November 2013 (Chaya = 4, Ben = 1)

Tony and Ziva were sitting on couch one night watching the end of Aladdin, her newest favourite princess movie, with Chaya after Benny was in bed. Ziva ran her fingers through Chaya's curls and looked over at Tony, as absorbed in the movie as their daughter. He felt her eyes on him and turned, a question in his expression. "What?"

They had just recently passed ten years as partners and it has caused Ziva to do a lot of thinking. "What would you have done if we had never met?" she asked softly.

Tony's gaze was intense and his words came with barely a pause. "I'd be living something I thought was life and never realize how much I was missing."

She smiled softly. It was nearly impossible to recognize the man she'd met on a rainy fall day over a decade ago. Her husband had changed and grown so much and often Ziva still could not believe she had gotten so lucky. "Ten years is a long time to be someone's partner."

He shook his head. "Could be thirty years and it will still never be long enough. I can say that about our marriage too."

"Oh, I hope we get more than thirty years," she said softly, picturing them older and grayer but continuing to be happy and in love, and spending every night in each other's arms for no other reason than that it was their favourite place to be.

Tony reached over and kissed her fingers, turning her engagement ring around and around, watching it catch the light and sparkle. "Agreed. Fifty-seven is the goal, remember?" The genie appeared and he got excited. "Watch this part Zi, it's hilarious! You don't want to miss it."

Ziva surveyed her family sitting beside her and glimpsed the baby monitor on the end table, reporting that Benjamin was fast asleep upstairs, and sighed contentedly. "I do not plan to miss any of it." Their life together with their children was a greater gift than she ever expected. The greatest lesson she'd learned since coming home from Africa was that each moment was to be treasured.

Reply:

luzma (Ch 24) - hi! Thanks for reviewing :) No, I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish, just a few words here and there. You're very brave to review in a language that is not your own. I'm glad you're enjoying the story :)