The following Tuesday, the schools finally reopened. They'd sheltered dozens of people and some of those people's homes were now uninhabitable. Since the storm's end, other temporary housing had been found for them and on Monday the classrooms and auditorium were cleaned and readied for the return of the children.

In the meantime, Dad had returned the check from the mayor, asking him to put it toward helping to repair storm damage to people's homes or businesses. Tim and Artie also opened a 'GoFundMe' application to help with repairs and replacements for Varkiza residents. Loving the idea, Tony and Maggie opened a separate one for London residents.

After their week together and everything that happened with the storm, it felt very strange when after dinner on Monday, the day before school resumed, Jasper and his cousins kissed their father and mother goodbye while Poppy and Grama drove Artie and Bill to the airport. Tim and Nikki stayed behind as their children were upset, somehow confusing their parents' departures with the storm. It took a Skype call Tuesday afternoon with Artie, Bill, Pappouli Peter and Yaya Rhode for the five children to understand that their father and mother were safe.

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Members of the household were happy later that week when they had another Skype call, this one with Ziva and Brian. While they'd been in touch with the family throughout the year, neither had been able to take the time to join the rest of the family in Greece. Ziva said, half-jokingly, that at one point she barely had time to go home at night, adding that Brian's father and brother rotated bringing dinner to her and escorting her home when Brian was also engulfed in meetings. Ziva later told her former teammates that while she was appreciative of her in-laws' protectiveness, she also had several good laughs about it although never when her father-in-law or brother-in-law were around!

Now she apologized for being so irregular in contacting them and thanked her parents for keeping them up to date on all the family doings. Ziva's cousin, who owned and ran the ballet school, had been ill for several months during the late winter and spring and she had taken over the running of the school until he was well enough to return, which had only happened recently.

They'd hoped to get away for the annual reunion in Greece but Ziva didn't feel comfortable leaving her cousin so soon after his return to work. Brian had also been busy but now they had scheduled time off and would visit for 3 weeks in November, including over the Thanksgiving holiday!

She told them that she and Brian would fly to DC after work on Friday, November 22nd , where they'd stay overnight with Jimmy and Breena. On Saturday the US family would gather in Baltimore at their mother's former home for a belated celebration of Ziva and Jimmy's birthdays.

Saturday evening, Freddie or Joe would drive them to the FBO, along with the 'junior Mallards' as the family now referred to the Palmers, where they would travel to the UK on an Air Paddington flight, hoping they'd sleep the entire flight.

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After too long a stretch without seeing any of the family, Ziva nearly cried when Jimmy and Jose were at the airport Friday evening to take them to Ducky's brownstone, where they would stay. While they'd originally thought to stay in Alexandria, Breena had quietly informed them they were doing some remodeling to enlarge the house, staying at Ducky's brownstone until everything was done.

Ziva smiled happily as little Donnie toddled right into her arms. Although he hadn't seen her in person recently, he knew her from Skype calls and all the family photos. She and Brian didn't need to know that Breena and Jimmy had spent the last week showing their son photos of Aunty Ziva and Uncle Brian and talking about them.

After a lovely sleep Friday night, both admitting to feeling they'd left the stress of the past few months behind them, the two visitors had a wonderful time visiting Ziva's family on Saturday. They had an early breakfast with Breena, Jimmy and Donnie before cleaning up, repacking and driving to Baltimore, to Lu's former home where Joe, Char, Tommy, Freddie, Abby and Menolly were living. It was a lovely late autumn day and they spent most of the day outside, playing with Tommy and Donnie, catching up with Joe, Char, Freddie and Abby as well as getting to know Menolly and the little ones better.

The day was so mild that they grilled burgers outside, even managing to eat outside without insects driving them inside. Jimmy and Ziva had fun opening their birthday cards to find gift cards to each's favorite store, from all their siblings! While they were still exclaiming over that, Char, Breena and Abby brought out a small sheet cake with "Happy Birthday, Jimmy and Ziva!" written across the middle. Both birthday celebrants took photos and then, licking their lips, enjoyed generous slices of the cake.

After their meal, they put Donnie and Tommy into a double stroller and went for a walk to a local park where the toddlers could safely play on 'baby swings' , climb into and explore various shapes and run as much as they wanted. When Tommy, the younger of the 2 little boys, crawled onto his daddy's lap, they returned to the house where both boys had naps.

