Chapter Twenty-One

Ziva tapped her knuckles on the door to Tony's room, a fussy Conner squirming in her arms as he called for his "da".

Tony opened the door and Conner's squirms became too much for even the ex-assassin to handle.

"He wants you." Ziva said simply as she handed Conner to Tony.

Tony looked at Ziva surprised while Conner played with his fingers obviously glad to finally be around Tony.

Ziva was content watching her son as he enjoyed being with Tony. She finally glanced up to see Tony's surprised look. "What?"

"For the past three weeks I haven't been allowed near Conner for more then three seconds unless we're in the bullpen. What's going on?" Tony started. That seemed like a good place to begin at.

"He just wants you." Ziva lifted her shoulders up in a shrug then kissed her son's head and walked towards her room.

Tony set the seven month old onto the ground gently then caught up with Ziva. He grabbed her wrist gently knowing it was the only way to get her to look at him, even if it terrified her.

Ziva yanked her arm back and looked at him, fear in her eyes. "Tony!"

"Ziva what is going on? I'm not allowed near Conner and then when he wants me you just suddenly give him to me and walk away. What is going on? Tell me."

Ziva shook her head, "he just wants you."

Tony's stare hardened. "Ziva ninja David tell me what's going on. I want to know the full truth. Now."

Ziva looked at the floor where her son sat at Tony's feet patting them waiting for him to pick him back up. "He just wanted you." She whispered quietly.

Tony tilted her head up so he could look into her brown eyes. "Ziva. Please. Talk to me." He was now concerned. This wasn't Ziva. Yeah, she had changed after Iraq, but this wasn't how she had changed. There was something, different about her now.

Ziva sighed and looked into his eyes, "I have not been fair. Conner needs a dad, and he chose you to play that role. I just need to do what's best for him."

"Do you trust me?" Tony asked gently. He didn't want to make her cry, or see her cry.

"Yes. I do very much. But," she looked down. "I do not want to be hurt again."

Tony wrapped his arms around the Israeli woman and held her for a moment while she collected herself and her thoughts. "I'm not going to hurt you Ziva," was all that he said. And in some ways, it was all that needed to be said.

After a while Ziva was feeling better and began to play with Conner and Tony instead of watching them.

Tony playfully tossed a stuff animal of Conner's into Ziva's lap. "Tah-dah." He grinned when she looked up.

Ziva chuckled softly and looked at Conner, "is your daddy silly?"

Conner clapped his hands and grinned. He was starting to get teeth which made his old grin look so toothless.

Ziva smiled and kissed his head.

Tony grinned and looked at Conner, "hey Conner lets show your mom what I've been teaching you. Can you do it?"

Conner looked up at Tony for a moment confused.

Tony chuckled and whispered something to the young eight month old who could say a few things now, like "Dad" "up!" and "apple".

Conner grinned then crawled to Ziva, he reached up wanting to be held, "up! Ma!"

Ziva blinked a few times surprised before picking him up and holding him in her lap. "You said it! You finally said mom." She looked at Tony, "did you-"

"Don't look at me." Tony held his hands up in mock surrender. "It's all the big guy's idea."

Ziva chuckled and reached over. She gave Tony a small kiss on his cheek, "thank you."

"Yuck ma! Dad!" Conner cried out.

Ziva and Tony looked at each other and laughed, Tony slightly red from embarrassment.

Ziva kissed her son's head. "You are the cutest thing since…well something cute, tateleh."

Tony chuckled teasingly poking Ziva's arm. "Very smooth ninja."

Ziva shot him a playful glare and looked at Conner, "daddy's silly."

"Dad!" Conner grinned at Tony and held his arms out to him.

Tony chuckled and took him from Ziva. "Hi big guy. How's it going?"

"Moo!" Conner poked Tony's nose.

Ziva chuckled and got up. She walked into the kitchen to get them all something to eat. She enjoyed watching Conner around Tony. And for once, Tony wasn't such a bad influence. Which gave her an idea for the quickly upcoming Christmas.