Author's Note: Once again I'd like to thank you all for the lovely reviews, I really do appreciate them :) I know this chapter isn't anything special and pretty much just filler but once again I'm dealing with uber boring things while also juggling a very mobile and intelligent one-year-old that I wish loved sleep like Tali. So hopefully this will do as an update until I get to write more. Pipy889 I'm not entirely sure yet how far Ziva is but I'm thinking around six to seven months. I'd also like to just say that the last chapter was kind of 'overly dramatic' because I was feeling in a weird mood and it was after three in the morning my time when I finished it so maybe the next few won't be like that. Let me know what you think of this chapter and any suggestions/things you'd like to see, thanks.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Tali.
Eli leans against the railing and watches the activity in the bullpen below. Gibbs and Fornell stand at Gibbs' desk looking over a file and for a moment Eli does not fight the hatred he feels towards Gibbs. He tightens his grip on the railing, his knuckles turning white as he imagines that the cool metal of the railing is in fact the Special Agent's neck. He only allows himself to entertain this notion for a moment then directs his attention to Tony's desk that is unoccupied and his eyes immediately travel over to Ziva's desk. Perched on the edge of the desk in front of Ziva sits the overly confident Agent Dinozzo, a man that Eli wishes he could get a hold of for just a few minutes, his anger still burning hot as he remembers how he had so stupidly allowed himself to let the younger, inexperienced man lead him into admitting that Rivkin had been following his orders.
Once again reminding himself that there is business at hand and that he must control his emotions he takes his eyes off Tony only to rest his eyes on Ziva. He can see her face perfectly from where he is standing, a slight smile spreading across her lips as Tony says something to her, her hand clutched tightly in his. She does not look much different from the last time he saw her but he refuses to think about the daughter he once had. The Ziva that sits in the bullpen now, a smile on her face as she leans over and gives her partner in both the field and in life a gentle kiss on the cheek, is not the daughter he had agreed to loan to NCIS as a liaison to Mossad after Ari had killed one of their agents. She is not the same Ziva that had been returned to him, Mossad and Israel after the murder of Director Shepherd, and she isn't even the same Ziva that had been left in Israel by the Americans that had claimed to care for her. No, this Ziva is different from any of the sides of his daughter he has ever seen. He continues to watch her from his high vantage point, stealing the occasional glance back in the direction of Vance's office as he waits for the NCIS Director to gather all the Intel he has on this case that is combining three agencies that do not have the best of histories when their paths have crossed.
His gaze falls back onto the bullpen when he still does not see Vance and he is surprised to see his daughter's face light up as a squeal fills the bullpen. His eyes are quickly trained on the bouncing, curly headed toddler that is making the noise as she, accompanied by Agent McGee, enter the bullpen. He can see that she has something, and from the chocolate smeared across her face he assumes it is a candy bar, clutched tightly in her hands as she runs over to her mother's outstretched arms. Eli watches as Ziva turns slightly in her chair and scoops the child into her arms, planting a kiss against curls as Tali snuggles into Ziva's arms. He can see Ziva's lips move as she says something to her daughter, unable to hear what she is saying but from the sweet smile Tali gives her he can tell that it is probably affectionate, and he cannot help but to shake his head at the mistake Ziva is making; overly affectionate parents set their children up for failure and that is precisely what he sees his daughter doing to his granddaughter.
"She's a cutie," Vance says as he walks up to Eli, a stack of files in his hands. Eli takes a quick, sideways glance at Vance and is surprised to see a smile playing at the edges of his mouth as he looks down at Tali.
"She is a very beautiful little girl but they are raising her to be soft; she is not being taught what she needs to so she can survive in this world." Eli pushes himself up from the railing, ending the conversation as he turns to face Vance.
The two men, with several files in their hands, begin down their descent down the stairs. Gibbs is the first to notice the men, his eyes following them as they make their way down the steps. Fornell, McGee, Tony and Tali all watch as they make their way down the last few steps but Ziva does not bother to look at them, watching the man that had abandoned her so long ago enter her life once again for only a brief time does not deserve her attention.
