It was a Monday afternoon and earlier this morning we'd all been called in with a new case; it was after the death of two marines that we were rung with the emergency. Gibbs informed us as we arrived at the scene that McGee and Donargun were staying behind to help him with the case, whilst Tony and I were to take the four month old bundle of purple and pink back to the station but to stop and get everything we thought she would need on the way back. So reluctantly I grabbed the child and carried her out to the car, we were only allowed to grab her stroller and the car seat which were neatly placed in the back of the car. Transferring them into the back of our car I placed the young girl into her car seat and strapped her in. It was six months ago when Gibbs had been undercover that Tony and I started dating and ever since Gibbs has known about it, he told us to stuff his rules as long as we were happy, and we were I couldn't have been happier in my life. I looked down at his hand on my thigh and smiled knowing that this was his way of keeping track of me, calming me and loving me without a suspect finding out.

We stopped at the local grocery store, placing the young girl in her stroller and pushing her around the supermarket. Thats when Tony answered his phone and started a conversation with McGee. I looked at him concerned and he just shook his head signalling for me to wait for him to finish.
"McGee has retunred to base. Apparently our victims were working on a classified folder he hasn't been able to hack it just yet but will tell us when we get back. He also did some research for us, apparently the victims were Kelsi and Lindon Klark and this is their daughter Arnika-Lily Sapphire, she's just gone four months, she has no remaining family. Her parents were only children and both their parents died more than ten years ago and thats about all he has on her" he told me as he slipped his arm around my back and into my jean pocket.
"That is such a pretty name" I gushed looking down at the little girl who really did look adorable. Having just found out her name which was just as adorable as she was I felt a special bond with this little girl. One that Tony didn't quite understand just yet, he still had his father, I had no one left now.

I was waiting for Tony to get back from the other end of the aisle with the trolley, we decided to do our full shop whilst we were here we would need it. I was grabbing a bag of rippening apples when I was stopped by an elderly lady who just happened to be passing.
"Your daughter is such a little cutie and your husband is just as good looking" she said wandering off before I had a chance to correct her, I smiled despite myself and carried on waiting. Looking down at Arnika as she had just woken up and was squirming in her seat I picked her up and held her close while I looked at her closely, seeing the deep choclate brown, curly tufts of hair and light green eyes that were speckled with yellow bits reminding me of looking deep into Tony's eyes. She was a mixture of the both of us even though we hadn't birthed her.
"You are such a cutie" I cooed at the little girl in my arms.
"She really is isn't she?" Tony said, making me jump I hadn't noticed he was back.
"Sorry love didn't mean to scare you" he apologised
"Its fine" I smiled looking back down at the little girl in my arms, who was smiling up at me. I was so happy and calm with this little girl that I didn't want to leave her or ever have her be taken away.
"You really like her don't you?" Tony asked
"So very much, I haven't even known her for more than five hours but i really don't think i could live without her now Tony. She is such a beauty and I don't want her to grow up with the childhoods that either of us had" I whispered kissing her tiny forehead as he kissed my head.
"Neither do I Zi. Maybe we could adopt her?" he suggested, taken a back I looked at him quizzically
"Are you serious?" I asked
"Yes I'm in this if you are too. I don't want to lose you or this adorable little girl who is just a precious little bundle of perfect. I want this Zi. Truly I'm ready to commit" he said sincerly.
"Me too. What will Gibbs say?" I asked
"He's probably going to be a little annoyed but happy that she will be in trusted hands" he told me pulling us both in for a hug. Arnika fussing was what got our attention back, so he pulled away and I placed her back in her stroller and we both continued our shop.

"Took you two long enough, what did you do buy the whole store?" McGee teased
"No McGee we went shopping; had to get stuff for Arnika and for ourselves" I told him happily as Tony dropped the bag full of new baby stuff that we had just brought.
"Playing house are we?" he joked
"McGee we've been living together for the last three months and all Ziva's things are at my apartment, we have technically been playing house since then. We just love Arnika so much" Tony told McGee who looked a little stunned.
"Ziver, Tony Director Vance wants to see you up in his office McGee you and I are needed down in Abby's lab asap" Gibbs said walking into the room with his coffee cup filled with his favourite beverage. I looked at Tony and he looked at me just as panicky as I felt, I still had Arnika in my arms and we had no one to look after her so Gibbs took her skillfully and carried her over to the elevator to wait for McGee. I grabbed Tony's hand and he squeezed it trying desperately to reassure me.

Tony knocked on his door and then we entered, Vance looking up from his piece of paper motioned for us to sit in the two chairs that were opposite his desk.
"I bet you two are wondering why I have called you in here" at our nod he resumed
"Arnika-Lily has no family and if from what Gibbs has said is true you two would probably be thoroughly attatched to the little girl by now. I'm trying not to get social services involved before they come and take her away; this young girl needs protection but most of all the love of two people who are in love, but also people who are in it for the long run, a couple who would be willing to adopt her. Would you two be interested?" he asked
"Yes" I squealed which surprised both Vance and Tony, I wasn't a girly girl but this was something that I was eager to take on.
"Alright then Agent DiNozzo are you ready to take on the role of father?" he asked Tony who was usually always happy to be the centre of attention was quite and he looked at me and did something that I was not expecting but Vance obviously was.
"I would take this child and spend everyday protecting her and Ziva. I love that she has choosen me and that we have finally been able to see the light and come together as the couple that I hoped we would be. I love you with all my heart and i promise to cherish, protect and love you with all my heart, and now we have a little girl to look after as well. Ziva David will you marry me?" He asked, I was so overwhelmed by emotion that I couldn't speak, I was crying. Finally after swallowing down the tears I screamed
"Yes! Tony, yes! yes! yes!" I said as he opened the blue box from Tiffany's and showed me a perfect heart ten karat diamond ring surrounded by my favourite jem the saphire.
"Ani ohev otach" he said kissing me on the lips
"Ani ohev otach" I replied out of breath.

