Chapter Thirty Five: It Feels Nice

Work was definitely boring without Ziva. It didn't matter how many places he had to go, how many witnesses he interviewed, how many suspects he interrogated…it just wasn't the same without her. It wasn't the same without wondering when Penny would appear at his desk, either, announcing that she had once again successfully run away from Cynthia. He just kept expecting them to walk into the bullpen as if nothing had changed. At one point on his first morning back, he'd been tempted to ask what was taking Ziva so long with getting the coffee, before remembering that firstly, Friday was Ziva's day to get the coffee, because she usually treated them all to a pastry as well and at the time it was only Thursday , and secondly, she wasn't actually going to be there on Friday anyway.

Only, she was.

At ten thirty she had hurried into the bullpen, a tiny sense of urgency about her that worried him. She looked even less put off by the visitors badge that had been pinned to the front pocket of her jacket.

"Ziva?" he questioned, as she looked around the empty bullpen and saw that she was alone with Tony.

"Where is Gibbs?" she asked instantly.

"Nice to see you too, hon," he smiled sarcastically.

"Tony, this is important, where is Gibbs?" she repeated, resting her arms on his desk.

"Right behind you," Gibbs answered, seemingly appearing on the spot with his coffee in his hand.

Ziva straightened up from Tony's desk, following Gibbs over to his own. "Gibbs, something has happened."

Tony was instantly on his feet, following her over and standing beside her. "What? What's happened?"

She directed her answer to Gibbs, instead. "I have been a the preschool for the past hour-"

"Is Penny okay?" Tony asked.

She turned to him. "Tony, if Penny were not okay, do you not think I would have told you by now?" she stressed. She then relaxed, realising from the frown on his face that she had snapped at him. "She is fine," she assured him.

"Then what isn't fine?" Gibbs asked.

"This morning, on the way to preschool Penny pointed out the house across the street," she explained.

"The one we're monitoring?" Tony asked.

She nodded. "She called it the 'monster' house."

"Why would she call it that?" he asked.

"Because that is what Meagan Jessop called it."

The startling revelation that Meagan Jessop had started speaking again, to Penny no less, took both men aback, even though Tony showed it more than Gibbs. "Meagan's speaking?" he asked.

She nodded. "That is why I was at the preschool for so long this morning. I was speaking to Meagan's aunt about her. She insists that Meagan is still not speaking, yet moments after she left, Meagan was speaking with Penny again."

"Did she say anything else about the house?" Gibbs asked.

"Not this morning, but Penny did tell me what she had said previously," Ziva confirmed.

When Ziva didn't continue, Gibbs looked up at her. "Are you waiting for an announcement, Officer David?" he asked.

"She said that bad things had happened in that house," she said.

"All the women were seen entering at some point," Tony confirmed. "Our killer could have leased it."

"Check out all previous owners and tenants," Gibbs instructed.

"We've already done that, they all had alibis and…" he trailed off, noticing Gibbs' glare. "I'm gonna check again, just to be sure."

When Tony rushed off to his desk, Gibbs nodded to Ziva. "Good work, David."

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It had been busy after their revelation, but Tony managed to arrive home just when Ziva and Penny were deciding what to make for dinner that night. They hadn't heard him enter because of the radio playing in the background, so he simply stood in the doorway to the kitchen, watching the two of them.

"We could make some spaghetti," Ziva suggested. "Your father likes spaghetti."

"I want chicken," Penny said.

"You had chicken last night, Penny," she reminded her. "You cannot eat it every night of the week, or you shall start growing feathers."

"I've got a better idea," Tony suggested from the doorway.

Penny turned, noticing Tony and running towards him. She threw herself at him, and he caught her, lifting her up onto his hip. "Daddy!"

"A better idea?" Ziva questioned.

"Uh huh," he nodded, coming into the kitchen to stand before her. "We are going out for dinner tonight," he told her.

She looked hesitant. "Tony…"

"Really?" Penny asked excitedly.

"Yeah, really," Tony told her. "I want you both to get all dressed up nice and we're going to go out and have some fun."

Penny giggled, dropping herself from Tony's arms and running upstairs to her bedroom. Tony turned to Ziva, who didn't look as thrilled at the idea as he'd hoped. "Tony, do you really think this is a good idea?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think it's a great idea," he grinned.

"What about the surveillance?"

"Abby's watching it, McGee's with her," he said. "They've got it covered until we get back."

