Far Away

A/N: This story is to fill the void that I felt after watching the season 13 final. I'll admit I stopped watching NCIS about three-quarters of the way through season 11, I felt like Bishop wasn't a good match, I've watched a few episodes here and there since and think that the character fits in better but she's not Ziva. So when I heard that Michael Weatherly was leaving I got excited at the possibility of Ziva returning or just hearing that Tony and Ziva would be reunited would have satisfied me. Of course the writers went and did everything that fans wanted while also destroying all of our hopes and dreams, well potentially. This is my take on what I think should have happened, begins from after McGee calls Tony to tell him they've found Kort. Based on the song 'Far Away' by Nickelback. Enjoy :-)

Tony hung up and as suddenly as he remembered about his want to kill the man who had destroyed his life, he forgot about the need when he heard Tali giggling. He couldn't help but smile as Tali kept giggling and repeating 'Ima' and 'Abba'. He looked at the picture of Ziva and himself again. He spotted something in the corner of the image that didn't look right, it was as if something was behind the picture itself. He tilted the frame slightly and the thing that was there before was now gone. Tony frowned in confusion not knowing what could possibly be behind the picture.

Senior looked at his son in confusion wondering why he was tilting the frame around.

Tony looked at his father, senior gave his son a questioning look, Tony shrugged uncertainly.

Slowly Tony turned the frame upside down and unclasped the fasteners, removed the backing board and looked at the back of the picture. There was a folded sheet of paper sitting behind the picture. Tony grabbed the paper and looked at the delicate writing that spelled out his name, Ziva's writing.

Tony handed the frame to his father who clasped the fasteners back onto the backing board. Senior picked Tali up and took her to the kitchen talking about baking. Tony wasn't paying much attention, he was just grateful for time to himself to read this letter from Ziva.

Slowly Tony unfolded the paper and read:

Dearest Tony,

I would like to apologise for not telling you about Tali. I wanted to tell you from the moment I learned that I was pregnant. I decided not to because I didn't want to disturb your life more than I already had. The moment that I laid eyes on our beautiful daughter I knew that she would always know her father and her family. Orli was able to warn me about the impending explosion, barely in time. I made sure that Tali was safe, I protected her until the firefighters came in and rescued her. I made sure that Orli put this picture frame in Tali's bag. I didn't tell her about this letter, only that you would go and see her soon enough in Israel. I apologise if this is all very confusing and not making much sense to you but I promise that everything will make sense in good time. I will meet you and Tali in the one place that I love most at your earliest convenience. I love you Tony I truly do and I apologise for putting you through hell, I just needed to know that you and our daughter would be safe. I can't wait to be reunited with you and Tali.

All my love ,

Ziva

Tony felt his heart leap into his throat as he realised that Ziva was still alive, that she had survived, that she was the reason that his precious daughter was safe. Tony felt the tears in his eyes, tears of relief and joy that he would be able to be with Ziva, that they would be able to be a family. The guilt that he had felt earlier that day about not telling Ziva how he truly felt about her was subsiding slightly knowing that he hadn't lost his chance to tell her. The anger that he had felt when Orli had first told him about Tali and his thinking that Ziva didn't know him disappeared in an instant. Ziva did know him, she knew him better than anyone else.

Tony stood quickly and walked into the kitchen with a smile on his face. He picked his daughter up out of her highchair and spun her around, Tali giggling the whole time. Senior smiled at the sight, he didn't care what Ziva had written in the letter only that it had made his son happy again.

"She's still alive Dad, I'm resigning, it's too late now so I'll wait until tomorrow, I'm taking Tali and we're going to Israel for answers and then we'll go to Paris, it's Ziva's favourite place in the world. We can finally be a family," Tony explained enthusiastically.

Senior was in slight shock at the new information but he was thrilled to know that Ziva was alive. Ziva was the only woman that he wanted his son to be with. The only woman that he would accept as a daughter-in-law. The happy moment was short lived however when he remembered the call that his son had received.

"Son, what about Kort?" Senior asked reluctantly ruining the moment.

Tony was in shock, he'd forgotten about that.

"Abba will be back baby girl, be good for grandpa," Tony said softly kissing his daughter's head and leaving her with his father.

