Chapter 8 - Waiting for the Flame to Catch
It took Abby less than fifteen minutes to drive to Tim's house. Once all four of them were seated in the car, she turned to the back and said, "Sister Rosita and her friends have a church fundraiser happening today. They've set up a range of activities in and around the church. I thought it could be fun for us to go. What do you think?"
"Sounds great Abby," said Tony. "What kinds of things do they have there?"
"Well, they have craft activities, face painting, a ball pit, jumping castle, stuff like that." She smiled at Ziva and Tony. "So you wanna go?"
"Yay!" shouted Ziva.
"Yeah I guess," added Tony not completely convinced this was going to be as fun as Abby was hoping. But seeing as she had offered to take them and she did seem so excited, he didn't want to spoil her fun.
"Excellent," said Abby. "Let's go!"
As they made their way to the church, Abby struggled to find a park. She finally found one but it was three blocks away. After walking the half mile trek back to the church, they could see why parking had been such a difficulty. The entire church parking lot had been closed off in order to set up all the activities for the fund raiser. As Tony and Ziva looked around in awe, they could see all the activities Abby had mentioned plus there was a giant slide, merry-go-round, and dodgem cars.
As Tony looked at the last activity, he said very clearly, "I am not going on those!"
"No," said Tim. "I've only just had the plaster taken off my arm. I think we'll avoid those today."
"Oh wow!" exclaimed Tony. "Look over there!"
They all look in the direction Tony was pointing. Along the far side of the church, a mini 'Side-show Alley' had been set up. From where they stood they could see at least five different varieties of activities in addition to food vans advertising cotton candy, waffles, toffee apples, burgers and hot dogs.
"Abby, I'm in heaven!" announced Tony gleefully. "Where shall we start?"
"I want to get my face painted," said Ziva. "Can we go there first?"
"Well," said Abby seeing the less than impressed look on Tony's face. "How about you and I go and line up for the face painting and the boys can go and get us some food so we're fuelled up for the afternoon?"
"Great idea Abs," said Tim. "So what does everyone want to eat?"
"I don't know," said Ziva. "I haven't been to a place like this before."
She suddenly spotted a family walking passed them. The two children were holding what looked like fluffy clouds on sticks.
As Ziva watched them pass, she turned to Abby and said, "What were those two girls holding?"
"That's cotton candy," said Abby smiling. It was hard to believe that Ziva had never experienced it before. "It's the most wonderful tasting thing in the world. It's pure sugar and when you put your tongue on it, it melts in your mouth. Do you want to try some?"
"Yes please," said Ziva bouncing up and down.
"Ok, so that's a cotton candy for Ziva and a Caff Pow for me please," said Abby handing Tim some money.
"I'll get it," he said refusing to the take the money. "You can get the next round."
As Tony and Tim left for the food vans, Abby and Ziva made their way towards the face painting. There were five booths set up so they didn't have to wait long before it was their turn. Choosing the rainbow butterfly, Ziva sat still as the woman running the booth carefully drew and then coloured, a beautiful butterfly across Ziva's right cheek. She then added three small flowers to her left cheek. Ziva watched in the mirror, fascinated with the woman's technique.
"Wow, that looks so adorable Ziva," remarked Abby when the lady had finished. Abby paid her the money and, as the two of them left the booth they saw Tim and Tony walking up to them, arms laden with food and drink.
Tim handed Ziva her stick of cotton candy. As Ziva looked at it wondering where to start, Abby laughed. "There are two ways to eat this. You can either tear it off with your fingers like this," and Abby took a small piece and popped it into her mouth. She then opened her mouth and said with difficulty, "Thee, lok ath my thung, ith all melthing."
Everyone laughed and Tim said, "She said, look at her tongue, it's all melting."
Ziva looked and was amazed to see the fluffy ball go bright pink and slowly disappear.
"The other way," continued Abby now that she had finished. "Is to just eat it straight off the stick. I won't show you that though as it starts to melt on the stick as your tongue touches it."
