Chap 30 With oneself, the world, the past
or: The Epilogue

Saturday, November 23rd 2018

West Clark Street - Apartment 7

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!", Tali yelled happily, running down the stairs, clad only in a red shirt.

A second later Tony, fully dressed himself, came jumping after her, underwear and pants in hand. Ziva laughed out loud. Tony looked as if Tali had put up a little stubborn fight despite the early morning and his early working hours. Moreover, he had spent half the night with Ziva on the couch, both alarmingly awake: Ziva because sleeping was still a painful feat and Tony because he was having a bout of standoff-aftermath-insomnia...as always, but that's another story.

When Tali arrived at her mother's temporary camp on the couch, she tried hiding behind Ziva's outstretched hand. Needless to say, the little girl wasn't very successful. Tony's eyes narrowed as he closed in on her and for the first time Ziva noticed the big grin on Tali's face and the feigned menace exuded by Tony.

"No escape, my little red jumping shirt. I'll come and get ya!", Tony called out in a faux threatening, crescendo voice.

"No!", Tali half-screeched, half-laughed. She looked up at Ziva, her big brown eyes hopeful for help.

"No can do, tateleh. Mommy cannot even stand up", Ziva turned her down sweetly, caressing the little girl's cheek, "But I have another idea."

Ziva beckoned Tali towards her and, considerate beyond her usual flamboyance, the little girl climbed up on the couch without coming close enough to Ziva's injuries to cause her any kind of pain. For a moment there Tony had been on the jump to scoop Tali away from her mother if necessary, but now he stood rooted to the floorboards beneath him in inquisitive curiosity.

Ziva whispered something into Tali's ear.

Tali snickered. Then she stood up with a little steadying from Ziva, turned towards her father and declared unceremoniously, "Me's a ninja...like mommy."

Ziva grinned at the ingenious display and Tony had a hard time stifling his laughter. Instead, he held up his hands in defeat, which caused Tali's pants to slip halfway over his face - and Tali and Ziva to chuckle.

"In that case, mia cara principessa... I surrender willingly", Tony conceded, bowed and turned Tali's clothes over to Ziva's outstretched hand.

He leaned in, however, and continued quietly, "You know the biggest secret about ninja's, though?"

Tali shook her head momentarily. Then she turned around and looked at her mother questioningly. Ziva, trying hard to retain a straight face, shrugged her shoulders innocently, causing Tali to transfer her look back to Tony.

"They each...have one, single with benefits, lonesome, no friends on facebook...weakness", Tony answered in a mysteriously deep voice.

Faster than his words could as much as register with Tali, he scooped the little girl up and started tickling her. Her hysteric laughter easily filled the silent apartment. Before her enthusiastic thrashing could become something more of a forceful wish to get away from him, however, Tony placed her back down on the couch next to Ziva. He ruffled her hair, avoided her slapping at his hand in mock aggravation with a semi-jump-mid-dance-routine and glided over into the kitchen.

Ziva watched Tali shake her head in utter seriousness and couldn't help but grin even more. "Daddy's silly, mommy", she declared decidedly, nodding along.

Ziva nodded. "He sure is."

"Daddy's not silly, my ladies, daddy's just learned to live alongside the ninja", Tony declared and leaned forward, dropping a small kiss on Tali's head. He stared into Ziva's eyes.

"Has he now?", she smirked.

"I'm a fast learner."

"I remember, yes."

Some parts of him could hardly stand - or rather the opposite - the seductive smile she had put on. It was safer to change the subject. "Pancakes are done and eligible. Everything else is set and ready for a default styled breakfast."

"Thank you."

"You sure I shouldn't wake David up. I mean, I could-"

"No. He had a rough night, let him catch up on some sleep", Ziva assured him, a cautious note woven through.

David had woken up twice last night and only gone back to sleep upon much reassurance and coaxing on both Ziva's and Tony's part. He was having nightmares again, Ziva was sure of it. But he wasn't even close to telling them about it. It seemed he was still trying to work through it somehow. And their lives were slowly settling down again and into a newfound rhythm - at least they both hoped so. Maybe that alone would help him.

"Now, will you tell me again why I have to come back here and get you to the Navy Yard before we go over there for the survive-party?", Tony asked for the hundredth time since that morning at five-thirty when Abby had called, claiming to have forgotten that it would be Tony waking up and answering Ziva's cell.

"Because...Abby and Tim have a surprise for us."

"And it's at the office? That's gotta be some surprise..."

"Stop mocking the surprise and just get back here at one", Ziva retorted and finally caught his lips for a kiss.

"You okay here?"

"We have books, we have toys and I have the number of the delivery service. We should be fine."

