A/N: One shot number two! Thanks for all of the kind words on the first one. Hope you like this one…the one I'm planning on expanding on is coming in the next few days. Happy reading, and thanks! ~tivafanintheusa
"Daddy! I right here!" cried Alizah. Tony spun to the right.
"Nope," he said, drawing out the word, "no little munchkin over here!"
"No! I over here Daddy!" Tony spun to the left.
"Hmmm…no again. Where could my princess be?" He spun in a circle again, coming to a stop when he caught sight of his wife leaning on the door frame, arms crossed and a smile on her face as she watched her husband and three year old interact. This was her favorite part of their nighttime routine. Tony gave her one of his smiles reserved just for her before winking at her, inviting her to play along.
"Hey mommy…have you seen Ali?"
"No, I have not! Where could that little ape have gotten off to?"
Tony had to choke back his laughter. "It's little MONKEY, Sweet Cheeks, and I don't know! I've looked everywhere."
"Mommy! Daddy! I right here!" Ali exclaimed. All of a sudden Tony seemed to notice the extra weight on his shoulder. Pulling his three year old back so he could see her face he exclaimed, "well, looky there! There's daddy's little princess!" He pressed a kiss to her cheek, smiling when she squirmed and giggled because of the stubble brushing against her face, a result of not shaving for more than twenty four hours. He had been planning to, but Ziva had other ideas. Ideas he was quite fine with going a day without shaving for.
Alizah smiled and wrapped her arms around her father, burying her face in his neck in an adorable toddler hug. Ziva's heart warmed at the sight, and she made her way into the room, wrapping her right arm around Tony's waist as she circled him and came to a stop on his left. Tony shifted Alizah onto his right hip, freeing his left arm to wrap around Ziva's shoulders and draw her closer. He placed a soft kiss to her temple.
"You're a great mom to Ali, you know. And you're going to be just as great with her little brother or sister, too," he added with a nod and a small smile to Ziva's seven month pregnant stomach.
Ziva placed her left hand on her stomach, smiling down softly. She looked back up into her husband's emerald green eyes, shining down on her with such love and admiration that it made her heart flip, and butterflies bounce around in her stomach. She loved that he could still make her feel this way. "Thank you," she said quietly. "You are a wonderful father, Tony. You amaze me every day, and I cannot wait to see how you handle two little DiNozzo's." Tony pressed a soft kiss to her lips, and then, noticing Alizah had nodded off on his shoulder he moved to tuck her in to her newly built big girl bed, a recent birthday present from Grandpa Gibbs.
Ziva leaned down, brushing a few stray strands of Alizah's dark hair off of her forehead and placed a kiss on her daughters' head. "Goodnight, tateleh. Mommy loves you," she said quietly. Tony gave his daughter a kiss as well, leaving her with a whispered "Goodnight Ali, daddy loves you too."
Turning back to Ziva he took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers as he lead her out of the room, hitting the lights as he passed the switch.