I do not own the NCIS characters.

Chapter 1

As they secured the house of the a banded house, Ziva crept to the door and in one swift movement unlocked it, letting it swing forward with a soft creek. Gun up and at the ready they entered looking in all directions for a sign of a struggle or a clue to what had happened.

'McGee' Gibbs pointed left

'Ziva' he pointed right, up the hallway

'Tony' to the first door. They all moved forward in silence.

Ziva took the second door along the hall, once inside she realized it was a young child's bedroom, probably a girls due to the light pink curtains and bed spread.

Ziva crossed to the window and peeked through the blinds. No one around.

'Don't worry Baylie, I'll protect you from the bad guys'

Ziva spun around at the whisper, she looked around the room but could not see any one, maybe she'd imagined it.

"Your safe, don't cry Baylie' This time Ziva was ready, she crossed the room to a small wardrobe, pulled back the latch and opened the cupboard doors.

There under a pile of clothes sat a small girl clutching a golden bear to her chest and whispering it a lullaby.

'TONY! GIBBS!' Ziva yelled not taking her eyes off the tiny chocolate haired girl.

'Hello' she said in a sweet little voice.

'Um…hi' Ziva answered awkwardly

'Are you a good or bad guy?'

'good guy?' Ziva said still surprised to of found a little girl in a cupboard.

'Ok'

'What!?' Tony and Gibbs bolted in to the room

'That's what!' Ziva pointed to the bright-eyed child.

Gibbs and Tony stared at the little cloth-covered girl, in utter disbelief.

'Hello' Gibbs said in a softer, kinder voice.

'Hello' the young girl replied.

'Who are you?'

'I'm lily and this is Baylie' She replied holding up the golden bear so they could see him better.

'Oh, well I'm Gibbs and this is Tony' he pointed at his team member 'And that's Ziva'

'Hello' she said again, looking at each NCIS agent in turn then continued 'Can I get out now?

'Um, sure' Gibbs looked to Tony and Ziva for support, what was going on!

Lily struggled to stand up then tried to pull all of the cloths that were weighing her down off. Ziva bent forward as if she wanted to help but didn't know how so she half straightened back up when lily said

'Can you help me please' and she stretched out her arms to Ziva as if she wanted her to pick her up.

'Um…well...sure' Ziva bent forward and picked up the small child holding her awkwardly at arms length. Tony rolled his eyes and took Lily from Zivas out stretched arms and held her in his own, cradling her with apparent easy.

'Why were you in the cupboard Lily?' Gibbs asked looking into her brown eyes.

'Mummy told me too'

'Why?'

'To hide from the bad guys'

'What bad guys?' Ziva asked sharply

'The ones that yelled at mummy and made gun sounds'

'What!' Gibbs jumped at the apparent easy, at which she said this.

'There were bad guys coming…' she said exasperated then continued 'So mummy said to hide and not come out till good guys came.'

'GIBBS!' McGee's voice was sharp and was coming from the room at the end of the hall.

'Tony keep her here' he pointed to lily 'Ziva with me.'

Tony stood with lily in his arms and waited, then heard Ziva gasp.

'What?' Tony called from lily's room.

'We found m-u-m-m-y'

'Why are you spelling?'

'So s-h-e doesn't know what we're talking about'

'What she say' Lily asked confirming Ziva's theory that lily wasn't very good at spelling yet.

'Nothing' Tony muttered as he held the orphan to his chest.

End of Chapter 1

BY Bones