So recently I've read alot of tics where the team have turned into kids and have been inspired to try my hand at it. This goes against my norm as this will be Gibbs and Ziva as father/daughter. There will also be lots of brotherly love from Tony and Tim, and spoiling from aunty Abby obviously. I realise this chapter holds little speech but I needed to lay the foundation's of the story first. Hopefully you like and if yyou'd like to read more let me know Xxx P.S. You know that review button likes to be touched ;)

The team were in the charger, their fearless leader at the wheel, McGee riding shotgun and Ziva and Tony in the back, bickering like small children as per usual. Mcgee was listening in and couldn't help but chuckle at their words - they were arguing over whose fault it was that Gibbs coffee ended up in a puddle on the floor. Thus resulting in the silent treatment they now found themselves on the receiving end of (after some rather hard head slaps of course). Obviously Ziva said it was Tony's fault whilst Tony was adamant it was Zivas. Truth was it was both their faults in equal measure, they were wrestling infront of the elevator. When the metal doors had opened Tony had knocked Ziva backwards, sending both her, Gibbs and most importantly, the coffee, to the ground.

The bickering was not helping their situation, it was just further aggravating Gibbs already foul mood. His piercing blue eyes were staring daggers into the back of the car through his drivers mirror, the two quickly quieted down, lowering there eyes to avoid the piercing gaze. The sooner they got to the suspects house the better.

The case they were currently working on had been hard on all of them, three bodies that had basically had the equivalent of an autopsy, problem was the autopsy had begun when they were still alive, resulting in what must have been an excruciatingly painful death. All of their leads had led from one dead end to another, and Gibbs had been getting angrier and angrier as the day's had past. Luckily for them, shortly after the coffee incident Abby had pulled through and had matched a chemical from one of the body's as a specially designed formula that had been created by a top class scientist. A scientist that had gone awol and by all accounts had been acting rather strange in the run up to the murders. To add to the gravity of the situation said scientist had been working on some rather shady things in their personal time, Abby had assured them that most of the formulas and such they had found in the notebook from the scientists home had been nonsense that couldn't possibly work. The fact that all of the work couldn't be possible just assured them that they were dealing with a wacko. Wackos were not predictable, and unpredictable situations were dangerous.

They'd managed to find where the scientist was hiding out, it was a large privately owned cabin that had been built and designed by the man himself. They were all geared up with their guns and vests, prepared for any situation that was about to unfold. As they pulled up a short distance away, warrant in hand, Gibbs gave them instructions on how to proceed, the first words he'd spoken to both Ziva and Tony since they'd knocked his coffee.

"You two take the front, me and McGee will take the back, clear each room and get this son of a b". At the nod of affirmation the two pairs set of to their dictated destinations. Guns held in front of them, both pairs counted down, able to hear the others through their earpieces, "3,2,1!". Two kicks and both doors were through, Ziva taking front centre with Tony behind her, whilst Gibbs and McGee did the same. Simultaneous shouts of "NCIS freeze, come out with your hands up!", resonated throughout the cabin, if the scientist was here however he didn't do as ordered.

When no movements were made the two pairs went on to search and clear the rooms. When all the rooms came up empty the group met in a large sideroom where a table was littered with papers. There were whiteboards attached to one of the walls, a row of them, each full of scrawling black writing of formulas and codes. Along another wall was a bookcase that looked to be holding a small library, Ziva slouched back against it, looking on in interest as Gibbs rifled through the papers. Tony took up a stance next to her as McGee leant against the window behind the desk.

" All of the evidence indicated that he was here, what now?". Zivas question was met by a scowl directed at her through fierce blue eyes, obviously she was still in the bosses bad books. "We'll examine this room, Tony bag and tag, McGee photos, you sketch then help Dinozzo". His answer was short and abrupt, the way he was taking his anger out on her and Dinozzo was really starting to hurt her, fair enough rule 23 and all but he'd been short tempered with them ever since this case had started. She loved him more than her own father, in her mind he WAS her father, yet he was being like this. Gibbs was walking out of the rooom, and Tony and McGee were getting ready to get on with let out an audible sigh and made to move away from the bookcase to get on with her assigned task as well when suddenly the bookcase shifted.

The part of the bookcase that Ziva was leant on lurched backwards, shifting into a hidden room. The momentum and shock of the unexpected action caused her to tumble onto the floor in a rather ungraceful heap. Before anyone had time to even register the turn of events their suspect had come out of the shadows if the concealed room and hauled Ziva onto her feet. A man that stood at 5'10, with a mop of grey hair and a rather poor excuse of a beard. His eyebrows were bushy and unkept, his wild green eyes darted from person to person. With his grip tight around her neck he brought his other hand up to her throat, a syringewas held in it and to the uneasiness of the team he rested its needle against the vein pulsing strongly in her slender neck. Realising that he had the upper hand at the moment,the suspect - Marco Polentsy - smirked, looking from Gibbs to Tony, to McGee then back to Gibbs, intuition telling him that he was the person in charge.

All three agents before him had their guns pointed at him, wary eyes upon the strange liquid inside the syringe against their colleagues throat.

"Drop your weapon and let her go". Gibbs authoritative voice held just a hint of strain, barely managing to mask the utter fear that had his heart locked in an icy grip. The scientist shook his head in defiance, he wasn't going to go to prison, the world didn't know of his brilliance, he wouldnt go down easily, not when his plans had been foiled so soon. To add to his defiance Marco pressed the syringe harder, the tip of the needle scratching sharply at Zivas throat. Unable to play the role of victim for very long, Ziva tried to reach inconspicuously for the gun at her waist, unfortunately for her Marco noticed. " Oh sweetheart I wouldn't do that if I was you, his grip on her tightened, his fingers bruising around her neck as his other hand put pressure on the needle, causing a drop of blood to run slowly down her neck. Luckily the liquid wouldn't release unless Marco pressed down on the plastic holder, which he wasn't doing - yet. Ziva wasn't stupid however and decided to let her team handle this.

