This is stupid, Tony thought to himself as he stared at his own image on his phone screen and adjusted the old, faded NCIS cap on his head. Completely and totally stupid. Why am I doing this? What even is the point here?

He sighed, lowering the phone and glancing up at the streetlight just in time to catch the walk signal.

The streets of New York City were empty, especially at this hour. He'd spent just over two months in Ziva's Unofficial Academy of the Early Risers (a school in which he had no more say in enrollment than he had in the half dozen boarding schools he'd attended in his life), and his time spent in America felt a whole lot like a midterm. Getting up at the buttcrack of dawn was easy when you had a pushy bedmate to grunt, rollover, and pull half the covers off you in the process of getting up. It was much harder, he found, to maintain the habit when said pushy bedmate was halfway around the world and therefore unable to ease the blow of a blaring alarm clock with a cup of coffee and a good morning kiss.

But alas, he'd managed to maintain his 'proper' morning routine: up by 5, first cup of coffee at 5:05, early morning run by 5:30, second cup of coffee by 5:35, and the rest of the morning to laze around on the couch until it came time to clock in and work (lazing on the couch was a new addition. Back home, such time would be taken up the daily grind of getting a 5-year-old - who unfortunately inherited his sleeping habits instead of her mother's - from bed to bath to school. Funny how he almost wished he could be helping in that routine these days. Almost.)

He'd come to truly cherish those quieter moments of the morning spent huddled around a coffee pot or a muted laptop with his partner. Now his mornings seemed to drag on, and he'd started using any excuse just to run to the corner store. If he went at this hour, there were hardly ever crowds - and the shelves were normally fully stocked.

As he approached another intersection, he noticed a group of what appeared to be teenagers taking up the majority of the sidewalk a little ways in front of him.

"Social Distancing, my love, is easier said than done in a city like New York. Tali and I would much rather have you here. Safe."

"Hm. Did you know Paris has almost twice as many people per square mile compared to New York City?"

Even from thousands of miles apart, he could feel her utter lack of amusement.

"I'm serious, Zi. Things are bad everywhere. I'm just as safe here as I am at home - maybe even safer since I haven't gotten on a plane lately. I'm way more worried about you. You haven't left the house lately, right?"

She let out a slow sigh, clearly signaling that she, much like he, had grown tired of her partner's constant concern.

"No. I have remained home with Tali since the day I spoke with the doctor. Elizabeth has been kind enough to drop off groceries and pick up prescriptions - though I suspect you had a hand in that."

Elizabeth was the high schooler across the street who watched Tali from time to time. He may have - a confession that would never hold up in a court of law - given her a call as soon as he understood the scope of this whole situation. And he may have offered her twice her babysitting rate plus a little bonus for every prescription she fills to go to the store and make sure the girls had everything they needed.

"I just wanted to know that you guys were taken care of."

"Then come on home and take care of us yourself."

Now it was his turn to sigh. Every conversation ended like this these days. Her asking him to come home, him refusing, and both of them growing too frustrated to even muster a quality goodbye. Something had to give. He couldn't keep ending things like this.

"Look, you know more than anybody that I want to be there with you right now. I mean - the baby? Seriously? You think I want to miss any part of your pregnancy for the second time? You think I like looking at that sonogram and knowing that I wasn't there again? Because I don't. And you think I want to be half a world away from my daughter and hear her tell me she's scared over the phone? I hate this, Ziva. I hate this."

He paused to take a breath, and he could just hear her taking her own breath to reply.

"And before you tell me to 'just come home' - again - let me remind you that it isn't safe for me to come home. It isn't safe for me to fly, much less for me to hop off a plane and waltz back into the house like nothing ever happened. Even if I got on a plane right now, I'd still self-quarantine when I got back. I'd stay at a hotel or something until I was absolutely positive that I didn't have this damn virus. No way in hell am I risking bringing this thing anywhere near you, our daughter, or that baby. So before you get mad at me, before you get so frustrated that you hang up, just let me remind you that I'm doing what I think is best for us - all of us. Okay?"