Ziva decided to try the first way Abby showed her. She cautiously tore a piece off the stick and popped it into her mouth. The look of sheer delight on her face as the sugar began to melt over her tongue was priceless.
"Oh my!" she exclaimed her eyes wide with pleasure. "That's like nothing I've ever tried before."
"It's good isn't it Zi?" said Tony as he too bit into his straight from the stick.
"Yep, this is the best. Thanks Tim for buying it for me."
"You're welcome," he replied smiling at the joy such a simple thing had brought.
With Tony and Ziva now enthralled in their cotton candy, Abby sucking on the straw in her Caff Pow and Tim sipping on a coffee, the four of them made their way over to the side show activities.
"Hey, Shooting Ducks Tim," said Abby pointing. "Go and have a go, see if you can win us something."
They watched as Tim paid for the game and, with hardly any effort at all, shot down six metal ducks in a row. The owner of the stand, less than impressed by Tim's ease of winning, pointed to a row of gifts from which Tim could choose.
Tim turned to Ziva and Tony, "What would you like, guys?" he asked.
"Ziva, you pick something," said Tony. There wasn't really much on the shelf that grabbed his attention and he could see that this was all so new to Ziva. He wanted this to be fun for her.
"Are you sure Tony?" Ziva asked, already eyeing off the giant purple bear in the middle.
"Of course," he said. "What do I need with a stuffed toy anyway," he added nonchalantly.
"Can I have that big purple bear in the middle please?" she asked.
The attendant took it down and gave it to Ziva. It was so big, that she could hardly hold it and still be able to eat the cotton candy.
"Here Ziva," said Tim taking the bear. "I'll hold it until you've finished."
"Abby," said Ziva. "Can I have a go at the game?"
"Sure," said Abby. "Do you know what to do?"
"Yep, I just watched Tim." She handed her cotton candy over to Abby once she'd paid the attendant. He was looking much happier knowing the little girl was going to have a go. At least he wouldn't have to give away one of his major prizes.
Ziva, picking up the rifle, surprised everyone with the ease in which she settled it into her shoulder and peered through the sight. Centering her body, she took aim. Six shots, six ducks down!
"Wow Ziva!" exclaimed Tony. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"Ari taught me," she said casually. "We needed to know how to shoot game to survive in the forest."
Abby and Tim exchanged looks. It just wasn't right that someone so little had already gone through so much.
The attendant just stared at the pint sized shooter in front of him.
"How old are you kid? Three, four?" he asked incredulously.
"I'm five and a half," she retorted. "I just look small for my age."
"Yeah, well, whatever kid, that was awesome," he said genuinely impressed. "You can pick anything you want from the whole stand.
"Tony, I want you to pick something. I did it for you," she said shyly.
"Naw, geez, thanks Zi," said Tony giving her a quick one handed hug. Looking at all the items on the stand, Tony pointed out a toy gun. It could shoot out foam bullets and Tony's hope was that his Dad could teach him to shoot as well as Ziva.
Handing Tony the gun, the attendant laughed and said, "No more, ok. I'll run out of all the good prizes!"
They all laughed and continued on their way.
After about five minutes, Ziva tugged on Abby's arm.
"What sweetie?" asked Abby looking down into the big, brown eyes.
"Can I have some more of that cotton candy stuff?" asked Ziva. "Please."
"Sure thing!" said Abby without really thinking. She wanted this day to be special and hadn't really thought about what the sugar could do to either Ziva or Tony. Gibbs kept a fairly tight rein on sugary treats and so neither child was very used to the substance being in their systems. Tim, also having no clue as to the effects of sugar on children, happily agreed and together they bought both Tony and Ziva another cotton candy stick each.
Spying the giant slide, Tony said, "Hey Tim, wanna come on that with me?"
"Er.... I'm not really good with heights Tony. Remember the roller coaster?" said Tim paling at the mere thought of climbing the ladder to what looked like a three story high slide.
