Three gifts he gave her on purpose and one he did not.
So I had seen this post on Tumblr which I can't find anymore. But I got inspired to write a story. Three gifts Tony has given Ziva on purpose and one he did not. I hope you like it.
Note: English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes. I did the best I could.
It has been a few weeks since her return to DC, from that hellhole. So many things have happened and many things she doesn't want to remember. She wants to forget what happened in Somalia. But the term trying to forget something or someone is so awful. Because you're never going to forget something when you're trying to forget it.
There is this one night in the bullpen. They had just wrapped up a case. A fairly difficult one. No one is in the bullpen anymore. Everyone went gone home to their respective families. Her family is NCIS, Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Abby, Ducky and Jimmy. She doesn't have a husband nor children. But she was fine with that.
She walks out of the ladies room. Tony had just left the building a few minutes ago. They had said goodbye. She told him that she too was going home. But needed to use the ladies room first. She walks back to her desk, to grab her bag and jacket and go home. She looks at her desk. Something is different. It takes her a few seconds to process that there is a small jewellery box waiting for her on her desk. She looks around the bullpen. There is no one left. She moves closer to her desk and grabs the small box. Slowly she opens the small box. Her gaze meets a golden necklace, with a star of David charm. Did he give her this gift? He has probably noticed that she isn't wearing her old necklace anymore. The one that Saleem took. This new necklace is simple and beautiful and she couldn't have asked for more. She puts the necklace around her neck. It looks pretty. For a split second she is so caught up in her own world. She needs to thank him. She almost grabs her phone and decides to call him, but he is most likely driving home so he wouldn't answer her call. In the end she settles on a note. She grabs a pen and a small notepad and writes him a thank you note, she leaves it on his desk. Sure he finds it tomorrow morning.
…
'Can I show you something?' He asks her while they are sitting in the break room. Yesterday she had found his boarding school picture and since that, he has been acting strange, different. She can't pinpoint what it is exactly. So when he asks her if he can show her something she says 'Yes'
He shows her a photo of a very young beautiful woman with a kid. 'Is this your mother?' she asks him a question while she already knows the answer.
'Yes' He answers simply.
'Wow she was, really beautiful' she tells him. They discuss his mother. 'This was the last movie we ever saw together. Right before she. The little price' He tells her. 'That what is essential is invisible to the eye' she quotes the book. She had read it when she was a little girl. It used to be one of her favourite books. She remembered those night where her and Tali would read to book together, in their bedroom. She sees the look on his face once she spoke these words. 'Ziva David did you just quote a movie?' he asks her kind of shocked by her responds. 'No I quoted a book that was made into a movie'
The conversation has ended. It was a big step in unexplored territory.
The next day he is in the grocery store picking up some groceries. It has been a while since he made himself some home cooked pasta and he is dying for it. As he walks past the books and DVD section he can't help but look for the Little Prince. They had discussed it yesterday and he might be fooling himself but that conversation really did something with him. So when he finally finds the book he grabs it and looks at it for a few seconds, deciding if he should buy it or not. Oh who was he kidding.
Once he is back home he wraps the book in some wrapping paper. Should he go by her apartment now or after dinner. Tony DiNozzo the man who picks up woman left and right can't make a decision if he should drop the present of at his partners place now or after dinner.
In the end he settles on after dinner, so he has some more time to think about what he is going to say. If she would question him.
He has just finished dinner and was heading out the door with the present underneath his arm. It is only a ten minute drive but it felt like an eternity. He stands there outside her apartment door finding the courage to knock on that dam door. This shouldn't be this difficult.
He knocks on her door and a few seconds later she opens it. Her hair is down and she is wearing yoga pants and he doesn't mind it at all, because she looks so good.
'Tony what are you doing here' she asks him. Because yes it is late at night.
'Uhm so yesterday when we discussed my mom…' He can't finish his sentence completely. Not knowing what to say. 'So I was in the grocery store today and I found this so I thought you mind appreciate this' he says as he handed the gift over.
She looks at him full confusion. 'Tony what is this?'
'Just open it' He answers
She walks away from the door to the living room, he closes the door and follows her. She sits on the couch looking at the present she had just been giving. She unwraps it and sees that it is a book. The Little Prince. Tears are starting to form in his partners eyes. 'Thank you Tony, this is really sweet of you' she says. And welcomes him in her warm embrace.
