NCIS Short Stories part 2

Tiva - 5 - Separation

Ali giggled her way into kindergarten. She was far more advanced than the other four year old's, as she was mostly bilingual. She picked up Hebrew an English living with Tony and Ziva. When she got over excited or upset, she'd speak in hebrew, as it expressed her easier. English was her first language, however.

On a bright, chilly Sunday in early December, Ali played in the snow in the backyard. Tony and ziva sat on the porch, drinking coffee together and watching happily, when both of their phones buzzed and made noises for texts.

They both instinctively looked down. Tony sighed. They were being called into work. "No more perfect sunday," He said begrudgingly.

Ziva sighed. "Better get Ashley ready to go to the sitters."

~~~

A while later, tony and ziva walked into headquarters. They didn't even make it to their desk before Jenny called them from the staircase.

In the directors office, tony and ziva were given a file. They looked at it together. Tony looked at ziva. "Three days... what would we do with Ali?"

Ziva bit her lip. "Abby and mcgee?"

"I don't know if they'll be able to with Emma taking up their time..."

"We'll ask around," Ziva looked back at the director, "alright, we accept the mission. Sounds fun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It'll only be a couple days, ali."

Ali whined something inaudible. Tony sighed. "Zi, she's not gonna let us go."

Ziva stepped away from packing for a moment. "Ali, we have to go for work. You're going to spend some time at Uncle Tim and aunt Abby's. Plus, they'll have their new baby."

Ali grumbled something in Hebrew. Ziva raised an eyebrow. "Ali," Ziva said something a little stern in hebrew.

Tony didn't know much Hebrew, but it got Ali to behave and go to her room to pack, so he didn't really mind. They loaded everything into the car and drove to Mcgee's.

Tony and ziva talked while Abby got Ali to help with Emma for a moment.

"Ziva, what if something goes wrong in the mission? Maybe you shouldn't come. Ali can't lose both of her parents..."

"Tony, director Shepherd guaranteed us that it was safe. Besides, we will be home before tonight. Okay? Or at least tomorrow night."

Tony nodded. "You're right."

They said bye to ali, then left. Ali sulked, staring out the window at first. Abby walked over and knelt down next to her. Mcgee was feeding Emma a bottle.

"Ali, they'll be back soon."

Ali shook her head. "Maybe they get hurt!?"

"They won't. They're super strong and won't get hurt."

Ali whined a little. Abby sighed. "Well, in the meantime, you want to have some fun?"

Ali shook her head. Abby slightly laughed. "Cmon, let's do a puzzle. I know you love puzzles."

Ali bit her lip. She begrudgingly followed Abby the table and helped her put together a kid's jigsaw puzzle. With her mind off of Tony and ziva, she let loose and really had fun with Abby and McGee.

Everything was fine until night. Abby put Emma to sleep, then came to find Mcgee struggling with Ali. She was crying and blabbering in hebrew, while Mcgee was trying to get her to put on pajamas.

"Shhh! You'll wake emma!" Abby whispered.

She walked over to Ali and picked her up and put her on her lap. She hugged and cuddled Ali until she stopped crying. "Ali, you have to go to bed. Let's get your pajamas on so we can all go to bed."

Ali shook her head, "I'm not tired," she said as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Oh yeah. I bet. Well, let's get our pajamas on anyways, so we will be ready for when we are tired. Ali nodded softly, falling asleep on Abby's shoulder.

By the time Ali's pajamas were on, she was nearly asleep. Abby lay her down in the bed, then she and mcgee went to their room.

"I think she's handling it better than I expected. I mean, this is her first Separation from her parents."

"Yeah. She's doing good," Mcgee replied. Then they went to bed, preparing to send Ali home the next day.