Chap 34 Leaving Marks
Saturday, April 10th 2021
Ziva was dressed in her running attire when she stepped into the kitchen to fill her bottle with water and leave Tony a note that she would get breakfast on her way home. She was deeply lost in thought and in patches of memories from her dreams, when someone's presence jumped at her from the corner of her eye.
"Old habits die hard", Eliana remarked simply, pointing at the clock above the stove that gleamed with the number six. She was sitting at the kitchen table. "Boker tov."
"Boker tov", Ziva replied absently, hitting the faucet while scanning the shelf above the sink for a pen.
"I took the liberty of making coffee", Eliana continued, causing Ziva to notice the pot on the counter and the mug cradled in her mother's hand.
Ziva nodded and took a piece of paper out of the drawer to her left, briefly reminding herself to clean out the mess in it. For some reason the drawers with post-its and ballpens and paper clips in them always were a mess. Ziva moved to scribble down her message just to realize halfway through that she could just as well tell the person that already appeared wide awake.
"Can you-", she started, sighing and crumbling up the paper in her fist, "Can you tell Tony that I will take care of breakfast?"
"Of course."
Ziva nodded again. Her mouth briefly gaped with the letter 'T', but her voice just never managed to sound out a full 'todah'.
"I intend to pay you back for all of your expenses on account of my staying here", Eliana spoke up again, preventing Ziva from simply breezing past her. "I have arranged a meeting with one of my contacts for today, so I can convert some of my assets-
"Oh no, no. You definitely will not do that", Ziva cut in, turning around to glare at her. "You will stay right here. You will not leave here without Tony or myself as your backup."
"Ziva, I can-", Eliana started, but the obstinate glisten in her daughter's eyes stopped her. "Alright then."
Ziva shook her head. "And you do not have to pay us back to begin with", she added, her voice softer than before.
This time it was Eliana who nodded her head. Ziva was just about to leave again, when she was called back again. "Ziva?"
"Yes?"
Eliana got up from her chair, abandoning the mug on the table. Standing before her now, Ziva realized that Eliana was about the same height as her. It seemed strange, actually. She had only ever known her mother as towering over her, like a protective shadow.
"I would like to ask your permission to approach Tali and David", she requested slowly, trying not too hard to conceal the hopeful glisten in her eyes.
Ziva raised her eyebrows. "About what?"
"In general", Eliana replied. "I know that you have every right to treat me however you see fit. But they look up to you, Ziva. You are their mother. They will emulate you. They will not just approach me by themselves. They will not come to me, so I would like to come to them. But if you do not wish them to have a relationship with me, then I will do nothing of the sort."
For a moment Ziva could only stare at her. This was, if all else failed, about trying to be a grandmother to her children. "Of course", she said then, blinking. "Of course you can."
"Thank you", Eliana answered, a smile twisting her lips. "Thank you for doing this. All of this."
"There is no need to thank me. This is my duty."
"As a-"
"As an NCIS Agent", Ziva clarified quickly. "Please don't forget to let Tony know."
With that she was out the door.
Tali was still sleeping peacefully, smack dab in the middle of their bed, when Tony threw on a pair of sweat pants and a shirt to go downstairs. He had the knowing suspicion that Eliana might be very similar to Ziva when it came to sleeping patterns and he balked at the extreme awkwardness of turning up in front of his mother-in-law - or whatever she was to him - covered only in a pair of mid-morning boxers. Unsurprisingly then, he did find their house guest sitting at the kitchen table when he entered. She greeted him brightly, motioning towards the coffee pot. Tony mumbled a reply and poured himself a mug before sitting down across from her. He offered her a grateful nod as soon as he had gulped down the first sip.
"Ziva asked me to tell you that she will get breakfast", Eliana informed him. She studied him closely, the amusement caused by his demeanor leaving a smile on her face. Thus far she had only ever witnessed the work-side of Tony DiNozzo, the man of her daughter's life. Seeing him like this, only gradually restocked with life, it cleared things up for her a little bit. "She is out-"
"Running", Tony finished, blinking at her over the rim of his mug.
"Something she does every morning, I take it?"
"All that pent-up energy has to go somewhere. Running's the most flexible, though, with the kids and all", Tony replied and, deeming this topic innocent enough to elaborate on, allowed a wistful smile to settle on his face. "When they were babies she would strap them into one of these baby carrier thingies and take them along. Cute as it gets."
Eliana smiled at the images that obviously accompanied Tony's memory. Maybe, someday, she would really get to see pictures such as those. "What about you?"
