All roads lead to Paris

Part 3

He rushed into the hospital's emergency room. He ran into many nurses but that didn't matter. He walked fast and straight to someone who looked like a doctor. "Where is she?" "Where is who?" "The woman from the car accident." "Sir, we have many patients from car accidents here. Please be more precise." "The car accident near the Eiffel tower, a man, maybe 30 or 35, brown hair, tall and a woman brown wavy hair round about 25 or something." "That's a good description. Follow me." They walked down the hallway. The doctor stopped. "Here is she. We don't know her name. She has wounds in her face so we could not figure out who she is. Do you know her?" Tony looked at her. His mind was empty. He was just standing there starring at her. "Sir. Are you alright?" Tony didn't listen to him. "Can I go in, to her?" "Yes, but she is not awake. She passed out during the accident and has not wake up since. Tony opened the door and walked slowly towards her. He could not believe this was real. He thought it was a bad dream or imagination. But it was real. It was Ziva. She was alive all the time. She was in the same city as him. He had tears in his eyes and felt a big tear rolling down his cheek. He walked slowly closer to the bed. He sat down on the chair next to her bed without looking away. He could not believe that this was happening. He had so many questions in his head, but he could not think about these right now. The doctor interrupted his thoughts. "Do you know her name? It would be helpful to identify her." "Yes... This is Ziva David. She was dead for years. 3 and a half to be specific. And now she's here." "Are you related to her?" Tony smiled. This idea was funny for him. "No, I'm not... but I wish..." "Ok. I will let you alone now." The doctor went out and closed the door.
Tony sat by her side for about an hour without doing anything. He just stared at her and cried sometimes, holding her hand. His phone rang. It was Tali. Tony gave her her own phone to made sure she could always get to him if she is in trouble. And now she's calling. Tony took up. "Hey Princess, is something wrong?" "Yes DAD. You weren't here after school, but you promised me to take me up. Where are you??" Tony felt dumb for forgetting his daughter on her first day of school. How in the world could he forget about her? "Oh.... I totally forgot about that. I'm coming Tali. I'm there in 2 minutes." Tony hang up and ran down the hallway to his car. He couldn't concentrate on driving. The only thing on his mind was Tali and how stupid it is that he forgot about her. He drove faster than he was allowed to. He just wanted to pick her up as fast as possible. He wanted her to be happy and now he left her alone on her first day... How could he do that to her? The little girl could had had an amazing first day but now she was standing alone in front of her school. He was finally in the street where Tali was waiting. He parked the car and rolled down the window. He looked at her with a worried face and he saw the disappointment in her eyes. He hurt her and he had to make it better. He stepped out of the car and walked to her. She was sitting on the ground and he sat right next to her.
There was an awkward silence between them for a few moments. Then Tony finally started talking. "Hey..." He pushed her lightly with his shoulder. "I'm sorry Tals. It won't ever happen again. I will be waiting one hour before you step out of this door. I pinky promise." Tony held his left pinky out to Tali and looked at her with his sad puppy eyes. Tali started smiling and asked: "You promise?" "Yes, I do." She locked her pinky in his. Tony started smiling too. "What are we going to do now?" "We could go get some Ice cream... BUT first you have to tell me why you're late!" Tony got nervous. He could not tell her why he was late. He did not want her to have to deal with this. And even if he would tell her she would not believe it. "I ... I had an important appointment by the doctors that I totally forgot about." "Are you sick?" "No no no ... I'm not. Don't worry. It was a mandatory appointment like yours a few weeks ago. Do you remember?" "With the bandages?" "Yes." "That was not cool. I hated it. Are you ok?" "Yes, I am, I'm not the one who gets panic attacks cause of the bandages." Tali laughed out loud. "So now some ice cream?" Tali jumped up. "YES. But the good one by the Eiffel tower." Tony stood up too and hugged Tali. "Whatever you want Tali."
This night Tony could not sleep. The day was very exhausting, and he needed some sleep, but he had so many things in his head. How could it be true that Ziva was alive? What should he do now? Tell someone? Tali? He wanted to tell her, but he didn't have any information. What should he tell her? 'Hey Tali, your mother is alive. I do not know how and why she did not come to you and what she did the last years, but she is alive.'? That would not be good for her. He needed more information, and these could he only get from Ziva. So, he had to wait. But how should he do that? It hurt him so much that he didn't know anything specific and he wanted to be with her in this moment, but he couldn't. Tali would have noticed it when he leaves their apartment in the middle of the night. He took his phone. He opened his gallery. He had a folder full of pictures of her. He scrolled through the pictures and found one of her and him from the time they were in Paris together. He thought about how amazing she looked at this day. He promised himself to not look at these pictures to often because it makes him sad every time but this time it made him happy. Something was different now. The fact that she is alive created new hope in him. He turned is phone off and went to sleep with a good feeling.