Chapter 4 Starters

Thanks: Hey everyone. Thanks so much for all the reviews, story- and author alerts. It's really heartwarming. Especially with the winter weather here in the Netherlands. And I want to thank you all for the wonderful patients that you've shown while waiting for a new chapter! Have fun reading!

A great thanks to my wonderful beta-reader geekischic. You keep me in check :) And a great thanks to M E Wofford too for her lovely ideas and willing to read it all :)

Summary: Tony and Ziva have a dinner for two.

Previously on Christmas Love is in the Air:

She felt his warm breath tickle in her ear, sending shivers down her spine and hardly heard what he said. She turned her head and looked at him. She noticed that his face was suddenly very close by, their noses almost touching. She could see sparkles in his eyes as she looked into them. Her breath caught in that moment, she didn't know what to say.

"I'll see you in a bit." he said softly. 'I think I've got her startled.' he thought. 'Wow, never knew that could happen. We almost – No, let's not go there.'

Ziva nodded and turned back to Angélina. 'That was.... close. Wow.' was all she could think, feeling a tingling sensation in her stomach. Angélina was clueless of what had happened between Tony and Ziva and was wrapped in the story she was telling Ziva.

Tony, meanwhile, walked to the kitchen, where he knew Luciano and Tomaso would be.

Chapter 4 Starters

Tony came out of the kitchen with Luciano and Tomaso, one arm wrapped around their shoulders. "Now, remember what I told you, guys?"

"Yes, uncle Tony." said Luciano, his head bowed with a guilty look on this face.

Tony looked at Tomaso and waited. After a long silence Tomaso dared a glance upwards and then nervously averted his gaze from Tony's stern look. "Yes, uncle Tony." he whispered, his ears red glowing in shame.

At that moment Ziva looked up and noticed Tony with the twins. Seeing the guilty looks on the boys' faces, she raised an eyebrow but remained silent. Tony caught her look and gave her a quick smile before the stern look on his face returned. Ziva turned her attention back to Angélina.

"Now, guys, first you're going to apologize to Angélina and then you can meet a friend of mine." Tony said, giving them a gentle push towards the table. Slowly the boys obeyed Tony and came to a halt next to Ziva and Angélina. Tony noticed Ziva had taken his seat for a moment. 'Damn, that shawl looks good on her. Maybe later – No, don't go there!' he thought. "What do we have here? Are these my two favorite girls?"

Ziva turned around and looked at him in surprise, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. 'His favorite girls, right. That is just a saying, right?'

Angélina turned around with a huge smile on her face. "Uncle Tony, Ziva said I should have a ship in here so that-" At that moment she noticed her brothers and she fell silent.

"A ship, eh? That sounds good. Maybe you should ask Santa about that, right Ziva?" Tony chuckled.

"I think you are right, Tony."

Luciano took a step forward and reached out his hand to Ziva. "Miss-" he started, but he was interrupted by Tony.

"Uh-uh, what did I say?" he asked sternly.

Luciano looked him grudgingly in his eyes. "Okay, okay." He and Tomaso turned to Angélina.

"Angélina," Tomaso started

"We are sorry." Luciano continued.

"We shouldn't have said that Santa doesn't exist." Tomaso continued.

"And we'll help you with the cookies and the milk for Rudolph." Luciano chimed in before they both fell silent.

"And?" Tony asked while Ziva got up from the chair.

"And..... we shouldn't have said that you're a bad girl." Luciano hastily added.

Tony looked expectantly at Tomaso, who frowned and looked questioningly at Tony. Tony raised an eyebrow. "Go on." he whispered.

"Oh, yeah. And we love you." Tomaso said as an afterthought.

A smile appeared on Angélina's face. "I love you too!" she said and hugged her brothers.

"See, that wasn't so hard." Tony said, looking at the siblings. At his side Ziva chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Boys, now that you've done this, I think it's time you meet a friend of mine." Tony said, drawing the attention of the twins.

Luciano and Tomaso turned their attention to Ziva and they both had a huge smile on their faces.

"Luciano and Tomaso, meet Miss David. She's a friend of mine." He said, as a he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her a bit closer. "Ziva, meet Luciano and Tomaso, or Luca and Tommy as we cal them." He gestured to the boys.

Ziva shook their hands and then the boys surprised her by giving her a hand kiss. She looked up at Tony who merely raised his eyebrows. "Italian charm, Sweet Cheeks."

