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Time froze around him as his heart stops. He knew it couldn't possibly be true. It just couldn't be true.
'I lost my sister, Tali, last year in a Hamas suicide bombing. She was 16 and the best of us.'
He swallows at the memory. Abby and McGee stare at him as if he had grown a second head in the time he has stood in this spot. "I only know one person with that name." He stutters out, his throat catching, making it hard to breathe. The two stand before him, gesturing for him to continue. Surely they have heard of the story, surely Ziva had mentioned her sister to the rest of the team. Or was he the only one to have gotten her name? To have known her history? "Ziva's little sister. But this girl is too young to be that Tali."
"Obviously." Abby comments, folding her arms.
He pulls out his phone and calls the one man who can get him the information he needs. "Natalia, get me the director. Something has come up."
"Orli, long time no see." Tony's comment was dry, but not unwelcoming.
"I am not surprised, Tony, after Ziva died, there was not much left to talk about after you killed Trent Kort." His heart clenches at the memory of that day. "What is there to talk about now?"
Nodding to McGee at the desk beside him, the image is brought to the screen. "Earlier today, we got a fingerprint match to 10-year-old, Talia David." He pauses, his tongue clicking the roof of his mouth. "We ask if you recognize her?"
Orli was quiet for a minute, looking over the girl in the picture. "Where did you get this match?" She asks, interested.
"From the customs at the international airport, crossing into the country. From what we found, she came from Israel a week ago."
"Yes," Her thick accent lathers the single word, Tony's temper slowly rising. "Talia is Ziva's daughter, she went missing eight years ago, presumingly kidnapped by the same people who had her murdered."
"And who exactly is the girl's father?" His fist clenched beside him, hiding them from the woman's view.
She didn't skip a beat. "You are."
He grounds out, "And you see fit to just now tell me?" Oh, he was pissed, outright pissed. "And why is this the first time I'm hearing about this, madam?" Her eyes shifted, not meeting his gaze for a moment before staring straight ahead.
"It was not my place to tell." Short and straight to the point. "But you already figured that out," She folders her hands in front of her. "Why exactly did you call?"
"Tali's," Tony's heart skips a beat. "we found a Bloody fingerprint at the crime scene this morning. We figured she somehow knew the Sergeant, but now knowing this new information, I suspect otherwise-"
"-She could be the murderer?"
"I would say her captors." He smirks, crossing his arms over his chest. "But if you think a 10-year-old could take down a full grown, fully trained Marine, without a struggle, then I'm impressed."
"Don't underestimate a David, Anthony DiNozzo."
He steps out of MTAC, throwing his head he lets out a deep sigh. Having a daughter was not something he was expecting to hear today. Or ever. He had requested the INP from Orli, the Israeli equivalent of AFIS, he wants to make sure that this was the same girl that went missing from her burned down farmhouse eight years ago. Abby can do a blood test to confirm that this was his daughter, they had a blood sample. Just need to make sure it is hers. Raising his phone, he calls the woman and makes it happen.
He takes a moment to himself, his worries lie in the basement. He was this close to confirming he had a daughter with the woman he loves. But finding out that she had been kidnapped from her home on the same day someone killed her mother? Who would take a two-year-old? He had more questions than answers along with a murder to solve.
Inhaling, he walks to the elevator; he had something he needed to do before he found out the results.
The swoosh of the Autopsy doors welcomes him to the cool room. He spots Jimmy leaning over the victim, hands deep in his gut. "Palmer!" The medical examiner looks up at him, pulling out what looks like the man's kidney as he greets the team leader. "What d'you got for me?"
Placing the body part in the scale, Jimmy clears his throat. "There wasn't much I could get from the Sergeant, he was in peak fitness shape, so finding a lack of defensive marks on his forearms and hands is interesting." The medical examiner explains lifting the arms to Tony, showing the lack of bruising and swelling on the knuckles and forearms. "The only marks on his body was the single bullet wound to the forehead." Tony looks down at the head, oddly to use to the top of the head cut off. "I found the bullet in his brain, it had ricocheted off of the back of the skull, leaving a small dent. I took a sample of it and sent it up to Abby."
"Good, good." Tony nodded, glancing up at the man. The room was silent for a moment before he finally asked. "Did you know Ziva had a daughter?" He expecting Palmer to drop something, but the man wasn't holding anything that would bang or clang on the table or floor. "Yeah, I didn't think so."
He moves to turn away, making it to the door before the other man finally says something.
"Why wouldn't she have told you?"
Tony's heart broke again, finally hearing the words aloud. "I don't know, Jimmy." He sighs.
"It's a match, Tony. The fingerprint and blood we found at the crime scene belong to Talia Antonia DiNozzo."
The answer is straight to the point, and one he wasn't sure if he really wanted to hear. This little girl, who was kidnapped on Israeli soil, was here in the United States. But why? He has so many more questions that need to be answered. And the only person who could give him almost all of them was dead.
McGee steps up beside him, staring at the picture of the two-year-old from the missing case report. Even at such a young age, he can see Ziva in her. In her cheeks. Her hair. But her eyes? It's like looking in a mirror.
"Why change her name to David? Wouldn't it arouse suspicion?" He asks.
"Deputy Director David? Couldn't be Daddy, now could it?"
"David is a common name in Israel."