"I'm clearly not that much of a morning person", he quipped, winking at the black liquid in his mug. "I throw in a few hours at the gym after work when I have the time."
"So, no joint activities when it comes to sports?"
Tony laughed slightly at the suggestion, remembering a few attempts at joining their separate sporting endeavors and how terribly they had failed. "Ziva's more outdoorsy. If she could, she'd probably run all year long. It took a broken arm to get her to change to indoors last winter."
Eliana frowned. "She broke her arm?"
Tony couldn't help but wordlessly stare at her for a moment. He appreciated Eliana's concerned tone, but for some reason he could only perceive it as a very forced, very wrongful comment. Ziva re-breaking her arm a few months back certainly wasn't the one story in his partner's life that deserved the most concern, from a mother no less.
"Slipped on the icy sidewalk", he explained simply. "It didn't really break. She strained an old injury. Didn't keep her from doing more close combat training again."
"With a broken arm", Eliana added dryly.
"It wasn't really broken", Tony held, unable to keep from laughing at himself for literally repeating Ziva's argument, and so readily. "She refused to get a full cast, so she had to promise me to train single-handed. By February she had beaten most of the guys at the NCIS gym only using her good right arm."
Eliana gaped at him, the similarities between Ziva and Eli in this little story stunning her into silence. If this was who Ziva had become, so much like Eli in his early years, she could only guess at the kind of training he must have subjected her to.
Tony interpreted her silence as disbelief, adding, "That's Ziva for you."
Eliana would have liked to stay on topic. Tony certainly seemed more forthcoming and ready to give her more than the small crumbs of insight into Ziva's life that she had gathered thus far. She was willing to test just how far he would let her in before his defenses against this approach to her daughter's life would blow up into her face. She guessed that she wouldn't get very far anyway. However, she didn't get a chance to try. Only a moment later soft footsteps announced another presence and soon David was standing in the entrance to the kitchen, surveying its occupants with drowsy suspicion. Eliana felt his probing eyes on her only for a fleet second, before he stepped over to his father. Tony opened his arms slightly and David fell sideways against him, rubbing his eyes.
Tony draped his arms around his son, a smile on his face. "Ready to be awake?"
"Morning", he mumbled in response, perching himself halfway on Tony's lap. "Where's mom?"
Tony simply pointed at the clock and David nodded. "She'll be back soon."
"She get breakfast?"
"Yep. And then we're off to the mall."
David let out an irritated grunt. "Do we hafta?", he asked, turning his head a little to offer Tony his most endearing look of misery. He wasn't quite as capable with the proverbial 'puppy dog eyes' as his sister, but he usually managed well enough when it came to his parents.
Tony couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, we have to. You need new shin pads and there's no time like the present."
David narrowed his eyes, reminding both Tony and Eliana instantly of who his mother was. "Can't we just stay in and play? Mom promised."
Tony smiled away his son's attempt at diversion. "If I recall correctly, she promised you and your sister we'd play in the evening."
"Then you recall wrong", David countered and took a step away from his father, so Tony could appreciate the full scope of the eight-year-old's matter-of-fact pose.
"Do we really have to get your mom to settle this?"
"Get me to settle what?", Ziva cut in, entering the kitchen with two bags in hand. Evidently, they had been too immersed in their discussion to hear the front door.
"Can we not go to the mall today and stay in and play like you promised?", David launched himself on his mother, staring up at Ziva with his best DiNozzo eyes.
"He's good", Tony quipped, turning up beside Ziva and grading his son's expression.
Ziva accepted his morning kiss with a small scowl and handed him the bags before focusing back on her son. "You need new equipment and we can finally start to look into redecorating your room", she reasoned, crouching down before David. "I thought you wanted to have new things?"
David looked at her for a moment, weighing her arguments. Then he shook his head. "I don't need new things now", he declared. "I'd rather we just stay here and play like you promised." He put added emphasis on the last three words. After all, he was well aware that his mother took promises very seriously, and there was no better tactic to go about this.
Ziva pursed her lips, distorting the smile she felt coming on at his insistence. She reached out to put a hand on his cheek. "I promised we would play in the evening, remember?", she said. "Also, on our way back we will go by Tommy's house and see what you missed in school the past two days. You can use the weekend to catch up on your homework, yes?"
David stared into his mother's eyes and pondered what she had just said. Realizing that he wouldn't win that argument, he nodded his head. Ziva offered him a sympathetic smile and opened her arms a little, the eight-year-old readily stepping forward and into her morning embrace.