"But you know you shouldn't-"

"Tony, it's okay. The case is over, so now I can make you very happy and treat myself as a porcelain unicorn."

"Thank you", he smiled, kissing her again, "I'll just have to object to 'the case being over'-part. You're not the one who has to come in and write out case reports on a Saturday morning."

"Ah...benefit of the ailing. That is how you wanted it, though", Ziva hummed, slightly patting his cheek.

"Yeah... I did", he smiled even broader.

It was almost time for lunch. Ziva had just called the pizza service. They had played various games that had afforded more or less of Ziva's attention all morning. They owed the current hiatus of bustle to the bathroom break Tali was taking. Ziva looked over at David. She hadn't realized how long his hair had already gotten, it was well covering his ears. She had to chuckle a little to herself for that kind of realization. She reached out her uninjured hand and put some strands of hair behind his ear.

"Are you okay, tateleh?", she asked softly.

David nodded without looking up at her.

Despite his reaction Ziva kept her eyes trained on him and a few heartbeats later he actually turned around to find her inquisitive gaze. "There was a really bad man."

'Bad man' certainly was putting it most delicately. The way it was phrased like a statement rather than a question surprised Ziva, though. She knew that David was startlingly attentive and that the last days' upheaval couldn't have passed him by without leaving implicit and some more explicit marks. And like that he was reminding her more and more every day of the little sister she once lost. Those violent truths would probably always be hard for him to grasp. But this time around she couldn't allow herself to fail. She wouldn't.

Ziva opened her arms a little and David slowly crept onto the couch, carefully snuggling into her side. She put her uninjured arm around him. "Why do you think that?"

"I donno... You and daddy weren't home much and- and we were at Sarah's really long. And we didn't see Uncle Tim and Auntie Abby and Uncle Gibbs lots- And... Mommy?", he looked up at her with his piercing green eyes that reminded her so much of Tony.

"Yes?"

"You was really scared yesterday in Auntie Abby's lab", he stated, half a question mark and half a full-stop hanging on the last syllable.

For a moment Ziva didn't know what to answer. She just kept stroking his hair, keeping her eyes locked with his. Then she sighed. "Yes... Yes, I was. I was scared because your daddy and your Uncle Tim and Uncle Gibbs were going after that...really bad man", she answered cautiously.

His brows furrowed. "Why didn't you help 'em?"

"I couldn't, tateleh. I wanted to...but I am still a little too...hurt...to help them."

"But Uncle Gibbs says they are no good without you", David rebuffed, painting a small smile onto Ziva's face.

"They were just fine without me. The bad man is gone and nothing is going to happen to any of us", Ziva declared, kissing his forehead.

The little boy didn't seem fully convinced, though. He still looked at her with doubt written into his eyes. He turned his head deeper into her embrace, burying half of his face in the crook of her neck as if he was afraid she could let go of him at some point.

"No accidents 'n'more?"

Ziva sighed inwardly: She couldn't promise that. She would never be able to promise that. Those last three weeks had shown her that her life was at best not at all predictable. But good had come out of it, hadn't it? They had become more of a family in those three weeks than two previous years had had it in them to accomplish. Nevertheless, she couldn't promise her six-year-old son that there wouldn't be any accidents in the future, that nothing would happen to either one of them. She just couldn't promise him.

"No more accidents, tateleh", Ziva smiled, smoothing back his hair, "I promise."

716 Sicard Street, S.E. - Washington Navy Yard

Since the urgency level of their reports had been raised to an 'utmost'-standard due to matters of diplomacy and foreign agencies involved in the periphery of the case, Tony and McGee had been working for hours to finish them up. Gibbs had been fielding outline and conduct testimonies up in MTAC all morning. Meanwhile, Director Vance was chaperoning some big-notch guest of uninvited honors in his office, claiming himself indispensible via Cynthia.

Early in the afternoon, right after a major cramp in his back had caused him to almost slip off his chair, Tony treated himself to a little break. McGee watched him step into the elevator and leaned a little to the side from where he was filing away some dossiers to catch his partner push the lowermost button. He frowned.

A few minutes later he found Tony leaning onto the banister in front of the main entrance. It was chilly outside. He stepped up to his friend of some fourteen years. When he looked over, he could see the same pensive expression he had seen inching onto Tony's face all day.

"Sometimes…something about her really creeps me out", Tony blurted out, "I mean, not creepy 'creeping'. Not in a Shining kind of way…more like Arlington Road. Lingering…"

McGee eventually joined him and propped his elbows up on the metal construction. "What do you mean?"

"She can be so totally…nonchalant about things. When I told her she'd been the target of a kill-plot, she barely batted one of her pretty eyelashes. And what happened in So-"

Tony broke off, quickly shooting McGee a look that told him the rated version of what would have come without saying a word. McGee knowingly put it aside. "You always knew you can't change who she is, Tony", he declared.

