It was nearly one in the afternoon. Under the pretext of needing to help a friend, Gibbs had left Ziva with Abby. That had been nearly two hours ago. Now the little girl started to become irritated. After all, Gibbs had promised her to spent the day with her and not with work.

The goth was funny to be around with and knew how to entertain her but like every other person in this building, she had to work too – which left Ziva pretty much on her own and bored, after having explored the lab and adjoining office numerous times.

"Abby?"

"Yes?"

"What'z Dee-Oh-Cee?" While Mini-Ziva had been in MTAC with Gibbs and the Director, both men had constantly used this phrase. And something told her it wasn't good.

"You mean doc?"

At the same time as Mini-Ziva let out a shriek, Gibbs entered the lab. "You got something for me, Abs?"

"Me no go doc!"

Slightly startled, Gibbs looked from Ziva, who made sure to be at least two feet away from him and Abby, who's expression turned from confused to shocked and then to guilty.

"Abs," the agent sighed.

"I didn't meant to do that. She asked me what D-O-C meant and I automatically said it as word. It was a reflex, Gibbs!"

Gibbs sighed and decided to ignore her for the moment, turning his attention to Mini-Ziva, "Ziv... Remember when we watched the videos? How I explained to you that the doctor just will make sure you're okay?"

"Me healthy!" She looked at him with a frown, while stubbornly crossing her arms in front of her chest.

He smiled, "I know that. But the doctor doesn't."

"You tell." Mini-Ziva nodded at her own sentence.

"Zee," Abby interrupted the staring match between the two, "My dad always took me to a toy store afterward. I'm sure Gibbs will take you too, right Gibbs?"

Ziva looked at the team leader for confirmation.

"I'll do that, just like last time."

The little girl kept staring at the agent before she finally relented with a deep sigh, "O'tay..."

Gibbs grinned and slowly closed the gap between them, crouching down in front of Ziva, "Still a few days before that happens. As for today, it is all about you turning four years."

Mini-Ziva wrapped her arms around Gibbs' neck, looking at him with her chocolate colored eyes, "Me big?"

"Not as little was you were yesterday," he sidestepped the question. After all she should feel like a child and not like someone who is supposed to grow up quickly. Years spent as a child should be enjoyed, not cut short, since those years were already short enough.

Ziva frowned at first but then decided that she could live with the answer, so she just leaned more heavily against him, snuggling into his embrace.

"You ready for more fun?" Gibbs asked, standing back up while lifting the little girl off the floor at the same time.

"Wait!" Abby interjected hurriedly, "I still got a present for her."

Mini-Ziva's eyes sparkled in excitement, "Pwesent?"

"Come on, Gibbs. Share!" With as grin Abby held her arms out for the little girl.

"Abs..." A bit wary Gibbs handed Ziva over to the goth, who grinned even more.

"And now, shoo!"

"Abs..."

"You can come back in twenty minutes." Abby declared happily, already having turned around and walking to her office, a giggling Mini-Ziva in her arms.

Gibbs shook his head but decided to leave. He could use another cup of coffee.

Eventually the team leader was back in Abby's lab.

"Abs..." he sighed. He hadn't expected the sight in front of him.

"What? Ziva likes it, right Zee?"

The little girl grinned toothily at Gibbs while nodding her head. "Me pwetty!"

"Uh huh," Gibbs smiled a bit forced. "You going to keep that on, Ziv?"

"Uh huh!"

Although he had guessed that it would only be a matter of time, before Abby would present his shrunken agent with such garment, he had hoped it would take her longer to do so.

Though as he watched Ziva show off her new shirt, he just had to grin.

"Twinkle!" Mini-Ziva looked down at her black shirt which had a pink, sparkling skull on it.

"The pink doesn't bother ya?"

The little girl smiled even wider, "Nuhuuuuuuu."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow and looked at Abby. Ziva never had used THAT word before.

'Sorry,' Abby signed grinning.

Meanwhile Mini-Ziva had walked over to Gibbs and pulled on his pant leg. Her eyes were full hope to finally be able to leave the NCIS building. "Go home?"

The agent looked down, "Yeah, sounds like a great idea." He shot Abby another look before concentrating on Ziva again, "Let's get our stuff..."

"'ibbs?" Mini-Ziva looked questionably at Gibbs as he parked the car in an, for her unknown, region.

The older agent just grinned at her through the rear-view mirror, "Time to get out of the car," he announced and opened his door.

When he opened the side door for her, Ziva still looked very confused.

"Ziv?" His question snapped her out of her thoughts and she quickly scrambled out of the car.

"Why we here?"

"Did you noticed what I had put in the back of the car?" Gibbs questioned as he made his way to the trunk.

