This was an idea that came to me late one night and no matter how hard I tried it wouldn't go away, so now I am posting it for you. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to Domino for helping me with this chapter and also Black24 for helping me with my Hebrew, I hope it meets up to both your expectations. Please Review everyone, it makes my day and makes more chapters.

Tony/Ziva pairing but not massively full on...yet anyway.

Disclaimer- I don't own recognisable characters but I do own Kiara.

"Tony." She said as quietly as she could, while pointing to a tiny crevice between the wall and a huge crate. As they ran towards it, they both pulled out their guns, aiming at whatever was making the quiet noises in the hiding spot.

Ziva looked around the crate to see a small and grubby purple blanket, worn thin by whatever hardships came by living in the deserted ally way.

"This is NCIS, come out." Tony's strong voice echoed around the dark street, causing a stray cat to jump out of a bin and run away with a hiss.

"I said come out!" He yelled again, but this time it was followed by scrambling as someone tried to get out of the tiny space.

Ziva squeezed in the gap and grabbed a little body that was about to run away and dragged her out.

Out of the small space they could see the person more clearly. It was a little girl, not much older than four with dirty blonde hair and large brown eyes that were almost hidden by the dirt and grime that covered her face and body.

Tony looked down at the tiny girl in shock; he wasn't expecting that when Gibbs told them to search the ally in case they had missed something.

The girl's eyes followed Ziva's face as she knelt down so she was eye to eye with her.

"Shalom Yalda"

The girl looked up so she was eye to eye with Ziva. "I don't understand." She said, her little voice barely above a whisper.

"It's Hebrew, it means hello. What's your name little one?"

"Kiara." She said, her voice slightly stronger this time.

"My name's Ziva and this is Tony. We're from NCIS, sort of like the police. Where is your mum?"

"She's dead. You and Tony took her away." Ziva and her partner exchanged meaningful looks. They didn't know the dead ex-marine woman living on the streets had a daughter, Gibbs was going to kill them.

"Ziva?" The little girl said quietly, breaking their concentration away from their upcoming torture. She looked at Kiara, her eyes questioning. The little girl put her arms up, asking to be picked up soundlessly, a request Ziva couldn't deny her.

Ziva picked her up and cradled her against her body. As tough as this girl seemed on the outside, managing to stay alive for two days without her mother or apparently anyone, she was still a four year old girl and as soon as Ziva picked her up, she put her face against her shoulder and cried. Hugging Ziva as if she was her only lifeline.

"Come on Perach Katan, let's take you back to NCIS headquarters. See if we can get you cleaned up." She said, trying to brush her fingers through Kiara's matted and dirty hair but giving up when they nearly got stuck.

Kiara pulled away from Ziva, tears leaving tracks down her face but her eyes asking her a question she couldn't voice at the moment.

"I might tell you what it means later Perach, but now we had better get back before our boss kills us."

Kiara clung to Ziva all the way to headquarters where they met Gibbs in the elevator where, as usual, he flicked the emergency switch.

"Who is that." He said, gesturing to the little girl in Ziva's arms.

"Well you see boss," Tony started "Me and Ziva finished looking over the ally early so we snuck off to a hotel and made lo-" He was cut off by a hard slap to the back of his head.

"This is Kiara, Gibbs. She is the daughter of our dead ex-marine. She may have seen her mother murdered, she might have seen the killer." Ziva whispered the last part, trying to stress how important this little girl could be to the case.

"Take Kiara down to the showers, get her cleaned up, then interview her- see what she can remember. See if you can get a sketch" He flicked the switch again and the elevator moved towards the bull-pen.

"Kiara, do you want to sit down for a little bit, I've got to do some computer work." Ziva said, stealing Tony's chair for the little girl. "Would you like some paper to draw on?"

She nodded a tiny nod, her eyes meeting Ziva's for the smallest second then going back to look at the desk.

Ziva got paper from the printer and pencils from her desk drawer, handing them silently to Kiara who looked up, a tiny smile on her angelic face. Ziva smiled back, noting that this was the first time Kiara had smiled, shown some emotion other than worry and fright.

