Title: Once upon a Summertime

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

A/N: Hello everyone. I hope you're having a wonderful spring with nice spring weather. At least I am. Happily the nice weather is making it easier for me to sit down and write. So I'm actually getting more writing done for this story now than before when it was just raining. The next chapter is almost finished. Please let me know what you think of this chapter 22.

CHAPTER 22

A visit in the dark

Tim's POV:

Gibbs started a fire in the fireplace that evening. And we all got to stay up until eleven. Ziva, Tony and Abby and me sat on the floor in front of the fireplace, as close as we could. Ziva and Abby were settled on the soft sheep skin sprawled on the floor and Jenny had taken a seat in the rocking chair next to us. Gibbs had taken possession of the leather arm chair facing the fire.

Abby asked Jenny to read to us from her book of classic fairy tales. She had brought the book from home and said it was one of her favorites. Jenny read Cinderella to us and showed us the pictures after every page. It was cozy sitting there listening to her read and feeling the warmth of the fire on our faces and bare arms and legs. The fire crackled and popped and once in a while I saw Abby scoot back a little when the fire made a particularly loud sound that made her jump.

After brushing our teeth and drinking one final glass of water and visiting the bathroom one last time we were all in bed by eleven thirty. Tony must have been tired because he had only tried talking Gibbs out of making us go to bed one single time tonight. I thought that was strange. I tried asking him about all the food I saw him hide in his napkin at dinner. He wasn't usually shy when it came to asking for more if he wanted more so I didn't understand why he hid it and brought it with him upstairs afterwards. I could see that Ziva and Abby noticed what he was doing too. But they kept Gibbs and Jenny busy answering their questions about all sorts of things instead. Tony was definitely lucky that Jenny had decided to put on a really long table cloth just before dinner.

I raised my head a little and glanced at Tony in his bed. Maybe he was extra tired after eating all that beef. I on the other hand didn't feel so tired at first. But when I finally closed my eyes I felt myself drift asleep anyway.

03.20 a.m

Ziva's POV:

I felt chilly air coming from the open window and it was making my legs cold. I felt around with my hand for the covers. Unable to find them right away I woke up enough to crack one eye open. With my one open eye I saw that the door to our room was slightly open. At first I did not think much about it. I was too tired from getting so little sleep the night before when I had been down by the pond. Drowsily I sat up in my bed and rubbed my eyes. My eyelids were so heavy and I really just wanted to go back to sleep but I could not wipe the thought from my mind that there was a certain important reason why that door should be closed. I thought on it some more but the reason did not seem to want to come to me so I lay back down again and rested my tired head on the soft pillow.

Then my eyes shot back open and I practically flew to sitting position again, like there had been a cactus underneath my back. The door! The dog! I thought. The door was supposed to be shut to keep the dog from wandering out. It had been difficult enough to say good night to Jenny outside our room and keep her from entering at risk of finding the dog, and now she might have gone outside and exposed us already.

My knees touched the floor and I peeked under the bed to see if she was there but she was not. I got back up and ran to the door and out into the corridor to quickly get hold of her. I was about to head for the stairs when I saw the door to the boys' room open. I pushed the door open all the way as quietly as I could so I would not wake them and the sight I saw made my heart skip a beat. The dog lay in Tim's bed and had snuggled up close to his upper body and slept peacefully. What surprised me even more was that Tim did not seem to have noticed her there. Instead he had sleepily draped an arm around her furry body and his head was resting right next to hers.

I took one step inside and a floor board creaked. Right away the dog woke up and raised her head, looking at me like she had been expecting me for quite some time now. I snapped my fingers and whispered, "Come here. Please come here now."

If Tim woke up and yelled we would be in hot waters. I again snapped my fingers and called to her to come over to me but she seemed to like the place in Tim's bed better than the floor underneath my bed. And of course who would not. I padded over to Tim's bed and stood over it with my hands on my hips.

"Come on, we have to go," I whispered. "Before he wakes up."

I wished she would have had a collar I could grab to get her to move but of course she did not have one so I had to find another way.

