A/N: Thanks so much for the interest, support and comments! I apologize for not replying individually, but my keyboard time that isn't work related is still limited these days. I really do appreciate hearing from people about what works in the story and what doesn't. Reviews always remind me that, for better or worse, I have no ability to predict what people will or won't like, but as long as something is working for readers, I'll keep posting. :)

Time shifting: still bouncing between recent past & their present.

SHORT ABSENCE ALERT: so far, I have been able to update almost weekly. Due to real life work requirements for the next, upcoming posting weekend and a long weekend getaway to the mountains the next (yay!), this will not likely be updated again until mid-October. I know I have other WIPs that petered out so just wanted to assure those who have been so faithful in reading that it's just a scheduling thing with this story rather than a sudden loss of motivation.

SEASONS

October 29, 2016

As Director Vance walked over to speak with Ziva, Tony knew he had only these few minutes left before the Director left that the whole group would be together, so excused himself from Ducky, and walked over toward the sofa where Ziva and Tali were the center of attention.

"Hey," he started clumsily, trying to ignore the 'Gibbs' glare' that had followed him since they arrived. Raising his voice slightly over the conversations to get everyone's attention, Tony offered an awkward grin when they all looked to him. "Before the Director has to leave ... while you're all still here ..." He glanced to Ziva. She looked a little tired, but he could tell she was more relaxed than she had been when they came, so knew the visit was going well for her. Their eyes met; he raised his eyebrows in a silent question. He saw a small smile in return. He had said if things went well he would like to fill everyone in on things, and she had concurred. It appeared that she was having a good visit as well.

"This isn't a speech, I promise. Ducky – thank you for getting everyone here, so we can just let everyone know what's going on, all at once." He rubbed the back of his neck, not sure how best to say what he needed to say. "I know you all probably have questions – some of you more than others," he looked at Abby in an affectionate jibe, "but right now, we don't have too many answers. We all just found each other five days ago." The reactions he saw didn't surprise him, and he hoped this would help them understand what he was about to say. "We haven't had time to figure out much of anything yet, but we did decide on a few basic things. First, and most important – we agreed that the best and safest place right now for Tali is here, in the States. And if we were going to come back to the U.S., it would make the most sense to come back to where things are familiar. To family," he emphasized. "That was first, and so we hopped a plane, and here we are."

Tony took a breath, and let it sink in with the group that he was being literal about how much was still up in the air for them. "Now that we're here, we all needed a place to live. You all know that both Ziva and I lost our mothers too young, and had often ... absent ... fathers. We didn't want that for our daughter. So ... we just got a house." At Abby's deep inhale, her eyes widening and her face beginning to light up, Tony cautioned, "but I meant it when I said we haven't talked about anything yet. We were partners for eight years, but haven't seen each other for three. For now, we're relying on the fact that we were good partners in the field." He shrugged, looking for their understanding. "It's as if McGee and I got a house," he explained, with a shrug.

"Except that would never happen," McGee drawled.

Tony rolled his eyes at the sudden laughter the comment elicited, but nodded to Tim in thanks. "Good point," he conceded. "Look – we want to see all of you. You're family," Tony repeated. "But there's a lot that Ziva and I need to catch up on and discuss. Please, just ..." He looked around and saw everyone watching him, reflecting his seriousness, and he said simply, "please let us do that. None of you would ever intend to get in the middle of any of this, but ... it might take a lot of time and a lot of discussion before we have everything figured out." He looked over at Ziva, and seeing her dark eyes on him, and the small measure of trust starting to reappear there, he breathed, "and I don't want to rush things or mess things up." He suddenly was aware again of all the other eyes on him, too, and discomfort pricking at him, added,"I'm going from having a place of my own to sharing it with two ninjas. I'm going to need all the patience you can show me."

Tony glanced back to Ziva, who dropped her gaze, leaning forward slightly to drop a light kiss on Tali's head – but who was still smiling, still relaxed – and thought he at least hadn't messed up things too badly.

Abby, transparent as always, was a little disappointed that there had not been a great, romantic announcement, but to her credit, said as genuinely and happily as DiNozzo had ever heard her, "but a house! It means you are back, at least for a while. All of you."

Tony watched Ziva for her reaction to Abby's words, and as he saw her look up to Abby, held his breath. Consciously or not, the room joined him.

"We are," she said to Abby softly, brushing Tali's hair softly as the child sat on her knee, watching all the adults around her and starting to warm up to the room herself. "Aren't we, Tali?"

At that, the toddler made it clear whose child she was. At her cue, Tali spread her arms wide, flashed a wide DiNozzo smile, and announced, "Yes!"

October 24, 2016

Tony left Ziva in Tali's room. As everything started to catch up with him, he wandered out and sat down in his small living room, wind knocked out of him.

