1- the reunion
"When will I see Ima ?"
The little girl was holding flowers in her hands. She was hopping up and down with impatience. Tony looked at his watch and said:
-"come on Tali be patient, I've already told you she's gonna get out from there" he pointed at the arrival terminal doors. He whispered "you inherited that impatience from your mom for sure"
Tony could not blame his daughter, he was as impatient as she was. He hasn't been in contact with Ziva for month and he haven't seen her for years. YEARS! Away from the woman he loves, the mother of his child and on top of that she had been in danger all this time. She could have died and he would probably not have been aware of it. Raising Tali on his own hasn't been easy. He was worried about their reunion. Worried that things would be different between them. After such a long time away from each other it would be normal. Tony had changed and Ziva had too. Tony knew they would have to get to know each other again. But he was still Tony, he still loved food, movies and he was still the class clown who makes fun of everything. So maybe there was a chance that Ziva was still the same after all: the sexy, strong and independent ninja that he fell in love with.
The door of the terminal opened and passengers walked out. Tali and Tony were looking for Ziva's face. Tony was getting worried. What if she had not taken that plane at the last minute ? It was irrational, she would have told him. Finally she walked through the doors. Tali yield "IMA!" And rushed to Ziva with her flowers in her hands.
Ziva heart stopped when she saw the little girl. She crouched to hug her daughter. Tony walked to them. Ziva took Tali's face on her hand to take a better look at it. She was so big, so beautiful. She was crying tears of joy. She unconsciously started speaking in hebrew. It was always happening when she was upset or like right now, overwhelmed by her emotions. She switched back to english:
-"my baby! oh my god Tali, look at you, you are so big now"
-"we missed you Ima"
Ziva hugged Tali again and sobbed:
-"I missed you too Tali"
-"look these are for you ! Aba said you like flowers... I choose them myself"
Ziva took the flowers and kissed her daughter's forehead.
-"thank you Tali, they are very beautiful" she glanced at Tony and said "Aba remembered my favorite flowers"
Tony proudly smiled.
After a long hug to her child, she looked up at Tony. He was smiling to her, happy to see that the strong bond between Tali and her mother hasn't been broken after such a long time. She stood up, keeping Tali close to her. The little girl was looking up at her parents. Tony and Ziva were shyly smiling to each other. Ziva was still scared that things could be awkward between them. Tony talked first with his usual charming grin:
-"hi..."
Ziva smiled and tilted her head on the right side:
-"hi..."
Tony smiled too and cupped her face before kissing her softly. When Tali saw this, she immediately shouted a long: "ugh!!!!!!!!" in disgust. Her expression made Tony and Ziva smile and laugh. It was the first time that Tali was seeing her father kissing someone and she was pretty disgusted. Tony was still holding Ziva's face. He looked at Tali and then deeply at Ziva and said:
-"you gonna have to get used to this Tali, because it's gonna happen again.. a lot"
Ziva smiled and kissed Tony.
After a long minute of kissing Tony whispered:
-"come on let's go home"
Ziva was finally home. It doesn't matter if it was in D.C or Paris, her home was where Tony and Tali were.
Tony opened the door of his apartment and stepped aside to let Tali and Ziva in. He smiled and said:
-"welcome home"
Ziva stepped inside and took a deep breathe. She looked around her. It was bright and beautiful. It was the perfect mix between modern and old design. She walked through the room and stopped in front of framed pictures. Mostly pictures of Tali. Some with Tony, some with Senior. Tali's first day of school. Tali's first time at the zoo, Tali's 4th birthday. She was looking so happy. Ziva's heart was broken by the idea that she missed all those crucial moments of her daughter life but at least she was strengthened by the idea that she had the best reason for that. She had protected her.
Ziva looked surprised when she noticed a picture of her between Tali's. The picture of her that Tony took on their first trip to Paris. Tony's favorite one "because she was smiling", as he said years ago. Tony stepped closer and said:
-"you said it would look better in black and white, so I got it reprinted that way.. it's still my favorite"
Ziva fought the tears growing in her eyes. Tony turned to Tali:
-"why don't you show your bedroom to Ima ?"
