A fluffy, family oneshot that I needed to write because after seeing Tony and Ziva playing with kids, I needed to write something happy before trying to continue writing Mercurial.

Ages ago, in a more difficult time, Ziva David had given up her hopes of having children. There was time, of course, when she had thought that maybe children of her own was a possibility, but then life had decided that was a much too happy dream, and those hopes had been shattered into an innumerable amount of pieces. For two years after that, she'd tried to come to terms with this, and accept the fact that while there were things that she wanted in her life, they weren't all going to happen.

At least, that was what she'd thought.

A year and a half after her heart had been broken by a man who told too many lies and too little truths, she'd discovered something phenomenal: her partner was in love with her, and she was in love with him, too. It had come up at a time they hadn't expected it, in a winter where the cold was colder than usual. They'd been out late on a case, and when the order to go home and get a few hours of sleep had been given, his place had been much closer. So, they'd found themselves in his apartment, crashing in his still relatively new bed, asleep before their heads had even hit the pillow.

She'd woken four and a half hours later to the smell of coffee brewing, and she'd walked into the kitchen to find him making it. He'd smiled at her, made her coffee just the way he knew she liked it, and told her Gibbs wanted them back at the office in an hour. Then, with his own coffee in his hand, he'd slipped up and told her that he liked waking up with her next to him.

Her initial reaction was to blush, and avoid his eyes, but then she'd looked back at him to see him watching her with the softest expression, so open and vulnerable that she admitted her own little secret: the fact that she hadn't slept well in over a year, but that last night, sleep had come easy simply because he was beside her.

She imagined that their little moment would be forgotten, just like so many others had. However, when he asked her over for movies the next night and later told her she didn't have to worry about driving herself home so late, she had the feeling that this time was different.

The next week, it happened twice. The week after that, three times. A month later, she was lying beside him in the dark of his bedroom when she felt him slide a little closer, his breath fanning her forehead. He made no other moves to touch her, but when she woke the next morning, her head was nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

Another week after that, they were sitting on his couch watching movies when she caught him staring at her out of the corner of her eye. Though tradition would call for him to look away and act as if their eyes meeting was of no circumstance, he didn't. Instead, he lifted his hand and brushed her hair behind her ear, his eyes full of the most raw emotion she'd ever seen.

That was the first time he kissed her, his lips soft and warm and nothing like anything else she'd ever experienced. It was strange to think that kissing her partner came so naturally, as if they'd done it a thousand times. When he'd pulled away, she'd simply leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder, trying to decide where they were supposed to go from that.

As it turned out, she didn't have to think about it too hard, because just before she succumbed to sleep that night, he'd kissed her again, his hand coming up to cup her cheek and brush his thumb across it. She'd shivered at the emotion conveyed in that single action, but every muscle in her body had relaxed when he'd wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him, his warmth covering her entire body.

Three nights later, he'd kissed her again as they were settling in, and he'd whispered into her hair that he loved her. Though she hadn't uttered the words to a man in such a long time, the phrase easily fell from her lips in return, and he'd held her even closer that night, as if he were afraid the entire thing was a dream that he would lose if he didn't hold it tight.

They'd been together for just over a month when they told everyone, surprised when all of their coworkers, including Gibbs, welcomed the news with open arms. That night, high on the thought that maybe everything was finally turning around in their lives, he made love to her for the first time. It was a memory she held dear, because despite the fact that they had skirted around each other so provocatively for years, that night, everything was simply love. He'd held her close to him the entire time, running his hands down her sides and tangling them in her hair as he'd kissed her senseless.

The next morning, snuggling in the light of the early Sunday sunlight, he'd told her that he wanted her to move in with him, and when she said she would love to, he'd told her how much he loved her, how much he needed her, how much he wanted her. Then, he'd showed her again just how immeasurable it all was, how deep this love between them went.

And then, two months later, her dream, so long forgotten, was reignited when she woke up one morning, sicker than she'd ever been in her life. At first, she'd thought that perhaps she'd caught a bug or something, but then, just as she had predicted all those years ago, she just knew.

She'd sat in the bathroom for the longest time, tears falling from her eyes as she came to the realization that what she'd thought was no longer an option for her was now staring her in the face. The possibility that she had long given up on was suddenly there, no longer shoved to the inner corners of her mind. When Tony found her twenty minutes later, complaining that the bed had been cold, he'd been automatically scared out of his mind, asking her what was wrong and what he could do.

She'd smiled a trembling smile up at him, standing with his assistance and wrapping her arms around him as tight as they would go. When he'd asked again what was wrong, she'd pulled away, telling him that there was something she needed to do, but that she would be back.

