Chapter 4: Choosing a Name
As Ziva nodded off, Nettie took the baby from her arms and placed the little one in the bassinette by the bed. After watching the little girl sleep for a few minutes, Nettie quietly slipped from the room and pulled out her cell phone.
She called both Schmeil and Orli and let them know of the baby's arrival. She shared the information on the baby's weigh, length and Apgar score with both. Schmeil asked about a name and Nettie had to reply that she had yet to hear Ziva mention one. She promised to call back when she had the information.
Orli asked if they needed anything, but Nettie replied that what Ziva needed was something Orli could not provide. "She needs to sleep and rest. When we go home, she will be busy enough!"
Nettie walked to the hospital cafeteria to get herself some dinner. She had realized that she had not eaten since the night before at the farmhouse. She purchased some chicken and vegetables with a cup of tea and sat down to eat, hoping that Ziva would be given a meal shortly. She ate one of the cookies that she bought and slipped the other one into a paper napkin to take to Ziva.
As she entered Ziva's room, she heard the baby starting to fuss. Ziva was just waking up from her nap. Nettie smiled at Ziva and went over to the bassinette. She lifted the baby and placed her into Ziva's arms. Ziva smiled shyly as she bared a breast and placed the baby near her nipple. The little girl rutted for a minute and then latched on greedily.
Ziva watched her little girl nurse with tears running down her cheeks. As she nursed the baby, a lactation consultant entered the room.
"Oh, has someone already been here to answer your questions on breast feeding?"
"No," Ziva responded.
"It looks as though you have the hang of it already; you are a natural at it, Ziva. Anyhow, my name is Alina, and if you have any questions, I can help. Here is my card, and you can even call once you go home."
Ziva glanced at the card that the woman placed on the tray near the bed and smiled, "Thank you." Alina nodded and left the room.
"She is beautiful, Zivaleh. She looks like you did as a newborn, except her eyes. You had the eyes of an old soul, but this little one, I do not know. Her eyes…"
"Are her Abba's eyes," Ziva stated simply. She sniffled and wiped at her own eyes with her free hand.
"Call him, Ziva," Nettie suggested. "He needs to know."
"No, Doda," Ziva wanted nothing more than to have Tony right here with her, but she could not disrupt his life with the news of a child. "I will wait until we get home to decide. I do not want to talk about it anymore tonight, please."
Nettie hesitantly nodded, and then changed the subject. "Have you chosen a name for her?"
"Ken, Doda," Ziva smiled at her aunt, "Talia Elisheva DiNozzo."
"You are using his name?"
"Yes, I cannot burden this baby with the curse of the David name. I will not do that to her. Talia after my sister and Elisheva is the Hebrew form of her paternal grandmother's name. She will have at least that part of her father forever." Ziva had thought about names in the sleepless nights when nothing could help her sleep. Had the baby been a boy, she would have named him after his father: Anthony D. DiNozzo, III.
~Tali~
A knock at the door had both women looking up to see Schmeil standing in the doorway.
"Come in, Schmeil!" Ziva greeted her old friend.
"Zivaleh," Schmeil hugged Nettie and then Ziva. Nettie led him to the bassinette where little Tali lay sleeping.
"She is beautiful, Ziva. She looks so much like you and your mother as babies." At that moment, the baby opened her eyes. "Her eyes are so familiar…"
"Her Abba's eyes," Ziva replied softly. She reached out for the baby from Nettie's arms as little Tali started fussing. Nettie handed Ziva a fresh diaper and Ziva quickly changed the baby as her cries started. Ziva could feel the fullness in her breasts and placed Tali at her right side. The baby latched on and began sucking greedily. Ziva was filled with awe at the tiny human in her arms. Her baby, a little girl who was half her and half Tony, a tiny miracle who made her feel so much love.
Ziva used the shawl that Doda Nettie had made for her to cover the nursing baby lightly and provide some privacy while nursing. Tears spilled from her eyes as she spoke to Nettie and Schmeil, "I never knew I could feel so much love. She is perfect, yes?"
Both Nettie and Schmeil smiled at Ziva, nodding their agreement. "Have you named her yet?" Schmeil asked.
"Ken. Talia Elisheva DiNozzo." Ziva beamed.
Schmeil nodded his approval of the name, "Are you going to tell him, Ziva? He deserves to know about his child."
Ziva sighed, "I will think about it after we go home. I do not want to disrupt his life." She grew quiet and Nettie could see her niece retreating into her thoughts. How she hoped the girl would come to her senses and contact the man. She clearly still loved him and needed him in her life, now more than ever. As Schmeil stated, Anthony deserved to know about his child.
Tali paused in her suckling, and Ziva lifted the baby to her shoulder, gently patting her back. The little one burped and then fussed, rutting into her Ima's shoulder. Ziva lowered the baby and placed her at her left breast. Tali rutted a bit and latched on to the nipple, again sucking hungrily. "You have your Abba's appetite!" Ziva smiled through her tears. So much about little Tali reminded her of Tony, but the eyes were the biggest reminder. Every time she looked at her daughter, she would see her soulmate, her love, the man she sent away. She would be reminded of the worst decision of her life, and also the best; she had sent away the one man she loved more than anything; the man to whom she had given her very soul as well as the intimacy of knowing every inch of her body. That intimacy had given her the greatest gift; her daughter.
