Dear all,

thank you very much for your lovely reviews. I want to thank everybody who also put my story as favorite, or to story alert. I am very glad. Here is the next chapter. Feedback is more then welcome. Read, review & enjoy.

xoxo LT

Disclaimer: Still don't own NCIS :))


And so it begins

They met Ziva in the bull pen, Noah on her heal. The boy looked shyly at the people around him, peeking from behind Ziva's right leg. It was for the first time that Tony could get a better look at the boy who had been hiding all day long. Every time he had tried to get a better look at him, in the conference room, he seemed to be able to wiggle his way out of his view point. Now, even though his shyness was very clear, Tony could see that curiosity was slowly driving the boy towards them. His short brown hair was a mess and its texture looked similar to Ziva's. His olive complexion was somehow similar to Ziva's although he had the impression that Noah's skin was a tad lighter. He was struck by his sad eyes, almond eyes the color of coal, eyes big, innocent and wounded, but intelligent. His round face was home to a small button like nose and thin lips. He was the perfect height for his age and his body type showed an energetic boy, one that liked to play outdoors. He was watching everybody intently, his forehand resting just above the crock of Ziva's knee and when McGee moved suddenly towards him, Noah quickly hid his face in the fabric of her pants.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you Noah." McGee began seeing Noah's reaction. Ziva turned around half kneeling in front of Noah. She cupped his check and spoke softly in Hebrew, making him come out of his shell.

"Tatelah, these are my friends, my family. They will not harm you, trust your dodah." She explained and her soothing words had the effect of calming him down.

"Shall I introduce you to them?" she trailed away, watching his every move. She felt liberated by the fact that the boy seemed to understand her and let her through. When she had tried to calm him down almost an hour ago, he had gone into shut down mode, not hearing what she was telling him. She then realized that Noah probably suffered a panic attack when he had woken up into a strange and unknown place without a familiar face. He had eventually calmed down and even smiled when Ziva had promised a piece of candy. It was only then that she realized the boy had not eaten all day. She had ordered him something from the deli next door and it warmed her heart seeing his face light up at the sight of chicken nuggets and French fries.

Noah pondered her question for a few seconds and then nodded, grabbing her hand in the process. She stood up with a smile glad to see that he had returned the smile.

"Noah, this agent Gibbs, my boss. His desk is right next to mine and we will be staying at his house tonight." She explained, showing him Gibbs.

"Hello Noah." Gibbs spoke, kneeling down so he may be at the same level with the boy and at the same time extending his hand.

Noah looked at him, his eyes big and Gibbs noticed that his first reaction was to step back so he could feel Ziva's legs behind her. Slowly the small boy took Gibbs' big hand in his own and greeted him softly.

"Are you my uncle?" Noah asked.

Gibbs chuckled and shook his head.

"Then why are we staying at your house?" he continued, with a puzzled look on his face.

Ziva chuckled and bent down, seeing as the boy had turned to her. "My house is too small for the both of us tatelah. We will be staying with Gibbs until we have a bigger one."

He nodded and looked back at Gibbs, studying his features with a curiosity Gibbs had long not seen.

Noah's eyes fixed themselves on his shoes and Gibbs knew that the small boy was embarrassed by something.

"Mister dodah Iva's boss, do you have pop tarts at home?" the boy asked, not daring to lift his gaze from his sneakers.

At that point both men behind Gibbs and Ziva started laughing, causing Noah to look up. Seeing Gibbs' expression made the boy loosen up and smile a little.

"I do have some at home Noah. "He said lifting himself up looking at the two other men.

"This here is Tim McGee, my colleague and sitting opposite Gibbs. He is very good with computers" She explained pointing towards McGee.

Noah felt braver and extended his hand to McGee who gladly took it.

"Hy, Noah." He greeted and the boy shook his hand.

"Shalom, mister McGee." He said.

"No mister Noah. Just call me Tim or McGee." He explained stepping away from the boy.

"Noah, this is my partner and my good friend Tony. He sits in front of me." She pointed, not looking at Noah, only at Tony.

"You have the Mighty Mouse stampler, right?" Noah asked excited, his eyes shinning, a bright smile on his normally shy and composed face.

"Yeah, I do little men. Nice to meet you." Tony said crouching down so he could be at the same level with the boy.

"Mister Tony could I play with the stampler?" he asked all of a sudden shyly.

"It's stapler Noah, and yes you can play with it any time you want. Also, like in Tim's case here, no mister for me" Tony corrected earning him an angry glare, which he chose to ignore, from Ziva.

"What do you say Noah?" Ziva asked.

"Thank you Tony." The four year old smiled, looking at Tony as if the agent was a toy himself.

