Michelle lined the sleeping bags up in a line and threw the pillows onto them. "Okay ladies, here are your sleeping bags. You all know where the bathroom is...and I put a pitcher of water and glasses on the end table. Lights out at 11."
"moooooooooooom..." Lucy whined giving her Mom a glare.
"No Mom's. I can easy change lights out till 10." Michelle retorted.
"Fine." Lucy said rolling her eyes dramatically. "One more movie?"
"One more movie. What's the choice?"
"Beauty and the Beast!"
Silence came over the room as soon as the DVD was put in and Michelle turned the lights off and pulled the door shut. "They'll be asleep before the end of it."
Ziva nodded silently and watched as Michelle sorted and organized the girl's stuff with a practised hand, it made her realise that they had missed out on so much getting Daniela and Jacob so late in their lives. They missed the late night feedings, they missed their first words, they missed their first steps, they missed their first days of school, they missed their first scraped knee, they missed...a lot. She roughly wiped the tears that were threatening to fall.
"You okay?" Michelle asked softly, passing Ziva a steaming mug of tea. "I didn't put any cream or sugar in it..."
"It's fine, thank you." She clutched the mug and took a tentative sip. "And I was just...thinking."
Michelle nodded but sat quietly beside Ziva, sipping her tea before Ziva spoke again.
"I am sorry Michelle, it is just that we are still not sure whether or not we get custody of Daniela and Jacob."
With a slight shrug, Michelle gave her a smile. "It's okay. I can't even fathom what you're going through, so I won't say that I've been through it before. But, I can tell you that Keith and I will support you, Tony and the kids."
"You just met us..." Ziva's eyebrows furrowed.
"I know, but sometimes it's a good thing to have friends. New or old." She put down her mug of tea down on the coffee table and pulled her cell phone out of her front pocket. "My brother's girlfriend is a family rights advocacy lawyer."
"We already have a lawyer..."
"I know, but it never hurts to have a second pair of eyes, right?" Michelle gave her a small smile and quickly sent a text. Her phone buzzed and Ziva watched as Michelle continued to text.
"JJ wants to know if she can come over and discuss the case with you."
Ziva shrugged. "Sure, it cannot hurt, could it?"
"Not with JJ." Michelle grinned and sent another text. "I told her to come over."
Ziva offered a shaky smile. "...Besides my friends at work...I cannot say that I have ever had...a real friend."
"Well I guess where's a time for everything now isn't there?" Michelle grinned. "I'll go get the teapot...and check on the girls."
"Okay." Ziva sighed at watched as Michelle left the room. She pulled out her own cellphone and opened it, suprised to find a text.
Just wanted to remind you that I love you.
She smiled and sent one back. I love you too.
#
"Okay, so come again? You and Tony are WHAT?"
"We work for NCIS. Naval Criminal Investigation Service. We investigate crimes against the American Navy."
JJ's eyes crossed slightly and she looked up at Ziva. "Okay, back up. You're NOT a language specialist?"
"No." Ziva shook her head. "It was a cover on a murder case. We both work for NCIS, though I am technically the Mossad liaison officer."
JJ blinked quickly and wrote madly on her pad of paper. "Just a second, I need to see if Kylie is going to email me the files."
"You know our lawyer?"
"Yep. She's a good lawyer." JJ chewed on her pen lid. "She graduated 4th in her class from Harvard law." She grinned. "I was in her class. I graduated first."
Michelle rolled her eyes and refilled JJ's cup with tea. "Shut up JJ and work."
"I'd work faster if I had coffee." She glared over her shoulder at Michelle. "But my DOCTOR told me to stop drinking caffeine." Typing quickly she smiled and opened up a file. "Honestly, your case doesn't seem TOO difficult. Your and Tony's income are more than enough to support two children, you're in the process of getting a house and the grandparents seem to be on your side. The only two problems I can find are your jobs and getting character witnesses."
"What about our jobs?"
JJ grabbed the cup of tea on the table, took a sip and grimaced. "This tastes like sweet water."
"Shut up JJ." Michelle warned.
Rolling her eyes, JJ, closed her laptop. "I'm going to be frank. The judge you're going to go up against is a stiff. Your past with Mossad isn't going to bode well at all, and from what I can gather, Tony hasn't had a great track record with relationships in the past. The judge is going to look through your pasts with a fine tooth comb. I know him and I know the way he works, if he finds anything that he thinks could go against you guys, he'll use it. He's a bit of a douche-canoe honestly. He likes to see kids go with biological family 99% of the time." She shook her head. "You're going to have to rely on some good character witnesses."
