Recap: Friday, 13th November 2009.

~ Chapter 42 – cause I'm out of ideas for a proper title... ~

"Tony?"

The teen didn't react but went to a cupboard and took a bowl out, slamming it with unnecessary force onto the counter, before he reached for the box of cereals, which stood close by.

Mini-Ziva stared at him. Her spoon of cereals hanging forgotten in the air.

Gibbs frowned. "I thought you were already at work..."

"Obviously, I'm not," growled Tony and slammed the fridge door shut.

"Hey!" Now the team leader had enough of Tony's behavior, "Watch it."

"Yeah, yeah," mumbled Tony and grabbed a spoon before heading with his breakfast back upstairs.

"'ibbs?"

Tony's dark mood had made her uncomfortable. She never had seen the otherwise gentle and smiling teen like this before.

"He just has a bad day," Gibbs reassured her with a smile.

Mini-Ziva frowned. Tony was always smiling.

"Come on, eat your breakfast. Then you can go play outside."

A smile instantly appeared on the little girl's face, before she started to eat her cereals.

"Slowly, Ziv. You don't want it to come back up again."

She smiled shyly at him and continued to eat her breakfast at a normal speed, while Gibbs enjoyed his second cup of coffee and the newspaper.

"Me done!" Ziva shoved the bowl to the agent.

"Ziv," he looked pointedly at her before looking at the dirty dish in front of him, pushing it back to her.

Mini-Ziva sighed and carefully climbed off her seat, grabbing her bowl from the table, once she stood.

"Good," Gibbs grinned at her over the brim of his glasses and watched her carry the dish to the nearby counter.

As she turned back to him, he had to suppress a laugh at her expression. His little agent clearly wanted to go outside and the delay seemed to annoy her, big time.

"Now you can go play."

Mini-Ziva's annoyed expression turned into a happy one and she darted to the backdoor.

Gibbs, having returned to his newspaper, didn't even looked up when he called out to her. "Stop."

The whine following his command came promptly, "Why?"

"'Cause you sure won't go outside in your PJ's. Go upstairs and change." He smirked openly at her.

Ziva sighed, "'tay." By now she knew that any protest would be useless and fall to deaf ears. Or end up in Gibbs' changing his mind about her plan to do something.

Finishing his coffee, Gibbs rose too and walked upstairs. With Ziva being occupied, he would take his chance to find out what was bugging his shrunken senior field agent.

Gibbs frowned as he reached Tony's door. The TV of the teenager was unusual loud. Gibbs shook his head, "One of these days," he thought, before slowly opening the door. Since the volume was up so high, he figured Tony wouldn't hear him knocking, anyway.

Though, it didn't kept Tony from complaining about the invasion. "Did you never heard of knocking."

Gibbs smirked and took a seat next to the teen on the couch, "Did you ever heard of noise induced hearing loss?" he shot back, taking the remote from next to him and lowering the volume.

"What do you want?" Tony asked lowly, his eyes still trained on the TV screen.

The agent shrugged nonchalant, "Do I want something? Nah. But you might wanna talk." He eyed the teen. Though, Tony kept quiet, causing Gibbs to push his luck. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Gibbs snorted, "Yeah, I see that. That's why you're at home, in your PJs, eating in your room, watching movies. Doing all this instead of being at work." While the team leader listed those things, Tony's jaw and fists clenched even further in anger.

The movement not going unnoticed by Gibbs. "Alright," he stood back up, "I'll be in the garden if you feel like talking about whatever is bothering you."

As he walked to the door he watched his shrunken agent closely. "Hopefully soon," he thought as he saw Tony relaxing and even telling him that he would see Gibbs later.

When he stepped into the warm morning sun of the fall, he had expected to see his other shrunken agent on one of the swings. However, as he looked at the wood construction he couldn't find a trace of the little girl.

"Ziva?" He called lowly, not wanting to attract the attention of his elderly neighbor, who was doing some gardening - like he planned to do.

"'ibbs!"