He was genuinely asking for an answer here, but all he got was silence. Oh, well. At least she was still on the line.

"I trusted you for years. Blindly. All I'm asking for is a few weeks. A month tops. Let me do what I think is right for our family. It's my turn."

There was a long beat, and then he heard her swallow slightly.

"It might not be a few weeks, Tony. Or a month. This thing could take a while."

Her voice was heavy now. Weighed down by the emotion and unshed tears he knew she was holding back. Hearing her like this, so far away with nothing he can do to make it better, caused his chest to tighten. Maybe he should get tested after all.

"I know, babe."

"And if you get sick… all the way over there… with your lungs…"

She choked on a sob, then quickly passed it off as a gulp, followed by some clearing of her throat.

"I won't get sick. Okay? I'm serious. I won't get sick."

"You can't know that."

"But I can, okay? It's just me and Senior here. The city's on lockdown. No nonessential travel. If I go to the store, I'll wear gloves. And a mask. And carry around a pool stick that that guy in that movie. I'll do everything. Take every precaution. Look, Ziva… my life right now is the best it's ever been. I have absolutely everything to live for, and I'm not about to let this stupid virus hurt me or my girls. Or my little black-eyed pea."

She laughed, and while it was watery and a little fragile, he still felt a victory in the sound.

"Actually, we upgraded. Baby is now approximately the size of a cranberry."

"Dang, in a week? Kid's in there growing like a weed."

"I'm just hoping it grows a little less than the first one. Or at least that it comes out with a smaller head."

"Yeah, uh, my bad," He smiled to himself, "So are we good?"

He expected the rest of the conversation to run quite smoothly. A simple 'yes' followed up by the exchange of 'I love you's and 'call you tomorrow's. But a couple of seconds passed, and he realized that maybe he hadn't quite diffused the situation as much as he wanted to.

"I get that you think you are doing the right thing. I get that you want to protect our family. But that doesn't change the fact that you should be here. Tali needs her father. I need my partner. We should all be facing this together. And if you don't see that, then I don't know what else we have to discuss right now."

"Ziva-"

That was the last conversation they had. Three days ago. And damn if he hadn't been haunted every minute that passed since then, thinking about the hurt and frustration in her voice. He knew he was making her mad, knew that she was disappointed in his actions over the past couple of weeks. But she wasn't the only one who could stay away for copious amounts of time in order to keep her family safe.

He took a sharp right, effectively avoiding the small cluster of people standing on the sidewalk in front of him. Ziva might not be talking to him at the moment, but that didn't change anything. He still wasn't gonna get sick. He still had everything to live for.

Which brought him right back to his… phone. He lifted it up again, unlocking the screen and once again adjusting his appearance in his reflected image. Was the hat too much? He'd grabbed it mostly as a joke, but… was it too corny?

This was getting ridiculous. He was a grown man fussing over a 30-second video clip that he was trying to shoot to send to his former boss. He wouldn't even be doing this if it wasn't for the 50 some odd messages he'd tried to get to Gibbs through various channels of communication that all seemed to be coming up empty. Had he forgotten about his former agents? Well then, maybe the hat would end up helping his case.

Finally, either in a moment of pure frustration or perhaps embarrassment over the fact that he was totally overthinking this, he lifted the phone up a little higher and hit record.

"Boss, this is DiNozzo. I haven't spoken to Ziva in a little while. She's been quarantined with Tali…" He trailed off as he stepped up to another intersection, suddenly realizing that he'd ventured off of his usual path and would need to cross the street again in order to get back on track (something he was unlikely to do while recording because, as previously stated, he didn't have a death wish), "If you hear from her, can you get back to me?"

He went to press the stop button but in a sudden moment of clarity - having realized that this video contained zero context and that his former boss would be completely confused by his reaching out and seemingly being separated from his partner again - threw in some final words.

"This is DiNozzo. I'm in New York."