Noah quickly made his way towards Tony's desk to get the stapler, while McGee and Gibbs went their separate ways, one down to Abby's lab and the other for another coffee fill.

Tony and Ziva stayed behind, her eyes trained on the small boy's movements, while Tony's gaze follower her.

"You're googling again." Ziva spoke not turning around to face him.

"Heh, it's ogling Ziva." He corrected and she smiled softly shifting her body closer to his.

"Toda Tony." She spoke.

He knew what she meant, but his first reaction was to make a joke. Only after seeing her troubled features did he decide to keep his mouth shut.

"You should have brought him to my place. I have room for all three of us." Tony spoke all of a sudden after a period of silent Noah watching.

She turned towards him once more and smiled sadly.

"We have just started rebuilding our friendship. It's delicate and I did not want to make matters more complicated by asking you for shelter. Matter of fact my first thought was going to a hotel with him. Gibbs offered his home and I saw it as a good idea." She explained, but stunned to see a puzzled expression on her partner's face.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you see it as a good idea?" he asked, both of them moving towards her desk. Her body made contact with the edge of her desk and she sat down, exhaling loudly, while he stood close to her, allowing her a view of Noah's activity.

"Because he has the experience Tony. I have no clue when he's supposed to be in bed, or what he should eat. I have never been in this situation before, but Gibbs has and he can help me." She explained, searching his features for any sign that he might be displeased with her answer.

"Say something." She begged him when he remained quiet for a longer time.

"I thought you were angry with me when I left the conference room earlier. I thought that was the reason you asked Gibbs for a place to stay." He confessed looking sheepishly at her.

"Don't be ridiculous Tony. I have not given that incident too much thought." She lied. The truth was it had bothered her that Tony had left and avoided her all day. She felt disappointed, but she couldn't put her finger why she was feeling like that.

He opened his mouth to comment something but quickly changed his mind, looking back at the boy.

"Do you have stuff for him? I mean clothes and toys?" he trailed away looking at her.

"He has two suitcases. I have no clue what's in them. I hope I will be able to find a new apartment soon, and then I can worry about everything else." She exhaled, her body slumping forward.

"Tomorrow's Friday and this weekend we're not on call, and I have nothing to do so we can go apartment hunting." He quickly explained, getting more excited. The prospect of him spending quality time with her made him almost dizzy.

"What, no hot date this weekend?" she teased, smirking when she saw the effect the words had on him.

"Funny, Zi! Very funny." He muttered and she laughed, playfully smacking his arm.

"I am joking DiNozzo. I'll be more than happy to go apartment hunting with you. I will ask Gibbs if he could keep an eye on him that is if Noah agrees." She explained, her eyes caressing the playing child in front of her.

"Well, I have a plan how we can be more productive." He claimed, giving her the DiNozzo trade mark grin.

"Tony, what are you down to?" she asked, glaring suspiciously at him.

"It's up Ziva and trust me on this one." He grinned, while she still gave him the evil eye.

"Normally I would threaten to kill you with a credit card, but today, I'm too tiered for this." Ziva spoke, jumping from her desk, and walking the short distance where Noah was playing.

Tony's features softened when she saw her crouching down and brushing Noah's hair from his face. A few seconds later Gibbs walked into the bullpen, coffee in hand.

"Go home." He said and was glad that McGee, who had just walked him, had heard him. He hated to repeat himself.

They all nodded and moved towards their desks to gather their stuff. Noah was still playing on the floor, while Ziva got everything done.

"Ziva, here's the key to my place. You go first, I have something to finish." He said, extending his arm towards the Israeli.

"You lock up now, Gibbs?" McGee asked.

"Yeah, McGee, I do. To many nosy people in my house." He chuckled, leaving the bull pen.

"Ziva, do you have a car seat for him?" McGee asked, but her "really now McGee?" expression made him regret his question.

"Of course you don't. Sorry. I'll give you a lift to the boss's house." He offered, while she lifted Noah up.

"Thank you McGee, but I have to stop first to my apartment and grab some things. I have nothing to wear for tomorrow." She explained, trying to somehow maneuver the two large suitcases, her own backpack and Noah on her hip. The boy was slowly but surely falling asleep and she knew that there was no way he could walk to the car.

"I'll drive you Ziva. Gibbs's house is on my way anyway." He spoke grabbing his own backpack and then the two suitcases. She smiled at him and the both bid McGee a good night, while Noah mumbled something.

The ride to Ziva's apartment was quiet, the only sound, besides the purring of the car engine was Noah's rhythmical breathing. He had fallen asleep the moment the car started moving. Once at her apartment she had quietly slipped out of the car and made her way to her house, only to reappear fifteen minutes later holding a duffle bag. In the mean time Tony had watched over the boy, letting his thoughts roam free.