"Yeah, I know. But she let a guy off who- who killed…her sister of all people. And she didn't even as much as- I mean, she could have ripped his gut out and I'd have gladly shut the camera off for her", Tony mused into the cool, watching his breath freeze in front of him.

McGee let a small laugh drip from his lips. It did sound a lot like something Ziva would have done - once. That was the operative word, though, wasn't it? He couldn't help remember that day twelve years ago. It was one of Ziva's first days back in Washington and her first day back at the Navy Yard after Somalia, after they had rescued her out of there. He remembered their talk not far from where they were standing now, sitting on a small wall near a coffee booth.

- "But that was all in the past and the past is the past."

- "Is it?"

- "Yes."

"I guess…", McGee started slowly, "I guess, she's learned to forgive and let it be."

"I know", Tony returned definitely, "I know that. And don't get me wrong, I'm so proud of her for getting there after what she's gone through, but-"

"Would you rather she'd gun him down in an alley behind your block?"

"No, McTact, that's not what I meant."

"Well, then maybe you should talk to her…and tell her that you are more freaked out about this than she seems to be", McGee suggested, patting him on the back, "Don't worry, by now she knows all about your creamy surprises." He nodded, grinned and walked off.

Tony couldn't help but smile himself.

Ziva was holding Tali's hand as they approached the bullpen a few feet ahead of their two men. Stepping over the threshold of their working life, they found only Gibbs sitting at his desk and filling out forms. His sapphire blue orbs immediately shot up and a cheerful glint settled in them. When his eyes fell on Tony and David, he cast Ziva a questioning look. Tony was still doing some kind of impersonation with a cascade of different voices that he had started the moment they had stepped out of the car - and David was positively cracking up. By now, the little boy was roaring with laughter and Tony didn't show any inclination to stop anytime soon.

Ziva took a quick glance at them, then turned back around to face her boss with a thankful smile. "As long as it makes him happy…", she said, a laugh punctuating her gladness that Tony was indeed able to get David out of his quiet shell.

Gibbs nodded knowingly and instantly spun his attention towards Tali. He crouched down in front of her, smiling, "Haven't seen you in a while, princess."

"Missed ya", Tali exclaimed with a sigh, let go of Ziva's hand and flung her arms around Gibbs' neck.

He picked her up and kissed her temple, whispering into her ear, "Missed ya too."

"Hello Uncle Gibbs", David called out and hugged his appointed Uncle from the side.

"Hey buddy." Gibbs ruffled the little boy's hair.

"Uncle Gibbs?", David asked suddenly, his features growing serious as he pulled back.

When Gibbs looked down at him, he couldn't help but notice just how much of Ziva was conveyed through the little boy's eyes, that ever-thinking heaviness beneath their radiant color. Gibbs raised his eyebrows inquisitively and David beckoned him down towards him. Gibbs readily complied and kneeled down, Tali still safely in his arms.

David scooted closer and whispered into Gibbs' ear, "Thank you."

Gibbs turned to gaze at David with a puzzled expression on his face.

"For making mommy and daddy safe."

For a moment Gibbs was lost for words and he just kept looking at David, for whom that statement seemed like the most ordinary and off-hand thing in the world. Then he nodded, receiving a grateful smile from the little boy.

"So, where's that surprise I keep hearing about?", Tony cut in, really addressing no one in particular.

"Patience and ignorance have never been your strong suits", Ziva commented dryly, accepting his benevolent scowl with a simple smirk.

"I see the congregation has already gathered", Ducky remarked upon his sudden entry into the bullpen. He was closely followed by Jimmy.

Tony laughed. "Well, you know what they say about early birds."

"Flock together", Ziva substituted at once, receiving several arched eyebrows.

"Still…", Tony deadpanned.

Before they could even start debating Ziva's repeated verbal faux-pas, though, they were interrupted by heavy, plateau-induced footsteps approaching their scene. It wasn't too long before Abby's and McGee's heads turned up beyond the orange partitions. For some reason and without knowing why, the whole bullpen-gathering fell silent and all eyes set on its entrance in hope for the surprise of the afternoon to be soon uncovered. In all their anticipation, however, no one but Ziva could have guessed what happened next: The moment Abby's full frame was visible to her family's eyes the bundle in her arms swept up all their attention.

"Dear all", Abby announced in a hushed voice and arranged said bundle so they could verify for themselves, "Meet Liora Grace Sciuto-McGee."

The small gathering was soon gathered so close to the newly inaugurated mother-daughter-pair that McGee's arm almost unnoticeably shot out and wrapped itself protectively around his daughter and the arms of the woman he loved. That small gesture alone caused Tony and Ziva to meet in a small knowing glance and a small knowing smile.

