Recap: Thursday, 12th November 2009.

~ A Special Day ~

Gibbs smirked as he opened Tony's door. The teen had managed to get himself hanging off of the edge of his bed, his quilt wound around his legs.

"Hey, Tony." Gibbs called quietly.

The teen mumbled incoherently and turned over, his head facing away from Gibbs. The team leader rolled his eyes and stepped into the room.

"DiNozzo!" This time he used his best marine voice.

Tony jerked himself awake and yelped as he fell from his bed, crashing onto the floor, just as Gibbs had mentally predicted. He scratched his head and looked up at Gibbs, who was leaning casually against the door frame.

"Yeah?" Tony asked groggily.

"Who's day is it today?" Gibbs smirked and shook his head as Tony's brain tried to get into gear.

"Er... Bug's?"

"Damn right, and didn't you say you'd help out?"

Tony looked up while he yawned, realization slowly dawning on him. He sighed, "Yeah, yeah. I'm moving." Albeit he didn't do so fast, but more at a snail's pace.

Gibbs nodded. "I'm sure Ziva will be happy to hear that."

Tony got up and looked at him. "Give me a minute," he mumbled sleepily. "Where's the bug anyway?"

"Still asleep."

Tony stopped what he was doing in order to look at the silver haired man. "Really?"

"Uh huh."

Tony snorted with laughter and carried on to get ready, "And you wonder where she gets it from."

Gibbs smirked. "Just get your ass downstairs, will ya?" He said before walking out and downstairs.

(A few minutes later)

Tony huffed as he put up some streamers. "Is there really any point in this? I mean it's still two days till the party and all the kids are gonna pull it down anyway."

Gibbs looked at the teen, who shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "Today's her birthday, Tony. It needs to be special. The team will be there in the afternoon, so the decorations won't go to waste."

Tony had to strain his ears to hear the muttered "Ziva deserves it", taking notice of the bitterness in older man's' voice.

"Her dad?"

"Yeah, something like that," growled Gibbs, while tying the end of a balloon, which he had just pumped up, before he grabbed another one.

"Well, in that case, this has to be the best party ever." Tony stated.

The team leader laughed and threw the freshly tied balloon into a corner of the living room, where it joined several other balloons.

"You know, I still haven't figured out why she's still in bed. She's normally up really early," Tony observed, mentally groaning at the times when Mini-Ziva would come bursting into his room at 6 or even 5 in the morning – on a weekend.

Gibbs smirked slyly. "Yeah, well, while you and Jaz were - 'watching a film'" Tony's cheeks colored, "Abby decided to take Ziva out."

"And?" Tony looked quizzically.

"Abby drunk more Caf-POW!s than she normally does, so Ziva's tired out, never mind Abs."

Tony nodded and climbed down from the ladder, admiring his work. "Is that ok?"

Gibbs nodded, "Looking good." He checked the clock, "Time to go and wake up the squirt..."

Mini-Ziva shifted in her sleep and turned over to face the door. Her long curly hair had come out of its braid and was now spread across her pillow.

When Gibbs pushed the door open, he smiled at this, "So peaceful... wouldn't be like that in a few hours, though."

He walked over to her bed, carefully stepping over Abby, who lay asleep on an air mattress in the middle of the room, and lowered himself to sit on the side of the bed. He watched both girls sleep for a few more seconds before he gently stroked the little girl's hair. "Ziva?"

The small Israeli sighed in her sleep and turned over. Gibbs smirked, both she and Tony were sometimes so much alike...

"Ziv?"

"-Lo-" came the grumbled reply.

Gibbs smirked and picked Ziva along with her blankets up. But she was surprisingly fast to wiggle out of his grip again and back on her bed, curling up while snuggling back into her pillow.

"Ziva, don't you wanna come downstairs. There's something for you."

The Israeli turned over to peek at him, before she started to grin widely. Gibbs watched her and laughed when she literately jumped on him to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her small frame and they swayed from side to side.

"Morning Ziv."

"Boker tov, 'ibbs!" She tucked her head into his neck.

"Did you had a nice dream?"

"-Ken-" Mini-Ziva nodded against him.

"Let's go downstairs." He said in a low voice as Ziva looked at Abby. "We're letting her sleep a bit longer, alright."

Mini-Ziva grinned knowingly and nodded, before she leaned close to Gibbs' ear, whispering, "Abby ti'ed. Nee's sleep."

Still clad in her purple PJ's, Ziva silently followed Gibbs down the stairs. Due to his build he blocked her sight of the living room entrance completely. Though, when he reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to look at her, Mini-Ziva's view was finally free and her eyes widened. The team leader watched as her face lit up and she let out a small gasp.

"'ibbs!" In awe she looked at all the decorations and balloons.