Which was, in the great amount of hindsight afforded to him mere seconds after stopping the video, the least useful context to ever be given. (Also, he repeated his name twice which was weird but, hey, at least it was over). Oh, well. If Gibbs had questions, he could pick up the phone and ask them.

He crossed the street and allowed himself a moment of 'rest' (more aptly labeled 'awkwardly hovering just beside a streetlamp because he didn't dare touch any publically accessible surface') as he quickly sent the video into cyberspace using any and all available points of contact. Phone, email, messenger pigeon - hell, he even sent the video to Tim's cell as a sort of safeguard measure. If all else failed, Probie would forward the message along.

And then he shoved his phone in his pocket, quickly replacing in in his hands with the black knit gloves and strategically folded bandana he passed off as a make-shift face mask. He really didn't want to get this damn virus.

"Honey, I'm home."

Tony chuckled darkly to himself as he kicked the door to Senior's apartment closed and set the few bags of groceries on the floor. He'd made the same totally lame joke every time he returned from a quick errand, and he was fully expecting to hear a snide remark back from his father as he turned to lock up.

Instead, he heard nothing but silence… followed eventually by what sounded like two sets of laughter.

He entered the dining room slowly, half expecting to find his dad ponied up with one of the several (yes, several!) single older women who also lived on this floor. Thankfully, both for his eyes and his lungs, he found Senior sitting at the table alone. He was staring at Tony's laptop.

"Dad, what-"

"Junior! You're finally back!" With barely a half glance spared in his son's direction, Senior leaned in closer to the laptop and let his voice soften, "See, I told you he wouldn't be long."

Tony knew who he'd see before his father even finished turning the screen. It was the voice. Only one person managed to bring out that specific voice.

"Hey, Sweet Pea," He settled into a chair across the table from his dad and smiled at his daughter, too far away and yet entirely too close to the webcam. Why did kids always do that?

"Daddy! Did you see it?"

Confused, he looked up at Senior.

"Uh, no, Darling. He wasn't quite in the room yet. How about you hand the computer over to your mom while you set it up again. Then we can all watch it together."

"Okay!" There was some shuffling, then the camera was suddenly facing the floor and Tony watched as Tali's little feet padded their way across the living room carpet and into the kitchen, "Ima, Pop-pop wants to talk to you. Oh, and Daddy's back!"

There was a momentary pause, and then Ziva's bare feet stepped into frame.

"Thank you, Neshama. Can you please clean up the living room before lunch?"

"But I wanted to show Daddy my card trick!"

"That's fine. You can leave the cards out, but I'd really like the rest to be cleaned up before we eat."

"Okay!" Tali's feet disappeared, followed by several thuds as she ran back out to continue playing.

Then suddenly the camera was being lifted up and turned over until it came to rest on what seemed to be the island counter. Ziva was there, quietly slipping into a barstool and flashing him a warm smile.

"Sweetcheeks," He couldn't help the way his face lit up at her demeanor. He hadn't heard from a happy Ziva in well over a week. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

"Hardly," She scoffed, adjusting the straps of her tank top and shaking her head, "I've barely slept in days."

"The only face I've really seen lately has been my father's… well, Senior and Joe the Cashier at the corner store. And they ain't got nothing on you."

She rolled her eyes, but instead of teasing him any farther, she simply leaned her chin against her fist and gave him a sideways look.

"That no sleeping thing… is that my fault?" He'd really hate to think their argument kept her up the way it had him.

She seemed to consider the question before answering, which he wasn't sure was a good sign.

"Partially, yes," She pulled the laptop a little closer, which helped to center her in the frame, "And partially my own fault, I'm afraid."

"50-50? 70-30?"

She scrunched her nose and shook her head, "More like 20-20. The other 60% has been this guy."

Her arm moved in the corner of the screen, and he just knew she was resting her hand on her still flat stomach. He chose to move past the clear reference to what she thought the gender might be. That was another ongoing arguement.

"Morning sickness?"

"Morning sickness… mid-afternoon sickness… Two AM sickness… you name it."