The team leader frowned slightly as he followed the childlike voice to the side of his house.

"Whatcha doing there, Ziv?"

Mini-Ziva looked up from where she was crouching beside the house. A large smile on her face, "Look!"

With a raised eyebrow and a smirk playing on his lips, he bent down next to her. Disbelieve momentarily creeping into his gaze.

"Me keep 'em?"

The innocent question snapped Gibbs back to reality and he ruefully shook his head, "That's not possible, Ziva."

"Why?" The little girl sulked slightly.

"They belong outside, squirt. Look at them, they are really young and I'm sure their mother will miss them terrible if they're gone when she comes back from getting them food."

During his explanation, Ziva's eyes had widened. "We no take 'em." She shook her head.

Gibbs grinned and stood up again, "That's right. And we should leave them alone now, too. I'm sure their mother will be back shortly and she won't come if we stand here."

"She nee's to!" Ziva protested. The idea of a mother leaving her children wasn't a nice one.

"She will," Gibbs laid a reassuring hand on Mini-Ziva's shoulder, covering the baby mice again. "Come, let's go back to the backyard."

"O'tay." Ziva led herself be led back, before she stopped suddenly, "'ibbs? We feed 'em?"

The agent chuckled, "They are too small to eat our kind of food. I'm sure their mom will get them something nice. Something they can eat."

Mini-Ziva momentarily squinted at him before smiling. "Me climb now?"

Gibbs grinned, "Under one condition."

"What?" Ziva frowned.

"Ask me again in a full sentence."

The frown on the little girl's face deepened and it also took a scowling note.

Gibbs crouched in front of her, "I know you can do it, Ziv." He smiled encouragingly.

"Can me..." Ziva sighed frustrated, "I," she looked at the agent who nodded smiling, "Can I climb... " she sighed again and looked pleadingly at Gibbs, who only kissed her forehead in response and then continued to look expectantly at her.

"Can I climb tuh lad'her?" she looked hopefully, her eyes pleading once more with him, "Please?"

Gibbs smile grew bigger and he enveloped her in a short but powerful hug, before letting go of her, praising the little girl along the way. "Very good, Ziva. See, you can do it. I'm really proud of you."

Mini-Ziva beamed, "T'ank you!"

"If you keep this up, we might go and get some ice cream this afternoon."

Upon his promise, Ziva slung her arms around his neck, "Yay!"

Gibbs laughed and gently detached himself from his agent, "But right now I need to scrape some leaves together."

Mini-Ziva cocked her head to the side and looked quizzically. She had absolutely no idea what Gibbs was talking about.

"I'll show you," with a smirk he went into his shed, a curious Ziva following him with her eyes.

A moment later Gibbs reappeared with a rake, showing it to the little girl. "This is a rake. And you can scrape together leaves with it."

For a while, Mini-Ziva watched him doing exactly this, before she waked up to him. She carefully reached for the rake, "Me help?"

"Ziva..." He grinned at her, causing the little girl to sigh.

"Can ...I … help?"

Gibbs nodded in approval. "I've got a rake which is smaller and better for you to handle." Leaving Ziva to hold the rake – and experimentally testing it -, he went back into the shed.

"Where is it..." He scanned the various gardening tools, till he finally caught sight of a much smaller rake, which stood in the far back corner, hidden behind bigger ones.

When he had offered it to his shrunken agent, he hadn't thought much about it. But now, as he held the small rake in his hands, he was assaulted by memories. From a time which he kept buried deep in his heart and mind.

This rake he had shortened for special little girl. His girl. His daughter, who got taken away from him far too early. Parents weren't supposed to outlive their children. Yet, he did.

Gibbs sighed and breathed deeply to get his emotions back under control, aware that his shrunken agent must be impatiently waiting outside by now.

He may has made this tool for his girl, but for the moment there was another one in his life. One who was unaware of the memories she triggered in him, with her affectionate, happy and sometimes stubborn traits, among a few others.

