A/N- I know it has quite literally been over 3 years. I've had this ending written for easily over a year now, but I just haven't been at the point where I wanted to publish it. It didn't feel right yet. I think it does now. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 18- Epilogue: 3 Years Later

Ziva's POV

I woke up to the sound of a child screeching. I shot straight up out of bed and scrambled towards my bedside cupboard for the gun in my drawer.

And that was when I realised that the screeching wasn't bad screeching.

There was laughter and joy mixed into the child's screeching. And a man's voice.

Everything was okay.

I relaxed my tense muscles, shut my drawer and rolled over in bed to the smiling faces of my husband and my daughter.

The handsome Anthony DiNozzo and the beautiful Talia DiNozzo were mine. They were both mine. We were happy.

And everything was okay.

"You finally awake, honey?" Tony asked me.

"Yes," I laughed, "You scared me!" I scolded him, pulling Talia over to me, bringing her close to me.

"Oh, I'm sorry babe," he replied smiling at me, moving to wrap his arms around me and our daughter, and kissing both of us on our foreheads.

"You should be!" I mock shouted at him, my attempt at a serious face breaking into a smile before I even finished speaking.

Suddenly, Tony moved away from us, beginning to get out of bed. "Where are you going?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing together and raising in curiosity.

"I, am going to make breakfast for us. You two," he said, pointing at Talia and myself, making her giggle and reach out to grab his finger, "Get ready and dressed, breakfast will be ready when you are."

He got up completely, and left the room.

"Shall we get ready ahuvati?" I whispered to Talia, bringing my face right up to hers.

"Ima!"

"Come on," I picked her up and climbed out of bed, going into her room to prepare us both for the day.

As I got ready, I noticed a rather lovely sweet aroma wafting from the kitchen downstairs, making my mouth water. I could not wait for breakfast, I was so hungry.

We walked downstairs, Talia's tiny hands clutching onto mine and we slowly worked our way down the stairs.

I swept into the kitchen, Talia running in front of me, to Tony standing over the kitchen counter, putting the finishing touches of syrup, whipped cream and strawberries on top of a giant stack of fluffy pancakes. I beamed, briefly wondering how I was blessed enough to have such an amazing man in my life.

"Okay, okay, so I know you forgot what today is, it's okay! But I made us some pancakes anyway, and I got you…" He reached over into the cupboard and pulled out a huge bouquet of roses, "These!" He beamed at me, and I almost melted right where I stood. I took the flowers from his hands and gently laid them onto the side, before reaching my arms around his neck to kiss him.

I pulled away, "I did not forget," I told him, seeing as he barely gave me a chance to speak.

"No, honey, really, you don't have to pretend like you remembered, I don't mind! It's not a special anniversary, it's just 2 years, it's okay!" Tony protested.

I sighed, accepting defeat. If I could fake this well enough right now, then the surprise would be all the better later on. I could not wait.

"Okay now sit," he said taking my shoulders in his hands and guiding me over to the table, sitting me down, "and enjoy," he said as he brought my plate of pancakes over.

He picked up Talia from where she was playing with her dolls house in the corner of the room, and popped her onto her chair, placing a second plate of pancakes in front of her, before placing the third plate of pancakes into the empty chair for himself.

I cleaned up after breakfast, as Tony got ready and Talia attempted to 'help me' wash up in the best way she could. When we were all ready, we loaded into the car to head to work for the day. On our way in, we dropped Talia at nursey, then made our way up to the bull pen.

It was a normal day at NCIS, nothing exciting happening, just paperwork. My lunchtime, I was bored out of my brain, so I went down to visit Abby, checking our plans were still in place for tonight.

After I'd been down to Abby, I walked back into the bullpen, over to Tony's desk and perched myself on the corner.

"I hope you do not have anything planned for tonight," I announced.

"Why?" He said suspiciously.

"Well, I promised Abby that we would come over for dinner tonight, I told her we would weeks ago, and I forgot, but it was supposed to be tonight. We cannot cancel, you know what she can be like, she has already gone a bit overboard on it all," I said, looking sheepish.

