.

"I distract the dogs; you grab Abby and run for the fence." I heard Ziva say.

Tony shook his head. "No, you and Tim go wait outside while I grab Abby."

"No time to play Hercules now, Tony. You need a distraction." Ziva started moving slowly to the left while Tony continued forward towards Abby. She was standing too far away for the dogs to reach her in one jump but close enough for them to reach her in three big strides.

Suddenly Abby stomped her foot on the grass. "I said go back! They like me. They're not mean, really. They just want a friend to play with."

"Abby, back away toward us, slowly," Tony said but only got a pout in return from Abby. "You have to do it, Abs. Please. The dogs are dangerous."

Instead of listening Abby stretched out her hand to the dogs and called for them to come to her.

"No, Abby," Ziva tried but Abby didn't back away but instead took a step closer to the dogs.

By then Ziva had come pretty close to the three dogs and Tony was only a few steps away from Abby. He raised his hand and Ziva kept a close eye on it and when he brought it down she started her best dog bark impersonation at the dogs. They all turned stunned faces towards her and Tony quickly moved forward and grabbed Abby's arm. Lifting her from her feet he ran for the fence which separated the light brown house and the yellow house with the overgrown garden from each other. The three of the dogs barked at Ziva and looked ready to jump her but when they heard Abby's surprised yell from being yanked from her feet and Tony's footsteps they took off after them in a wild chase. Tony was slow while running and lifting Abby underneath her arms at the same time but luckily the fence wasn't far away. Ziva and me received our own problem when one of the dogs abruptly turned and decided to go after his own appetizer- us. I hurried to the other side of the gate and held it open for Ziva as she ran as fast as she could to make it out before the beast reached her.

"Ziva, this way, hurry!" I yelled at the top of my lungs to be heard over the dog's loud barking.

"Close it, Tim! Close the gate!" Zva yelled. Without knowing why I scrambled to do as she said. The dog was only one meter away as Ziva made it to the gate. With elegancy andelasticity she jumped halfway up the gate and grabbed hold of the edge. She quickly pulled herself up and landed with a thud on the rubble on the other side next to me.

To be continued soon

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