"I'll go with you Tony," said Abby enthusiastically. "I love those slides."
'I'm coming too!" squealed Ziva.
Handing their cotton candy to Tim, who took it gratefully, Ziva and Tony ran towards the slide with Abby in hot pursuit. Grabbing a hessian bag each, they began the slow climb to the top of the ladder.
"Ziva, no sweetie, you have to wait," called Abby as Ziva tried to push past a couple of boys who were struggling to make it up. They each look about twelve or thirteen
"But they're going so slow!" she announced for the whole world to hear. "They're older than Tony. They should be able to run up this ladder!" she added scornfully.
Turning around, one of the boys shouted nastily, "Shut up shrimp, or we'll push you off!"
Enraged, Tony quickly caught up to Ziva and shouted, "Hey dirtbag? You just try it and I'll have you free falling screaming for ya mommy!"
"Yeah right," said the other boy sarcastically. "What are ya? Eight?"
Seeing trouble ahead, Abby tried to quicken her pace up the ladder before a fight ensued and someone actually got hurt.
"You leave my brother alone!" shouted Ziva. And before Abby could reach her, she had grabbed the first boy's hand and, using her index finger and thumb, squeezed tightly into his pressure point making the boy scream in agony.
"Ziva! No!" yelled Abby finally reaching the young girl. "Let him go right now!" she said sternly.
"But he was being mean to us," argued Ziva still not letting go.
"Ziva, now!" growled Abby.
Relenting Ziva finally let go of the boy's hand.
"I'm telling on you," he sobbed as he continued up the slide, suddenly able to ascend at a much faster pace than previously.
"Cry baby!" yelled Ziva.
"Way to go Ziva!" said Tony and the two children hi-fived each other.
Seeing there was a line up behind them, Abby said, "Keep going and we'll talk about this at the top."
When they finally reached the top, the three of them could see the boy pointing to Ziva and telling the attendant what had happened. After a couple of minutes, he came over and spoke to Abby.
"Is this your daughter Ma'am?" the attendant asked.
"No, she's my little sister. And I'm really sorry Sir. That boy was teasing my brother and sister and threatening to push them off the ladder. I know she shouldn't have hurt him but she was just defending herself." Abby blurted out her apology, hoping the man would understand.
He turned around and waited until the boy who had complained sat on his hessian bag and set off down the slide. Once the boy had disappeared, he turned back and, bending down to Ziva's level, he lent forward into her face.
Not in the least bit afraid, Ziva stood her ground and stared right back at him. To everyone's surprise, the attendant took hold of Ziva's hand and shook it saying, "Well done kid!"
Relaxing her body slightly, Ziva shook back while the attendant continued saying, "That boy has been a pain all day, teasing kids and generally being a bully. It's about time someone put him in his place."
He smiled at Ziva. "So er....can you show me what you did?"
"Sure," said Ziva, and grabbing his hand she applied pressure to the joint between his thumb and index finger.
"Yow!" he exclaimed trying to pull his hand back. Ziva let go and grinned. "That's amazing. I'll have to remember that move." And rubbing his joint furiously, he sauntered back to his post.
As Tony and Ziva giggled, they were surprised to see Abby was still looking unimpressed.
"You're lucky that man didn't have us thrown out of the place," said Abby sternly, looking at Ziva. "You can't do stuff like that Ziva. People don't understand. If someone's annoying you, come and see an adult."
"But why?" asked Ziva, unsure as to the reason behind Abby's anger.
"Yeah Abby," added Tony. "Ziva was just giving him what he deserved."
"But you can get into serious trouble for doing stuff like that. It's called assault," said Abby firmly. "What if that boy's mother decides to take things further? She could press charges against Ziva and that would make things really awkward."
"How?" asked Tony.
Remembering that Tony and Ziva no longer had memory of their former lives, Abby said, "Well, because... because your Dad will find out and I'm sure he'd be very cross."
