Hey guys thanks for all the concerned messages. Not dead I swear. Sorry about how long this took. There is no excuse except life got in the way. Really sorry but thanks again for the messages. They inspired me to keep writing. Anyway hope you enjoy.

Chapter 37 - Tension

When Ziva awoke the next morning it took her a moment to remember what had happened last night. When she did she instantly wished she could roll over and go back to sleep where everything was fine.

She looked down and saw that Tali was still curled up against her sleeping soundly clutching Bernie in a chokehold grip.

Ziva sighed and looked around the room; there was no indication that Tony had been in here last night. Slowly she slid out of the bed, careful not to wake Tali and slipped into the living room feeling her stomach clench when she realised that Tony had not come home last night. She swallowed not liking how things were going.

She moved slowly about the apartment until it was time to wake Tali and she forced an eager expression onto her face as she helped her daughter get ready for her day at day care. As she did so she felt a small ache in her chest as she realised that Tali would be starting school in a month or so. She couldn't believe how much time had flown; it felt like just yesterday that Tali had been getting ready to go to daycare for the first time.

Tali seemed to sense that something was wrong and she sat quietly eating her breakfast at the table watching Ziva as she prepared her packed lunch for her. "Mommy" she said and Ziva looked over at her daughter "yes my love" she said in the most positive voice she could muster.

Tali cocked her head to the side eyeing her with her father's eyes "where daddy" she asked. Ziva hesitated wondering what she should tell her before she smiled. "Daddy had to go to work very very early aheva" she said "you'll see him later." "Ok" Tali said seeming accepting that without any fuss, that had happened a few times; she or Tony getting called out in the middle of the night so Tali was used to it she supposed.

Leaving Tali playing in her bedroom for a few minutes she headed into the bedroom to ready herself. As she tied her long hair back into a ponytail her gaze fell on a picture of she, Tali and Tony at their wedding a few months ago. She felt her heart ache as she remembered the joy she felt and the happiness, how she had felt so content as she danced in the arms of the man she loved with her family around her. How she had felt so at home in that moment of bliss.

She looked down at the rings on her finger and slowly she twisted them round and round, for some reason they didn't feel as comfortable as usual and she played with them restlessly.

She would have to try and figure things out soon, she needed to soothe things over with Tony, she couldn't lose him, and she couldn't bare the idea of Tali losing her father over something that she had done.

When it was time to go she ushered Tali out of the car trying to remain positive as Tali chattered away to her oblivious to how her mother was feeling. When they arrived at the day care centre Ziva followed her daughter inside and bent to give her a big hug and kiss "bye mommy go catch bad guys" Tali said and she smiled "Bye my love" she whispered "have fun today ok" Tali nodded and dashed off squealing in delight as she spotted her best friend Maya – the little girl who also lived in their building who Ziva had cared for after the fire.

Ziva watched as they rushed off to play in the little house together before she slowly headed out of the building and drove to work in silence.

When she arrived the only one in the bullpen was Gibbs. When he heard her enter he looked up and frowned when he saw her come in alone. "Where's Tony" he asked and Ziva shrugged "we had a fight last night" she whispered "I know" Gibbs said coming round his desk to squeeze her shoulder "he came to me last night, he was angry about what we did, said you two had a screaming match after he found the pictures and ticket stub"

Ziva nodded "it was bad" she said softly "he stormed out… but he didn't come home last night" "he didn't" Gibbs said sharply "I told him to go home to you last night as he was leaving mine" "well he didn't" Ziva said fighting to stay strong. "Hey" Gibbs said gently as he pulled her into a hug "it'll be ok Ziver I swear, everything will work out." Ziva nodded though she didn't really believe him.

They moved slowly back to their desks where there was a tense wait and neither of them could stop looking up the moment they heard the elevator arrive at their floor. Eventually they heard the doors slide open and Ziva looked up feeling a small sense of relief as she saw Tony exiting the elevator with McGee.

Eagerly she watched as he marched into the bullpen and tossed his bag down beside his desk and dropped into his chair without looking at anyone. Judging from McGee's awkward expression, it wasn't just her he was pissed at.