Liora was wrapped in an orangey yellow blanket. By now she was barely twelve days old, small and buried deep into the folds of the fabric, but her face looked content as she slept peacefully through the buzz of her advent into a most unconventional family.

"She real?", Tali inquired innocently from where she was still perched against Gibbs.

"Sure is, princess", Gibbs answered, commending Abby with a proud smile that amplified her already radiating grin.

"Cans I touch her?"

"Very carefully, tateleh", Ziva nodded and smiled at her daughter.

Gibbs leaned in a little closer and Tali slowly reached out her hand, caressing the baby's cheek with almost unbeknownst caution. McGee's slightly apprehensive look softened immediately. When the baby stirred, however, Tali quickly withdrew her hand. Her face fell.

"It's okay, nothing happened. See?", McGee reassured the little girl at once, smiling and indicating his daughter, "She's still sleeping."

Tali took another close look, confirming her Uncle's assertion. A soft sigh of relief escaped her lips, causing all adults around her to chuckle.

"She's too little to play, right?", David perked up finally, looking up at both of his parents.

"Right now you have to be very careful with her, can you do that?", Ziva answered.

The little boy nodded his head enthusiastically. After a final examination of that new addition to their family, David leant back against Ziva, allowing his mother to put her arms around him. He seemed content enough for now.

"Just let her get a little older, buddy. Knowing her mommy, you'll have a lotta fun with this one", Tony commented with a grin, receiving a mischievous one in return from Abby.

"Is Miss Liora Grace now officially part of our little clan?", Ducky asked, stroking the baby's head.

"We picked her up from the orphanage only an hour ago. We have her for the day…only some finishing touches on the paper work left", McGee explained, not taking his loving gaze from the sheer reality that was now his daughter.

"So, why'd you bring her here first?"

"I wanted her to meet her family right where all her family met", Abby stated easily, a note of loving reverence woven through the simplicity of her statement.

"I think, this calls for a celebration, doesn't it?", Ducky declared bluntly, cutting into the sweet silence of the moment with a beaming smile on his face.

"Wasn't there talk about some kind of fest back at your place?", Jimmy put in giddily, waving off a few scowls that immediately zoomed his way.

"Right on, Jim-ster. Zero four hundred." Abby beamed at them.

"Still enough time to prep then", Tony cracked, a grin adorning his face.

That grin, however, briefly lost its radiance when his eyes fell on the person watching their exchange from the upstairs landing. He couldn't believe it: Eli David, in the flesh. Tony quickly turned his attention back to the people around him, but none of the others seemed to have taken any notice of Ziva's father, all of them seemed unperturbed, too caught up in their current reality. Tony quickly scanned the perimeter. The back elevator led down into the garage, the front elevator ended in the lobby. No wonder Vance had been cooped up in his office since early in the morning. A visit from the Director of Mossad certainly wasn't a social call. Tony doubted it had garnered Eli a parking space right outside the main entrance either.

When Tony finally jerked out of his sudden stupor, their little family-group was already disbanding and Ziva was looking at him expectantly, eyebrows raised high above suspicion-level. Years with the master of covertness herself did pay off at times, though. He passed her initial scan with special, nonchalant bravado. Rather than caving, he handed her the car keys.

"You and the kids go on, I still gotta sign off on the final report. Catch up with you in a sec?", he suggested easily.

Ziva took the keys with another suspicious glance, but decided to let it go. The moment she was out of sight with the kids, Tony turned his gaze back upstairs but only caught the seam of Eli's jacket. Without thinking twice, Tony lunged towards the back elevator. He punched the button just in time. Mere seconds later the elevator doors slipped aside and he came face to face with Eli David.

The doors had just shut close behind him when Tony hit the switch and the elevator jerked to a halt. Eli looked pensively curious but not at all surprised to encounter his quasi-son-in-law.

Tony didn't lose an ounce of breath, starting immediately, "I know it must look strange to you, all the love and affection-"

"No, not at all."

It was Tony's turn, however, to look mildly surprised.

"I know you want me to be a straight-out bastard to accustom your view of the world", Eli declared matter-of-factly in that calm, almost slurring whisper of his voice, "But I am not."

"It's all about perspective."

Eli simply disregarded his comment. "When Ziva's mother died, her little sister was only four years old."

"Thank God you're here", Tony snapped, "Where else would I get my redundant history lessons from?"

"I know of your…provoking methods, Agent DiNozzo. You forget, I fell for them once."

"Now, that's where you are so…wrong", Tony retorted slowly, "That's an episode of my life I will never forget."