Tali looked excited and she grabbed her mother's hand to lead her to her bedroom.
When Tony walked to Tali's bedroom 15 minutes later, Ziva was sitting on Tali's bed. She could not take her eyes away from her daughter. Tali was very chatty. She was showing Ziva all sorts of things: toys, clothes, drawing she had made for her. Tony leaned on the door frame to look at them. A tear rolled down Ziva's cheek. A tear of joy and regrets at the same time. Tali saw it and stopped talking. She was confused. She walked to Ziva, touched her mother's face with confused eyes and asked:
-"are you hurt Ima ?"
Ziva smiled and kissed Tali's tiny hands. She wiped her tears away and said:
-"I am fine Tali. I am just very happy to see you"
-"why are you crying ?"
Ziva pulled Tali closer to her and said:
-"because when I left you and Aba, you were just a baby and now you are a beautiful girl. Sometimes grown ups cry when they are happy. It's stupid I know but it's like that"
Tali laid her eyes on Ziva's necklace. She grabbed it with her little fingers. Ziva was struck by her memories of when Tali used to touch it when she was a baby.
She looked at Tali's neck and noticed her Star of David necklace. She took it between her finger and said:
-"see, I have yours and you have mine. As long as we wear them, we'll be together, no matter where we are"
Dinner time. Tony, Tali and Ziva were all gathered around the dinner table. Tali was talking about her school and her friends. Tony discreetly turned to Ziva and asked:
-"Was I that talkative too back at NCIS ?"
Ziva smiled:
-"you were worse than that. She definitely inherited that from you"
Tony looked resigned and said:
-"she got my talkativeness and your bad temper..."
Ziva faked to be offended:
-"My bad temper ? What bad temper ?"
Tony turned to Tali and said:
-"oh I see that miss Dinozzo forget to mention what she did to young Jeremy last week didn't she ?"
Tali shyly smiled, as a child who knew she had done something wrong. Ziva looked confused and asked:
-"What did you do Tali ?"
-"I punched him in the face..."
She was obviously not very proud of her action and certainly got lectured for her behavior by her father. Ziva looked at Tony with confused eyes and Tony asked:
-"and why did you punched that poor Jeremy ?"
Tali answered quietly:
-"Because he said he wanted me to be his girlfriend"
Ziva closed her eyes and bit her tongue to control herself but she really wanted to laugh which would have been very wrong for Tali's education.
Tony whispered:
-"does that remind you of someone ?"
Ziva could not disagree.
-"alright alright.. maybe she got that from me..."
They both laughed. Tony turned to Tali and said:
-"alright Kung fu panda! It's time to go brush your teeth and go to bed, go on"
Ziva was clearing the dinner table. Tony looked at her and said:
-"don't worry about this I'll deal with that later"
He knew she was trying to keep herself busy. He walked to her and grabbed her wrist to stop her. She made eye contact with him. A long and deep one. Tony looked at her wrist and saw the scar from Paraguay on it. He quietly said:
-"I know you need some time but you'll find your place Ziva. We're gonna help you, me and Tali" he briefly paused "Gibbs told me about Adam.. I am sorry"
A little voice raised from behind and surprised them:
-"who's Adam ?"
Tony glanced at Ziva and looked sorry for her that she had to deal with that now. He grabbed Tali, sat her on the countertop and said:
-"Adam was a very dear friend of Ima. He took care of you when you were a baby and he helped Ima to get you to me"
-"where is he now ?"
Ziva swallowed hard. Tony chose his words wisely and continued:
-"He is gone but he's still keeping an eye on you and Ima"
Tali was trying to understand:
-"Is he with saba ?"
Ziva was surprised about Tali evoking her grandfather. She never thought that Tony would have mentioned him.
-"yes, yes he is with Saba. They are both looking after you, but now it is late and I am sure that Adam and saba would like you to go to bed"
Tony turned and placed his back in front of the little girl:
-"get on board princess"
The little girl laughed and got on her father's back. He led her to her bed, Ziva following them with a smile.