The little ones were awake again by the time it was time for the travelers to leave. The adults each had a bite to eat, another burger, what was left of the salad and, pretending to force themselves, small slices of cake. Finally, their belongings were packed in the Mallards' SUV, which would be parked in the garage at Freddie and Abby's while they were gone, and Joe and Freddie rode with them to the airfield.

When they checked into their gate, Ziva turned to her sister-in-law, saying "I'm so thankful you're coming with us! Although I feel like we've been away for years after last night and today I'm already feeling more in tune with our family!"

Grinning, Breena gave her a hug, saying, "We felt a bit that way in July when we flew to Greece. We'd skipped the spring trip, spent it at Grandpa Mac's beach house instead. We were both exhausted and desperately needed family time together, just the three of us as well as some serious down time." She leaned in, quietly telling Ziva that they'd mostly needed to get away from her father, who had been putting a great deal of pressure on her to return to work in their business. She shook her head, "I don't want to go back there and with Jimmy's salary and the trust, we don't need a second salary. Besides, I own part of the business so I have some income and I refuse to work for my father ever again!"

She grinned happily when Ziva wholeheartedly agreed. After they boarded, little Donnie quickly fell asleep and once they were in the air, he was carefully secured in his Sky Cot. By then, Ziva was asleep and Brian wasn't far behind her. Although Breena wondered about Ziva's infamous snoring, her sister-in-law was quiet, sleeping peacefully. Jimmy was next and Breena soon followed him into slumber.

They laughed when they woke to daylight as the aircraft taxied toward the FBO! The flight attendants had to wake them, they'd not only slept through breakfast and coffee, they'd missed the aircraft's descent into UK airspace and the landing! When Breena worried that Donnie had been unattended, the attendants assured her they'd checked on him, he'd also slept through the entire flight.

Their pilot chuckled when told, saying he'd take that as a compliment. Jimmy and Brian agreed that it was more likely all the fresh air they'd had the day before. Breena and Donnie were likely the only ones used to that.

After they'd been through passport control, they were warmly greeted by Jethro, Lu and Grandpa Jack. Hurrying to the van, they quickly boarded for the ride to Jaxton, glad they'd taken the time to put their jackets on before leaving the jet. While the weather outside wasn't all that cold, they'd been cozy inside the aircraft.

At the house, they were nearly knocked off their feet by Ziva and Jimmy's brothers, sisters and the children. Tony and Maggie were there with their girls, not willing to miss the Metzgers' and Mallards' welcome and first meal.

Earlier that day, Ducky and Athena surprised their family by arriving at the door of the Jaxton house. Everyone was happy to see them, especially the US travelers when they arrived! Susannah had been told the secret by her mother-in-law Fiona and she, Ian and Alec took the train from Edinburgh last night. They were a surprise for Athena and Ducky.

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After a hearty breakfast and a lot of catching up, Ziva told her family two things: first, they'd brought videos of a late summer recital put on by Ziva's students as well as a speech Brian made to a group of new delegates to the UN. As no one was going anywhere and everyone was there, including Rob, they stopped to watch both recordings, applauding and congratulating both for their stellar work.

The second item caused even more noise when the Metzgers told the family that they were planning to start a family, to adopt a child. Then Brian and Ziva laughed in surprise when what seemed like half the family immediately advised them to contact D'Arcy McKinna. Ziva remembered the name from her NCIS days and also from Tim and Artie's adoptions of Liam and Chloe and later, from Ned and her brother Barry's adoptions of their two daughters.

When the tumult died down, Breena and Jimmy also gave their news, they were expecting another child, due in April and had completed their first trimester. Ducky and Athena already knew and thoroughly enjoyed the happy uproar caused by the news from both couples.

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On Monday, their first full day in the UK, Ziva and Brian, Jimmy and Breena were given a tour of the NCIS London office, having lunch out with Nikki, Bill, Tim, Artie, Tony, Maggie, Lu and Jethro.

Ziva shook her head as she and Brian left the NCIS building, saying "I cannot believe our Timothy is now the head of NCIS in Europe! I am so proud of him although I have no reason to claim that pride, I don't think I was ever especially helpful to him, not even very supportive of him. He seems to have learned everything on his own."

