Unconditionally

A/N: This chapter is not based on a request rather it is an idea that I had after listening to 'Unconditionally' by Katy Perry. It is a Christmas based chapter as Christmas day is tomorrow here in Australia. I hope you like it :-)

It was going to be Tali's first Christmas with both of her parents and they wanted to make it a fantastic experience for her. What could be more fantastic than Christmas with their family.

In the lead up to Christmas Day Ziva and Tony had flown Tali to DC, moved into a hotel room close to Ducky's house where they knew Christmas would be spent, and they went Christmas shopping for everyone.

The shopping was not easy to do with Tali, the little girl was so used to having both of her parents around that when one of them decided to go shopping for their little girl Tali had cried and been miserable all day. Ziva was able to go without too much guilt in her heart at leaving her baby girl crying. Tony on the other hand couldn't handle it, he ended up buying her presents online and having them shipped by express post so that they would make it in time for Christmas.

Of course after buying presents there was the matter of hiding them from Tali until they had time to wrap them. This task was harder than the shopping had been, there weren't exactly many places to hide presents in a small hotel room with a little girl who loved to explore and climb on things. The actual wrapping was a struggle as the only time they had alone was when Tali was asleep, yet every single time they began wrapping the noise would wake up their little girl and they would have to scramble to get her back to sleep and re-hide the presents.

As hard as these tasks had been the hardest by far was not letting their family know that they were there. Tony had decided that they should keep it a secret and surprise everyone on Christmas Day by turning up on Ducky's doorstep with their presents. They were both grateful that their family hadn't tried to contact them until Christmas Eve, it made it that little bit easier.

The last difficulty that they had to face in the lead up to seeing their family again was getting Tali to go to sleep on Christmas Eve. Tony had insisted that they watch 'A Christmas Carol' and Ziva had insisted that they should watch a more kid friendly version like 'Mickey's Christmas Carol' so that Tali wouldn't be so scared about Scrooge. Turns out it wouldn't have made much difference. Tali was too scared to fall asleep, even sleeping between her parents like she did when she was scared didn't help. They tried to convince her that Scrooge wasn't someone to be afraid of but it didn't make much difference. Once she finally fell asleep it was well past 1am and Tony and Ziva were exhausted.

Unfortunately at exactly 7am the exhausted couple were woken by their very excited daughter jumping on the bed and them.

"Ima! Abba! Wake up!" Tali squealed.

Ziva and Tony groaned. With all of the kicking Tali had done in her sleep they were both feeling a little worse for wear. If they hadn't been planning for this day for the last two months they would have grabbed their daughter and held her in their arms until she also fell back to sleep. Alas they had been planning this day and figured that they had better get started with it before their daughter broke their bones in her excited jumping.

Ziva smiled at Tali and sat up quickly to pull her daughter in for a hug while Tony executed a surprise tickle attack. Tali giggled for the better part of the following hour as Tony tickled her.

"Ready for your presents?" Ziva asked her baby girl once she had calmed down a little.

"YES!" Tali shouted excitedly.

Ziva and Tony laughed at their little girls excitement.

Tony climbed off of the bed as Ziva got herself and Tali comfortable on the bed. Tony went into the tiny wardrobe and returned with a big bag of presents for their daughter which he emptied out onto the bed around Tali.

Tony watched with joy as his daughter opened every present with a newfound excitement.

Ziva watched with joy as her daughter got to open presents from her Aba as well as herself for the first time ever.

When Tali was opening her fourth present Tony rummaged around in his bedside table to find his present for Ziva.

Ziva then looked in her bedside table for Tony's present.

They exchanged gifts as their daughter continued to open her own gifts.

Ziva gave Tony a new watch with the inscription 'your girls love you' and Tony gave Ziva a new set of gold hoop earrings and a heart shaped pendant necklace with her birthstone in the centre of the heart.

They shared a loving kiss over their daughter's head before returning to watching her open her presents.

By the time Tali had finished it was 10:30am and they had to get ready a lot quicker than they had planned. It hadn't helped that they took a two hour break between Tali opening presents to order room service for breakfast. Tony had insisted on ordering a lot more things than they could eat stating that it had been a tradition for him when his Dad was too busy and left him alone in the hotel for Christmas. The food had taken longer to get to them because of the day, the kitchens being much busier.

By 11:30am they were standing outside the hotel with bags of presents and waiting for a taxi to take them to Ducky's house.

