After a while Mini-Ziva had calmed down enough to enjoy the comforting hold her father had on her. From her position, sitting on her father's lap and snuggling into his chest, she could see all of her plush toys, which still lay discarded on the floor.
-"Daddy?"- Ziva quietly started, -"Do I need to give them away, too?"-
Eli frowned, -"Who?"-
-"My dolphin and all the others..."-
Her father shook his head, still frowning. -"Why do you think you need to give them away, precious?"-
Ziva ignored his question and instead looked seriously at Eli. -"Do I need to?"
-"No, Ziva. You won't need to give them away. Where has this question come from?"-
Mini-Ziva looked at her toys, softly mumbling, -"You made Ari give his toys away..."
Eli sighed and held his shrunken daughter a bit closer, while he collected his thoughts. After a while he gently started to explain his actions to her. -"Ari wa... is already in school. He ha-d.. has..." Eli took a deep breath, his late son normally wasn't something he discussed – with anyone – never, ever. He had not even discussed him with Ziva, after she had returned with his body. But now he couldn't and would not just let the subject go, without explaining, "Ari goes to school now. I didn't want the other kids to laugh at him for having so many plush toys in his room..."
-"Why would they laugh? My friends don't laugh at me. And I have lots!"- Mini-Ziva looked wide-eyed at her father.
"Cause they are boys," Eli thought. -"Ari and his classmates are older than your friends. They mostly have other toys to play with."-
-"But Ari was sad!"- Ziva protested loudly.
-"I know, precious"- Eli gave her a sad smile, -"But you know,"- he looked secretively at her, -"I've a really good gift for him in exchange.."-
Mini-Ziva's eyes widened, -"What is it!"- She slightly started to 'jump' in excitement.
Eli laughed and held his energized daughter a bit more secure, -"I'm not sure I should tell you..."- He smiled mischievously.
-"Daddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.."- The little girl looked at her father with puppy eyes.
-"Hm.. Maybe.. I could tell you..." Eli acted thoughtfully.
-"Pleeaaaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeee, I won't tell him!"- Ziva pleaded anew, causing her father to chuckle at her behavior.
-"Alright, precious..." He leaned a bit down, in order to be able to whisper into her ear. What he told her caused Ziva to widen her eyes and squeal in happiness.
-"He will love it, daddy!"-
Downstairs Tony helped Gibbs, as the team leader prepared their dinner.
"What do you think they're talking about?"
Gibbs briefly looked at the ceiling, listening to Mini-Ziva's laughs and squeals. "Not sure, but whatever it is, Ziva's happy."
"She's talking a mile a minute." Tony grinned.
"Oh yeah.." Gibbs laughed into his coffee.
The teenager sighed. "You could have warned me that you would come home tonight. With him... I promised Ziva that no one besides us two would be here tonight."
Gibbs smirked, "You don't like the outcome?"
Tony was about to answer when a particular loud squeal from Ziva stopped him. The teenager shook his head, a small smile on his face, "I guess I do.. sort of."
After a few minutes of silence between them, Tony added in afterthought, "But do I need to be civil to him?" Seeing Gibbs glare at him, he hastily corrected his question, "I mean, if Bug is not around."
Gibbs' glare turned into a smirk as he shrugged nonchalant, "Your choice."
-"And then Dan'yel said..."-
A cough from the doorway interrupted Ziva's animatedly narration of her birthday parties..
"'ibbs!" With a wide grin, the little girl ran from her father to Gibbs, who swiftly picked her up as she flung herself at him.
His attention solely on his shrunken agent, Gibbs asked, "Having fun, Ziv."
"Uh huh! Me tell Aba about my birwftay!"
Gibbs smirked, "I hope you don't forget to mention my cakes."
Mini-Ziva looked shocked that he even thought she would forget. "'ibbs! Me no forgot!"
The team leader chuckled, "I know you wouldn't." He gave her a reassuring smile. "You think you can stop your story till after dinner?"
Ziva grinned and nodded. "What we eating?"
"Why don't you find out what we are eating by going downstairs?"
The little girl shrugged and let herself be sat back down on the floor, "O'tay." She grinned at both men before running out of the room.