All this time, all the searching, and now ... Ziva. Alive, and – here. Now what? So many new questions arose, seeing her – how was she, really? Where was she living? What was going on with her now? Was she simply trying to recover from whatever had put her in this condition and had forced her to leave Tali? Did she have a whole new life established, or was she just living day to day, or was it something in between?

He leaned forward, his head in his hands for a moment, then slowly rubbed his hands over his face. She was barely responding to him, when she responded at all, and he had no way to know what part of that was intentional, and what was due to whatever her condition was now. No matter why she was like this, and whatever might work to fix it, he was certain that pressing her for responses now would not get him answers. It might even do more damage. Whether it would mean just a longer lasting refusal to talk, or cause a permanent mental retreat from him, his gut told him it would make things worse.

He needed time to think things through, and if he did, he knew damn well she did, too. Clearly she was in rough shape, but just how rough was hard to tell. Given the understandable emotions of the moment, it might be less permanent than he feared, but there was no way to know for sure, or how long it would take. He was way, way over his head, but knew that even in the best of times, Ziva David would not submit to the physical and mental health help she most certainly needed right now. He felt increasing helpless to know what to do for her, and a rising anxiety about what effect her current state might have on Tali.

He stood again, then paced, trying to think things through.

Okay. You can do this, he lectured himself.

It wouldn't be the first time that he buried his feelings to get things done. And it hadn't always been about a woman, certainly not always about Ziva – but it usually was, he reminded himself with a mental snort.

And it's been about Ziva more than it has for other women, and she's alive, and if nothing else she was your partner and you swore to have her back, no matter what.

He really had to stop 'swearing,' he noted to himself ruefully.

He leaned on the windowsill in the kitchen, staring out along the colorful street below. He'd run off to the Middle East, then Europe, without a plan and without the first clue how to care for a child, but with a toddler he'd just met in tow. Turns out, he accomplished his purpose in all that.

He sighed, and leaned his forehead on the cool glass pane of the window. And after all that, coming up with a plan for what comes next should be a piece of cake.

October 29, 2016

He wondered when it would happen. Tony knew he hadn't had time to think about Gibbs, much less stop by for a visit, and with the team's usual schedule, Gibbs probably wasn't around to chit-chat anyway. But from the time they'd arrived at Ducky's house, Tony was painfully conscious of Gibbs' presence, how he hung back, just watching, while everyone else was bursting with their appearance, fussing over Tali and bubbling with excitement in speaking with Ziva and expressing their relief that he was back. It was typical Gibbs, certainly, but the more he thought about it, the more it got under Tony's skin.

Okay, so Ducky and Palmer kept out of the way a bit, too, he'd noted, since they too knew of their arrival before the others did, but the doctors still chatted and participated and seemed happy to have them there. But even if Gibbs wasn't there for him, couldn't he show Ziva he was happy to have her back? They'd had a special bond while she was on the team; was he going to be so petty as to end that now, too? Gibbs must have seen how battered she'd been, when she'd gone to see him; he couldn't have missed it. So would it kill Gibbs to go over and speak to her now?

Was it because she was holding Tali? he found himself wondering.

Tony glanced at his watch. They'd been at Ducky's for about forty minutes; before they arrived, he and Ziva agreed they should work to keep their gathering to an hour or less. More would be overwhelming for Tali, if not for Ziva too, and he didn't want to overstay Ducky's gracious invitation. Looking for a way to ease the party to a close, Tony went to the buffet and, in a fit of domestic inspiration, started to clear it of the empty platters and drained tea pot. Four steps into the kitchen, he'd discovered he'd been cornered.

Deep down, Tony had known that, like the sniper he'd been, Gibbs had been waiting for the right moment. Figures it was when the weak member had moved off from the herd, Tony snorted to himself.

He put down the things he carried and turned, starting back the way he came. "Gibbs," Tony nodded brusquely as he passed his former boss, who had followed his lead and grabbed a few empty plates and cups. He was a bit surprised that Gibbs didn't stop him, but there was more to be cleared from the buffet, and DiNozzo figured Gibbs' plan had been to see if he would cave at his appearance and babble out apologies for anything he'd ever done and half the things he had not. If he managed not to spill his guts, Gibbs would hold position and take action next round.

Tony walked back into the kitchen with another stack of plates and platters, and saw Gibbs shift his weight from one foot to both, equally balanced, an unconscious preparation for a confrontation. Tony sighed at his dead-on prediction. Well, being partners for over a decade makes it pretty easy to predict the man...

He said nothing as he went to the sink a second time. Putting his load down, DiNozzo stood at the sink, waiting. The past five days had been enough; he didn't have the energy to deal with Gibbs, but he knew an attempted escape would simply poke the bear.

He didn't have long to wait. "Bought a house, or rented?"

"Both." Tony stared into the sink, seeing without seeing the items he'd put there. "There's a title glitch they expect to clear up, but it will take a while. We're renting until that's fixed."

