Wow! I can't believe this is the last chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this story. I know it took me on an emotional roller coaster. Anyway, here is the epilogue!

Epilogue:

The Ties That Bind

Tali David-DiNozzo slept peacefully in the middle of a pleasant dream of some kind. Her dream was interrupted with a bang as her four year old brother Jakob ran into her room and jumped in the bed with her.

"Tali! Wake up, it's Christmas!" Jakob exclaimed, shaking his sister awake.

Tali groaned as he shouted in her ear. "Did you have to scream in my ear?" she asked him, sitting up. "Quiet! You're gonna wake up Cay-Zee."

"But it's Christmas! I wanna go see what Santa brought me!"

"Okay, I'm awake. Let's go wake up Aunt Ziva and Uncle Tony. Remember what we talked about yesterday?"

Jakob shook his head. Tali sighed.

"Remember when we went to see Ima's grave? When we asked Ima if it was okay to call Ziva and Tony our mom and dad?"

Jakob's eyes then lit up. "Oh!"

"I had a dream about Ima. She told me it was okay!"

"Auntie Ziva's the only mommy I know!" Jakob exclaimed sadly.

"You can ask Ziva to talk about her, show you pictures of her."

"Okay! Come on Tali!"

Tali laughed at her brother. He had already jumped off her bed and ran into Ziva's and Tony's room.

Ziva David-DiNozzo woke up to Jakob's yelling at Tali. She may snore "like a drunken sailor" as Tony had said more than once, but she was a light sleeper. She knew it would be a few minutes until Jakob or Tali or both ran into the bedroom and jump on the bed to wake them up.

Ziva looked up into her husband's sleeping face. Sometime in the night he had wrapped himself tighter around her. She propped herself up so she could look at the crib across the room where their eighteen month old daughter Caitlin Zavia DiNozzo was still asleep. Though she wouldn't be for long; she was an early riser like her mom.

Tali, Jakob, and little Cay-Zee-as Tali called her-were the light of Ziva's life. Tali and Jakob had come into her life quite unexpectedly those four years ago when her twin sister Zavi died, but she had learned to care for as her own. She loved them as her own, even though they were her sister's children.

Ziva had been left to pick up the pieces of Tali and Jakob's broken family along with Tony and the rest of her NCIS family. She had put the pieces back together, and the little family had forged a bond that was stronger than ever before.

And about to get bigger, she thought with a secret smile as she snuggled back into Tony's chest and waited for Tali and Jakob to wake them up once more.

She didn't have to wait long. She heard the door creak open and Jakob sneak in. Then, he jumped on the bed.

"Auntie Ziva! Uncle Tony! Wake up, it's Christmas!" Jakob shouted.

"Too early," Tony muttered.

"Uncle Tony!" Tali exclaimed. "Don't make me pour water on you."

"Fine you two. I'm awake."

Jakob giggled as they heard sounds coming from the crib.

Ziva looked up and Cay-Zee was standing up in her crib, rubbing her eyes. "Mama, out!" she exclaimed.

"I'll get you out Cay-Zee," Tali answered her, walking over to her.

"Ta-ee! Out!"

Tali grabbed the toddler and lifted her out of the crib. She caught a whiff of something very unpleasant. "Whoa girl! You are cute and all, but you stink!"

Ziva laughed. "Here," she said as she rose out of bed. "I'll take her and change her. You two get out of here and downstairs."

"Okay, Doda Ziva!" cried two excited voices. In a thunder of footprints, Jakob rushed out. Tali shook her head and followed her little brother downstairs.

Ziva quickly changed Cay-Zee's diaper and carried her downstairs to the living room and sat her in front of the Christmas tree. Tony came down shortly after, trying to hide a huge yawn behind his hand.

"Okay," Tony began, reaching underneath the tree. "I think this one is for Jakob!"

Jakob wriggled in anticipation as Tony handed him a delicately wrapped present.

"This one is for Tali." He handed her a gift to open. "Let's see, huh, this one is addressed to Cay-Zee. Wanna open it sweetheart?"

"Kis'mas!" the toddler exclaimed, waddling her way to her daddy and taking the gift from his hands.

"Want Ima to help you open it?"

"Hep!" she exclaimed climbing onto her mommy's lap. Ziva gently guided her hands as her daughter ripped away the paper.

"Zoom! Zoom!" Jakob cried swishing his new space shuttle toy around in the air. "Hooston, we hab a prob'em!" he replied. "Kaboom, rocket ship crash!" He slammed the space shuttle onto the floor.

"You let him watch Apollo 13?" Ziva asked Tony with an incredulous look as she stirred the filling for a banana pudding, a new recipe she had found in a Southern cookbook.

"He wanted to see the cool spaceship," Tony defended himself.

Ziva just shook her head at her childlike husband. "Here, stir for a minute while I check on the turkey. Don't let it burn!" she admonished Tony.

"Of course not!" he replied innocently as Ziva moved to open the oven and peer at the turkey cooking in the roasting pan. She removed the tinfoil to allow the turkey to brown. "Almost done," she announced. She turned back to Tony and the filling.

"Is it supposed to thicken up this much?"

"Yes, Tony," she replied. "Out of my way," she ordered him as she took the filling from the stove and poured it into the bowl containing the sliced bananas and vanilla wafers.

"Wow! Banana pudding!" Abby exclaimed as she walked into the kitchen. "I haven't had any of that in years!"

"Hey Abs. Where's McGeek and the little squirt?" Tony asked as he gave her a hug. "Wow! How much longer until the twins make their appearance?