Turning his head sideways on her shoulder, he asked in a half-whisper, "Can you help me with homework when I get stuck 'cause I missed school so much?"
"Of course, tateleh", Ziva assured him and pulled back a little so she could plant a kiss on the side of his head.
From her position she could see Eliana over her son's shoulder, still sitting at the kitchen table. And she was smiling at her.
While David and Tony dished up breakfast, the little boy steadfastly ignoring Eliana's helping hand, Ziva went upstairs to take a shower. When she returned downstairs with Tali in tow, breakfast didn't go over much dissimilar than dinner had the night before. They were far from any kind of ease. Tali was her usual morning-mumbling self and David focused on his cereal, only occasionally looking up to answer Ziva's or Tony's questions. It was only after they had taken their time to get ready and were standing in the foyer, Tony having just won the argument about taking his Mustang instead of Ziva's Mini, that Ziva offhandedly announced that they would split up at the mall.
"So, us guys, we'll get David's stuff at the sports store", Tony deduced, opening the front door. "And you ladies?"
"Clothing, for Eliana", Ziva declared nonchalantly.
Eliana's eyebrows shot up at once. "Ziva, that is not necessary."
She was standing at the back, close to the door to the living room. Neither Tony, nor Ziva had given her any indication as to whether she was to stay at the apartment for the time of their trip or expected to accompany them. She had yet to put on her shoes, waiting for any kind of pointer, a sign or directional remark; feeling strangely apprehensive to just outright ask them. However, she had never expected the very indicator to secure her stance to be like this.
"You need more than a quarter of a duffel bag", Ziva insisted as she crouched on the floor to help Tali with her jacket, her eyes barely meeting Eliana's.
"It is all I have and all I need."
"I know the life where all you have and all you need fits into a small bag", Ziva countered, finally getting up from the floor and fixing her mother with a glare. "And that is not the kind of living we do here."
"Sports and clothes it is", Tony concluded quickly, sensing the rise of tension in the foyer. Eliana was obviously not finished arguing her point, but Ziva had made up her mind and he didn't want the older woman to find out on a Saturday morning that she would never win that argument. "What's it gonna be, princess? Sports or clothes?", he inquired, turning to his daughter.
"Mommy", Tali declared, grabbing Ziva's hand.
"You sure? The store at the mall just got a new simulation program to try out all kinds of crazy sports stuff", he said, smiling mischievously.
Tali tilted her head a little to the side, evidently considering her options for a few moments. Then she shook her head. "Mommy."
"Just admit defeat, Tony", Ziva quipped, smirking at her partner as she ushered the kids outside.
Jabbing the elevator button, Tony snorted. "The clothes department is much closer to the toy and the pet stores. I don't stand a chance."
"But it is you who she has wrapped around her finger", Ziva countered, her eyes narrowed playfully.
Tony just smiled. "I'm not wrapped around anybody's finger. I'm a free agent, you know?"
"Sure you are", she whispered, her eyes pointedly roaming the inside of the elevator, packed with their family - and Eliana.
After they had split up at the entrance of the mall, the crowd of Saturday morning shoppers washed them along with its ebb and flow. It took Ziva at least another hour before Eliana had adjusted her senses to the bustle around her. It was obvious that Eliana was not at all comfortable and Ziva realized that she must have stayed far, far away from places like these all these years. Tali, however, was instantly enamored with every third store window and thus they were sauntering slowly about as the little girl led the way, occasionally demanding Ziva's input. It was only when Ziva could see Eliana's eyes divert to something other than her immediate surroundings that she decided to seek out appropriate clothing stores more proactively.
Not that Ziva wasn't alert and consciously aware of her surroundings; to which she, admittedly, was much more accustomed in any case. She was well aware that this was as much an outing akin to a protection detail as any other detail on the job. But she also remembered her orders and, as per Ducky's profile, crowds were a safe enough place to be in since Kadeer wouldn't likely tend to act among and through them.
They had breezed through the first few stores without looking much at anything at all while Eliana still tried to safeguard her point of not needing anything. However, she could only maintain her stance for so long before Ziva's irritated glaring became too obvious to provoke any longer. In about the fourth store since their arrival she finally caved.
"How does this work?", she asked meekly, fixing Ziva with her eyes.
"You just take what you like, you try it on and if you still like it, we take it", Ziva explained quickly.
Eliana frowned. "I am not sure I know what I like."
