FAMILY AND LOSS
DISCLAIMER: NCIS and characters do not belong to me.
SUMMARY: Ziva and Tony have been dating in secret for a few months. No seems to know. Something happens and secrets are exposed.
CHAPTER 38: ANNIVERSARIES & BIRTHDDAYS...
ABBY'S LAB...
"Hey, Abbs, you said my help with something." Tim said walking and she spun around to face with a big smile on her face.
She came and wrapped her arms him.
"Yes, you haven't been down all morning." Abby told him.
"I've been kind of busy up there. Do you know how hard it is...?" Tim began.
"I know for a fact that you're just typing up case notes and working on cold cases upstairs." Abby told him as she looked into his face.
"Yeah, I think I'm doing it for three people though." Tim told and sounded slightly annoyed.
"You should come down here and work for a while." Abby told him.
"I wish I could, but I can't." Tim told her.
"Why not?" Abby asked as she let him go and stepped back.
"I'm trying to keep, Gibbs from giving out head slaps to two sleeping agents upstairs." Tim told her.
"Fine, go back upstairs." Abby said and turned her back of to him.
"Abby..." Tim began.
"Just go, Tim! You have to go stop Gibbs from giving head slaps, remember?" Abby said turning her back to him.
"Tell me what's wrong, Abbs." Tim said as he turned her to face him.
"I wanted to spend a little time with you today, since we have Todd's birthday party tonight. There is never a chance anymore for...never mind." Abby said and tried to turn away, but Tim wouldn't let her.
"Abby, what is it?" Tim asked.
"I know it's Todd's 6th birthday today, but I want something that we don't seem to have anymore." Abby told him.
"What's that?" Tim asked.
"We've broken rule 8 of Gibbs rules and have taken each other for gran..." Abby started to say.
"We've never broken that rule. I'll talk to Sarah or Gibbs, I'll see if one of them can take care of Todd and Sean for a weekend. Not this weekend, but next weekend. Then you and I can go away for a weekend, just the two of us. Okay?" Tim asked and Abby smiled at him, before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.
"I just told Ziva and Tony to gear up, but McGee you can either come or continue to play grab-ass." Came a voice from a doorway of the lab and they broke apart.
"Ab-Abby, called me down here to ta-talk." McGee said, as he turned a little red.
THAT EVENING...
AUGUST 28...
The rest of the day had flown by and Tim had brought down the evidence.
For a while, he had helped her sort through it, but then had to get back upstairs to help with others things with the case.
THAT EVENING...
TODD'S BIRTHDAY PARTY...
It was now evening and they were waiting on everyone to show up for Todd's 6th birthday.
"Do you want to know what I was telling Sean a couple of weeks ago?" Todd asked and both his parents looked at him in surprise.
"You knew..." Abby began.
"You took a picture when I was talking to Sean. I was telling him about all about Talia and how much I wished she was here." Todd told them.
Before Tim or Abby could say anything, there was a knock at the door.
When Abby opened it, people began to come in...
A few of Todd's friends from School, Ziva, Tony, T.J..., Jenny, Gibbs and Ducky.
Once the party started Tim and Abby made their way over to the still tired, Ziva and Tony.
"How are you two doing?" Abby asked.
"Still a little tired, but T.J. and Jenny are finally sleeping through the night. Their seven weeks old, been home for almost two weeks and it seems last night that we finally got a little more sleep." Ziva replied.
"I remember how it was..." Tim began.
"Yeah, but T.J. and Jenny are twins. That makes a difference from what you went through." Tony said.
It was a couple of hours later after the cake had been eaten and the presents open.
When the party began to wind down Tony and Ziva said they needed to get the twins home.
Then not long after that, everyone else left and Gibbs was the last one out the door.
When Abby and Tim turned around they smiled at what they saw, it seemed the evening had worn little Todd McGee out. He was on the couch asleep, so Tim walked over and picked him up, as Abby got a sleeping Sean out of the playpen.
First, they put Todd in his bed and tucked him in, then after putting Sean to bed and after that, they headed to the living room.
"Timmy?" Abby asked.
"What, Abbs?" He said looking at her.
