A/N: Do I have any good excuse for not updating in the past *coughs* 19 *coughs* months? Does life and an annoyingly loud notebook, which drives me insane the moment it boots up, count? No? Well I guess then.. I hope some of you are still following this story (or are back after having gotten an email alert about a new chapter). Anyway... hope you enjoy it :) Good news can be found at the end of this chapter ;)
(And yes... I have noticed the bunch of deage fics that came up in the last few months. And the similarities to my own fic^^ But mine was there first? :P)

Recap: Plays a few days before "Faith". (S7x10)

~ Basement and Boats ~

It was late on a Sunday afternoon when Gibbs found himself with Mini-Ziva in his basement. At the office the little girl had overheard McGee and Abby talking about Gibbs' basement and the possibility that he might be still building boats down there. At first, Ziva thought her two friends had gone crazy due to too much CAF-Pows and were just making up stories. Though, the more she thought about it and the more often she looked at the closed basement door, the more uncertain she had become.

It was only early in the morning on said Sunday when she finally had made up her mind to ask Gibbs if she could join him in the basement. So, after a few hours of constantly shooting the same question at the team leader, Mini-Ziva finally had convince him to let her come with him to the basement. Even though the basement and the variety of different tools were looking very interesting to her, she saw no signs of boats. The little girl frowned at this and decided to just tell Gibbs what she overheard the other day, directly asking him if the stories where for real.

"I build them." He simply stated.

"Where?!"

"Here," Gibbs laughed, "Right where you're standing."

Mini-Ziva's eyes dilated and she spun around a few times, looking around the nearly empty basement. "But how?"

Gibbs, half leaning and half siting on one of his sawing trestles, smirked, "Out of wood and with my hands."

"But there is no big door!" Observed the clearly confused little girl, whilst watching Gibbs with disbelief written over her face.

The agent laughed. He watched as his shrunken agent went from one wall of his basement to another, looking for any hidden doors or passages that might be there. "I know that," he simply said. A part of him was curious if she would find out how he got the boats out of his basement.

Mini-Ziva turned to face him once more and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyebrows knitted together in thought, "How does it come outside?"

Gibbs momentarily considered to tell her the truth before he decided to try a different approach. With a smile he mischievously replied, "That's a secret Ziv."

For a moment Ziva's mouth opened and closed silently as she tried to find the right response to what she just had been told. Then a determined expression took over her face. "I no tell!" Ziva shook her head. Her eyes gleaming in anticipation.

Gibbs shook his head, clearly amused at her antics and the determination he was used to see on her older self, "Come here," he got up from the sawing trestle and sat down on the steps of the stairs. He waited till she had sat down next to him, leaning into his side as they both faced his basement, "You know I've got rules, right?"

The little girl bobbed her head, -"Ken."-

"One of those is number 4. A very important one."

Mini-Ziva frowned at him, "What does fohr mean?"

"Rule #4: The best way to keep a secret? Keep it to yourself. Second best? Tell one other person - if you must. There is no third best."

Mini-Ziva squinted, "So you no tell me?" Her bottom lip partly sticking out in a half hearted pout.

"Not at the moment."

"I no tell! Pwomi'ze." Ziva looked hopefully at Gibbs.

The team leader only shook his head. Smiling non the less at the girl's persistence.

"Cwoss my heart an' hope to die?" Mini-Ziva tried anew, looking even more hopeful than before at the silver haired agent.

Gibbs kept shaking his head and then pulled the little girl onto his lap. "Maybe later," he conciliated. After a brief pause, he for once, was the one to ask a question. "Where did you learned that phrase, Ziv?"

Mini-Ziva sighed at his answer but still snuggled into his embrace, "P'e'cool. Dan'yel tell me." Gibbs silently laughed at that.

A moment of silent passed before Ziva asked, "When do you build ano'ter?"

"Another boat?" checked Gibbs, having not been able to hear her clearly as her face was halfway hidden in his shirt.

"Yes. Ano'ter boaw't."

Gibbs looked at his bare basement, considering the question. "I don't know," he honestly replied.

