It was the one thing that she to had lived with since she was two years old. Ever since the day that she had survived the explosion at the farmhouse in Tel -Aviv that her mother had inherited. She had grown up knowing that her Saba had died a year before she had been born. She also knew that her Ima had done everything she could to keep her safe in the explosion. For the past thirteen years, Tali had been plagued with reliving that day when the late former CIA Agent Trent Kort had robbed her of her mother by extension of a hired assassin bomber in her dreams.
Every night, Tali would wake up in her bedroom of the Parisian apartment she lived in just when she had been found by the Mossad. Just as he had every night for the past thirteen years, Tony had gotten up and gone to Tali whether he was asleep or still up. Later in the day they would be joined by Senior before the three of them flew back to the States to see Gibbs which meant they were also going to see everyone else from NCIS.
"It's alright Tali, I'm here. You're safe." Tony said.
Tony knew full well what his daughter had been dreaming about.
"This needs to stop, Aba. Thirteen years of reliving that night is getting old." Tali said as she sat up in her bed.
Every time he had looked at his fifteen year old daughter, Tony had first seen Ziva and then he had seen the Star of David necklace that had once been Ziva's that he had given to Tali years before. On the bedside nightstand was the framed picture of Ziva and Tony straddling the rented Vespa they had when they had been in Paris way back when to bring a whistleblower back to the States for an NCIS case. That picture was the last thing that Tali saw every night before she closed her eyes.
"Maybe you should talk to Gibbs' therapist when we get back to the States." Tony suggested with an air of apprehension.
Over the years, Tony had seen how much of his late girlfriend was in their daughter. As Mossad Director Orli Elbaz had said back in 2016, Tali had inherited her looks from her mother and inherited her father's eyes. Besides those things, everything else about Tali was Ziva, Tali took after her mother when it came to talking about things.
"I'm not talking to a therapist, Aba."
"Why not? You just said that you were tired of reliving the night that we lost your Ima."
"Yes I did, but you should know that after all this time I'm just like her." Tali said.
"Oh I know. Now let's see if you can fall back asleep."
Tali made a face as she settled back under the covers. Tony would stay with his daughter until she was fast asleep and he saw that everything was okay.
As Tony waited for Tali to fall back to sleep, he pulled his phone out after he sat down in one of the chairs that was in the bedroom. With a few taps was an old picture of Ziva from when they had been in Paris to pick up the whistleblower, the same exact picture he had shown to Ziva when they had gotten back to the Navy Yard. It was in that moment as he stared at the picture on his phone that he had edited to black and white that Tony recalled their conversation.
Why did you just lie to McGee?
Why did you lie to Nora?
Nora was right.
Found my favorite picture, and it's the only one with someone in it.
Very French New Wave, don't you think?
Maybe.
I think it would look better in black and white.
"Our girl is growing up fast, Ziva. Wish you were here with us."
Like Tali, Tony knew full well that Ziva was watching over them just like all of the other loved ones they had lost over the years due to the job. With that both Tony and Tali were fast asleep in Tali's bedroom.