It was then that I noticed that Abby, Gibbs, McGee and Arnika were all standing in front of the comupter screen down in Abby's lab. They had all erupted into applause and were all conratulating us. Gibbs was the first one to speak
"Ziva Tony, I'll meet you back downstairs in a coupe of minutes but as an engagement present from me to you I have brought you a six bedroom house a couple of neighbourhoods away from mine. Its totally stunning and I'm sure you will both love it" he said
"Gibbs you really didn't have to" Tony and I tried to argue
"Nonsense thats what I do for my children" he smiled as we all grinned at each other.
"I've brought you something as well but you'll have to wait until babies a bit older until you want it in the house" McGee smirked.
"I got you a guys a panda for Arnika I hope she likes it and I'm gift shearing with McGee" she said happily.
"And my gift for you is a month off of work to celebrate and to get into a routine for yourselves and Arnika" Vance said.

It was another half hour before Tony and I could leave Vance's office as he had gotten us to stay behind and fill out the adoption papers for Arnika and he woud get his assistant to take them in once we had left. We went back down to grab our bags and got Arnika off of Abby who had made her way up to play with Arnkia.
"Can i come see her soon?" she begged
"Yes of course you can Aunty Abby" I told her
"Yay" she said excitedly.
"Aunty Abby?" McGee asked confused
"Yeah well if Tony and I are adopting her then she'll need her aunty and uncle's she already has her two grandpa's" I said happily explaning what Tony and i had discussed en route to the main floor.
"I have a grandchild; she is so special and sweet. I'm honoured" Gibbs said as he hugged me and Arnika before moving off to hug Tony who was more than happy to return the hug.
"I also think we should all meet up after you guys finish work. We should all go to our new place and have a bbq just to make everything perfect" I added as i sat at my desk packing everything on my desk up getting ready for our break.
"I'm going to go down and let Ducky and Palmer know and then I'll be back as soon as possible" Tony said kissing me quickly before leaving for the elevator at the other side of the room. Abby came and stood in front of my desk before holding her arms out for Arnika.

Grabbing my phone off of the hook I dialled the number that I had found for a moving company, Tony and I had discussed what we were going to do and we'd come to the conclusion that we wanted all our stuff in our house and unpacked as soon as possible. So as soon as that phone call was made and Tony had returned from the autopsy lab Abby grabbed the baby bag with Arnika still in her arms and had walked us down to the car in the underground parking lot. Once Arnika was secured in her car seat Abby kissed her goodbye and then bid us farewell until that evening. It took us about half an hour to get to our new place and once we were there we had to set up the play mat and the pen for Arnika and leave her in that before we could make her crib so that we could put her to bed. Tony was bringing in the groceries and had all the babies clothes packed in the set of draws by the time the moving crew arrived and listened as Tony gave instructions on where everything was going.

"How long till the others get here?" Tony asked after unpacking the boxes in our bedroom, it hadn't been much of a job, I didn't have very many possesions and neither did Tony, we were almost always at work so it didn't bother us that much and we had the same amount of clothing as each other, the only thing of Tony's which he had more of than me was his extensive collection of movies.
"They get off at 7.30pm and the are all going home to freshen up first and bring something along this is our house warming as well" I said
"I know I just want to get Arnika's room done before we have our guests arrive" he said walking into the bedroom that we had set aside for her which was a couple seconds walk away from our bedroom. I followed him as I had already finished with the stuff we had so far, tomorrow we would be going for a big shop getting clothes, furniture, baby accesories and all sorts of other things like sheets and blankets.
"You did all this?" he asked turning around
"Ssh! I just put Arnika down for a sleep and she has to be down for another hour, I don't want her over sleeping before we put her down for the night. But yes I did set up her room, why did I do it wrong?" i asked tilting my head.
"No Zi it looks good" he said and just to reassure me even more he turned around and placed his mouth on mine, ravishing it. Pulling away I reluctantly told him that we needed to get ready for the night.

It was just after I had woken Arnika up and was craddling her in my arms when there was a knock on the front door. I was the only one who was able to answer it as Tony was in the shower upstairs. So I cooed to Arnika as she cried her little heart out at being woken up. I had managed to quite her down by the time that I actually reached the door. I opened and saw that it was Gibbs and Ducky with Breena, Palmer and they're newly adopted daughter Cynthia Rose quickly following, Gibbs had in his hands a chilly bin full of beer and meat with a salad inside, Ducky had his famous potato salad and sausages for the bbq. Breena had a plate of eclairs and donughts Palmer was carrying a cake and some more sausages, whilst little Cynthia Rose was holding her teddy bear Meg and their bottle of wine. As soon as they were seated and comfortable, I had finally reliquished my hold of Arnika and made my way downstairs to answer the door for Abby and McGee who had been dating again for the past two years, they'd had to come out about it about five months ago when I had walked in on them in the bathroom with their pants around their ankles and Abby up on the bathroom sink. I will forever be scared after that.

"Where is lil Arnika?" Abby said as she hugged me
"Nice to see you too Abby" I said
"Hi Zi, where is my lil niece?" she asked smiling
"She's with Gibbs" I told her. She was off like a rocket at this announcement and McGee gave me a hug and said that she hadn't stopped talking about Arnika since we'd left. He was left to bring in the food that they'd brought as well as the panda for Arnika. As soon as we'd given it to her everytime we tried taking it off of her she screamed until you gave it back, we quickly learnt that Abby was going to be her favourite person on the world and it was clear that the panda would have to go everwhere with us.