A/N: Beware there are more secrets and twists to come! If you think it's headed in one direction, I can guarantee you are probably wrong lol. So don't get disappointed or mad if you think it's one thing, just keep reading!
Disclaimer: NCIS is not mine duh.
Hints and Possibilities
After Karine calmed down, Ziva gave her a rest. She knew she couldn't push her anymore. Gibbs had come back from his very long coffee break and wanted to know what was going on.
"Get anything out of her Ziva?" Gibbs asked when Ziva came out of the conference room.
"Not much. But we do know that she was on a plane coming from Paris all morning and she is very tired and misses her mother."
"So in other words, nothing." Gibbs said with a glare in his eye.
"Well I could ask McGee to check all incoming flights from this morning and see if he could backtrack from where her ticket was purchased from and by whom." Ziva said reassuringly.
"Do it." Gibbs said.
Ziva nodded her headed and practically ran back to the bullpen. When she was there, she relayed the message to McGee and away to work they went. Unfortunately, he didn't find much. The ticket was paid in cash, which proved that the mystery person was careful not to leave a trace.
"So for all we know Karine could be a fake name." Tony said aggravated that they had gotten nowhere.
"Tony I am sure Karine is her real name. Trust me, she was too scared to be lying." Ziva said.
"Where is she anyway?" McGee asked.
"Still in the conference room. She is playing with her Ipod device thing, and I ordered her some food. She certainly has a very large appetite." Ziva said.
"Why what'd she order?" McGee asked.
"A six-inch meatball marinara sandwich from Subway and the chicken nugget meal from McDonalds." Ziva answered.
"Geez are you kidding me? She has competition with Bella!" Tony exclaimed. Ziva and McGee couldn't agree more.
A half hour later, Karine's food arrived.
"Mmm that smells good." Tony said dreamily. He was obviously very hungry. "Is that meatball marinara? If it is, this little girl definitely has some good taste." Gibbs smacked the back of his head. Ziva and McGee smirked.
"Tony, take Karine her food." Gibbs said.
"Um, well I thought that Ziva was gonna take her the food Boss," Tony started. Gibbs gave him a look. "Right. I'm on it." Tony answered knowing full well Gibbs meant that it was his turn to try and get some answers out of Karine.
"And don't eat the food DiNozzo!" Gibbs called after Tony as he headed to the conference room.
*NCIS*
As he entered the conference room, Karine was sitting listening away to her Itouch while playing a game.
"Finally! I'm starving!" Karine exclaimed practically attacking Tony for the food.
"You sure have an appetite there. I'm Tony by the way." Tony said sitting down at the table.
Karine nodded taking a biet of her sandwich. "My mom says I have a fast metabolism. And I'm small for my age and I like to run and play a lot too. That's why I'm still skinny."
"So where is your mom?" Tony asked.
Karine continued to eat. "I don't know." She said slowly.
"Did she tell you why she didn't come here with you?"
Karine stopped eating for a few minutes. "Kinda…she said there was some bad people after us, and she wanted to keep me safe. I asked her why she couldn't come with me so we could both be safe, but she said she needed to figure a few things out first, whatever that means."
"What kind of bad people?" Tony asked.
"I don't know. I didn't even know bad people were after us." Karine said finishing up her sub and moving on to her fries from the McDonalds.
"Want some?" She said offering some food to Tony. "You look like you're about to drool."
"Alright. But don't tell my boss." Tony said. Karine giggled.
"So, what does your mom do for a living?"
"She's a doctor." Karine answered.
"Oh I see, a doctor. In Paris. How old were you when you moved to Paris again?" Tony asked.
"Six. I miss New York though. I didn't wanna move." Karine said sadly.
"Why did you move?"
"I have no idea! Mom said that they have better jobs in Europe and she would get paid more, which makes no sense at all 'cause we lived in Manhattan in a penthouse! I'm pretty sure we were pretty financially well off."
"Wow, you sure know a lot for a little girl." Tony said surprised.
"I'm ten but I'm not stupid." Karine said matter-of-factly. Tony chuckled.
"I take it you don't like Paris that much huh." Tony said.