The little girl stared at the free basement floor in front of them for a while, "Where is tuh done boaw't?"

"Finished boat," he correctly automatically, "It got destroyed."

"It sink?" Mini-Ziva leaned back to look at him with shocked wide eyes.

Gibbs laughed, "No."

"What.."

"Some people used it for something really bad," he interrupted, inwardly counting ten questions in less than ten minutes, "So I decided to let it be disassembled."

"Dis-as-sembled?" She frowned at the strange word.

"Taken apart into single pieces," clarified Gibbs.

"T'at'z mean," huffed Mini-Ziva, looking thoughtfully at his work bench as she leaned back into his chest.

"Yes it was," sighed Gibbs, taking comfort in knowing that at least his goddaughter, Mike and Leyla were safe and sound.

After some minutes, spent in comfortable and peaceful silence, Mini-Ziva's voice broke the quiet atmosphere once again. "You rweally no tell?"

"Ziv," the older agent groaned good naturally, while Ziva only gave him a toothy smile in reply. "You build new boaw't soon?"

Gibbs thought about it for a moment before he quietly told her, "Not at the moment."

"Oh," the smile vanished from her face.

Gibbs, having seen the smile drop as he watched her out of the corner of his eyes, smirked, "You want me to build another boat?"

"I like boaw'tz...," Ziva shrugged as if she wouldn't care but the agent knew otherwise.

"Maybe I will build another if someone helps me..." Gibbs contemplated as he stroke her hair affectionately.

The little girl craned her neck to look at him, "I help!" She chirped excited.

"It's a lot of work," he warned.

"But I help, not lotz work!" Ziva protested loudly. Her hands clenching into fists of determination.

Gibbs laughed and took her hands in his much larger ones, "Alright, let's make a deal." His fingers gently forced her to unclench her fists.

She squirmed around so that she was kneeling on his lap, facing him. "Deal?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Yep, you help me and we'll see if you can take the boat with you when you can get back home to Israel." He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Not that I would ever let you get near there again..." he thought.

"I can have tuh boaw't?" Mini-Ziva's eyes got even wider and she would have had fallen of his lap in excitement if Gibbs hadn't had his arms around her.

Gibbs smiled at her, "Only if you help."

"Deal!" She successfully freed herself out of his embrace and jumped of his lap before running to the middle of his basement, "Staw't now?"

Gibbs laughed at her excitement, "Nah."

"'iiiiibbssss!" The little girl drawled her whine extra long.

"Can't do. Gotta work on something else, first." The team leader explained as he slowly rose from his position.

"What?" Mini-Ziva furrowed her eyebrows.

"Toys." He simply said, walking back to the sawing trestle and positioning another set of trestles near it.

"What toyz?" Ziva wanted to know as she followed Gibbs to a corner of the basement where a large wooden plate was leaned against a wall.

Motioning for his little agent to step back a little, Gibbs hoisted the plate up and brought it to the sawing trestles where he carefully deposited it. "Wooden toys, for children who have to spent Christmas in the hospital."

Mini-Ziva frowned, "Chris'mas?"

Gibbs briefly looked up from where he was securing the plate to the sawing trestles. "Ah.. another problem coming straight my way," he thought. "It's a holiday we celebrate every year on the 25th December."

His shrunken agent squinted at him over the top of the plate.

Gibbs rounded the wooden plate and stopped right in front of Ziva, before squatting down to be at the same level with her, "You know that there are different religions in the world, right?"

-"Ken."-

"Most of the people around here," he made a wide hand gesture, "are Christians. For them Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. They celebrate his birth. Over the years though, it became a holiday for non-Christians also. Today it's common to spent this day with family, have a special dinner, decorate the house, and exchange gifts."

Ziva frowned at the new information, "What speshul dinner?"

Gibbs grinned at her, "Something we don't eat every day."

After some contemplation the little girl decided to accept his answer. For now at least. Though, one thing got her attention.

"Gifts?"

~ Fin ~

A/N: Now... the good news are that the whole Christmas arc is more or less written. Though, they're some major gaps to fill. I'll stick with the time line of the next episode, so guess who's finally making an appearance? :)