"Case closed," Tony yelled, slamming the file down on his desk. "Husband killed his brother because he was having an affair with his wife…wife killed her husband. It's the cheaters, always,"

"You sure about that, boss?" A small man with glasses remarked, looking up from his desk to the left of Tony.

Tony winced at the sudden use of the name boss, something he used for years during his time in Washington. "Yeah, absolutely. You see, Mark, after years of investigating these kinds of cases, this wouldn't be the first time for a scenario like this."

"Are you— the stepfather's prints were found at the scene." The younger man tried to reason, beginning to type on his keyboard.

"Stepfather could've been at the house earlier that day, visiting the grandkids. Either way, doesn't matter. Primary suspect is the wife. Now I want you, Freddy and Sam to go bring her in. Looks like she's headed down to New Jersey." Tony ordered, packing up his things from the desk.

"Alright. Um…" Mark started, grabbing his backpack from underneath his desk and standing up to leave.

"What is it, probie?" Tony's eyes peaked up over his reading glasses, a glare relevant on his face.

"Are…are you alright? I mean, you seem a bit agitated and-" Mark was cut off.

"I'm fine. Now go," Tony said in a relatively stern voice that surprised the younger agent. It wasn't like his boss to be uneasy and pissed off. And, he certainly had never talked to his team like this before. Perhaps he just could his boss on the wrong night?

"Okay, have a good night." Mark smiled, trying to ease the tension in the small bullpen before exiting the room.

Tony sighed and opened his desk. He snatched his cell phone from the drawer, looking to see if there was any missed messages.

One missed call. Ziva Dinozzo. One voicemail. Ziva Dinozzo.

He placed the phone to his ear, listening to the voicemail. Guilt set in as he heard the stress in his wife's voice and the cries from his children in the background. He was an asshole. No, scratch that. Figuratively, not literally, of course. He was worse than an asshole. He was the epitome of an asshole, dick, and worst husband in the entire world — all combined. Was there a word for that? Eh, Ziva probably had one in Hebrew or the fifteen other languages she knew.

He clicked Ziva's name to return the call and express his apologies to her and the kids. She would at least be grateful that he returned her call, right? To his surprise, the dial tone was never heard and his call went straight to voicemail. Yup, she was still pissed and she probably would be pissed until the end of the eternity for this one. The voicemail she left covered all of that.

His rough palms slowly reached up to caress his face, rubbing his forehead while he thought about everything that was going on. Ziva wasn't answering his calls now and he had called at least 10 times because why would she possibly have her phone off? What if there was an emergency and she needed it? Worse, what if the ninja had blocked him from calling because she was so pissed off at him? His thoughts were running rapid and he pulled at a few strands of hair from his head, groaning at how stupid he was for causing all of this. It was getting late anyways and tomorrow would be his son's birthday.

With another deep heave, Tony collected his belongings from his desk area and headed out of the bullpen, shutting off the lights.

I need a drink.

-x-

"Mommy, I'm all done!" Ty called out, trying to zipper his small Batman suitcase. Isabella clapped next to him, patting all of her outfits she had picked out for their trip to New York.

"Very good, tateleh's. I am so proud," She smiled down at her children, laughing at how cluttered Bella's outfits were. "Bella, did you pick out what you wanted to wear for Mommy?"

Isabella nodded, smiling before patting a purple dress to the left that was hanging out of her suitcase. "Dah-dee!" She squeaked.

"Oh, yes." Ziva smiled, joining her two little ones on the ground, "You want to wear Daddy's favorite dress on you?" Isabella nodded again, a grin ear to ear. "Okay, you can wear that in the morning then for when we surprise Daddy." Ziva helped refold and pack all of Isabella's outfits that she wanted into her My Little Pony suitcase. "Alright, why don't we get ready for bed and in the morning it will be time to go on the big airplane, yes?"

"YAY!" Both of the little kids screamed excitedly. Ty hurriedly jumped into his bed, crawling underneath his covers and closing his eyes. Ziva laughed in amazement at his rush to sleep and thinking it would make the time go quicker. The loving mother leaned over, giving him a big kiss and whispering how much she loved him.

"I promise you will have the best birthday ever, yes?" Her brunette eyes shined as he smiled up to her, kissing her quickly before laying his head back down. Isabella stood up, almost falling over on her tiny chubby legs to rush to her bedroom. "Wait for me, Bella." Ziva chuckled, picking her daughter up from the carpet and shutting off Ty's bedroom lights. She continued into Isabella's room. She placed the toddler into her crib, quickly pondering when she should purchase a big girls bed for Isabella. Isabella cooed, sticking her thumb into her mouth and watched her mother thinking intently.

Realizing she was deep in thought, Ziva shook her head, smiling at her little mini-me staring at her. "I am sorry, my love. Ima has been having silly thoughts today," She kissed the toddler, whispering little Hebrew messages to her. It was important to her that her kids have some knowledge of Hebrew, a part of their mother and her life before she had met their father.

"All will turn out well, Isabella." She smiled, kissing her daughters head and turned off the lights.