"From what I've been told, it's a popular name. She would have slipped under the radar." McGee didn't question him on where he had learned it, taking his word. "Abby, call me when you find out more information on what little evidence we have. McGee, get the team to continue to search for leads. I want every and any asshole who could have a grudge on Sergeant Morgan. Narrow it down even further to who could have known Tali." He says facing the man meeting his eye. McGee nods, quickly looking over to Abby before staring back into his boss' eyes. "I want you to look up anything you got on the case file from when Ziva died," He felt his heart tighten at the word. "Get Gabby to translate it if you must. Orli should have sent it over not too long ago. I want my best man to find out who kidnapped my daughter. Even if I'm 8 years too late."
And with that, Tony walks out of the door and into the elevator. He had some place to be.
The drive to the house took him less time than he had expected even though the time had never changed. But his thoughts aren't organized, nor was he ready for this conversation. Sitting in the driveway, he works on gathering his thoughts, he can't seem to find the right words though.
A knock on his passenger window startles him, he glances up to find his old boss standing on the other side of his door. Exhaling, he opens the door and slips out, then crossing his arms atop the car roof, not saying a word.
"Can I help you with something, DiNozzo?"
Stepping back, he closes the car door and makes his way to the front door of the house. "This isn't a conversation for all ears, Boss." Taking the hint, the old man follows him into the house.
Once inside, the two sit down on the couch, Tony not looking at his former boss, just staring into the fireplace.
"I don't have all day, Tony, spit it out." Gibbs sighs, Tony smirks.
"You're retired, Boss, you do have all day." It still shocks him when he receives the head slap even though he should have seen it coming. "Ziva…" He hears the intake of breath at his partner's name. "She had a daughter."
"Tony." He hears the warning in the man's voice, but he pushes on anyway.
"My daughter, Gibbs." His head shoots up at the man, finding his old boss staring at him, utterly shocked. "And she never told me."
After years of pent of emotion and frustration, tears finally spill from his eyes. Tears that should have fallen when he said his goodbye to her. To the moment the farmhouse blew up. To when she was pronounced dead by Orli. To the yearly anniversary, he endures on his own, of not being there to protect his ninja. But now, now is when they fall, when he's talking to his old boss, who was next in line closest to Ziva, knew half of her secrets. The man who would have walked the woman down the aisle.
Now he cries.
He feels the clap of Gibbs' hand clamping onto his shoulder, and he cries harder. "Why wouldn't she tell me? What was she afraid of?" The older man says nothing, instead putting his words into his hands as he squeezes Tony's shoulder. "I wanted her to come home, every single day, I just wanted to hold her again."
"I know."
"But…" He pauses, sniffling, rotating his head on his shoulders. "But I just wish she had told me. I would have been there in a heartbeat. 'Count to a million', I said. And I'd do it again, cross the planet for her. She was… no, she is my everything. And now, Tali. She's all I have left of her, but here's the kicker. Someone kidnapped her the day Ziva died before the firefighters could have arrived."
Around him, Gibbs moves about the house, the next thing he knows, the man is holding a bottle of beer before him. "You might need this." With a short thanks, Tony cracks open the beer and taking a couple of gulps. "You know that you are all my children, don't you?"
Tony nods, taking another swig of the beer.
"With Ziver," the man pauses. "It felt like I had Kelly back, it was like raising my little girl again." Tony was awestruck by his boss' words. He knew Ziva was like a daughter to the man, but he never knew he felt like this. "Did you know Ziva was only a couple years older than Kelly?"
No, he never really thought about it. Like he never thought about the age difference between him and his partner, but it makes sense. His Ziva was born in '82 while Kelly was born in '84, if they grew up as neighbors, they could have been friends. Best of friends.
"I took her in, pulled her under my wing. Like with Abby, I would do anything for her. But she was the baby of my family. She'd ask for anything, I'd drop everything and do it. When she called me, telling me that she wasn't coming home, that I wasn't picking both of you up from the airport, I drank myself to sleep that night." The man paused in his quiet monologue. "I had lost my baby girl again."
The room went quiet for a long time. Too long it felt. But in peace they drink, they drink to the memory of the woman they both love. They didn't stay a word until they hit the bottom of the bottle, mutually agreeing on another drink. With the pop of the bottle cap coming loose, Tony speaks up. "I have McGee getting Intel on Tali's kidnappers, getting help from Mossad where he can. Johnson and O'Riley are tracking down leads for suspects."
Gibbs doesn't respond, instead, he gets up off the couch. "Want a steak, DiNozzo?"
His eyes following his former boss to the kitchen and back out to the living room. "Yeah, sure." Tony continues to update him on the case as they eat.
It is closing in on midnight when Tony finally arrives home. He knows he should call his dad, let the man know that he has a granddaughter out there, somewhere in this city. Breaking the news to Gibbs was hard enough but to Senior? He might need the stronger stuff for such conversion.
Pulling out his cell phone, he unlocks it and scrolls to his father's contact number. Tapping it, he brings the phone to his ear as he unlocks his apartment door. The same apartment he's had since… since forever, really. Since he and Wendy broke up. There was only one change in the apartment in the time he has lived there.
Opening the door, the sound of something scraping against the hardwood flooring behind the door alerts him. Looking behind the door, he noticed something as he hears a faint 'Hello? Junior?' coming from his phone.
Down behind his front door was a large envelope with 'Anthony DiNozzo' written on it in childlike penmanship.