Tony counted, one, two, three parents in face masks as they stood in the playground at Tali's school.
His shoulders sagged under the tote bags filled with cleaning supplies, and tinned food. Ziva had proved herself to be the smarter of the two of them, when she took the backpack.
She was also the one carrying the toilet rolls under her arm, and she was ready to defend the precious paper with her life. During their walk from the metro to Tali's school, more than one person had walked up to them and offered to buy the toilet paper off of them, for twice what they had paid for it.
The city of love had turned to chaos. Shops were shuttered. Tourists had been sent home. People hoarded food in their apartments.
All for a virus that shared a name with a particularly watery beer that Tony had never liked.
The situation was not much better back home.
The Palmer's and the McFamily faced weeks at home with their kids. Ducky was all but housebound. Gibbs, would be in his basement building his boat, but little would change, his life was built for social distancing.
Abby was less affected, but that was because across the pond the government told its people to keep calm and carry on.
That might have worked for the blitz, but probably wouldn't now.
Still her emails were filled with concerns. What if her center had to close? The people she worked with were so vulnerable.
Tony checked the time on his phone, and studied another set of parents who had been observing the meter apart rule long before the pandemic.
"It's gonna be a long two weeks," Tony said.
Ziva adjusted the packet of toilet rolls under her arm.
"I do not think it will be that bad," Ziva said, as she waved her hand around. "We are all in the same pond."
"Boat," he said. "And, it will be. Our daughter is loud, and makes a mess. Our apartment is tiny."
If they ever moved back to the U.S, and that was a conversation they were yet to properly have, Tony wanted to get a house with a bedroom and a bathroom for everyone.
And, maybe a spare bathroom for good measure.
"It will be just like the Christmas holidays," Ziva said. "Tali enjoyed those."
Ziva did not understand, because she had not been there to understand. The most recent Christmas holidays had been different.
On the Saturday before Christmas they had stood in the arrivals lounge at Charles de Gaulle airport, waiting for her. Then the family spent two weeks getting to know each other.
Usually Tali was clawing at the walls by the end of the holidays. On the first day of school she had held onto both her parents. She needed to be sure her Ima wouldn't leave again.
"This is different," Tony said. "We can't take her to the park to run her out. She's the energizer bunny, she'll just keep going.."
Ziva frowned.
"I found some videos," Ziva said. "We can do some exercise. She will burn her energy."
Tony's phone buzzed. His Dad had gotten back to the U.S the week before, and sent a picture from his apartment where he was self isolating as a precaution.
Older kids started to spill out from the classrooms. Some of them were wearing masks.
The teacher from Tali's classroom walked out, carrying a pile of papers, and started them out.
"Trust me, Ziva," he said. "We're gonna be ready to kill her by day three."
Ziva shook her head.
"This situation is not ideal," Ziva said, "But, I think we will be okay. I have missed so much, and Tali is still a little unsure of me. Perhaps this forced proximity will be good."
"Not if it comes with homework," Tony said, as he watched the teacher hand a packet to one of the parents.
"How much homework can a five year old get?" Ziva asked.
The teaching assistant started leading the kids to their parents. The parents hadn't been allowed to clog up the tiny cloakroom, as a precaution.
"We're about to find out," Tony said, as he waved at Tali from across the playground.
A kid walked past wearing a child sized mask.
Tony hadn't loved 28 Days Later, and he most definitely didn't want to live it.
On day one, they watched Frozen, Ziva tried to help Tali with her reading, and they watched Frozen again.
By day two they had eaten all the quarantine snacks except the quinoa chips. Ziva was the only one who liked quinoa chips.
On day three Tony and Ziva had a tense discussion about who would be the nominated person to go to the shops.
"Tali freaks out, when you are not here," he hissed, as they stood in their tiny kitchen, definitely not a meter and a half apart. Not that Tony could measure a meter and a half. He might have been in France for nearly four years, but still could not think in metric.
While her parents talked, Tali watched Frozen. Again.
"You have had the plague," Ziva said. "If you get this. It could be serious."
By day four, Tali would not sit still. So Ziva played the kids exercise videos. Tony, did his back moving the couch. The neighbour underneath banged their ceiling until the jumping stopped.
So much for everyone being in the same boat.
On day five, Tony walked into the bathroom, with a cushion tucked under his arm and locked the door. He put the pillow to his mouth, and screamed into it. It had been a long five days.
Then Tony closed the toilet lid, placed the cushion on the lid, sat down and put his headphones in and watched the first twenty minutes of Oceans Eleven. Not even George Clooney could make the tiny screen work.
