Okay, so...this has been typed up for several days and I kinda...keep forgetting it. *ahem* Anyway. Had a dream that they announced Ziva would be returning to the show...really disorienting dream. Most disappointed I've been when waking up in ages.
The afternoon found the trio again playing in the sand. While digging a pit with her little shovel, Annie casually asked, "Daddy, are you scared of sharks?"
Tony looked up quizzically, "Uhh...no. Not really. Are you?"
Annie nodded, "They eat people."
Tony looked at Ziva and whispered, "What have you been telling her?"
Ziva looked flabbergasted and shrugged, "I have not told her anything."
"Where did you hear that, Annie?" Tony asked.
"On the TV. Is it not true?" Annie asked.
"Well, uh," Tony stammered, "They're dangerous, but...I mean...there aren't really that many people that get bitten by sharks, kiddo."
Annie looked at him as if she was not sure whether if his information could be trusted, "Are you sure?"
Her father smiled, "I'm sure."
"Then will you take me out into the water?"
"Um," Tony looked at Ziva, as if asking permission, she smirked at him. "Yeah, kiddo, we can go to the water."
Annie jumped out of her hole and grabbed for her father's hand. She began dragging him toward the surf.
He turned back, "You coming, Ziva?"
She shook her head, "I'll stay here and guard the castle."
Tony shot her one of his thousand-gigawatt smiles and continued following his daughter to the water.
The two made it to the water and had barely gotten their toes wet when Annie tightened her grip on Tony's hand.
"What's wrong, kiddo?" Tony asked, looking down at her.
"Are you sure that there aren't any sharks?"
Tony knelt down, "Annie, I'm your dad, I wouldn't bring you into the water if there were sharks."
Annie looked suddenly shy and hid her green eyes behind her curls, "You wouldn't?"
"Of course not," he said, brushing her dark hair away from her face, "It's my job to protect you."
The little girl smiled and threw her arms around her father's neck.
He stood, bringing her with him, "Ready?"
She nodded, "Okay."
They waded out into the water until they were about waist-deep to Tony.
"Is this deep?" Annie asked.
"Yeah," Tony said, "Too deep for you to stand up."
Annie looked worried.
"Hey," he soothed, "Just hold on tight, okay?"
Her grip on him grew tighter.
Suddenly, her eyes jerked open wide and she began practically climbing Tony.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked.
"I felt a shark! It touched my foot!" Annie squealed.
"Shh, shh, shh," Tony said, rubbing her back while he looked around. He finally saw a group of tiny shadows flitting beneath the surface of the water.
"It wasn't a shark," Tony said with a smile.
"Yes, it was!" Annie insisted.
He shook his head, "No, look." He pointed at the shadows, "See those? Those little dark spots?"
Annie nodded against his shoulder.
"That's what touched your foot. They're little fish. They don't want to hurt you."
"They don't?" Annie asked, still concerned.
"Nah, they're more afraid of you than you are of them," Tony assured her.
Just then, a wave broke across the back of Tony's shoulders. He staggered and Annie shouted.
When he regained his footing, he asked her, "Are you okay?"
She shook her head, "My eyes burn."
"Yeah," he said, "you got salt water in them. Let's go back up to the beach so we can get it out."
Annie nodded enthusiastically.
Once they were close enough that Annie could walk, she squirmed until Tony sat her down. When waves crashed against her feet, she giggled. Obviously, she had completely forgotten the sting of brine in her eyes.
"Watch this, Daddy! Watch this!" she called. As the water rolled onto the sand, she jumped over the foam.
Tony pretended to be amazed, "Wow, kiddo. Nice timing."
She turned to her father and grinned, her smile a near-perfect clone of his own.
"Daddy, can I have a piggyback ride?" she asked.
Without a second thought as to his less-than-reliable back, he knelt down and told Annie to hop on.
Further up the beach, Ziva had been observing the pair with great interest. She wanted to give Tony and Annie a chance to bond as father and daughter; wanted to see how they interacted with one another. Presumably, this would help her make the decision that was coming at the end of the week.
As she watched Tony carry Annie up the beach, she was struck by the normalness of it all. Tony and his daughter got along instantly. It was as though they had never been apart. They were cut from the same cloth, after all.
"Mama, we saw some fish!" Annie called as they reached the blankets.
"Did you?" Ziva asked.
"Yep! And we got hit by a wave and it went SPLASH and got water all in my face and it burned my eyes, but they feel better now. Then I showed Daddy how you taught me to jump over the little waves, remember that?"
Ziva smiled, "I do remember that. Daddy took you pretty far out into the water, didn't he?" She gave a look of gentle warning to Tony.
"Yeah, but it was okay. I held on tight," Annie said simply, already engulfed in digging.
"I held on tight, too, Ziva. Promise," Tony vowed.
As the sun sank lower behind them, the beach began to clear.
Finally, Ziva spoke, "I think that it is time that we go get cleaned up and have dinner."
"Aww, Mama, do we have to?" Annie whined.
"Yeah, Mama, do we have to?" Tony echoed from his entrapment.
Annie was attempting to bury her father in the sand and had already covered his shoulders and much of his chest.