"No." Mini-Ziva frowned and followed him. She came to a halt next to Gibbs, just in time to see him pulling a blanket away from whatever lay in the trunk.

A moment later her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath, before letting out a squeal as Gibbs set a familiar object down next to her. It was the bike they had bought a few weeks ago. Though, now it's former pink color was replaced by a dark purple one. And a silver writing 'Ziva David' adorned the frame.

"Ah!" Gibbs held Mini-Ziva back as she tried to climb on the bike, "Not so fast, squirt."

"'ibbs!"

The agent laughed lightly, "You can in a minute, but first you'll put these on." He handed her a helmet and some soft knee guards. Certainly, they weren't really needed, but he didn't want to deal with a scraped knee. Not on her birthday.

Obviously Ziva had similar thoughts as she promptly handed the knee guards back to Gibbs. "No nee's."

"Just humor me, Ziv. Once you can ride your bike steadily, I promise you don't need to put them on anymore." He explained as he fastened the protection wear around her knees.

A bit unhappy Mini-Ziva submitted.

"Me dri..dr.."

"Drive." The agent helped, mentally making a note to explain her the difference between drive and ride later.

"Me drif' now?"

Gibbs closed the trunk with a thud and grinned at her. "Let's go there first," he pointed to a nearby open space, where Ziva would be able to ride her bike freely, without bumping into people, cars or anything else.

Half a hour later and some near falls, as one of the training wheels always seemed to stay off the ground, all four wheels kept steadily on the ground as the little girl sped around.

"Ziva!" Gibbs called out in warning, sprinting after her, but it was already too late. The moment she had tried to ride the bike while standing on it, her foot lost the connection to the pedal and her knee came into contact with the concrete as she more or less found herself sitting on the frame of the bike.

A bit dumbfounded Mini-Ziva looked at him as he stopped the bike from rolling further and helped her stand up.

"See, that happens if you ride it standing." He teased gently, after having brushed the dirt of her pants.

Ziva looked confused at him. "But they do!"

"They? The other kids?"

"Uh huh."

Gibbs grinned, "Well, they are much older than you. When you're their age you can ride like that too, but till then you only ride your bicycle when you're sitting on it AND with both of your hands on the handlebar." He shuddered slightly as he imagined what would happen if she tried such a move.

Mini-Ziva contemplated this for a moment before she knitted her eyebrows together and sat back down on her bike.

"More drif'?"

He checked his watch, "Sure Ziv. We still got some time."

Grinning toothily, she quickly pedaled away from him once more. This time much more steadier than before.

(Some time later)

When they pulled up at Gibbs' house at three pm, they were already awaited by Abby, who stood on the front porch. And if the familiar cars in his street were anything to go by, the others were inside his house already.

As soon as Gibbs left the car, Abby approached him, "Finally! Where were you? We're waiting since forever. "

"Abby, we said three and it's three." He calmly went to the side door, gently lifting a half asleep Mini-Ziva out of her booster seat.

"And don't worry she'll be wide awake soon, thanks to all the sugar that will be in the cake," he placed a kiss on Abby's cheek, forestalling any comment about exhausting the little girl.

"Cake?" Ziva clumsily rubbed her eyes.

"And presents!" Exclaimed Abby as they entered the house and a chorus was heard from the living room.

"Happy Birthday, Ziva!"

The little girl giggled and shyly waved to Tony, McGee, Ducky, Jimmy and Vance. Seeing them all in Gibbs' house overwhelmed her slightly.

"I'll get you-know-what!" announced Abby as Gibbs handed Ziva to McGee who walked with her to the rest of the group.

"Did you had fun, bug?" Tony asked once Mini-Ziva sat between him and Ducky on the couch.

"Uh huh! Me drif'!" She grinned widely at him while McGee unfastened her shoes for her.

"There you go."

"Toda." Instantly, Mini-Ziva pulled her legs up onto the couch and sat on her knees, regarding the big pile on the coffee table. "What this?"

"Looks like presents for you, my dear."

She looked astonished at it. As the day had progressed she had gotten several, albeit smaller, packages, containing sweets, drawing materials and even one or two books from all of them already. "More?"

"You can never have enough of them," stated Jimmy, getting some looks from the other adults, "What? It's true!"

"Indeed," chuckled Ducky.

"Me open?"

Gibbs, having followed Abby, came out of the kitchen, "Soon, but first we eat." "Then you can rip the wrappings off and make a chaos of my living room..."

He motioned for his guests to take a place on the well-laid table, making sure to have Ziva sitting at the head of it. Abby had overdone herself by decoration the table with paper streamers, confetti and sweets. Luckily the others had been able to talk her out of party hats. There would be enough time for them when Mini-Ziva would celebrate with her preschool friends.