He looked at the rake again, this time with a smile. Kelly had offered her toys to everyone who seemed to be nice. No matter if it was a friend or a complete stranger. A fact that made him smile proudly and made Shannon worry.

"Kelly wouldn't mind." he thought as he emerged from the shed.

Gibbs had to bit back a laugh as he saw a small pile of leaves and a few feet next to it another one. Though, this time it was obvious that halfway through Ziva had had enough of gathering the leaves and instead started to play with them, as she now was in the process of throwing the leaves into the air, craning her neck to watch them falling back to the ground.

With a sly smile he grabbed as much leaves from the ground as he could before walking to his shrunken agent.

"Hey, Ziv!"

As she looked up he let go of the leaves, showering her with them. The little girl laughed heartily and started to launch a counterattack. Though the leaves didn't reached his head, it was enough to cloud his view, making him laugh out loud as he found his target suddenly standing right behind him.

They continued to chase each other for a few more minutes, till Gibbs picked Mini-Ziva up and swung her around, causing the little girl to shriek in glee.

"Alright, enough," he called, letting Ziva and himself gently drop to the ground, both breathing heavily but smiling wholeheartedly.

"Hey..." Tony greeted quietly before taking a seat on the swing closest to where Gibbs gathered the last of the leaves together.

"I'll grab a beer, you want one too?" Gibbs asked after having put the rake aside.

The teen looked at him incredulous. "You're seriously offering me beer?"

Gibbs shrugged with a smirk on his lips, "You want to tell me you haven't drunk that stuff before?"

"Not telling." Tony smiled.

The team leader nodded, "I'll be right back then."

Meanwhile Tony squinted at his shrunken partner. Mini-Ziva had given up on helping with gardening some time ago and now played happily with some Matchbox cars on the gym mats, which still lay at the end of the rope ladder.

"Why does Ziva has leaves in her hair?" he asked as Gibbs returned with their drinks and took a seat on one of the swings.

"Must have played with them," Gibbs commented unperturbed. Not the slightest hint of guilty conscience noticeable.

"You know, Tony. I got more break ups behind me than I dare to remember."

The teen smiled wryly, "I'm not surprised..."

"Women and I don't go well on a long-term basis. They always end up hating me... Or marrying someone I know..." Gibbs smirked.

"How?" Tony frowned at the last comment but then decided to ignore it. "Never mind," he picked on the label of his bottle, " Jaz wanted a break. Told me she needed to concentrated more on school."

"That's not all what happened."

Tony huffed, "No, it's not."

"You going to tell me or do I need to guess." Gibbs asked after a few minutes of silence. Though it hadn't been an uncomfortable one.

"Guess?" The teen answered feebly.

The team leader smirked and took a wild guess, sensing that it would be the right approach for dealing with Tony's problem. "You don't think that it's just because of school."

Tony looked bewildered, "How did you..." He paused, collecting his thoughts again, "I saw them... When you let me off earlier on Wednesday... She and another boy stood too close for comfort in the parking lot... That day I hadn't bothered to contact her. I just turned around and tried not to think about it. She once sorta warned me not to get jealous about her male friends..."

Now it was Gibbs' turn to frown, "You seemed fine yesterday."

"I was... Told myself it was just another one of said friends... Kinda worked, at least till I confronted her in the evening about it over the phone... She told me that I must have mistaken someone else for her." Tony took a large gulp from his beer, causing Gibbs to take it away from him.

"Not a good idea, DiNozzo."

Seemingly unaffected Tony ranted on. "How could she tell me I mistook her... I knew these clothes... They're her favorite pieces.. Surely there was no coincidence of a girl looking like her, having exactly the same clothes..."

"Rule #39: There is no such thing as coincidence." Gibbs muttered, feeling sorry for his agent. Jaz had seemed like a nice enough girl. Though, he guessed, nothing is forever. At least rarely at such a young age.

Tony blinked, "She got all mad about me and bluntly told me that she had planned to tell me that she wanted a break from our relationship." He looked at Gibbs, "I don't know how but we ended up fighting so bad that we broke up once and for all... Over the phone..."