"As much as I would love to stay here and see you be completely buried," Ziva teased, "I am hungry. And I doubt that I am the only one."
"I'll only go if Daddy goes," Annie said.
"Daddy can't resist food," Tony said. He rose out of the sand, roaring as the grains fell from his torso.
Annie dissolved into giggles.
They gathered their belongings and made their way off the beach.
"I need to go shower and put on some real clothes," Tony said.
"Same for the two of us," Ziva replied.
"How about I go back to my room, take care of what I need to, then I'll walk over and meet the two of you at your room?" he offered.
Ziva nodded, "See you then."
As Tony made his way across the street, Annie turned to her mother and asked, "Where's Daddy going? I thought he was eating with us."
"He is," Ziva assured her, "He needed to go change clothes, just like we're doing."
"In his room?" Annie asked.
"Yes."
"Why can't Daddy stay with us?"
"There's no room."
"He can sleep on the couch."
Ziva chuckled, "No, that hurts your daddy's back."
Annie thought for a moment, "He can sleep in my room and I'll sleep on the couch."
She was really thinking about this. Ziva was going to have to start making better excuses. For now, she just went with the parent standard, "We'll talk about it later."
After Annie had been cleaned and dressed, Ziva heard a knock at the door. Tony. "Just in time," she thought.
She threw open the door and, before he had a chance to speak, said, "Perfect timing, Tony. Your daughter is full of questions and I need to take a shower. It's your turn to answer her."
Tony looked worried, which prompted laughter from Ziva.
"What kinds of questions?" he asked.
"About why you aren't staying with us, why she can't give you her bed and she sleep on the couch, things of that nature."
"I...How do you answer those?"
Ziva shrugged, "That is the problem, Tony. I am out of answers."
"Oh," Tony said, shooting a look at the woman before him, "I get it."
She smirked, leading him into the main room, "I have had nearly five years of these questions. It's about time that you answered a few, Daddy."
He rolled his eyes behind her.
They found the little girl seated on the couch, staring at the television.
Ziva began her retreat into the master bedroom. "I am going to take a shower. Good luck," she said, shutting the door behind herself.
"Thanks," Tony muttered sarcastically.
He plopped down on the sofa next to his daughter and asked, "Whatcha watching?"
"Dory," she answered simply, not breaking her gaze at the television.
"You like it?"
She nodded. "Is that the kind of fish we saw today, Daddy?"
"Well, uh…," Tony stammered, "Probably not. The fish like Dory live in tropical water, you know? Down where it's warm all year?"
Annie nodded again. "And where do sharks live?"
Tony grimaced, unsure of how to answer this question that would not further her fear of sharks. "Well...sharks live in the ocean."
"Like that ocean?" Annie asked, pointing to the sliding glass doors.
"Uh...yeah, there are sharks in that ocean."
Annie's eyes grew large, "There are?"
Tony panicked for a moment. Shit. What should he do? How to fix this? "Uhh...yeah. Yeah, there are...but, you know what?"
"What?" Annie whispered.
"Sharks are scared of your daddy."
Annie leaned close to Tony, looking at him in awe, "Really?"
Her response bolstered Tony's nerve, "Yeah, really. Sharks know better than to mess with me. I'll put them in shark-jail."
Annie giggled, "Shark-jail?"
"Yep," he smiled, "I'll put cuffs on their fins and everything."
She laughed, "Daddy, there's no such thing as shark-jail."
"Shh," he said, putting a finger up to his lips, "It's top secret."
By this point, Annie's laughter was uncontrollable. It was infectious, too. Tony broke into a wide grin and chuckled a few times.
The little girl settled against his his side, "You're funny, Daddy."
He smirked, "Tell that to your mom."
"Tell what to your mom?" Ziva asked, opening the door to the master bedroom.
Annie giggled again, "Daddy's funny."
"Is he?" Ziva asked.
Tony gave a little grin and shrugged, "What can I say? She's a fan of the DiNozzo brand of humor."
Ziva rolled her eyes, saying, "I thought that I had raised her better than that."
"It's in her blood, Zee-vah," he said, drawing out the syllables in her name, "She can't help herself."
"So, between your jokes, did the two of you decide what to eat tonight?" she asked.
Tony and Annie shared a look. "I didn't know we were supposed to," he said.
Annie shrugged.
"Two of a pair," Ziva teased, shaking her head.
"What do you want to eat, kiddo?" Tony asked, turning to Annie.
"Shark," she chirped.
"One-track mind on this one," Tony muttered in Ziva's direction. "How about fish instead?" he offered.
Annie scrunched her nose in thought, "Are sharks fish?"
Tony nodded, "Sharks are fish, but...I don't think that they'll be on the menu."
The little girl thought for a moment before responding, "Close enough."
Her parents shared a look.
As Annie hopped up to fetch her shoes, Tony turned to Ziva. "You know, I'm really concerned with this shark thing. Is there some sort of Annie/shark blood feud that I'm not aware of?"
Ziva shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. I think this is one of the traits that she gets from her father's side of the family."
Tony laughed, "Blood feuds sound more like a ninja trait to me."