As if on clue the light was lowered and Abby came into the room, carrying a round chocolate cake with several lit candles on top of it. In the middle was a hugging Baby Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.

For the third time that day Mini-Ziva was truly surprised.

"Mine?" she asked in a high pitched voice as Abby placed the cake right in front of her.

"That's right, Ziv. That's your cake," Gibbs, who had yet to take a seat, placed a kiss on the top of Ziva's hair. "Blow out the candles, so we can eat it."

"Don't forget to wish yourself something while you blow the candles out!" Tony advised from left to her. "And don't spit on it..."

Mini-Ziva scrambled on her chair into a kneeing position and leaned half on top of the cake as she draw in a deep breath.

From behind her, Gibbs also leaned a bit closer to the cake and the moment Ziva blew the candles out, he blew too, helping her. Though, the little girl didn't noticed it and the others just grinned and congratulated Ziva on blowing all candles out at once.

While Mini-Ziva, with the help of Gibbs and Abby, served out the cake, Vance leaned over to McGee.

"You got that all, Agent McGee?"

"Everything," McGee grinned and put the video camera away - for now.

(Time for presents)

"'ibbsssssssssssssssssssssssss, comeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

Mini-Ziva sat impatiently in front of her presents. Everyone else had already taken a seat around her, only the team leader was still absent. There had even been time to exchange her chocolate covered shirt with another one. This time a black shirt with a green, sparkling star on it. It was another present from Abby, along with some other pieces of clothing.

"I'm here, I'm here," Gibbs smirked as he came out of the kitchen. A fresh cup of coffee in hand.

"Well then," Vance took the biggest present and handed it to Ziva, "This is from me, I hope you'll like it."

The little girl grinned toothily at him as she thanked him, already tearing the wrapping off at the same time.

"Yay!"

Vance chuckled, "You know how to play this, right?" He wasn't sure how old she had been when she first had played battleships, but he remembered pretty well from their conversation nearly two years ago, that she loved it more than playing with dolls.

"Uh huh!"

The director looked at Gibbs with a raised eyebrow, only receiving a shrug and a smirk as response to his silent question.

"Play now?" Mini-Ziva questioned the Director with gleaming eyes.

"I would love to, but I need to go now. I still got some work to do, today."

Ziva sighed, "O'tay."

"We can play it on Monday though. You just come to my office and we play, okay?"

"Rweally?"

"Really."

"Yay!"

"It's a date then," Vance grinned at Mini-Ziva's enthusiasm, before standing up and saying goodbye to the rest of the group. Opposite to the rest of them, he had an agency to run and a family who wouldn't be happy if he would come home too late - again.

"I'll see you out." said Gibbs, waking with Vance outside.

"What?" Gibbs asked, after he had closed the front door and had lead Vance to his car.

The silence between the Director and him hadn't been awkward but most definitely questioning. Vance looked smugly at Gibbs, "Good luck with the party on Saturday. If you need Monday off. Take it." He said, making the team leader stop and look at him.

"You don't think I can handle a few preschoolers, Leon?"

"Oh I know you can. But I've my fair share of those events, too," Vance replied. Memories of his own kids' parties hitting him. They weren't exactly a piece of cake, no pun intended.

Gibbs smirked, but took Vance's words in. "See you on Monday Leon."

Vance mirrored the agent's smirk.

"Gibbs." The director said by way of goodbye, before he pulled a toothpick out of his jacket pocket, stuck it in his mouth and took a seat behind the wheel of his car.

"'ibbs! Look!" Mini-Ziva came bouncing towards him as soon as he entered the house. A real but shortened stethoscope around her neck.

Gibbs smirked, "Oh! You became a doctor while I was outside, Ziv?"

"Uh huh! Me listen!" She held the stethoscope up and looked expectantly at him.

The agent looked first at the rest of the group, who wore identical grins, and then back at Ziva, picking her up.

"Alright, squirt."

After having listened to his heart for a while, Mini-Ziva grinned, "Fom-fom, rwealllllyyyyy louwd."

"I hope so," chuckled Gibbs, who had sat down back on the couch with Ziva in his lap.

"You hear?" She offered him the earpieces.

"Sure." With a smirk he listened to his own heart while the others watched the interaction, laughing quietly about how domestic the team leader was when he was around Mini-Ziva.

"You're right, that's really loud."

"Told ya!" Ziva grinned toothily at him.

Gibbs shot Abby a look.

"That wasn't me. Tony said that!"

"Not true, McTalker was it!"

"You'r funny!" giggled Ziva, stopping their bickering immediately and making Ducky and Gibbs laugh out loud.

"Hey Ziva, you want to open my present now?" Jimmy held a bright blue wrapped present out to her.

