FAMILY AND LOSS

DISCLAIMER: NCIS and characters do not belong to me.

SUMMARY: Ziva and Tony have been dating in secret for a few months. No seems to know. Something happens and secrets are exposed.

CHAPTER 20: TIME HEALS...

A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER...

For Tony it felt great to be back and not to have to be the boss out in the field.

Over the last couple of weeks, Tony had been happier then he had since he left.

Abby and Tim's anger toward him was slowly fading.

Tim had even told him one day as they worked together in the field that Ziva was a lot happier then they had seen her.

Tony had told Tim about what happened on Thanksgiving Day.

How he had talked to Ziva and then that he had kissed her. Tim seemed surprised at how quick things had changed between Ziva and Tony. Since Ziva had seemed so mad when Tony left.

Tonight Tony was picking up Ziva, and then they were going to have dinner over at Tim and Abby's.

Though Tony had been back for several weeks now, it would be the first time that he had been to their home. They had moved out of the apartment and into a small three-bedroom house.

Todd would have his own room and there was a room set up for the baby. Leaving Tim and Abby the master bedroom.

SIX O'CLOCK THAT EVENING...

Tony knocked at Ziva's door and was amazed at how beautiful she looked when she opened the door.

"Tony?" Ziva asked and brought him back.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yes, let's go." She said grabbing her coat and keys.

It didn't take them long to get to Abby and Tim's.

TIM AND ABBY'S HOUSE...

Ziva knocked and after less then a minute Tim opened the door.

"I knew you would come back!" Todd yelled jumping up from the floor where he had been playing and running to Tony.

Tony couldn't how big Todd had gotten. Todd looked mostly like Tim, but you could see a little bit of Abby in him to.

Tony looked around, but didn't see Abby. After a minute, she came from down the hall and into the living room.

It had been just in the last week that she had finally forgiven him and once again, became the friend she used to be.

Everything was back to normal, but there was still something missing and always would be...Tali. At this thought, he looked over to Ziva and knew she was thinking the same thing.

In just a few weeks, one of the hardest days would come...Christmas. It would be one year ago that Tali had gotten sick, but Tony knew he would be there for Ziva and they would go through it together.

Since the day at the cemetery, neither of them had brought up the subject of divorce and he hoped it wouldn't happen.

He wanted to talk to her and see where they stood and if she still wanted to be married to him, but he was a little afraid of the answer.

After a while, Todd had been tucked into bed and the four adults talked for several hours, before realizing the time.

So, Tony took Ziva home.

"Ziva?" He asked as she reached for the door handle.

"What, Tony?" Ziva asked.

"Do you still want to be married to me?" Tony asked, he had been thinking about it and had to know the answer.

"Tony, I am tired. Can we talk about this later?" She asked.

"No, Zee. I just want to know." Tony told her and she just sat there.

"Do you want to come up?" Ziva asked after a minute with a sigh.

"Are you sure?" Tony asked.

"Yes, Tony. You say you want an answer and it's something we've avoided talking about; it's time to talk about it." Ziva said as she got out of the car and headed up to her apartment.

He got out, locked the car and followed.