Chapter twenty-three

Ziva sat on the floor of the bullpen in front of her desk. Everyone else was out in the field. Conner was clingy so Ziva stayed to be with him and Gibbs understood why she had to.

"Conner come here." Ziva patted the floor in front of her.

Conner began crawling towards his mom. He got to her and sat on her lap. He reached up to her necklace and pulled.

Ziva caught his hand, "oh no sweetheart. That is not a toy." She got him to let go and kissed his hand.

Conner stared at the Star of David charm that rested on the chain. He was thoroughly interested in it. He waited until his mom looked away from him before reaching again. He grabbed the necklace and pulled more. Before Ziva could react the chain snapped and broke.

Ziva looked at him as he held it in his hand. "Conner! Oh tateleh!" She grabbed the chain and saw the charm was missing. "Conner where'd it go?"

Conner looked at her confused, "gone."

"Conner this is not good!" Ziva stood holding him. She set him in her chair and got on her hands and knees looking for the charm. She had to find it. It was so important to her. It reminded her of Tali. It couldn't be gone.

"No." Ziva whispered as she couldn't find it. She sat by her desk and sighed looking at the chain that rested in her hand. "It's gone."

Conner climbed off the chair and crawled to Ziva. He climbed into her lap and wrapped his arms around her neck, "Ima I sorry."

Ziva hugged him back, "it is okay Conner. It was just very special to me."

Conner looked up at her, "why?"

Oh the curiosity of little ones.

"My sister-it reminds me of her." Ziva said slowly. She kissed her son's head. "She died."

"Oh." Conner saw the tears in his mother's eyes. "no ky."

"Oh Conner." Ziva held her close to him and kissed his head. It was when she closed her eyes she heard Tony's clumsy footsteps as he attempted to get over the baby gate without falling.

"Hey Ziv. Hey buddy." Tony came over and sat by Ziva. "How was it?"

Ziva kept her eyes on Conner, "he was good. Find anything interesting?"

"Oh yeah." Tony nodded. He glanced Conner over then glanced Ziva over noticing something was wrong. He saw her necklace was gone. "Where's your necklace?"

Conner looked down. "Boke. I did it." He was so honest and sad about it. "I no mean to."

Tony rubbed his back, "it's okay bud."

Conner sniffed. "I no mean to, mom sad."

Tony took Conner and held him, "hey I can fix it for her. Its okay."

Ziva shook her head, "you can not. I can not find the star. It is gone."

Tony looked at Ziva. "Did you check where you were sitting?"

Ziva nodded, "yes. I think it slid under something or just wasn't there." She looked at Conner, "was the star on this?" Ziva held up the chain.

Conner nodded, "yes."

Ziva sighed and ran her hand through her brown curls. "Its gone."

Tony moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her gently. He rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Its okay."

Ziva rested her head on his shoulder and sighed quietly. She looked at Conner who was watching her, "tateleh do not worry. It was not your fault."

Conner nodded and crawled into Ziva's lap. He rested his head on her chest.

Ziva kissed his head and absent-mindedly ran her fingers over his blonde hair which was getting longer and longer. "I do not blame you sweetheart."

Conner looked up at her. He reached up and kissed her cheek then laid his head on her chest and played with her other hand.

Tony looked at Ziva, "don't worry. Maybe we'll find it soon." He was trying to comfort the sad ninja. Hopefully it worked.

Ziva nodded slowly. "I do hope so." She just wished she could make Conner not feel bad. A ten month old didn't need to feel as bad as he did for something that was an accident. She knew he didn't mean to break her necklace. He was just curious.

"Conner." Conner looked up at the sound of his mother's voice, "I love you."

Conner smiled a little.

"Conner, do Tony and I need to tickle you?" Ziva smiled playfully to cheer her son up.

"No." Conner shook his head smiling.

"I think we do Ziva." Tony grinned catching on. He held a hand up, "it's the tickle monster!" He playfully and gently tickled Conner making the little one erupt in giggles and laughter.

Ziva smiled and tickled him gently to as she held him sitting so he wouldn't fall over.

Gibbs stepped over the baby gate and heard Conner's giggles. He glanced over Ziva's desk and saw Tony and Ziva tickling Conner. He smiled. Both of them together made a great team. In and out of the field.