A fiercely faint smile crossed Eli's lips. "Ziva was like a mother to her until Tali's untimely death. I know, better even than Ziva knows herself…that Tali's compassion could only blossom through her devoted care. Ziva may have inherited my power of will, but she has her mother's heart of gold."

"Saying it like that…with that half-smile on your face, your eyes lost in memories… You almost seem human", Tony remarked derisively, cocking his head a little to the side.

"I know my children."

"Child, Eli. It's child. You have only one outta three left."

For a moment Tony thought he recognized something akin to remorseful anger flaring behind Eli's near-stoic expression. Tony knew he was pushing dangerous buttons, but he didn't believe in coincidences. Years with Gibbs had taught him that. And that he had been the only one to notice Eli David on that top landing must have had its reasons. He would make some reasons, if he had to.

Eli took a diminutive step back, bracing an arm against the handrail on each side. "With Tali alive Ziva would have never entered the Mossad as far as she did, not while she had to care for her little sister", Eli relayed heavily, his jaw dropping a few times during his account, "Ziva is a loving mother, there is no doubt in my mind about that. And I would not want it any other way. I have always hoped for grandchildren…to have her as their mother."

"Talk about purpose disorder", Tony rebuffed, his sardonic lightness ebbing away as he prepared himself to ask the one question that had been bothering him for twelve years, "Why Somalia? Why send her on a suicide mission?"

"I know you do not want to see me as a father. I know it does not fit into the profile you have of me. I know you think I wanted to punish Ziva for her change of loyalty", Eli explained cautiously, "I always knew, because of Tali, that Ziva's heart was susceptible. But when your Agent Gibbs left her at that airport and when she could not be sure about your true motives as to Officer Rivkin's death, there was nothing I could have done to punish her more."

"You almost got your only daughter killed, because- What? In that flock of underlings you couldn't find one who had a strong enough death wish?", Tony snarled, feelings boiling up his esophagus, feelings he didn't know he was still harboring after all those years.

"What makes you think that Ziva did not have that kind of…death wish as you call it?", Eli snapped, his voice gaining that thriving basso that almost had the inside of the elevator vibrating with sheer force.

"A little out of her mind maybe, yes… I'll give you that. But she's never had- She never had a death wish. Never."

"And I did not want her dead, Tony."

Silence settled for a few heartbeats as Eli took off his glasses, cradling them in his hands. They looked at each other. The one was Ziva's ambiguous emotional torment, the other was the love of her life - and each was a little bit of both but different.

"Nobody…could have come as close to Saleem as Ziva, nobody is as good as her. Nobody could have survived", Eli continued more calmly than before, "And Saleem had to pay for what he did. He was an immediate threat to my country and my family. He had to be dealt with, he had to die. Ziva was my country's and my family's best chance at that…at any…cost."

"Her life."

Eli nodded. "My duty has always come before my personal feelings, Agent DiNozzo. Maybe that is a belief you will never be able to understand, it certainly is a belief you do not share. Nor does Ziva, not anymore. Nothing comes before her family, I know that", there was a strange, unknown undertone in those last few words Tony couldn't exactly pinpoint, "But Somalia was a job to be done and Ziva was a means to that end."

"Then why didn't you save her?" It was the second most quintessential question of them all. And Tony wanted answers; once and for all. "Why didn't you rescue her out of that desert?"

"I did everything I would have done for every other officer. I increased activity, I sent men down there. They tried to find her", Eli asserted defiantly, straightening back up.

"Why didn't you treat her like a daughter? Why didn't you do that little bit more?", Tony kept at it just as defiantly. He seemed disbelieving; maybe he just wanted a kind of clarity Ziva was still searching for all on her own, without Eli.

"Because she would not have returned to me even if I had."

245 Prowress Avenue, N.E. - Hôtel Empereur

A part of Ziva couldn't believe she was doing what she was doing - the more dominant part of her just went along with it. It wasn't that he was completely cut off from her life. They talked on occasion, very infrequent occasions. Almost a year had passed since she had gone to Israel for Adena's funeral, leaving the kids with their Aunt and Uncle. She had even stayed at the mansion back then. They had had breakfast together once. They had talked. Since then, however, she had called but once when Nettie had been in the hospital. Their topical repertoire wasn't very elaborate anyway. They both carefully avoided any subject they knew they were disagreeing on, any subject of too deep an emotional substance and any subject of national or international affairs. It didn't leave much more than an in-depth comparison of the weather in Tel Aviv and Washington.

They had come to an understanding. They had fallen out with each other and they had taken miniscule steps back towards each other. Slowly and gradually, Ziva had come to the dire conclusion that Eli simply wasn't the father she needed him to be. Maybe she had known that for a long time. The difference between herself now and herself a few years ago was the understanding that, despite his many shortcomings as a father, he wasn't substitutable. There was something beautifully and yet terrifyingly imminent about kinship. You couldn't throw it off, it was an imprint no matter what you did. She had finally realized that.