Gibbs chuckled lightly and turned his attention to Tony, who grinned at their small companion.

"Hey Bug, what about me?"

Ziva's eyes stopped to dart around the room and came to rest on Tony. The little girl giggled at his 'I'm waiting to be praised' expression and ran to him, wrapping her small arms around the teenager's waist before Tony lifted her up.

Gibbs smiled as Mini-Ziva planted a kiss onto Tony's cheek. "Toda, Tony."

The teen blushed slightly, not having expected such a gesture. "It was nothing," he mumbled while putting the wriggling girl down, so she could explore the living room.

Ziva picked up the nearest balloon and threw it in the air, craning her neck and giggling as it flew above her head and landed inaudible a few feet behind her.

Both men silently watched the green balloon's movement. Only when it hit the ground, Gibbs snapped out of his trance and addressed the two youngsters. "Breakfast."

Meanwhile Mini-Ziva had found another balloon and clutched it to her chest. "Me no wanna."

Gibbs shook his head. "Ziv, when you wake up, you have breakfast, you know that. Now come on."

The little girl visibly pouted and looked pleadingly at him.

Gibbs found his resolve weakening. "Alright, you can have breakfast in here, okay?" he compromised.

Mini-Ziva nodded happily. "O'tay!" she grinned toothily and threw the balloon up in the air.

With a shake of his head, Gibbs disappeared and Tony grinned at the little girl.

"Come 'ere."

"Why?" Ziva frowned. She wasn't ready to give her new toy up just yet.

"I want to show you something."

Mini-Ziva held her balloon close to her tiny body as she walked over to Tony.

"I made pancakes and I got the-" Gibbs stopped in the middle of his sentence and laughed at the sight before him.

Tony had shown Ziva all about static electricity, if her hair sticking up was anything to go by. His shrunken senior field agent smirked as Ziva giggled.

"'ibbs! Me lion! Rawr!"

Gibbs laughed and tousled Ziva's wild hair, "Is the lion hungry by any chance?"

"Uh huh!"

(After breakfast)

"This is gonna be so cool!" Abby said excitedly as she did Ziva's hair into a braid.

The little girl smiled and looked at her feet. "Abby?"

"Yeah?"

"What this day?"

Abby stopped in her movements, "Er-"

"Why b'loon and decowation?" Ziva whispered, wary about asking this question.

The goth finished her hair and picked Mini-Ziva up. "She has no idea it was her birthday."

"Because today's a special day," said Gibbs from the doorway, walking into the room. Gently he took his shrunken agent from Abby, who smiled and watched the interaction in front of her.

"Why speshul?" Ziva knitted her eyebrows together and played with the hem of Gibbs' shirt.

"Because it's your birthday," he explained, flicking the tip of her nose and making her smile.

"Bir'day?"

"Yep. It means you're four now, instead of three," stated Gibbs, showing Ziva the numbers with his fingers.

Though, seeing the confused expression return to the little girl's face, Gibbs tried to remember the word he recently got taught by Agent Jardine. "Jom how-leh-det." He slowly and carefully said in broken Hebrew.

Mini-Ziva first looked puzzled but then grinned and even corrected him, "Yom huledet!"

Gibbs laughed and kissed her cheek, "Yeah, of course I meant Yom huledet."

A flash of light made them both look at Abby, who grinned from ear to ear. "That's so cute," she gloated over the picture she had just taken.

"Me look!" Ziva wiggled in Gibbs' arms.

Abby grinned and held the display of the camera to the pair. Gibbs had to admit that it looked really good. Abby had pressed the release just in the right moment. The picture caught Ziva and him from the side, as they looked at each other, smiling widely.

"Pwetty," decided the little girl and turned to Gibbs who nodded in agreement.

(NCIS)

"Morning, Boss."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected to see his agent before 10. He had given the team the morning off, if they had done all their late paperwork - which the Probies hadn't – much to his amusement.

"McGee!" A little voice yelled.

The agent in question laughed and knelt down so he could hug the fast approaching girl properly. The impact momentarily left him out of breath.

"Hey Ziva. Happy Birthday!"

After having let go of McGee, Mini-Ziva grinned toothily at him, "Me fohr!"

"Really?" Tim acted shocked, "You're four?"

"Uh huh!"

McGee smiled and briefly looked at Gibbs, who had walked to his desk. "Well, if you're four, now... I guess this deserves a special present."

"Pwesent?"

"Uh huh," mimicked McGee with a grin, causing Gibbs to quietly snort with laughter.

Mini-Ziva looked confused at the team leader. She didn't knew what was so funny about McGee's answer.

Meanwhile McGee had picked up a colored gift bag, which he had stored under his desk and had forgotten it there till he had noticed it again and decided to leave it till Ziva's birthday.