Gibbs sighed and laid a hand on the teen's shoulder, "Sounds cheesy, but there will be other girls."

"Wish they wouldn't take the majority of my friends with them..." Tony muttered darkly, causing the older agent to grin.

"If he's worried about his new friends it can't be that bad." Gibbs thought while trying to come up with a way of Tony meeting more teenagers. Surely his job at NCIS wasn't really helping when it came to socializing with teens at the same age.

"That ice cream parlor is always looking for temporaries..."

Tony frowned, "You want me to find another job?"

"No, just a way to meet other teenagers easier."

"Might be a good idea," mumbled Tony after having mulled the idea over for a bit.

"We can go there in the afternoon. I already promised a certain girl some ice cream." Gibbs offered.

Lost in their conversation both men hadn't notice that the last part of their conversation had attracted someone. Mini-Ziva stood in front of them, smiling innocently and toothily at them. "Ice cream?"

Gibbs suppressed a snort, "Later, kid."

"When?"

"In the afternoon."

"T'at long!" Ziva protested.

"Uh huh," Gibbs pulled the small child closer, "And only if you stick to the deal."

"What deal?" Tony asked.

"Ice cream for speaking in full sentences."

"Oh... Bet that's not easy," Tony smiled at Mini-Ziva.

"Nuhuuu!"

Gibbs ruffled her hair, "It will get easier the more you do it, Ziv."

The little girl nodded and then turned to Tony. A look of pure concentration on her face. "Do you... play wif'," she momentarily looked questionably at Gibbs, who mouthed the correct word to her. "Me?"

Tony smiled, "Of course I will. What do you want to do?"

Mini-Ziva thought for a minute. "'Fohtoh!"

"Sure, bug. Let's try out your new camera, then"

Standing up, Tony offered his hand to the little girl, who took it and then proceed to skip back into the house with the teen.

Gibbs was left sitting on the swing, smiling after the pair. "Wrapped around her finger..."

(Ice cream parlor)

"ibbs?" Mini-Ziva asked between spoons full of ice cream. In front of her stood a rather big ice cream bowl, filled with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce, wafers and chocolate chips.

"Yeah?" He handed her another napkin, seeing that her current one had already taken on a color, which looked suspiciously like the chocolate ice in her bowl.

"Where'z Tony?"

"Right here, bug." The teen said from behind Ziva, causing the small girl to turn around and to nearly drop her spoon in the process. Luckily, Gibbs had quick enough reflexes and reached over the table to gently take the laden spoon, before it was too late.

"I take it, it went good." He stated, while handing Mini-Ziva her spoon back. She had looked rather unhappy about his action, but had been to perplexed to voice a protest.

"Yep," Tony grinned as he retook his seat next to Ziva. While he had spoken to the manager their ice cream had arrived. He dug into his dessert, "I can start Monday afternoon. If it's alright that I leave at 2 instead of 3?"

Gibbs smirked, "Sure. How often will you work here?"

"Monday, Tuesday and Saturday."

Mini-Ziva, having payed close attention to what the men had said, couldn't wait any longer. Using her sweetest, pleading voice she looked at the teenager, "Toneey?"

"Yeahhhhh..." He looked suspiciously. Her tone of voice indicated that she was up to something.

Mini-Ziva cocked her head to the side, "You work here?"

"That's right, bug." Tony shot a glance to Gibbs, who watched them with a raised eyebrow.

"Can you..." She furrowed her brows, thinking of the right words, "Ice home?" Even though she had forgotten the verb, Tony and Gibbs immediately knew what she meant.

While Tony was at a loss of words, Gibbs laughed, but quickly reduced it to a smile when he saw Ziva frowning at him.

"Ziv, the ice cream would melt if Tony tries to bring it all the way home."

"Warm milkshake," muttered the teen under his breath.

Mini-Ziva looked down at her ice cream bowl, watching how the ice melted at the edge and sighed, "O'tay."