He turned the volume high enough to drown his family out. He loved them, he loved them so much, but Daddy needed a break.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, he reminded himself.
"Are you okay?" Ziva asked through the door.
She had knocked for a full minute before he responded.
"Fine," he said.
Then the door opened, and Ziva stood in the doorway.
Of course she'd picked the damn lock. She better not teach Tali how to do that.
"You are hiding," she said. Her hands on her hips.
Tali appeared behind Ziva, wearing her ballet clothes. She had woken up that morning and decided that she had to do her ballet lesson, but was less keen on the schoolwork she'd been given.
"Daddy," she squealed, as she barrelled into the bathroom, and wrapped her arms around Tony.
The tiny bathroom was claustrophobic with the three of them in it.
"Tali would like to watch a movie," Ziva said, as she walked toward their bedroom, and slammed the door.
Tony managed to convince Tali that the streaming service had taken Frozen away so that other kids could watch it, and so they settled in for The Secret Life of Pets.
At least that one didn't have a song.
On day six, Tony draws the curtains on their living room window, at three in the afternoon, because on their narrow street they can see into the opposite apartment. The childless neighbours across the street were definitely not practicing social distancing. They were making the most of five days with only each other, in front of every window of the apartment. Tony had been witness to some positions that seemed to defy gravity.
"Is the coast clear," Ziva hissed as she stepped out of the bathroom, where they were both pretending Tali wasn't hiding in, during their impromptu hide and seek game. Three months into this full-time parenting gig, and Ziva had gotten better at thinking on the fly.
He was proud of her for getting the idiom right too.
They'd had lots of conversations with Tali over the last six days, but the birds and the bees were not slated for another few years.
"Yeah," he said. "We better find,Tali."
Hopefully, the neighbours across the street ended up with one of those corona babies everyone was predicting.
On day seven Tali 'played' karaoke, holding Ziva's hairbrush and singing Let It Go, on repeat.
Unlike her namesake, Tali David-DiNozzo was no songbird.
Tali was onto her fourth rendition, at a much higher pitch, when Tony noticed Ziva had disappeared, and the bathroom door was locked.
He unlocked the door, but there was something jammed against it.
"Ziva," he called through the gap between the wall and the door. "Our daughter wants to sing for you."
The door suddenly opened, and Tony noticed that Ziva had used the step stool they kept in the kitchen as a second line of defense.
She always was smarter than him.
On top of the closed toilet lid, sat one of the many books that had made its way into the apartment since Ziva joined them.
Her earphones hung out of her ears, but were not connected to anything. She was using them to blunt their daughters' screeches.
"What do we have here?" he asked, as he looked around the tiny room.
Out of the bin, the packet of quinoa chips peaked out, and he noticed her water bottle on the corner of the bathtub.
This had been planned. She had brought snacks.
"I was using the bathroom," Ziva said.
"Pot. Kettle. Black." Tony said, enunciating each word.
"Ima," Tali called out as she rushed into the tiny room. "Come sing."
Tali latched her tiny hand around Ziva's wrist and led her into the living room.
"Have fun," he said, as he waved her away.
This is what their lives had become, they were ruled by a pint size empress.
Tony picked up the debris of Ziva's hiding place, he noted the author of her book, as she seemed to be enjoying it, and he liked to buy her things. He dipped his hand into the packet of quinoa chips, and took one. He bit into the chip, and then promptly spat it out into the sink. Ziva could keep those.
On day eight, Ziva groaned as she heard Tali wake up, and called for her parents.
Tony and Ziva did paper scissors rock to determine who got up, and who got to sleep a little longer.
Tony's rock beat Ziva's scissors.
She did not try to go three for three, like he would have.
"I love her," she said, as she pulled herself out of bed. "But, I love her more when she is at school for six hours a day."
Tony laughed, and all knowing laugh.
"I told you," he said, as he turned over and tried to go back to sleep. "I told you, we'd be ready to kill each other by the end of this."
It was ten minutes before he joined his family. He wanted to be part of the action.
It was twenty minutes before Tony put Finding Nemo on, because if Tony had to sit through Frozen one more time, he wouldn't be able to muffle his scream with a pillow.
On day nine, they worked out a system, each of them would get solo quiet time, and each of them would go through the homework pack with Tali.
Tony managed a whole uninterrupted episode of Magnum, and Ziva finished her book. Tony secretly ordered her another book, it turned out Elif Shafak was quite prolific.
On day ten, Ziva lingered as she gave Tony a goodnight kiss. Tony's hands ran under her shirt.