She rose to her feet and moved round her desk to stand in front of his watching him as he logged into the computer and began to check his emails. He totally ignored her for a minute before he bluntly asked "where's Tali?"

"At daycare" Ziva responded and he looked up at her "what did you tell her when I wasn't there this morning" he asked. "I told her you got called into work early this morning" Ziva said "she was fine with that." Tony nodded and looked down again.

"Where did you go last night" Ziva asked and he shrugged "crashed at McGee's… decided I was least mad with him out of the three of you" he said and Ziva closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them he had gone back to totally ignoring her "so what are you just going to ignore us now?" she exclaimed.

Tony looked up at her "you know I hadn't really decided" he said "but it might give you a sense of what I went through you know so maybe yeah." Ziva let out a breath "can we talk somewhere private please Tony" she asked and he gave her a look "why worried I might make a scene" he asked. "A little yes" she snapped.

She heard Gibbs curse and then he was behind her "come on" he growled and he grabbed both their arms and marched them towards the men's room. "Out" he growled at a young agent who took the hint and scuttled out of the room.

He shut the door and turned to look at them "sort this out" he said angrily "sort it out… how" Tony exclaimed "she lied to me… you both lied to me" "we were trying to protect you" Ziva defended angrily.

"I don't need protecting" he shouted "you seem to think I am some fragile little child who can't look after themselves… well I'm not ok… I think I have proved myself to you all countless times. I am the senior field officer for Christ's sake, I can take care of myself. If I can survive the plague and a fire I think I can watch my own back against spies."

"Not against Mossad Tony, you don't know them like I do… they are dangerous" Ziva yelled.

"Oh dangerous like Saleem and all those other men in Somalia" Tony asked turning on her "oh no wait I rescued your butt out there Ziva didn't I? I carried you out of that place when no one else would even look for you… because I cared for you Ziva, I cared more than anyone else"

Ziva flinched at the mention of Somalia; the memories still painful even after all this time. If Tony hadn't been so pissed off he would have felt guilty for reminding her of that terrible experience. But right now he was too pissed off.

"You seem to think that I did that on purpose Tony" Ziva said "you seem to think that I hid all this from you to purposefully hurt you when I didn't. I did all this because I didn't want to lose you and I knew that if I let you in on it you would get hurt"

"You assumed I would get mad" Tony snapped "oh and I assumed right" Ziva snarled "look at yourself right now Tony"

"I am only mad because you lied to me" Tony snapped but Ziva ignored him "if you had known you would have gotten mad, Tony and that would have alerted Mossad to your potential danger and they would have tried to kill you once again. Or they might have just decided to kill you out of spite knowing it would kill me to lose you. Keeping you as far away from all of this was the only way I could see to keep you safe. It may not have been the best way but from where I was standing backed into a … corner it was the only way" she shouted before she fell silent glaring at him before she swore in Hebrew and stormed out of the bathroom.

Tony stared at the door as it swung shut before he turned to Gibbs to find him staring at him looking thunderous. "DiNozzo you had better dammed fix this" he growled "why should I…" Tony began but Gibbs cut him off "because you risked your life for her in Somalia without her asking" he said "you nearly died trying to save her, because you loved her. Even back then you loved her. Now she risked her life standing up to Mossad to protect you without you asking. She risked her life because she loves you and she cannot imagine a life without you."

He paused to look at his agent "and if that has changed nothing then think about Tali" he said "are you going to hurt her by fighting with Ziva? She doesn't need to see that Tony, so sort it out… for your daughter…" and with that he too stormed out of the bathroom.

Tony stared after them both trying to figure out what to do next. He still felt so angry at being betrayed by them. He had thought they were a team; that they should trust each other and never hide things, but they had gone behind his back and it hurt.

But Gibbs was right, Tali was going to get dragged right into the middle of all this fighting if he and Ziva didn't sort it out. It wasn't fair on her to watch her parents fight without truly understanding what was going on. She shouldn't have to see their anger for each other. She was only a kid. She shouldn't have to see any anger at all.

