Chapter 2~Taking Chances

"I just want to start again/maybe you could show me how to try/maybe you could take me in/somewhere underneath your skin/what do you say to taking chances?/what do you say to jumping off the edge?/never knowing if there's solid ground below/or a hand to hold or hell to pay/what do you say?"~Taking Chances, Celine Dion

Disclaimer: I own a lot of stuff, but unfortunately NCIS does not fall into that category.

Tony was freaking out. It was 5 to 7 and Ziva would be here any minute. Natalie was twirling round the house excitedly in her new dress in anticipation of Ziva's arrival. But Tony was nervous, he felt like he was on his first date. But, this wasn't a date, this was just a get together. This is not a date. He had to keep playing that in his head because if he let himself be frank, he really wanted it to be a date. The doorbell rang. Natalie bolted towards the door and flung it open.

"Ziva!!" She yelled excitedly.

"Hello my dear, you did not ask who was at the door like you are supposed to." Ziva said as she bent down to Natalie's level.

Natalie made her best I'm sorry face and responded, "I know but I knew it was you."

"Nevertheless sweetheart, always ask." Ziva said as she picked up the little girl.

"Ziva's right Peanut. You should always ask." Tony chimed in.

"Okay, sorry." Natalie responded.

"It's alright sweetie, your Daddy and I just worry about you and we want you to be safe." Ziva said as she kissed the little girl on the check.

'Your Daddy and I' Tony thought in his head, it made them sound like her parents. He liked that thought, a lot. And he loved how Ziva worried about Natalie just as much as he did.

"Well, look at how pretty you look tonight. Is this a new dress." Ziva asked Natalie.

"Yes! Daddy took me shopping and we picked it out." Natalie said grinning as Ziva set her back on the ground.

"Look, it twirls!" Natalie spun in circles and her dress twirled gracefully with her.

Ziva smiled, "oh it's beautiful, sweetheart."

"Hey pretty girl," Tony said to Natalie, "why don't you go wash up before we eat?"

"Okay Daddy!" Natalie said as she skipped down to the bathroom.

Tony looked at Ziva, noticing her hair was down and loose around her shoulders and she was wearing a pretty green silky top, dark jeans, and boots. She looked beautiful.

"Ziva," Tony said, "you look beautiful."

Ziva, somewhat surprised at Tony's bluntness, took a minute to reply to him. "Thank you Tony, you look great as well."

The two stood there smiling at each other for a minute until Natalie bounded back into the room.

"Come on I'm hungry!" She said as she grabbed Tony and Ziva by the hands and dragged them into the kitchen.

Ziva was taken aback at the sight she saw. The lights were dimmed in the kitchen and there were candles lit on the table, there was personalized place mats drawn by Natalie on each of their places at the table and Ziva could smell pasta and garlic bread.

"Pasta?" She asked.

"Yep," Tony replied, "the official food of the DiNozzo New Years Eve."

"It smells delicious." Ziva said.

Natalie and Ziva sat down at their seats while Tony served them their pasta, it looked delicious, fettucini noodles with pesto sauce with a side of steamed asparagus and mushrooms. Ziva had no idea Tony could cook.

"Well, lets eat!" Tony said as he sat down.

Throughout dinner Tony could not help but notice how genuinely happy Ziva looked. She smiled more while they ate then he had seen her smile in a long time and he loved that being with him and Natalie was what made her so happy. It felt right, it felt like a family.

The chemistry hadn't gone unnoticed by Ziva either, she felt happier than she had in a long time. She loved that they could talk about such simple things and they could bring her such happiness and listening to Natalie tell stories of her 3rd grade class made Ziva laugh more than she had in a long time. Ziva thought about Natalie's real mom, she loathed her for leaving Natalie. Ziva did not understand how she could abandon such a sweet, beautiful, and intelligent little girl. She would love to have a daughter like Natalie, actually she would just love to be able to call Natalie her daughter, and if she was honest with herself, Tony as her husband. But things had changed, they had changed, and Ziva did not know if they could go back. Even though she desperately wanted to.

They finished up their dinner and headed into the living room for the movie of the night.

