All roads lead to Paris

Part 22

"Welcome to our palace, ladies." Tony opened the door and held his arm out leading the three of them into the apartment. As Ziva walked past him she gave him an annoyed look as she was really over his stupid sentences. The girls walked straight to Tali's room. Before she closed the door, she asked, to make sure it's okay: "Can we go to my room until lunch is ready?" Ziva answered her: "Yes, of course sweetie." Tali smiled, went in her room, and closed the door. Ziva and Tony put away their jackets and went to the couch. Tony let himself fall onto the couch, but his back wasn't so happy about it "Ouch!" He straightened up to make the pain go away, but it didn't help that much. "Ouch, how does this hurt so bad??" Ziva just smiled at him. He rolled his eyes and said: "Okay, say what you wanna say. Let's see if your words hurt worse than my back." She let a little laugh out and placed herself next to him. "Well, as I said: maybe your just getting older." He blew air out and said: "That was good. That was a pretty damn good joke, Miss Da-vid. But I'm not the only one getting older. You seemed pretty exhausted as well earlier." She laughed again. "You can't hurt me with that. I didn't have something like that in forever." That caught Tony's attention and opened a door to mock with her again: "You didn't? I thought you would be sleeping through half Israel out of boredom." Ziva laughed again but this time she was really amused by his answer. "I'm not you Tony." Tony's mouth opened in shock. He laid back and tried to deal with this and Ziva just starred at him trying to hold her laugh back. Tony slowly closed his mouth and bit his lip trying to avoid Ziva's gaze and thought about his options: getting revenge or distract her with something. Ziva had her laugh under control by now and her stare turned into a normal look at him, her eyes now on his undid hair. It looked so fluffy and soft but chaotic at the same time. She started going through his hair with her fingers which made him shiver. Her smile got even bigger, and Tony felt that. He turned his head to her now looking at her, but her eyes still on his hair. She said: "Did I ever tell you how much I like your hair?" "No, but I after these few days I can tell that your kind of obsessed with stroking my hair." He grabbed her hand to stop her and caused her finally looking him in the eyes. He said with a soft tone: "Did I ever tell you how much I adore you?" She smiled and felt the blood rushing through her cheeks, and she started blushing. She cupped his cheek with her free hand and pulled him in for a kiss. She broke the kiss and whispered: "I love you, Tony." "I love you too."

As he came in, he saw Charlene sitting on the bed in tears and sobbing. He slowly closed the door, in the meantime, Tali went back to Charlene to comfort her. Charlene was just starring at the floor holding on to the bed sheets making a fist with her hand. She was clearly troubling inside. Tony knelt in front of her and placed his hand on hers. She looked up to Tony for a second, but then looked back at the ground. He tried to catch her attention one more time by saying: "Hey, what's wrong, hm?" She looked at him with her teary eyes and said, still sobbing: "I miss my mum." Tony sighed. He knew it would be difficult to explain why Sofia went away from her daughter. He placed his other hand on hers and calmy said: "It's okay. I know it's hard that she is away now, but I promise to you, you will get used to it and one day you definitely will see her again." She said with a touch of hope in her voice: "You think so?" Tali said: "Yes. I think that too. My mum came back as well. Yours will too. And let me tell you a secret." Tali moved her index finger to signal her to come closer and whispered in her ear: "She will always be by your side. She never left you and will never leave you." Charlene looked at Tali who smiled at her and she slightly smiled back. Tony looked at them, being proud of himself but most of all proud of Tali for being such a good friend. He stood up and said: "Okay, I will leave you two alone now. Ziva is already making lunch so be ready to have a great meal." He bowed in such a ridiculous way and went of the room. As the door was shut Tali and Charlene looked at each other and started laughing.

After lunch they decided to go in the park near Charlene's home. Charlene told everyone about her secret, well by now not so secret, treehouse in the woods near the park. "Ziva please, I beg you. Don't do that to the kids and don't do that to me. I rather be lost than dead, so please let me drive." Ziva opened the door, and the kids went out to the car. Before Tony could leave the house Ziva placed herself in the doorframe and said: "Tony, I can drive. I am able to get the kids safely to the park." Tony looked at her smiling at him in the most charming way. He bit his lip and finally gave in: "Okay, but only one way, I'll drive back home, and you have to let me do something first." She raised an eyebrow and asked: "What?" He grabbed her waist and slowly pulled her closer and whispered: "That" before kissing her passionately. She let go of the doorframe and he pushed her against the wall, the door closed, and they didn't even notice. As they ended the kiss Tony slowly let her go again and smiled at her. Ziva, still a bit surprised by his actions just looked at him and smiled back. He gave her one last kiss before opening the door and stepping outside without saying a word. Ziva, still leaning against the wall was still confused, but in a good way. The feeling of being loved by someone was something new to her, but something exciting. She smiled and went to the car where everyone was already waiting for her. As she opened the door, she already could here Tali complaining: "Ima! What took so long? We want to go to the treehouse!" Ziva closed the door, started the engine and glanced at Tali: "Don't be so impatient. And I'm not the one who was taking so long. You can blame it on your dad. He distracted me." Tony turned to her and said with a smirk: "Well, you definitely enjoyed that." She grinned back at him and started driving.