"Don't forget to wash your hands!" Gibbs shouted after her, receiving an annoyed sounding murmur in response.
Despite his daughter so willingly leaving his embrace in order to go to Agent Gibbs, Eli smiled and slowly heaved himself out of the small chair. A look of brief pain on his face as his bones protested.
Gibbs smirked, "Those chairs already gave me some bad nights..."
The Director of Mossad laughed lightly. "It has been some time since I sat on such small furniture."
The statement gave Gibbs some reassurance that his shrunken agent's childhood wasn't as gruesome as most of the team thought. After all the other man must have played with his daughter at some point.
As both men arrived in the kitchen later - at a much more sedated pace - Mini-Ziva had Tony engrossed while telling him what she had told her father earlier.
Tony had been laughing at Ziva's fast rambling, or rather, her stumbling tries to retell everything with the few words she knew, when his expression darkened.
He hadn't met Ziva's father in person yet, but the instant he laid eyes on the man besides Gibbs, he knew who he was facing that moment. Eli David, who, if any of the stories from Abby and McGee where halfway right, had send his own daughter on a mission, which some people would call a suicide mission. Leaving her to fend for herself.
"Mr. David," Tony stated as cold as he could without alerting Ziva that something wasn't right.
Through Eli's mind flashed the image of a 40-something year old Agent DiNozzo, sitting opposite from him in an interrogation room. His first and last meeting with his daughter's partner.
"You must be Tony, " Eli asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.
Tony gave him a false smile, "Yes, sir. That's me..."
Eli briefly looked at his daughter, who observed the interaction with interest. "Please, do not call me Sir. It makes me feel old. Eli is good enough."
His statement made Mini-Ziva grin widely and looking at Tony, who in return had been watching her. "Alright... Eli." Tony sighed deeply. If Ziva hadn't been around, he would have told her father where he could shove his offer at being on first name basis..
"Good, then let's eat." Gibbs interrupted the situation, before it had the chance to turn bad.
Ziva craned her neck to follow Gibbs with her eyes as he got their dinner from the kitchen. "What you cook?"
"Brussels Sprouts," the team leader called from the kitchen, causing Ziva to make a face.
"No, you did not!" she challenged back, knowing fully well that he wouldn't serve them again.
Gibbs chuckled as he returned with two pots. It was a game they played every other day since she had made her distaste of the hated vegetable known. "Of course, I haven't." Gibbs, now standing directly next to Ziva as he filled the plates of everyone, laid a reassuring hand on the small girl's back.
Eli chuckled, mischievously whispering to Ziva, "Guess we do not need to hide them, then."
Mini-Ziva grinned at her father, making Tony and Gibbs wonder what the secret behind those words was.
Despite the fact that both, Gibbs and Eli repeatedly needed to remind Ziva to eat instead to talk nonstop Hebrew and English words mixed all the way, dinner had turned out to be a quiet event.
By the time Mini-Ziva had finally cleaned her plate, it was already bedtime. Eli looked at his watch, finding Gibbs slightly nodding as he looked back up.
"Ziv," the team leader started carefully.
Though his shrunken agent had none of it, knowing fully well what was about to come. "I no wanna sleep!"
Gibbs smirked, "Firth brushing teeth, then sleep."
"'ibbs!" The little girl leaned back on her chair, slightly pouting. She knew that she wouldn't win this argument, since she never did, but she always tried it anyway.
"Ziva," Eli spoke up, smiling at her.
Mini-Ziva sighed. If her father wasn't on her side either, she could as well as stand up and get ready for bed, now. She gave all three men a pointed and an a bit insulted look, since they were more or less laughing at her behavior, before she got up and went upstairs.
Once she was out of sight, Eli laughed lightly. "Some things never change..."
Gibbs shook his head, clearly amused, "Guess she always tried to stay up longer than she was supposed too."
Eli nodded, smiling. "Yes, when she got older my wife and I thought she finally had accepted her bedtime, as Ziva went to bed without protest." Eli laughed, "But I soon found out, she only stayed in bed as long as her bedroom door was open. As soon as Rivka or I closed it, she was out of bed and in the process of climbing out of her window..."
"Bet you weren't happy about that.." Gibbs smirked.