"Do you realize in that on August 15th Tony and Ziva celebrated their seventh anniversary? Then in two weeks on September 12th we celebrate our seventh anniversary?" Abby asked.
"I know, Abbs. That's why I chose that weekend for us to go away together. We've been together a lot longer then seven years though." Tim reminded her and she hit him in the back of the head.
"What was that for?" He asked rubbing the spot where she had smacked him.
"I mean since we got married. Not how long we've known each other." Abby told him and he smiled at her.
"I remember after we first talked on the phone. I asked Tony about you...
FLASHBACK *
"What does she look like?" Tim had asked.
Who?" Tony asked.
"Abby, she sounds cute." Tim replied.
"Not your type?" Tony told him.
"How do you know that?" Tim questioned.
"Have you ever had the slightest urge to tattoo you buttocks, McGee?" Tony asked.
"I don't think so." Tim replied.
"Then we need never speak of her again." Tony had told him.
Later by the elevator, Tony and Tim talked.
"Listen kid, I don't mean to hurt your feelings. But you're not exactly Abby's type." Tony said.
"I've taken care of that. Remember that urge you were talking about? I went with 'Mom.'
* END FLASH BACK.
You should have seen the look on his face." Tim said and Abby laughed.
"I remember when I talked to Tony too.
FLASHBACK *
"Is Agent McGee cute?" Abby asked.
"Can a guy be cute to you without body art?" Tony had responded.
"Sure...I'm not a snob." Abby had told him.
* END FLASHBACK
Abby laid her head on his chest, wrapped her arms around him and snuggled closer as he propped his feet up.
He wrapped his arms around her.
"Abs?" Tim asked after a while.
"What, Tim?" Abby asked almost asleep.
"Why don't we just go to bed? I know you're falling asleep and I think if we fell asleep like this we would regret it in the morning." Tim told her.
"I'm comfortable." Abby mumbled.
"Come on, Abs." Tim said as he began to move, reluctantly she got up and they went to bed.
TONY AND ZIVA...
Tony and Ziva had just gotten T.J. and Jenny back to sleep. So they decided to stay up a while and watch a movie.
"I don't remember it ever being this hard when Talia was their age." Ziva said as they sat down.
"Zee, Talia was only one. T.J. and Jenny are twins, that's why it's twice as hard." Tony told her.
For a long time, she just sat there leaning against him and he thought she had fallen asleep, until she laughed.
"What's so funny?" Tony asked and she looked at him with a smile.
"Well...my little hairy butt, I was remembering the first time we met." Ziva told him and he smiled.
FLASHBACK *
"I'll call you back." Tony said hitting a button and then there was a dial tone, because he had hit speaker and he hit the button again.
"I was just..."
"Having phone sex?" Ziva asked.
"Phone sex? No. Charades." Tony replied.
"Charades. Like?" Ziva said as she began to demonstrate.
"You've played." Tony had said.
"Never on the telephone." Ziva had replied.
"Yeah, my partner and I were just coming up with quotes for Saturday night. " Tony lied.
"You play charades on a Saturday night?" Ziva asked.
"To kill time before I go clubbing. Who are you?" Tony asked.
"Ziva David. Mossad." Ziva told him.
"You're Israeli?" Tony had asked.
"Very good. The way you made the connection. Mossad. Israeli." Ziva had said.
"What can I do for you?" Tony asked.
"Nothing. I'm here to see Special Agent Gibbs." Ziva told him.
"How do you know I'm not Special Agent Gibbs?" Tony asked and Ziva laughed.
"Gibbs." She said.
"He'll be back in an hour. Are you sure I can't help you?" Tony asked.
"I don't think so." Ziva replied.
"We got off to a bad start. I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. I wasn't playing charades I was remembering my partner." Tony told her.
"Naked?" Ziva asked.
"No. Yes, I-I was just...look I'm not the only man that does it." Tony told her.
"Oh, women do it to. With handsome men and even an occasional woman." Ziva told him.
"Now you're teasing me." Tony told her.
"Didn't your partner tease you?" Ziva asked.