"Gibbs is okay with this, yes?" she asked.

"What, I gotta clear it wit Gibbs to take my pretend fiancée out to dinner?" he half-laughed.

She nodded. "As we are undercover, yes, you do."

"Yes, Gibbs is okay with this," he confirmed. At this, Ziva looked outstanding. "They've all been watching the MTAC feeds and think I've been a lousy pretend fiancée and that I should stop trying to piss you off and it has been suggested that dinner is a good way to make up for that," he explained.

"It has been suggested by whom?" she asked.

"Mainly Abby," he said. "And not so much suggested as demanded."

She laughed. "Of course, that does not surprise me."

"No, me neither," he agreed. "What are you still standing here for? When I said both getting dressed up, I meant you as well," he told her.

Shaking her head, she walked out of the kitchen. "Okay, I am going."

Once she started up the stairs, he followed after her. "And do try to hurry, darling, we have reservations in an hour."

He wasn't surprised when a sock from the laundry hamper flew from the landing and hit him in the face.

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A while later, Penny came downstairs with Ziva. Penny had chosen one of her dresses from her favourite Disney films - Cinderella, he thinks. Blue and sparkly - but Ziva had opted for a deeper shade of purple. It was simple, with no elaborate design, but it was still stunning. Both of them had their hair down and curly, something that was becoming a stronger trait in Penny's hair these days because it spent most of the day braided tightly, and when released it would bounce around in soft curls, much like Ziva's. As they came down the stairs, he found himself staring at the Israeli beauty.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Huh?" he asked, snapping out of a daze as she reached the bottom stair, where he was waiting.

"You are staring," she pointed out.

"Am I?" he asked innocently.

"Yes, you are," she nodded. "What is going through your mind right now?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," he mumbled, now trying to look everywhere else but the curves that the dress was accentuating.

"No, really, I am curious," she insisted.

A little ashamed, but mainly proud, he admitted it. "I just couldn't get over how beautiful you looked together up there."

She smiled softly at him, still with a hint of curiosity in her eyes, and Penny grinned up at them. "Daddy says we're his beautiful girls," she told Ziva.

"Does he now?" she asked.

"Yeah, he does," Tony answered, looking down at Penny. "But he didn't intend on one of his beautiful girls to tell the other one that."

"Was it a secret?" she asked.

"It was," he nodded.

"Why?"

"Just…because," he answered.

Penny tilted her head to one side. "If you think Ziva's pretty, you should tell her," she said.

"I do tell her," Tony said.

"All the time," Penny insisted. "You should tell her all the time."

"Maybe I will," he teased her back.

"Are we going to dinner?" Ziva asked. "Or should I get changed again?"

"No!" Tony answered quickly. "Uh…no, don't get changed. You look great."

"Pretty," Penny corrected him.

"Pretty," Tony repeated, causing Ziva to laugh at how well he took his orders from his daughter. "You look pretty."

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Dinner was nice, something that had given them a break from the case and that was definitely welcome. They talked, for once, about normal things - Penny at preschool, what they should do at the weekend, and about the new neighbours and friends they had. It felt strange to talk about these things without adding in details from the case, but they seemed to be managing it easily. When they got home, Penny was so exhausted sitting in the back of the car that Tony had needed to carry her into the house. He had taken her into the bedroom to tuck her in while Ziva had gone to their bedroom to change into her nightclothes. After changing, she wandered down the hall to find them, only to discover Tony leaning in the doorway of Penny's bedroom. She went up beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder before moving to stand on the other side of the doorway.

"Hey," he whispered.

"You look exhausted," she noted.

He nodded, not taking his eyes off of Penny. "I am exhausted."

"Then would sleeping not be a good idea?" she suggested.

Content where he was, he shook his head. "No, I'm good here."

She joined him in watching, turning her head into the bedroom. Penny was fast asleep, tucked in to her side around Bertha, who was caught in a death grip under one arm. "Nothing is going to happen if you go to sleep," she whispered.

"I know," he said lightly. "I just…she's growing up really fast now, what with preschool and everything. I just like taking a second to remember her how she is."

She smiled at this, a side of Tony that none of them could have imagined a year ago. "Mind if I join you?" she asked.

"Course not," he answered, "only to get the full effect of it, you have to watch her from this side of the doorframe."