"Though," Gibbs stated slowly, smirking as he saw Ziva's head shot back up, "If you keep speaking in sentences, we'll eat ice cream once a week."

Tony leaned down to Ziva, conspiratorially whispering something into her ear. The little girl giggled and directed her dark eyes to Gibbs, "Twwize!"

The team leader's eyebrow rose again before he shook his head in amusement, "Alright. Twice."

Inwardly, he hoped that his shrunken agent would forget to make use of this. A miniature Ziva high on sugar could be a problem.

"That your phone?" Tony questioned as he heard a faint buzzing noise.

Gibbs frisked his jacket pocket, fishing the now ringing object out. "Yeah, Gibbs."

'Hey, this is Jack, Max's dad. I thought I would remind you of today's play date.'

The team leader looked at his watch, "4 pm..." "4:30, right?"

'Yeah... You forget, didn't ya?'

"Nah," Gibbs smirked, "We'll see you in a few minutes."

As the team leader pocket his phone again, two pairs of eyes were looking questionably at him. "I had scheduled a play date across town, today."

Tony looked sideways, surveying the amount of ice cream which was still on Ziva's bowl. "Half an hour for a hour drive AND eating the rest of this?" He pointed to their ice cream bowls.

"Only takes 10 minutes for me to get to the park," Gibbs stated nonchalant, causing Tony to look a bit worried.

As it turned out, even at a young age, Ziva was quite the speed devil and enjoyed the fast pace in which Gibbs drove very much. Tony on the other hand - not so much. The team leader's smile got wider the more often a 'drif' faster' came from the backseat.

"You coming, Tony?" Gibbs asked as he opened the passenger door to let Mini-Ziva out. The child safety lock making it impossible for her to open it herself.

"Give me a few minutes?" The teen groaned and wound down the window. He didn't dared to move out of the car before his stomach had settled a bit, at least.

Gibbs walked around the car to Tony's site. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Go. I'm sure I'll be able to find you." Tony closed his eyes. Momentarily opening them again as the car keys got thrown at him.

"Lock the car." Gibbs stated gently. He felt slightly guilty as he saw the teen's pale face. Though, he had made it in nine instead of ten minutes...

Ziva frowned as she only saw Gibbs approaching. After she had made it out of the car she had taken the few steps to the park's green space. Always aware of staying in Gibbs' line of sight. "Where'z Tony?"

"He's coming in a few minutes. He needs a bit time to readjust. I drove to fast for his liking."

Mini-Ziva still frowned but then shrugged. She liked the way Gibbs had driven. Silently she followed the team leader through the park. He hadn't told her why they were driving to this park, so she was sure he wouldn't tell her where they were walking to either, now.

"Ziva!"

With a start, the little girl looked up from the ground, on which she had been concentrating while walking.

"Over there," Gibbs directed her gaze to a large playground. There, Max and Daniyel stood on one of the towers of the playset and waved frantically at them.

Mini-Ziva was about to run over to her friends, when she stopped and looked back at Gibbs.

"Go on, I'll be right behind you," he told her with a smile, causing her to smile too and take off.

"Hopefully this will wear off some of the sugar..." he thought as he went to search for the kids' parents.

-"I missed you!"- Daniyel exclaimed and instantly hugged his friend in greeting.

-"Me too!"- Max declared after having jumped of the playset, which looked similar to the one at the preschool. Only this one was three times bigger.

Ziva smiled at the boys. She was more than happy to be able to finally play with them again. -"I missed you, too."-

-"Will you come back to preschool, next week?"- Daniyel asked tentative. Both boys were smart enough not bring the subjects of parents up. They had both noticed how upset Ziva had gotten on her last day of preschool.

-"I don't know."- Ziva shrugged. Frankly, she had no interest to go back there.

