A/N: I initially started this as a oneshot, but now it's looking as though it may be several chapters long. It's the first NCIS fic I've written in a bit, so your thoughts are appreciated! Occasional use of french is translated at the end of the statement. (Translations provided by Google. I apologize if they're incorrect!)

Follow You Down

"You're never gonna grow up,
You're never gonna be a man: Peter Pan..."
-"Peter Pan" , Kelsea Ballerini

The sun glared through the windows as Tony wiped down the counter of the concession stand. It was eerily quiet, yet he could still hear noise coming from the theater across the room that settled him. He swiped a handful of popcorn off the counter into the waste bin and then settled it under the counter before heading back into the kitchen.

"Karine?"

A woman popped her head around from behind the counter and smiled at him. "Mr. DiNozzo, hi."

Tony smiled back at her. "I've told you over and over again, Karine, Mr. DiNozzo is my father. Call me Tony."

Karine chuckled. "Did you need something?"

"Did you reorder yet?" He asked. "We're getting low on popcorn again."

"Just sent the order out a few minutes ago," she replied. "Popcorn was on the list."

"Great," Tony said. He smiled at her. When he hovered a moment too long, she glanced back up at him.

"Was there something else?" She asked.

Tony shook his head, refocusing his attention. "No. Sorry, Karine." Muffled sound came through the doorway and he furrowed his brow, waving to Karine as he headed to the door.

"Is anybody back there?"

"Coming," Tony replied as he stepped through the doorway. He walked back into the serving area and over to the counter. "What can I get...you."

"Tony."

He smiled as he stared across the counter at Zoey, surprised to see her.

"Zoe," he replied. "What're you doing here?"

"Vacation," she replied. She furrowed her brow at him, smirking. "Are you undercover?"

Tony shook his head. "No. Can I get you something."

She glanced up at the menu board and then back down at him. "Large popcorn and a coke," she replied. "Wait so you're not with NCIS anymore?"

He stepped away, grabbing a bucket and filling it with popcorn before placing it on the counter before grabbing an empty cup and moving to the drink machine.

"No," he replied as he began to fill the cup. "Light ice?"

Zoey nodded. She stared him down curiously, as though just looking at him might actually give her answers, though it didn't. A few seconds later, he settled the cup on the counter and then placed a lid on it and slid her a straw before taking her card. He passed it back to her a moment later and smiled.

"Enjoy your movie."

Zoey still looked skeptically at him for several seconds before it seemed as though she recalled she was actually there to see a movie. She turned and walked away. When she was no longer within view of him, Tony dropped his elbows onto the counter and rested his head against his hands, sighing heavily.

This was going to get messy.

Half an hour later, people filed out of several theaters, and Tony stepped around the counter, leaning against it as he watched people head out. It took a few minutes, but once a number of them had cleared through the room, he spotted his father walking through with Tali. He smiled and knelt down as they walked over, extending his arms to her.

"Aba," Tali replied, grinning as she tossed her arms around his neck. He smiled, hugging her back, and lifting her as he stood.

"Did you like the film?" He asked. She nodded, curling tighter to him.

"Good," he said happily.

"Cour de recreation?" She asked. (Playground?)

"Oui," he replied happily at her use of French. Though she was only three and a half, and still susceptible to learning new languages easily, she preferred English and Hebrew to it. He glanced up at his father. "Park?"

Senior shook his head and yawned. "Not today, son. I think I need to head back for a lie down." He glanced down at Tali. "Film de ce soir, vous et moi?" (Film tonight, you and me?)

She nodded, leaning over to hug him. He chuckled and hugged her back. They headed out of the building shortly thereafter, though they headed in separate directions as he and Tali headed towards the park. As they walked, he couldn't help still thinking about seeing Zoey. He hadn't spoken to her or even heard from her since shortly after they had split up. He wasn't even sure if she knew about Tali, or Ziva's death. As it was, she had never been big on social media, so he highly doubted that she'd ever seen pictures of them.

It wasn't as though he had ever been big on social media in the past, either. As it was, he didn't start using it until Abby showed up in Tel Aviv three weeks after he'd left D.C., insisting that he use Facebook and stay in touch with his former coworkers. She'd given him an hour-long lecture about wanting to see more pictures of him and Tali, though it was all he could do not to laugh. Thus, he let Abby download the app to his phone and he began posting pictures a few times a week, whether they were at the theater watching a movie, or at home making a mess with playdoh.

What surprised him most in his tentative relationship with technology wasn't his affinity for using every filter on a picture of Tali. Instead, he was surprised the first time he posted a picture of his daughter, it was quickly followed by a text message from Jethro. The text messages became a regular thing, and months passed before he found out that Abby had her facebook account logged in on Gibbs' phone so that he could see the pictures every time Tony uploaded one. After that, just texted them to Gibbs every time he uploaded them so that the man didn't regularly destroy iPhones in order to see pictures of his quasi-granddaughter.

