Title: Bedtime Stories
Summary: Gabrielle;Ellie, Caitlin David DiNozzo wants to hear her favorite bed time story; how her mommy and daddy ended up together. Sort of a tag to Dear Ziva. It's a little off from it but I suppose it could be. It can be read separately though.
A/N: There's a different child in this scenario, so no I will not be using Talia, Delilah or Gabrielle in this instance.(Ironically the new character's name is Gabrielle "Ellie" Caitlin David DiNozzo. Haha, uncanny, eh? No? Ok haha) Sorry if there's any disappointment but I just love making new characters hehe.
"Ellie! Time for bed!"
"Coming daddy!" came a little voice from down the hall. A few minutes later, Gabrielle "Ellie" Caitlin David DiNozzo emerged from the hallway and entered her room, where her dad waited for her at the foot of her bed. She was wearing an adorable pink camouflage long sleeved tee with pink fleece pants. Her tiny bunny slippers were a stark contrast compared to her somewhat boyish pajamas. She was definitely a mix of Tony and Ziva; sweet and girly, but tough and strong, a good combination of the two. She hugged her favorite toy, Ella, a soft grey elephant from build-a-bear workshop. Tony smiled, remembering the direction his and his wife's conversation had turned when they were trying to figure out what to do for the day.
November 26th, 2010
"Well the shopping is finished. Thank goodness for that." Ziva said warily. She and Tony had been out for six hours straight since 11pm earlier on Thanksgiving night shopping for people and most importantly for their two year old daughter, Ellie. It was now about 6:30 am when they had both returned in the house. Gibbs sat on the couch flipping through the TV stations, no interest present. He got up and grabbed his things when he heard the two come through the door.
"Thanks for keeping an eye on things for us boss, I know it's a bit of a change, you know, away from your boat and all. Really, it means a lot to us. Uh…." Tony continued rambling, unsure of what to say next. Gibbs just watched amused as Tony continued his nervous rambling before holding a up a finger as if to say "Shhh".
"S'alright DiNozzo, I don't mind one bit. Kid's great. Surprising considering who her father is," he joked lightly.
"Ha, thanks…" Tony responded flatly, his ego obviously wounded. Gibbs just smiled cheekily before picking up his things and leaving.
"Hmph. Who her father is," Tony muttered to himself, while unloading the shopping bags.
"I think you're a great father, Tony." Ziva comforted him as she helped unload the bags. After all the bags were safely and secretly hidden in the basement, and breakfast was in the toaster, the two sat down for a few moments, planning their game plan for the day.
"So, what do you think we should do? It's kinda chilly, so maybe we could see a movie or something….?" Tony trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at Ziva who just laughed before smacking him with a pillow.
"Must everything be sex with you, Mr. DiNozzo?" she chastised him lightly.
"Whatever we do, it better not involve walking. The cats are meowing very loudly." She stated, as she flickered her glance back and forth between Tony and Good Morning America. Tony snickered quietly before composing himself.
"Hun, I think you mean the dogs are barking. You know, like cuz well… I'm not quite sure why, but reguardless I would have thought your idioms would have gotten better by now." He chuckled, eyeing her waiting for a reaction.
"Same difference," she said, waving her hand off dismissing the matter. There were a few moments of silence while the Good Morning America crew gave news on the latest topics, before it was suddenly interrupted by Tony giving off a loud "ah-ha!".
Translation: I have an idea!
Ziva waited patiently, eyeing him for a moment as he smiled back at her, obviously proud with whatever idea had decided to wedge its way into his head.
"How about we take Ellie to Build-A-Bear! It'll be so fun, Zi, really! Even we, the adults, can make one if we want!" he exclaimed, excitedly, jumping up to grab the now burning toast out of the toaster. He came back with a slice for each of them on two paper plates with a sheepish grin on his face. They were burnt straight through and through; obviously nonedible.
"Uh, honey…," his voice trailed off when Ziva's glance shifted from the TV to the burnt toast. Shaking her head, she had him throw them away before having him sit back on the couch.