Ziva was very grateful for the lack of stairs in the lobby and went straight for the elevators, driving up to the eighth floor. She followed the gold-rimmed plagues on the wall. When she turned the second corner to the right, she stopped. She laughed inwardly. Two men were slouched on settees on separate ends of the corridor, one reading a book, the other listening to music. A woman was standing by the window, ostensibly waiting for someone.

Ziva slowly approached the room she was looking for, aware of the cautious movements around her. The moment she was standing in front of room 808 she could feel all three of them closer than comfort-level. Ziva turned around with arched eyebrows. Judging from the contorted expressions on their faces, at least two of them recognized her.

"Le'an at nose'at?"

"Don't worry, I did not come to harm him", Ziva declared coolly, not budging, "Which cannot be said for you if you don't let me pass."

They didn't know that she was practically incapable of fighting given that she didn't wish to tear apart every healing bone in her body - and she certainly wouldn't tell them. The highest ranking one of them gave a short jolt of a nod and they each returned to their leisure surveillance posts while Ziva easily slipped into the room: They always used doors with outmoded key-locks so that in case of emergency there wasn't a card- or chip-coded door to pick first.

Eli was just passing the foyer with the paper in hand when his eyes fell on Ziva standing there, her hands joined in front of her body. He set his forehead in wrinkles but his mouth remained in a thin, nonchalant line. He straightened up, nodding a little along.

"I was not sure I could expect you", he remarked calmly.

Ziva took a few steps forward. "Neither was I", Ziva retorted just as evenly, "In your case, however, I must have misconstrued the amount of time you spent watching us from upstairs."

"Still, you let him believe he was the only one who noticed me."

"We all act on different impulses. Speaking of which…", Ziva stated bluntly, taking another step into the faintly sun-flooded interior, "Why are you here?"

Eli smacked his lips. "The issue of a former officer's killing spree warrants making it a more personal matter."

"So, you wanted to make sure Niv would be taken care of", she corrected matter-of-factly, not expecting any kind of return - as conveyed by the deep timbre her voice ended on.

"It is a short trip, I am afraid", Eli continued, indicating the couch in the center of the room, "Do you want to sit?"

"This is going to be a short trip", Ziva deadpanned, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"I see Tony's attitude has left its marks." Eli went over to the couch and leaned against its back. "I understand you were injured in a car accident."

Ziva turned her face away from him for a moment and glanced out of the bay windows making up the far wall of the room. "I had worse", she commented quietly, returning with her amber eyes to his probing gaze.

"You are okay now."

"I have not had the time not to be…yet."

"It appeared like that time will soon come then."

Ziva started to nod but stopped herself. Instead, she furrowed her brows, her gaze clear as ever. "Do not pursue Peled. He is no threat. It is…not worth it", she asserted off-handedly, "If I can forgive Niv for Tali's death…you can forgive the world for Ima's."

Yes, Leon had not been forthcoming with any kind of useful information, but somehow the whole of Mossad would have found Niv Peled - now that his guard was down, now that he was officially being prosecuted. Eli looked at her for a long time and for a brief second she could see his dark eyes inflame with the pain of loss he so seldom allowed himself. Right there she knew that he wouldn't go through with his initial plan of tracking Niv and his family down. He would stop it right then and there.

Composure returned to Eli's demeanor. He sighed and took off his glasses. "Do you think…", he started slowly, "I might get to meet my grandchildren one day?"

"And bring them along to the next funeral?", Ziva answered sadly. It was a dire fact, not meant as an insult.

"A holiday maybe-"

"The door to them has never been closed for you."

"Haifa. You have not been to Haifa in a long time."

Ziva sighed inwardly. She had toyed with the thought of showing Tali and David the country she had grown up in more often than she liked to admit. She was American now, yes, but that didn't change the fact that Israel still felt like home. David was six years old and had never met his maternal grandfather. Maybe this was the time to forgive Israel for the deaths of all those she had loved and give it another chance.

"You know", Eli started again on a much softer note, tugging her out of her reverie, "I always hoped for grandchildren in a safer world, Ziva."

Ziva took a moment to breathe. "I know."

"Not like…this, but I always hoped-"

"I know, Abba."

26 Celtics Avenue

Gibbs stepped out of his car, its yellow color glowing a little in the faint afternoon sun. He sauntered up the little driveway, took two steps at once and landed right in front of a massive, engraved mahogany door. Despite there being a bell right next to where he was standing, he chose to announce his arrival with three short knocks. Not even half a minute later Ducky opened the door from the other side, already clad in his coat and his hat in hand.

"On the dot", the older man commented lightly.