"Three months. I feel like a whale already! I wasn't nearly this big when I was pregnant with DJ. By the way, they are in the living room. DJ's playing with Jakob's space shuttle. Timmy's keeping an eye on them."

"Better get out there and help them, before Ziva kills me." Tony kissed his wife on the forehead and bowed out before Ziva could set another culinary task for him to suffer through.

"Men," Abby exclaimed, breathing out a sigh of exhaustion as she plopped down unceremoniously in a chair.

"I know. So how are you doing?"

"Fine, even though I am constantly hungry, and that banana pudding is making my mouth water!"

Ziva chuckled as she applied the topping, smearing it evenly across the pudding. "Must be fun," she remarked.

"Hey, next time you can carry twins and see how you feel!" Abby exclaimed with a huff.

"No, one at a time is enough for me," Ziva replied, hand going subconsciously to her stomach.

No surprise that Abby caught on immediately. "I saw that. Yay! Another little DiNozzo running around! I would hug you right now, but I can't get up!"

"Quiet, Tony doesn't know yet. I planned to tell him when everybody gets here and starts dinner."

"Don't worry. Secret's safe with me." Abby mimicked zipping her lips and throwing away the key as Ziva popped the banana pudding in the oven along with the turkey.

Ziva let out a sigh of relief as she dropped the towel and sat down next to Abby. "That's the last of it," she exclaimed. "Now we wait until Gibbs, Jenny, and Ducky get here and we can eat."

As if on cue, the door bell rang. "Uncle Gibbs!" Jakob and DJ exclaimed in unison. "I got it!" Tali yelled moments later.

Jenny entered moments later. "Hey, did I miss all the fun?"

"No, just having a little girl talk until the banana pudding is finished," Abby answered as Jenny sat down next to Abby and across from Ziva.

"I brought some apple pie," Jenny told Ziva. "I placed it on the table."

"Toda."

There was a scuffle of feet outside the kitchen and little Shannon entered along with Tali.

"Hey Shay," Ziva greeted the little four year old.

"Hi Auntie Ziva," she said quietly. "Can I have a drink of water?"

"Sure. Tali, you want to help her?"

"That was the plan," Tali said with a shrug. "Is dinner almost ready? I'm starved!"

"We are waiting until Ducky gets here," Abby answered her as the ten year old removed a glass and filled it with water.

"Here you go Shay. Be careful."

Shannon gingerly took the glass and walked over to the table. "Mommy, can I sit with you?"

Jenny smiled and let her daughter climb into her lap. "Comfy?"

Shannon smiled as she drank her water. "Thank you, Mommy."

"Ziva, Ducky's here!" Tony called from the living room.

"Okay, help me set the table guys?" Ziva asked.

"I'll go round up the kids," Abby said as she slowly rose from the table. "They can grab the utensils."

Noise came from the living room and down the hallway into one of the bedrooms as the kids played. Then there was a crash and sounds of crying.

Ziva, Jenny, and Abby all cringed as Tali came running into the kitchen. "Jakob tripped and hit the door. I told him not to run!"

"I got him. Come on Tali."

Ziva walked down the hallway and towards Jakob's room.

"Mommy!" he cried. "My head hurts!"

Ziva froze. He called her "Mommy." He had never done that before.

"Come here, Jake, let me see."

She cradled him in her lap. She looked at the red spot that was forming on his forehead. "Just a bump. You will be fine." She kissed him on the forehead. "All better!"

"Thank you Mommy," he sniffed.

"No problem, just don't run in the house any more okay?"

He nodded, wiping away the tears.

Tali looked at them. "Ima?" she asked tentatively. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Yes. Just fine."

"What happened?" a concerned Tony asked as he saw Ziva cradling Jakob in her lap.

"I hurt my head Daddy," Jakob sniffed.

Tony froze. "Did he just call me?"

"Ken."

"Did we make you sad, Aba?" Tali asked. "Ima?"

"Come here you guys," Tony said wrapping all three of them into a huge hug. "We're not sad. You made us very happy today."

"We have loved you like our own since we first got you. Do not worry about what your real mom would what have thought. I know Zavi would be okay with you calling us your mom and dad."

"I think she would have wanted it that way."

"You think so?" Tali asked.

"Yeah," Tony replied looking at Ziva, who nodded in agreement.

"I love you Mommy and Daddy," Jakob said snuggling closer into Ziva's chest.

"Hey!" Gibbs exclaimed. "You guys done yet?"

"Come on Daddy!" Jakob replied, tugging his hand. "Food!"

"You guys go ahead," Ziva said ushering them ahead. "I have something I want to tell your Aba."

The NCIS family was waiting at the dining room table when Ziva and Tony finally walked in. Tony had a huge smile on his face.

"You told him?" Abby asked her.

Ziva nodded.

"I'm going to be a daddy again!" Tony exclaimed.

"Hey Cay-Zee!" DJ exclaimed. "You're gonna be a big sister too!"

After a round of congratulations for the happy couple, the rag tag family finally got down to business—eating the wonderful dinner Ziva had cooked.

Das Ende

It's done. sniffs So, what do I write next? I have a few stories in mind. Some of them more developed than others. So, what do you think?

CHOICE A:

NCIS story that could become a series. A childhood friend of Ziva's comes to Washington, DC to work with NCIS. She's not what Gibbs and the gang expects her to be.

CHOICE B:

An experimental crossover between CSI Miami and Star Wars. Familiar SW characters are placed on Earth as teenagers in Miami. What happens when a drug lord wrecks havoc in a Miami high school? Enter Horatio Caine and the Miami Crime Scene team!

Well, which do you think I should post? Once again, thank you for all the kind reviews you have given me while I labored through this story.

Until next post,

Maylee