Tony arrived just in time.

"... but not the one I expected," Kort said, Tony only caught the end of his sentence.

"I'm here," Tony responded.

He stood with his gun clenched in his hand ready to shoot the man who tried to take away the love of his life and his daughter.

"Dinozzo, I had no idea she'd be in the farmhouse, you know that," Kort spoke insincerely.

"Do I?" Tony asked in annoyance.

"It was nothing personal, strictly business," Kort tried to reason.

"It is personal," McGee said sternly, "it's Ziva."

Tony slowly walked closer to Kort as Tim spoke. He could feel his muscles tensing at the idea of Ziva truly being dead and it was all Kort's fault. It was Kort's fault that their daughter nearly lost her mother, that he nearly lost the one woman that he truly would give up the world for. In a disturbing way though he thought he should thank the bastard, at least he was able to meet his daughter and spend time with her. It would never make up for what Kort did.

"She was my family," Tony said fiercely.

Kort looked at him surprised trying desperately to reach for his gun as Tony pulled the trigger unhesitantly.

All around Kort the team pulled the triggers of their guns in succession and without hesitation. They all had a reason for wanting the man dead.

Tony watched on as the life left Kort's body. He thought that he would feel relief knowing that the man who attempted to ruin his life was dead but all he felt was a numbness. Tony couldn't help but think about what Ziva would say when he told her that he helped to kill Kort. He knew that she would be relieved that another man was out of this world that could harm their daughter but it was never easy for either of them to kill someone, even someone who they figured deserved it.

Ducky and Jimmy arrived to take the body and Tony left. He wanted to be with his daughter and he needed to book them flights to Tel Aviv for as soon as possible so that they could be reunited with Ziva.

Tony held Tali all night as he made plans, not letting her go. Tali didn't seem to mind, she sat happily on her Abba's lap as he booked flights on his computer.

Tony waited until Tali was asleep before he left her and Senior to go and see Gibbs. He would resign from NCIS in the morning and be on his way with Tali to Tel Aviv by noon. He figured that Gibbs deserved to hear it from him and not someone else, it wasn't going to be easy though.

Tony hesitated slightly before opening the front door to Gibbs home, the realisation of what he was about to do hit him like a tonne of bricks.

When Tony entered the basement he couldn't help but smile at Gibbs making yet another boat.

"Look who stopped by," Gibbs spoke as Tony stepped off of the last step, "got something on your mind?"

"Wanna tell you why I was late today," Tony admitted.

"Well," Gibbs started as he filled a jar with some alcoholic beverage that Tony couldn't recognise in the lighting, "you got there Dinozzo I don't need an explanation."

"I have one," Tony said as he began to walk around the edge of the basement, memories flooding to him about all of the time he had spent down there. "A few months ago you asked me what I really wanted. If I wanted to be an agent anymore, catch bad guys," Tony chuckled as he tapped on Gibbs old TV, "now I know the answer," Tony said as he turned to face Gibbs.

"Had a feeling," Gibbs admitted, knowing that if there was a chance that Shannon and Kelly were alive he would drop everything to find them.

"The Gibbs gut?" Tony questioned on a slight sigh.

"No," Gibbs admitted, "you. Seems to me you've known for a while, only now you've got a daughter to think of. You can't only think about yourself anymore."

"Evidently we have a daughter, me and Ziva," Tony said, his voice growing soft, "maybe she knew me better than I thought. When McGee called something hit me I got this feeling, something I'd never felt before. In that moment I didn't want Trent Kort dead, all I wanted to do was take care of Tali. Everything that she had in her life was gone."

"Hmm 'cept you," Gibbs reminded Tony.

"Except me," Tony said a little more brighter, "I'm it. I'm everything to that little girl now. And I've never been anyone's everything before."

"But you showed up," Gibbs acknowledged.

"Yes I did," Tony said with a genuine smile, "in all kinds of ways. That's it. I'm done now. I'm gonna take Tali to Israel look for some answers. Then I'm gonna take her to Paris, Ziva loves Paris."

"Gotta do what you gotta do," Gibbs started.

"You gotta believe what you gotta believe," Tony finished holding out his hand for Gibbs to shake, "I'd say thank you but it doesn't quite cover it boss."