Brian, having heard a great deal from his fellow in-laws about Ziva's former team and their various trials and tribulations, chose not to say anything although he was thankful that his love and her former teammates now considered themselves family.

When Ziva thought about it afterward, she realized that Jethro, Lu, Tim, Artie, Tony, Sarah and Rob had known everyone since shortly after Tim left NCIS. Eventually she realized that wasn't right either, that Tim, Sarah and Rob, and she thought probably Lu, knew Artie when she was at MIT and remembered Sarah saying she'd first met Susannah, Artie's younger sister, when she was about 13 and Rob would have been 12 at the time.

She shook her head at that, amazed at all the connections and how Tim and Artemis were basically responsible for those connections as well as the huge family! She told Brian later that they would absolutely join the family in Greece the following year. He agreed, he always had a good time with Ziva's family and, even after not seeing them for nearly a year, within minutes of their arrival he once again felt right at home with the large family.

The junior Mallards also had a wonderful time, although Breena took it fairly easy, thoroughly enjoying being cossetted by her mother-in-law, Yaya, her sisters-in-law as well as Artie's sister's mother-in-law and Sarah's mother-in-law. When she said something to Sarah about Edith, the younger woman grinned, leaning forward and whispering something to Breena. Eyes wide, Breena grinned, nodding in understanding when Sarah put a finger to her lips, it wasn't yet time to tell anyone. Still, it was nice to know and Breena later laughed to herself, wondering if 2015 would be anywhere close to a repeat of last year, 2013, when four new babies were born and 4 foster children, each now legally adopted, had joined the family!

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It was odd to say goodbye to Artie and Bill Monday evening but the two reminded them they'd be home earlier than usual Thursday afternoon. Ziva noticed that Tim, Nikki and their children were a bit subdued Tuesday morning and did her best to cheer them up, asking questions about the new build and what their own plot of land looked like. She and Brian had seen photos but now they wished they could see it in person before the property was built up. As they would be here a week longer than Jimmy and his family, who had seen the properties during the reunion in August, Tim quietly told his sister and brother-in-law that they were welcome to come with them the weekend after the junior Mallards left. They agreed, excited about returning to Greece this year after all, even if it was only for a weekend!

All the adult visitors laughed as the children argued about their new pool, whether it would be inside or outside. Their father/uncle finally settled matters by telling them there would be 2 pools, one inside for use when it was too hot outside and the other one outside for use during not-hot weather. Brian laughed at the descriptions, hot and not-hot, knowing that was an apt description of the usual weather in Greece.

Tuesday, James took the day off and he and Sarah took the Metzgers and junior Mallards to some of their favorite sites, borrowing the senior Gibbses' SUV. Lu and Jethro spent another day with them and Tim took another afternoon off, spending it with his brother, sister and their mates while another day Jimmy and Brian went on a canal boating trip with Jethro and some of the older men. Both had a great time, laughing so much their sides hurt as the older men, the 'gents', told several tales of their exploits, past and present.

The younger men knew that Jackson and LJ fought in World War II but hadn't realized they flew bombers and that afternoon they each told stories of the other's various exploits. When there was a lull in their story-telling, Brian quietly thanked them for helping to win the war.

Although they wouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving until Saturday, it felt like the celebration started when Artie and Bill reached home shortly before the children came home from nursery and school on Thursday. When Ned, Barry and their girls arrived late Friday afternoon Ziva happily greeted each of them, surprised and impressed when the girls remembered they were Aunt Ziva and Uncle Brian who had been married at the 'big house' at Christmas last year.

Now that all the European-based family was there, everyone was ready to help as their Thanksgiving festivities commenced. Ziva was a little surprised when there wasn't much to do, chuckling when she was told the family had hired a catering crew for the second year. Maggie told her the sad story of all the food prep last year, only to come to a sudden halt with Jethro's quiet questions as to who would serve their guests and when would the family eat.

Their feast was again celebrated on Saturday with the UK based family, the visitors, the Dorneget-Gibbses and several ex-pats gathering along with the Clachers and senior Powells. Ziva had fun and found the company very interesting as both the Scottish family and the English family were completely at ease with the holiday feast, even to naming the things they were personally thankful for.

Maggie and Lu were pleased as Tim loudly proclaimed his excitement at the boysenberry pie waiting for him when dessert was served and his happiness continued when his mother showed him the additional bags of frozen boysenberries. The food was wonderful with everything but Lu's apple crisp and Tim's boysenberry pie prepared by the catering company.