By the time Ziva turned back to McGee, the agent was kneeling in front of her once more and had taken a box out of the gift bag, placing it right in front of him.

Mini-Ziva's eyes lid up as she spotted the familiar design.

"For you," McGee told her and opened the lid of the box.

The little girl smiled widely and hurriedly got rid of her shoes before she sat down and grabbed the first of the two items. The former MIT student watched in amusement as Ziva put her new light-up shoes on.

Standing up, she experimentally tested the lights before she went back to McGee and hugged him fiercely.

"Toda," she said, her voice muffled by his jacket.

From his desk Gibbs observed the exchange smiling. When Mini-Ziva pulled out of the embrace in order to spin around a few times, her eyes were entirely focused on her feet. It took her a full minute before she finally got dizzy and dropped to the floor, laughing as the world kept spinning around her.

"That was a good idea, Tim."

McGee looked from Ziva up to his boss, who regarded him with a small smile , "I thought it would be. I caught her staring at her shoes once in while. She didn't seemed happy about them."

Gibbs sighed, "She didn't wanted to put on any of the other shoes. Took me about twenty minutes to convince her every day, till we managed to come to an agreement."

"Agreement?"

"I would buy her new ones when I would find some. Where did you find those? They were sold out at every dam... other store." He quickly caught himself before saying a swear word.

"Kids from my neighbor had them on, so I asked where they found them. Turns out a small store in the outer skirts of D.C. still had 'em."

Mini-Ziva meanwhile had recovered from her spin and noticed Gibbs standing beside his desk.

"Look," she called excited and jumped.

"I see," he smiled.

"Twinkle," Ziva exclaimed and ran to him.

Gibbs caught the small girl easily and lifted her effortlessly into his arms, settling her on his hip.

"You like those shoes a lot, right."

The little girl nodded eagerly. "Uh huh! Me luf 'em!"

The team leader let out a deep chuckle and looked at his watch, before planting a gentle kiss on Ziva's temple. "Glad you do. Come, there's another present waiting for you."

"Where?" She beamed at him.

"At a very special place," Gibbs smirked and carried a puzzled Miniature-Ziva upstairs.

(A very special place...)

Mini-Ziva run up and down the stairs, giggling happily as she looked down at her shoes. In the semi lid room the light ups enlightened the space around her feet pretty good.

Vance smiled at the scene and cast a glance to Gibbs, who was watching Ziva, also.

"Who would have thought that a dim light MTAC and some blinking shoes could make her this happy."

Gibbs chuckled, "Ziv!" He called the excited girl to them.

Mini-Ziva stopped short and looked questionably at him.

"Come here. We're here for your present, remember?"

The grin on Ziva's face widened and she quickly ran over to the men. The little girl looked around and past them before she furrowed her eyebrows, "Where?"

"Actually it's something for you to hear." Vance walked over to the controls while Gibbs made Ziva sit in the first row of chairs.

"Hear?"

"Just listen, Ziv."

Momentarily there was static before Eli David's voice filled the silence of the room. Ziva's eyes got large and her mouth opened in shock.

-'Shalom Zivaleh.'-

"Aba." Ziva whispered nearly inaudible.

Gibbs reached over and stroked her cheek with the back of his forefinger. He smiled reassuringly at her as the tape played on.

-'I'm sorry that I can't be with you, today. This is a big day for you. I'm very proud of you, my little light.

I hope that you can join us again soon. Your Ima misses you badly. As do Tali, Ari and I.

We're all okay, so don't worry about us. Enjoy your time abroad in the US. Be nice to the people there. They care much about you.

I'll try my hardest to enable your return to us as soon as possible, but I won't lie to you. It may takes another few months.

Don't forget that your Ima, siblings and I love you very much, Zivaleh.'-

As the tape stopped, Mini-Ziva was sniffing slightly.

"Here," Vance had come back over to them and now held a handkerchief out to Ziva, smiling gently at her as Gibbs pulled her onto his lap.

"Toda."

"You're welcome, kid."

"You okay, Ziv?"

Mini-Ziva nodded slightly, blinking rapidly to clear her vision.

"Should I show you what else this room can do?" offered Vance, hoping to distract Mini-Ziva and to cheer her up again.

The little girl immediately perked up and looked up at Gibbs before she nodded vehemently. The big screen right in front them looked like the big screen at the cinema, to which Tony had taken her once.

A minute later the rotating NCIS logo on the screen was replaced by colorful animations.

Gibbs chuckled and mouthed 'cartoons?' to Vance, who only shrugged as he sat beside them, occupying the chair in which Ziva had been sitting only a few minutes ago. "There's no video conference scheduled for another two hours..."

-"Bugs!"- Ziva pointed at the screen with wide eyes, excited to see Bugs Bunny and Duffy Duck.

~ TBC ~