"No I love Paris! But not to live. Just to visit and take vacations is fine. I miss New York. Coney Island in the summer, Madison Square Garden, The Central Park Zoo, Lady Liberty, New York Deep Dish Pizza! You can't get any better than the pizza." Karine said her blue eyes sparkling.
"Oh yeah, you can never go wrong with pizza." Tony said smiling. Karine smiled back.
"Have you been to New York Tony?" Karine asked.
"Well yes I have. Only a few times though. My dad lives there."
"I don't know who my dad is." Karine said softly.
"I'm sorry about that sweetheart." Tony said putting his hand over Karine's much smaller one.
"My mom says I remind her a lot of him. But then sometimes I do things that she has no idea where I get from." Karine said laughing. Tony laughed in response. She finally finished her food and went back to playing her game.
"Hey whatcha got there?" Tony asked.
"An Itouch. I got it for Christmas."
"Oooooh fancy."
"I know! I begged my mom for it. She finally gave in 'cause she kinda got tired of hearing Ole Blue Eyes playing on my stereo at all hours of the night."
"You like Sinatra?" Tony exclaimed his eyes widening.
"Pssh yea! How can anyone not like Frank Sinatra? He's a classic!" Karine said smiling.
"You have to be one of the coolest kids I know. Up top!" Tony said motioning Karine to give him a high-five. She returned the gesture by slapping her little hand into his big one.
As Tony and Karine continued to talk and drift further away from why she was there in the first place, Tony couldn't help but feel drawn to her, as if he had known her forever. She reminded him of someone, but then again it kind of scared him to think about it.
*NCIS*
While Gibbs and McGee were up in MTAC trying to tie up the loose ends from the case before Karine arrived, Ziva decided to go down to the lab with Abby, Bella and Rosie.
"Mama!" Bella exclaimed running into Ziva's arms.
"Hello my love." Ziva said placing a kiss on Bella's cheek. "Are you having fun with Aunt Abby and Rosie?"
"Uh-huh. Aunt Abby was showing me and Rosie some of her cool science stuff! And then I showed them the dance that I was gonna do in the musical! I have to practice a lot. It's already next month!" Bella said dramatically.
"Well I am sure you are doing great." Ziva said reassuringly. "So what are you doing in Mrs. Hurley's class?"
"Oh…just the same stuff." Isabella's tone had obviously changed.
"Hey why don't you like Mrs. Hurley anymore?" Abby asked. "I thought she was like your favorite teacher?"
Isabella shrugged.
"You know my love, she only wanted you to move to the other class because she cares about you." Ziva said.
"I guess." Isabella said still not convinced. Ziva decided to drop the subject. Right now, she had to focus on the case. She told Rosie to take Bella home, as she didn't want her daughter to stay late again, especially on a weekday. They said their goodbye's and off home they went. As soon as they were gone, Abby wanted to know everything about the little girl and the details of the case.
"Seriously, how could a mother send her daughter clear across the world, all by herself?" Abby exclaimed.
"Honestly, I have no idea Abby. I would never do that to Isabella." Ziva said.
"Poor thing must be so scared." Abby said sadly.
"She is. You know, I cannot put my hand on it, but I could not help but think that she reminded me of someone." Ziva said tilting her head deep in thought.
"Finger."
"Right."
"So who did she remind you of?" Abby asked curiously.
"I do not know…someone."
"Well it had to be someone you know if the girl took a cab to your house Ziva, I mean, random little girls don't just show up at the houses of federal agents and ask for help."
"I think it is someone we know Abby." Ziva said slowly.
"Who?"
"Someone from Tony's past…"
Abby stayed quiet for a few minutes thinking. "How old is the little girl again?"
"Ten."
Abby shut her eyes tightly thinking really hard. After a few moments she gasped, her green eyes turning to saucers. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Because if you are, then I totally wanna kill Tony right now." Abby said talking really fast.
Ziva's face tensed. She didn't wanna think about the awful possibility but she had to find out one way or another. The truth was about to reveal itself.
"Me too Abby, me too."
A/N: Of course I would leave y'all with another cliffy. :] Again if you think it's headed in one direction, be prepared to be thrown off! A big shout out to those that helped me and gave me some great ideas! It is very much appreciated. ;D