Here is chapter 12 after just a few days! Anyway, I felt like this conversation really needed to happen between Eli and Ziva, so I hope you enjoy! Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments/reviews, whatever you wanna call them!
Twelve
The next day Ziva could barely keep herself still enough to finish going through her box of cold cases. Her foot bounced under her desk as she looked over at the clock on her computer screen for the hundredth time that day. It was already 18:20, she was supposed to be meeting her father in forty minutes.
She closed the last case file in her box and put the lid back on it just as Tony closed his file.
"You ready to pack it in for the night?" Tony asked her from his desk.
Ziva nodded. "Please." She said as she dropped the box on the floor beside her desk to be picked up later by… whoever picked them up, she wasn't really sure.
Tony stacked his box on top of hers and walked back over to his desk to grab his jacket.
"We'll see you tomorrow." Ziva called to Gibbs and McGee as she and Tony started toward the elevator.
She heard their muffled goodbyes as she pressed the call button and stood, waiting impatiently for the elevator doors to slide open.
The doors slid open on the ground floor and Tony and Ziva walked out the front door toward the parking lot.
"Is it alright if I drop you off at home, I have to go do something." Ziva asked as they got into her car.
Tony eyed her suspiciously but agreed. "Sure, I'll start dinner if you want?" He asked.
Ziva nodded. "Alright, I do not expect to be too long." She told him as she started the car and backed out of her parking spot.
Twenty minutes later, Ziva pulled up to the curb outside their apartment building to let Tony out of the car.
He leaned across the center console to kiss her briefly. "Be safe." He told her as he opened the door.
Ziva smiled slightly. "I will. I love you." She told him.
Tony leaned down, ducking into the door. "I love you too." He said, smiling brightly before he closed the door and turned to walk into the building.
Ziva waited until Tony had stepped into the elevator before she drove away from the curb.
She felt slightly guilty for not telling Tony where she was going. She told him everything, but she knew that if she told him, she would have to tell Gibbs too. And what did it matter? Her father was not in the country to do anything illegal; it was a Mossad operation that he was overseeing.
Mossad had never exactly been praised for their tact but drawing unnecessary attention by breaking international laws was too risky. Even for Eli David.
Ziva was slightly surprised when she saw the Adams House Hotel coming up on her right. She looked at the clock in her car; 18:57. She had been so lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized she had been driving for that long.
She found an empty parking spot along the curb and parked her car, making sure to check the meter so she would not get a ticket. She didn't want anyone to be able to trace her back to her father. She might not trust him, but she didn't want to put him in danger.
She walked through the revolving door into the lobby and was pleased to see a small crowd. She slipped through the lobby unnoticed and pushed open a stairwell door and jogged up to the fourth floor.
She poked her head out the door that would let her out onto the fourth-floor hallway to make sure there was no one there. The coast was clear. She stepped into the hallway and followed the signs that helped point guests in the right direction.
She stopped in front of room 487 and took a deep breath as she raised her hand to knock lightly on the door.
Within seconds she heard the chain being undone inside the door and the door swung open to reveal her father, dressed much more casually than she would have expected from him.
"My Ziva, how are you?" He asked, holding his arms open to her as he stepped back, allowing her to enter the room.
Ziva closed the door behind her and gave in to her father, giving him a stiff hug. "I am fine, abba. How are you?" She asked politely.
Eli smiled. "Better now that you are here, come, sit with me." He said as he led her through to the modest sitting room in the hotel suite.
She sat down in a chair opposite the couch and waited for her father to sit.
Ziva took a deep breath. "Why am I here?" She asked.
Eli sighed. "You are so to the point, just like your mother." He told her.
"Answer the question." Ziva said.
Eli nodded. "You are here because I wanted to speak with you. Catch up, as you would say." He told her.
"What is there to catch up on? I no longer work for you, I am an American, you know all of this." She said.
"I do not want to fight with you, Ziva, truly, I just… I was hoping to get to know you again. Like we used to." Eli said.
Ziva's eyes narrowed. She couldn't tell if he was telling the truth. She didn't know if she could trust him. She didn't trust him. She had been burned by him too many times before, and she refused to let herself be hurt by him again.
She decided to tread carefully.
"What do you want to know?" She asked.
Eli shrugged. "How have you been doing? Do you like it here? What is your life like? Are you seeing anyone?" He asked.
Ziva thought for a moment. "I am fine, I am happy here. D.C. is my home." She told him. "You know I like it here, otherwise I would not become a citizen. I would have gone back to Israel."
"I still do not understand why you do not." Eli interrupted.
Ziva rolled her eyes. Of course this is what he wanted. Her loyalty.