11:45am arrived and so did they at Ducky's house.

Ziva felt a lot more nervous than she had expected. It had been years since she last saw their family and she was nervous about how they would react to her still being alive for one.

Tony saw her worry and took hold of her hand giving it a gentle squeeze.

"It'll be okay Zi. They love you and miss you. They'll be happy to see you," Tony insisted.

Ziva nodded worriedly.

Tony smiled at her and took the bags from her hand, Tali was nervous too and wanted her Ima to hold her.

Ziva smiled softly and lifted their daughter into her arms kissing her head. She then nodded to Tony that she was ready.

Tony went up to the door and knocked.

It didn't take long for Ducky to open the door and let out a noise of surprise.

"Antony what a surprise! Hello Tali. And…. Ziva?" Ducky said.

Tony smiled, "surprise!"

Ducky laughed a little, "Ziva you're…"

"Alive," Ziva supplied softly.

Ducky nervously laughed before smiling truly, "it is so good to see you dear."

Ziva relaxed a little, "it's so good to see you too Ducky, I've missed you."

Ducky pulled Ziva into a hug as best he could with Tali still in Ziva's arms.

"Duck what's taking so long?" They heard Gibbs call as he walked towards the door.

Gibbs stood in the hallway in slight surprise as he looked at the three uninvited guests standing by the door.

Ziva handed Tali to Ducky and ran into Gibbs arms without warning.

Gibbs didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around Ziva and holding her tightly.

Tony, Ducky, and Tali smiled as they walked into the hallway.

Tony truly felt at home now. He had worried about Gibbs reaction to seeing Ziva and now he realised that he shouldn't have been worried at all. Father and daughter were finally reunited.

Gibbs pulled away from the hug and kissed Ziva's head, "it's good to have you back Ziver," he turned towards Tony, "good to see you DiNozzo and Tali."

Tali giggled, "Gwanpa."

Gibbs chuckled and took the little girl from Ducky as the host led them all into the dining room where everyone was sitting and waiting for lunch.

Abby, Tim, Jimmy, Breena, and baby Victoria looked at the entryway when Ducky, Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, and Tali entered the room.

"Ziva?!" Abby, Tim, and Jimmy questioned loudly as they stood up in surprised and walked over to greet their friends.

Ziva had tears in her eyes as they each hugged her.

"We thought…" Abby said with tears in her own eyes as she hugged Ziva tightly.

"I'm so sorry," Ziva whispered.

"Don't ever apologise, you did what you had to to protect Tali," Jimmy said as he hugged Ziva.

"I missed you all," Ziva said through the tears.

"We missed you too," Tim said as he hugged Ziva himself.

Tony and Tali also received hugs but not as meaningful as the one's that Ziva got.

Tim led Tony into the family room where they had the Christmas tree setup and presents laid around it.

"You should have warned us," Tim said, "there aren't any presents for you three."

Tony shrugged, "Ziva is the present man. I got the love of my life back. I don't need anything else. Well other than Tali of course."

Tim chuckled, "you did good Tony."

Tony grinned and put his arm around Tim's shoulders, "it's good to be home with family."

Tim shook his head good-naturedly and the two walked back into the dining room where two more chairs and place settings had been added to the table.

Ziva and Breena were sat next to one another talking about their daughters. Tali sat on Ziva's lap and Victoria was sat in a high chair next to Breena. Tony was next to Ziva and Jimmy next to the high chair. Tim next to Tony and Abby next to Jimmy. Gibbs and Ducky were sat next to each other beside Abby and Tim respectively. After Breena started to join their family meals Ducky had invested in a large round table to make it more comfortable for everyone to sit around the table.

"If you all don't mind I'd like to say Grace," Tony said after the food had been placed in the middle of the table.

No one argued against it so they all joined hands and Tony said Grace.

"Lord thank you for this family. Thank you for this food. Thank you for letting Ziva stay here with us, our family wouldn't be whole without her. Thank you for protecting all of us and enabling us to be a family again. We thank these things in your name. Amen," Tony said.

"Amen," they all chorused.

None of them were religious so they didn't know if that would mean anything but they all knew that the sentiment meant something to them. They were all thankful to have their family whole again.

Lunch was spent eating and catching up.

Breena asked Ziva a lot of questions about Tali as a baby, Jimmy stepped in with his own questions too. Ziva gladly answered in the best way she could. While Tony caught up on what had been going on at NCIS thanks to his former team.

