The little girl curled up a little more in her mother's lap whilst Ziva sat on the carpeted floor of her boss' office in front of the air vent that they had just crawled out from together. To the right of her, towards the door that led to Cynthia's office and eventually the walkway was Ducky, McGee and DiNozzo whilst to the left was Abby and Gibbs. The silver haired agent was knelt down on one knee to make himself smaller in order not to scare the little girl, the others gradually copied his stance and were soon all on the floor. The little girl didn't seem as tense when they were lower down.

In front of Ziva, Jenny was sat on the floor with crossed legs and a smile on her face, she hooked a stray piece of her red hair behind her ear as she watched the little one. "Hello Sweetheart", the green eyed woman said with a smile on her face as she put her hand out to the little one. The team watched on, unsure as to what the little girl's reaction would be. Jen's hand did not extend enough to physically connect with the young girl but it did cause a look of curiosity to appear on the little one's features as she tilted her head slightly and watched it.

"Hello", she said softly, quietly and rather timidly towards the older woman.

Director Shepard smiled towards her and allowed her hand to go forward ever so slightly although still not touching her, "Would you like to tell us your name?", she asked softly although already having worked out that this was the little girl that Ziva had told her about years beforehand and that her name was Sarah. She wanted however to give the little one a chance to introduce herself as well as to get to know her a little in order to make her feel more relaxed with her.

Ziva was sat on the balcony of a hotel room in the midst of Cairo, Egypt. The summer heat was still keeping the woman warm despite it being almost midnight and she was wearing a light summer dress with bare feet. Her dark hair was pinned up with a flower decorating her hairstyle. The moon was high in the sky and tonight was a full moon with many stars decorating the night's sky around it.

Jen stood in the doorway to the balcony, she knew that something had been bothering her friend all day but she was unsure as to what the issue was. The mission was going well and there hadn't been any issues so far. They had one week left for the mission and then it would hopefully be complete. She moved closer to the Israeli woman and sat down beside her on the lounger. Ziva moved her legs to the side slightly so that the older woman had room in order to sit down without falling from the seat that they now shared. "What's wrong Zee?", she asked with concern laced within her voice and a worried smile on her face as she put her hand lightly on the woman's leg in a comforting gesture.

The Israeli woman looked up at her with teary eyes and before she had a chance to say anything, Jenny had already moved forwards in order to embrace her friend in a tight and comforting hug. Her arms were wrapped around the woman's slender frame and holding her close so that Ziva's head was resting upon her shoulder, "Whatever it is... you can tell me", she reassured the dark haired woman.

"Today... today is my daughter's birthday", she revealed with a sad smile as she continued to rest her head on Jen's shoulder with her face hidden in the woman's wavy red hair which had been let down only moments beforehand, "and I don't even know where she is any more".

Jen held her tighter than she had ever done before, "How old is she?", she asked gently.

Ziva smiled as she remembered the little girl that she had held in her arms only ten months previously, the active and cheeky little girl with curly dark hair and bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle like the ocean, "Today she turns three years old", she revealed with sadness in the depths of her dark brown eyes, "It's been ten months since I held her last and it still hurts as if it were yesterday but it seems like forever since I last saw her smile, heard her laugh, listened to her talk or even held her in my arms."

Jen held her close as she listened to what the Israeli woman was willing to tell her and comforted her before they celebrated the little one's birthday with an order of cake from room service - something that although small, put a smile on Ziva's face because although not with her baby girl, she was able to honour the day that she had given birth to a beautiful little girl. The day that had changed her life for the better and given her life new meaning.

The small child looked up towards Ziva who nodded briefly to her because she felt that the child may be asking for permission to reveal the information. She looked back towards the redhead in front of her and smiled softly as she spoke with an Israeli accent which seemed to have merged slightly with a bit of an American accent, giving her words an unusual twist, "Sarah", she said softly, "Sarah Shalom David". Her bright blue eyes glistened slightly and she seemed proud of her name.

Jennifer smiled and nodded, lifting her hand whilst offering it to the little one in a slightly comical introduction, "It is nice to meet you Sarah. That means Princess doesn't it?", she asked softly, "and Shalom is peace, yes?".

