Finding Lost Love
Chapter 1.
It was all over, Kort was dead and Tony had resigned from NCIS to begin his new life with his and Ziva's daughter Tali, although in his heart he had some doubts about Ziva's alleged death and wanted to find out the truth, so his first port of call would be in Israel.
During his quest there, even though Orli presented him with some evidence even she admitted that there was as yet no definitive proof that Ziva was no longer with them, so he decided to make one more trip to the ruins of the farmhouse as in a way of a final 'goodbye' if it was to be that Ziva was indeed dead. As he would head to the UK next to catch up with some of the family there before he would settle in Paris hoping Ziva would find him and Tali there.
On the day he went he had at first been worried about taking Tali with him, as he knew she was still struggling somewhat understanding why her Ima had just disappeared from her life, but Orli told him it may end up being beneficial for him to do it, so he did.
When they got there, he was very surprised to find that there was a woman there, and after having watched her lay some flowers with a couple of others that were there, he was caught out when Tali broke away from holding his hand and yelling "Auntie Tanya." And going running over to where she was, before this woman swept Tali up into her arms, giving her a big hug as Tali then began talking to her in Hebrew with her replying to her.
As he finally joined them he was even more surprised when this woman put Tali down and put out her hand saying in a very British accent "Hi, I'm Tanya Wilkes and you must be Anthony DiNozzo."
He took the proffered hand saying in reply "I am and it's nice to meet you Tanya and please its Tony."
As the two then stood with Tali looking on with their own grief at what had happened there, they eventually moved off to walk in the olive grove and while lost in his memories of the time he had spent there before with Ziva, and the time they had spent together then, leading to her conceiving their daughter now with them, and he couldn't help the smile that appeared on his lips as Tali walked in front of Tanya and him singing to herself quietly in Hebrew.
Eventually the two of them sat on a seat watching Tali as Tony eventually asked "So how do you know about me?"
She replied with a wry smile "It was through Ziva, to cut a long story short I am a children's doctor and psychologist in the UK, I came to Israel on an exchange programme with the hospital I worked in. Plus, it ended up being a trip to find myself so to speak, because after years of having been kept in the dark about who my father was my Mom eventually told me. It turned out he was Israeli and in Mossad, after finding out he was married and had his own family back here and knowing he wanted both his son and daughter to follow in his footsteps, my mom had the strength to tell him no and got him out of our lives. He was supposed to have been the director with Eli as his assistant, but on a mission just before he was going to take the chair he was killed in a bomb blast. I ran into Ziva at around the time she was injured and you came searching for her, I also have to apologize for that time because even if I didn't know where she was, you would have been saved on time a little bit, but Dr. Buchan made sure with her little vendetta on you and Ziva that no-one got to you, I came close a couple of times, but she somehow got to me so I couldn't. Anyway we caught up again not long after you'd gone back to DC, she used her contacts and Orli and we found out that we were actually cousins, so because of that we got to know each other, and once I went back to the UK she'd come to see me there and when I took leave I was out here, as we got to know each other everything came about us and our lives, so that was how I found out about you and her feelings for you and that you were of course Tali's father."
"So what are you doing here now?"
She answers "I don't think it will happen now, but she had been thinking about going back to work, and because I was going through some things with my boss, she made the suggestion that I came out here and be Tali's nanny and I agreed."
He brushes his hand through his hair and says "Where are you staying and what are you going to do when you go back home again?"
She responds "Well, while I'm here I'm staying in my apartment that my father had got me, my brother also has the one next door to mine, which Orli found out about for us because after things not working out as he hoped with my mom he had put them in trust with Eli and he had kept them on with something in his will about ensuring that we both got the apartments or sell them if we wished. Luckily I also kept my apartment on back at home, because we'd had such great times when Ziva came to London and the last couple of times that Tali came she seemed to remember it more and loved it, so we thought it would be good just to keep it on for if we visited at anytime. I'm just going to work out what I will do now for a job because I obviously left my job to come out here. That's why I missed the news about what had happened here because I was on the way here already; Orli was keeping an eye on my apartment and came to tell me the news when I arrived. I wanted to have a couple of days to get over the jet lag before coming here as I have done today."
He then says "Look I hope you don't think that I'm being forward or anything like that, but I do want Tali to know about Ziva and I don't want her to loose her heritage either, plus I'm struggling with understanding Tali when she jabbers away in Hebrew, so why don't we say that you still be her nanny, that way she gets the best of both worlds, plus you'd also be able to I hope teach me more Hebrew than the very basic things I know now."
"Ok, but what are your plans?"
He answers "Well I was going to go to the UK for a while and catch up with some of my family there, then I was thinking about settling in Paris because Ziva loves Paris and I thought why not settle there, seeing as there are also some special memories that the two of us have for that place."
"Ok Anthony DiNozzo I think you could have yourself a deal… wait a minute you made it sound like you think that Ziva is still alive, do you think it could be true?"
He sighs and says "I suspect that it might be true because there's been no definitive evidence as yet to show that she is dead and that's why I came here to look for answers and well if she isn't Paris is special for the both of us and if I have to wait for her to find us there, then I want to do that."
She does a weak smile and answers "So let's find out the truth together, because you know I somehow have a strange feeling about all this as well and from the things that Orli said it made me have doubts too. I'm no detective, but you could quite easily find some answers and I would like to know the truth about my best friend, plus I would love for her to get some happiness with the man she has always been in love with."
As the two of them then get up from their seat and call Tali to them, when she does so, Tony sweeps her up into a hug and then carries her, they then stop once again at the spot outside the wreckage from the burnout farmhouse where Tanya had laid the flowers, both saying quiet prayers to themselves that their theories about Ziva still being alive were true and for her to be bought back to them safe and sound. As the three of them then walk away in silence, what they don't see is a lonely figure watching them all unseen with tears in their eyes.
A/N: I originally had the idea for this story when Michael announce he was leaving, but then after seeing Family
first I went through a bit of a re-write and now after hearing about 'She' last week I decided to dig it out once again, as it seemed appropriate to bring
it out again, so once again having a re-write again, but will be posting as & when I manage to do so! Hope you all enjoy this journey! Xxx. D. :0)