After lunch they all gathered in the family room.

There wasn't enough room for them all to sit on the two couches so the ladies and babies sat on the floor letting the guys take the couches.

Seeing as she was already on the floor and the only one of the three ladies without a baby Abby decided to play Santa.

Ziva had to hold Tali tightly so that she wouldn't run off and have a tantrum when she realised that there were no presents for her. Tony had tried to tell their daughter that no one knew they were coming so it was unlikely she would get any presents. Although Tali seemed to understand that in theory, she didn't really seem to understand in practice.

Gibbs noticed Ziva's struggle and Tali's tears as the little girl clung to her Mum and cried into her shoulder.

"Tali," Gibbs said sternly.

The little girl looked at her Grandpa over her Mum's shoulder.

"Come here," Gibbs said stretching his arms in front of him.

Tali shook her head and Ziva told her off in Hebrew for being rude.

Tali only looked sadder so Gibbs stood up and grabbed the little girl out of Ziva's arms and took her to the front yard.

Ziva and Tony shared a questioning look but they both shrugged, Gibbs would look after their angel.

Gibbs placed Tali down on her feet beside his car, "don't move," he warned as he opened the boot of the car.

Tali stood still waiting as Gibbs pulled a big box out of the boot.

"What's that?" Tali asked.

Gibbs chuckled, "something for your Mum and Dad, might have something for you too."

Tali's eyes widened in excitement.

Gibbs smiled at her and lifted her up again with one arm carrying the big box and the other carrying Tali he walked back into the house.

"Alright time for the last present," Gibbs said as he re-entered the room.

Everyone turned to look at him as he placed Tali back on her feet.

Tali ran back into her Ima's arms.

"Boss you've still got to open your presents," Tony said.

"Dinozzo I'm not your boss anymore. I'll get to them. Ziver, Dinozzo, Tali come here," Gibbs said.

The three stood up and went to stand in front of Gibbs with everyone else watching.

"You were right at lunch Dinozzo, this is our family whole and together again. In the spirit of giving I've got something for the three of you. Hopefully you'll stick around now that you're home again," Gibbs said as he handed the box to Tony.

Ziva gave Gibbs a watery smile as Tony put the box on the floor in front of Tali for Tali to help them open.

The box contained an assortment of handmade things, things that Gibbs had clearly made for them.

Inside there were handmade toys for Tali, handmade board games, handmade house ornaments, among other things.

Ziva stood and hugged Gibbs, "thank you Gibbs. Thank you so much."

Gibbs hugged Ziva tightly in turn, "I'm just glad you're home."

Tony shook Gibbs hand as way of thanks and Tali hugged his legs.

Having all opened their presents they all headed back to the dining room for ice cream dessert. Ducky had a variety of different flavours and toppings on offer including a Christmas pudding ice cream.

They all enjoyed the dessert, even the little girls. Jimmy didn't like the idea of his five month old having ice cream but Breena gave her a little bit of the vanilla anyway. Tali on the other hand couldn't decide what flavour she wanted so Tony gave her one scoop of each, there were four flavours. Ziva wasn't a fan of that idea but let Tali have the ice cream anyway, it was her first proper family gathering so Ziva didn't see the point in worrying.

The afternoon quickly turned to evening and everyone started to leave until finally only Ducky, Gibbs, Ziva, Tony, and Tali were left.

"You know you could stay at my place if you want for the night," Gibbs offered.

"Still building a boat?" Ziva teased.

Gibbs chuckled, "something like that."

"You know what I think it'd be great. Thanks boss. We'll take the offer," Tony said.

Gibbs smiled genuinely for the first time in weeks. He was thrilled to have his family whole again.

That night as Tony and Ziva lay in bed they realised two things, 1. They were staying in DC, and 2. Tali would always be surrounded by her family from now on.

Family loved you unconditionally and Tali would always be loved unconditionally by their family. Today Ziva realised that Tony and herself would also always be loved unconditionally by their family.

For the first time in years Ziva felt alive. She was surrounded by her family again.

She was finally home.

A/N: My Nan always makes Christmas pudding ice cream for Christmas dessert and we also have regular ice cream, different flavours and toppings, it's a Christmas tradition that I love and I thought would fit into this story.
I hope that you all have a fantastic Christmas and enjoy the New Year. Thank you for staying faithful to these stories I really appreciate it. Merry Christmas :-)