Surprises

Ziva was greeting guests at her 6-year-old, Amelia's, birthday party. All of her friends from school, the neighborhood, and just about everywhere else were at her party. There were about 50 people here, including the NCIS team: McGee and Abby with their 5-year-old, Timmy Jr. and Gibbs and Jenny showing off their new wedding rings.

Ziva wouldn't have minded having so many people in her backyard, if it hadn't been for the fact that her husband, Tony DiNozzo, was on another assignment at sea. He left 6 month ago, and wasn't going to be back for another 4 months. She missed him. She wanted him back home.

Suddenly, she felt someone's arms around her. When she realized it was only Abby, she relaxed and sighed.

"What's wrong, Ziva?" Abby questioned worriedly.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just… he really wanted to be here for her." Ziva looked at the ground, embarrasses for showing so much emotion.

Abby understood immediately that she was talking about Tony and tried to comfort her friend. "I know, but he's been there for her for everything else. He's been to her ballet recitals, her little league games, heck, he even coached her little league team!" This caused Ziva to laugh a little. Abby continued, "You see, he may be missing one thing, but at least he has been there for her with everything else in her life. And at least he wants to be here for her. And that's all that matters."

Ziva smiled at her friend and hugged her. "Thanks, Abs. That helped a lot. Now come on," she said, taking her friend by the hand, "we have presents to open."

After opening all the presents, Abby and McGee went up to the makeshift karaoke stage they had helped Ziva make for the party. Abby grabbed the microphone and began to speak. "Attention, everyone!" she exclaimed. When she had everyone's attention, she spoke. "Now, I know this party is for Amelia, but what do you say we give her mom a present, too! Since her birthday was last week." This earned a round of cheers from all the kids and parents and the team, for the team already knew what the surprise was. Everyone knew what it was, even Amelia. The only one who was completely oblivious to the surprise was Ziva.

Abby drew the crowds attention to a giant box behind her on the stage. Ziva began to wonder what could possibly be inside of it, but she was stumped.

Then, McGee spoke. "Okay, Ziva, try to think. What's the one thing you wanted today more than anything?" Ziva could only come up with one answer: Tony. But she knew it couldn't be him. He was on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic.

The confused yet hopeful look on Ziva's face told them that she was ready to see her surprise. They told her to come up to the stage and put a blindfold around her eyes. She did so, but was very confused as to why.

"Okay," Abby excitedly said, "we are going to take the top off the box now." Ziva listened as she heard the sides of the box fall to the ground. The group of kids and parents erupted into immense cheers, but were quickly quieted by three people shushing. Had Jenny or Gibbs come one stage? She though to herself.

"Okay, now I'm going to take off your blindfold on the count of three," Abby said. A few kids giggled as a shadow moved in front of her. But this person was too big and built, too masculine to be Abby. "One," McGee, maybe? "Two," Gibbs? She couldn't be sure. She felt the knot in the back of the blindfold disappear as it was taken apart. "THREE!" The blindfold hit the floor. Ziva was speechless when she saw who had taken off her blindfold, but only for a second.

She screamed and jumped up in the air as she wrapped her arms around Tony's neck. He put his arms around her waist and spun her around in circles, both of them laughing with joy. When her feet finally hit the ground, tears began to fall from her eyes.

Tony's shoulder began to feel wet. "Don't cry," he soothed as he rubbed her back. "You'll spoil your good looks." Ziva laughed a little.

"I missed you so much," She said as she let him hold her in full view of everyone, ignoring all of the "aw"s and cheers and whistling from the people watching them.

"I know, baby," Tony replied, ignoring the same things and just taking in the moment of finally being able to hold his wife in his arms again. "I know." He kissed her forehead before leaning his head down next to her ear and whispering to her, "Happy Birthday."