Recap: Day after Chapter 18.

~ Abby's gift ~

"Hey Gibbs," she greeted the agent cheerfully as he opened his front door. Two hours earlier than they originally had agreed on.

"Abbs?" He looked questionably at her.

"I come bearing gifts," she held a present into his face. The gift was wrapped in black paper with pink skulls on it. The top showing a bright pink bow.

"Pink," was Gibbs first thought, before he wondered about the reason for the gift itself.

"I thought, since Ziva is kinda scared to leave your side, maybe this will help her," rambled Abby as she dodged past him.

"What is this?"

He shut the door behind her and raised an eyebrow, demanding an explanation.

"You'll see," smirked Abby, getting rid of her shoes before she turned back to him, "She upstairs?"

"Yeah."

Before he had even finished saying the word, the scientist was already halfway up the stairs. Too confused by Abby's mysterious present, he just followed her.

"Ziva!"

The little girl immediately looked up from her game with Tony and rewarded the scientist with a bright smile.

"Come here," the Goth said and patted the spot next to her on the carpet, close to the door, where she had sat down.

Without hesitation the little girl trotted over. Her eyes lighting up as she saw the present.

"Here," Abby smiled, holding the gift out to her friend, who eagerly took it.

Not one minute later the floor was covered by pieces of wrapping paper and the men now stared at the dark blue velvet box in Ziva's hand.

The little girl carefully tried to open it, dropping the box into her lap more than once as she struggled with the mechanism.

Abby was about to help her, when Mini-Ziva finally managed to open the box and Gibbs caught the first glimpse of its content.

"A silver bracelet?"

"Not just one bracelet," Abby happily explained, "That's the one and only bracelet, which makes sure Ziva never gets lost again." At the same time she signed the idea behind the bracelet to Ziva.

"How so?" Tony asked from his place on the floor. The unfinished puzzle lying now untouched in front of him.

"Got my number and address on it." Gibbs smirked, having crouched down next to the little girl to get a better view.

"Yup, no more losing Ziva." Abby slightly glared at him but broke into a smile as Ziva suddenly hugged her.

-"Toda!"-

Gibbs grinned and helped the Goth up after Ziva had let go of her.

"It also has a tracker in it," Abby whispered into Gibbs' ear.

The team leader only raised an eyebrow in response, upon which Abby put on her most innocent face.

Meanwhile Tony had joined the group and was now sitting right behind Ziva. Stretching out his hand, he tried to grab the bracelet out of Ziva's hand but the little girl was too fast for him and swatted his hand away.

-"Lo."- She scolded and turned around to glare at him.

"Uhm," the teenager was baffled by her fast reflexes, not having thought that she would notice him. "Can I look at it. Please?" He put on his most charming smile.

Mini-Ziva thought for a few seconds before she handed him the silver bracelet, "'tay."

"Thank you." Tony replied dutiful, aware that the other two people in the room were watching the scene closely.

"That glare was sooooo Ziva," Abby cooed into Gibbs' ear.

"DiNozzo's caught in the act look, too," the team leader whispered back with a smirk.

"A really nice bracelet," Tony commented theatrically, "Can I help you put it on?"

The little girl cocked her head, "Carefuwl."

"Of course," Tony grinned at her and gently fastened the armband around her small wrist. "There you go."

(BBQ Time - Garden)

"That's not kosher Gibbs," Abby put her hands on her hips, regarding the meat Gibbs had put on the barbeque. Her and Ziva's chicken filets lying right next to the thick, meaty steaks of the others.

"I know."

"Gibbs!"

"She's hungry as a bungry when it comes to meat, Abs." "Who would have thought."

Abby regarded him with a confused expression.

"And she never has kept kosher all the time, so this won't hurt." He threw her one of his patented smirks as he turned the steaks over.

The scientist sighed, "Alright. But keep that beer away from her food." She threw the bottle sitting on a small table, right next to the BBQ, a glare.

"Abs..." He stared at her.

"I'm gone, I'm gone," with her hands raised she backed off and went back to the others.

"What made Gibbs stare at you like that?" Tony inquired.

"Yeah, he never really does that to you." McGee barely refrained from laughing.

Annoyed by their teasing, Abby let herself to be mislead to swear, "Would you two just shut .."

"Abigail!" Ducky chided, putting his hand over Mini-Ziva's ears as she sat on his lap. The little girl was amused by this and giggled happily at his action while trying to pry his hands off her ears.

"Duckyyyyyyyy!"

"Sorry my dear," Ducky apologized with a smile after he had removed his hands, "Some things aren't supposed to be for your little ears."

"Me no li'lle!"

While the team laughed and gave their small friend no answer, Ziva climbed off Ducky's lap and trotted over to the team leader, who still tended to their dinner.

"'ibbs!" She pulled on his pant leg.

"Yeah?" He stopped to cast her a rather long glance.

"Me no li'lle. Ken?" She looked up at him with hopeful eyes. Her bottom lip slightly stuck out.

Gibbs briefly wondered what had caused this question in the first place before he looked over to his team, who were still laughing. "Ah."

He put the fork aside and crouched down next to her,"Who said you're little?"

"Ducky." Mini-Ziva crossed her arms over her chest, puffing up her chest every so slightly.

"I see." Gibbs paused in thought, not noticing what when on behind his back, where the BBQ was still on.

"'ibbs?" Ziva asked, laying a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. She was more than confused by the things happening behind him.

"Yeah."

"Dinner smells!" With wide eyes she clapped a hand over her mouth and nose, while she pointed at the barbeque with her other hand.

"Huh?"

"Jethro! The steaks," Ducky called alarmed.

"Crap." Hastily Gibbs got up and took the steaks off the grill. Away from the open fire till it was only heat and light smoke again.

