Daniela picked up some noodles with the chopsticks and frowned as they slid down and settled on the bottom of her container. "These...stick things...they are not very good." She threw them down and started picking up the noodles with her fingers. "Much better."
Noodles hung from Jacob's mouth as his fingers flew, trying to say something that only his sister could understand.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Tony chastised with a laugh. Jacob wrinkled his nose and waved his hands emphatically. He swallowed and waved a finger in Tony's face.
"Cute." Ziva replied rolling her eyes as Tony placed his chopsticks under his top lip and made faces at Jacob who tried to mimic him. It shocked her at how comfortable she felt, huddled around the kitchen table, with two kids and Tony eating Chinese food. Like a family. Like a real family. "Tony, now look at what you did." Ziva said, watching as Jacob started to cough as a noodle wormed slowly out of his nose.
"Jacob, that is gross." Daniela shrieked and wrinkled her face up.
"I agree." Ziva turned to Tony who was laughing. "Tony..."
"Okay okay..." Tony grabbed Jacob and led him to the washroom. "Let's get you cleaned up Mister Jacob."
Watching the boys with her aquamarine eyes, Daniela turned back to Ziva. "They are very strange."
The sound of laughing and water running flowed into the kitchen. Despite herself, Ziva found herself smiling again. "They are strange...but..."
"You have to love them anyway."
Ziva was even more surprised when she felt Daniela's head on her shoulder, the girl wrapping her arms around Ziva's waist...They sat like that until Tony emerged wet, but victorious with Jacob tucked under his arm.
"Don't ask." Tony dropped Jacob on the couch and shook the excess water out of his hair. "Didn't think that it was that hard to get a four year old to blow the noodle out of his nose." He tried to explain.
"So you went for a swim?"
"More like he took ME for a swim." Tony looked over at Jacob who was grinning and slowly picking at the food on his plate.
Daniela fought back a smirk and stood up to put her plate away. "You have noodles in your hair Tony."
He ran his hands through his short spiky hair, only to pick out some thin chow mein noodles. Slowly he turned to face Jacob who was still smiling and pulling the noodles through his fingers. "Daniela, can you translate this for me?" He called as Daniela walked back to the table.
"Yes." She perched on the chair and looked at Tony.
"You are going for a bath." Tony said clearly taking a step towards the boy and throwing him over his shoulder and heading off towards the bathroom. "We'll be back." He called in a bad imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Deep laughter and high pitched squeals filled the house. Ziva turned to Daniela who was sitting quietly at the table, her eyes flitting towards the source of the noise. "Would you like to watch TV or read a book?"
"Book please." Daniela followed the Mossad assassin into the main room and sat on the couch. Ziva pulled a thin book off the shelf and sat beside her. A smile graced Daniela's face when she saw the book. She relaxed against Ziva as she started to read; "East of the Land of the Rising Sun there dwelled a king who spent all his days and half his nights in pleasure. His kingdom was on the edge of the world, according to the knowledge of those times, and almost entirely surrounded by the sea. Nobody seemed to care what lay beyond the barrier of rocks that shut off the land from the rest of the world. For the matter of that, nobody appeared to trouble much about anything in that kingdom..." Daniela's eyes fluttered shut and her breathing evened out, the familiar fairy tale in familiar language making her fall asleep quickly.
Tony and Jacob emerged out of the bathroom, Tony wearing a pair of well worn sweat pants and Jacob wearing the new blue pyjamas. Gently Ziva shook Daniela's shoulder. "Daniela...Daniela..." The girl slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times. "I think it's time to go to bed. Come on, we will go get your pyjamas." She nodded sleepily, her azure eyes closing for a brief second before struggling to her feet. Ziva led the sleepy girl to her room and reappeared a few minutes later.
"I think they are still suffering from Jet legs." Ziva said softly, looking down at Jacob who was curled up on the end of the couch sleeping.
"Jet lag, Ziva." Tony smiled and scooped the boy in his arms. Jacob barely shifted and wrapped his legs around Tony's waist. He carried the small boy to his room and placed him on his bed. The small boy's chest rose and fell, a ragged stuffed animal at his side. He reached over and brushed the boy's light hair away from his eyes and stood there.
"Tony...?" Ziva came up behind him, her arms crossed, a curious look on her face. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Just...thinking."
Ziva smiled. Maybe Tony DiNozzo was finally growing up.
#
"It is a king bed Tony. I am sure that we can sleep in it without any problems." Ziva crossed her arms across the shirt she was wearing and glared.
"No way. You're going to pull a gun on me again. I know it." Tony said standing on the other side of the bed.
"Tony, we are to act married. Married couples sleep in the same bed."
"Where's your gun?"
"I would not have a loaded gun..." She started before Tony started shaking his head.
"I know you have it. Where is it?"
Finally she pulled the gun from her night stand. "It is here. I will not shoot you." Crawling into her side of the bed she looked over at Tony who was still standing staring at her. "I promise. I will not touch it."
He shook his head. "Okay, fine. But stay on your side."
Ziva rolled her eyes and reached over and turned off the light. "Good night Tony."
#
Her internal clock told her that it was early. Far too early to be up, but she had the feeling that she was being watched. Not by Tony she knew because his snoring continued, unperturbed. A pair of dark eyes peered at her in the dark. Jacob stood at the foot of their bed, his face tearstained, his eyes filled with unshed tears, a teddy bear clutched at his side.