"It is nice to meet you, Luciano and Tomaso."

"We are honored to meet you, Miss David." Luciano said.

"Yes." Tomaso added.

Charlie chose that moment to appear again. "Come on, guys, grab your coats. It's time to go. Marco is already waiting by the door."

The three children practically ran to the cloakroom while Charlie walked up to Ziva. "Hi," he said, extending his hand to Ziva, "sorry for all the commotion earlier."

"I've seen worse things. But this was …...... interesting, yes?" She looked at Tony.

"Yes, a little lesson in American traditions." he said. "Ziva, may I introduce you to Charlie, the oldest of Luigi's and Lucia's kids. Charlie, meet Miss David, a friend of mine."

"It's nice to meet you, Charlie."

"Likewise." Charlie looked briefly at Tony, raising an eyebrow, before looking back at Ziva. "Welcome here at Luigi's Place. A friend of uncle Tony is a friend of ours." 'A friend, right, who's he trying to kid around here? She's not a friend, she's way more than that! At least to him she is. Why else would he bring her here?'

"Thank you. That is nice of you to say."

The children reappeared at the table with their coats on. "Good, let's go." Charlie said. The twins said goodbye and walked away. Charlie started to walk away when he noticed that Angélina was lingering behind. "What is it, Angel? We're gonna be late for church."

"I.... I wanted to ask Ziva something." she whispered as she glanced shyly at Ziva.

Ziva leaned over. "What do you want to ask?"

Angélina beckoned her to come closer and so she did. Angélina wrapped her arms around Ziva's neck and whispered, "If you see Santa tonight, will you ask him for a ship for the aquarium for me?"

Ziva pulled back a bit and looked into Angélina's eyes. "I promise I'll ask him."

"Thank you." Angélina started to walk away, but then she turned around again and ran back to Tony and Ziva.

Tony knelt down in front of her. "Angel, you're gonna be late." he said softly.

Angélina looked at him. "Will you be here?" she asked hesitantly.

"When you get back from church?"

She nodded.

Tony looked briefly at Ziva who shrugged and smiled. "Yes, we will be here. Now go on or you'll really be late." he grinned. He hugged the little girl and gently pushed her to Charlie, who lifted his sister in his arms and strode away after the twins.

Tony stood and looked at Ziva. He noticed that she looked at Charlie and Angélina and waved goodbye to the little girl. "She likes you." he stated.

Ziva turned to meet his eyes. "I guess she does."

"Normally she's quite shy with strangers. It usually takes her some time to open up to someone. So she really likes you."

"Well, I'm with you. I guess that is safe for her." She sat down.

"No, when Charlie got home with Francesca she didn't to her for weeks. And you couldn't blame Francesca. She tried to involve Angélina in many things she and Charlie did. You're different. She felt right at ease with you." He said as he sat down too.

Ziva couldn't explain it. 'Well, I can only hope it's a good thing.'

"Tony's right, you know." she heard Donna say as she put their drinks on the table and removed the empty glasses.

"Were you eavesdropping, Donna?" Tony asked amused.

"I couldn't help but overhear. It took Angélina a couple of months to open up to me, while usually all the children like me straight away. It's good that she likes you, though. After all, you're a friend of her favorite uncle!" she said, while putting a basket with garlic bread, butter and Olive oil on the table.

"Thank you, Donna." Tony said pointedly.

Donna chuckled and walked away.

"She's exaggerating. I'm not her favorite uncle." Tony muttered while looking at the table.

"Well, I like Angélina anyway. She's a sweet girl and I think she's gifted with such wonderful brothers. By the way, what did you say to them?"

"I just reminded them of how happy they were when they still believed in Santa." Tony said solemnly.

Ziva tilted her head and looked at him. "Did you have fun?"

Tony looked up. "In the kitchen? No way, I couldn't give them that talk and have fun with it!"

"No, when you believed in Santa?"

"I guess so, at some point. I don't really remember." he said, avoiding the subject of his childhood years. "Did you? Oh, wait, you don't have Santa. But did you have fun with Hanukah?"

'Hmmm... still a sensitive – no wait... touchy – subject.' she thought. "Yes, we had fun when we were still children. We quickly grew up though."

"Ah, yes. I can imagine that."