She went to stand beside him, but he pulled her in front of him instead, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders and causing her to lean back into him. The view of Penny was no different, but she supposed she was seeing her in the exact way that Tony did now, and she found her head falling back onto his shoulder comfortably. After a few moments standing there, he whispered, his voice close to her ear.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's tired."

"Laundry and hovering is more exhausting than paperwork," she reasoned.

"Seriously?" he laughed.

"Yes," she confirmed. "Although, if you do not believe me, we could trade for a day…"

"No, I'm good," he shook his head.

"That is what I thought," she smirked, turning her attention back to Penny. "She must have been really tired."

She felt him nod. "She was trying to stay away for as long as possible in the car. I kept seeing her eyes drooping in the mirror, but she was determined to stay awake."

"Like Christmas," she mused.

He wrapped his other arm around her shoulders as well, and she brought up her hands to his wrist, holding them in place there. Like this, he could see the delicate bracelet that he had brought her for Christmas, presented to her in secret. She had been wearing it through the entirety of the mission so far. "Yeah," he agreed. "Like Christmas."

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Abby and McGee, who were watching in the lab, were in two different minds. McGee was exhausted from hanging around longer to cover the security footage, and now that they were home he wanted to go home and to sleep. Abby, on the other hand, had seen the embrace in the hallway and wanted to record every moment for a virtual scrapbook.

"See, they're home, now we can home," McGee said thankfully, reaching for his jacket.

"What?" she asked incredulously. "We can't go home."

"Tony and Ziva are back," he pointed out. "We don't have to watch the feed anymore."

"Timmy, do you not see is what is happening right before us?" she said, gesturing to the screen.

He looked at it, listening for a moment. "They're talking about Penny."

"They're hugging, Timmy!" she stressed.

"Meaning?"

"You know what hugging leads to," she said, pointing to her growing stomach to remind him.

Knowing that unless he encouraged her, he was never going to get any sleep, he tugged on her arm gently, turning the computer monitor off. "Then maybe we should give them some privacy…" he suggested.

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Back at the house, Tony and Ziva stood together for a while longer. He had to admit that he was enjoying holding her like this, even though he shouldn't because they were in full view of the cameras an if Gibbs saw this footage he was likely to be screamed at and slapped until his head fell off, but for the moment, it was nice, and it was comforting, and if there was anyone, God forbid, looking up at the hall window from the street, they would see nothing more than a couple standing together watching a sleeping child.

"I like this," he whispered after a few minutes.

"The house?" she asked.

"No," he answered. "The three of us here, together."

Leaning back a little more into his arms, she nodded. "Yes, it is nice," she agreed.

"It feels…" he began, but he broke off suddenly.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's nothing."

"No, you were going to say something," she reasoned.

"Nothing important," he covered.

"Yes, it was," she confirmed. "You would not have that look in your eye if it were not important."

"You're not even facing me, how would you know if-"

She turned her head, looking over her shoulder so that she could see his face. "That look." Tony sighed, knowing she was right. "Tell me."

"I was just going to say that it feels like a family," he admitted. "And it feels nice, because I've never really had one of those. Not until Penny came along, at least."

"Yes, it does," she agreed after a short silence.

"Do you want a family?" he blurted out.

Stunned at this question, she frowned. "Tony?"

He continued to ramble. "I know that you said that one time that you couldn't but…don't you even think about it?" he asked her.

Looking at the sleeping child before her, she nodded sadly. "All the time," she admitted.

The change in her mood was recognisable instantly, as was the way her muscles stiffened when he held her. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Tony, I should explain to you what happened," she whispered to him.

"No, you don't have to," he allowed.

"Yes, I do," she nodded, but then she remembered that the hall was bugged with microphones. "But not here."

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Ten minutes later they were in their bedroom. She had been silent the whole time as she lead him to the bed, encouraged him to sit, and she had leant against the dressed to face him. She continued to be wordless, just as he continued to watch her. He didn't push her to speak, knowing that whatever it was, was clearly hard for her, so he just waited patiently. Luckily, their bedroom wasn't wired for sound, so when did she did speak, these words would be between the two of them only. When she raised her eyes, they were already brimming red.

"His name was Sa'id…"

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A/N: Okay, so kinda cruel to end the chapter here, but you know me and cliffhangers - I just can't resist. Besides, this story shows us a little bit of Ziva's past, and is a pivotal Tiva moment (and I know how much you like those) and it's going to take a chapter on it's own for her to tell him this story.