Ok, this is my first fanfic, so please take the time to review, it means a lot! thanks a lot to my beta, quidditchgirlie, you've been amazing! (if theres any mistakes in this, theyre probably mine...)

disclaimer:i dont own anything. at all )

Melissa Darwin glanced up at the clock as she heard the doorbell ring, a smile tugging on her lips. Bang on five o'clock, just as usual. Melissa didn't know exactly what Tali's parents did, just that they worked for the government and carried guns. To be honest, Melissa didn't want to know; they paid her well, and Tali was a cute baby. That was good enough for her. They were always on time. Or at least, the woman was. On the odd occasion that the woman would not be with her boyfriend when picking up Tali, Melissa knew to schedule Tali's pick up for at least ten minutes later than arranged. But she was with him today, and therefore on time.

"Hi! Tali didn't get to sleep this afternoon, but she ate better than usual." Melissa greeted the young couple with a grin. She liked them, they were a pleasant couple, unlike some of the people she had worked for.

"Well, we'll give her an early night, see how she goes." The man replied seriously, a sombre look on his face. The woman reached up and slapped him sharply round the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" He complained. The woman ignored him. Melissa tried not to laugh. She could see how the woman had fallen for him; he had messy brown hair, smiling eyes and a cheeky grin. Mind you, she thought to herself, the woman was hardly ugly. She had long, dark, curly hair, brown almond-shaped eyes and a figure that Melissa could only dream of having.

"Thanks for looking after her. We'll be here at quarter to eight, if that's ok?" The lady's voice snapped her out of her day dream, and she looked up quickly. "Yea, yeah sure. See you then!" She passed the small baby over to it's mother, and watched them load the baby into the car. The man strapped little Tali into the baby seat, and the woman dove into the driver's seat. The man spun round, and called, "Oh no you don't! I want to survive this journey! How you got your licence I will never know." Reluctantly, she got out of the car and stormed round to the passenger side. The man laughed as he saw Melissa watching, with an amused smile on her face. These two should have their own sitcom, she thought. She turned round and shut the door. Now, for a little R&R…

Tony gave a yelp as he checked the caller ID of his ringing phone. "It's Gibbs!" he said quickly. He pulled up and dove out of the car.

"Yeah boss!" He tried to sound casual.

"DiNozzo, why do you sound like you're doing something you shouldn't be, and why is there a baby's bottle in your desk?"

"Oh, erm, Ziva.. Is looking after her niece, she must have dropped it in there by mistake when she was helping me with a report. Ask her."

"I will do!" Tony gave a sigh of relief as the line went dead. He jumped back into the car and smiled sweetly at his girlfriend.
"Sweetcheeks, our delightful boss will be calling you asking why you dropped a baby's bottle in my drawer. Why did you bring Tali's bottle with you anyway?"

"Because, she goes all gristly-"

"Grizzly."

"Same thing. But I use a bottle to calm her down." She winced as her cell phone started to ring.

"Gibbs..."

No-one knew about Tali David. The only person who did know was Jen Shepherd, who had arranged to have Ziva's maternity leave covered as a 'transfer'. But director Shepherd had passed away, meaning that her secretary had to try make the arrangements. It wasn't that Ziva was embarrassed at having Tony's baby, it was just that she didn't want to upset Gibbs, especially sice he lost the woman he loved, Jen, so recently. Plus it was breaking rule #12. That was not forgivable.

Ziva gave a yell of frustration as she threw the bunch of keys on the floor. Tony passed the baby to Ziva, and unlocked the door. He was worried about her. She had taken Jenny's death badly, and had struggled to settle down to life as a mum. Tony was trying his best to ease her load: finishing her paperwork, cooking, cleaning, looking after Tali as much as possible. He led her inside and pushed her onto the sofa. "Give me Tali. I'll put her to bed and put the supper on. Get a glass of wine and just have a relax. Five minutes, ok?" Ziva was too exhausted to argue.

Tony carried his daughter through to the smallest bedroom. Ziva had turned out to be quite the artist, painting a mural of the team. She said that she wanted her daughter to grow up knowing about the team that changed her from a killer to an investigator.Tony smiled as he settled Tali into her cot. He kissed her on the forehead, and switched off the light. He shoved a couple of pizzas in the oven and collapsed onto the sofa.

Ziva rested her head on Tony's chest. She begun to cry softly into his shirt. Tony pulled her closer, stoking her hair. He hated seeing her so vunerable. He wanted to protect her, but he didn't know what from.