Carefully I took hold of Tim's arm and lifted it off the dog and let it rest at his side instead. I exhaled when I put it down, thanking my lucky star the movement had not woken him up. We did intend to tell him about the dog the next morning when we had a better moment after breakfast, but I did not think letting him find out this way would be a good thing at all.

The dog pushed herself up slightly and cocked her head to the side and looked at me like she was wondering why I was bothering her at this hour. I myself was so tired that what I really wanted was to crawl in the warm looking bed next to them both and go back to the land of dreams I had been in. Pushing that thought out of my mind I focused on getting the dog to a sitting position so she could then jump out of the bed.

Suddenly Tony moaned over in his bed, like he was having a bad dream. I gasped as the dog spun around in the bed too see where the distressed sound had come from and managed to knock down the glass of water on Tim's nightstand with her tail. It landed on the floor with a crash and Tim's eyes shot wide open. He was looking straight into a giant world of white fur since the dog's butt was right above his face. I could see his eyes grow even wider with panic and surprise and I lounged forward, jumping into his bed, and covered his mouth with my hand before he could scream. I shushed him and put a finger over my lips and tried to look firm.

"Do not make a sound, Tim. Everything is all right, okay?"

Probably still feeling panic not to mention confusion Tim just shook his head.

"It is just me here…and a friend."

That was when Tony sat up in his bed and looked at us.

"What are you doing?" he whispered agitated, looking at me and the dog sitting in Tim's bed with her tongue hanging out, looking like she was smiling. "You want Gibbs or Jen in here or what?"

"If you do not want them in here, Tony, then get out of your bed and help me here," I snapped. Tim had begun to try to get my hand out of the way and the dog now seemed interested in licking his bare feet sticking out from underneath the covers.

Tony did get out of bed and grabbed the dog. Quickly he took her gently but firmly by the neck and ran with her straight to Abby's and my room.

"Quickly! They'll be here any second," Tony hissed to me. "Under my bed, hurry."

Getting the message now I let go of Tim, letting Tony take over, and slid under Tony's bed. From under there I heard Tony talking to Tim.

"I'm gonna remove my hand now but you'd better not yell. The dog is gone so you have no reason to, okay?"

"D..d…dog?"I heard Tim stammer in a small voice.

"Yes, dog. Ziva found a dog the other night and that's what we've been hiding from Gibbs and Jenny all day. Now when Gibbs and Jen show up you have to…"

He did not get to finish that sentence before footsteps were heard. They were definitely coming our way and fast too, increasing in their loudness until the door opened and Gibbs and Jen appeared. I could not see them, except for their feet, from my hidden position in the dark underneath Tony's bed. Then the room filled with the bright light from the lamp in the ceiling.

"What's going on here?" I heard Jen say in a worried voice. "We heard a noise. Tony, what are you doing out of bed and Tim…oh your face is white as a sheet, honey."

Jenny's bare feet and Gibbs slipper wearing feet moved past Tony's bed and over to Tim's and then I could see Gibbs knees too as he knelt by the bed.

"We're sorry the noise woke you," Tony said apologetically.

"That's alright but what happened? Tim, did you have a bad dream?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. The glass fell over and…it doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't make any sense, Tim?" Gibbs asked.

"Uh…everything."

Gibbs and Jenny kept talking to Tim, trying to make some sense of what he was saying but finally, after a lot of rambling and eventually yawning they told the boys to go back to sleep. Tony's bed squeaked when he fell into it and soon the room was covered in darkness again as Gibbs turned out the light and closed the door behind them with a final "good night".

I waited until I heard the door to Gibbs' and Jen's bedroom close before starting to crawl out from under there.

Tony was sitting up in his bed and Tim was leaning against the headboard of his bed with his knees pulled up close to his chest and a small pout on his face.

"Nicely handled, Tim." Tony complemented him.

"What do you mean 'handled'? I didn't handle anything. I don't understand anything." He turned to me."Why didn't you tell me about the dog? You told Tony and Abby…but not me. Why not?"

One look at his face told how hurt he was and I felt my stomach tense. It had not been our intention to hurt him. We had intended to tell him about the dog in the morning.