"I know how you like your dates on time." Gibbs smirked.

"Ah…Whitney…", Ducky scoffed while locking the door behind him, "Obliquely, that was not the only reason for me to…let her go." He gave Gibbs a sideways glance of past mischievousness as they walked down the steps.

"You told her to go to hell, Duck", Gibbs deadpanned in return.

"Among other well-intended suggestions as to her lack of social skills."

Gibbs tilted his head a little to the side, his smirk returning.

"All those kids around… They make us feel old, don't they, Jethro?", Ducky remarked off-handedly.

"Or young again."

"Yes, well… I have been thinking", he finally opened the car door, a soft sigh ringing through his account, "Uncle by ascription, Medical Consult, retiree, bachelor… It seems, the more I am branching out, the more I wish to go back to the roots one of these days."

"Yeah?", Gibbs jerked his head back and smiled, "You by any chance need a boat for that?"

West Clark Street - Apartment 7

Ziva was acutely lost in thought when she entered the apartment. A minute later she found herself standing in the doorway to the kitchen without remembering how she even got there. Tony was leaning against the counter sifting through bills when he noticed her and the obviously preoccupied expression on her face. It didn't falter either, so he chose to initiate her mental return to the scene.

"Where've you been?", he inquired evenly.

She just stared at him. "Out."

"Out how?"

"Cab", she answered colorlessly, "Where are the kids?"

"Upstairs, looking for a welcome-to-the-craze present for their cousin in extension", he smiled, remembering their heated debate from just a few minutes ago, "Out where?"

She finally looked at him - as in actually seeing him. Her eyes set into focus. Apparently, she had just come to a conclusion for herself. "Family…business."

He nodded. "I thought you didn't see him duck out of Vance's office…"

She arched her eyebrows, crossing the small distance between them.

They both knew they would talk about his little elevator-encounter at a later time, but right now they each needed to deal with each decision they had made today. He smiled and nodded again as silence settled between them for a moment. Then he noticed the clock. "Look, we still got at least half an hour before we need to leave."

"Didn't Abby say to come by around four? It is four o'clock, you know."

"Yeah…I know." He grinned.

He watched her fill a glass of water and taking a prescribed compilation of pills in quick succession, emptying the glass. His eyes narrowed inadvertedly as he fought the urge to instigate something he wasn't sure wouldn't end in a painful reminder. But maybe she had just returned from a place that was more of a reminder than anything he could do. Before he could say anything, however, Ziva turned around to gaze at him. Her face was set still in determination.

"I don't want to hold onto that anymore", she stated at once.

Tony opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came at first. He cleared his throat. "Ziva, he killed your sister", he started quietly, "Your little sister. Don't tell me this means nothing to you, because I know it does. Of all people- Our only daughter's name isn't Talia because we liked the sound of it."

Ziva shook her head slightly. "I was raised in a culture of revenge. All I've ever been was revenge. Revenge for the wrongdoings of history…our joint one and my own. I am tired of feeling as if I am obligated…to want revenge."

"But why can't you just allow yourself to grieve for her once in a while?"

"I do", she asserted definitely, "Not a day goes by that I do not think of what her life could have been like…how my life could have been different if she was still alive. But what I felt when Niv- I did not feel grief, I felt rage…at first-"

"That's normal, for heaven's sake", Tony cut in resolutely, stepping closer to her, "Kübler-Ross, five stages, blaming the world. It's normal, look it up."

A miniscule smile tugged at Ziva's lips. She loved him, she loved him for the moments he wanted to serve her a recipe for happiness on a golden platter. But it wasn't about happiness. "Niv's confession does not change the fact that my little sister is dead, Tony", she explained calmly, "It only changed the person on whom to take revenge. And I do not want to. I won't."

For a while they just stayed silent, looking into each other's eyes, probing. Then he tilted his head to the side. "Well, so much for a trip to the desert."

He smiled weakly, almost unsure if he had gone a bit too far with the sore subjects of her past. But Ziva merely took a last step towards him, put a gentle hand on the side of his face and guided him down to kiss her. They were both smiling when they pulled apart.

"Nice set-up", he started again, still loving her hand on his cheek, "'Cause I gotta tell you something...it's kinda important."

Her look immediately grew suspicious. Tony usually didn't talk about important issues quickly and in-between. They both liked an appropriate setting for the more serious discussions. So, maybe, it wasn't up for discussion anymore.

"I've been thinking about it ever since I got back. Then the accident happened…and the case happened, obviously. And you and the kids- I think it would be best- I mean, I know- I decided to…I- I want to stay. I mean, I will. I already talked to Vance. I will, I will stay. I stay", he rambled, looking for understanding beneath her confused stare.

"You…stay", she summed up, still not sure what exactly he was telling her.