"Now tell me, what is this Build-A-Bear nonsense, and why do you insist on risking Ellie's life for "building" a bear?" she asked, confused as well as concerned, probably for Tony's sanity.
"Because it'll be fun! She gets to choose what stuffed animal she wants to make and everything! You know they even have ones that talk!" he exclaimed, excitement illuminating his emerald eyes.
"Wait, so it's….a teddy bear making place? Like…stuffed animal kinda thing?" Ziva asked, a little less confused now.
"Of course! It'll be perfect! She'll love it! Please, Zi? Please, please, please, please, please?" he begged. Ziva had to laugh at this. At this rate, it sounded like Tony wanted to go instead of wanting to take Ellie with them.
"Alright. I guess it'll be fun. Let her sleep a few more hours though, it's only 7:45 in the morning. We'll go around lunch time so we can eat too. She loves her chicken nuggets." Ziva said, smiling at the thought.
"You know all that isn't good for her Zi." Tony warned, a mockingly scolding look on his face. Ziva gave him her best puppy dog pout before getting up to a small cry.
"So much for waiting…" she muttered, before going to Ellie's room.
The rest of the day had gone smoothly. Ellie was adorable in her little jeans with her chestnut Uggs and mini NCIS sweatshirt. She'd decided on a grey elephant, who she insisted it should be named Ella( Not Ellie because then how would she know whether Tony and Ziva meant her or her stuffed animal?). She bought it a small black hoodie and a pair of jeans much like her own (Tony managed to snag some fabric paint and wrote "NCIS" on the front and "Agent Ella" on the back". But she insisted on having two outfits, to which Ziva reluctantly agreed. She didn't want to over spoil Ellie. The next outfit was an adorable aqua blue spaghetti strapped dress with white flats and a tiara. Tony liked this outfit better. He said it made Ella look like a princess. When they returned home, Ellie thanked her mommy and daddy endlessly before falling asleep, Ella safely tucked in her arms.
Present Time, January 1, 2011
Tony smiled fondly at the memory. She was so grateful for her age. As much as he hated to admit it, he barely spoiled her, even though he sometimes wanted to, but Ziva had strictly said "NO" to over spoiling their only child (At the moment anyway.)
"Hi daddy!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Hey, princess! Ready for bed?" Tony asked.
"No, I'm not tired at all!" Ellie said, yawning.
"Oh, I think your yawn begs to differ." Tony chuckled. It was 9:00pm, a full hour passed Ellie's bedtime of 8 o'clock, but she had insisted that she needed to be there when mommy came home. Tony couldn't say no to her small, puppy dog brown eyes, a trait that she'd obviously inherited from her mother. So they spent the hour watching cartoons and drawing. Tony had even taught her how to play tic-tac-toe. Of course, he let her win because how mean would that be to play full out on your two year old daughter? He'd finally convinced her to get ready to go to sleep. She'd been reluctant but eventually she agreed to at least "try" to go to sleep, even know he knew she'd be out before it was even 9:30.
"Alright, now what story would you like to hear this time, sweetie?" he cooed, stroking her hair as she snuggled into him.
"Hmmm….," she looked up, displaying her "thinking" face as Tony liked to call it, before deciding.
"How did you and Mommy meet?" she asked, excitement in her eyes. Tony's smile turned into a small grimace as he remembered the unfortunate circumstances of how he and Ziva met. Quickly racking his brain, he came up with a better story to tell, well at least better for the time being.
"Um, honey, how about I tell you the story of how we got together, hmm?" he suggested, hoping she would be satisfied with that story instead.
"But daaaaadddyyyyyy!" she whined, dragging the word out longer than necessary. Tony sighed, thinking of how to explain to his two year old daughter the fact that he met her mother because she killed her own half-brother over someone who Ellie didn't even know about. She knew about Uncle Ari but all she knew was that he was in heaven with the angels because God wanted him home with him.
"Huh, what a load of bull right there" , Tony thought to himself, already knowing and hoping where "Uncle Ari" would be.
"Well sweetie, you see, before Mommy worked with daddy at NCIS, there was another lady who worked there. You were named after her as a matter of fact," he explained carefully. Ellie tilted her head to the side, a bit confused.