He let out a sigh before he slowly opened the door to the men's room and slipped out. Ziva wasn't in the bullpen, but Gibbs was. He ignored Tony as he moved slowly back to his desk and sat down. "Where's Ziva" Tony asked after a minute of awkward silence where McGee sat looking between the two of them wondering what to do. "Checking in with Abby" Gibbs said without looking up "McGee go re-interview the wife will you? I have a feeling she is holding something back… take DiNozzo with you, make sure he cools off…" McGee nodded and slowly rose to his feet looking at Tony who stared at Gibbs for another few seconds before he slowly rose to his feet and after grabbing his gear marched towards the elevator with McGee.

On the drive to interview the wife Tony stared straight ahead whilst McGee sat fidgeting beside him not knowing what to say. Eventually he tried to soothe things over because he asked "so do you know how you and Ziva are going to get over this…" Tony however ignored him, mainly because he didn't know the answer.

When they arrived at the widow's house Tony stayed in the car a fraction longer than McGee, taking the time to compose himself and focus on the case once again before he slowly clambered out and moved up the path with McGee putting on a respectfully sombre face as he knocked on the door.

The widow wasn't very forthcoming at first but with some careful poking and prodding they managed to weasel out of her that she was having an affair with her husband's boss. When McGee informed Gibbs of this he had them go talk to him whilst he and Ziva went to see the victim's brother to ask if he knew that his sister in law was having an affair.

Many interviews later with very little progress and many alibis to check Tony looked at his watch and grunted "come on Mc Cautious" he said "let's go get Tali… it isn't too early." McGee nodded and clambered into the passenger seat as Tony drove off.

"Seriously Tony what are you going to do" he asked as they joined the queue of cars leaving the navy yard "you and Ziva can't go on not talking forever" "I know Mc Obvious, but I don't know what I am going to do" Tony said "I know I went too far with some of the things I said and that now she is pissed with me but I am still pissed with her. We are married… we are not supposed to lie to each other. We agreed to be loyal to each other for better or worse. We should trust each other completely"

"Ziva does trust you Tony" McGee said "she trusts you unquestionably. She just didn't trust her father not to hurt you if you went after him for trying to get to Tali." "He would have deserved me going after him with everything I have" Tony growled as he pulled up outside the day care centre "she is a kid McGee, a kid… only four years old and he wanted to take her and no doubt start training her to be part of Mossad… what kind of bastard would do that to a little girl?"

"I am not agreeing with what he did Tony, I am just saying that Ziva did what she did for a reason" McGee defended. Tony groaned and rubbed his eyes tiredly "she still didn't need to lie" he said before he swung himself out of the car and marched into the day care centre.

Hearing the laughter of delighted children was like a warm breeze blowing some of his problems away and he smiled as he saw all the children splashing water around in the water trays trying to remain cool in the early summer heat. He gave a small laugh as they began to flick water at each other giggling.

"Daddyyy" came the excited chorus and he half turned to lift his daughter up feeling the smile widen as he did so "ahh hello my beautiful princess" he murmured as he felt her small arms wrap around his neck.

He stood there holding her tight feeling some of the weight get lifted as he cuddled his little daughter close until she pulled away to look at him "daddy daddy I missed you this morning" she exclaimed and he smiled "I missed you too princess" he said remembering Ziva's cover story "but I had to go into work early this morning."

Tali nodded "but you coming home tonight right" she declared looking at him expectantly. Tony hesitated for a split second before he smiled and nodded "of course" he said "it's movie night" Tali let out a delighted laugh and nodded "let's go daddy" she cried excitedly and with a smile Tony fetched her things and after thanking the staff he carried her out to the car where McGee was waiting.

"Hi Uncle McGee" Tali giggled as Tony lowered her into the car and she jumped down so that she could lean forward between the front two seats "hey kiddo" McGee said with a small smile as he saw her. It was impossible not to smile around Tali. She just had this energy surrounding her that made everything seem ok.