Tony and Gibbs had parked at the same time, one in the drive way the other in front of the house. The two men had carried the luggage while Ziva had lifted the boy from the car as gentle as possible. She did not want to wake him, yet the boy stirred when he was brought into the house and the sudden fall of one of the suitcases woke him. Tony had apologized a thousand times, only earning him a very consistent head slap, a shriek of surprise from the young boy and a chuckle from the newest probationary agent.

The promised pop tart was given to Noah half an hour after Tony left. The boy had been ecstatic, while Gibbs had showed her two guest rooms next to each other where both Noah and she would sleep. She had tried to reassure him that one bedroom would be enough but Gibbs had insisted that Noah needs to have his own bedroom. It would do him good in the future, the gray haired agent had explained.

When bath time had arrived, Ziva had been completely lost in trying to pursue the young boy to take a bath. Noah had cried and run away from her, and she had chased him through the whole house. It was with Gibbs's help that she had managed to get the boy into the tub and actually stay there. Gibbs had turned the house upside down in search of a tape with some Disney film he had bought for Kelly long time ago. After finding it, Ziva had placed the boy in front of the television and retreated towards the kitchen. She took a bottle of water and sat at the kitchen table, only to be joined shortly after by Gibbs.

"You did good Ziver. This will be easier at one point." He encouraged, earning him a half hearted smile.

"I wish to give him the best, to be the best for him, yet I do not know how. Bath time was a nightmare, and I do not know how to tell him to eat only two pop tarts instead of three. I do not want to be harsh to him; he is a shy child and I being authoritarian would not help. No parenting role models were available to me and adopting my father's style would be a disaster. My mother was a kind woman, but weak in a way. It was always my father's will that was carried out, never hers." She explained, fiddling with the bottle.

"Time will teach you. Mistakes will be made, but only experience can make you a better parent. Neither Shannon nor I had a clue how to handle Kelly when she was born. I thought she did a better job than I did and she thought the opposite. You learn, Ziva, as you go." He told her, standing up from his chair to look at the living room. Noah slept peacefully on the couch and Gibbs walked towards the television set. He took the tape, which read Bambi on it out of the VCR and put it next to device. Ziva had walked in and carefully lifted the boy up, bidding Gibbs a good night. She climbed the stairs and reached the bedroom given to the small boy. He looked tinny in the bed she had just put him into. After making sure that he was perfectly tucked in, she turned the night lamp on, leaving the door ajar and walked towards her own bedroom.

Noah's suitcases had been emptied and the clothing deposited in a small couch opposite her bed. All of his toys were no lying in the room he was currently sleeping in. Among the clothing, books, shoes and the toys there was a metal deposit box. She had tried to find the key but in vain. In the end she had found the key in the belly of Noah's stuffed toy kangaroo. She had decided to open the box after she had put Noah to bed and took a shower. Now, with her hair still damp, she sat herself on her bed and took the box in her hands. The key slipped in easily and a few seconds later the lock gave in. A pile of documents greeted her, along with jewelry, rings, earrings, necklaces beautifully crafted. She finally discovered a thin golden necklace with a beautiful amber ring, and Ziva gasped realizing that this was Becka's ring, the one she had received from her grandmother when she had turned eighteen. She smiled sadly looking at the beautiful ring and she could feel the tears threatening to spill. Ziva put the necklace with the ring back into the deposit box and started sifting through the documents. She had found Caleb's and Becka's will, in which they left all their belongings to their son. Another document appointed Ziva as being Noah's legal guardian and another one were the paper with the bank details to Noah's deposit in Switzerland.

She finally found an envelope with Becka's hand writing. It had only one word on it "Ziva". Taking a deep breath, Ziva took her hunting knife, which was resting beside her and carefully opened the envelope. She took out the neatly folded papers and sat cross-legged on her bed.

My dear Zivi,

If you are reading this letter, then it means that both Caleb and I are no longer amongst the living. Do not be sad my darling, because this also means that our son is alive and in your capable hands.

I do not know where to begin this letter, but first of all I want to thank you for keeping your promise and taking care of my little boy. I know this will not be easy on you, especially after what has happened this summer. Zivi, I should have shot Rivkin when I had the opportunity many years ago. You have no idea how much I regret not pulling the trigger back then in Tel Aviv. I am glad that your partner put an end to his miserable life. He deserved it Ziva; no man should have treated you the way he did.

I am so glad you are alive my friend, words can't even express the relief and happiness I felt when I received news of your rescue. NCIS and America will be a good home to you, I am sure of that.