Sarah looked into her eyes and smiled before nodding in agreement. She cautiously took hold of Jen's hand although did not shake it but seemed to be rather curious as she turned it carefully over in her hands, ran her fingers along her palm lines and traced shapes on the pale skin of the Director of N.C.I.S. "My name is...", the Director didn't finish her sentence because the little one finished it for her.

"Director Jennifer Marie Shepard", the little girl said quietly although with a hint of confidence in her tone as if she knew she was right in what she said.

Jen couldn't help but grin as she nodded, "That's right", she said softly, "You are a very clever little girl, aren't you?".

The little girl grinned but said nothing in return to the words that were just spoken by the woman in front of her.

Gibbs turned to Abby, "Abs? DNA results?", he reminded the gothic woman who was completely distracted by the fact that 'Bobo' the mouse was in fact 'Sarah' the little girl. She also found herself rather intrigued by the bright blue eyes of the young girl and how much she in fact looked like the woman holding her in her arms.

Abby nodded, "Right", she said as she got up from her position on the floor beside Jethro Gibbs, "Be right back".

"I'll come too", McGee said quickly as he followed her towards the elevator and eventually towards the forensic scientist's lab.

It wasn't long before Abby was running into the room with the DNA results in her hands and a huge grin on her face. McGee was following behind her and they entered the room to find Sarah in Jen's lap with the both of them attempting to throw playing cards into a trash can that had previously sat beside Jen's desk. Ziva was watching on with a smile on her face and her eyes glistening with happiness. Jethro was sat on the sofa beside Ducky whilst Tony was sat on a chair, both watching the game that the Director was playing with the little one. Tony along with a few of the others had never seen the Director as relaxed as she was with the little girl in her arms.

Ziva looked up at Abby with a soft smile and Abby nodded, knowing what she wanted to know. The woman smiled brightly with tears within her eyes before brushing them away despite them being happy tears she didn't want anyone to notice them.

Jethro put his hands out for the results and the scientist put them in his hands before Director Shepard offered her glasses to him knowing that he would need them to read the small print on the white paper in front of him. He took them with a slight smirk on his face at how well she still knew him and put them on. His eyebrows raised as he read the words that were printed on the print out. "You had her after my deployment in Israel", the silver haired man stated as he glanced over towards Ziva, "You were pregnant when I left". She nodded to both statements as they were both true. Ziva had been 21 at the time whilst the marine was 40, despite the age gap they had connected and over the weeks that they worked together had begun an affair. The marine was having marital issue at home and his daughter was only just turned 7 years old.

Ziva looked down, "I'm sorry for not telling you before", she said softly to him.

Agent Gibbs nodded, "I know now though and that's what matters", he said gently before taking her hand in a silent promise to take care of the both of them.

A/N

I'm going to end this story here because that way you can decide whether or not Gibbs gets back together with Ziva or relights his romance with the Director ;)

I did have a little creative adjustments to the ages of the characters. Maria Jose De Pablo Fernandez recently turned 36 and Thomas Mark Harmon turned 64 in September so I had adjusted it so that in the time of the story, Ziva is 27 whilst Jethro is 46 with the age gap being 19 years rather than 28 because lets face it... neither look their age! ALSO if Jethro was the same age as the actor that plays him then he would not be out in the field... he'd probably would have retired by now...

This will be the final chapter (although I tend to say that and still add extra bonus chapters to things when my mind decides randomly that something needs more... ). It has (surprisingly) taken me four years to finally finish this... as I am far too easy to distract! It probably hasn't ended how I originally planned but heck knows what my original plan for this story was... I never end up going along with my plans because they always take on a life of their own and rarely end up how I actually intended them to anyway.

University life is a little hectic at the moment so apologies for delays with updates of all stories - there is running a society, being student representative, assignments, lectures, seminars, and on top of running a non-profit organisation ... oh and travelling as well as work and goodness knows what else lol.

I am intending however to finish off as many of the stories as possible before the end of the year! Then maybe I can start on one of the hundreds of story ideas I have in the note section of my cell phone...