"Sit back down Tali so I can strap you in" Tony said and Tali jumping into her seat and sat patiently whilst Tony helped her strap in. "We goin to NCIS" Tali asked shuffling in her seat as Tony fiddled with the straps "yep" Tony said and Tali grinned happily, she truly being picked up early and taken to NCIS.

She chattered away happily to her daddy and her uncle as they drove back to NCIS and waved excitedly at the security guards as they went through the gate before slipping out the car and dashing into the elevator causing McGee and Tony to jog to catch the same elevator as her when she pressed the button too soon.

When they arrived she dashed eagerly out of the elevator towards their bullpen. "Hi mommy" she squealed and Ziva looked up allowing a huge smile to slip onto her face as she saw her daughter "hello aheva" she said turning her chair so that she could lift Tali up onto her lap "what are you doing here?" she asked as she kissed her daughter's cheek. "Daddy picked me up" Tali said happily opening Ziva's desk drawers searching for her colouring pencils.

Ziva looked up at Tony as he walked over to his desk and sat down. Then for the first time that day their eyes met without being filled with anger. There was still hurt in them yes, but for now the anger was gone.

"You are coming home tonight aren't you" she checked and slowly he nodded "for Tali" he said before he sighed "we'll talk later ok" "ok" Ziva said feeling slightly more content now that he had agreed to talk even though she was sure he was only doing this for Tali.

They didn't talk much throughout the rest of the day but they no longer glared at each other and their colleagues so Ziva viewed this as progress. Gibbs didn't comment on how the still weren't talking but Ziva knew that if they didn't sort themselves out soon then he would take things into his own hands.

When it was time to go home Gibbs looked at Ziva. "Take it slow" he said "it is best if you both remain calm. You are more likely to get things sorted as long as you both stay calm." Ziva nodded and gave him a small smile before grabbing her bag and heading towards the elevator after Tony who had Tali on his back with her arms locked around his neck as she chattered away to him.

The ride home was quite quiet and even Tali seemed to pick up on that. She sat in her car seat looking between her parents with a small frown creasing her forehead. She remained quiet as they made their way up to their apartment and once in she slipped to her bedroom clearly not liking the tension between her parents.

Tony slowly looked at Ziva who was watching him looking uncertain. "I'll bath Tali" he said. She nodded "I'll fix her some tea" she decided and they both turned and headed off in different directions to do their jobs.

As he ran the bath Tony felt frustrated. This was not who he and Ziva were; they didn't fight like this. They didn't go through whole days of barely speaking to each other and they certainly didn't make their daughter feel uncomfortable like they had.

"Tali come have your bath" he called as he turned off the water. Tali came toddling in already shrugging out of her t-shirt. Once she had finished slipping out of her clothes Tony carefully lifted her into the bath smiling as she instantly submerged her body giggling as the warm water enveloped her. Tony watched her play for a while smiling at her antics before reaching for her favourite strawberry shampoo.

"Daddy" Tali said as he squeezed a small amount onto his hand and began to carefully massage it through her hair. "Yes princess" Tony said absently focusing on not getting any in her eyes. "Why you angry at mommy and why mommy angry at you" she asked twisting to look up at him with her big greenie eyes.

Tony stopped faltering for something to say as he looked down at her. "We're not mad at each other princess" he said gently "we are just… upset." "Oh" Tali said looking down briefly before looking back at him "why you upset."

Tony forced a small smile onto his face "we both did silly things" he said quietly. "Oh" Tali said again quietly dropping her head. She played with the bubbles silently whilst Tony washed the shampoo out of her hair and rubbed conditioner through it. But as he drained the tub and she slowly stood up and he wrapped a towel around her she looked at him. "Are you and mommy gonna get a deeevorce" she asked.

Tony recoiled startled by that sudden question. "What…I …er…we… what makes you think that princess" he finally managed and Tali looked down "my friend Luca at day care said his mommy and daddy got a deeevorce cuz his daddy did silly things" she said quietly "he said that he never gets to see his daddy any more… I don't want you and mommy to get a deeevorce. I don't want you to go like Luca's dad"

Tony had to blink rapidly to fight back tears as he stared at his little girl scared that he was leaving. He thought for a minute before he reached out holding out his arms to her. "Come here princess" he said quietly and slowly she leaned out of the bath tub and he scooped her into his arms hugging her tightly as she wrapped her arms around him holding him tight as she buried her head into the nook of his neck snuggling close.