The movie was The Princess Bride, the traditional DiNozzo New Years Eve movie.

Tony plopped down on the sofa and Natalie crawled up beside him and snuggled in.

Ziva, sat herself down on a chair next to them.

Natalie looked over, "Ziva, why are you over there? Will you sit by me please?"

Ziva paused for a minute, if she went over there she would be dangerously close to Tony and she did not know if she could handle that, but on the other hand if she did not go over there she would be disappointing Natalie, which was not an option. "Of course I will come sit by you sweetheart."

Ziva walked over and sat down next to Natalie who snuggled up to both Ziva and Tony.

They started the movie and about halfway through, Natalie was sound asleep.

Ziva looked over at a sleeping Natalie who was snuggled into her side. "She is going to be so upset she fell asleep before the New Year." Ziva said.

"Nah, I'll wake her up about ten minutes before the ball drops and she'll be fine. That way she gets a decent amount of sleep and she gets to see the ball drop." Tony said.

"Here I'll move her so that you can move around." he said as he pulled Natalie onto his lap and she snuggled into his side and the arm of the sofa, but she had been holding onto Ziva's arm and ended up dragged it with her and before Ziva could pull it away, it was across Tony. Ziva pulled her arm back slowly. But, then Tony surprised her by putting his arm around her and she decided to take a leap of her own and cozied up to his side and they continued to watch the movie.

Tony however, could not focus at all on the movie. Instead it was on the beautiful woman he was lucky enough to have his arm around. It was going to take everything he had not to kiss her at midnight.

Ziva was distracted as well, she loved how protected she felt with Tony's arm draped around her. All she could think about was how it was going to take everything she had not to kiss him at midnight, little did she know he was thinking the exact same thing.

The movie ended and Natalie was still sound asleep. Tony carefully moved Natalie to the chair and draped a blanket over her and proceeded to turn off the DVD player and turned the channel to Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve. It was a little past 11 o'clock.

"Want to have dessert?" Tony asked Ziva.

"There is dessert?" Ziva questioned.

"Ziva, Ziva, Ziva, remember this is New Years a la DiNozzo!"

Ziva laughed. "Of course, why did I even ask!"

"Tony went into the kitchen and came out a minute later with two slices of tiramisu.

Ziva was in awe, "you made this yourself?" she said in shock.

"I did. There's still a little bit about Anthony DiNozzo you do not know Miss David."

"Well, now there is even less." Ziva replied with a grin.

"That is true, which means I think you should tell me something I don't know about you."

Ziva thought about it, well there was one thing he certainly didn't know, the little fact about her still being in love with him even after everything that happened.

"Uh....I do not know."

"Come on Z, there's definitely a lot of stuff I don't know about you."

"Alright....I used to dance when I was little."

"Well, that's a start." Tony smiled.

Just then Michael Buble started singing on the TV and Tony had an idea.

"Prove it." Tony said.

"Prove what?" Ziva said, confused.

"That you can dance, dance with me."

"Tony I am not going to dance with you." Ziva laughed.

"Come on Z, please?" He replied. She loved when he called her Z.

"Okay."

They stood up and Tony, deciding he should make the first move, took her hand and led her to the middle of the room. He put his other arm around her and they moved along with the music.

Ziva looked up at Tony, she was so close to him it was making her nervous.

"You know Tony, this was not the kind of dancing I was talking about. I meant ballet and jazz dancing." Ziva said.

"I know." Tony replied with a grin.

Ziva gave him a questioning look, "then why…?"

"Because I wanted to dance with you." Tony said cutting her off.

"Oh."

"I hope this is okay?" Tony questioned.

Ziva smiled up at him, "It is more than okay, Tony."

A/N: Sorry for a slight cliffhanger, I promise I will have the next chapter up ASAP, it's already written for the most part. And okay so I have no idea who preformed on Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve because I was at the Pyramid Rock Festival in Australia for New Years so I just picked a singer that would work for my story. Also again, I apologize for any spelling or grammatical mistakes, I am still in Fiji. Also, I do not have a beta. And as always PLEASE read & review! Thank you thank you! I have more stories in the works and also the final chapters of this story, hopefully I will have them up soon!