Simultaneously they reached out for the garlic bread. Their fingers brushed for a moment before they each took a slice of bread, and Tony heard her soft intake of breath. 'Interesting.' he thought with an inward smile.

"Tony, what's Charlie's story?"

"Ah, it's a rather long one. Are you up to that?"

"Certainly!"

"Well, we met back in Baltimore. I was on my way to Luigi and Lucia when I found him going through a dumpster behind their restaurant. It took some persuasion, but in the end he joined me in the restaurant for a decent meal. It turned out he had been living on the edge for a couple of years already. When I found him he'd just turned 10."

"And he was already living on the streets? What had happened?"

"His mother was.... abusive. At one point the neighbors called the cops, but he was gone by the time they'd come to his house. They'd taken statements and everything, but since Charlie wasn't there, they couldn't do a thing. If I'm correct he was about 8 when he hit the streets. He managed to stay away from child abusers. Luckily he'd found a place to sleep, but he had to take care of his own food, so he went through every dumpster he could find. And of course the dumpster of a restaurant is a great food source."

"Yes, I can see that."

"So, we had dinner and he'd hardly given me any info. I guess he'd sensed I was a cop. He's always been very good at sensing cops and abusers, our Charlie. Anyway, I brought him to a shelter our precinct was familiar with and told one of my colleagues about him. He told me Social services was already looking for him."

As Tony told Ziva more about Charlie, Donna walked into the kitchen.

"It seems the crisis is over. The kids are on their way to church." Lucia said.

"Yeah, I saw that. What did Tony say? The twins looked so guilty!" Donna asked.

Lucia chuckled. "He was angry with them alright. Let no one touch his Angel. Although I'd swear Luigi and I are her parents, he's doing a good job whenever it needs to be done! Anyway, he explained what they did was wrong and told them they wouldn't get any presents if they didn't head back in there and apologize."

"Someday he'll be a wonderful father, I think."

"Hmph, we talked about that." Luigi chimed in. "I don't think he's into all the parenting."

"You could have fooled me, but hey, what did you expect with a father like his?" Lucia said. "But I think Donna is right. With the right woman he can be a great father."

"Ah yeah, there's the keyword. The right woman. He'll have to find her first. I thought Jeanne perhaps could be, but I never saw her here."

"Ha, Jeanne? No way. No, he'll just have to wake up and notice the right woman sitting right next to him." Donna said.

"You think she's the one?" Lucia asked.

"Yeah, but they don't know it yet. Oh, to some point they might know, but not where it really matters. But they will figure it out, soon."

"Your gut feeling again?"

"Yep."

"We can usually trust that. I guess I'll have to have a look for myself."

"Well, my love, their starters are ready, so I'd say bring our friend and his guest their first course." Luigi stated with two plates in his hands.

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea!" Donna exclaimed. "You'll see, Mamma Lucia, she's perfect for him." 'I knew there was a way she could have a look for herself!'

Luigi chuckled. "I'll have to admit, with what Tony told me about her in the past and seeing her now, I think they can work together."

Lucia rolled her eyes and took the two plates out of his hands. "I'm going to see it for myself, thank you very much." And with that she walked out of the kitchen.

"Luigi and Lucia were lucky. Social Services knew them already. They had taken care of a few kids before, so Social Services was okay with them adopting Charlie." Tony told Ziva. He looked into her smiling eyes. 'I can never get enough of that smile.' Then he noticed she had a bit of butter on the corner of her mouth and he chuckled.

"What? I didn't say anything!"

"No, it's just... You've got a bit of butter left."

"Huh, where?"

"Here, let me." Tony leaned over and reached out his hand. He cupped her jaw and wiped away the butter with his thumb. 'So beautiful! So...... attractive.' he thought. 'No, it's Ziva, your partner, remember!' a warning voice in his head said. 'Yes, she is, but she's also so hot!' another teasing voice said. He couldn't resist the temptation and softly brushed her bottom lip with his thumb.

The tip of her tongue darted out and without thinking she licked the butter from his thumb. At the moment she saw his eyes darken, she realized what she had done and her eyes widened in shock. 'Oh, God, what did I do? I should NOT have done that.' she thought. 'But it's Tony! And his eyes.... they tell a different story. He does not mind.' a teasing voice in her head said.

Instead of moving away he leaned over more as she leaned into his touch, their eyes locked. She saw him closing in and subconsciously licked her lips. "Tony." she sighed softly.