Ziva was on the verge of answering when Tali tugged on her sleeve, beckoning her to bow down to her level. Up until now Tali had remained remarkably silent around Eliana, so Ziva got down on one knee and Tali leaned in to whisper into her ear. Eliana watched the smile spread on Ziva's face and her nod, her hand stroking over Tali's curls as she got back up.
"If you want, you just go into one of the changing rooms and Tali and I will bring you clothes that you might like."
Eliana stared at her for a moment, but then decided to incline her head to look at the little girl. "Thank you."
The five-year-old instantly took a step towards her mother, but a coy smile flittered across her face nonetheless. So, for the next hour Ziva and Tali browsed through the selections of the store. It took them a while to figure out sizes and general taste directions, but by the time it was getting exhausting, they had already amassed quite a number of items.
"This, mommy", Tali said, pointing at a simple combination of white blouse and a light brown leather jacket.
Ziva took a look at it. "We already have quite a lot of clothes for her, tateleh", she cautioned, looking down at her daughter.
"This one's special", the five-year-old insisted.
"Why so?"
"I like it when you wear it like that", she stated.
Ziva laughed slightly. "You do?" Tali nodded. "Okay, then this will be the last one."
Ziva took Tali's hand and together they walked to the back of the store, a familiar path by now. Ziva mumbled something in Hebrew, then carefully slipped the curtain to the side just far enough to hand Eliana the new pieces. However, Eliana had apparently just changed out of a different top as she reached out to take them from Ziva, inadvertently showing off her bare left forearm to her daughter. Ziva noticed the patchy scar tissue right away, intimately recognizing it as the vestige of heavy burns.
"War wounds", Eliana remarked with a small smile before withdrawing her arm from sight.
Ziva realized that, much like herself, Eliana tended to cover her scars with clothing. Luckily, Ziva didn't have extensive scars on her arms; her legs and back were a different story and her torso allowed only for some cleavage cuts, disallowing others. She wasn't the only one with scars, though. She realized that as well. For a moment she held the reflection of Eliana's gaze in the mirror. No, others had wounds too, and scars to tell their stories. Yet, she didn't yet feel ready to act on them.
Tony and David had been in the middle of their second set of simulation tennis when Tony's phone had started buzzing against his chest and Ziva's voice had told him that they were on their way back to find them. They had barely stepped out of the store, however, when Tony almost ran into a familiar face.
"DiNozzo."
"McCadden", Tony greeted upon recognizing the man, shaking his hand.
Homicide Detective Philip McCadden; a friend from years ago when they had worked a few cases together and found familiarity in a similar love for the movies. They had lost sight of each other over the years. Tony faintly remembered running into him a few years back when David had still been a toddler.
"Is that David?", McCadden asked, his eyes falling on the eight-year-old. "All grown up, eh?"
David merely smiled, not recognizing that man at all. "You say it", Tony replied, finding little else to add to that.
But McCadden's smile persisted. "Where's your better half? You're still with Ziva, aren't you?"
"I am, I most certainly am", Tony said, a smile now also playing on his lips as he spotted her a few feet away. "Incoming actually."
McCadden whirled around, noticing Tali holding onto Ziva's hand. "You got a little girl as well?"
"Yes, I do", Tony confirmed, unable to keep obvious pride from mixing in with his voice.
"And that's Ziva's mother?", he went on, noticing Eliana.
It was weird for Tony to hear that sentence, from a strange mouth and in such offhand circumstances. It was very weird, actually. "Is it that obvious?"
"Totally the same eyes."
Tony nodded, his mind blanking for a moment. "Yeah, she's, you know, been busy for the last couple of years. Mossad, like Ziva."
All of a sudden Tony came to realize that they probably should get their official stories straight on the issue of Eliana's presence and overall existence. Otherwise they were sure to get entangled and strangled by the ropes and ropes of lies and half-truths one day. They would also have to account for what the kids might say about their long-lost grandmother.
McCadden offered him a strangely hollow laugh. "One big happy family."
"McCadden", Ziva said, reaching out her hand when they came to a halt in front of them.
"Ziva David", he greeted, smiling at her. "I was just saying how much you and your mother look alike."
Ziva glanced at Eliana, not willing to dwell on that comment too much. "Eliana David, Detective Philip McCadden", she introduced as they shook hands as well.
"Captain, actually", he corrected her.
