Chapter Ten
Tali
"You're running my DNA?" Tali asked with surprise. "Don't you believe me?"
"I do, but I need to be 100% sure," Tony answered as they entered the elevator. "McProbie and I sort of have this prank war going on. He keeps trying to one up me."
"You think me being here is a prank?" Tali blinked. What kind of pranks did he and this McProbie person pull on each other? It hurt to think that her father thought she was some sort of joke. "I'm not a prank."
"I just have to be sure," Tony sighed. "I don't think you are, but I need some peace of mind."
They rode the elevator down several floors before stopping out into a deserted hall and walking into a lab were loud music was playing.
"Abby?!" Tony shouted over the music.
"Here!" Abby said coming out of a back room and turning the music down with a remote. Tali stared at the goth. She remembered seeing pictures of her and her mother together. She looked the exact same as she did in her mother's photos, save for a couple crow lines around her eyes and a single strip of silver that ran through one of her pigtails. "I haven't found anything yet. You have more faith in my speed than Gibbs did."
"I'm not here about the evidence," Tony said as Abby's eyes went from him to Tali. Tali watched her eyes widen in disbelief.
"You look like Ziva. But you're not Ziva. You're too young to be Ziva," Abby babbled. "Who are you?"
"Abby, this is Tali. She's apparently my daughter. Mine and Ziva's," Tony answered. "Do you still have my DNA on file?" He looked at Tali. "Abby is our forensic scientist."
"I never get rid of anything. You want me to run her DNA and make sure it matches?" Abby guessed. "Tony, I love you, but you can be so thick headed. She's clearly Ziva's daughter. And yours. Those eyes are all you, Tony."
Tali watched her father glare at the goth. "I just want to make sure it's not a prank. I got McGee really good last week. I've been waiting for me to get me back."
Abby rolled her eyes. "Fine. I can do a simple DNA test. It's gonna cost you though."
"I'll put two caf-pows on my tab," Tony answered. "Thanks Abby."
Tali watched Abby pull a long q-tip from a drawer and gestured her to sit on tall stool next to a raised desk filled with computer monitors. "I just need you to open you mouth. I'm going to swipe the sides of your cheeks to get some cells to run a DNA test with."
Tali nodded and opened her mouth. Abby gently scraped the inside of her cheeks before withdrawing the q-tip. Tali watched the forensic expert work. What seemed like hours later, Abby was grinning at her computer monitor as the word 'MATCH' flashed in big green letters.
"Tony, this is definitely your daughter," Abby said proudly before hugging Tali tightly. "You look so much like your mom," she then said. "I miss her a lot. How is she? Is she here? Why didn't she tell us that she had a baby?"
"She's fine and I'm sure she's going to be here soon enough. As for why she didn't tell you, I don't know," Tali answered in order, not sure if she should hug the woman back.
Abby pulled back and looked shocked. "You mean, she's not here? Did you come all the way from Israel by yourself?"
"Yes," Tali and Tony answered at the some time.
"Ima doesn't know I left. Well, she probably does now," Tali said. Then it dawned on her. "I didn't turn my phone back on!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She turned it on and was suddenly thankful she had international calling and texting because she found several voicemails and texts waiting for her. She quickly answered Sarah and her aunt's texts, reassuring them that she was safe and sound, and then read a text from her mother.
I'm on my way.
"She's coming," Tali sighed. "She knows I left."
"Well you better get going. Tali looks like she needs some sleep," Abby said, patting Tali's back. "When your mom gets here, tell her I want to see her."
Tali nodded as she and Tony bid Abby goodbye. She followed Tony back into the hall, into the elevator and up into the bullpen again. "Come on, I'll take you back to my place to get some sleep."
"Don't you have to work?"
"I've been here all night. Sent the rest of the team home for some sleep. If anything comes up with our case, Abby or Jimmy, our ME, will call me," Tony said, grabbing Tali's bags for her.
