Chapter 1: Prologue

~ Tony ~

Israel, 2013
"Tony... you are so..." Ziva started to comment as the pair stood on the airport tarmac, her eyes starting to tear up.
"Handsome? Funny?" Tony joked in reply, trying to defuse the tension of the situation between them. "What?"
Ziva took a moment before finally answering.
"Loved." Ziva replied, her voice an emotional whisper, a far cry from her usual confident self. Without hesitation, the pair closed the space between them and kissed, then Tony walked away, trying to keep Ziva in sight as long as he could until he had to step into the plane.

Washington DC, 2016
Years passed, and the memory remained vivid in Tony's mind. The team changed around, and life went on, but that conversation and that kiss remained a fixture in his memory. Then, Kort happened.

Tony stood in confused curiosity as Director Elbaz asked another agent to bring someone in. Confusion took a greater share when the agent lead in a toddler, no more than 2 or 3 years old. However, his confusion disappeared being changed with shock when the Mossad director said her next words.
"Tali... is Ziva's daughter." The director informed the room. "And your daughter, Tony."
Tony, usually full of comments and quips, was utterly speechless at the information.

Without any warning, Tony DiNozzo Junior was a father, or rather an Abba, to a young girl. He was faced simultaneously with the grief of having lost Ziva and the brand-new responsibility of fatherhood to Tali, though the latter was eased as he found that Ziva had taught Tali about him. However, these emotions had continued to churn and boil, even leading Tony to snap at Gibbs, something he wouldn't have dared imagine a few years prior. He had decided to leave NCIS to focus on being a full-time father to Tali, his first step being taking her to Israel and to Paris. Israel provided no answers, the Mossad director insisting that they'd let Tony know 'everything they could'. The former agent searched for answers in Tel Aviv, any glimmer of closure or hope, but all the trails ran cold. Finally, Tony gave in and went to the next destination on his list: Paris.

Paris, 2016
Once in Paris, he was able to rent a small apartment for him and Tali, an easier choice than the expense and difficulty of hotel rooms, with a pushchair and other paraphernalia needed for a toddler. Between caring for Tali, trying to teach her some English, and the surprisingly regular calls from Senior, Tony enjoyed being back in the city, remembering when he had come there with the old team, with Ziva, all those years before. He even returned to the little café where he and Ziva had been at in the picture that Tony had found in Tali's go-bag. He was standing in front of this café, trying to unbuckle Tali from her pushchair when someone brushed past him. It wasn't a major bump but was enough to be noticed. Tony straightened his posture and looked both ways, trying to see who was responsible but was only faced by crowds going in both directions. He patted his pockets, wary that it might have been a pickpocket, but everything seemed to still be where it was meant to. However, when he patted his back pocket, he felt something odd. He drew it out and found it was an envelope. It was mostly unremarkable but had a single remarkable feature: it had Tony's name written on it, in a familiar handwriting. Tony looked around again but once again saw no indication of who had bumped into him. Once he had unfastened Tali and sat her calmly in a provided highchair, Tony opened the envelope. It had a piece of paper, on it with the same handwriting. It had an address on it, a flat only a few streets from the café, in the opposite direction to where Tony's and Tali's apartment was. He deliberated for hours about whether to go to the address, this mental deliberation taking until the next day when he relented and took Tali to the address. It was a first floor flat, the building filled with French natives. As he came to the doorstep, the door had been immediately buzzed open without Tony having to ring anyone. He looked at the doorbells before he entered the building and was intrigued by the label next to his destination, which read 'Rainier', the surname used by the pair the first time they had gone undercover together, as a married couple of assassins. He reached the inside doorstep and knocked. There were slow steps inside, someone seeming almost tentative to answer the door. The door opened slowly, and Tony inhaled deeply, unsure of what to expect on the other side.

~ Ziva ~

Israel, 2013
Ziva searched for the words to say as she looked at Tony who had come across the world to find her.
"Tony... you are so..." She started to remark, emotions stripping her of her ability to speak and find the right adjective
"Handsome? Funny?" Tony quipped in reply, giving Ziva a spark of humour and happiness enough to speak. "What?"
Ziva took another second until she settled on the best choice of adjective.
"Loved." Ziva replied, her voice sounding emotional at the enormity of the confession. The next thing she knew, Ziva and Tony had closed the distance between them and kissed.

