A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing so far! And remember, there are only three more chapters after this one...But there are three more stories once this is finished! I decided to make it into a 5-story series instead of just 4 :) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this one! Here's chapter 12!
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any original characters.
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Later that night, Tony was lying in bed while Ziva was getting ready to bed. He hadn't been able to get his mind off of the case that they had just solved. He knew it was over; Crystal was in custody. But, something was just telling him that they had made a mistake. Gibbs had thought Crystal was the killer for a while and had disagreed with Tony's theory that Marie was guilty. Usually, when Gibbs goes with his own instincts, he is correct, and even if Tony may not fully agree, he has always ended up seeing the truth. And the truth is that Gibbs is rarely wrong. But in this case...
"The kids are in bed," Ziva said, walking into the room. She crossed the bedroom to her dresser and started pulling out some night clothes.
"Okay," Tony said distantly.
"So now that the case is over, we can start focusing on moving into our new house," Ziva said happily. They had decided on the third house while still working on the case and had spoken with the owner of the apartment complex as well as the bank. Ziva was ready to put their down payment on the house, move in, and start their new life as soon as possible. Now that the case was solved, she was able to focus on doing just that.
"Yeah," Tony agreed.
"What's wrong?" Ziva asked as she finished pulling on a pair of cloth shorts and a tank top.
"Nothing," Tony replied. "I'm just thinking."
"You are not still obsessing over that case, are you?" Ziva asked. She walked over to their bed and crawled in beside her husband, pulling the covers over her body.
"I'm not obsessing," Tony said. "I just think Marie was involved."
"Honey, you have to let this go," Ziva said. "You were there today. It was Crystal."
"It just doesn't add up if Marie wasn't involved," Tony insisted. Ziva leaned over to kiss Tony's cheek and ran her fingers through his hair.
"It is over," she said. "Be happy that we can move on and that there is closure in this man's death."
"Okay," Tony sighed, knowing he was alone in his theory. The rest of the team was probably right. He just had to let it go. "Good night." He kissed Ziva good night and turned off the light on the night stand. Shortly, Tony and Ziva were both asleep.
A few hours later, Ziva was awoken by the feeling of someone lightly touching her arm and the sound of a soft voice. Her eyes quickly opened, and she saw Aaliyah standing next to the bed holding a teddy bear close to her chest. Ziva sat up and pushed Aaliyah's hair off of her face.
"What is it, sweetie?" Ziva whispered. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"No. I heard a noise," Aaliyah answered softly. Ziva looked at the clock on her night stand and saw that it was almost 1:30 in the morning. Tony turned over to face them, still mostly asleep.
"Aaliyah is scared," Ziva said. "She says she heard a noise."
"Tell her to go back to bed," Tony sighed, not opening his eyes. Ziva rolled her eyes and turned back to Aaliyah.
"Do you want to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed?" she asked. Aaliyah nodded and crawled over Ziva to lay down in between her parents.
"I still heard a noise," Aaliyah insisted. "Aiden heard it too."
"Aiden is awake?" Ziva asked. Aaliyah nodded. "Maybe I should go check on him."
"Or maybe you should both go to sleep," Tony said, still not fully waking up.
"I will go-" Ziva stopped speaking when she heard a noise. It was a loud thud as though something fell over. Tony was awoken by the sound and sat up in bed.
"Did you hear that?" he asked his wife. Ziva nodded, her heart beginning to pound harder.
"It sounded like it came from the living room," Ziva said. Aaliyah whimpered and snuggled against Ziva who wrapped her arms around her. The three of them sat quietly on the bed listening for another noise. They heard a floorboard creak as though someone was walking on it.
"I'll go check it out," Tony whispered.
"I'm scared," Aaliyah said. Ziva ran her fingers through her daughter's hair and kissed the top of her head.
"Everything's going to be okay, baby," Tony reassured her as he stood from the bed and pulled his gun out of the drawer of his night stand. "Zi, take Aaliyah and go to their room with Aiden." Ziva nodded and stood from the bed, holding Aaliyah in her arms. Tony had walked over to their bedroom door and peered down the hallway. He nodded to Ziva that is was clear for her to go to the kids' room.
"Be careful," Ziva whispered to her husband as she exited the room with Aaliyah. Tony watched to make sure that Ziva and Aaliyah were safely inside Aiden and Aaliyah's room before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the bedroom and into the hallway to walk toward the living room and see what awaited him in the dark.
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A/N: I know it was shorter than recent chapters, but I hope you liked this one anyway :) Please remember to review and let me know what you're thinking so far!
