"Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom." Lucy banged on the door of her mom's office. "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

Michelle opened the door and stared at her daughter. "Lucy, what have I told you about interrupting during my appointments."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Only if it's important." She chewed on her thumbnail. "But it's super important Mom." She burst into the room, squirting between her Mom and the doorframe. "Can Daniela come over and have a sleepover?" She looked at her Mom expectantly. "Like tonight?"

Sighing, Michelle pulled her daughter to the side. "Luce, first of all that is not an emergency. And secondly, you'd have to ask Daniela's mom and dad."

Lucky shrugged. "'Kay." She poked her head around her Mom and smiled at Tony and Ziva. "Daniela's Mom and Dad, can she have a sleepover at my house tonight? We've got a trampampoline and we can watch movies…MOM! Mom! I'm TALKING!" She squealed as Michelle pulled her from the room. "Think about it! We'll be in the other room!"

Michelle slammed the door and rubbed her hands in her eyes. "Sorry about that. That is Lucy for you, she doesn't listen well to directions."

Tony grinned. "It's okay. She seems like quite the kid."

"Handful." Michelle rolled her eyes. "Anyway, back to our original conversation, I'll book the OR for a week, Thursday."

Ziva smiled. "That sounds great. I am surprised that you can get him in that quickly."

"No problem." Looking at her watch she turned to Ziva. "About Lucy's question, I'd love it if Daniela could come and spend the night at our place. Keith has informed me about…her situation," she stated gently, "tonight I'm hosting a ladies night at our place, with a few of my friends and their daughters. You're more than welcome to come and join us. We live Silver Heights."

"Hey, we just bought a house there!" Tony exclaimed.

"See, it's fate that you attend." She smiled at Ziva, and then at Tony. "The men usually head to my brother's place…according to Keith they play board games. According to Tyler the men play poker and the kids play Xbox."

Tony grinned. "Well, I could go for a night like that."

Michelle smiled and pulled out a pad of paper from her desk. "How about I write down our cellphone numbers and you guys can give us a call later whatever you decide." She scribbled a couple of numbers down. "But I should go check and make sure my kids haven't murdered yours."

"Daniela and Jacob can stand up for themselves."

Shrugging, Michelle stood up and held the door open for Tony and Ziva. "That as it may be, when Lucy and Tyler get on a mission." She stood in the doorway and sighed when she saw Tyler and Jacob launching themselves off of bookshelf onto a pile of pillows.

"Lucy…"

"I told them to stop. They didn't listen. I did my duty." The older girl said rolling her eyes. Daniela nodded.

"We did. But they do not listen." Daniela grinned at Lucy.

Tony ran his hands through his hair. "Great, they're conspiring against us." He grabbed Jacob who was about to make a final flying leap. "No way flyboy."

Michelle reached out and grabbed Tyler as he almost sent a header off the book shelf. "Nice try Ty." She turned back to Ziva and Tony. "On second thought, you might want to run away as fast as possible from my family."

.

"Great." Ziva said into her phone, waving off Tony's advances. "That's great. Yes, we're open to meeting with anyone from DCFS anytime that is appropriate. Yes, we have ownership of the house in two weeks. That would be great." Ziva nodded to herself. "Thank you so much. We look forward to seeing you." She shut her phone and threw it on the couch beside Tony. "That was DCFS. They're going to send someone once we get moved into the house…but Marguerite vouched for us and we have temporary custody until they come." She grinned and sat down beside Tony. "We are one step closer."

Tony sighed a happy contented sigh. "We are. I think we should talk to Keith and Michelle about which school Tyler and Lucy go to. Maybe if they're accepting we can register Jake and Dani there."

"That would be great." She smiled up at Tony and wedged herself into the crook in his arm. "So I guess we are going out tonight." She threw her phone at Tony. "Call them and say we'll be coming. I'll go tell the kids."

With an ear to ear grin Tony pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket while Ziva went over to the bedroom the children were staying. She knocked gently on the door and opened it up. Daniela was lying on the bed listening to her Ipod and reading a book and Jacob was building a giant tower of Lego.

"Hey."

Daniela pulled her earbuds out and smiled. "Hi."

"You guys should pack your bags." Ziva said sitting down beside Jacob. "We are going to have a sleepover!"

"At Lucy's?" Daniela's eyes sparkled.

"Yes. And Jake will be going with Papa and Tyler." She said slowly so Jacob could follow along.

T-Y-L-E-R?

"Yes, T-Y-L-E-R-."

Jacob grinned and ran out of the room.

"Do you know that Tyler and Lucy have a tramampoline?"

"I heard that." Ziva smiled and went to stand up. "You should pack up some stuff for a sleepover. Clothes, pyjamas, socks, underwear, toothbrush, brush…"

Daniela nodded and pulled a bag from under her bed. "Awesome. Lucy said we are gonna watch movies. Lots of movies. And eat junk food. And tramampoline."

"How about you pack your stuff and we can talk about it on the way there." Ziva laughed and ruffled Daniela's hair. "You sound excited."

"Yes. Lucy is really nice."

