The case got in the way of the Tiva bits in this chapter, but trust me, you'll get them in chapter 4! For now, I give you the start of a father/daughter moment between Gibbs and Ziva...

Chapter 3: Red Handed

For Ziva, going home did not mean giving up. Instead of driving to her apartment, she made her way to the Kilman's place. All the lights were off not only within Robert's home but most of the neighbourhood as well. The small digital clock built in to Ziva's dashboard shown a blurry looking 11:45pm. She rubbed her eyes, trying to stay awake, when she heard the voices of several boys coming up behind her. She stilled, and looked out the passenger's side mirror. There were five of them; although it was dark out, a streetlight far off behind them gave away their figures. The voices grew louder and she heard the words 'Kilman' and 'kid' before laughter overtook the lower voices. Ziva had a bad feeling about them and knew that they would be able to see her from where she sat. As silently as she could, Ziva unclipped her seatbelt, pulled herself up and slid over the driver's seat so she was crouching low in the back. Tall shadows passed the side of the car, the voices at their loudest. Holding her breath, Ziva watched as the group made their way towards the Kilman's home; each member hold a long box in his hand. Eggs.

Ziva didn't see how a group of boys could go from murder and kidnap to such a childish act as egging a house. But it was possible.

After a few minutes, watching tiny white eggs splatter the side of the house; the group vanished as quickly as they appeared. Ziva opened her cell phone and dialled Gibbs.

"I have a feeling I know who did it." She said flatly over the line.

Early the next morning, Ziva was back at her desk with very little sleep behind her. Gibbs was also seated at his own desk when Tony and McGee entered the bullpen.

"Anything new, boss?" McGee asked before taking a sip of his coffee. Ziva spoke first.

"I took a drive down to the Kilman's place late last night. I just needed awhile to think things out, I guess." Pause. "A couple hours in, a group of men, nineteen to twenty-two years of age started to egg on Robert's home."

"'Egg', Zi. It's just 'egg'." A sharp glare pierced Tony.

"Whatever. I talked to the local police. They said the group was called the 'Dragon Trio'."

"But you said there was four of them, Ziva…" McGee hoped he wouldn't get the same glare. He didn't.

"Yes, I did. Gibbs and I were thinking that they recruited a new member and used Claire and Charlotte as an initiation."

McGee nodded at this, but then added,

"Why that family though? Murder is almost never random; and neither is kidnapping a little girl." The computer whiz sat in front of his computer and brought up a scan of the picture Ziva had found on the family's fridge nearly a whole day ago.

The ex-Mossad agent smiled at this and Tony stole a glance in her direction. A tiny grin came across his lips, seeing how happy Ziva got just by looking at a photo.

"McGee, check police records. See if Claire had any run-ins with the that Dragon group."

"On it, boss." McGee started typing away once more. After what felt like an eternity pasted, McGee began to speak. "Apparently, she reported the group on several occasions; vandalism mostly but there were a couple harassment charges laid out too." More typing came from McGee's corner. "I can't find any other charges made against the Dragon Trio that aren't from Claire Kilman."

"Now there is the motive we've been looking for. Mr. Dragon Ball-Z over here thinks he's the toughest guy in town, Kilman shows up, and able to stand up for her and her family, calls them out on it. I'd be pretty mad too if someone started calling the cops on me." Tony leaned back in his desk chair, not looking in Ziva's direction for even a split second.

"McGee, Tony, bring 'em in." Gibbs said before standing and slowly making his way to the stairs behind the bullpen. Ziva was just about to start up a search engine on her computer when she saw Gibbs stop in front of her and waggle a finger out to his side, telling her to follow him. Almost positive she knew what this was about, Ziva took a deep breath and stood. Gibbs started towards the stairs again and Ziva followed far behind, hoping she could make up a good enough cover story. Her frazzled mind was drawing blank after blank.

This time, Ziva was escorted into the Director's office. Luckily, Vance was not there. Gibbs held open the door for her, not saying a word. Ziva was sure Gibbs was going to bitch her out for not telling him sooner; asking why he had to hear about it through the grape vine. Before the door had even shut all the way, Ziva started her protest.

"Look, Gibbs. I know not saying anything was a b—" Ziva turned to face Gibbs and ended up being silence with the same finger from before. Gibbs sat at the table closer to the TV, motioning for Ziva to follow. She did.

"Do you trust me, Ziva?" Ziva nodded vigorously. "Then why not tell me?" Ziva searched her mind for and answer. She had one, but Gibbs wasn't going to like it…

"Do you trust me Gibbs?" He knew where this was going, and looked away.

"Of course Ziva." The grey-haired man remembered back to the night in his basement, Ari sitting across from him and Ziva pulling the trigger.

"Then why not tell me?" Ziva felt as though she had the upper hand here and moved to the edge of her seat, laced her fingers together and continued. "There's the odd comment here or there. But you never really talk about them Gibbs. It is the same reason for me as it is for you." He nodded.

"At least for me, there is that odd mention. For you, Ziva, it's different. You don't even give us that." This was going to go somewhere Ziva nor Gibbs wanted it to go, but they had to face the facts… sooner ather than later.

Please review with any/all comments regarding this Gibbs/Ziva convo. I really don't know where it's going yet!