Thanks for all the great reviews! Hang on, it's about to be an intense ride.
xoxo Ash
-x-
"There you go," Ziva smiled after helping Ty buckle himself in on the plane. He threw a tiny fit when they had first entered, wanting the inside seat by the window to look out once the plane was in the air. Ziva, of course, knew that once they were in the air that Isabella would want to be closer to her and in the middle seat. She continued to help Isabella buckled up, a frightened look on the little girls face. "It will be alright, tataleh. We will go high in the air and before you know it, we will see Daddy. The plane ride is only an hour." She kissed Isabella's head, reaching down to pull out the children's toys from her backpack.
Sitting down on the third seat, next to the aisle, Ziva quickly buckled herself in and waited as the other passengers settled in. Isabella was busy playing with an animal book, complete with sounds and patches on each page to feel what the animal's fur or skin was like. She had a nook in her mouth, sucking quietly and concentrating on finding her favorite animal, a zebra. Ty kept himself preoccupied with a batman figurine, bouncing him off the window as if the tiny plastic hero was on the wing of the plane that they sat over. Ziva chuckled, watching the both of them and looked up to see the stewardess prepare to talk over the speaker.
"ZEBA!" Isabella shrieked, clapping her hands together in her usual fashion once she found the page with the zebra on it. Her tiny fingers pointed to the black and white animal, nudging her mother to show what she had accomplished.
"Zebra!" Ziva smiled, trying to resist the knot she felt in the pit of her stomach. The stewardess began talking, explaining the safety and exit plans in order if something were to go wrong. Lost in thought, Ziva couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong. No, she didn't think the plane was going to go down or anything of that aspect, but something – a gut feeling, made her uneasy. Perhaps it was because of the way she left things with Tony before he had jetted off to New York. She hated when they were upset with each other. They had spent to many moments before married life in that phase of guilt and livid towards each other. Between Michael, EJ, Jeanne and Adam. They couldn't do that anymore and they would need to learn to trust each other and each other's judgement of a situation before flying off the handle. They were a family now and nothing, nothing could ever break them up.
The plane shifted into gear and started to head down the runway in preparation for take-off. Ziva was still lost in her thoughts, unaware of Isabella's eyes growing wide from the movement of the plane. Her and her brother had never been on a plane before. Whenever they went somewhere, Daddy or Mommy took them in a car. This experience was incredibly new to the two children, something awfully frightening and even more concerning because something was definitely wrong with their mom.
Isabella turned towards Ty, sucking harder on her nook and eyes wide as he had ever seen them. Ty, taking on his role as big brother and man of the house (at least that's what Daddy said when he would leave for work) grabbed Isabella's hand, holding on tight so she would not be afraid. Isabella smiled at him, seeking the comfort she needed when Ziva snapped out of her thoughts as they were about to take off.
"Here we go, my loves." Ziva smiled, heart melting at Ty holding Isabella's hand. She placed her large, warm hand over theirs as protection and squeezed. The plane sped up on the runway, Isabella giggling and the frightening expression fading away while Ty stuck his tongue out at her. As the plane jolted into the air and off the ground, Ziva kissed both her little ones, wishing away the nagging in her gut.
-x-
Tony awoke in his hotel room, feeling a shift in the covers next to him. "Zee?" He called out.
"I am right here, my love." He heard her voice and opened his eyes. Ziva was leaning over him, the light from the window illuminating around her shadow, giving her a glowing look. He reached up to kiss her, tangle his hands in her soft, curly hair, but when he reached up… his hand went right through the image of her.
"What the fuck?" He cursed, jumping out of the dream he was having when he felt another shift in the covers. He groaned, the light shining in bright from his hotel window. His head weighed heavy, a definite hangover setting in and he groaned.
"Thank god. I thought you would never wake up," A voice next to him, unfamiliar coaxed.
A pain ruptured through his chest and Tony turned his head slowly to reveal a blonde woman next to him in bed. "Lisa?!" He shuddered, thoughts spiraling through his head of what the hell could have happened last night.
"Jeez. Don't sound so scared to see me, Tony. I see you every day at work," She replied, retrieving is shirt and getting out of the bed.
Tony glanced down at the sheets around him. He was shirtless, he always slept shirtless, but what was below the covers scared the living shit out of him. He wouldn't… would he? The fear grew as he lifted the covers up off him to see that he in fact, was naked below the covers.
Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. No, you asshole.
He couldn't stomach that he could do this. Not to Ziva, not to his family, especially not to his ninja. He remembered arriving at the bar last night and seeing a few people from work, Lisa included. "Did we…?" He called out, biting his lip nervously as he waited for her to exit the small bathroom.
"Obviously," She yelled back, annoyed that he was questioning the night.
"You know, you…. I'm married!" He was angry now and his tone showed that. She knew how deeply in love with his wife he was, he would talk about Ziva and the kids all the time at work.
"Please, I was drunk too. Neither of us could barely walk, so I doubt the sex was even that great." She commented, exiting the bathroom and standing at the foot of the bed.
"I don't care how it was!" His voice raised, "My wife! Holy fuck. I'm so dead." He grabbed his phone off the night stand, standing up from the bed when Lisa climbed in next to him and proceeded to dial Ziva's number. "Come on baby, come on. Baby, please answer." The dial tone never came up and her voicemail came up. "Baby, it's me. If you could give me a call back, I would appreciate that so much. I'm coming home." He hung up quickly, throwing his phone on the ground and hearing a crack. "God damnit!" He yelled, curling up his fists.
"She doesn't have to know," Lisa yawned, buttoning up his dress shirt. "It's not like it meant anything. We were just super drunk and horny."
"You need to go and get the hell out of my shirt!" He waved his hands at her, motioning her to get out of his clothes. "Christ, I can't believe this happening. I'm so fucking stupid."
"Relax, would you? She's not going to find out. She's all the way in Washington anyways." Lisa laid her head back down on the hotel pillows, her head hammering from all the alcohol the night before. She didn't remember much either, just the fact that Tony was bitching about how his marriage was falling apart and he missed his wife dearly. After that, she remembered taking body shots off of him and him slurring his words in a voicemail that was probably to his wife.
Tony cursed under his breath, rushing to pack the strewn out clothes on the ground of his. His suits were packed away, ruffled up in balls because at this moment, Tony just didn't give a shit. He was the worst husband in the world, officially. Let alone, the worst Dad in the world coming into first place above his own, Senior. Senior would've rather die than cheated on his wife and Tony legitimately beat him in the worst husband award.
Everything in Tony's mind was coming up from the pit of his stomach, vomit. Surely, he wanted to vomit right at this very moment because this wasn't like him. He would never dream of doing this to Ziva. Even if he didn't remember it happening, he still was guilty.
He couldn't lose Ziva. He couldn't lose his kids. He couldn't—
A knock sounded on the hotel door and Tony sighed. Seriously? Out of all times for housekeeping to be knocking, right now they want to clean up his fucking room?
-x-
"Come on," Ziva said excitedly, rushing down the hallway holding both of the children's hands. They had luckily booked a room down the hall with two Queen beds where their whole family could stay, including Tony. And even more importantly, it was in the same hallway where Tony's usual room was, according to the woman at the front desk. "We're here!" Ziva clapped quietly, trying not to ruin the surprise and balling her fist up to knock on Tony's door.
"Time to see Daddy," She giggled, both her children holding their index fingers up to their mouths to be quiet.
One action could never be so life changing, the door swung open, four gaping mouths and two hearts plummeting to the gritty, carpeted ground.