Ziva and Tony looked at each other. "She's right Tony," said Ziva quickly. "And Daddy can spank."
Looking back at Abby, Ziva said, "Ok Abby, I won't do it anymore. I'm sorry I made you mad."
"You didn't make me mad," said Abby. "I just don't want to see you get into trouble."
Ziva nodded.
"Come 'ere," said Abby holding out her arms. "I don't like having to get cross with you. I want today to be fun. So, let's forget about this and see what this slide is like, OK?"
"Ok!" shouted Tony and Ziva together.
As Abby went on ahead, Tony turned to Ziva and said quietly, "I think that was brilliant what you did! Can you teach me how to do that?"
"Sure Tony," said Ziva smirking. "But don't tell Daddy."
"Are you kidding?" said Tony incredulously. "I like being able to sit!"
They giggled as they stepped up to the platform. There were four lanes and Abby took the outside one, Ziva next and Tony in the third lane. Placing their hessian bags on the plastic starting plate, they each sat down and held onto the metal bar above their heads. When they were ready, they looked at each other and counted, "One, Two, Three, GO!"
Pushing themselves forwards, they hurtled down the slide which rose and fell in little mounds. As they gathered speed, each rise became higher until both Tony and Ziva were being lifted off the slide and then slammed down into each gully. Giggling helplessly, the three of them finally made it to the bottom, where they collapsed into undignified heaps. Helping each other to stand, they climbed off the slide and ran towards Tim.
"That was so much fun Timmy," said Ziva, taking back her cotton candy.
"How come you guys took so long?" asked Tim handing Tony his cotton candy and Abby her Caff Pow.
"Ziva got into a fight," said Abby casually.
"What!" exclaimed Tim, looking at Ziva.
"It's ok Tim, don't have a cow. I sorted it out." As she patted Tim on the shoulder she added, "Forget about it ok?"
"But what if Gibbs finds out, was the other kid hurt?" continued Tim in a panic. "What am I saying, of course the kid was hurt, this is Ziva we're talking about!"
"Timmy," said Abby. "Don't worry about it. Apparently the kid was a real pain. The attendant actually congratulated Ziva."
"And I made sure I didn't leave a mark," added Ziva proudly. "That's one thing I learned really quickly. Maximum pain, minimum damage!"
"Oh Geez," said Tim paling again. Looking down at Ziva he said sternly, "Ziva, I want you to promise me you'll keep your hands to yourself. No touching other people unless it's in a nice way. Promise?"
"Yes, Timmy, I promise," said Ziva begrudgingly. "Besides, Abby already growled at me."
"I'm not growling at your Ziva," said Tim softening his tone. "I'm just....um..."
"Growling at me," finished Ziva.
"Well maybe just a little," conceded Tim smiling at her. Changing the subject he said, "So, what shall we do now?"
As the four of them looked around, Tony's attention was caught by a large crowd of people gathered near the face painting tents.
"What's going on over there?" he asked pointing.
"Dunno," said Abby. "Come on, let's see." She dropped her arm around Tony's shoulder and the two of them headed off in that direction.
"Hey!" shouted Tim staring at their retreating bodies. "Wait for us!"
"Yeah," yelled Ziva. "Wait for us!"
Taking Tim's large hand in her small one, she gave a huge tug saying, "Come on Timmy, don't be a slow coach." And the pair of them ran to catch up, Tim trying to balance the giant bear and toy gun in his other hand.
As they neared the crowd, Tony could see that there was an entertainer in the middle of a circle of people. He was riding a unicycle while pumping up balloons and twisting them into various animal shapes. Spying a stone wall near where the entertainer was working, Tony stood on it and was able to see quite clearly was what happening. When Ziva jumped up next to him she, unfortunately, was still too short to see anything.
"I can't see," she announced jumping up and down on the wall to see if that helped. Smiling at her, Tim lifted her up and put her on his shoulders.
"Is that better?" he asked.
