Title: Speak Now
Fandom: NCIS
Author: Alidiabin
Words: 1,862
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Warnings/ Spoilers: up to 8x09
Parings: hinted at Tony/Ziva and a little Malachi/Liat.
Summary: After Eli's talk with Gibbs in interrogation. Ziva suggests they talk too.
Speak Now
Eli scrunched up his face at the tea Gibbs had put in front of him. He heard the door open; Gibbs had left a few minutes ago, Eli wondered if he had come back to ask yet more questions.
"What now?" Eli said as he slowly looked up. He noticed his daughter leaning on the mirror. "Ziva" he whispered quietly.
"Here," Ziva said putting a mug of tea in front of him. Eli hesitated. "It is not poisone," Ziva uttered. Eli pointed to the tea in front of him. Ziva sniffed the tea. "That is the crap from the break room," Ziva said. Ziva pointed to her cup. "This is from the stash of teabags I keep at my desk away hidden away from Tony's sticky paws." Eli smirked and took the tea. He took a sip.
"Much better than the other crap," Eli said. Ziva looked down. "You did not come here to talk tea.
"No" Ziva said "We need to have a conversation"
"The last time you said that in such a tone, you have forms for me to sign and a plane ticket to DC" Eli said remembering their tense conversation over half a decade ago.
"I needed to get out of Israel for a while, you of all people should have understood that" Ziva said. Eli took this is a jibe about his little detour in Amsterdam. "What you did in Holland makes my teenage years seem like a vestal virgins" Eli scoffed, he somehow doubted her comment, Ziva had inherited Eli's rebellious streak. "But I do not wish to talk about that"
"What do you wish to talk about?" Eli said knowing it probably involved Somalia.
"Not here" Ziva uttered. "I have bread, wine and ingredients for pasta bake at my apartment"
"Ok" Eli said completely amazed that Ziva would let him into her apartment; Eli wondered if Ziva was inviting him to show him what she had without him.
"Your officers can stay away, there is a nice restaurant around the corner" Ziva said.
"I will compromise" Eli said. "They can wait outside"
Malachi and Liat sat in the car across the street from Ziva's apartment. They watched as another car pulled up.
"He is like Gina's ex in Amelie" Liat whispered. "Always watching" Malachi rolled his eyes, Liat liked French movies, and he often woke up after their adult activities in her Tel Aviv flat and found her watching a French film on the couch, with the ginger furred cat Bill that Malachi hated.
"There goes our plans" Malachi said.
"You've never done it with an audience" Liat asked. DiNozzo got out of the car and walked toward them carrying sandwiches.
"What's the news Hebrews?" Tony said as he handed them the deli food from the Jewish deli around the corner from Ziva's apartment.
"Malachi does not like audiences" Liat said with a smirk.
"You are quite the little exhibitionist aren't you Liat?" Tony uttered. "So" Tony looked to the balcony of Ziva's apartment.
"Well" Malachi said. "I haven't heard gunshots or screaming so perhaps they are having a civil conversation" he uttered. After a short pause and Liat pulling the tomato out from her sandwich, Malachi spoke again. 'You care for Ziva don't you" Tony looked at Malachi. "I have known her since she was twenty-one we went through training together."
"So if I hurt her you'll go all big brother on me" Tony said.
"No" Malachi replied. "She'll kill you herself. I was going to say she seems to care about you too"
Eli looked around Ziva's cosy green walled apartment. Ziva walked toward the kitchen which had shelves running from top to bottom holding everything from pans to paprika. Eli noticed the piano sitting next to the green wall. Above the piano were lots of photo frames, Eli noticed the one directly in his eye line. It was of Ziva in a white suit holding up her hand with a mini American flag in her hand. On the day she became an American citizen. He ran his fingers across a few of the keys and walked toward the coffee table, the wooden table was a dumping ground it had a closed laptop and a couple of DVDs and three books with library stickers on them. He picked up the book in the middle of the pile: 'Fathers and Daughters' a short story collection. Eli looked at Ziva who was boiling water and humming.
"Pass me the laptop" Ziva said. "I will put some music on" Eli handed the laptop to Ziva who opened something and out of the tiny laptop speakers came HaDag Nachash, one of her favourite bands.
"Bathroom" Eli uttered quietly Ziva pointed him to the door.
Eli opened the door and found himself in a bedroom, with unmade purple bedding and an open wardrobe. Eli looked at the wardrobe and remembered Ziva's childhood bedroom it was just as messy. He took a quick peak at the clothes and the photo of the team on her bedside table. He opened the door and found the bathroom; he opened the cupboard and had a look. As he left the bathroom he had a quick peak under the bed and saw nothing of interest.
Ziva was mixing something rather violently when Eli returned.