"I won't go back to Spain, I won't go back to my unit in Rota", he finally declared with steadfast determination, "I'll come back here, to the Washington office, take my old position as Senior Field Agent. Who knows… I mean, Gibbs isn't the youngest anymore-"

"You stay?", she repeated.

"I stay."

"You know, it is easier now with the kids. They are older. We could come with you if you wanted-"

"No", he cut in unquestionably, "This is home, this is where all our family is. I get that now. I don't wanna uproot them. I mean, I know it won't be the same…especially when Gibbs does retire…for real this time. But all that's happened… It taught me- It showed me to appreciate what I got…the hard way."

Ziva took a few heartbeats to digest that turn of events. This definitely needed more talking about, but for the moment she was just simply and honestly happy. She reached up again and brought his lips upon hers, this time deepening the kiss. He was careful not to hurt her when he pulled her even closer.

"Mommy's eatin' daddy!", Tali called out with obvious disgust lacing her voice.

This time they broke apart laughing.

94 Hulland Drive - Apartment 2

Given that they usually located their bigger and more elaborate get-togethers at Ducky's mansion, Abby's and McGee's living room had never seen the whole lot of them gathered around in such confined space. It didn't matter, though. It was half past five in the afternoon on a Saturday.

Tali was sprawled out on the floor with her Uncle Gibbs, watching him with intent curiosity as he was putting together a little miniature boat piece by piece from what looked like exaggerated versions of Lego-blocks. David, Ducky and Jimmy were playing a guessing game Jimmy had just whipped up the rules for - their cheerful inconsistency Ducky had a verbal feat complaining about, happily posing as David's personal comic relief.

Meanwhile, Abby sat on the couch in the middle of the room with Liora in her arms, who was contently quiet and obviously trying to take in all that was around her. Ziva and Tony were flanking them, their eyes trained on the baby girl, watching her with awe and a scent of reminiscence lingering between them. McGee was slouched on the floor by Abby's feet, gazing up at mother and daughter with a mixture of admiration and disbelief.

In his lap rested a nameless stuffed tiger that looked a little battered by reality. It was the same stuffed tiger Gibbs had brought to the hospital when he had visited Ziva after David's birth. It had thus stayed in David's possession until, at two years old, he had devotedly given it to his little newborn sister Tali. Now, three years later both kids had unanimously decided that the tiger was now Liora's to have.

"We'll get her back to the orphanage later in the evening and finish up the paper work", Abby explained quietly, her eyes not leaving the baby in her arms.

"And come Monday, we'll be parents", McGee added softly.

Tony and Ziva each shot him a swift, smiling glance. He looked and sounded as if he had been practicing that same sentence for hours, days even to make it roll off his tongue as effortlessly and believably as it just had. He still had a hard time believing it, and so did Abby. But it was true, truly and entirely. They were finally parents. Ziva and Tony met in a content smile.

Suddenly, Liora's eyes got stuck on Tony and he took it as a legitimate cue for baby-talk. "Hey there, baby girl. I'm your Uncle Tony, a.k.a. the cool one", he cooed sweetly, "Your dad and I will have a field day chasing off those per-"

"Tony", McGee cut in sharply, but couldn't suppress the smile the word 'dad' in distinct connection with himself had just painted on his face.

Tony chuckled innocently and patted McGee on the back. "I gotta say, Tim, though… You two make really pretty babies. You should go all Brangelina on the world, adopt your way through it."

On Abby's other side Ziva's eyebrows rose indefinitely. "Who is…Brangelina?", she asked irritably.

Tony scoffed mock-disbelievingly, trying to 'duh'-voice his way through a sensible explanation. "Brangelina? Honey, for the life of us I will never be able to figure out what stuff they thought was more important in those citizenship exams. Brad and Angelina? Still going strong after years and years of-" When he noticed Ziva's baffled expression, he merely added, "-no?"

"Why would anyone…put their names together like that?", she retorted doubtfully.

"To show the world their love for each other, sweet cheeks", Tony explained eagerly, "So, you know… That would make McGee and Abby over here…like… McAbby or something."

"And us?" Ziva smirked.

A grin broke out in his face as he called out gloriously, "Tiva!"

"Just that no one actually cares if Tiva and McAbby get their happy endings, Tony", McGee remarked bluntly, a smile tugging at his lips, "No mock intended."

Tony's continuing grin couldn't be disrupted, though. Enthused, he merely threw his arms to the side. "Ah… McRealist! Got a little Truman in you?"

You have come to the end of this story now - whenever 'now' is. Regardless, please take a moment and leave a final comment! And finally, I would like to point out that there is a SEQUEL in progress called 'THE IDES OF TIME' - I invite you to take a read.