"Much!" she said grinning. "I can see everything now. Thanks Timmy." She leaned down and put her hands around his chin and cheeks hugging him. When she let go, Tim could feel the stickiness of her fingers still on his face. As he turned to Abby to ask for a tissue, Abby burst out laughing.
"What?" asked Tim looking at her bending over in hysterics. Checking to see what was going on, Tony took one look at Tim and was soon joining Abby.
"Hey guys," said Tim feeling self-conscious. "What's wrong?"
"You've got cotton candy stubble all over your face," said Abby still laughing. "You look like a Santa with a pink beard."
"Oops," he heard Ziva say above his head. "Sorry Timmy."
"Don't worry Zi," he said smiling. "I always wanted to be Santa."
Abby fished a wet wipe out of her purse and gently wiped away the cotton candy.
"There ya go, Timmy," she said. "All clean again."
"Thanks Abs," said Tim grinning at her.
They watched the entertainer for a few minutes but it wasn't long before both Tony and Ziva began to get restless. From her advantage point, Ziva looked around at some of the activities.
"Tony," said she said, reaching down and tapping him on the head with one hand while pointing towards the jumping castle with the other. "Let's go on that!"
"Ok," agreed Tony.
Still on Tim's shoulders, Ziva grabbed an ear in each hand and, using her legs to gently kick him in the side, said "Come on horsey, Giddy-up!" She pulled on his ears as if she were holding a set of reins.
Not wanting to spoil her fun, Tim gave a loud snort, stamped his foot on the ground, and then took off galloping towards the jumping castle. Quickly taking out her phone, Abby set it to camera and secretly recorded the scene before her.
"What ya doing that for?" asked Tony as he watched her video Tim.
"Leverage," was all she said with a mysterious smile.
Shrugging his shoulders, Tony ran to catch up with Tim and Ziva.
By the time it was their turn to enter the jumping castle, Ziva and Tony were definitely in full sugar-high mode. They had spent the last five minutes bouncing up and down and playing tag with each other whilst they waited their turn. When the attendant, told them to take off their shoes and socks before entering, Ziva proceeded to kick out her foot and sent each shoe flying into the air. Not caring where they landed, she then pulled off each sock and sent them in the same direction. She then ran onto the bouncy blow-up toy and began to jump with all the other kids.
"Stay together!" yelled Abby watching the pair of them jumping around in different directions. When they didn't listen she yelled, "Tony! Look after Ziva."
"OK," called Tony rabbit hopping to his little sister who was trying to do back-flips in the middle of the castle.
"Come over to the edge Zi," he said grabbing her hand. "There aren't so many kids there."
Jumping with him, Ziva managed to make her way to the edge. Looking up at the wall she was suddenly inspired with an idea. Jumping backwards so that she was closer to the middle again, she began to take a run up and, as she reached the wall, made a huge effort to try and scale the side of the castle. She managed to run about four foot up the side before she ran out of traction and, flipping backwards, landed back on the inflatable floor. Watching her, Tony decided to join in and, before long, both of them were trying to run up the side of the castle.
Seeing what Tony and Ziva were doing, the children around them decided they would attempt the same thing and within a couple of minutes it was complete chaos on the jumping castle. Suddenly, over the noise of screaming and laughing children, a loud, piercing whistle was heard and a booming voice using a megaphone announced, "Will all children who are trying to run up the walls of the castle, please stop. That is not allowed." As all the children around them suddenly stopped, Ziva saw that she had far more room to continue the activity. So, ignoring the warning, she continued to run up the side of the castle and back-flip on to the floor. However, exhaustion was setting in and she was no longer concentrating very well on what she was doing. As she attempted the back flip, she fell awkwardly, landing on another child and sending them both crashing to the floor. Thankfully the child she had knocked into managed to bounce towards the middle, but Ziva was not so lucky. After hitting the other child, Ziva bounced in the opposite direction and found herself landing heavily on the hard asphalt surface of the parking lot.