Gibbs put his tools down and turned to Tony, ignoring the man's hand Gibbs pulled him into a tight hug. One that Tony was grateful for.

"You take care of yourself and your family Dinozzo," Gibbs told him.

"Copy that boss," Tony agreed a smile in his voice.

Gibbs rubbed the back of Tony's head rather than slapping it before they pulled out of the hug.

"You are still family Gibbs. One day I'll bring her home," Tony said, not quite ready to leave yet.

Gibbs smiled at that, "just take care of her and don't force the poor girl to come back before she's ready."

"I won't boss," Tony promised.

"Good luck Dinozzo," Gibbs said before returning to his work.

Tony smiled, "thanks Gibbs."

Tony decided that was the best moment to leave, Gibbs knew that Ziva was alive and that was what Tony had planned his visit to achieve.

Tony got home and wrote his resignation letter making it clear that his resignation was effective immediately. Only then did Tony lay on the couch and fall asleep.

The following morning Tony was grateful that Tali was still asleep, he would be able to leave without her clinging to him to stay. Senior was in the kitchen making breakfast and promised to watch her while he made his final trip to work.

Tony arrived at the Navy Yard and immediately spotted Abby heading into the building, he half ran to catch up with her knowing that Abby would be the hardest person to say goodbye to and wanting to get it over with so that he could get back to Tali as quickly as possible. He reached the lift just in time and regretted running immediately. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Abs you're in early," Tony said, unsure where he was going with that comment.

The lift doors closed as Abby responded, "always."

"What's your excuse?" Abby asked seriously, knowing that something was up.

"Just got a few things to take care of," Tony responded, he was really regretting wanting to say goodbye to Abby first.

Abby could sense that Tony was struggling with something and decided to ease it out of him.

"Where's Tali?" She asked.

"Home," Tony said unable to meet Abby's eyes just yet, "with," he laughed, "grandpa."

"Senior must be so happy," Abby smiled slightly.

"To put it mildly," Tony agreed turning slightly to look at Abby and then regretting it and turning away.

Abby reached out and pressed the 'emergency stop' button to the lift.

Tony continued to stare straight ahead and tried not to think about the many times that he had been in that lift with Ziva.

"Oh I've never done that before," Abby admitted as the lift came to a grinding hault.

"Mmm," Tony said looking at Abby slightly, "how'd it feel?"

"Empowering," Abby sheepishly admitted, "I just have something I need to tell you before you go."

Tony tried not to look at Abby as she spoke. This was definitely too hard to deal with right now, he wished he had waited.

"How do you know I'm going?" Tony tried to stall.

"Because I'm Abby Sciuto and I know things," Abby said as confidently as possible.

"Hmm why did I ask?" Tony tried to joke.

"I know how much Ziva," Abby started, knowing that this would be hard to say and hard for Tony to hear, "really loved you and I need to know that you know that too."

Tony felt a lump in his throat, "I do, I think."

Abby sighed, "don't think, know," she said grabbing hold of Tony's wrist and forcing him to look at her, "I know. She told me. I'm really gonna miss you Anthony Dinozzo," Abby choked as tears sprung in her eyes.

Tony pulled her into a tight hug as reality set in that this was it, this was the last time he would get to hug Abby. Maybe not the last time ever but the last time for a while.

"Not half as much as I'm gonna miss you Abby Sciuto," Tony said.

They pulled out of the embrace and Abby started the lift again.

"Stay in contact," she whispered.

Tony chuckled, "I'll try, I promise."

Abby seemed to be okay with that and as the lift doors dinged open Tony gave her one last hug before heading towards the bullpen. He was grateful when he spotted it that only Tim was there for the time being.

"So I guess it's true, you're leaving," he said as Tony entered the bullpen.

"I'm needed elsewhere," Tony said simply as he began to pack up his desk into a box that was conveniently sitting on said desk.

"Here, take this," Tim said handing Tony a folded sheet of paper, "it's information for a secure server so that you can stay in touch, both of you. It's set up with only Abby, Ducky, Jimmy, Gibbs, and myself having access. This way we get to watch Tali grow and not have to be worried about endangering any of you."