"I was going to take you out for dinner, but I didn't book a table anywhere yet. So no, we don't really have any plans. Are we bringing Talia? Cos we're never gunna find a sitter this late," he said, a look of concern crossing his face.

"No, it is okay, I asked, she was hoping that we would bring her to give Leo somebody to play with?"

"Sounds perfect," he smiled at me, reaching up to give me a peck.

I smiled back, moving back over to my desk, excited that everything was falling into place.

Tony's POV

I'd been counting down the hours until work would be over since we got here. Sure, solving murders was totally my shit, but paperwork? My brain was melting right now, I was so bored.

But it was almost time to leave, and I could finally see Talia again, which was always one of the best parts of my day.

Eventually, after what felt like years, it was time to go.

We picked up Talia, made our way home and quickly got ready to go straight back out to Abby and McGee's. I jumped in the shower, quickly redressing in something slightly nicer, and swapping over with Ziva for looking after Talia whilst she got ready herself. I took her downstairs and played with her for half an hour or so before I heard Ziva moving down the stairs.

When she finally walked around the corner into the living room, I grinned widely. She looked stunning. Dressed in a tight, black, mid-length, strappy dress with a slight plunge to the neckline, and a slight slit up the right leg. A pair of simple black stilettos, long bouncing curls, and a pair of simple silver earrings completed it. Simple, elegant, and sexy as hell. I was the luckiest man in the world.

"Are you ready?" She asked, raising one eyebrow at me making her look even hotter.

"I think we are," I said, looking over at Talia, "Are you ready baby girl?"

"Yes!" She said, smiling brightly.

"Are you excited to see Leo?" I said, smiling at her. Abby and McGee's baby was only 6 months older than Talia, and had just celebrated his 2nd birthday. They were firm friends already, being so close in age.

"Yay! Leo!" She shouted.

"Okay baby girl, let's go!" I said, picking her and her bag up and taking her out to the car.

When we pulled up at Abby and McGee's house, the whole place looked dark.

"Babe," I said turning to Ziva, "Are you sure they said tonight?"

"Yes, I am pretty sure," she replied. "They are probably in the back, I'll call her."

"Okay."

She picked up her phone and dialled Abby's number.

"Hello, Abby? We are here now, are you in?" She paused. "Oh okay. Okay. We shall see you soon." She hung up.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"They are just out picking up some last minute bits for dinner, she said they will be back soon. I have my spare key, we can just let ourselves in."

"Oh okay," I said, climbing out of the car to go and get Talia out of the back.

We walked up to the front of the house, and Ziva pulled her spare keys out of her bag. She opened the door, walking in ahead of me and holding the hand of mine that wasn't holding Talia.

She turned on the lights in the hallway, and proceeded through the house to the back kitchen.

She reached for the light switch, and at the same time, "SURPRISE!"

I looked around the room to find everybody standing there, smiling at me. Abby, McGee, Leo, Gibbs, Ducky, Jimmy and Breena.

"Oh my god! Ziva!" I said, turning to my wife. "Seriously? I thought you forgot?" I said, shocked.

She walked up to me and pecked me on the lips, "Happy 2 year anniversary Tony. I love you." She smiled up at me.

"But why here? Why not some low key dinner or something?" I asked, laughing.

"Well it seems fitting that the two people who tried so hard to get us together should want to host a party to celebrate us, no?" She said, referring to Abby and McGee's ridiculous attempt at a ploy to get me and Ziva together 3 years ago.

Even though we already were together by that point, unbeknownst to them, they took us out for a group meal, then trapped the two of us in an elevator for 3 hours pretending it was broken, then actually did break it. It was ridiculous.

"Well it's very thoughtful of you guys," I said, grinning.

I was incredibly grateful for how perfectly my life had turned out these last few years, it was the happiest I'd ever been. And all because of the beautiful woman I had by my side, and our beautiful daughter.

Life was good.

A/N- Well guys, thanks for anybody who stayed long enough to read this. I hope you enjoyed it.