I crossed the room and took a seat on the side of Tim's bed. He looked down at his toes and scratched a mosquito bite on his big toe.

"I am sorry, Tim. I did not mean…nor did Tony or Abby, to leave you out of what was happening. It just happened so fast and we did not get a chance to talk to you about it alone tonight. We did however intend to tell you tomorrow. We did not mean to hurt your feelings."

He glanced up at me but then quickly turned away again.

"You're bigger than me. And you think I'm little. You probably didn't want me along that's all," He said with another pout and a frown.

"That is not true. Besides, Abby is little and we wanted her. We wanted you too, we just had not gotten the chance to talk to you yet, that is all. I swear."

Tony shushed us from his bed.

"Keep your voices down or else they'll be in here again soon."

I nodded at him and then turned my attention back to Tim. I could see tears glistening in his eyes now and then exactly what I feared happened, one escaped his eye and rolled down his round cheek.

"I don't want to be here, I want to go home," Tim sniffled and rubbed his eye with a closed fist.

I felt panic rise in me. This was our fault. I looked at Tony again who looked clueless as to what to say or do.

"Oh come on, Tim, don't be so…" Tony started but this time I shushed him. This was not the time to make Tim feel stupid for crying or being sad.

My eyes grew big as an idea formed in my head. I got off Tim's bed and started towards the door but turned back before reaching it.

"Wait a second, Tim. I have a proposal for you ok. I am just going to get something."

He removed the fist from his eye and looked up at me in the dark.

"What?" he asked and hiccupped.

"You will see. Just wait."

I tip toed into the room I shared with Abby and was careful not to wake her when I kneeled on the floor and lifted the lid to the cedar chest. I picked up my flash light that I had placed there the other night. I held the cherished item and squeezed it in my hand. My father had given it to me for my birthday once and it had never stopped working. Except when the batteries needed changing of course. I looked down when I felt a nudge on my thigh and there was the dog, lying on the floor with her nose pressed against my thigh. I smiled at her attempt to make me feel good again and patted her soft head before getting back to Tim and Tony's room.

I trudged over to Tim's bed again with the flashlight in my hand and took a seat by his side. I had his attention as he gazed at me, with his knees still pulled up against his chest. I gave him a serious look as I held the flashlight out for him to take.

"Here. If you forgive us for leaving you out and promise not to cry anymore tonight, then this is yours."

Tim just stared at the shining steel flashlight.

"Y…y…you mean it's…for…me?"

"Yes. I am giving it to you."

"To keep? Forever?" he asked with big eyes and placed his hands on top of his knees.

"Forever. I promise." I held it closer to him and nodded for him to take it.

Slowly as if not certain I would not change my mind and pull it back he reached for the flashlight.

"But we do have a deal right? You forgive us?"

His hand froze in the air a moment and his gaze flicked from my face to his toes and back again. Then a grin appeared on his face and he took the flashlight.

"Deal, " he said. He weighed the flashlight in his hand and discovered how heavy it was. Then his finger found the button and he pushed it up, turning the flashlight on. Its light was really bright inside the dark room and I had to look away as he accidently put the beam of light right in my face.

Tony grinned at me and mimicked "Not bad" at me as a compliment.

When Tim was finished testing the flashlight he turned it off and put it beside him in the bed. Then he flung at me and put his arms around my neck in a surprisingly big hug.

"Thank you! Thank you a hundred thousand times, Ziva!" he said slightly too loud.

I smiled and returned the hug.

"You are welcome." I whispered. "And remember, " I put my hands on his shoulders and looked at him. "You cannot tell Gibbs or Jenny about the dog. We have to protect her and try to find some place to hide her from her owner who is mean to her."

Tim squared his shoulders some.

"I promise I won't say anything to anyone."

"Good."

After we had struck our deal and all was well again I went back to my warm bed and we all went back to sleep. My bed was now extra warm and extra full because of the big white ball of fluffy fur that was snuggling under the covers and soon snoring along with me.

To be continued soon

A/N: Please send me a small review. The next chapter will be more eventful.