It has been a long time, has it not? I do apologise. I was ill, then depressed, then ill again. A bit more ill. Angry. Tired. Run down. Sad. Ill. Then I hit a brick wall of writer's block. And then I deleted this the first eight times I wrote it. Then I tried to write a whole load of other things. And then I deleted this again. And then I rewrote it. Delete. Left it. And then I came back to it today. And that was all in the space of a month. Sorry.
XXXVI. If You Can Make A Girl Laugh You Can Make Her Do Anything.
"I am bored."
"You've said that eight times in the past hour." Tony groaned and rubbed his hands over his face.
"Well then it must be true, yes?"
"God, if this is what you're like when you're off for four days, I'm dreading when Jenny forces you to go on maternity leave." He sighed and opened his arms, allowing her to curl up next to him on the sofa. "How about we write a list of things that need doing for the wedding and the twins, and we make sure we do everything on the list?"
"I need to get a dress sorted."
"I need a tux."
"We need to think of names."
"Are you taking my name?"
"I want to keep mine for work, but I would like to have yours."
"DiNozzo-David, then?"
"Perfect." She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips before replacing her head on his chest.
"Oh, I've got an idea!" Tony grinned and sat up. "There's a bookshop down the road, we can go and get baby name books! Do you want them to have Hebrew names?"
"Can at least their middle names be Hebrew please, Tony?"
"Ziva, as long as I can pronounce their names, we can call our children what ever we want." He tucked as strand of her hair behind her ear and smiled. "Come on, and we can get you some maternity clothes too whilst we're out." Ziva groaned.
"Tony, I hate shopping."
"Hear that babies? Mummy hates shopping. I think that means that it will be up to Auntie Abby to buy all of your clothes when you're older, don't you?" He cooed and tugged the NCIS sweatshirt up to reveal her small bump, pressing his lips to it twice. It had the desired effect as she jumped up and grabbed her backpack, ready to leave before Tony had even moved away from the sofa.
"Abby is not dressing my children. We will not know what they will come back looking like." Tony just laughed.
"José approves of you." Ziva smiled as they walked hand in hand out of the bookshop after buying three books. One of Hebrew names, one of Italian names and one of English names.
"What makes you say that?"
"He is helping us. If he did not like you then he would refuse to help." Tony raised his eyebrows. "It is his way of protecting me. He likes to try and protect me."
"He's a good man."
"He used to say that I was protecting the world, and he was protecting nothing, so he would protect me. I would tell him that I do not need protecting but…" She trailed off as they walked hand in hand down the street.
"But what?" Tony prompted.
"When I, uh…when I miscarried it was José that I went to. I packed a bag and drove up to Haifa. I phoned him and asked him to meet me there. He flew in from Guatemala, rented a two-bedroom apartment and we stayed there for two months. Not bothering with work or anything. When we were hungry we made food. When we needed sunlight, we would go for a walk. It was like being normal for two months. We sat and talked about the future, or in my case lack thereof. He helped me be me again."
"What do you mean?" Tony frowned, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
"I blamed myself. It was not that I particularly wanted a child, no. It was just…I guess I thought that it meant there was something wrong with me, if I could not carry a child to full term. I had been given a job – to keep this child alive – and I had failed. I always complete a job. I do not fail. And I failed." Her voice caught in her throat as a lone tear slipped down her cheek.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
"José was there for me when no-one else was." She shrugged. "I trust him. And I trust you and I trust Gibbs and McGee and Ducky and Palmer. You are the only men whom I trust."
"Not all men are cruel, Ziva. We just make some mistakes sometimes."
"The good ones make mistakes, the bad ones were mistakes." She shrugged. "I think I have the best of the men as my family."
"You think?"
"Well, you have made mistakes, but I cannot imagine a better, braver and more sincere man." She stopped and pressed her lips to his.
"Oh, talking about men, I was thinking of asking the Probie to be my best man. What do you think?"
"Is there any other choice?"
"No, I guess you're right." They turned back to walk down the street in a comfortable silence. "How about bridesmaids?"
"Jenny and Abby. If I can get Abby to wear a dress."
"What colour?"
"I do not know."
"How about mint green?" Tony pointed to a family walking in the opposite direction. They had a little girl wearing a white dress with pale green stripes.
"Perfect." She grinned, wiggling her fingers in a wave when the child smiled at her.
"And I think I know someone who can make your dress." He whispered, guiding her to his car. "Now, she's a little, er, excitable, but she's real good at what she does. She made my mother's wedding dress."
Tony smiled at Ziva as she snored softly in the passenger seat of his Mustang. She looked so innocent when she slept. He sighed and shook her shoulder slightly. "Hey, beautiful. We're here." He nodded to a house in a row of other, identical, houses.
"Where?"
"To talk to the lady who can make your wedding dress." He stepped out of the car and walked around to the other side, opening her door and taking her hand in his. "Come on. She won't bite." He grinned and led her up the path to the door. It flew open immediately and a woman with bright blue hair and wild eyes stood studying them, uncertain. She narrowed her eyes at Tony and peered closer, putting a pair of wire rimmed spectacles on.
"Anthony DiNozzo? Is that you?"
"Aunt Nora." He leaned in for a hug and got hit on the arm for the trouble.
"You don't call for fifteen years and then all of a sudden you turn up on my doorstep? Your mother would be turning in her grave!" she admonished. "Now, who's this beautiful girl you've brought with you?"
"This is Ziva."
"Hello." Ziva held her hand out, but was enveloped in a hug to rival Abby.
"Oh, my. I recognise that ring." She held Ziva's left hand and looked at the engagement ring that sat on it. Both women looked up at Tony as he blushed in embarrassment.
