They had been reunited for 4 months. It was Valentine's day and Tony had planned to take Ziva on a romantic date. He had ask his father to come to Paris to watch over Tali. It was time to go but leaving Tali was still difficult for Ziva. Tony was waiting on the entrance. Ziva was knelt next to Tali and said:
-"you listen to Grandpa ok ?"
Senior answered:
-"don't worry we'll be fine. Hurry up or you gonna be late"
-"you call us if you need anything ok"
Tony sighed and said:
-"they'll be fine sweetcheeks don't worry, right dad ?" Tony looked at his dad with insistence to make sure that Senior was capable of handling the situation.
Senior nodded and said:
-"of course! I can handle a 6 years old on my own! Come on Tali we gonna watch some movies and eat popcorns while mom and dad will be busy making you a little brother or sister"
Tony shouted:
-"DAD !"
Senior walked away to the living room with Tali. Tony sighed. He could not believe what his father just said. Why does he always have to say awkward things. Tony turned to Ziva and said:
-"sorry about that"
She smiled in return. She was not offended by this.
Tony had booked a room in a luxury hotel. They were in the room, getting ready to go to the restaurant. Tony was looking at Ziva greedily while she was finishing to get ready. She was wearing a beautiful dress. He never got the chance to get used to see her in that kind of clothes since his only experience was one particular mission but the dress didn't last long on her body. He asked:
-"does that remind you of something ?"
Ziva paused, looked intensely to him and said with a husky voice:
-"I don't know what you're talking about... Jean-Paul my little fury bear"
Tony smiled and walked to her. He placed himself behind her, grabbed her waist and pulled her to him. He kissed her neck and said:
-"our first undercover mission. You were craving for me..."
Ziva feinted to be offended, she turned to face him:
-"WHAT ? you were the one incapable of controlling yourself"
-"how could I control myself... you were naked... and YOU are the one who jumped on my face and kissed me with so much passion"
Ziva laughed.
-"I was putting on a show, it had to be convincing"
-"oh you really convinced me there Sweet Cheeks"
Ziva bit her lower lips, kissed him and answered:
-"yeah I saw that"
Then she quietly asked:
-"do you miss this time ?"
Tony took a deep breath and thought about it for a sec:
-"I would be lying if I was telling you that I don't miss it sometimes. I miss the adrenaline but not the long hours of work without getting home. It was another life. I am glad I lived it but now I want to come home every night to you and Tali"
He kissed her. The kiss lasted for too long to be innocent. Tony reached for Ziva's dress. She tried to step back but he grabbed her waist and said:
-"why don't we skip the dinner ?"
-"you are not hungry ?"
-"oh I'm hungry but I don't care about food"
Tony and Ziva were lying on the bed. Tony still on top of Ziva. He couldn't stop kissing her. Ziva asked:
-"will I ever be able to wear a dress for more than 10 minutes ?"
He answered: "no... never" and kissed her passionately. He reluctantly left her lips to get something out from the bedside table. He said:
-"close your eyes"
Ziva was confused:
-"Tony you know I hate that..."
Tony cut her off:
-"come on ! You trust me right ? Close your eyes.. "
She locked her eyes on his gaze, what was on his mind ? She had no idea but of course she trusted him. She finally closed her eyes and only reopened them after Tony asked her to. Her heart stopped when she saw what he was holding: A beautiful and shiny diamond ring. She remained quiet. Tony was examining her reaction. He finally said:
-"I was planning on asking you after dinner with a cup of champagne and everything but.. obviously this didn't go as planned. I know you probably think that it's too early but we have been wasting enough time looking for each other for years" ("stupid rule number 12" he thought) "Now that we have found ourselves and we are finally reunited I don't want to waste any minutes wondering if it's right or wrong.. you gave me a beautiful daughter and I want to spend everyday of the rest of my life with you...I want you to be my wife..." Ziva raised her head from the ring to look at him. She was just looking at him, still quiet. Too quiet. Tony panicked, why wasn't she talking ? She was not looking upset or nervous, she was just looking like she was waiting for something.
She was playing with him. Tony suddenly figured it out. He smiled and whispered:
-"you want me to say it, right ?"
A large smile appeared on Ziva's face and she nodded. It was a pretty unconventional proposal but they were not a conventional couple. Nonetheless Ziva wanted to hear him say the words. Tony was relieved, he got on his knees on the bed next to her, he cleared his throat and said:
-"alright then..Ziva David... Will you marry me ?"
Ziva took a long time to answer. She was still looking at him with a wide smile. She got on her knees too to face him, still wrapped on the bed sheets, then she finally freed him and answered:
-"yes"
He looked almost shocked by her answer
-"yes ?"
-"yes!"
He couldn't stop smiling. He grabbed her and pushed her back on the mattress to kiss her until he could not breathe anymore. After long minutes of kissing and laughing Ziva asked:
-"you know I'm probably gonna have to wear a dress..."
Tony took some time to think about it and finally answered:
-"the ceremony will have to be less than 10 minutes or it's gonna be a very awkward wedding for all of our guests"
Ziva laughed and kissed him again. She have said yes, even though she was still struggling sometimes with her demon, she knew she needed this. She needed this hope to be her shield against fear. Getting her life linked to someone was scary but she was not marrying anybody. She have said yes to a man who always protected her even in their darkest time. He always got her back and he had defied death to avenge her when he thought she was dead. Her future was getting brighter everyday thanks to him.
Later that day Tony send a picture of him and Ziva to the team in D.C. with a text saying: "She said Yes, I'm finally gonna make her an honest woman". When she saw this Ziva head slapped Tony which made him complain just like old times.