"Not about sex. Kate, was kind of puritanical." Tony had said.
"Sorry." Ziva had told him.
"Well it doesn't matter. I wasn't interested in her. We were just partners." Tony said.
"She wasn't attractive?" Ziva asked.
"She was, but not to me." Tony replied.
"Then why did you imagine her naked?" Ziva asked.
Tony laughed and shook his finger.
"You can sit there and slouch provocatively for an hour if you like or you can tell me what you need and maybe I can help." Tony told her.
"You can't help, because I'm here to stop Special Agent Gibbs from killing a Mossad Officer." Ziva told him.
"Ari Haswari?" Tony asked.
"Yes." Ziva replied.
"I'd wish you luck, but I want the bastard dead too." Tony told her.
* END FLASH BACK
"I couldn't believe you when I first met you, but you have changed so much since then, Ziva." Tony told her.
"So have you. I guess once we got to know and finally began to trust each other a lot of things changed." Ziva told him and yawned.
After another minute of sitting there leaning on each other, they got up and headed to bed.
Knowing they would have to get up in a few hours to feed and change the twins.
TWO WEEKS LATER...
TIM AND ABBY...
"I'm glad Sarah agreed to watch Todd and Sean. I just hope she can handle both of them." Abby told him.
Tim knew she was still anxious about leaving Sean. He had been born on January 5th, kidnapped on January 12th and found on February 10th.
Every since then she had become anxious about leaving him for even a few days, but Tim had assured her that Sean would be safe.
"She can look after them and I told her if she needs any help with them just to call, Gibbs." Tim told her and she relaxed a little.
When he looked over a while later, she had her head against the seat and seemed to be asleep.
"Tim, you might want to take your eyes off me and keep looking at the road, so we don't get into an accident." Abby told him with a smile, her eyes still closed.
"How do I know I...?" Tim asked turning his eyes back to the road.
"I always know when you're around or staring at me, Tim. The time you came down to see me in my court suit or the day you were staring at my butt and I told you to stop and get an evidence jar." Abby said and Tim smiled.
"It's weird, Abby." Tim said.
"What's weird?" Abby asked opening her eyes and looking at him.
"How well we know each other...it was there even before we met in person. How we can always tell each others thoughts, finish sentences and know..." Tim began, but she cut him off.
"I always know how you're feeling, Tim. It's not weird that we know each other so well, but you are right it's always been there." Abby told him. "You don't know how much I love you." Tim said and before she could say anything, they reached the hotel where they would be staying for the next few days.
Getting there Tim and Abby got their luggage from the trunk.
"I wonder if they have any coffins to sleep in." Abby said and Tim dropped what he had in his hands.
"Abby, this is a hotel. Not a..." Tim began, but Abby just laughed.
"I was kidding. I just miss sleeping in my coffin, I haven't been able to since I was pregnant with, Todd." Abby told him.
"I remember when I stayed with you and slept in your coffin." Tim told her.
"Tim, if you remember we didn't just sleep." Abby said as she smiled at him.
A FEW MONTHS LATER...
NOVEMBER 15th...
TONY AND ZIVA...
The weeks had flown by and turned into months.
It was once again November 15th Tony and Ziva stood at Talia's grave.
It had been too cold to bring T.J. and Jenny, so they were with Grandpa Gibbs.
Tim and Abby had taken Todd and Sean to see Gibbs, but had stayed there to help him out.
"Talia would have been seven years old today." Ziva whispered as she fought the tears that had come once more since this time last year.
"I know, Zee." Tony said and she could hear the tears in his voice too.
She didn't need to look to know. He wrapped an arm around her waist and she wrapped both of her arms around him, and then buried her face in her shoulder.
They stood there a long while.
"Ready to go?" Tony asked after what seemed a long time.
"It's always so hard to come here, Tony." Ziva said as he took her hand and led her away.
"I know." He said and stopped when she did, then with one last look at the gravestone they walked out of the cemetery.
Though it had been so long ago since they had buried her, the holidays were the worst.
Last year had been so hard on both of them, being just the first year after Talia's death.
This year would be different, because they were constantly busy taking care of T.J. and Jenny.