Gibbs blood ran cold as he watched the blood trickle down Zivas throat, his daughter -for all intents and purposes - was in real danger now. Her chchocolate brown orbs locked onto his own glacier blue, silently pleading with him to get her out of this.

"Why are you doing this Marco? You're just making this worse for yourself". The scientists knuckles flexed in agitation, causing more restriction to Zivas breathing, which was getting increasingly difficult the tighter he held on. "My experiments are important, I've discovered something that was believed impossible, and those fools we're going to stop me, they got in my way. Just like you are now!" - with this Marco pressed down on the plastic casing, shooting the unidentified substance straight into Zivas veins. He released her and tried to make a break for it. "Don't shoot we need him alive!" -Gibbs ordered, shouting at his two agents just in time from putting a bullet through the scientists skull. Luckily for the team Marco was not very fast, giving Tony time to tackle him to the floor and cuff him.

Meanwhile Gibbs had headed straight for Ziva, who hadn't gotten up from the floor. His breathing was erratic, terrified for his daughter, maybe not by blood but in his heart that is what she was. This week he'd been harsh and distant, the stress of the case making him take it out on those around him, those he loved. He sent a prayer to God to let her be ok, let her be alive.

He knelt next to her as McGee phoned for an ambulance, shaking hands reaching to check for a pulse, he released a breath of relief when he found one. "Boss?", Tonys voice held all the concern and fear he was feeling, his best friend, little sister, had to be ok! "She has a pulse" the relief in his voice was palpable and collective among the men at his declaration. "Medics are on their way boss" McGee informed dutifully, glowering in Marcos direction. "She won't die, if she died no one would know of my genius" with this Tony grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and roughly slammed him down. " You too take him to interrogation, meet me at Bethesda, get another team here to take over aswell" whilst giving his orders he was stroking Zivas hair, hoping that this small action would give comfort to her subconscious and Tim nodded and after assurances that he would see them soon and keep them updated they headed out to wait in another room for a team to show up and take care of their new crime scene, leaving room for the arriving medics to do their work.

The last hour had been a whirlwind of pure panic and shock. Ziva had remained completely comatose throughout her checks from the attending medics and the ride to the hospital - this had done nothing to ease the foreboding feeling that seemed to have taken residence in Gibbs gut, something was seriously wrong, they had no clue whatsoever as to what was in that syringe. Of what damage it could be wrecking inside her small frame. The medics had noted that her heart beat was irregular and her pulse rate was alarmingly high, and that it was increasing with each passing minute. They'd made it to Bethesda in record time with the help of the flashing lights that parted traffic like Moses and the red sea. A team of doctors and nurses had been waiting upon their arrival and had whisked her through, with Gibbs maintaining a tight grip upon her small slender hand. As they'd gotten her into a room however that was when everything started to happen. The machines they'd hooked her to had started to go haywire, with beeps and buzzes coming from all over. Then the extraordinary began to happen, he'd looked upon helplessly as Ziva began to change. A golden hue had surrounded her skin, then her features began to regress and soften, becoming younger and younger with each blink of his eyes. The doctors had stood in a stunned stupor, no one daring to breath as the scene before them continued to progress.

Her hair had began to shorten and lighten all at once, her curls reforming as it did so. Her nose had shrunk and her lips became more rosy and pouty, her cheeks seemed to both sink, shrink and fill out all at once as her arms and legs seemed to disappear back into her body. Gibbs leaned over her, rubbing his eyes and pinching his wrist to double check that what had just occurred had definitely been real. In the hospital bed before him, hooked up to once again calm machines and monitors, was a child. An absolutely beautiful child at that, with chocolate brunette curls and rosy pouting lips. Golden skin and cherub cheeks, small palms and tiny feet, complete with a cute button nose and flittering eyelashes, was a child, not just any child, Ziva. She looked to be all of 2, and from the pictures he'd seen in one of her albums there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell that this wasn't her. Especially as he'd just witnessed it himself, along with team of doctors and nurses. After that chaos had ensued as the doctors rushed forward to check machines and marvel at the miracle they had just witnessed. Gibbs had immediately called the director to the hospital, he hadn't believed him until he walked in and saw her himself, then watched the cctv footage that had captured the whole thing. After confiscating the tape and ensuring all present signed a confidential contract to keep this secret Ziva had been moved to a children's ward and signed over into the care of Gibbs - after he had been assured that now she was only sleeping, nothing was wrong apart from the obvious.

The team had turned up, Abby and Ducky in tow, just in time to watch the cctv footage and be filled in by Vance. They were now all in the waiting room, waiting to see Ziva or the baby as Abby had already taken to referring to her as. She was still asleep, with Gibbs now seemingly enormous hand encasing her tiny palm within his own, rubbing circles against her soft skin. One hand was toying with her curls and he dressed a tender kiss against her forehead. He had no idea how to proceed here, would she remember, Abby had read the scientists notes and apparently whilst retaining memories, it would only be the memories up until the age that she now found herself. The notes said that the solution erased 25 years, following the current date that would make her 2, 3 in a couple of months. Vance was currently sorting papers to make Gibbs her legal guardian, after Gibbs had insisted upon it, point blank refusing to hand her over to the state. The notes had also stated that the solution was irreversible, meaning that she would mow be his to raise until she was an adult. There were alot of changes that were about to be made in his life, and secretly he couldn't wait.