After you left for Somalia, information coma across us, and we found out the nature of your mission. We tried to come to your aid, we contacted people and we prepared the mission in secret. Somehow this information leaked and we were hindered, we were sent on a mission. During the summer Caleb and I have tried everything in our power to find out if you were still alive. Your father told us you were probably dead and when we confronted him, he started bombarding us with assignments. It is at that point that we realized that our end was probably very near.

Listen to me Ziva, you need to know. Your father wanted us dead for a while now. He believed we had incriminating evidence about him and his actions. I will not deny it, we did have information on him, but for safety reasons I will not divulge them in this letter. You will find out at one point, until then please be careful.

We took care of all our assets, we sold all our houses and we deposited the money in Noah's bank account. In a few weeks, my friend, another sum of money should be deposited into Noah's bank account. Caleb sold his family home in Haifa and I sold my Tel Aviv apartment. I think you remember which one I am talking about; the one where we spent so many pleasant evenings when I was still unmarried. Do not be sad Zivi, now we are at peace and I am glad that I will be together with Caleb.

Please do not be upset after reading the next lines, we did this for both you and Noah. I know that your newest status at NCIS does not provide a consistent paycheck and I know that your father has terminated any assets you had in your name. What I can tell you for sure, if you would ever want to get in contact with your family, is that your aunt Netty has managed to save some of your money. I met her last week, when she moved out of Israel, disgusted by your father's actions. She told me that she had managed to dissolve some of your accounts and take the money out of them before your father officially pronounced you dead. She is a very persuasive woman, as you know. She also told me that she had managed to save some of your things from your old home. You will find her new address at the end of this letter. Netty has severed all ties to your father and does not wish to ever see him again; she only wishes to see you again my dear Zivi.

But back to what I intended to tell you in the beginning. Ziva, at the end of this letter you will find the details of a bank account Caleb and I have opened for you. Please do not be angry, it is for the best, trust me. The sum is substantial and you can do whatever you wish with them, but please see it as a gift to you, not payment for taking care of our soon. We will not need the money where we are going.

In the deposit box you'll find a letter addressed to Noah. Please give it to him when you consider he is old enough to understand. I know he is too small to read it but at one point he should read it. My amber ring is yours to have until Noah will find a girl who will love him as much as he should be loved. Please give him the ring and he can decide if he wants to give it to the woman that will make him happy or not. You can do what you please with my jewelry, they are yours to have and wear them in good health.

My only regret is that I will not be able to see my son grow into a healthy, intelligent, loving and capable man, and that I will not be able to see him marry and have children. It pains me to think about that and it hurts to not be able to see him anymore. I feel sad that I will not be able to see you Zivi, not see you get married and have children. I am sure you will find a good man that will love you and respect you, give you everything you lacked all these years.

Attached to this letter is a list of all the things you need to know about Noah. At this age he has one big weakness; he loves pop tarts. He is capable of eating so many until his tummy hurts, but please indulge his little addiction once in a while.

My dear Zivi, please tell him we love him; please tell him every night before he falls asleep. He needs to understand that we will always be with him, we will watch over him and love him even beyond the grave.

Please love him and protect him, he so desperately needs it now, as you probably know you are the only person he has in this world.

I have to finish now Zivi, but remember this, my friend; I love you very much and I will be eternally grateful for having you as a friend.

Before we part, I have one more request. Do NOT let him, under any circumstances, join Mossad. I do not want him to have the same fate we had.

Shalom Zivi.

Love,

Becka

Tears had started fall long time ago, and the papers in her hand were wet with her tears. As stated in the later Ziva found two more sheets of paper, one contacting a list with information about Noah and the other with the bank account information.

She put the letter back into the envelope and then back into the deposit box. Silently she made her way towards Noah's room. Once inside she could see that the young boy was sleeping peacefully. She sat down at the edge of the bed, stroking his face. He shifted in his sleep leaning against Ziva's hand. "Tatelah, ima and aba love you very much." She whispered crying.

During the night Ziva woke, not knowing if it was because of her own nightmare or because of a low sound she heard. She listened more attentively, but the sound did not repeat itself. She snuggled back into the bed, but before she drifted back to sleep she heard the sound of shuffling feet. Quietly, Ziva pulled her sig from under her pillow, checking the break on it. Just when she was about to get out of bed, the door opened and a small boy appeared, undecided if he should come in or not. He was rubbing his eyes, and from the yellow light making its way from behind the curtains, she could see that he had been crying.

"Tatelah, come here." She said patting the bed next to her. It was all the invitation he needed and he swiftly climbed into bed, next to her. Noah snuggled closer and she wrapped her arms around him. Minutes later Ziva could hear his even breathing. Sighting she pulled the boy closer and finally fell asleep.

She never knew that Gibbs had checked on them late in the night and had found them clinging to each other as their lives depended on it.