One night when Ziva is working late, the phone rings while Tony and Angelina are eating dinner. He picks it up, glances at the caller ID, and recognizes the number as belonging to Houston's social worker.

His heart sinks.

"Who is it?" Angelina asks curiously. "Is it Mommy? Tell her I drew her a picture at school."

"No, it's a friend of mine," Tony replies. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay." She spoons more macaroni into her mouth, and he squeezes her shoulder.

In the living room, he answers the call quietly. "Hello?"

"Mr. DiNozzo." He can hear the regret in the social worker's voice, and he's sort of grateful that Ziva's not here, but another, more selfish part of him wishes that she was, for his own comfort. "I'm sorry to bother you tonight, but there has been a development in Houston's case."

"What is it?" Tony asks, scraping his upper lip with his bottom row of teeth.

"His grandmother has filed for custody."

"The same grandmother who abandoned him at a government agency in the first place?" He thought that Houston was hurt, maybe, or that somebody else wanted to adopt him. But not this. The possibility of the old woman reappearing never crossed his mind. "How can that even be… I mean, are they gonna give him to her?"

"More than likely," the social worker says. "Courts tend the take the side of blood relatives. I'm sorry, Mr. DiNozzo."

He opens his mouth but says nothing, because Ziva is walking in the door. As soon as she sees him with his phone to his ear and a no doubt stricken look on his face, her smile vanishes and she drops her bag. "What?" she asks. "What is it?"

"I have to go," Tony says into the phone, and hangs up without waiting for a response. He walks over to Ziva, takes her hands.

"Where is Angelina?" she asks, panicked.

"In the kitchen. It's not her," he says quickly. "That was about Houston."

Her jaw drops marginally, and he hates what he has to tell her. Houston and his adoption are no longer an abstract idea; they've been visiting him every week for three months now. They have begun to think of him as their son. Losing him in this way will not be easy. Far from it. "What about him?"

"The grandmother wants him back, and she'll probably get him."

Ziva inhales sharply. "That is ridiculous."

"I know." Tony sighs in frustration. "She's allowed to dump him on the state, then change her mind, just like that?"

Pursing her lips, Ziva puts her head on Tony's shoulder. He massages her scalp with his fingertips and leans down to kiss her neck. "I thought this was going to work out," she says.

They both did. In fact, they were so confident that they've explained the situation to Angelina. She knows where her parents have been going every Sunday. She's excited.

We're visiting your new brother. Sometime soon, he's going to move in with us. The room across from yours, that'll be his.

Can I come with you guys? I wanna meet my little brother.

You will soon. Not this time, though.

Now she never will.

And she's going to be just as crushed as her parents are.

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Angelina cries when she's told that she won't be getting a little brother, after all.

Her parents hold it together extremely well while they're comforting her. Tony puts her in his lap, Ziva makes her a bowl of ice cream, and they explain what has happened the best they can. Once she seems to understand, at least marginally, they feed her reason after reason not to be sad. Most of them are bullshit, but they cheer her up. And that's what matters.

It's not until she has gone to get ready for bed that Ziva tears up and Tony does, too.

The following month is hard. A somber mood fills their house, hangs thickly over everybody like a black cloud. Tony and Ziva talk in circles as they try to answer the question, what now?

She has been visiting the shrink with decreasing frequency; the adoption agency kept her and Tony busy, and besides, the point of the therapy was to help her become comfortable with having a baby. Once they decided to adopt Houston, Ziva no longer deemed it important to go regularly. He didn't push her, but perhaps he should have. Because now, when they're stuck between a rock and a hard place, her ultimate ruling on whether or not they can get pregnant is, "Not yet."

The other option is to try and adopt another child. Neither one of them is terribly enthused by that idea. They have already put so much time and energy into Houston. They're tired and heartbroken.

So they decide against that, as well.

Tony has to readjust to the fact that they're done with kids. The whole thing has been insane; he and Ziva want nothing more than to move on. Put it behind them. Be happy with what they have, as they resolved to do before.