Tali pushed away from Tony as they approached the park, and he lowered her down, letting her charge towards the jungle gym. He stopped at a street vendor on the edge of it long enough to buy an iced coffee, though his eyes never left Tali's movements.

"Swing, Aba," she yelled at him as he crossed the grass towards the jungle gym. He chuckled, taking a drink of the cold coffee before he swept Tali up into his arms and carried her over to the swings. He settled her into one and then pulled the bucket seat forward before releasing it, letting her swing backwards. Tali giggled and squealed, and Tony smiled. He settled his coffee on the ground next to his feet and then pulled his phone from his pocket. He snapped a few photos of her and a quick video before tucking it back away, returning his attention to his daughter, and her incessant giggles.

One thing was always true with Tali: she was everyone, all day every day, all the time.

.,.

His phone buzzed, skittering on the counter as he settled the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. Tony stood up straight and wiped his hands try on a hand towel before picking the phone up. He furrowed his brow at the unknown number, but answered anyway.

"Hello?"

"I had to make three promises and give up vacation time to get your number," Zoey's voice came back.

Tony chuckled, leaning back against the counter. He glanced towards the living room where Senior and Tali were watching Zootopia.

"Hi," he replied.

"Hey. I wanted to ask this afternoon if you wanted to meet and talk, but I couldn't find the words. So do you want to meet?"

Tony glanced up as Senior walked into the room.

"Um, I'm kinda busy right now," he replied.

"No you're not," Senior replied audibly. He whispered, "is that Zoey?"

Tony nodded curtly, sighing.

"Look, I-"

Senior walked over to him and grabbed the phone from his hand. "Zoey? He'll meet you. Send him a text to tell him where." He ended the call and then passed the phone back to Tony.

"Dad-"

"Don't 'dad' me, son," Senior ordered. "You hole up here night after night. You don't do anything if it's not about Tali."

"That's my job," Tony responded, trying to keep his voice low so they didn't disturb Tali.

"That's true," Senior commented. "But you also don't take any time for yourself, and you need to. So whether you go meet Zoey or not, you're leaving. Now."

Tony stared his father down, but he was no match for Senior. After a solid few minutes, he stepped away from the counter and grabbed his phone before heading into the living room. Tali was curled up in a blanket covered in superheroes-Tony and Senior were doing their best to give her a wellrounded education, but she quite enjoyed The Avengers. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, and she smiled up at him.

"Want some ice cream?" He whispered down at her.

"Hag dogs?" She replied. Tony chuckled.

"Yes," he replied. "Haagen-Dazs. I'm gonna go get it."

She smiled wider at him, and then stood up on the couch and outstretched her arms to him. Tony picked her up and she snuggled against him for a few moments. When she leaned back, she grabbed his cheeks and giggled before she leaned in and kissed him. Tony smiled and kissed her forehead before settling her back down on the couch.

Senior returned to the living room as Tony slipped his shoes on and grabbed his keys from where they were hanging next to the door.

"Ice cream, dad?" Tony asked as he glanced up at the man. Senior waved a dismissive hand.

"I'm good, Junior. Have a nice time."

.,.

He expected to end up at a bar somewhere, but instead Zoey sent him an address for a cafe a few blocks from his apartment building. When he arrived, she was already sitting at a table, poking a fork at a piece of pie. Tony stared at her for several seconds from the doorway, only to be interrupted when the hostess asked if he needed to be seated.

"No," he replied with a sheepish smile. "Thanks."

He walked past her and headed over to Zoey's table, sliding into a seat across from her. She settled her fork back on her plate and smiled at him.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hi," Tony murmured back.

"So you work in a movie theater now?" Zoey asked.

"Own it and run it, actually," he replied. He lifted an empty coffee cup to one of the servers.

Zoey smiled. "That actually suits you. Do you do classic movie nights?"

"Of course," Tony replied, mocking an aghast tone. "People have to know the classics."

"That's awesome, Tony," she said. She looked down at her pie, and he glanced off across the room. This conversation felt like a well-worn sweater fresh out of the dryer-warm, yet not as soft as it used to be. He expected it though; he was hardly the person he had been the last time they'd seen each other, and he doubted that Zoey was, either.

"Why'd you want to meet me?" He asked after a few minutes of silence. Before Zoey could answer, a waitress walked up and filled Tony's coffee cup.

"Je peux vous obtenir quoi que ce soit d'autre, monsieur?" The girl asked. (Can I get you anything else, sir?)

"Parlez-vous anglais?" He replied. She nodded. (Do you speak english)

"Can I get a cappuccino, please?" He requested.

