Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS


Tali scanned the crowds at the airport. She was perched on Tony's shoulders, Ziva standing next to them.

'Can you see him, T?' asked Tony.

'No, I can't' she replied. 'Wait, there he is!' She pointed out into the crowd. Tony put Tali back on the ground and she ran off, darting through the crowd. 'Papa! Papa!'

'Tali!' cried Senior. He engulfed his little granddaughter in a massive hug. 'Oh, I've missed you.'

'Missed you too, Papa.' Tali led him over to where Tony and Ziva were waiting.

'Hey, Dad.'

'Junior.' They hugged. 'Ziva, you look beautiful.'

'Thank you.' Senior kissed her on the cheek. Tony took his dad's suitcase, draped his arm around Ziva. Tali chatted to Senior all the way to the metro line. Senior kept watching Tony and Ziva though.

'There's something different about the two of you' Senior said eventually.

'Oh, yeah. What would that be?' asked Tony.

'I don't know. You've always been close since Ziva came home, but now, you even closer.'

Tony and Ziva chuckled, Tony kissing the top of Ziva's head.

Tali tapped Senior on the arm.

'Yes, T?'

'They keeping kissing' she whispered.

'They always do that, don't they?' asked Senior.

'Yeah, but they're doing more and more.' Tali didn't sound impressed with her parent's PDA. Senior chuckled and kissed Tali's head.

It was true. Tony and Ziva had grown closer than ever before. The regular talks of their history, peeling back the layers of emotion, memory, and feelings, had helped both of them. Their own private therapy sessions had seen a big positive change, both Leroux and Vidal noticing it. Tony and Ziva still had a lot to go through and both realised that they would most likely be doing it for the rest of their lives.

The metro came to a stop and everyone got off. The apartment was a ten-minute walk from the nearest metro station. Even though it was now November, it was dry and therefore not a mad dash home in the rain.

When they got to the apartment, Senior noticed some changes to the place, notably the new gallery wall of photographs in the hallway. He went up to have a better look and smiled. There were photos of Tony, Ziva, and Tali, of Tali and Senior, of people Senior couldn't name.

'Look Papa' said Tali. She was pointing to a photo. 'It's you and Nana Joy.'

'Yes, it is.' Senior smiled. It was his and Joy's wedding photo. 20th May 1971. Senior smiled. He had forgotten just how beautiful Joy was.

'Would you like a drink?' asked Ziva. Senior turned to look at her.

'You put up some photos?' he asked. Ziva nodded.

'Yes. I inherited a box of old photos from my aunt. My friend Annalise is an interior designer. She came over and helped me design the whole thing.'

Ziva had fun that day. Tali was at school and Tony had meetings. It turned into a bit of a girl's day, with both making plans for future proper girl's day. It was something that Ziva never really had done before. Something she would have done with her sister.

Senior chuckled and gave Ziva a smile. He went and sat down in the living room, listening to Tali's endless tales of everything that was going in her life.

Later that night after Tali had gone reluctantly to bed, Senior was looking at the photos again.

'Dad?' asked Tony.

'Oh, hi Junior.' He pointed to a photo. 'Tali looks like she's having fun there.'

'Um, Dad, that's not Tali. That's Ziva.'

'No!'

'Yeah, aged six, seven maybe.'

'I clearly need my glasses. I didn't realise that Tali's such a spitting image of her mother' said Senior. Tony nodded.

'I just hope Tali doesn't inherit anymore of her mother's talents or traits' said Tony.

'I heard that Tony' came Ziva's voice from the kitchen. Senior smiled.

Both men continued to look at the photos. They rested their eyes on a particular photograph.

'She was beautiful, your mother' said Senior, rather solemnly.

'Inside and out' added Tony.

'The last time I babysat Tali, she asked for a story about her' said Senior. Tony smiled.

'A few months ago, Tali sort of freaked out. She got really worried that me or Zi would leave her again. Ziva's therapist suggested a few things including telling stories about the rest of Tali's family.'

'That explains it.' Senior paused. 'I liked telling Tali about her Nana. Reminded me of the good old days.'

'Perhaps we'll talk about her more' suggested Tony.

'Maybe' agreed Senior.


Tony and Ziva walked down the Parisian street towards Palais Garnier. They had left Tali and Senior at home, playing Uno. Tali said it was only fair that if Papa taught her how to play Checkers, then she could teach Papa how to play Uno.

'It's gonna be a bloodbath' joked Tony. Ziva laughed. Uno could ruin the best of relationships. She was wearing a beautiful dress. Black, of course, but it was not borrowed. Ziva had gone shopping by herself, bought some new clothes, tried them on for Tony, who said Ziva that she was beautiful no matter what she wore, for Ziva to leave annoyed and ask Clara and Annalise for their honest opinions, which they gladly gave.

Tony and Ziva turned the corner and saw the beautiful Palais Garnier. They had spent a fortune on tickets, but it was a special night. Back in March, they were unsure if they would be able to go to the opera at all due to the pandemic that was sweeping across the globe. However, life had resumed to normality reasonably quickly by the time they went to Montpellier with Crispin and Co in May.

It was also important as it was the first time that Ziva had been able to go to the opera since before Tali was born. She had gone in 2013, a few days before she found out she was pregnant, but that was the last time. A year later, Ziva had a baby that she didn't want to leave with anyone. That baby turned into a toddler and then Ziva found herself on the run.

Ziva felt like she had let down her sister by not going to the opera on her birthday. She talked about it with Leroux, and later on with Tony. Tony said that she was wrong, that Ziva was not letting down her sister at all. Ziva struggled to believe it. She was terrified that she was going to have a panic attack tonight, or something bad was going to happen to ruin it.

Tony and Ziva took their seats in the grand theatre. Tony gazed up at the painted ceiling and chandelier. Ziva looked around, checking for the exits either for the bathroom or in case of a fire. Always know where your exits are. Ziva could hear Eli's voice in her head. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get him out of it.

'You OK?' Ziva opened her eyes and saw Tony. She smiled and nodded.

'Yes, I am fine. I will be better though.' Tony smiled and took her hand. She squeezed his hand tightly.

The lights dimmed and the orchestra started playing. Ziva took a deep breath and thought of her sister.


Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.

Brief mention of our current situation with the coronavirus. Hopefully, life will return to normal in the next few weeks. Here in the UK, we have an unofficial lockdown. I hope that everyone is OK with their own situations in relation to Covid-19.

Thank you so much for the love of the previous chapter. I really enjoyed writing it and I'm so glad so many enjoyed reading it.

See you soon :)