Leaving him with a confused mind, a million questions, and a simple "Trust me, I am fine", she'd gone to the nearest drug store and bought two different pregnancy tests. Upon arriving back at his apartment with them concealed in a plastic bag, he'd looked at her questioningly. Thirty minutes later, he'd cried, too, when she walked out of the bathroom with two pregnancy tests that both read positive.

He didn't even remember to scold her for worrying him like that.

Now, she knows that she should have never given up on the dream to begin with, because whether she'd been looking well enough to see him or not, Tony had always been there in plain sight. She just didn't see him. She's always been glad that she finally did, however, because once she had, everything changed.

"Mommy!" A small voice pulls her out of her thoughts as it echoes through the house and a few seconds later, she hears two distinct sets of footsteps coming down the hall. There's the lighter, quicker steps of her two year old daughter, Talia, and the much heavier footsteps of her husband for just over two years.

Talia bounds into the living room, where Ziva is dusting a photograph of herself and Tony on their wedding day. Ziva's dress was made in a way that you could barely see the baby bump there unless you were really looking for it. That was a few weeks after they'd found out they were having a little girl.

"Mommy, Daddy's gon' get me!" Talia giggles, hiding behind Ziva's leg and peeking around toward the hall, where Tony slowly creeps out.

Talia's giggle rings through the room, and Ziva smiles, looking over her shoulder just as Tony reaches them. His hands find Ziva's hips, and he peeks around her at Talia, who is still giggling.

"Ziva, I think I lost our child," he says, winking at her.

"Here I am!" Talia yells before running off back down the hallway, laughing the entire way.

"Found her." She turns in his arms, wrapping her own around his waist and pressing a kiss to his lips.

"Mmm," he murmurs into the kiss, his arms snaking around her waist and pulling her close.

She laughs, breaking the kiss and smiling up at him. He tilts his head, his eyes assessing her. She knows he can tell something is up. "What is it?" he asks, and she kisses him again before she answers.

"I have some good news," she tells him against his lips, and he raises his eyebrows.

"Really?" He twines his fingers together over the small of her back and smiles. "And what is that?"

"I am late, and I may have took a test this morning," she says, keeping her answer relatively simple, teasing him just a little.

"And?" He's grinning now. He knows the answer, and she knows that he knows. She also knows he just wants to hear her say it.

"It was positive," she replies. "I am pregnant again."

His grin widens, and she feels her heart give a tug at the sight. "That's amazing, Ziva."

"What do you want this time?" she questions, her fingers finding his belt loops and threading her index fingers through them.

"Well, a boy would be nice. But you know I don't care either way." His eyes are bright, and she leans up to kiss him again, feeling like the luckiest woman in the entire world.

Tears sting her eyes, and when she pulls back, he notices. "Hey," he whispers, his hands coming up to her face and neck. "What is it?"

"I just..." she hesitates, unsure of what words could possibly even describe this moment for her. "I am just very... happy." She shrugs, the word seeming like an understatement. "I had... I had given up on even having one child, and now... now I am going to have two."

Tony's eyes look shiner now, and he kisses her, his hands tangling in her hair as his lips caress her own gently. "I love you so much," he sighs when he pulls away, his hands staying tangled in her hair.

She smiles, laughing at how silly she is being. He wipes away the one tear that slipped down her cheek and returns his hands back to her waist. She lets herself relax against him for a moment, her head resting on his shoulder. "I love you, too, by the way."

"I know, sweetheart," he tells her, pressing a kiss to her head. "I know."

"Daddy! Come find me!" Talia calls from the bedroom, and Ziva laughs.

"Go play with your daughter," she says, kissing him once more before letting him go.

"Isn't it your turn?" he asks even as he begins heading that way. She shakes her head, smiling despite herself. He winks at her. "I love you. Coming, sweet cheeks!"

Ziva watches as he disappears back down the hall. Her eyes catch sight of a picture on the wall of all three of them when Talia was around eight months old. Tony is holding her, and his other arm is wrapped around Ziva, who has her hand resting under Talia, just beside his arm. It was a picture that Abby had taken, at some point in the fall after Talia was born. It's a good picture of all of them, and Ziva adores looking at it whenever she's not having the best of days. It never fails to make her smile.

Now, though, she supposes they'll need a new picture in another year or so. Then, there'll be another DiNozzo to add into the picture. Knowing that brings a smile to Ziva's face, and when she hears Tony and Talia both laughing, she can't help but tear up again just a bit.

Years ago, she'd told her father that sometimes, life surprises you. Despite the fact that the words had come out of her mouth, she had never expected that her life would do just that, because she most certainly never imagined that her life would turn out to be so wonderfully perfect.