-"You should!"- Max declared, -"It was boring without you! Hanah was sick and I was stuck with the twins during class! They can be so... annoying!"-

The little girl grinned, -"They aren't that bad!"-

Max rolled his eyes, -"Says you."- He grinned, -"At least I could play with Danny in the afternoons!"-

Daniyel smiled. Normally they had never talked or played with each other. But since Ziva had started to visit the preschool, both boys had befriended with each other. Forming a strong friendship which was likely to last for years, if they didn't got separated.

-"It's huge! Isn't it?"- Max asked suddenly, looking around the playground.

Ziva blinked, confused at the sudden change in topic. -"What do you mean?"-

-"They playground!"- Max grinned.

The little girl shrugged, -"I suppose."- She grinned.

-"Do you want to play tag?"- Daniyel asked his friends.

"Hey, you feeling better?" Gibbs asked, momentarily interrupting his conversation with the other dads. Some may found it strange to see the fathers taking the kids to the playground instead of the moms, but they did it to spent some time with their sons, after having spent the majority of the week at work, away from them.

And since Max and Daniyel didn't seem to be able to shut up about Ziva, they figured it to be the best to invite her, also. Plus, they could continue their uncensored 'dad-talk' without a mother butting in with her female opinion.

Tony greeted the other men before he answered, "Yeah, but please drive slower back home!"

Gibbs smirked, "I can do that." "But Ziva might not like that..."

"How fast did you actually drove here?" Max' dad asked.

"Too fast," mumbled Tony, rubbing his still somewhat upset stomach.

"Within law," Gibbs replied smugly.. His gaze resting entirely on Tony. "Maybe you should eat something solid. To counteract the amount of ice cream?"

The teenager groaned, "Don't feel like eating."

"There's a hot dog stand," Daniyel's father pointed to the other side of the playground.

"Hmm.." Tony looked thoughtfully at it. His hand stopping it's motion.

"Changed your mind?" Gibbs smirked.

"Maybe," now the shrunken agent was grinning again.

"Come on. I'm hungry, too." Gibbs stood up, "You guys want something?"

"Nah, I'm good," Max dad held up a sandwich, which he had taken out of his inner jacket pocket. All the food talk had made him hungry.

"Me neither. Thanks."

With a motion of his head, Gibbs told Tony to follow him.

"I really didn't meant to make you sick," he stated, after having walked half the way to the food stand.

Tony shrugged, "It's okay. Normally I wouldn't mind. Guess it was just the wrong food beforehand."

Gibbs signaled the man at the hotdog stand to make them two hotdogs. "Still, should have stopped when you turned quiet. You're chattering nonstop, normally."

"I could have felt like needing some quiet after last night's event?" Tony said dismissively, taking one of the hotdogs from Gibbs, while the older man paid.

"Yeah," Gibbs grinned. After all he had thought exactly this. The paleness of Tony's face had been covered by the bright sunshine, which had followed them since the ice cream parlor.

"Let's sit down," Gibbs pointed to a bank a few steps away.

"But..."

"Max' and Daniyel's dad can live without us for a few minutes."

"But what about Ziva? She'll try to find us..."

Gibbs pointed to a climbing wall, "If we can see her, she can see us." "Otherwise I'll just whistle..."

"Right..." Tony had a feeling that he wouldn't like the following conversation.

"It's been two months now." Gibbs started, causing the teen to close his eyes. He definitely didn't liked where this conversation was heading.

"They're giving up?"

Gibbs sighed, "Not yet..."

"But it's likely."

"Yeah. They don't really have a reason to search for an antidote."

"Since the monkeys changed back on their own."

"Exactly. It's only for their own curiosity. Changing you back, before the time would be up anyway, is just a bonus."

"When they do the research for their own business, why are they stopping then?"

Gibbs smiled wryly, "Money."

"Ah..." Tony eyed the other man, "You knew this before, right? Otherwise you hadn't made and bought all this stuff for us."

"Call it a gut feeling."

Tony laughed, "I heard about that. Abby says your gut is never wrong."

Gibbs shook his head, slightly amused, "Not always. Sometimes it makes me do the wrong things."