"Still okay!" He gave his team the thumbs up as he saw them looking over worriedly.

"'ibbs?" Ziva pulled on his pant leg again, "What crap mean?"

"Double crap!"

The gray-haired agent paused momentarily before he decided to ignore the question in hope Ziva would forget about it.

"'ibbs," the little girl's impatient voice made him sigh.

"No way she'll leave this alone."

Crouching down again, he put a hand on either side of her small shoulders, "It's a very bad word. Don't say it ever. Okay?"

Brown, innocent eyes met gray, troubled ones, "Why?"

"Cause it's bad. People won't like it when you say it. They may act very offended by it and don't want to play with you anymore," Gibbs reacted quickly, surprising himself with his explanation.

"No play?" Mini-Ziva's eyes widened as her voice cracked.

The gray-haired agent shook his head, "But if you keep being a good girl, I'm sure lots of other kids want to play with you."

"Me good?" She beamed at him, showing off her white teeth.

"Yep," he grinned at her before tickling her stomach.

"'ibbs!" The little girl shrieked, taking a few steps away form the offending hands.

"I need to get dinner ready, now. Can you tell Abby to get the plates out?"

Mini-Ziva nodded eagerly, "Me help."

"Uh huh," Gibbs smirked, "Cause your a big girl," he patted her head playfully before watching her run over to the rest of the team.

"Gotta watch my mouth," he thought smiling as he attended to the food again.

(Later)

"Aw, raw red meat," Tony ogled his steak with hungry eyes.

"Yucky!" Mini-Ziva vehemently shook her head in negation. Her freshly braided pigtails flew around and hit McGee and Ducky, who were sitting right next to her.

"Very yucky," Abby agreed. She laughed when the men threw her a few not so nice glares.

"Ours is better, right Ziva?"

-"Ken"- The girl replied while chewing.

"Swallow and then talk," Gibbs instructed smirking.

Mini-Ziva looked sheepishly at him and gulped her bite down, "Sowry."

"Boss?"

"Too young, McGee," Gibbs replied the unanswered question about his rule getting broken.

Beside McGee, Ziva tried to change the teenager's opinion on her dish, "Try?" She offered her fork plus pierced chicken to him, smiling widely.

Tony shrugged and leaned over the table to reach the fork with his mouth.

"Not bad, still like my red steak more, though," Tony annotated between bites, directing everyone's attention to him.

"Hey!" Gibbs reached beside him to head-slapped his shrunk agent, "Same goes for you, too. First swallow then talk."

"Right," Tony took a sip of his coke to swallow the chicken piece better, "Not gonna happen again."

"Better not." The gray-haired agent smirked.

Across the table Mini-Ziva's and Abby's gaze met, both laughing at the teenager's antics.

(Evening - Garden)

"I wonder if Jethro wants something, too" Abby asked playfully. Her hand going to stroke the large dog behind his ear, "You would like something, right?" She asked him smiling.

The German shepherd let his tongue hung out of his muzzle. His eyes going from Abby to Ziva and back, in anticipation.

"No! T'at our food." Ziva pulled her plate with different fruits nearer to herself.

"Don't you think he's hungry too?" Abby smirked, royally amused by their conversation.

"Jet only doggy food." The little girl sternly shook her head before grabbing a piece of melon with sticky fingers.

As Abby and Ziva were in a 'deep' discussion, Ducky turned his attention to Gibbs.

"Her speech is developing quite well."

"Uh-huh." Gibbs smirked.

"Jethro," the older man scolded, "Don't let me drag every word out of you."

"It's fun, though," Gibbs rewarded his long time friend with a small smile.

"You can see it for yourself, Duck," he continued, "Why pointing out the obvious?"

"True," Ducky laughed, "If I may add, I'm sure her grammar will develop too, once she visits preschool."

"So you're really sending her to one?" McGee asked, tired of listening to the girl's conversation about his dog.

"Yeah," Gibbs fumbled with the label of his beer, "It will give her an opportunity to let off some steam, while we can concentrate on solving cases."

"She won't be very happy about it," McGee stated without thinking.

With noticing their gazes on him, he stumbled to backtrack, "Uhm.. I mean, she'll want to stay with you Gibbs. Not that playing with other kids will be a bad thing." The agent knitted his eyebrows together.

"Relax McGee." The team leader smirked, while Ducky laughed, "We know how you meant it, Timothy."

"Right." Tim grimaced and took another swallow of his drink.

"I'm not letting her go unprepared," Gibbs stated, catching his older friend's eyes, "We're going to visit it a few times and she gets to know everyone before I'll leave her there alone."

"They allow this?" Tim asked surprised.

"Told them about the orphanage, caused them to give in immediately." Gibbs explained, letting it sound of absolutely no importance.

"Do we know what happened to the other kids there?" Ducky inquired.

"Got transferred to other institutions till the building is renovated and a new administration is found."

"Gibbs?" Tony interrupted while shooting him a pleading look.

The gray-haired agent looked at his watch before he motioned for his shrunk agent to go.

"James Bond marathon." he supplied to the others, noticing Ducky and McGee looking at him for an explanation.

"And what do we do?" Abby asked. Her conversational partner gone off to play with Jethro in the back of the garden.

"Clean up," Gibbs smirked as the goth facial expression dropped down a notch.

"But Gibbs," she looked at him, indignant.

"McGee, beer?" The team leader asked, standing up and collecting the empty bottles.

"Sure boss."

"Duck?"

"I'll take another water. Thank you."

"Abs?" He smiled at her and dropped a kiss on her head, "Too early to clean, don't cha think?"

Upon her nod, the agent disappeared indoors, but not before throwing her an amused wink.

"Sly fox," Abby mumbled under her breath. A wide smile adorning her face.

~ Fin ~

Ken = Yes

Lo = No