As soon as she was settled down drawing, Ziva started typing up the report. She muttered Hebrew curse words under her breath as she got up to go to the photocopier. She hated that photocopier. It had finally finished copying and she turned angrily to back to her desk when she almost ran into Kiara, who was right behind her.

"Metuka what are you doing?" Ziva said a hard edge to her voice and she saw Kiara draw back slightly, like she was afraid. Ziva mentally kicked herself for being so rude. It wasn't Kiara's fault the photocopier was stupid. She once again knelt down so she was the same height as the little girl and put her hands gently on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry Metuka, I didn't see you. Did you want something?" Ziva asked, her voice falling to the same volume as Kiara's, barely above a whisper, hoping to soothe the scared girl but instead of answering her she just looked at the ground and gently shook her head no.

Ziva put one finger under the girls chin and lifted her head so she was looking right at her.

"Let me finish this report then we'll go and get you cleaned up. How does that sound?"

Kiara just looked at her. Ziva felt so helpless; she wanted to help the little girl so much, she wanted her to talk again, to see that tiny smile on her face, to start to recover. She knew seeing your mother die was traumatizing. She knew exactly what it felt like and no matter how many people say that there is no way you can remember back to when you were four, remember when you saw the person that gave you life being killed in such a brutal way, she could. She could remember every detail and it ran around in her head at night. During the day she was fine; she could control her thoughts and emotions while she was awake but when she was asleep, anything could get her. Maybe that's why she was becoming attached to the little girl, because she reminded Ziva of herself. Or maybe because she reminded her of Tali.

When she realised she wasn't getting an answer, Ziva stood up and walked to Gibbs's desk to put the finished report on there and she realised with a small smile that Kiara had followed her the whole way, holding onto the edge of her jacket as tight as she could. In stead of trying to talk to her again, Ziva put out her hand for Kiara to hold which the little girl did, holding on tight, feeling the soft but calloused hand of her new friend. The hand that was keeping her from spiralling off into a dark place where the death of her mother would catch up to her and knock her off her feet and keep her that way forever.

"There we are, there is a person under there!" She said, scrubbing Kiara's face, removing all the dirt and grime, exposing a pale face with a tiny nose and rosy pink lips.

"You okay to wash your hair?" Ziva asked, turning the shower on to warm up the water. Kiara looked up at the jets of water, a look of horror on her face. The shower could be scary to a four year old. Especially to one who hadn't had a shower before.

"I have baths. It looks scary Ziva, can you help me?" Ziva looked at Kiara, she looked genuinely scared of the shower. She was about to tell her to not worry about it, that there was nothing to be frightened of but then she remembered back to when she was four years old and was terrified of the washing machine. She wouldn't go near it no matter how many times her father yelled at her that there was nothing to worry about until Ari came in with her, holding her hand and they sat in front of it for hours until she wasn't scared anymore.

"Okay, but you gotta promise me something."

Kiara walked closer until she was face to face with Ziva. "I promise." She whispered, her eyes letting Ziva know that she was telling the truth, not that she had anything to lie about-she was only four.

That nearly made Ziva break down there. The girl had been through so much in her short life, living on the streets, fighting to stay alive everyday but she still was ready to trust Ziva with anything. Trust her to keep her safe. Ziva wished she could have some of that innocence back.

"That once I showed you that it's safe, you won't be scared anymore."

"How do I know it's safe?" Kiara asked quietly, looking deep into Ziva's eyes. Brown meeting brown.

"Would I lie to you?" Ziva said just as quietly, keeping eye contact, hoping so much that Kiara would say she trusted her.

They looked into each others eyes, Kiara's flickering, not sure which of Ziva's eyes to pick, Ziva's gaze staring straight and unwavering at the little girl.

Ziva saw it first in her eyes; a spark of something special. It lit up not only her eyes but her whole face, bringing light and colour to her pale cheeks and a tiny but sure smile to her lips. It was trust. Kiara trusted Ziva with all her heart and was trying to tell her that even though at the moment she couldn't talk, not yet anyway. She then threw herself into Ziva's waiting arms, squeezing her like she'd never let go.