Ziva had fun reconnecting with the few NCIS employees she'd known in DC. Tim, Nikki, Tony, Jimmy, Ned and Dad had decided to keep Cynthia's presence a surprise and had asked James not to mention her. When the woman walked in with her family, Ziva nearly dropped the vase of flowers she was carrying.

All in all, it was a lovely day, everyone enjoying the food and the company. This year when they went around the tables saying what they were thankful for, more people joined them.

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Feeling rested, relaxed, refreshed and very happy with their visit, the junior Mallards hugged and kissed everyone goodbye early Friday morning, saying they'd see them in August as the baby, expected in April, would be old enough to travel by then and, at four months, might even be sleeping for several hours at night. Lu and Jethro had already booked flights for the end of March, beginning of April, to help with little Donnie and of course the new baby and Breena before and after the baby's arrival. Ducky and Athena flew to the US with them and would return after the December Christmas, in time to celebrate the Greek Christmas.

Ziva and Brian invited the 5 Mallards, including Athena, to New York for a long weekend before Christmas and they happily agreed, planning to take the train up and fly back. Athena and Ducky were pleased to be included and were looking forward to seeing Brian's family again.

Friday afternoon Ziva, Brian, Tim, Artie, the children, Nikki, Bill, Jasper, Tony, Maggie, their girls, Maggie's dad, Lu and Jethro climbed aboard the smallest of Tony's jets for their flight to Athens. When they landed in Athens a few hours later, everyone but Tim was surprised to find Barry, Ned and their girls waiting for them!

Tim quietly said, "Remember there is an hour's time difference between Marseilles and London and two hours between Athens and London. The girls went to school today and Ned worked a full day before they left and Naples is on call this weekend with Hamburg as backup."

Ziva frowned, "You have 6 offices and there's an office on call every weekend?"

"Yes, with the amount of travel our teams do, along with days or even weeks away from home, they don't work every weekend unless there's a Priority case. However, there is always a team on call. With 6 offices, everyone gets at least one weekend, usually two or even three, a month off duty."

"What about backup?"

Tim grinned, "I let them figure that out, they schedule that between them and let me know. So far this year, we haven't had to call in any backups."

"Do they communicate with each other?"

"Yes, they meet via Skype every couple of weeks, more often if necessary. Or they try, it happens at least once a month. I meet with them, also via Skype, once a month, more often if needed."

"Together?"

"Yes. With 6 of them, I spread individual calls out over 6 weeks, unless there's something urgent. Pete, Stan and Roger are old hands and my SSA in London has four years in. Ned and Jessica Knight in Naples are the newbies."

Ziva nodded and then frowned, "Naples?"

Tim, Tony and Dad laughed, "Yes, the office has been there for many years. However, we never dealt with them."

"Oh. What is an SSA?"

"It's the title for the team lead of a satellite office or the team lead of a Field Office. Supervising Senior Agent is more or less what it means."

"But London is the European Field Office, why would your team lead have that designation?"

Dad grinned, "Because, my dear daughter, technically your brother is the lead agent of all the teams, the Senior Agent in Charge or SAC. However, the holder of that position is not expected to do any field work, although Timothy tells me he's allowed out if they're short more than 2 agents on a Priority 1 or 2 call out."

Ziva looked at Tim who shook his head, "I'm pretty sure my London SSAs, Field and Cyber, not sure about my Cold Case SSA, would lock me up before they or anyone else let me into the field. Tony and I were talking about that recently and I did some checking. There hasn't been an SAC in the field on a case in the last 20 years, or if there has been, it didn't make it into the records, which is far more likely!" He huffed, "I'm grateful they ask for my advice once in a while and allow me to listen to their discussions and theories."

"Like Vance and Shepard used to do?"

"More like Vance."

Remembering how dismissive Jenny had been of McGee's talents, Ziva didn't say anything more, although she thought again that her brother had found his own way, she doubted he'd learned anything positive from Gibbs, Tony and certainly not her. She tried not to cringe as she remembered a few things she'd rather not think about.

When she later said something to Tony, he nodded, quietly telling her more of what he'd learned about the realities of Tim's years on their team, making sure to include everything Tim said he'd learned from them. Ziva listened just as quietly, asking questions when she didn't understand something. As Tony continued, she frowned, thinking of her own perceptions and actions towards Tim as well as Tony during her years on the team. Eventually she realized that, just as Tony said, she, they had taught Tim several important things although those things might not have been immediately recognized.