"Yikes… was it this bad last time?"

"Oh, yeah. My mother got sick a lot, too. Guess it runs in the family."

"Sorry…" I wish I was there. Was there any point in saying that anymore?

"Don't be. It's well worth it," She looked over the top of the screen, clearly referencing the proof that, yeah, they made good kids.

And, honestly, who was he to argue?

"So… Gibbs called me."

Right. That's why she broke her silence.

"Yeah, uh, I sorta reached out to him."

"So he told me. He also said you sounded… flustered."

"I guess I was."

"And that you were wearing your old work hat?" She tilted her head at this, clearly finding it amusing for some reason.

"Actually, it's yours," He dug around in his jacket pocket, producing the hat he'd shoved in there just moments after ending the video, "Found it in that storage locker. Thought I'd bring it back for, I don't know, roleplay?"

She scoffed, half laughing and half choking on the sip of water she'd been taking.

"Roleplay? As if we need it."

She was totally right. As if they needed any more reasons to hide in their bedroom and never come out.

"Fair enough," He tossed the hat across the table (taking the moment to note that Senior, mercifully, thought to excuse himself a minute or so ago), "It gives off a work vibe anyway. Not as sexy as I thought it'd be."

"Tony," She'd gone soft on him all of a sudden, and her big curious moon eyes seemed to take up the whole damn screen, "You know I have to ask… why Gibbs of all people?"

Which, after a half-second of confusion, he realized was a very valid question. Tony DiNozzo wasn't exactly high up on the list of Gibbs' biggest fans these days. Somewhere between the pretending Ziva hadn't existed and actively abandoning her when she needed him most, the former agent's opinion of his old boss started to change. Now, he was more than content going about his life with little to no communication with the retired marine. Well, content, until he needed something, which he supposed was a mildly poetic observation in the given circumstances.

"Got desperate, I guess. Three days with no contact and I was starting to get worried. You know, that whole global pandemic thing has me a bit on edge."

"I'm sorry, Ahava. We should have called earlier I was just… upset."

The untrained eye would have missed the slight lull in her words, but Tony was a Ziva David Expert. That lull told him everything he needed to know.

"Hm. Upset… and busy trying to call in favors with the few hundred people around the world who owe you?"

Perhaps that had been his subconscious reasoning for calling Gibbs 'of all people'. He thought she might reach out to him for help.

"Yes. It was a mixture of both. 70-30, as you say."

"Not sure I want to know which is which. Anything come of it?"

She leaned back in her chair, and he would have given anything in that moment to reach through the screen and give her a back massage. Their situation as a whole sucked, but the real kicker was how much stress it was putting on her. He wondered when she last had her blood pressure checked.

"No. A 10 year career, 2 years in the IDF, hundreds of contacts around the world and not one of them can state with any confidence that they know how to get you from the states to me with little to no exposure."

"It's a global health crisis, Ziva. And we both happen to be high risk."

"I know, I just…" She took a slow breath and sighed it out (the closest thing he'd ever get to a 'you're right' but hey, he'd take it), "Needed to exhaust all of my options first."

"And now? Are you finally ready to accept our situation and move on?"

She shook her head defiantly, "I will not move on until you are here with us and I can take your temperature every hour, on the hour to ensure you aren't running a fever."

Now that has roleplay potential, he thought but wisely decided to keep to himself.

"But you'll accept it."

"I will… accept it. But I won't be happy about it."

He couldn't help but smile. That's my Ziva.

"Trust me, I'm not happy about it either."

"And I cannot guarantee that my tolerance will extend past the date of our second ultrasound if you are not here to accompany me."

"God, that's what, 10 weeks away? If it's still not safe for me to travel by then, I'll swim home."

She laughed at his clear hyperbole, and he took a moment to just watch her. A wave of anger washed over him. This was completely unfair. All that was waiting for him back in Paris - his house, his daughter, the love of his life - and he was stuck here. And so soon after they'd reunited.