Ziva's smile bothered Tony. He knew he had no reason whatsoever to ever fear Ziva's infidelity. There was something fatefully shared in their relationship, nothing that could have been easily and abruptly replaced by any other person in either one of their lives. Still, he felt strangely possessive when it came to her and particularly with people who he knew had voiced their interest in his woman before, even if that interest had been voiced at a time when she had not yet been his woman.
"Congratulations."
"Thanks", he said. "Well, I gotta run. Was great seeing you."
"Yeah, you too."
They watched him leave, his back merging with the crowd, before they set out for the parking lot in unison.
"A friend?", Eliana asked.
"Acquaintance", Tony corrected.
"What's the difference?", David inquired.
"How much you want or don't want to meet them by chance at the mall or any other place in the universe", Tony explained with a wink.
Following a quick poll in the car they had quickly chosen their lunch venue, once again making sure not to go for the most remote place, but to keep with the crowd. On a Saturday morning that was not a hard thing to accomplish. Once again, just like inside the mall, Eliana looked strangely out of place. She was weighted down by three bags, her auburn eyes yet again working overtime, roaming the premises. Tony and Ziva both took notice, but this time it was Tony who sprang into action, pointedly asking her to secure a table while he would get their food, and skillfully reciting a more relatable version of the food selection for her to choose from as he did so.
During lunch Ziva well noticed how Tali was less talkative than usual and pointedly addressing either her, Tony or David with her stories and questions so as not to make eye contact with Eliana. Still, the little girl was getting curious, there was no denying it. Much like years ago when Tony had returned, Tali was gradually shifting into the testing phase. Whenever Eliana wasn't looking, Tali would shoot her curious glances, scanning her, observing her. Whenever something was said at the table her eyes quickly flickered to Eliana, testing her reaction. Ziva wasn't sure what exactly Tali was making of Eliana's generally reticent demeanor, but Eliana's smiles had become noticeably more radiant over the past few days. They were now much closer to the smiles Ziva remembered from her childhood. That, she knew, would score big time with her daughter. David, on the other hand, was still full-out ignoring the fact that there were five people sitting around the table now. That worried Ziva much more than anything else.
After lunch they finally went to look at furniture stores. Tony and Ziva had promised David a makeover of his room more than a month ago, figuring it would be the last remodeling before they planned on getting a bigger apartment anyway. Tony quickly led them to the furniture and decoration sections, pointedly avoiding the DIY department for reasons that had caused him to secure Gibbs' involvement in any future makeover project very early on. They were only looking now, getting ideas, but Tony and Ziva made very conscious mental notes of the desk with drawing board that David spent more than fifteen minutes admiring. After all, his birthday was coming up.
On the way home they stopped over at Tommy's house. Knowing how important that was to her son and how it was their fault that he had missed school at all, Ziva had talked to Tommy's mother, Rebecca, the day before. Rebecca had assured them that Tommy would get all that David would need to keep up with classwork. Tommy's mother had been a single mom for a little over two years, ever since her husband, a Metro P.D. officer, had been killed in the line of duty. Ziva had always found her a very easy person to talk to, much unlike most of the other mothers. Chatting with her at the door, Ziva briefly considered bringing up the problems that she suspected their sons were having, but despite having little to go on in the first place, it didn't feel like the right thing to do.
The rest of their afternoon went by in much less of a staccato manner. David spent most of it doing his homework with Ziva at the kitchen able, while Tony occupied Tali and the little girl occupied herself later on when Tony had to finish some paperwork. Minding her promise, Ziva later went upstairs to get the game Tali and David had chosen after spending the entire dinner negotiating with each other. She had been instructed to get it from the top shelf in Tali's room. There, however, she couldn't help but notice that Shim no longer resided on the nightstand beside her daughter's bed, but had apparently and consciously been relocated to share a space with all the other stuffed animals Tali possessed, lined up against the far wall.
Ziva stilled for a moment. She was jerked from her thoughts, however, when Eliana turned up in the doorframe to Tali's room. Somehow she had managed to stay almost invisible all afternoon, only resurfacing when she had heard the clanging of pans and had offered a hand in making dinner. Ziva swiftly raised her eyebrows at her mother and, shaking her thoughts from her mind, reached up on the shelf for the box.
"Thank you for today", Eliana said softly, her hands folded in front of her body. "That was much more than duty."
Ziva looked at her for a moment, then nodded her head. She knew there were things to say, maybe, but she didn't say them. Instead, Eliana moved a little to the side, taking the hint, and Ziva stepped around her to go downstairs.