Rushing to her, Abby and Tim were there within seconds. Ziva had a bloody knee as well as a badly scraped elbow and was trying very hard not to cry.
"Oh sweetie," said Abby, bending down to check Ziva's injuries. "Are you ok?"
"I hurt my knee," said Ziva gritting her teeth. Sitting up gingerly, she looked at the scraped and bleeding skin on the knee-cap.
"Ouch Ziva," said Tony rushing up to her. "That must hurt so bad. I'd be screaming by now."
"I feel like screaming," said Ziva. "It does hurt, real bad."
Gently picking her up so that one arm was under her thighs and the other around her back, Tim carried Ziva to a near-by bench. They were soon approached by one of the officials who pointed them towards the first aid booth. Carrying Ziva inside, the attending paramedic carefully checked out her wounds and cleaned them. Applying a bandage to both her knee and elbow, he handed Ziva a lollipop for being so brave.
"Thank you," said Ziva taking the offered treat and popping it into her mouth.
As Tim gently lifted her off the bed and put her down on the ground, Ziva winced and found it difficult to put weight on her injured leg. Lifting her up, Tim placed her on his shoulders again and the four of them left the first-aid booth.
"Oh poor Ziva," said Abby looking up at the little girl. "How did it happen?"
As Ziva explained what she was doing, it suddenly dawned on Abby and Tim, that Tony and Ziva had been the instigators of the forbidden activity.
"So why didn't you stop when everyone else did," asked Abby looking up at Ziva sitting on Tim's shoulders.
"I don't know," answered Ziva. "I just saw that there was heaps of room and I was having fun. I'm sorry Abby," she added looking very sad and sorry for herself.
"Well I think maybe we should go home," said Abby. "You both look exhausted and some of the activity centres are starting to pack up."
"But I don't want to go," whined Ziva. "Can't we stay a bit longer?"
"Yeah Abby," said Tony, also in a whiny voice. "Why can't we stay longer? This place is great."
"Because they're packing up Tony," said Abby. Looking at her watch she saw that it was ten to four. "It finishes at four and that's in ten minutes. If we leave now, we won't get caught up in the rush to leave."
Seeing the disappointed looks on Tony and Ziva's faces, and not wanting them to feel sad, Abby said, "How about we buy you each another cotton candy for the trip home?"
"Yay!" yelled Ziva drumming her hands on Tim's head.
"Ziva!" said Tim crossly. "That hurts."
"Oops, sorry Timmy," she apologised patting his head gently and smoothing out his hair.
Looking at Tony and Ziva's bare feet, Abby said, "Tim why don't you go and get the cotton candy and we'll get their shoes?"
"Yep, good idea," said Tim lifting Ziva down.
As Tim headed off to one of the food vans, Abby, Tony and Ziva went back to the jumping castle to collect their shoes and socks.
Tony managed to find his, having placed them neatly by the shoe bench. Ziva's however, were a little more difficult to locate. After a five minute search of the immediate vicinity, they'd managed to locate one shoe and one sock, but were still trying to find the matching pairs when Tim returned.
"Yay! Cotton Candy!" yelled Ziva, running up to Tim, her injured leg suddenly forgotten, and taking the stick from his hand.
"Ziva!" called Abby. "You need to find your other sock and shoe. No candy until then."
"Abby's right," said Tim, taking it away from her. "No candy until you've found your stuff."
Ziva pouted. "But I need the energy to look for my things," she argued, pleading her case.
"Go!" said Tim, holding the cotton candy up high and out of Ziva's reach. "You can have this when you've found your sock and shoe."
Huffing loudly, Ziva crossed her arms and stomped away.
Fifteen minutes later they had managed to find the matching shoe but the sock stubbornly remained missing in action. Seeing Tony and Ziva were definitely no longer at their best, Abby decided to give up searching for the offending item and just count their losses and go home.