Ziva hugged the little girl tightly, feeling the start of tears come into her eyes but she forced them down. "How about we get that hair washed Perach Katan."

"What's that?" The now clean Kiara asked, pointing at Ziva's cup of coffee. "It smells funny."

Ziva looked at the little girl with a small smile. Seeing as all her clothes were filthy, they had both tried to find something she could wear in NCIS's spare clothes. Unfortunately all that was there was huge tracksuit pants and jumpers. Knowing that nothing was going to fit, Ziva got one of the huge grey jumpers and slipped it on over Kiara's head. It fell down past her knees but as soon as Ziva had put it on her, Kiara hadn't wanted to take it off. She said it was warmer than anything she'd ever had. That made Ziva pick her up and kiss her gently on the head.

Ziva knew she was getting attached but no matter what she did she couldn't help but love the little girl; she was so much like Tali. Ziva would force herself to stay away from Kiara but then she would put her arms up, a solemn almost sad expression on her face and Ziva couldn't help but pick her up and hold her close, like she was the one thing keeping her alive at that moment. Maybe she was.

"It's coffee Perach Katan. I don't think you would like it."

Kiara made a face at it then looked around the bull-pen, trying hard not to sniff the coffee smell. Her eyes fell on Tony who was watching her intently.

Not trusting herself to talk to Tony like she could Ziva, she tried asking him with her eyes like she did Ziva. She tried for at least a minute when Ziva loudly said from her desk.

"She's wondering why you're looking at her Tony."

Tony went to answer but then stopped himself. He couldn't exactly tell Kiara the real reason, first of all the girl would probably be scared of him and secondly Ziva would kill him a lot. He didn't know how she could kill him a lot as it was hard to kill someone a little bit but if anyone could do it, it was his ninja.

He had to make up a reason fast; because if Ziva found out he was thinking about her as a mother he wouldn't live to see tomorrow. She had never seemed to connect well with the children who came in. They didn't hate her or anything like that but she never managed to be loved by them. She was just another person.

When Tony saw the girl hold onto Ziva at the crime scene, he thought it was a natural reaction of a little girl- to be scared after seeing her mother die, but when they got back to NCIS and even after Ziva had cleaned up Kiara, the girl had barely let go of her, following her around everywhere. This was more than a need for a little girl to be hugged, he could tell that by the light in Ziva's eyes. He had never seen her like this, so happy without showing it to anyone but Kiara- and he was jealous; of a four year old girl. He wanted to be the one to make her happy like that, wanted to be the one to put that curious light in her eyes. But he couldn't say that to Kiara while Ziva was right there.

"Would you like to see the drawing I did of you two?" He said, looking down at the piece of office paper he had been doodling on where, if you squinted, you might have been able to see two people-one slightly shorter than the other one.

Kiara let out a tiny giggle, just loud enough to carry across to Tony's desk and make him pout and look at his picture.

"What's wrong with it?"

Kiara didn't answer, only leant down and started to draw what Tony guessed was her own picture of Ziva and herself, one which, embarrassingly enough, would probably be better than his.

If anyone had looked at Ziva they would have been startled to see a smile lighting up her face, something the Mossad agent didn't have often. Kiara had giggled. Nearly laughed at something and she was talking more, slowly opening up even if it was only to Ziva.

Slowly, a picture was being pushed over her work, covering it up inch by inch.

It was a picture of her and Kiara standing next to a tree and a bush. It was simple, something you'd expect from a four year old, but what really made Ziva's heart warm was that in her picture, Kiara and her were holding hands, big smiles on their faces and above each of them was their name written carefully and in a pretty purple colour obviously done with much care as nearly all of the letters were in a straight line. Not bad for a four year old.

"Hey Tony!" Ziva called as she slowly walked up to his desk, Kiara's picture in hand, the little girl silently following. "I think Kiara's picture beats yours." She said, her voice light and joking but when he looked deep into her eyes he could see an almost crazed look. Something was falling apart in the world of Ziva David and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop it.

Jules.