"It was the right time. Ziva's the right woman. She would have liked Ziva. She would have approved." He spoke to the older woman, pulling his fiancée closer to him. Nora's face broke into a smile as she nodded and looked Ziva up and down.
"She would certainly have approved in looks. How about character?"
"Oh, yeah. She would have loved Ziva." He grinned.
"I'm glad you came to me. Come in, come in." She waved them through as Ziva continued to frown at Tony.
"I haven't told Senior yet, so could you…"
"Anthony, I have not spoken to your father since before the funeral. I would not start now." She glared at him and stopped at a closed door. She opened it into a light conservatory. Sketches filled the walls and fabric covered every surface. "When's the wedding?"
"End of March. Can you complete a dress by then?" Ziva spoke up. Nora just laughed.
"Plenty of time. Shirt off."
"Aunt Nora, please…" Tony groaned. "You're too abrupt."
"And I presume you have a suit ready?"
"I, well…uh, not yet, but…"
"Anthony DiNozzo, go and sort your suit out. Be back here in three hours. Go on, go, go." She shooed him out of the house. Tony mouthed an apology to Ziva before he was finally shoved out of the door. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes, end of March. Dress. Right. Any ideas?" She bumbled about, clearing some space off of a loveseat in the corner. Ziva sat down and bit her lip.
"I, uh… I have not really thought about it." She looked embarrassed.
"Okay, then…when you were a child, what did you dream about your dress looking like?"
"I never dreamt about a wedding. I never expected to marry, not after I grew up. And I grew up very quickly." She just shrugged and sighed. "Although, Tony did suggest mint green for the bridesmaids' dresses. If I can get Abby to wear mint green. She is more of a fan of black."
"Okay, well, I can keep that in mind. What about material. Oh, I think I've got just the thing that will suit you perfectly." She hurried out of the room and came back with a bulging presentation folder.
"I am pregnant." Ziva blurted. It was an important statement of fact, or at least she thought it was.
"No worry." Nora shrugged, as though it wasn't even in the top twenty things she needed to know to make the dress. "It takes my first idea off the table but I have other ideas. Do not worry, I can come up with something just perfect." She smiled warmly at her and sat down with the folder.
"Mrs…" Ziva placed a hand on the cheerful woman's arm before she could open the binder.
"Please, call me Nora."
"Right. Nora, what is so important about the ring?"
"He didn't tell you? No, of course he didn't. Poor boy, he's so shy." Ziva chuckled slightly. "I know he doesn't seem it, all that overconfidence, but he is when it comes to family."
"He can be a hard man to read." She smiled, remembering her first day working at NCIS. Saying how easy he was to read. And on the surface he was. But underneath he was like an onion, many layers. He reminded her of Gibbs in that respect.
"The ring was his mother's engagement ring. She gave it to me to give to him when she died. She was a good woman, and for Anthony to give you that ring I can only surmise that you are a good woman too."
"Well, I do not know about that." Ziva blushed at the compliment.
"I do. You know, he gets this glint in his eye when he looks at you. I've never seen it there before." Nora laughed slightly. "You're a lucky woman."
"Oh, I know." Ziva chuckled. "No. I know. I do not deserve him."
"Hm. I would hazard a guess that he says much the same thing. I doubt he believes he deserves you. He's a good man, and he wouldn't love you if you were not a good woman."
He walked up to the door and scowled when he heard loud laughter. He reached up to knock when the laugh echoed through the air again. He made his way towards the back of the house, nearing the conservatory and grimacing when another cackle pierced his ears. Tony pushed the door open to reveal the room that looked even more chaotic than it had three hours earlier. Ziva was stood in her bra and jogging bottoms with Nora taking measurements. He stood admiring her until they noticed, then stood for a moment longer, and grin on his face. "How's it going?"
"Good, just two more measurements and then we should be done." Nora smiled. "How'd the hunt for a suit go?"
"My tailor has a very nice grey one. Just needs adjusting slightly." He shrugged and walked over, pressing his lips to Ziva as Nora stepped away to jot notes on a pad. He then bent down and kissed her small bump twice. "How you feeling?"
"Good. Better now you are here. I missed you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and leant up, catching his lips in hers.
"I missed you too." His hands sat on her hips. "You know, you look good like this."
"Like what?" They still hadn't properly broken apart, their eyes locked on one another's, their noses touching and their lips brushing together as they spoke.
"Like this. Just underwear and jogging bottoms. Of course, it could always be improved without the jogging bottoms." He chuckled as she hit the back of his head. "Gibbs slap me again, David, and I might just have to…"
Nora coughed, alerting them to her presence. "Excuse me." She shoved Tony out of her way so she could get back to measuring Ziva and shook her head.
"Aunt Nora." Tony said tightly, his voice and face full of embarrassment. "I forgot that you were there."
"Evidently." She smirked. "Okay dokay. All done." She stepped back and handed Ziva her t-shirt.
"Thank you, Nora. You'll come to the wedding, won't you?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Anthony." She pressed a kiss to his cheeks and he wiped it away, much in the same way that a young boy would, making Ziva laugh. "Ziva, I'll see you in a month for a fitting?"
"Just phone with a date and time." Ziva smiled. "Thank you, for everything."
"You're family. We do anything for family." Nora smiled and hugged her. "Take care of him for me."
"I will. Do not worry." She took Tony's hand and they walked out of the house, waving as they left.
"I leave you with her for three hours and you're already best friends." Tony laughed.
"Well, she has seen me without a shirt. That usually concretes a friendship."
"Cements, Sweetcheeks."
"I still do not understand your American Idioms!" She threw her hands in the air as Tony laughed and shook his head, climbing into the driver's seat of his Mustang.
I really liked writing Nora. She reminds me of one of my mother's friends. I could just imagine an episode ending there on that line with the little black and white foof.
