Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. I have also never been married or in a long term relationship. There's a long author note at the end. Please read.

May 2019

Ziva pulled up outside Gibbs' house. When she stormed out of her and Tony's house thirty minutes ago, Ziva had no idea where to go. It was partially on instinct that Ziva ended up on Gibbs' street. The argument with Tony had been one of the worst arguments in their relationship. It had started off small. All arguments did. Tony was angry that Ziva had kept in the dark about the lump she found in her left breast, but it quickly spiraled out of control when Ziva blurted out that she didn't want to have a third baby. Tony had looked gobsmacked.

Other things that they argued about came into play (working too much, or not working enough and the same with going out or not going out, money, stacking the dishwasher wrong or the red sock that got caught in a white laundry load, not making decisions about the farmhouse, jealousy over exes). It got bigger and bigger until finally Ziva had enough and stormed out of the house and drove away.

Ziva took a deep breath, got out of the car and let herself into Gibbs' house. She went down to the basement.

'Ziver? What you doing here?' asked Gibbs.

'Tony and I had a fight. I needed somewhere to go.'

'Oh.' Gibbs paused. 'What about?' He continued working on his latest project.

Ziva paused this time.

'I found a lump, in my left breast.' Gibbs put down his tool and slowly sat down. 'I, um, went to the doctor. They did some tests. It is benign, not cancer.'

'You didn't tell Tony.' Ziva shook her head.

'No, I did not. He found the letter with my test results.'

'Were you going to tell him? You two tell each other everything?'

'Maybe' said Ziva. She started wandering around the basement. 'I honestly do not know. If the results came back differently, then yes, I would have. Eventually. It was not a conversation I wanted to have. How do you tell your husband that you have cancer, especially given that his own mother died of breast cancer?'

'But you don't have cancer?' It was more than a statement. It was also a question, Gibbs making sure that his surrogate daughter didn't have cancer.

'No, I do not have cancer.' Silence. 'Is Emily alright?'

'She will be' said Gibbs, quietly. If Fornell and Dr Grace had anything to do with it, Emily would be alright.

'I tried calling Tobias but he did not answer' said Ziva. 'I suppose he had more important things to worry about.' She had started wandering around the basement, mindlessly looking at the junk Gibbs had collected over the decades.

'Ziver?' Gibbs wandered over to her. She had tears welling up.

'What if my marriage is over?' she asked, so quietly. Ziva was terrified that if she said it out loud it would become true.

Gibbs wondered what to say. He was the world's worst person to ask for marriage advice.

'Go home, Ziver.'

'We said some horrible things. I do not know if he will forgive me.'

'Ziver, go home. Talk to DiNozzo.'

He walked her out of the house and back to the car. Gibbs placed a kiss on Ziva's head.

'Everything'll be OK' he said.

Ziva watched Gibbs walk back to his house, hoping that he was right.

It was another twenty minutes before Ziva actually got home. She had taken a long way home, via Walmart. Tony was not in the kitchen or the family room when she got home. Ziva put the shopping away and found Tali and Tilly playing in the play corner of the family room.

'Where's Daddy?' asked Ziva.

'In the basement' replied Tali. She went back to the game she created with Doggy. Tilly was playing with a train set. Ziva smiled and kissed both girls on the top of their heads before going to look for Tony.

Ziva found him exactly where Tali said he was. In the basement, with his noise-canceling headphones on, working. It just so happened that Tony looked up and saw Ziva entering the room.

'You're back then?' he asked.

'Obviously. What are you doing?'

'Editing.'

'Seriously Tony?'

'What, Ziva?'

'This is what I was talking about. You are always working.' Ziva went to leave the basement. The number of hours Tony spent working had come up in their argument.

'I'm working so that we have money coming in. We don't exactly have a fixed income Ziva. And I seem to recall we both did 80 hour weeks at NCIS.'

'But we are fine financially, Tony, and we have left NCIS, or do you want to go back to 80 hour weeks, chasing bad guys with Tim and Gibbs, and leaving me at home with the girls?.'

'No, I don't-'

'Want dinna.' Tilly was coming down the stairs to the basement.

'Yeah, we're getting hungry.' Tali had joined in now. 'What's for dinner?'

Tony and Ziva paused for a moment, composing themselves.

'Pizza' said Tony finally. 'We're about to order.'

'Yay!' cried Tilly, clapping. Both girls had inherited their love of pizza from Tony.

'Can we watch a movie?' asked Tali. Ziva turned around to face Tali and Tilly.

'Sure. You and Tilly choose, yes?'

Both girls ran back to the family room to choose what movie they were going to watch over dinner, leaving Tony and Ziva in the basement. Ziva turned to her husband.

'Tony, I-'

'I'll leave this time' said Tony and he walked out.

Dinner was frankly awkward. Tony and Ziva sat at opposite ends of the couch, with Tali and Tilly sitting at their craft table, watching Zootopia. They didn't trust their four-year-old and 2-and-a-half-year-old to not spill their dinner on the sofa.

Tony and Ziva tried to keep their argument and any current feelings aside during dinner and bedtime.

'I'll do the washing up' said Tony, picking up the plates. 'Assuming I know how to stack the dishwasher correctly.' Ziva rolled her eyes and took the girls up for their bath.

After bath was storytime. Ziva and Tony had managed to negotiate with their daughters that they could have one story each. Tilly was currently obsessed with Lost Little Fox. She struggled to say Fox and it, unfortunately, came out sounding like a rude word used by adults on occasion. Tali wanted Meet the Planets, a book all about the planets. Tali was coming out of her dinosaur faze (much to Tony's joy).

'Goodnight Tilly' said Ziva, kissing her on the head.

'Night Ima' replied Tilly.

'Goodnight Tali.' Ziva kissed Tali as well.

'Night, night Ima.'

Ziva walked to her bedroom, smiling slightly. It had been nice to spend time with Tali and Tilly and by the fact that Tali didn't ask any questions, Ziva hoped that they hadn't picked up on their parents' arguing.

Tony was in the bedroom, getting ready to have a shower. Ziva stood in the doorway, figuring out what to do.

'You just going to stand there?' asked Tony. His tone wasn't exactly friendly.

'No.' Ziva thought for a second. 'I think I will sleep in the spare room tonight' she said, also not in a friendly tone. Tony shook in his slightly, not sure what to think or say. He grabbed his stuff and went to their en suite bathroom.

Ziva grabbed her book, journal and anything else she might want or need and went to the spare room. The bed was always made up in case Tony or Ziva ever became ill and they needed to sleep separately. Ziva never thought she would be sleeping in it because of an argument. But she thought it best that they have some space to process what had happened today.

She closed the door to the room and put her belongings on the nightstand. Ziva sat down on the bed, unsure of what would happen in the morning.

Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading. This story has required lots of planning and research, in particular the first few chapters which I have already written. As I said up top, I am not married and never had a long term relationship.

Before anyone jumps down my throat via reviews, remember dear friends, this is only chapter one of a multi-chapter story. There will be no whiff of the D-word for any characters.

I have also decided to take a step away from canon. I tried to tie Moments 3 and canon together but, as you probably already know, some parts just simply did not work. I was also becoming a little concerned that I was using canon and episode dialogue as crutches for my own writing.

Stay safe, wash your hands and see you soon :)