….
He is packing his bags while she is in the kitchen making him dinner. She breaks his heart. He is going back to DC alone. While all he wants is to stay with her. She tells him she needs to do this alone. He did is best to convince her otherwise, that yes she can also do this in DC and they can be together but he has no luck. His clothes are spread everywhere, on the bed. He grabs his Ohio state sweatshirt, at last. No he can't pack it. So he decides that it is best to leave it here, with her. Because maybe she can find the comfort in it. Just like he did years ago.
So he does his best to hide his shirt. So that she won't find it immediately. It is his gift to her.
Ziva returns home from the airport. The house feels so empty, he isn't there, anymore. And the strangest part is that it had never felt this empty before. She looks around her bedroom., what to do next? She drops her jacket on the bed. Cleaning maybe? Taking a shower. So she can begin to forget that he was here. But in the end she does none of these things. She strips of her clothes and slips into bed. The bed she shared with the men she loves, the most. She closes her eyes and drifts off in an un restful sleep.
Getting out of bed is disaster. Because his scent is everywhere, she can still feel his arms around her. After a while she decides on taking a shower. And cleaning up the house.
As she is vacuum cleaning her bedroom she notices some sort of fabric laying on the ground, underneath her bed. She stops and looks underneath her bed. She grabs the fabric and unfolds it. It is his Ohio state sweatshirt. Did he leave this here by accident or on purpose. Tears are streaming down her face as she holds his sweatshirt close to her face so she can smell it. Oh god she loves him all the more for it.
…
It is her birthday and she has to admit that she isn't feeling like herself, for a few weeks. She wakes up nauseous and tired. It is hard to get of bed each day. She decides to buy a pregnancy test. She has been thinking about it, even though the doctors told her no. They told her she can't have children.
It's the longest 5 minutes of her life. She keeps staring at her watch. Trying to make to time go faster, unsuccessfully. When the minute hand has moved and her watch tells her that it has been five minutes she picks up test in front of her. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. it is just going to be negative. You just have a flu, just take better care of yourself, you will be fine. She opens her eyes. Two pink lines. That means pregnant right? No she can't be. The doctors told her she can't have any children, of her own. She picks up the box and reads the instruction again. Two pink lights means pregnant.
It had been a few days since her discovery. The doctor confirmers her pregnancy. She has been in shock and the worst thing is that she feels like she doesn't deserve this gift. This baby is half hers and half's Tony's. A baby convinced out of love. What would his reaction be. Would he want to become a father?
There were many nights where she sits alone on her couch. Thinking about all the wrong and bad things in life. How she is going to bring a child in this world so full of hate. She thinks it's selfish to want this happiness.
Soon her clothes don't fit her anymore and she needs to buy maternity clothes. She decides to start wearing his sweatshirt, as pyjama, because it smells like him and fits her small body perfectly. One morning she has spilled her yogurt on his Ohio state sweatshirt and she needs to wash it. She knows it is selfish but that simple acts makes her cry, even though it doesn't smell like him anymore.
Tali is the light of her life. The little girl looks after her father. Her eyes, she has his eyes. Those emerald green eyes, that she fell in love with almost a decade ago. One morning she wakes up, her daughter lying beside her, in bed. 'Ima' the little girl asks. Ziva opens her eyes. She stares into her daughters eyes. The little girl is smiling. She is looking at her pyjama 'Beautiful' she comments as she is touching the letters on his old sweatshirt. 'Abba' the girl wonders. 'Yes, my darling this was abba's'. The little girl smiles and creeps closer. Moving the sweatshirt up, so she could reach what she is looking for. Even though Tali is eighteen months old she is still breastfeeding. Because she loves the intimate, quality time with her daughter.
A few days later Ziva is cleaning her bedroom. Tali is sitting on her mother's bed. She is looking for her father's old sweatshirt and finds it underneath her mother's pillow. She tries her very best to unsuccessfully put it on. It is way too heavy and big for her. But that doesn't matter because it's abba's. 'Ima look' the little girl says to her mother.
Ziva looks around and sees her daughter standing on the bed with her father's sweatshirt on. Tears are starting to form in her eyes. Because when she looks at her daughter she sees Tony. The man on the other side of the world and even though they are oceans apart. This is the best gift he has ever given to her. Their daughter.