"First option?"

Tony just kept his eyes down, refusing to react. Was Gibbs baiting him, or just curious, or testing him? Gibbs is never just curious, he told himself. It was such a small thing, but the question got up in his personal space, just as Gibbs would do physically in other circumstances, and made its accusation in a big way. "I didn't request it, but the seller is making it first option," Tony ground out evenly. "So, no," he turned to look at Gibbs, deciding at that moment that he needed to let Gibbs know he got the dig. "It's not a firm commitment to buy yet, as far as the seller is concerned. However, it is for me."

"What about Ziva?"

Tony straightened, turning to look his former boss in the eye. "As I said in there – I don't know. You can ask her. Her name will be on it, though, however it works out. Whether it's a home for me, or for all three of us, it will be a home for Tali."

The frosty blue eyes that he'd given up trying to read many months ago held his gaze, but Tony was too tired, too emotionally wrung out – and too bruised by Gibbs over the last months he worked for the man – to be intimidated.

"Thought you'd stop by again by now."

Tony didn't know if Gibbs was switching gears to throw him off balance or if he really had hoped for a visit. He found himself thinking that if Gibbs had cared, he might have seen or heard more from the man when he'd been told Ziva had died – or that they'd had a daughter together – or that he was leaving the team, and NCIS, and law enforcement ...

At the involuntary stab of pain that memory caused him, and the quick burn in his eyes, Tony mentally smacked himself sharply. Guess you can never be too tired to let him still get to you. Tony couldn't trust his voice to speak, so did not.

Apparently, a silent DiNozzo was more than even Gibbs could take, because after another moment, he took a step closer, and said quietly, firmly, "you know, you could have stayed with me. All of you. Still can."

At that, something broke loose in Anthony Dinozzo. Whether it was the lack of sleep, the stress, all the changes going on ... the return to his old life that would never be as it had been ... he blinked, just as if he'd been headslapped. "No, actually, I didn't. How could I possibly know that?"

Gibbs frowned, clearly not expecting his response and not getting it for the moment. When it sunk in, he snorted dismissively. "When have you ever been locked out, DiNozzo?"

"This year?" Tony shot back, "or since Ziva came back the first time?"

His quick, biting response appeared to land a blow, and he allowed himself to wonder if maybe the Boss did know how he'd come off to him since then – and Tony wasn't sure if that would make things better or worse. When Gibbs didn't reply right away, Tony took a deep breath and went on, his voice low. "Look, if you really want to have this out, fine, we will. But not here, not now. Not in Ducky's home, not after we asked him to do this as a favor."

Gibbs wavered, but could not fault Tony's reason for refusing to continue things right then. "Ziva said she'd stop by again."

"I know. I'm sure she will, when things settle a bit. It's been a bit hectic," he added, unable to keep all traces of sarcasm out of his voice.

Gibbs' eyes narrowed, looking for all the world like he'd expected to find Tony, but had run into a stranger instead. 'What have you done with DiNozzo?' Tony could just imagine him saying. But instead, Gibbs actually grunted, "you could come too, ya know."

"I'll wait until you're ready to see Tali, too. Whether you like it or not, Gibbs, she's our child, and that's a pretty permanent thing."

"What?" Gibbs responded with a flash of ire that was too quick not to be defensive. "I never said a damn thing about her!"

"Oh, believe me, I noticed." Tony hadn't intended to bring this up, but everything had changed, so completely and dramatically. If Gibbs thought things could just go along as they had – well, it was Tony's job to make sure he understood he could not. Voice low, he leveled at Gibbs, "I don't recall your wanting to see Tali when Orli brought her to NCIS. Ziva's child, Gibbs, and you never once even saw her. I mean, you were the one who wrangled all those kids, over the years, all the child witnesses or victims. You adopted Mike Frank's granddaughter like she was your own. You were the magic man, the child whisperer – but you never even asked to see Tali."

The words seemed to land a punch, but Gibbs said nothing, and Tony suddenly didn't have the first guess about what was going through his head. It didn't matter, though: there was no reason that could justify for Tony Gibbs' apparent rejection of Tali, especially if it was just because of who her parents were and why Gibbs thought they should not have been together. And no matter how much it hurt to be shut out by his mentor, it was nothing compared to Gibbs' failure to even acknowledge his beautiful little girl.

DiNozzo turned and walked toward the door. "We decided that we didn't want to stretch this past an hour," he managed, flatly. "I'm going to go thank Ducky and get everyone on their way."

Behind him, a stony, still-stunned Gibbs stood in place, wondering at how different things had become between him and his ever-loyal second – and at how he had allowed events to waylay him from taking even a few precious minutes for the daughter of two people who, not so long ago, were among the most important people in his world.

To be continued... (in mid October! see A/N, above...)