Recap: The night after the Gibblets moved into their new rooms.

~ Midnight Snacks ~

Only the light of their rooms illuminated their silhouettes as they silently stared at each other. Having just come out of their rooms, they hadn't expected to see someone else up at this time of night.

"Hey bug, what are you doing up?" Tony asked quietly.

"No sleep," Mini-Ziva yawned, rubbing her small fists against her eyes.

The teenager grinned, "Yeah, me too."

"'ibbs."

"He's sleeping, little bug. How about a warm cocoa downstairs?" Tony offered.

The little girl looked warily from him to the team leader's bedroom door.

"'tay." Slowly she walked towards the teenager, one hand always on the wall since neither of them had bothered to switch on the hall light, making it hard to see where they went.

"You ever had marshmallows in your cocoa?"

"'mallows?" Mini-Ziva furrowed her little eyebrows.

"Come, I'll show you."

Meekly she followed Tony downstairs, where he already had gotten two cups out of the shelf by the time she arrived. Silently she watched as he placed the cups on the dinning table, together with the cocoa mix.

After she had climbed onto a nearby chair, Tony demonstrated her how to fill the cups with the mix before he left for the kitchen, leaving Ziva to finish the task.

"Hm, Gibbs has no microwave," the teenager shook his head, "Guess we need to heat up the milk the old fashioned way."

Taking the milk out of the fridge and pouring it into a saucepan, he left the pan on the stove and started his search for the marshmallows, which they had bought earlier this week.

Finding them in the far corner of the kitchen rack, Tony then went back to check on his small companion.

"Done," Mini-Ziva happily reported.

"Good," he praised, after having checked the amount of cocoa in each cup and also seeing no mix beside the cups.

The little girl beamed and looked at the pack in his hand. Her interest sparked.

"This, little bug, is the holy grail of candy." Tony said in a deep tone of voice, making a big show out of the marshmallows.

Although she only understood one or two of his words, his disguised voice made her giggle.

"Here, eat," Tony held one marshmallow out to her, while he plugged another one into his mouth, all the same grinning like mad which made the little girl laugh even harder.

Mini-Ziva momentarily looked at the fluffy white thing, before her eyes flew to Tony. Seeing that he, yet again, was eating another marshmallow, she gently took the offered food from him and softly nibbled on it.

"Good?" Tony asked with a smile.

Without really answering she grabbed for another marshmallow, as Tony had placed several of those candy right in front of her.

"Guess that means yes," he laughed silently and made his way back into the kitchen.

It only took a minute before Tony returned with the heated milk and had it carefully purred into the cups, stirring the liquid.

"Hot," he warned her and took his cup into both hands, blowing gently on it's content.

Over the brim of her own cup Ziva gave him a broad smile and mirrored his action.

"Sleep?" Tony asked after he had put the empty cups into the sink.

"Lo," negated the little girl, only to yawn widely.

"Fine with me," agreed the teenager and held a hand out to her, "Come."

Without any hesitation Mini-Ziva let him led her over to the couch.

"Not sure if there are any cartoons on so early, but maybe we find something else," Tony whispered as he switched the television on.

"Toons," Mini-Ziva muttered, sleepily resting her head on the couch cushions.

"Move," smirked the teenager as he came back to the couch, finding no real space to get comfortable since the little girl had laid down precisely in the middle of the green furniture.

With a incoherent grumble she moved to the left side and waited till he had sat down, with his feet on the coffee table, before she crawled back to him and let her head rest on his thigh.

If Tony was surprised by her actions, he didn't let it show. Instead he covered her with a nearby blanket and gently stroke her hair.

Not five minutes later, the little girl was fast asleep, her soft breathing lulling him to sleep too.

Early on the next morning a bright flash illuminated the semi-lid living room.

"Changed but still there for each other," thought the photographer smiling, before he got another blanket and covered his senior field agent with it. Leaving the room as quietly as he had come, without any of his agents noticing it.

~ Fin ~