"Did you have a good snoop?" Ziva asked in an angry voice. "Did you find out what type of sanitary wear I use? What brand of shampoo? How many pairs of shoes I own?" Ziva shouted. Eli remained silent. "Tampons, something to do with Herbs and eight" Ziva said in a quiet voice.
"I only counted seven" Eli said as he noticed a pair of shoes next to the door. "Ziva" he said. "What is it you want from me?"
"I do not know" Ziva said. "I want to be able to forgive you but I do not think I can."
"Do you want an apology?" Eli asked.
"An apology for what?" Ziva said in a loud voice. "Missing out of my ballet performances, not stopping Ima from taking us away, letting me kill my own half brother or leaving me in Africa at the hands of sadist" Ziva shouted. Eli looked at Ziva. "Because the last two are partly my own doing" she said quietly.
"Ziva" Eli uttered. "Gibbs was right; I could have just teleconferenced in for this conference. I did not have to fly to DC. "
"You wanted to see me" Ziva said. Eli nodded.
"You are my daughter" Eli said. "And I know I have been a bad father but you are still my daughter"
"Gibbs is under the impression you resent my American citizenship" Ziva said. "You resent my new life"
"I am not going to lie to you" Eli said. "I did, I resented that you had the sense to get out of mossad before it destroyed you, but now as I see you happy I feel proud"
"You are proud of me" Ziva said wiping a tear from her eye.
"Yes" Eli said. "I never expected forgiveness. I have set fire to too many bridges. I would like to be a part of your life but if that is too much to ask I will not push it."
"I do not know" Ziva said she turned to the oven and pulled out a dish.
They ate silently in her apartment. Ziva was thinking. Eli could see it in her eyes, she was miles away. Ziva ate and desperately tried to shut her mind up, she thought of everything. Of the conversation they had just twenty minutes previously, of telling Gibbs she denounced Eli, of Somalia, of Ari's death, of those ballet performances spent watching for Eli's face in the crowd and seeing an empty chair next to her mother.
"You are good cook" Eli said as he put his knife and fork together on the empty plate.
"Thank you" Ziva said with a nod. "Do you know where Ima is?" Ziva asked. Eli looked away.
"She's travelling" Eli said. "Australia last time I checked" Rivka had become the wandering Jew after Tali's death and had not had contact with Ziva since Ziva joined mossad. "I can get contact details if you would like" Eli said. Ziva shook her head. Eli checked his watch. "I should get going; jetlag seems to affect me more now that I am older"
Ziva nodded and walked with him toward the door of her apartment and down the stairs. He noticed Liat and Malachi's car was all steamed up. Eli frowned. Ziva giggled. She noticed Tony's car.
"Ziva" Eli said again.
"Kisses for Papa" Ziva whispered. Eli nodded. She kissed his cheek.
"Layla Tov" Eli whispered. Ziva nodded. Eli crossed the road to Malachi and Liat's car. Ziva watched as it drove off. Tony got out of his car and walked toward Ziva. She walked up the stairs.
A few minutes later Tony let himself into Ziva's apartment.
"How was dinner?" Tony asked. Ziva begun to clean up.
"We talked" she said. "He is proud of me for my new life"
"That's good" Tony said as Ziva angrily scrubbed the dish.
"I do not know if I can forgive him" Ziva said. "I am trying. I want too but every time I think about it, I remember all the reasons I should be angry at him" Tony put his arms around her.
The next day after the Israeli's had left Tony touched the blue and white mini Israeli flag on Ziva's desk.
"I forgave him" Ziva said, as she held a piece of paper with Eli's email address on it. Tony touched her hand offering comfort. Gibbs walked in and put a mini red, white and blue American flag in Ziva's pen pot, next to the Israeli flag. Ziva looked up, and smiled. Gibbs looked at her, knowing she would be in his basement later that night with her home cooking, like she was every week.
Eli sat on the plane heading toward Israel. He held the piece of paper. Ziva had given him. An email address was messily scrawled. Eli ran his fingers over the black writing.
"What is that sir?" Malachi asked as Liat slept while the credits of 'Conversations with My Gardener' ran on the laptop on her lap.
"An opportunity to be a part of my daughter's life again" Eli said. "An opportunity I will not mess up." Eli ran his fingers along the paper, an opportunity he would not mess up because he could not loose her again.
Her first email came almost a month later, with a silly Hanukah animation and a request for her mothers contact information, it seemed Ziva wanted to have relationships with both her parents, and as much as Eli hated Rivka he believed mother and daughter needed each other. Eli replied and slowly but surely, Eli and Ziva's relationship slowly fixed itself. Photographs with smiling people were exchanged, Ziva told him how much fun she was having and how happy she was. Eli smiled every time her emails appeared in his inbox. She was always so happy. That was all he ever wanted for her.
A/N: I didn't like the ending of 8x09 at first, but acceptance is the key. So I wrote this to fill in the blanks. The idiomatic mistakes are deliberate. Reviews.