"Did you have a bad dream, Jacob?" She whispered, then realizing that the child couldn't hear her. Silently she got out of bed and crouched down beside the boy. He was shaking, tears streaming down his face. Instinctively she wrapped her arms around the small boy, feeling his hot tears soak into her white tank top. Wordlessly she led Jacob out of the room and pulled him into her lap. His hand found her hair, wrapping a curl around his finger sighing as his other hand found his mouth. She hummed a Hebrew lullaby, a comfort to her in her childhood. Stupid, she tried to reason with herself, knowing that he couldn't hear her, but the simple act seemed to calm the child. Soon the calming vibrations of her humming calmed the small boy to sleep...
The next time she awoke, the feeling of being watched had returned. Ziva opened her eyes and looked over at the couch where Daniela was quietly listening to her Ipod and reading a book.
"Daniela, it is very early. Why are you awake?" Ziva shifted the sleeping boy and placed him on the couch.
"I am full of sleep." Daniela smile and pointed to the clock. "It is not that early. It is 5...04." She read. "My Ima and I, we, we ran a lot. Early. Before Abba and the boys were awake. They liked to sleep."
"I like to run." Ziva replied stretching her legs. "I am a little bit late today, I am usually running by 0500." She looked at the young girl who was staring at her expectantly. "Would you like to come along?"
"I would not like to impose..." Daniela smiled wistfully. "I would probably make you run slower. I will stay back with Jacob."
Ziva grabbed the girl's hand. "No, you come running with me. I usually run five miles in the morning, we can run less if you wish." She pulled her off of the couch and shooed her into her room. "Tony will be fine with Jacob. Now go change."
A flicker of a smile crossed Daniela's face as she shut her door. "Thank you Ziva." She emerged a few minutes later wearing a pair of pristine white Nikes, a pair of black yoga pants and a grey tshirt. Her Ipod was attached firmly to her upper arm. "I am ready." Wearing a similar outfit, Ziva left a note beside Tony and led the girl outside. Their feet hit the ground in a steady cadence, slightly slower than what Ziva was used to. She stole a look at Daniela who was plodding along with a slight frown on her face.
"What is wrong Daniela?"
The girl shrugged without missing a beat. "Nothing. Just...thinking."
#
The bed was empty and cold. Tony looked at the clock and covered his face with the pillow. 721 am was far too early for anyone of the human race to awake he reasoned. Unless you were a scary Mossad Ninja. The rustling of paper forced him to open his eyes again. Blindly, he groped for the note holding it close to his face.
Gone running with Daniela. Jacob is sleeping on the couch. Please check on him when you read this. – Ziva. He read the note twice taking in Ziva's perfect handwriting before rolling out of bed. Jacob was sleeping fitfully on the couch, his small body rolling around teetering on the edge of falling off. Tony simply watched the boy, standing close enough to save him if he fell. The front door opened and Ziva entered with Daniela following closely behind.
The Israeli's dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, the curls tighter than normal from the running, her face covered in a thin layer of sweat. Daniela followed close, a grin on her face.
"Good morning Tony." Ziva said cheerfully wiping her face with the collar of her shirt.
He grunted in reply, flopping on the arm chair. "You two sure look happy."
Daniela nodded. "We ran 6 miles. Very fast." She broke off and began rifling through the cupboard before emerging victorious with a granola bar in hand. "Jacob is still sleeping?"
"Yeah, he hasn't moved since I've gotten here." Tony shrugged closed his eyes. "I can't believe you convinced Mini you to go running with you."
"Sedinovincmetogoo."
"Pardon?" Ziva laughed as Daniela attempted to scold Tony around the granola bar in her mouth.
"She did not convince me to go." Daniela said swallowing. "I convinced her to let me go running I told you I am very fast."
"You were right Daniela. You are very fast." Ziva smiled at the girl. "I shall wait until you are finished showering, go fast before Tony takes all the hot water."
Daniela rolled her eyes. "Tony does not shower." She replied with a grin quickly heading to the washroom.
"Nice, you've turned her against me." Tony muttered.
"No, I think she is just...jesting with you."
"Teasing. She was teasing me Ziva." He opened his eyes and looked down at the small boy who opened his eyes and blinked rapidly. "Jacob is awake."
Jacob sat up and looked around, his eyes sad. I had a bad dream He looked at Tony and crawled onto his lap. I am hungry.
Tony looked at Ziva and then back at Jacob. The boy, realising that his signing was useless and jumped off, running to his room. He returned with his PEC book and waved it at Tony. A large photo of food was stuck to it. Underneath it, in large childlike writing FEED ME With a snicker, Tony got up and grabbed the boy. "Okay, I get it. Pancakes?"
Jacob's dark eyes twinkled and he nodded.
#
"This has a camera in it. It will show us everything that you see." Abby handed the necklace over to Daniela who looked at it curiously.
"It is like Ziva's." She said softly handling the small Star of David in her hand.
"Very close." Abby smiled and attached it around the girl's neck. "Keep it on at all time when you're at school, that way we can keep track of you."
The girl nodded and smiled up at Ziva. Ziva tussled her hair and straightened the necklace. "It looks very nice."
What do I get? What do I get? I do not want a girlie necklace. Jacob signed to Abby and pointed at Daniela's jewlery. I want something cool.
How does an Ohio State pin sound? Abby passed a pin to the boy who nodded.
OSU He turned to Tony and pointed at Tony's grey shirt that he was wearing. I'm just like you!
Abby grinned. "He says he's just like you Tony now."
"Great, just what we need, another DiNozzo." McGee said rolling his eyes, though a smile on his face.