And at the end of the day, he hadn't even found them a house in Long Island - the entire reason he'd come to America to begin with.

But the wave passed quickly, and all it left was a dull and tolerable ache. They would make it through this (they'd been through way worse before) and he would be okay… as long as they never went three days without talking again.

"I miss you guys," He muttered.

Ziva opened her mouth to respond, but something across the room seemed to catch her eye. A smile spread across her face and she made a quick waving motion with her hand.

"We miss you, too," Her chair squeaked as she pushed it away from the counter, "Right, Tali?"

Right on cue, she appeared, jumping into the frame and ninjaing her way onto Ziva's lap.

"Right! We miss you so much!" She seemed to teeter a bit as she held both her arms up in an expression of just how much they must miss him.

Ziva caught their daughter before she could topple to the floor. Once she was steady, she smiled fondly at the little girl.

"Lunch is almost ready. How about we tell Daddy bye for now?"

"No!" Tali cried, "I wanted to show him my card trick."

"Make you a deal, Kid," Tony leaned in closer to the camera and lowered his voice, "You, me, Frozen II on video chat later. You can show me your trick then."

Her eyes lit up and she twisted her little body around to look at her mom, "Can we do that?"

"Of course," Ziva replied simply.

Tali seemed to stop for a moment, looking at her mom and then back at her dad. She leaned in even farther to the camera and dropped her voice all the way to a whisper, "Can Ima watch too?"

"If you want her to," He whispered back.

"Yay!" She practically knocked Ziva off her chair and she jumped from it (ninja children always land on their feet, in case you didn't know), "Family movie night!"

There were persistent thuds and crashes as she once again retreated from the kitchen to do god knows what until lunch.

"A family movie… via Skype," Ziva raised her eyebrows curiously.

"We're making the most of it, Zi."

"Yes," She ran a hand through her hair and gave him a small but tender smile, "Making the most of it. I can get behind that."

"Good," He leaned back in his own chair, stretching out his back and feeling just about every vertebrae pop. How long had they been sitting here? "So, I'll see you later?"

"Yes. I'll get the livingroom set up and give you a call at about… 7?"

He crunched the numbers in his head, "So, about 2 my time. Family movie afternoon. Good deal."

She smiled fondly for a second longer than necessary before speaking again.

"I love you, Tony. Take care of yourself and your father."

"I will. I am, Ziva. We'll get through this just fine."

"I know." But I still worry. He wasn't the only one cutting his sentences short today.

"I love you. And tell little miss I love her, too."

"She knows."

"Yeah, tell her anyway," He smiled, "Talk to you later."

"Yes," She was leaning forward now, hand certainly primed to end the call, "Later. Bye, Tony."

He waved dumbly at the camera, and he saw her flash one final smile before the call disconnected.

Later. He could live with that.

But what the hell was he supposed to do until then?

Have no fear, I promise I am actively working on the next chapter of Eynn. I can't guarantee anything, but it will hopefully be up in the next week or two.

In the mean time, this had to be written. Between the quarantines and that video Michael posted... it had to happen. My mind simply wouldn't settle until I made some sense of the situation. He really just loves messing with us. And I'm really just here for it.

This, of course, stemmed from a post over on Tumblr, so follow me there if you're looking for fic-inspiring content (factoffictionwriter, and the inspiring content is almost never mine, but I am currently rewatching seasons 3-11 so if you wanna see my posts about that go right ahead).

I hope this fic hits the "tiva in the time of quarantine" spot for you all. I might pop out a couple more one-shots around the topic, but know that I am working on Eynn! I promise!

And I hope you are all staying safe and staying home. My heart goes out to anybody being directly affected by this whole mess (either money-wise or health-wise). Social Distancing can be awkward and lonely, but it saves lives. If anyone needs someone to talk to, my inbox is always open. Both here and on tumblr.

Thank you so much for reading! Reviews are a drug. You guys are my suppliers. Please consider giving me another hit. (Okay, that got weird, but seriously, please review!)