Similarly, the memory of that night on the Israeli airport tarmac stayed vividly in Ziva's mind throughout the weeks that followed. However, a few weeks later, a worry took a greater portion of Ziva's mind as she woke up feeling nauseous several days in a row, as well as a few other significant symptoms. She took a test, and had her fears confirmed: she was pregnant. Leaning on help from the older women she knew, Ziva handled the pregnancy and 9 months later, Tali came into the world, healthy and happy. She was the light of Ziva's life, though the former agent always had a pang of regret that she couldn't tell Tony, Tali's father, for worry he would abandon his life in America, and Ziva didn't want him to do that and regret it later. Ziva and Tali lived together in Ziva's late father's farmhouse, until three years later.

Israel, 2016
It was an early morning in early May when there was intense knocking at the farmhouse door. Ziva got up and ran to the doorway, opening it to find Mossad Director Orli Elbaz.
"Ziva, may I come in?" Orli asked. Ziva nodded and let the director in.
"You seemed very insistent with your knocking." Ziva commented once she'd closed the door.
"You're straight to the point as ever, Ziva." Orli replied. "That's good as I must make this brief. In all technicality, I am not here. I'm sure you will be able to appreciate the confidentiality."
Ziva nodded.
"Your and Tali's lives are in danger." Orli told Ziva. "We've received intelligence that Trent Kort has escaped custody and has hired a local hitman to target you, but we can't tell who the hitman is." Ziva inhaled and her mind raced through what to do or say.
"Well, what do you need me to do?" Ziva queried.
"In short, Mossad needs you to die." Orli replied. Orli then gave Ziva a package containing a fake passport and account details, everything she needed to start fresh somewhere else in the world. Orli also told Ziva that Mossad would claim no knowledge of the plan, even to Ziva's closest allies. Whether she re-established contact with her old acquaintances would be Ziva's choice. Ziva was also given a file on the current intelligence on an international network of spies responsible for several terror attacks across the world, which Kort was a high-ranking member of.
"Agencies around the world are too entangled to take on this network." Orli informed Ziva. "Neutralising them will require someone more… freelance."

And so, a few days later, the farmhouse was reduced to ashes by mortar fire, though Ziva was already out of the country before this. The hardest part of the whole situation was leaving enough proof for Kort and his allies to believe that Ziva was truly dead. Unfortunately, this meant the hardest choice that Ziva ever had to make, leaving Tali behind. She had already organised with Elbaz for Tali to be taken to live with Tony in America. The night before Ziva left the country, she stood by Tali's cot as the toddler slept.
"I hope we meet again, motek." Ziva said to her daughter through tears. "Your Ima loves you so much, mami."
Most of the Davids' possessions had been moved into storage, with the exception of a few bags Ziva took with her, and Tali's go-bag.

Ziva travelled around the world, working alone to begin disassembling the criminal network which Mossad had codenamed the 'Turncoats'. She kept tabs on her 'family' back in Washington DC, though, including Tony's travels to Israel. When she found out he was travelling to Paris, Ziva made a decision and travelled to Paris as well.

Paris, 2016
Using an apartment confidentially owned by the Davids, Ziva stayed in Paris for months, working on the Turncoats' members in DGSE and DNRED. She also walked along the streets, hoping to see some glimpse of Tony and Tali. Worrying for what Tony's reaction would be if they were reunited in public, Ziva wrote the apartment's address on a card and sealed it in an envelope. She was walking along a familiar road when she stopped at the sight across the road. There, sitting in a pushchair, was unmistakably Tali, and presumably facing away from her, tending to Tali was Tony. Taking the envelope from her bag and pulling her jacket around her to avoid Tali recognising her, Ziva crossed the road and brushed up against Tony, siding the envelope into his pocket in the process and making sure to become part of the crowd a few moments later.

Later, Ziva was back at her apartment. She was looking through notes and pictures, all the information she had been able to gather on the Turncoats' presence in France. She was working in silence when there was a knock at the door. Ziva closed the file, hid it away and took a deep breath. She stood and walked nervously to the doorway, picturing what might happen after she opened the door. When she reached the door, she took another moment to compose herself and opened the door. Immediately, there was a squeal.
"IMA!" Tali squealed, reaching out her arms. Tali was buckled in the pushchair, so without much thought, Ziva knelt and unbuckled the chair before picking up Tali and holding her close. Ziva cooed over her daughter in Hebrew, and Tali laughed. About five minutes later, Ziva looked up to see Tony still standing in the doorway, frozen in place with his mouth half open. Ziva stared back at Tony and even Tali quietened, sensing the shock and nerves of her parents.
"Hello, Tony." Ziva greeted.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this. This is my first time writing an NCIS fic. I will be writing a few more chapters before I do any more reunions. Please remember to review, and I hope you stick with me.

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