"It's only a sock," grumbled Tony, feeling like he'd wasted a good half hour searching for something that, in his opinion, didn't require all that effort.
"Yeah, but you two are my responsibility," argued Abby. "I'm sure Gibbs expects you returned with all items of clothing intact."
"Don't worry Abby," continued Tony. "It's not like she lost an arm or something. Come on, let's go."
As they left the church yard, they began the three block hike back to the car. It wasn't long before Ziva was struggling with her injured knee and Tim once again found himself carrying her, choosing this time, to hold her on his hip rather than run the risk of cotton candy all through his hair.
By the time they reached the car, Tony and Ziva were struggling to keep their eyes open. Neither one had barely touched their cotton candy and, as Abby opened the door, they both piled into the back seat.
"I'm thirsty," complained Ziva. "Can I have a drink please?"
"I'll pick one up from the gas station up the road ok?" said Abby, helping Ziva to pull the seat belt over her car seat.
"Me too?" asked Tony.
"Sure," replied Abby.
Once both children were secured in their seats, Abby and Tim hopped in the car and Abby pulled away from the curb. Spotting the gas station, she turned into the driveway and parked. While Abby left the car idling, Tim ran in and grabbed four 600ml waters for them to drink on the way home.
As they made the journey home, Tony and Ziva guzzled down the water until all 600mls was gone. Five minutes later, they were feeling much better and were starting to perk up again.
"Thanks for taking us," said Tony, tucking into his cotton candy now that his thirst had been quenched. "I've had the best afternoon."
"Me too," said Ziva also eating her sugary treat. "Even with a sore knee and elbow, it's been so much fun."
Smiling at them through the rear view mirror, Abby said, "You're welcome. I had a great day too."
"Same here," added Tim.
Five minutes later however, the two reasonably calm, cooperative and compliant children in the backseat had suddenly morphed into screaming, giggling, punching terrors. The only phrases spoken during that last five minutes of the road trip included, "Settle down!" "Stop all that noise!" "Stop hitting each other!" "I'm gonna stop this car if you continue!"
By the time they were pulling into Gibbs' driveway, Tony and Ziva were well and truly out of control. Abby had barely switched off the engine, when Tony had thrown open the car door and was racing up the path to the house. Ziva was just as quick to follow, wriggling out under her seat-belt without even unbuckling it, and hobbling behind Tony.
As Gibbs opened the door, he was greeted by two sticky, sunburnt, laughing, grass stained children, one of which was missing a sock and had bandages on her knee and elbow.
"Hey Dad!" "Hi Daddy!" was all Gibbs heard as Tony and Ziva raced past him and into the house.
Looking up, he watched as two weary, shell shocked adults made their way up the path, one carry a car seat, the other a giant stuffed bear and toy gun. Taking Ziva's car seat out of Tim's arms, he stepped aside so that Abby and Tim could enter.
As Abby and Tim collapsed onto the sofa, Gibbs watched as Tony and Ziva, now with water bottles in hand, suddenly start up a game of tag around the living room.
Trying to ignore the noise and chaos around him, Gibbs turned to Abby and said, "What happened?"
"I think I may have fed them too much sugar Gibbs," replied Abby hugging the bear to her.
"Ya think?" asked Gibbs incredulously.
At a particular piercing squeal from Ziva, Tim groaned and held his head in his hands.
"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy," said Ziva racing up to him. "We had the best day. I got to try cotton candy for the first time in my life and it's the yummiest thing ever and I got my face painted, see, look, and then I had a turn shooting some ducks and I got all six ducks and I let Tony pick something out because Timmy had already won me the big bear that Abby's holding cause he killed six ducks as well and then we went on a giant slide and these boys were being mean but I sorted them out and the man who ran the slide congratulated me and then-"
"Ziva, calm down," said Gibbs putting his hands on the little girl's shoulders to stop her from bouncing from leg to leg.