"Oui, sir. I will get that for you." He gave a small smile at her and then turned his attention back to Zoey when she'd walked away. "So?"

Zoey shrugged. "I show up at a theater on the first day of the first vacation I've had in years and run into you working there? I got curious. You loved working for the law."

Tony nodded, lifting his cup of coffee to his lips. He shrugged a shoulder, smirked. "Things change."

"That might be the vaguest thing you've ever said," she stated, chuckling. "Is Senior okay?"

Tony nodded, settling his coffee cup back on the table. He stared down into it, wondering if he should tell Zoey about Tali. After another thought on it though, he didn't know why he should feel any need to hide Tali. She was the greatest thing about his life, and there was nothing that would ever make him want to hide her.

"Do you remember when I told you about Ziva?" He asked.

Zoey nodded. "Are you guys together now?"

A soft laugh escaped him, but it felt like a knife twisting. Tony shook his head. He moved a hand off the table, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

"The last time I saw her, when she left NCIS, we, uh-...we had a moment," he commented. "She died in a fire a year and a half ago."

"Okay," Zoey drawled, confused.

Tony unlocked his phone and opened his camera roll, tapping on the first picture. He turned his phone around and handed it to her. "This is Tali."

Zoey's jaw dropped and her expression fell somewhere between surprise and excitement at the sight of a cute toddler. She took Tony's phone from his hands and zoomed into the photo, smiling as she looked at the picture.

"Tony, she's beautiful," she cooed, looking back and forth between his phone and his face. "Do you have more pictures?"

He nodded, reaching over and swiping his finger so the next picture showed. Zoey smiled, continuing to scroll through as she looked at the pictures. After a minute, she looked back up at him for a moment, though she still held his phone.

"You didn't have her when we were together," she commented.

Tony shook his head, swallowing past a knot that threatened to form in his throat. "I didn't know about her. They brought her to me after Ziva passed. She didn't know how to tell me."

Zoey nodded, glancing yet again back down at the phone. The picture she'd stopped on had been taken a few months earlier. Tim and Ellie had been in town investigating a case, and they'd come to the house for dinner. After they had all eaten, they were spending time in the living room, and Ellie had snapped a photo of Tali and Tony. He had been tickling her, so she was laying across his lap giggling in the photo while his head pressed against hers, giggling himself.

"Speaking of which, you don't have any hidden children, do you?" He asked.

Zoey laughed, looking back up at him. "No. I promise."

"I've had an unwavering need to check in the last year," Tony laughed.

Zoey nodded, looking down at the photo once more before she finally returned the phone to him. He glanced down at the photo still on the screen and smiled.

"So you left for her," Zoey surmised. "Tali."

Tony nodded, looking down at the photo once more. "I'm all she has," he stated. He chuckled a second later. "And now I can't imagine a moment without her."

Zoey smiled at him. When he finally looked up at her, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"What?" He asked.

Zoey shook her head, shrugging. "You've become exactly what I didn't think was possible. I never could have imagined you this domesticated."

Tony chuckled. Zoey wasn't wrong. He'd definitely had his moments over the years when he considered settling down. When Jeanne had left after they'd gone after La Grenouille, he'd thought about leaving and going after her, if only for a when Ziva had left, there was a part of him that thought about throwing in the towel and staying with her, but it hadn't felt right at the time. He'd often wondered after Tali was brought to him if he had been wrong in making that choice, but then he could never come up with how it would've been different, if he'd stayed and knew about her from the beginning. It had taken an exceedingly long time before he came around to the fact that a part of him felt okay with not being there, because Ziva got such a short time with their daughter, and he wouldn't have wanted to take a second of that away from her or Tali. Of course, that didn't change the fact that he'd wished he'd had more time with her, and even a single second with the both of them together.

"You're not here with me anymore," Zoey commented. Tony shook out of his reverie and back up at her.

"Sorry," he murmured, smiling.

They continued to sit and talk for well over an hour, talking discussing less important topics as they sat together. After a while, the initial tension seemed to fade out, and it felt like two old friends talking, as it should. When Tony finally bothered to check the time on his phone, he realized he was going to miss Tali's bedtime if he didn't head out soon for the ice cream, but he was still knee-deep in conversation with Zoey, so she offered to go with him to get the ice cream. Some thirty minutes later, they had arrived back at the cafe where Tony had met her, and he idled his car on the curb to drop her off.

"It was good to see you, Tony," Zoey commented softly as she rested her hand on the door handle. He smiled at her and nodded. Zoey stared at him for a long minute before leaning over and wrapping an arm around him, pulling him into a hug. She kissed his cheek and he turned into it, their faces resting against one another for a moment before she finally pulled back. A million different emotions seemed to cross her face at the same time as she smiled at him once more before getting out. Tony waited until he spotted her getting into a rental car before he pulled back into traffic and headed towards home.