Ziva shut the door behind her, catching the final part of the phone conversation Tony was having with Keith. "Okay, I'll grab some beer and a few bags of chips. Yeah, we have lots of movies, so I'll bring a couple along for the boys. Umm…I'll ask Ziva." He covered the mouthpiece and gave her a smile. "Any specific meal you want? Besides no pork."

"Whatever is fine."

"She says anything. Okay great. We'll see you in a few hours. Really appreciate it Keith." He closed the phone. "We're set. 545 we at 40 Marquis Crescent. I have to go pick up some…refreshments."

"Could you pick a bottle of wine?"

He nodded and grabbed the keys off the counter.

.

Ziva held Daniela's hand as they walked up the walkway. The small girl was almost vibrating with excitement. Tony held Jacob under one arm like a squirming football and a case of beer under the other arm. Daniela pressed the doorbell and waited until the door swung open with amazing velocity.

"DANIELA! MOMMMMMMM! DANIELA AND HER MOM ARE HERE!" Lucy grabbed Daniela's arm and dragged her into the entrance. "The other girls aren't here yet so we can do anything. We can go tramampolining if you want. Or we can go and play in my room. Or…" The girl was cut off by her mother's hand over her mouth.

"Breathe Lucy." Michelle rolled her eyes behind the girl and grinned. "Come on in. I APOLOGIZE for the lack of manners my daughter showed."

Lucy made a face and squirmed free of her mom and pulled Daniela down the hall. "Move it or lose it egghead." Lucy called shoving past Tyler who kicked her in response.

Hi Jacob. Tyler signed slowly.

Hi Tyler.

The boys smiled and Tyler nodded towards his room. Lego.

Jacob grinned and followed the taller boy down the hall.

Keith ruffled the boys's heads as they walked by and gave Tony a nod. "Thanks for coming."

"It'll be nice to have a guys night."

"It'll be at my brother in law's place, he's only a block or two away." Keith took the drinks and placed them by the door. "We'll leave in an hour or so."

"Or sooner." Michelle said with a smile and sent a hipcheck into her husband who grinned and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Or sooner. Depending on when the way of estrogen arrives." He grinned and dodged an elbow from Michelle. "Come on in, I'll give you the grand tour."

Ziva smiled as the two men walked down the long hallway. "Thanks for inviting us."

"Anytime, especially since it looks like we're going to be neighbours." She grabbed the small bags and led Ziva into the main room. "Grab a seat, I'm not sure how many people are showing up."

"Thanks." Ziva looked around the house filled with pictures of family, family heirlooms and childish paintings. "You have a very nice house."

Michelle smiled and handed Ziva a glass of wine. "It's not usually like this, I assure you. We did a tornado clean." She laughed and opened up the footstool. "See, Lego. It takes over our house."

Ziva laughed. "Ours too." She looked up as she saw two streaks of colour run through the room and into the backyard.

"The trampoline." Michelle explained. They watched as the two girls clamoured up on the trampoline and were soon jumping around. "Have you found a school for Daniela and Jacob in this area?"

"No." Ziva shook her head. "We have not really started looking. We just got notification that we can have temporary custody of the children."

Michelle's face darkened slightly. "Temporary custody? I thought that…"

"No, they are not ours. It is a long story." She smiled sadly. "But, they soon will be."

With an encouraging squeeze of the hand Michelle raised her wine glass. "To new friends."

"To new friends."

Michelle's dark eyes danced. "I'll put in a good word for you at Tyler and Lucy's school. It's Whitmore Academy, and the best part, it's only a few blocks away."

"That would be great." Ziva smiled.

"Okay Michie, we're heading out!" Keith called walking into the room with Tyler slung over his shoulder. "Your brother called and I want to get there before…"

"He eats all the good wings?" Michelle finished with a knowing grin.

"Uh…yeah."

"Mom…Jake and I…we're gonna play Uncle Kieran's Xbox." Tyler added from his upsidedown position.

VIDEO GAMES Jacob signed from under Tony's arm.

"Have fun." Ziva said, with a laugh.

"Don't break anything this time." Michelle warned giving her husband a glare.

"First of all, that was NOT my fault. That was Kieran and Stu's. SECONDLY, it wasn't broken, it was just cracked. And lastly…I love you." Keith finished lamely.

Michelle cracked up and rolled her eyes. "Have fun boys."

Tony winked at Ziva and gave her a small wave.

She blushed and watched as they left the room.

"So how long until the wedding?" Michelle asked with a coy smile.

"How did you…"

With a shrug, the black woman reached over and refilled her wine glass. "You can't stop looking at your engagement ring." She took a long swallow of the wine. "And you can't wipe that smile off your face whenever Tony comes into the room."

Ziva smiled into her wine glass.

.

Sorry for the delay. I had midterms, one of which I totally forgot I had. True and awesome story. Oh, and thanksgiving. We had that too. My brothers were stuck up a tree as a punishment. They live together and were fighting so my dad told them to go trim the giant tree we have in the front yard. Then took the ladder away. See, insanity runs in my family. It's not just me.