"How did you work it out?" Tony asked, the hint that Ziva should stay in touch was not lost on him.

Tim simply smiled, "I hoped. In all honesty I had this setup when you left to find Ziva a few years back. We were all hoping that you would stay with her and I figured you would let us know and I could open the server so that we could stay in touch safely. When you came back I kept the server in case you changed your mind and went back to her. Now you can use it yourself to stay in contact with us."

Tony chuckled as he realised that everyone had secretly been hoping he and Ziva would end up together.

"Thanks Tim, trust me I'll make use of it. Thanks for not including Bishop in it. She didn't know Ziva and I would feel weird about sharing special moments with her when it comes to Tali and us. Make sure you show her pictures of Tali though, she deserves to watch her grow too, after all she's already met Tali, it's only fair," Tony said.

"It was actually Gibbs idea, he wanted it to be just for family. Plus I created it before Bishop joined us and it didn't feel right adding her," Tim explained.

Tony decided that now would be a good time to hand in his resignation and Tim offered to pack the rest of Tony's things.

Tony walked into Vance's office and handed him the sheet of paper that was his resignation. He placed his badge and gun on the desk and shook the director's hand. There was no need for words between them, Vance understood possibly more than anyone else on the team why he was leaving.

Tony then decided it was time to say goodbye to Ducky and Jimmy so he rode the lift down to autopsy.

"Take care of your family Antony," Ducky said as way of farewell.

"I will," Tony responded.

The two men shook hands.

Next was Jimmy and Tony didn't even bother to shake his hand, choosing instead to hug him. If it hadn't been for Jimmy he might not have even considered leaving, of course Ziva's letter had been the push that he needed to make the choice but Jimmy had planted the seed.

"Thank you," Tony whispered.

"You're welcome," Jimmy responded as they pulled out of the hug.

Tony smiled at the pair one last time before heading back up to the bullpen.

Tony walked into the bullpen and noticed the box was full and Tim and Bishop were waiting for him.

"Tony," Tim said.

"Hey guys," Tony acknowledged as he headed to his desk to grab his box.

"So Gibbs talked to us," Tim continued.

Tony realised that Tim was pretending that their earlier conversation hadn't happened. Tony understood why. Their conversation had been about their family, the family that had formed when Ziva had arrived. The family that had been to hell and back for one another countless times.

"You serious about this?" Tim asked.

Tony could tell that although Tim understood why he was leaving it wasn't easy to say goodbye.

Tony picked up the box and walked over to his teammates.

Tony held out his hand to Tim, "I have five words for you," Tim shook his hand, "Very Special Agent Timothy McGee."

The pair smiled at each other and hugged. It was a nice moment between brothers, after all that's what they are.

"Eleanor Bishop," Tony said turning to his other teammate, "you are a very good agent but not nearly as good as I think you one day will be."

The pair hugged, "take care of yourself," Tony whispered to her.

"Where you going first Tony?" Eleanor asked as they pulled away from one another.

"Well, I'm going home to see Tali," Tony said.

He turned and walked away.

When Tony got home Senior smiled at him.

"Tali is ready to go, she's very excited," Senior said with a smile.

Tony chuckled, "thanks Dad. I'll be back before you know it."

Senior chuckled, "I'll be waiting then."

Tony went into his room to find Tali sitting on the bed patiently waiting for him.

"Abba!" She squealed in excitement.

Tony grinned as he picked his daughter up and spun her around.

"Ready to go find Ima?" Tony asked.

Tali nodded enthusiastically.

Tony smiled.

The father daughter duo were on their plane to Tel Aviv when Tony started to get excited at the prospect of seeing Ziva. He never gave up on seeing her again. He missed her everyday from the moment he left her. He couldn't wait to hold her in his arms again and never let go. He couldn't wait to tell her how much he loved her.

Tony watched Tali sleep in the seat beside him and smiled.

He and Ziva were finally having their dream of having a family come true.

Everything was falling into place.

A/N: I'm not entirely sure on the computer jargon, I haven't done computer studies in over four years. I hope you enjoyed the story :-) It was not meant as a hate thing towards Bishop, I just miss the family as they were before she came into the picture. I do believe that she is a great character though. I may write another chapter as a continuation, if you all want it.