"Because I have a life here. I love my job, I love the people I am around, I…" She hesitated, wondering if she should mention Tony. No, he had asked if she was seeing someone, so obviously he wanted to know the answer. "I love my boyfriend." That still felt odd coming out of her mouth.
"Boyfriend?" Eli asked curiously.
Ziva nodded. "I have started seeing Tony." She told him bluntly.
"Of all people…" Eli started with a sigh. "Why him? You could do so much better my Ziva."
"Because it is my choice." Ziva told him firmly.
"I do not like what this country has done to you." Eli said.
"This country has done nothing to me!" Ziva told him.
"Clearly it has for you to be with…" He trailed off. "I do not like it." Eli told her.
"You do not have to like it, abba. I am not asking your permission. I am not fifteen years old anymore." Ziva told him.
Eli stood from the couch. "I am still your father and you are still my daughter Ziva. I have every right-"
Ziva cut him off. "You have absolutely no right!" She yelled as she shot out of her chair. "You call yourself my father, what father lies to their child for almost thirty years? What father tosses their child into a desert and leaves them to die? I cannot even count the times I have been hurt at your hand. You are… you are not a father; you are a ruthless, unbothered monster." She told him angrily.
Eli's jaw clenched. He opened his mouth to speak, and Ziva interrupted him again.
"Tony is a good man, abba." She said as tears rolled down her cheeks. "He treats me well."
"You would really choose him above me? Your own blood?" Eli asked.
Ziva took a deep, steadying breath, and nodded. "Yes. I know he loves me. I do not know if I can say the same of you." She told him before she turned and walked out of the hotel room, slamming the door behind her.
Ziva pushed through the stairwell door and started to walk down the stairs. She almost wished her father would come after her, just to show some sign that he cared at all. She heard no footsteps behind her, and she sighed sadly.
She should not have come. She was stupid to think that he would be accepting of her. She had not thought that his reaction to her relationship with Tony would be anything like that. She knew he wouldn't be happy, but he had asked her to choose. Tony or her father. And he seemed genuinely surprised at her choice. Why would she go back to her father? To be sent on another op that almost killed her? To watch more and more of her friends die every day? Did her father really think that that is what would be best for her? Or did he just want to win a battle of wills?
Ziva's fist clenched and she struck the concrete wall in front of her, which she immediately regretted. Her fingers began to bleed in seconds, and she had nothing to wrap them with. She just wanted to go home. She wanted Tony.
She wiped the tears out of her eyes and tried to calm herself down for a moment before she descended the rest of the stairs and emerged from the stairwell on the ground floor.
She slipped out of the hotel just as easily as she had slipped in, despite her bloody hand and her probably very red face and she made her way out to her car.
She sat down in the driver's seat and pulled her keys out of her pocket with her injured right hand carefully. She wished she had punched with the other hand. She pushed the keys into the ignition and started the car.
Her tears started again before she had pulled away from the curb.
She had to drive a bit slower than normal with only one hand, and not her dominant hand, but she still made it back home quicker than she had anticipated.
She flipped the sun visor above her head down and pulled the cover off the mirror so she could look at herself. Yep, red-faced and looking like a crazy person. Perfect. She rolled her eyes as she flipped the visor back into its place and stepped out of the car.
When she opened the apartment door a few minutes later, she could smell some kind of soup on the stove and she could hear Tony singing softly to himself as he chopped something on the cutting board.
"Zi?" Tony called from the kitchen. "Is that you or a murderer?" He asked playfully.
Ziva sniffled and smiled a bit as she toed off her boots.
"Just me." She said. She knew her voice sounded like she had been crying.
Not even thirty seconds later Tony was walking out of the kitchen, concern written all over his face.
"What happened?" He asked when he saw her tears. He looked down at her unmistakeable bloody knuckles and he tensed. "Did someone do that do you?" He asked seriously.
Ziva shook her head as she peeled off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack. "Nobody touched me." She told him softly. "I punched a wall."
Tony reached down to pick up her hand and examine it. It was definitely swollen and scraped up pretty good judging by the amount of blood on her hand, but it didn't look too serious.
"Come on. Let's get this cleaned up and then we can talk about it, okay?" He asked gently.
Ziva nodded. "Alright." She said softly.
She allowed him to lead her down the hall to the bathroom, where he closed the lid on the toilet seat for her to sit down on.
Tony pulled the first aid kit out from under the sink and pulled some gauze squares, a roll of gauze, some cotton swabs, ointment, a roll of tape, and a small spray bottle of peroxide out of it. He sat down on the floor in front of Ziva and reached for her hand.