"...We do not have any."
JJ bit her lip and shrugged. "My suggestion; get some character witnesses and talk to your boss. See if there's anyway that one of you guys can stay home while the other is on assignment...and make sure that even if you DO have to go on assignment you have someone to take care of the kids."
"...I...we...we did not think about this. And Kylie did not tell us to think abuot it."
"Yeah well, there's a reason why she graduated fourth in the class, not first." JJ reached over and grabbed a piece of cold pizza that was on the table. "Kylie thinks of logistics, not reality." She sighed and closed her laptop. "I know it's going to sound harsh, but unless you can get some concrete evidence that you and Tony are the best option for Daniela and Jacob."
Ziva swallowed hard and nodded as they heard small footsteps.
"Mummy?"
Michelle and Ziva both turned around to see Daniela standing in the doorway, her eyes heavy with unshed tears.
"Hey Dani, are you okay?"
The girl nodded slowly before shaking her head. "No. I had a bad dream...the men. They...they were coming to get me." She looked shyly from JJ to Michelle and then to Ziva. Giant alligator tears rolled down her face. "They were going to hurt me and Jacob."
Ziva gave her a soft look and wrapped Daniela in her arms. "Don't worry Daniela. You're safe, remember?"
"They come to me in my dreams. Every time I close my eyes I see them. I smell them. I hear them. I...feel them." Tears streamed down her face. "I just want to forget."
Ziva sat down and pulled Daniela onto her lap, rubbing her back reassuringly. "It will be okay. It'll get better."
Michelle turned to JJ with a frown. "Not sure how you can justify separating a family." She shook her head. "Read Daniela's file JJ."
The lawyer frowned. "Mich..."
"Don't Mich me. Read the damn file and then come back to me and tell me what you can do." She stood up and crouched beside Ziva and Daniela. "Go use the spare bedroom if you need."
JJ watched the interaction with a careful eye before opening her laptop again. She pulled up her email and started typing quickly.
Kylie,
Listen up, the DiNozzo/David case? I'm taking a look at it right now. My sister in law...well...Michelle, she's friends with Ms. David. I want to take the case pro-bono. Don't argue with me about it. Next case that I get I'll throw your way.
Jessica James
She sighed and pressed send. She'd owe Kylie BIG time, but she knew that they needed a good lawyer, and not to be conceited, but she was the best there was.
.#.
Jacob blinked and tried to keep his eyes open and trained on the movie on the TV.
"Looks like someone's ready to crash." Keith said with a smile and picked Tyler up who was sleeping soundly on the couch.
Tony nodded. "Yeah, way past his bedtime. He's going to be MISERABLE tomorrow." Tony gently lifted Jacob up and placed him beside Tyler on the pull out bed. Jake, I will be sleeping on the couch. He signed just in case Jacob woke up in the middle of the night.
Kieran passed him a pile of blankets and smiled. "Guess JJ isn't coming home." He sighed and put his phone back in his pocket. "She's over at your place again Keith."
"Surpise there." Keith rolled his eyes. "Wonder what they're up to?"
"Working." Kieran turned to Tony and smiled. "JJ's a family advocacy lawyer." He explained with a shrug. "She's kind of ..."
"Obsessive about her work." Keith filled in with a laugh. "But you have the best working for you." He rubbed his eyes. "I'll shut the door and we can let the boys sleep."
Tony glanced at Jacob who was curled up in a ball on the bed next to Tyler who was sprawled like a starfish. Jacob had started sleeping in a ball since the return. A defensive position. His chin tucked into his chest, his hands protecting his face. It broke Tony's heart and he gently moved Jacob into a more comfortable position, but the small boy immediately repositioned himself.
Keith gave him a soft smile, his dark almond shaped eyes sympathetic. "How's Daniela?" He asked softly, pulling a blue fuzzy blanket over the boys.
Tony sighed. "More good days than bad."
"It'll get better." Keith said, steering Tony into the other room.
"We don't even have custody of them, you know?" Tony sighed deeply.
"With JJ it's just a matter of time." Kieran replied confidently. "Trust me."
Tony nodded and opened another beer. "It's...it's hard to trust people after all we've been through with those two."
"But think, it can't get any worse." Keith replied patting Tony's shoulder.
..