"You worked with a lady named Ellie?" she asked, puzzled by Tony's explanation.
"No, her name was Caitlin. We called her Kate. She would have been your Aunt Katie," he smirked inwardly at himself, knowing the bodily harm Kate would have done to him for calling her that.
"Oh, ok. So you used to work with Aunt Katie and then what? How did you meet mommy?" She asked, curious.
"That's right. But Aunt Katie joined your Uncle Ari with the angels one year and that's how I met mommy. She was assigned to take over for Aunt Katie's place," he explained as carefully as he could. Ellie's eyes lit up in…happiness? Tony wasn't quite sure.
"So Aunt Katie and Uncle Ari were married then? Like you and mommy? That's nice of God. That they can be together now," she rambled slightly to Tony but slightly to herself. Tony's eyes went wide at his little girl's assumption.
"Um, well no, not exactly, Aunt Katie and Uncle Ari didn't really like each other that much. I guess maybe God took them together so they could uh….settle their differences, I suppose…" he struggled to explain it to Ellie, but it seemed to be enough for her.
"Oh, that's it?" she asked, a somewhat disappointed look on her face.
"I expected it to be like a fwairy tale." She said softly.
"Me too baby" Tony thought silently to himself.
"Well there is one story. But we'll save that for tomorrow. It's already 9:30 honey, you need to go to bed." He said, tucking her in.
"Wait," she cried. Tony looked back and saw her looking up at him, curiosity almost overflowing out of them.
"Mommy told me that it was exactly like a fwairy twale. Daddy…is mummy a liar…?" she asked, confused now. Tony chuckled before walking back to his little girl.
"No, mummy is absolutely right. Daddy was a big scaredy cat to tell mummy just how much he loves her." He grinned, making Ellie sluggishly grin back; she was obviously fighting to even stay awake.
"Daddy wrote mummy a letter. I told her I love you, plain and simple, because Daddy was afraid that mummy would laugh at him," Tony chuckled to himself, remembering. Ellie shocked him by giggling her adorable high pitched laugh. It was contagious and by then Tony was laughing his head off with her.
"And just what are you laughing at Ms. DiNozzo?" he asked, poking her in the ribs, tickling her giggling form.
"Because! You're sposed ta be brave and fight the bad guys but you were scwared to ask mummy to be your wife. That's so stwange daddy!" she continued giggling as if it were the funniest thing on earth. Tony just chuckled, before re-tucking her into bed.
"Oh shush, I'm only human." He teased. Ellie just nodded and yawned. He kissed her goodnight before making his way to the door.
"Daddy, wait. Where did I come from?" she asked, yawning; definitely fighting now.
"Mummy's tummy, sweetie." He explained cautiously; it was already 9:45pm.
"I know that, but how did I get there? Daddy, doesn't mummy love me?" she exclaimed, wide-eyed now, about to cry. Tony flew to her in an instant, hugging her and snuggling her small body.
"Of course, she does, honey, why wouldn't she? She loves you very very much. What would make you think she didn't?" he asked, confused by Ellie's reaction.
"Den, why did she eated me….!" She cried, her eyes now brimming with unshed tears, threatening to fall at any moment. Tony couldn't help it. By then he had went from a small chuckle to full out laughter. Ellie looked up at him, hurt that her daddy would laugh at such a matter.
"Daddy! How can you laugh if mummy ate me?" she shrieked.
"Mummy didn't eat you sweetie, God wanted you to live there before you could live on Earth with us." He explained, feeling stupider by the second. Ellie considered this, and decided it satisfied her. She snuggled back under her covers and finally drifted to sleep. Tony creeped out of the room slowly before shutting the door and smiling. It had definitely been a night he wouldn't forget. Just another reason why he loved the two more and more each day.
Ok, ok, I know, that was well ridiculously long(Well it looks long on word so who knows how long it'll actually be on FanFiction but oh well, I was in the mood for writing lol. R&R pleases (: PS if there are any mistakes, it's because I wrote this at 11pm and finished at 12:30 am so yeah, a little late haha. Thanks for sticking with me even though I rarely write hehe)