"You're not mad at me?" Tali asked as she followed her father back to elevator. She didn't know why, but she expected him to be upset with her. Not for being his daughter, but because of the lengths she went to get there.
"You, no, not really," Tony answered honestly. "I mean, it was kind of risky for you to come all this way by yourself without telling your mother. I'm more angry at her."
"For not tell you about me?"
"Yes," Tony sighed as they stepped off the elevator a few seconds later and began leading the way to his car. "It's been a long time since I last saw Ziva. A very long time. Why didn't she tell me? I would have been there in second for her."
Tali shrugged. "That seems to be the question of the day."
Tony tossed Tali's backs into the trunk of his car. "You better tell her where you're going to be. The last thing I need is for her to come here and start shooting at everyone." He rattled off his address to her so she could tell Ziva where to go when she landed.
The drive to Tony's was done in silence. Tali texted her mother that she was going to be at her father's and gave her the address. She knew she wouldn't get a reply for a few more hours since she was probably already on a plane. When Tali looked up from her phone again, they were pulling into a driveway of a quaint little bungalow just outside DC. Tony took Tali's bags inside and dropped them right at the bottom of the stairs. "Sorry if it's a mess," Tony said as Tali looked around. "Lea's usually here to clean up some. You'll meet her tonight."
"Lea?" Tali asked curiously.
"My girlfriend," Tony answered.
"Oh, right." Tali followed her father into the kitchen. Why was she so surprised he had a girlfriend? Tali frowned to herself. A part of her was hoping that maybe her father still loved her mother.
"Uh...what do you want to eat? I don't have a lot at the moment. Need to go grocery shopping," Tony muttered as he rummaged through his cabinets. "Ah ha! I can make spaghetti. Ever have it?"
"Yea," Tali said, quirking an eye at him like he was insane. "Who hasn't had spaghetti? Ima makes it all the time."
Tony shrugged and got to work on getting some water to boil. In the meantime, he gave Tali a tour of the house. She noticed the same pictures he had on his desk at NCIS sitting around the house in frames. He introduced her to his goldfish, Kate the tenth and Ziva the sixth. "Don't tell your mom I've named a goldfish after her," Tony said as he feed the fish.
He then led her upstairs and got her set up in the spare bedroom, dropping her bags next to the bed. "Sorry it's not much," Tony sighed as he looked around the bare room. "I don't get many visitors, and well, I wasn't expecting you."
"It's fine," Tali said, lifting her bags onto the bed. "I'm sure I won't be here long. Ima will probably drag me away once she is here."
Tony frowned. "I'll talk to her."
"Hello? Tony?" Came a voice from the first floor.
"That'll be Lea. Come on, I'll introduce you."
Tali bit back her displeasure and followed her father back down the stairs to find a skinny, but fit blonde woman with shoulder length hair and bright blue eyes. She looked confused when she saw Tali emerge from behind Tony.
"What's going on?" She asked, her eyes narrowing with confusion.
"Uh, Lea, do you remember when I told you about my former partner? Ziva?" Tony began.
"Yea," Lea slowly responded. "The one who left a long time ago?"
"Well, turns out me and her had a kid together and I just found out about her today," Tony said very quickly.
Lea glared. "You what?!"
"Remember this was like 16 years ago."
Lea rolled her eyes. "You conveniently forgot to tell me you slept with your ex-partner though. When you said you had your farewells in Israel you did say it was a fond one." She sighed. "I can forgive it because it was so long ago, but Jesus, Tony, you have a kid?" She glanced at Tali again. "Lea Holland," she introduced herself, holding out her hand.
"Tali David-DiNozzo," Tali answered, shaking the woman's hand polietly. She was starting to like this woman less and less.
"Anyways, we can talk about this later. What's for dinner?" She turned back to Tony, a smile now on her face.
"Spaghetti," Tony answered walking into the kitchen with Lea following closely behind.
Tali watched them go before settling herself into the living room. Maybe she got off on the wrong foot with her father's girlfriend, but there was something about her that didn't sit right with her.