Eli nodded, "No parent would be, yes? Ziva was no older than seven or eight at this point. Imagining her roaming the streets at night..." Eli shook his head.
"What did you do?" Tony wanted to know, having listened closely to the conversation.
"Since my marriage was already falling apart... I started to join her on her trips."
"You.." Tony looked shocked. His own father wouldn't have done that. Or at least he thought so.
"There was no point in trying to stop Ziva. Surely, I could have nailed down her window, so that she would not have been able to open it anymore. Or I could have told her mother... But ..."
"Ziva would have found a way out..." Gibbs finished the sentence with an amused smile. The thought of a seven year old girl outside at night troubled him, but the image of Ziva being outside, roaming the streets at night with her father of all people, made him laugh inwardly.
Eli nodded, "Certainly. I was also not looking forward to more fights with my wife... So I joined Ziva and made her promise to stay inside when I could not be home."
Gibbs smirked, slowly standing up and meeting Eli's gaze across the table. "We should hurry and catch up with the little jailbreaker..."
Seeing Eli's puzzled expression he added, "If ya here, you can just as well help me put her to bed...- and making sure she stays there."
When Gibbs and Eli had made their way up to the first floor, Ziva was nowhere to be found.
"Ziva?"
"'ibbs?" A small voice said from above them, before they saw Mini-Ziva climbing down the stairs, which lead to Tony's room.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "What'cha doing up there?"
With a frown the little girl wordlessly held up her jacket and shoes. "Me no can get 'em if Tony sleep!" She frowned, for her it was one of the most obvious things in the world.
Both men smirked at this, while waiting for the small girl to make it down the stairs. .
Once on the same level, Ziva looked hopefully at her father as Gibbs took the jacket and shoes from her, "You stay?"
"Not today tataleh," Eli lightly shook his head.
"But..." Mini-Ziva stopped mid-sentence.
Gibbs sighed inaudible. "Your Aba will tuck you into bed though. I just came up to say goodnight to you," he stated, eliciting a surprised look not only from Ziva but also from Eli.
The little girl looked from Gibbs to her father. New hope in her eyes, "Rweally?"
Eli smiled, -"Ken."-
"Stowy?"
Her father chuckled, "Of course."
"YAY!" Mini-Ziva grinned and ran to her room.
"Hey!" Gibbs called after his small charge, "Didn't you forgot something?"
Moments later Ziva stood in front of him again, looking a bit sheepish, "Sowry!" She hugged him, "Night 'ibbs! Luv ya!"
Gibbs grinned and knelt down, properly hugging her back. "Love you too," he whispered into her ear, before saying more loudly, "But I meant to tell you to brush your teeth before bed..."
The little girl immediately let go of him, "'ibbs!"
The team leader laughed at her scowling expression, "No chance, kid"
Mini-Ziva sighed and trotted into the bathroom, "'tay..."
"All yours," Gibbs smirked at Eli, who silently followed his daughter. The Director of Mossad knew all to well about the struggle that was awaiting him.
-"Daddy, will you tell me a story?"- Mini-Ziv asked as she climbed onto her bed, crawling to the head of the bed so that her father could fold back the bedspread.
Eli smiled, -"Of course, precious."-
-"With the knight and the dragon?"- Ziva asked as she laid down, her father gently tucking her in...
As Eli came downstairs much later that night, since he had continued to watch Ziva long after she had fallen asleep, Gibbs had just thrown a blanket and pillow on the couch.
"I will go now."
"You can stay on the couch for the time being," Gibbs stated gruffly.
Eli raised an eyebrow, surprised by this offer.
"Not for you. But for Ziva. She's only four and needs her father. No matter how much I would like to kick you out of my house." Gibbs clarified. His voice as gruff as before.
"I understand." Eli nodded. "Thank you."
Gibbs went to leave the room, but he stopped in the doorway, "About those Brussels Sprouts..."
Eli slightly chuckled. "Rivka made Ziva eat them. I hate those sprouts as much as Ziva does... We always got rid of them when my ex-wife wasn't looking."
Gibbs nodded. A smile tugging on his lips as he went upstairs.
As the team leader left the room, Eli quickly gave word to his officers waiting outside, letting them know that he was to stay at Gibbs' for the night.
~ TBC ~