The kids were already fast asleep in their own beds when Tony entered their bedroom to find Ziva sitting up on her side of the bed and reading a book. Tony checked twice to see if it was really a book this time and not a photo album, but it was. She had obviously just started it, too, and for some reason that made him feel relieved. He got in beside her, lying on his back with his arms folded beneath his head, just staring at the ceiling for a while.
"Want to tell me why you felt a sudden urge to go all Project Runway on Eliana today?", he asked eventually, not looking at her yet.
Ziva couldn't say that she was particularly familiar with the reference, but she got the gist of it. "She needed clothes, Tony. You saw her bag", she replied, not lifting her eyes either.
"So what?", Tony retorted. "What do you care if she isn't dressed to the nines for sitting behind a desk at NCIS?"
Tony had moved his head to the side now, fixing her with his eyes. Ziva pressed her lips into a thin line before inclining her head to look at him. "It was like seeing myself, sixteen years ago and again twelve years ago when I returned home", she admitted. "Coming into this strange new world and realizing how different you are, realizing that you do not fit."
"I get that", he said softly. "But why is it important she fit?"
Ziva held his gaze for a moment longer, but then turned her attention back to the book. She offered him a small shrug and Tony resigned himself to leaving it at that for now.
"Do you know what meeting McCadden made me realize?", he went on instead.
"That we have to get our stories straight about Eliana", Ziva replied absently, adding upon his surprised look, "I overheard what you told him."
"That was okay, right?"
"I think we can stick to her being Mossad", Ziva said, blinking a few times too many for Tony to take it as a statement that was coming easy to her. "It is not like many people know about my father, or have seen him for that matter. It is not a lie to say that their biological grandparents have not been too involved in their lives thus far."
Tony snorted. "Senior showing up right now would just put the cherry on top."
"His timing usually is as impeccable as that", Ziva retorted.
She particularly remembered his impromptu visit in September 2011. They had just found out about her pregnancy and had still been engulfed in a veil of trying to cope with that fact. They had barely decided to wait with telling the team until at least the first fifteen weeks had passed, when Senior had barged in one day and bluntly asked Ziva who the lucky guy was in front of Gibbs, McGee and Abby.
"But he was only just here in November. He usually gets in at least half a year before making his next move."
Without looking up, Ziva reached over and gently placed a hand on his cheek. She completed the paragraph she was reading, before marking the page and lowering her eyes into his. "Eliana asked for my permission today."
"For what?"
"For trying to build a relationship with our kids, I think."
Tony's eyebrows rose and he propped himself up on the side, looking at her curiously. "She wants to be a grandmother. That's good, right?"
"Is it?"
"It's good, Ziva", he insisted. "I don't know if it shows, but I don't particularly like Eli-"
"I do not think you keep that secret too well, Tony."
"But I'm glad he is trying as a grandfather. Let's face it, Senior's proven to be lacking in that department."
Tony couldn't deny that a part of him might have hoped that he and Senior would get another shot at a relationship with the kids in the picture, but for now he was holding out. Senior wouldn't change; that was probably the wrong hope to secretly harbor. For now, however, that was barely translating into any kind of grandfatherly presence either.
"He is not around much, though. And they have Gibbs and Ducky-"
"But we don't have any substitutes around for grandmothers, Ziva. Anyway, you gave her your blessing, so you're thinking the same thing." Tony grinned at her.
"Did I?"
"You did", he repeated knowingly. "And before you ask, yes, I'm okay with that."
She returned his smile. "I am glad."
Tony nodded, lifting his hand to brush a few strands of hair behind her ear and keeping himself from asking about how she was doing on the subject of Eliana. "Do you know what else I realized meeting McCadden?"
"What?"
"That I love you. I love you, I love our kids, and I love the life we made for ourselves", he said, staring into her eyes. "I love that he corrected you saying that he was Captain now and I not once thought about following that up with telling him I'm Supervisory Agent now, because I was too busy realizing how lucky a guy I am. If things show for themselves, you know, there's no need to show off anymore."
Ziva moved closer to him. Maybe it was his life among movies, but Tony had a knack for symbolism, for meaning and saying much with few words, regardless of his reputation. He wasn't his reputation, Ziva had realized that early into their relationship.
"And how lucky I am that you are willing to put up with all the complications that I bring to your life", she added.
"Far outweighed by the happiness, Ziva", he said, running the back of his fingers over the side of her face. "And I've never been one for easy."
At the end of the day Ziva leaned in and kissed him, if only for the memories that line elicited in her heart.