Title: Hard to Find
Rating: T (same as the show to be safe)
Disclaimer: I am poor barista who has been on a leave of absence for months. I am not making money off this just curing boredom. NCIS still belongs to its network, creator, writers, actors, actresses and countless other not me people who bring it to life weekly.
Summary: It took too long for Ziva and Tony to show they had feelings for each other. Who said a kiss is all they shared in Israel? Starts with the birth of their son, and goes back to show how they got there.
Notes: It's Michaela's first birthday. Wow I can't believe this is it...

DiNozzo and Ziva were working on the last few things they needed to get done for their daughter's first birthday party. They were excited to be celebrating with their friends and family later. They had had a small celebration at the playgroup the Ziva took her daughter to earlier in the week so it was just going to the team and DiNozzo's father. Ziva was icing the cake when they heard the baby start to cry in the baby monitor.

"I'll go get her," DiNozzo assured her.

"Thank you."

"That cake looks amazing by the way." He kissed her cheek and went upstairs.

When he got into Michaela's room the baby was using the rails of her crib to stand herself up, and was bouncing up and down on the mattress. He smiled at her, still not believing how quickly she was growing. The baby smiled at him and held up her arms to him and he picked her up. It amazed him how much he enjoyed doing this. She giggled happy to be in her father's arms.

"Well aren't you bright eyes and bushy tailed, Princess, I hope you still are when everyone gets here for your birthday party. Let's get you in a clean diaper and the dress Auntie Abby bought for you."

He laid the baby down on the change table, and quickly changed her diaper. Like Gibbs had assured him more than a year ago he'd been able to figure it out and as time went on her felt more and more confident in his abilities as a father. He then put the light purple dress Abby had gotten her on. It was long sleeved, and the skirt was like a tutu. He then put a pair of tights on the baby, and picked her up to bring her down the stairs.

He held her up in front of his face as he went into the kitchen, and said, "I'm ready Mommy."

Ziva laughed loving when he did things like that, it showed just how much he loved their daughter. "Abby is a pro at picking baby clothes. There is a bib on her high chair, can you feed her Tony?"

"Sure, you better let me put some of your food in your mouth today, Princess. We don't want to get your dress dirty before everyone arrives."

Ziva laughed, she loved that DiNozzo would always talk to the baby. He said he'd read somewhere that speaking while doing routine things helped with language skills later in her life. She looked over at them and he was making airplane sounds as he brought the spoon to her mouth. She was giggling excitedly but she was also eating for her father.

"You spoil her," Ziva laughed.

"She's my little princess, if this makes her happy I'm going to do it," he explained. "Besides it's her birthday, she deserves to get a little spoiled."

"How can I argue with that?"

He was just about to open a jar of strawberries for her to have a dessert, when the doorbell rang. He left the baby in her high chair but made sure that jars were out of her reach. He'd made that mistake before and he wasn't about to do it again. He went to let their first visitor in, not at all surprised to see Abby standing in the doorway.

"I know I'm early, but I'm so excited! I want see Michaela and if you're not really ready yet I'll even help out with anything you need!" Abby explained.

DiNozzo smiled. "It's fine Abby, come on in. You can give Michaela her dessert if you want."

"Great!" she exclaimed, as they walked through the house. "Hi Ziva!"

"Hello Abby," Ziva greeted.

"Oh wow that cake is amazing! I bet Michaela will love it!"

She smiled. "Thank you." Michaela was in her high chair squealing excitedly. "You might want to say hi to your niece, I think she missed you."

She went over and sat down in the chair DiNozzo had set up. "I missed her too mini-Ziva. Your daddy told me I get to feed you dessert. Looks like strawberries, yummy! And later you get to have a real dessert and try that yummy looking cake your mommy made."

Ziva smiled glad that the cake was done. She watched Abby with Michaela and couldn't believe how lucky she was. DiNozzo came over and wrapped his arms around her waist then kissed her softly when she looked up at him. She was glad for a moment to relax before everyone started to arrive. The doorbell rang again, and this time Ziva answered, and was happily surprised to see Senior standing there.

"Come in," she told him. "Abby's just feeding her."

He looked around the house at the decorations. "You kids went all out!"

"Michaela only has one first birthday."

"She's going to have on heck of a good memory to look back on."

He went into kitchen and Abby looked up and smiled at him. "Mister D! Look Michaela your Grampa's here!"

He chuckled, "good to see you too Abby. Grampa, huh I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to that title."

"Just wait 'til she uses it the first time and I bet it won't bother you nearly as much."

It wasn't long before McGee, Gibbs, Ducky, Palmer and Breena arrived as well. Michaela was in a great mood, loving the attention she was getting from everyone in her extended family of sorts. She didn't fully understand what was going on when Ziva helped her to open her gifts. She had gotten toys, clothes, books as well as handmade rocking horse from Gibbs who explained he didn't like plastic toys, and Ziva and DiNozzo knew that would mean that she would continue to get these hand crafted gifts from him. They appreciated the thoughtful gifts but wondered how much time Gibbs took to make them.

After they were done with the gifts everyone ate. When it was time for the cake Michaela was getting tired, so they sang her happy birthday but didn't fuss too much over the candle before they gave her a piece of cake, which she mostly just squished with her hands and giggled about it. She fussed a little bit when Ziva washed her hands.

After everyone left Ziva brought the baby up to her room. She changed her diaper and changed her into a pair of warm footed pajamas. As she was laying her down DiNozzo came into the room. No sooner had the baby been laid down did she fall asleep. DiNozzo then pulled his wife into his arms, and kissed her softly. She relaxed into the embrace for a long moment, then rested her head on his chest smiling.

"I love you," he whispered.

"And I love you," she replied.

"Today was perfect."

She kissed him softly. "Thank you. How about we start working on a sibling for her?"

"I like the way you think."

They went into their own room, and she kissed him softly. There were still times she thought she was dreaming the life she now lived. It was so far from who she had been when they first met, but she couldn't be happier. She liked having her days filled with small tasks and various activities with her daughter. She enjoyed being a wife and mother, and she knew she wanted at least one more child to complete her family. DiNozzo was also amazed that this was how things had turned out with her. There was a point where he thought he'd lost her, but someone had something else in mind for them. It still amazed him that his wife was happy with her new life after all she had done before. He knew that one day his daughter would be shocked to learn that her mother had worked with him, and the rest of the people she would consider her family. The couple moved toward the bed, their lips all over each other, not sure how they had any energy left. His hands slid down to her hips and she moaned happily knowing exactly how this day was going to end.

The End

Notes: So that was that. Thank you to everyone who took time to review, favourite and alert this. It really does mean a lot to me. The reviews have gotten me through some long work days. HUGZ and heats to everyone I'm glad you seemed to enjoy -trista aka dustytiger