"What are you guys doing?" A boy asked Max and Ziva, who had jumped upon Daniyel's call onto the climbing frame. Careful not to touch the ground.

"We're playing fire, water, storm and ice!" Max declared.

"What's that?"

"It's fun! Someone calls fire, water, storm or ice. Then you have to act upon it. Fire means to run, storm you need to lie flat on the ground, water you need to climb high upon something. If the person calls ice you freeze!"

"Can we play, too?" He pointed to the smaller girl who stood behind him, shyly hiding from view.

Max looked at Ziva, who nodded, grinning widely. "Sure... Maybe we should ask one of the adults to shout."

"Uh huh..." Mini-Ziva thought for a moment, "I ask Tony!"

Max grinned. He liked the teenager. "Be right back," he told the foreign boy and then run after Ziva.

"Toneey..."

He grinned, "Yeah, Zeevah."

"They never will stop using those nicknames," Gibbs thought smiling.

"Can you play wif' us?" She looked sweetly at him.

"Uhm.."

"We're playing fire, water, storm and ice. And we NEED someone to call!" Max smiled.

Tony grinned, "Okay." He remembered this game.

The other men watched amused as the two preschooler dragged Tony with them.

"What did you do to your girl, Gibbs? She hadn't used sentences last week." Max's dad inquired with a smile.

"Bribed her with ice cream." The agent replied smugly.

"Works good," Daniyel's father laughed.

"Where did you go?" Daniyel inquired as his friends returned with Tony.

"Obviously I'm supposed to shout fire, water, storm or ice to you guys." The teen laughed, rubbing his wrists once the kids had let go of them. Who would have thought that they could grip something so hard.

"Cool!"

After inviting some more children and giving everyone instructions of what counted and what not, the game soon was in full swing.

"Ice!" Tony shouted. "Sorta like Matrix," he thought as he looked around. It hadn't taken long before nearly all children on the playground had joined in. Making Tony's surroundings looking very surreal as every child now stood very still.

"Go!" He called loudly, giving everyone the signal to unfreeze and run around normally.

Tony waited a few moments before giving everyone the command to climb on something. "Water!"

He laughed as he saw Max hanging slightly askew on the climbing frame. "You okay, buddy?"

The boy only giggled and gave him the thumbs up, nearly loosing his hold on the frame.

Tony quickly delivered him from his position, "Go!"

"Thank you!" Max dashed past him, back to Daniyel and Ziva. Both kids having retreated to a safer area, where they could easily follow the instruction without wearing themselves out further.

"Must be getting tired," Tony thought, silently observing the other kids. They didn't looked better. Some had already retreated to their parents while others not seemed to know when to end it.

"Alright, Storm's coming! Take cover!"

Once the children all lay, breathing heavily, he called it quits. "Good job." He remembered how Gibbs always praised Ziva. "Now, let's take a break for today."

Although there were several complaints, most children seemed to be relieved. The sportive game finally catching up with them.

While several kids told him how much they liked the game and his role in it, Mini-Ziva, Max and Daniyel approached him.

Ziva immediately wrapped her arms around Tony, "T'at fun."

"I'm glad," he told them, "Want a lift, bug?"

"Please!" The little girl yawned tiredly and the boy weren't far behind. They all were pretty much exhausted now.

"Look here he comes!"

"The kid tamer!"

Gibbs smirked at the comments. "That was good work, Tony." He said once the teen was within earshot.

"Thanks. Though, I think I tired them out a bit too much." He shifted Ziva in his arms. She had used the short walk to fall asleep.

"Nah," Daniyel's father commented as he pulled his son onto his lap, "Tired out is good."

The team leader nodded, taking Mini-Ziva from Tony. "That it is..."

~ Fin ~

- "..."- = Words spoken in Hebrew

A/N: The game 'fire, water, storm and ice' is one I played a lot in P.E. or after school in general, when I was younger. I just translated the rules into English... It makes lots of fun :) You should try it out! *G*