He held her tightly for a minute before pulling away to look at her brushing stands of wet hair out of her eyes. "Hey" he said gently staring into her eyes "I'm not going anywhere Tali I promise. You are not going to get rid of me that easily. I plan to be around here to annoy you and mommy for a very long time okay. So don't worry, mommy and I are not going to be like Luca's mommy and daddy and get a divorce. We are going to stay together because we are going to work this out I promise. Do you know why we are going to work it out?"

Tali shook her head eying him curiously. Tony smiled at her "because mommy and I love you too much to have to share you, so I think it will be easier to shower you in love if we keep loving each other okay"

A smile slipped onto Tali's face "ok daddy" she whispered before she hugged him tightly again mumbling "love you" into his shoulder. Tony smiled "love you to princess love you too" he murmured.

They stayed in their embrace until Tony heard the sounds of Ziva taking food out of the oven. "Right princess" he said as he began to help her into her pyjamas "let's go eat our tea so that we can watch a quick movie afterwards ok" Tali nodded "let's watch Frozen daddy" she exclaimed. Tony had to supress a groan; he had lost count of how many times he had watched Frozen since the DVD had been brought into the apartment. Tali loved it and loved to race round singing 'Let it go' at the top of her voice. She even had a cuddly Sven and Olaf sitting on her bed now which Ziva had bought for her after her trip to France… and Israel…

Pushing those thoughts out of his head Tony smiled "if that is what you want to watch then that's what we'll watch" he declared. "As long as we can watch Lion King tomorrow because that is daddy's favourite." Tali grinned "Yes" she sang "yay I love Frozen." "Don't I know it" Tony muttered as he hauled himself back to his feet and followed his daughter out into the kitchen adding as he went "oh but princess you and I need to have a conversation about you having a friend who is also a boy."

Dinner was quiet but civil. Tali seemed to have been soothed by her father's promise that her mommy and daddy were not splitting up and chattered away happily to them as she ate before dashing off to fetch Frozen.

Tony and Ziva quietly cleared the table. Ziva had her head ducked obviously not knowing what to do or say. Eventually Tony grabbed her arm and slowly she looked up. He stared into her eyes. "We have to get past this" he said simply "and we can't argue like this again. It is affecting Tali. We can't un-nerve her like this again. She kept asking me if we were going to get a divorce."

Ziva's face saddened "what did you tell her" she asked. Tony looked at her long and hard before responding "I told her no. We are not getting a divorce because I couldn't bear to do that to her. And I loved you for a very long time before Tali through thick and thin and I am not going to give up on us so easily after waiting so long."

Ziva gave him a small smile "I know how you feel Tony; I feel the same way. I don't want to lose what we have. I love our life together, both at home and at work. I would hate to lose my field partner because of this. I know what I did might not have been the best thing I did Tony but I did what I had to do to protect my family. I will always do whatever it takes to protect you and Tali because you are my life. I can't bare the idea of losing you…" her voice cracked and Tony slowly reached out to catch her hand.

"Then you won't" he said softly "I'll never leave you Ziva… never… you and Tali are my life too and I will fight to protect my family too. I understand why you did what you did. I don't like it but I understand because putting myself in your shoes… I realised I probably would have done the same thing…So how about from now on let's promise to protect our family together"

Ziva gave him a small smile and nodded "ok" she whispered "I'm sorry" Tony nodded "I'm sorry too" he said "I guess we were both a bit stupid" Ziva nodded and then closed her eyes as Tony slowly pulled her into his arms and then pressed his lips to her forehead "Remember Ziva" he murmured

"Aht lo levad"

He saw Ziva smile as she looked up at him "I know" she whispered.

Sorry again about the delay. I hope you liked that

Please review. They really inspire me to carry on writing.

Thanks for reading

mysticgirl