Then, at the end of March, they get an unexpected call from Houston's social worker. She says that he has been left on the doorstep of his former foster home and asks if Tony and Ziva are interested in trying the adoption again.

And despite everything, they are.

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Several more months pass. It is a waiting game filled with documents, legal proceedings, and immense stress. Tony and Ziva don't tell Angelina what they're doing until right before the adoption is final; they don't want her to get her hopes back up. Just in case.

When they do give her the news, she is just as thrilled as she was the first time. A couple days later, on June 10, he is theirs.

All three of them go to pick him up. As they sit in the car, Angelina presses her face up against the window. "My new little brother lives here?"

"Yep," Tony says, craning his neck to look at Ziva, who is standing in the doorway of the house. She seems to be waiting for something- Houston is already beside her, clutching her hand. He is three by now, and he still has the wild hair, the glint in his eye. He'll get along great with Angelina. "You excited?"

"Yeah!"

Ziva starts down the walk, now with a duffel bag over her shoulder. Houston trots happily along beside her. Tony grins. He couldn't keep it in if he tried.

She opens the back door of the car and lifts Houston into the brand new car seat. "Angelina," she says, "here is your brother!"

Angelina reaches over and pumps his hand. "Hi! I'm your big sister!"

Bemused by the enthusiasm of this person he's never met, Houston moves his arm away.

In the rearview mirror, Tony observes the interaction between these strangers who have suddenly become siblings. Houston picks up a stray toy and examines it. Angelina gently dislodges it from his grip. She starts chattering about what it does and how to use it, and then she demonstrates, keeping Houston's attention the entire time.

Ziva climbs into the passenger seat and flashes him a smile that makes his heart flutter like he's twelve years old. And as he puts the car in drive, he realizes that he can say something he never thought he'd be able to.

His family is truly complete.

0000000000

"Housty!" Angelina scolds loudly. "Stop splashing me!"

Houston laughs. When his sister turns around, he kicks more water toward her, then takes off running down the beach. Angelina sprints after him.

"Don't go too far!" Ziva yells, and both kids give waves of acknowledgement. They come to a stop next to a log that has washed up on the shore. Seeming to forget that they're at odds with each other, Houston and Angelina join forces to begin covering the log with sand.

Tony walks up behind Ziva. Just as he reaches her, she turns around and kisses him. Her hair whips in the wind; he catches it, holds it against her head. "Hello," she murmurs.

"Hey." He strokes her cheekbone with one thumb. There are days, like this one, when he can't stop staring at her. When everything just seems so damn perfect and he is overwhelmed by how happy he is. But, suddenly, he can't find any words to say, so he just draws her into his arms and holds her close. She sighs contentedly and presses her forehead against the side of his neck.

Tony looks over her shoulder at their children. An outsider observing them wouldn't guess that they've only known each other for a little over a year. They are so in sync, so compatible. It's a bond that appears to have been forged at birth.

The four of them are akin to a patchwork quilt, but something here is right, because it works. They work.

For a couple minutes, he and Ziva enjoy each other's embrace in silence. Then she pulls away, gives him one more kiss, and says, "I think it is lunchtime, yes?"

Tony nods, then hollers, "Hey! Houston and Ang! Time to eat!"

The kids sprint back toward their parents, and Tony stands off to the side for no reason other than he wants to watch. Houston reaches Ziva first; he launches himself toward her, and she doesn't even flinch before hoisting him up. Angelina grabs her mother's other hand, talks over her brother, and Ziva listens patiently to both.

What Tony sees right then is a woman who is very much worthy of this family.

And he thinks that he has never been prouder.

And… that's a wrap.

I can't believe I've actually finished this story. So weird. This whole experience has been so weird, actually, because I never expected the kind of following this story has garnered. This has probably been the most amazing writing experience of my life, and I don't think I'll ever be able to replicate the success I've had with this story. So, really, I just want to say thank you to everybody who's read, reviewed, favorited, alerted, etc.

THANK YOU.

THANK.

YOU.

You guys are amazing.