She held it out for him to inspect closer.
Tony picked up the peroxide and looked up at her. "It might sting a bit." He told her.
Ziva nodded. "It's fine." She said shortly, not trusting herself not to start crying again.
Tony nodded and began spraying her hand. He grabbed some of the gauze squares to wipe the peroxide and dried blood off her hand before he moved to spray the actual wounds a few more times, making sure they were as clean as possible.
He picked up the cotton swabs and tore open the packaging. He laid them to the side as he opened the small tube of antibiotic ointment. He applied the ointment to her knuckles with the cotton swabs as gently as he could before he picked up the roll of gauze and began wrapping it around her hand.
"Hand me the tape?" Tony asked gently.
Ziva held the tape out for him and her peeled it back and ripped a strip off to tape the end of the gauze down.
"I'll change it again tomorrow." He told her as he rested her hand on her leg.
Ziva nodded silently and watched as he cleaned up the small mess he had made on the bathroom floor.
He tossed the last piece of paper from the cotton swabs into the trash can and stood in front of his girlfriend, holding his hands out to her.
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
"C'mere." Tony said softly.
Ziva took his hands and stood up. He pulled her into a tight hug, and she buried her face in her neck as she wrapped her arms around him.
He kissed the side of her head gently when he felt her tears on his skin.
"How about we go sit on the couch and we can talk while we wait for dinner? The soup is almost done." He suggested gently.
Ziva nodded against him and pulled away from the hug, instead allowing him to hold her hand as she was escorted back to the living room.
Tony sat down on the couch first and Ziva sat beside him, waiting for him to settle before she lifted her legs up to lay across his.
He wrapped his arms around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"What happened sweet cheeks?" Tony asked.
Ziva sighed. "I went to see my father." She told him quietly.
"Your father? What? How? Where?" He asked rapidly.
Ziva nodded. "At the Adams House. He is here overseeing an op." She told him.
"What does that have to do with you? How did you know he was in town? I thought you hadn't spoken to him since Somalia." Tony said.
Ziva nodded. "I hadn't. He found me when I was out doing interviews yesterday. He asked me to meet him, he said he wanted to talk, catch up." She told him.
Tony nodded silently. He had to admit, he was a bit hurt that Ziva hadn't told him where she was going, or that her father was in town, but there were more important things to deal with right now. Number one; why did Eli think it was a good idea to speak with her when she hadn't reached out in so long, and number two; what had he said to upset her this much?
He kissed her forehead softly. "What happened?" He asked.
Ziva shrugged. "I got there, and he told me he wanted to start getting to know me again. He asked me about my life, and I told him that I love it here, and if I did not, I would not still be here, I would have gone back to Israel." She said.
Tony nodded. "Okay, that makes sense."
"And he said that he does not understand why I don't go back." Ziva told him. "And I told him that it was because I love my job, I love the people around me, and I you. He didn't like that last part."
Tony nodded. "He never really has been my biggest fan, has he?"
Ziva shook her head. "He gave me some speech about how I could do so much better than you, and how he does not like what this country has done to me. And ultimately, he made me choose. Him or you." Ziva told him. "I chose you. You are my family."
Tony pulled her against him tightly. "You didn't have to do that." He told her softly.
Ziva nodded. "Yes, I did. If I did not I would have just been back under his control, and I do not want that." She told him. "I want to live my own life with my own choices."
Tony nodded. "That's understandable." He told her.
"You are my family Tony. You, and Gibbs, and McGee, and Abby, Ducky, Palmer… I chose you. Mostly you, Tony, but I chose to people who care about me." Ziva said.
"So where did the punching of the wall come in exactly?" Tony asked.
Ziva laughed lightly then let out a small groan as she remembered her own stupidity.
"I was in the stairwell at the Adams House, and I was trying to calm myself down, but I could not stop thinking about what he had said, and it jus sort of… happened." Ziva said.
Tony smiled. "That's my girl, beating up concrete walls." He said playfully.
Ziva smiled a bit, which made Tony smile bigger.
"There it is. I've missed that."
Ziva smiled and wrapped her arms around Tony's neck, pulling herself closer to him. "I love you." She said softly.
Tony nodded against her. "I love you too." He said. "Now how about we go get some soup? It's your favorite, chicken and rice."
Ziva kissed his cheek. "Aright." He said as she climbed off his lap.
He caught her uninjured hand in his as he stood up.
"Tell me where you're going next time, I was scared something might have happened to you." He told her.
Ziva nodded, kissing his cheek once again. "Alright. I can do that." She told him. "Now, soup!" She said, smiling as she held out her bowl for him to fill.