"But Dad," added Tony when he saw that Ziva had stopped talking. "We went on a jumping castle and Ziva started climbing up the walls and doing back-flips and all the kids copied us and we were having so much fun but the pooy boss man told us all to stop except Ziva didn't and she flipped onto this kid and the kid bounced one way and Ziva went the other and she landed on the parking lot and scraped her knee and elbow but she was real brave Dad and didn't cry at all and we had to go to the mini hospital room and they patched up Ziva and then we went to find our shoes and socks but we couldn't find Ziva's and we spend ages and ages and ages and ages looking for it and in the end we gave up and that's why Ziva only had one sock." Taking a huge breath, Tony collapsed on the sofa next to Tim.
"It's been a great day!" Tony said leaning back into the sofa. "Can we do it again next week Abby?"
"Yeah," said Ziva, flinging herself into Tim's lap. "Do you think you could take us again? I could get to have cotton candy again."
Abby and Tim looked at each other and exchanged groans.
"Hey Tony, Let's go and try out your new gun," suggested Ziva grabbing it out of Abby's arms which were still hugging the bear.
"Yeah!" yelled Tony jumping up. The two of them rushed towards the stairs.
"Hey!" yelled Gibbs effectively stopping them in their tracks. "Outside," he ordered pointing his thumb towards the kitchen. Turning around, both children sprinted for the kitchen.
"Walk!" he barked and watched as each child skidded to a halt then half walked, half jogged out of the room.
Turning back to the pair on the couch, he simply said, "Ok, from the top, what happened?"
"Well," began Abby. "I thought it would be fun to take them to the church fundraising fete Gibbs."
"Ah huh. That part I got. It's the bit that's turned my children into a high speed video reel and left one child with one sock and sporting a bandaged knee and elbow that I missed.
"Um...." began Abby. "Well it's a bit hard to explain really," she continued.
"Try," he growled.
"Well ya see," said Abby taking a deep breath. "Ziva had never tried cotton candy before so I thought it would be a great idea to buy her some."
Ten minutes later and Gibbs had the whole story. Sitting on the edge of the coffee table he put his head in his hands.
"What were you thinking?" he said. "Don't you know what sugar does to kids?"
"Well, yeah," said Abby defensively. "But I thought you had to feed them heaps."
Three cotton candies and a lollipop is heaps Abs," said Gibbs shaking his head.
"Tony didn't have the lollipop," said Abby hopefully. "Only Ziva did."
Glaring at her, Abby quickly lowered her head and looked down into her lap.
Relenting Gibbs said, "Look, I know you were only trying to have fun and give them a great afternoon out and I really appreciate you taking them. But next time, try and go sugar-free?" He lifted Abby's chin so that she was looking at him. "Please!" he added smiling at her.
"You mean you'll let me take them again sometime?" she asked looking up into his face. "I thought you'd be really angry and never trust me again," she said.
"Abby, I'm not angry. A little frustrated maybe thinking of what I've got ahead of me tonight, but definitely not angry," said Gibbs maintaining eye contact with her. "They've had a wonderful time Abby. You've created memories today that they will never forget and for that I'm grateful, to both of you," he added looking at Tim.
"And of course I trust you," he added. "So much so, that I'm going to invite you to stay for dinner and babysit them while I disappear for a couple of hours," he said grinning to himself.
Taking him seriously, Abby said, "Um...well...the thing is...Tim and I have tickets for a concert tonight and we can't cancel them or we'll lose our money but maybe..."
"It's ok Abs, I'm kidding," said Gibbs putting her out of her misery. "Although you both owe me big time for this!"
"You got it!" said Abby smiling at him. "Name the day and we'll be there!" she added enthusiastically.
"Really?" said Tim looking at her with uncertainty.
"Oh come on Timmy. Where's ya sense of adventure?" she said, patting Tim's knee. "We'll just make sure we stick to water and fruit next time."
"Sounds like a plan Abs," said Gibbs standing up and stretching.
"So, coffee?" he offered and both Tim and Abby nodded gratefully.