"We are so bad at social distancing," he said, as Ziva got on top of him.
"We always have been," Ziva said, as she pressed her lips onto his.
On day ten, the second DiNozzo offspring was conceived, a complete accident just like the first.
Nine long months later, Tony showed his father into a hospital room. Ziva rocked the baby. Tali was curled up on the armchair in the corner, sleeping. Apparently becoming a big sister was exhausting.
"Ziva, sweetheart, Senior said, as he placed a kiss on Ziva's cheek. Even months after this virus had blown over, those acts of affection looked strange. "You look radiant."
"Thank you," Ziva said. "I do not feel it."
Tony placed a kiss on Ziva's cheek.
"You are amazing," Tony said softly. "I'd have asked for the epidural nine months ago."
Ziva smiled up at him.
"I am just glad it all went well," she whispered.
Senior peered down at the baby. Baby girl DiNozzo was eight hours old and already the center of attention.
"She's perfect," Senior declared. "Absolutely perfect."
"Do you wanna hold her Dad?" Tony asked.
Father and son shared a knowing look.
They'd missed out on this last time.
They were going to enjoy every single minute of this.
"Can I?" Senior asked. "I've washed my hands."
Tony let out a laugh. If the last few months had taught them anything, it was to wash their goddamn hands.
Ziva carefully handed the baby to Tony, and he handed the baby to Senior.
"Hold still," Tony said, "I'll get a picture."
Tony held up the camera and the camera flashed.
"So what have you two named this little angel?" Senior asked, as the baby twitched in her sleep.
Senior beamed down at her.
"Well, I suggested Corona," Tony said, as he perched on Ziva's bed. "Seeing as that's the reason she's here, but both of the David-DiNozzo ladies vetoed that.."
Tony would have liked to have married Ziva before they had more kids, but so far he'd only gotten as far as a proposal.
And, it had been a hell of a proposal. Once the Eiffel tower had opened to the public again, Tony had taken a sweaty and hormonal Ziva for a picnic underneath it. Ziva had been uncomfortable the whole time, and had nearly thrown up when the smell of barbecue wafted through the air. Ziva had started to pack up, when Tony got down on one knee. The pickpockets swarmed around them, with gleams in their eyes.
Ziva had said yes of course, and they'd gotten out of there, still with the ring. Though it had been a close call.
At least it was a funny story to tell.
Maybe, they'd do the wedding next year, or the year after that. Everything was still a little up in the air. Not just in the David-DiNozzo household, but worldwide.
"Tali suggested Astrid," Ziva said, wrinkling her nose. She looked across to Tali whose leg was sticking out from under Tony's coat. "It was from a book we were reading."
Senior nodded.
"You dodged a bullet on that one," Senior said to the baby. "Astrid DiNozzo is quite a mouthful. The kids would call you Assy Nose."
Ziva stifled a chuckle. The baby slept on.
"We went with Liora," Tony announced. "Tali approves, she calls her Li-li."
Senior looked down at the baby. Eight hours old, and she already had a nickname.
Eight hours old and already surrounded by so much love.
"It means my light," Ziva added. "I thought it was fitting after everything that has been the last year. She is our light at the end of the tunnel."
"What do you think, Dad?" Tony asked. "If our coronial cuter than the Palmers."
Jimmy and Breena's baby boy Donny had been born a couple of days before, but the DiNozzo family had only seen him in grainy photos.
Air travel was still so restricted, and involved even more checks. At least they took your temperature with one of those digital thermometers, and not where it was most accurate.
Senior probably wouldn't have made the trip out, if it wasn't so important.
Tali kicked in her sleep, and started to stir. Tony's coat fell to the floor.
"Well, I may be a bit biased," Senior said, "But I'd say so."
"Pop-pop," Tali said, as she woke up, and bounced up from the chair. "Did you meet my baby sister?"
A/N: I don't own a thing.
Thank you to Misspatchesmom and Susan for some tweets that led to this fic budding from a comment of 140 characters.
I'm not mocking anyone named Astrid, but rather the fictional baby Astrid Bull.
This fic, is all a bit of fun friends. So please don't take anything I write, but especially this fic, too seriously.
It's my birthday on Sunday, but you dear readers are getting the presents. Later this weekend at least one other fic will be put up. I cannot guarantee that it will be another chapter of 'A Family, Reunited', the muse is a bit skittish at the moment.
For those of you for whom now is a scary time, or who are working very hard, I'm sending you my love.
Please stay safe out there, and don't hoard things.