Thinking back to the surprise and even shock she'd seen on the faces of her former co-workers at Gibbs' surprise retirement party, she began to understand they might have been shocked that the four of them, including Tim, were now friends, family. When Tony told her about the surprise farewell party when Tim left for California and how many people were there, she realized she was right. Of course, by then neither she nor Tony were anywhere near DC and from what she remembered hearing about Gibbs's whereabouts at the time, he'd already 'disappeared', in reality either in a hospital after his knee surgery or already beginning his recovery at Mike Franks' place in Mexico.

When Tony stopped talking, Ziva made a face, "I feel awful, we were so nasty to him, although I believed we were teasing."

Tony nodded, "We were nasty to each other, the four of us, Gibbs insists on being included in that. I also thought we were teasing, now I mean the three of us, Tim, you and me, some of the time, until I learned how close teasing can be to bullying. What we were doing, Ziva, not all the time but some of the time, was bullying. You need to talk with Tim and don't make him sound like he's perfect or blameless, he is the first to admit he's neither. He and I and he and Gibbs, Gibbs and me, as well as the three of us together have had many long talks and we three have forgiven each other and ourselves. Somewhere along the line the four of us finally developed the ability to listen to each other although we did that as investigators but not often as people or even as teammates, unless it was about a case.

"When you have some time, maybe next summer when you're both relaxing on the beach, take him for a walk and tell him. As I said, he'll tell you that he is neither perfect nor blameless, and he'll give you specific examples, you'll need to honor those, don't argue. We three have worked hard, individually and together, to get where we are and it's sweet, wonderful, Ziva, well worth the hard work and maybe even better than if everything had been perfect back in the day.

"The other thing to remember and this originally came from Tim, is that neither you, me nor Gibbs grew up in normal circumstances. Neither did Tim but he says that once he took what control he could get of his own life, it got both better and worse. Better because he grew up with family, he knew he was loved and cared about, at least the latter part of his childhood and he also had Sarah and Rob to love and care for. For him, he felt he finally belonged. The 'worse' part was being hungry, scared, cold, hot, all the things we know about Tim, our sister and brothers living on the street. For him, the key thing was belonging to other people, with other people, he'd never had that before.

"For you, Gibbs and me, things pretty much fell apart by the time we were 10, for Tim as I said, that's when he finally felt he was someone who mattered to other people, who belonged with people who were first fellow homeless kids, eventually friends and then evolved into family. He still didn't have parents but Lu, who was Ms. Lu at the time and Nate and even Nate's sister Juanita at the camp did their best and were more parental than Tim had experienced anywhere else.

"By the time I was 10, my mother had been dead for 2 years and I was either warehoused at boarding school or being raised by my father's employees, the house staff. I did have one bright spot, I spent the summer of my 10th birthday with my Paddington cousins, the only taste of family living I'd ever had. Then it was back to boarding school until I went to the military academy. As tough as that was, at some point I also felt a sense of belonging, something I don't believe I'd felt since the summer with my cousins and rarely before that, certainly not after my mother died.

"By the time Gibbs was 10, his mother had been ill for a year and life as he knew it had changed drastically, leading to her death when he was a young teen. Then it got better for a few years with Shannon and Kelly before it was snatched away again. For you at age 10," Tony shook his head, "your parents were separated or already divorced, your older brother was already turning away from the family and Tali, I guess she was your only bright light."

Ziva nodded, "She was and I worked hard to be happy, positive around her, I didn't want her to be as sad and angry as I was." She paused, "Thank you for sharing all this with me, Tony, it's very helpful to know all this and will help me to better understand everything."

After thinking more about what she had learned, Ziva shook her head, saying "We are different people now, Tony, all three of us have grown up. More than that, so has Gibbs or maybe in his case he's let go of a lot of his pain, I know I have been able to do that. As well as Abby, Jimmy and I suppose Ducky."

"Yes, we have."

"We are lucky, all of us, to be able to come back together like this. That isn't just Tim, it's each of us being willing to reach out."

Tony grinned, "Ah, philosophical Ziva, I've missed you!"

Laughing they joined the rest of the family.