"Ziva." he whispered huskily as he saw her eyes darken. 'She doesn't seem to mind.' was his last coherent thought.

Just as he was about to touch her lips with his, he heard a familiar voice.

"One time baked tomatoes with Mozzarella and one time Cold Seafood Cocktail."

Their eyes still locked, Tony reluctantly pulled back. His hand slid down in his lap where he curled it up into a fist. He looked at Lucia. "Thank you, gorgeous." 'Couldn't she have waited just a few more minutes?!'

"It looks delicious." Ziva said, regaining her composure.

"It certainly does. Ziva, may I introduce you to Lucia, an old friend of mine from Baltimore. Lucia, meet Ziva, a friend of mine."

"Ziva, it is so nice to finally meet you! Are you enjoying your evening?"

"Thank you, it is nice to meet you too. And I'm very much enjoying the evening. You have a wonderful restaurant." Ziva managed to say. "Angélina told me about your aquarium. I like it a lot. You have quite the collection of fish in here."

"Angélina told you all about the aquarium? That's great! I love it myself so much that we've got one at home too. Angel is crazy with the fish. Although she's a bit too young for it, she's determined to help take care of them in every way she can."

"Ah, yes, speaking of that," Tony started, "Angel might have gotten the idea that the aquariums need a ship in it."

"A ship?" Lucia asked surprised.

"Er, that might have been my fault. I asked her why the little diver has a treasure but no ship. And so she got the idea for the ship." Ziva explained.

"Ah, right. Well, that's no problem. I had been thinking about the same thing." Lucia chuckled.

"Good!" Tony said relieved. "Cause one of those gifts under the tree has..... er, a ship."

Lucia laughed out loud. "You've been talking to Luigi, haven't you?"

Tony looked down at the table and mumbled something.

"Oh, come on, Tony. Just admit it! Angel's got you into it as much as she's got us into it."

"Yeah, she might." Tony admitted barely audible with a light blush on his cheeks.

"Well, if Luigi knows, it's fine with me. You know that." Lucia grinned. "You're in for something tomorrow, mister!" She looked at Tony one last time and then walked away, leaving Tony and Ziva at their dinner.

"What does she mean? Are you in trouble?" Ziva asked curiously.

"No, it just means that we'll have an overexcited Angel tomorrow. Especially since she's only just asked it and she's asked you to ask Santa for her. Are you prepared for her enthusiasm tomorrow?"

"Ah, but that remains to be seen, yes?"

Tony narrowed his eyes and then laughed. "You're absolutely right, Sweet Cheeks."

They enjoyed their starters and spent the time with chatting about work, Gibbs, McGee and the rest of the gang.

Donna looked at the couple from the bar and saw they were enjoying themselves. 'Yeah, that table was a good choice.'

Suddenly all the lights in the restaurant went out. There was an eery light coming from the aquarium, but that was all that could be seen. Lucia and Luigi stormed out of the kitchen.

"Darn, here too. Okay, people. Listen up. We're sorry for the lights going out. We will place extra candles on all the tables. For those of who are waiting for the next course, it may take a while. We don't have any lights in the kitchen either. We apologize for the delays." Lucia said.

"We're currently looking into the problem and hope to have it fixed soon. You are welcome to go to the café for the time being. When we start serving again, we will call you." Luigi said before they went back into the kitchen.

Most of the guests stay seated as they just had had their meals or were just enjoying the time. Tony looked at Ziva. "You okay?"

"Yes." She said despite the slight tension she felt.

"I'll be right back. Wait here."

She nodded and watched him walk to the kitchen.

"Lucia, is there anything I can do?" Tony asked.

"No, hun. Just enjoy your evening. It's probably one of the relays again. The electrician guy said he had fixed it, but apparently something's still wrong."

"Okay, just let me know if I can help."

"Sure!" Lucia assured him.

Tony walked back to the table and saw the little shiver that went through Ziva. "Come here," He said, reaching out to her, "we'll go to the café for now. It's warmer there. I think Carlo has already lit the fireplace."

"Okay." Ziva took her wrapping shawl and placed her hand in Tony's as she stood up.

"Are you going to the café?" Donna asked.

"Yes, it will be warmer there." Tony said.

"Of course. I'll bring your plates there. I'll see if I can get you a few seats near the fireplace."

"Thanks, Donna." Tony lead Ziva to the café with one hand in the small of her back.