"A real stethoscope, Duck?"

"The plastic one wasn't realistic enough."

Their whispered conversation was short-lived when they heard Mini-Ziva's reply to Jimmy's question.

"Gimme!"

"Ziva!"

She guiltily looked at Gibbs, saying "sowry" in a sweet voice, before turning to Jimmy, grinning widely. "Gimme. Pleaseeeeee."

Jimmy laughed and readily handed the present over.

Once the blue wrapping was in shreds, Ziva held a bear in her hands. More precisely a Doodle Magic Glow Bear.

"You can draw on it. And if you use the light pen," Palmer pointed at one of the three pens, "It will even glow in the dark but when it's light you won't see the lines you draw with the pen. And if there's no more room to draw on the bear or you just want to start anew, Gibbs can wash it for you and all drawings will be gone."

The more he explained the larger Ziva's grin got.

"Aw, I want one of these too," commented Abby, leaning close after she had taken a seat right next to Gibbs and Ziva.

"Here," Mini-Ziva handed her one of the pens, grinning toothily.

"Thank you!"

Happily Abby started to draw on the bear with Ziva, the little girl looking at Abby's work every once in a while.

"Looks like you going to have to wash it often, Jethro."

Gibbs smirked, "Just need a few spares..."

"You better hide them good." Commented McGee, adding a "From both" in afterthought.

A with doodles fully covered bear later, it finally was time for another present.

"Tony's next!"

The teen rolled his eyes but then took a package from the stack on the coffee table and handed it to a smiling Ziva.

"Here bug, I hope you like it."

He waited till she had removed the paper, "Since you always try to get your little hands on the NCIS cameras, this one is for you now. While you still have to be careful with it, it won't break if you accidentally drop it or it gets wet."

Mini-Ziva's eyes lit up as she took in the shiny, new piece of equipment that she was so familiar with. But this one was different - it was all hers! She quickly went to the other side of the table and hugged Tony, "Toda!"

As the two shrunken agents were hugging, Tony looked at Gibbs over Ziva's shoulder and smiled when Gibbs gave him an approving nod.

"We can try it out later, okay?"

"O'tay."

Tony grinned, gently squeezing her before he released her, "McGeek's turn."

"Tony," the acting senior field agent growled, but swiftly put a smile back on his face as he noticed Ziva looking expectantly at him.

"You want your present?"

The little girl only kept looking at him with a 'Duh' expression on her face as she cocked her head.

"McGee," the others finally called after this had went on for an endless minute.

The agent grinned and took the rather heavy package from the coffee table, setting it down on the floor, right in front of Ziva, who didn't wasted any time to open it.

"Figures," whispered Tony as he caught sight of the present.

"Timothy?" Ducky had leaned forward from where he sat in the armchair, trying to get a better view.

"It's a Vtech Tote and Go Laptop." McGee explained proudly, while setting the computer up for Ziva. "It has quite of lot of learning programs on it. Like learning numbers, letters, words and easy sentences. Along with other programs for logic and such."

While he had sat on the floor, Mini-Ziva had climbed on his lap, watching his every movement closely.

"What t'at?" The little girl pointed to the display.

"I think it's a squirrel. And look it's talking to you."

Half an hour filled with shouts, laughs, giggles and groans later...

"I'm getting a headache just by looking at it," muttered Gibbs, getting a hug from Abby in response.

"But look how much fun she has."

Ducky laughed, "Not only her."

Tony and Palmer had joined the pair on either side of McGee. Both encouraging and helping Mini-Ziva to press the right buttons on the keyboard.

"At least we got leverage on them, now." The team leader's gaze drifted to the video camera which filmed the whole scene continuously.

"Gibbs!"

"What? I said we. Didn't I?" With a smug smirk Gibbs wrapped his arm back around Abby, who had detached herself from his embrace after his 'leverage' statement.

"Jethro, I think it might be time now for your present. Before it gets too dark outside."

"Yeah..." One last time, he took in the sight of his team playing on a kid's computer,

before he got up from the couch and walked over to the coat-tree in his hallway. Ducky and Abby quietly followed him.

Once done with putting on their jackets and shoes, Gibbs turned back to his team, who still hadn't noticed the change in their surroundings. "Alright kids, enough played for now."

"But Gibbs!" The three men chorused at once, with Ziva's meek "'ibbs..." being barely audible.

"Well if Ziva wants to wait till tomorrow for her last present..." Gibbs smirked good naturally

The little girl looked at the empty table and frowned, "Where?"

"Outside." By now he held her jacket and shoes in hand, "But if you..."

-"Lo"-, Ziva quickly scrambled to her feet, "Me wanna see!"

~ TBC ~