Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS
It was the end of May and Ziva was sitting by the pool at a villa in Montpellier, reading, with Tony sitting next to her. Even before Tali was born, Ziva rarely sunbathed. Not that one sunbathes in DC. It felt odd, almost alien.
'Ima, Daddy. Watch me' cried Tali. Ziva and Tony looked over at their daughter in the swimming pool with her older cousins. Ginny, Crispin's eldest, was fourteen. Her brother, Charlie was twelve and their other cousins, Jack, Tom and Immy were all eleven, though Immy was constantly telling everyone that she was the eldest triplet by two whole minutes.
Tali was at one end of the pool, wearing her Moana swimsuit and swimming goggles over her eyes. A pool noodle was tucked underneath her arms. Tali pushed off from the far side of the pool and swam towards her parents unaided, apart from the pool noodle under her arms.
'Well done Tali' called Ziva as Tali climbed out of the pool. She took her goggles and went over to Ziva who wrapped her in a towel.
It was mid-morning on Saturday. The day before, after picking up Tali from school, Tony, Ziva, and Tali took the train from Paris to Montpellier. Tony's cousins Crispin and Holly, had rented a large villa in the southern French city, along with their other halves; Crispin's wife Amanda, Holly's husband Casey, and their children. Crispin & Co were staying a full week due to the UK school holidays. Tony, Ziva, and Tali would be catching a train back to Paris on Sunday afternoon.
'You having fun, motek?' asked Ziva, smiling.
'Yes I am' said Tali, happily. 'I'm going back into the pool. You going to come, Ima?'
'Um…' Ziva hesitated, looking towards Tony for support. He smiled.
'Go on. You used to love swimming.' Ziva smiled, took off the kaftan cover-up and got into the pool with Tali.
Tony was right. Ziva used to love swimming. It was a part of Tony and Ziva's mythology, their origin story, their genesis. Tony following Ziva and watching her swim, before they shared a pizza outside her hotel.
Yet that was before Somalia, before Ziva had been subjected to months of horrendous torture and scarring, both physical and mental. Ziva never worried about Tony seeing her scars. He knew of them before Ziva told him or showed him. Ziva was worried about what Tali would think though, if she would ask questions or if others saw them ask questions. She did not want it to be awkward but the idea of explaining where they came from made her demons want to come out.
When they made plans to come to Montpellier and Tali found out there was a pool, she kept chatting about going swimming in it. Tali had inherited Ziva's love of swimming, Tony making sure Tali learned how to swim strongly as soon as possible, and still going swimming with school and Clara as often as Tali could.
Ziva eventually told Tony about her worries about Tali seeing her scars. Tony, in turn, found a store in Paris that sold swimsuits that covered the whole back, with short sleeves. He even encouraged Ziva to go with Clara and try some on. Ziva and Clara were becoming very good friends.
So, with Tony's, Clara's and Tali's support, Ziva bought a swimsuit and was now swimming with her daughter for the first time. It was glorious, being in the water and after a couple of laps, Ziva felt like she was back in the swimming groove. It all just came flooding back to her.
'Very nice' said Crispin. He walked along the side of the pool and sat down next to Tony. Crispin was very much not a DiNozzo. Tony got his looks, smile, and charm from his father's side. Yet, there was something similar about Tony and Crispin. Yes, they were Caucasian men, nearing their fiftieth birthdays, but it was more of a sense of a familial resemblance, of the Paddington side of the family.
'Uncle Crispin' said Tali, as she got out of the pool. 'Did you know Nana Joy?' Crispin smiled and glanced at Tony.
'Yes, I did know your Nana Joy.' Tali smiled sweetly.
'Daddy showed photos of her. She was really pretty.'
'Yes, she was' agreed Crispin.
'Did you know I was named after her?' said Tali. 'Tali Joy DiNozzo' she said, reciting her full name.
'I did not know that, Tali' said Crispin, still smiling. Tali laughed and ran off to play. Crispin watched Ziva continue with her laps.
He didn't know his cousin's lover, the mother of his child. Crispin had been a little apprehensive when he first met Ziva the day before. However, he found her to be everything that Tony said she was. The fact that she had given Tali the middle name of Joy made Crispin happy. He knew that it made Tony and Senior happy and that it would have made Joy happy too.
Tony had shown Tali some old family photos earlier in the week. It was another idea of Dr. Leroux's, to help Tali feel secure with her family, showing her that family was not just this new thing, but something that had been going on for generations. Tali had loved looking at the old photos, and it had even prompted Ziva to reach out to very old contacts to see if they had any old photos of her childhood and her parents. Tali was particularly keen to see a picture of her Auntie Tali.
Ziva got out of the pool and wrapped a towel around herself, sitting down next to Tony. He draped an arm around and they relaxed into the lounger, enjoying the quiet and the sun. Next thing they knew, Tali was squishing herself in between them.
'Look what Auntie Amanda gave me.' She held up an orange lolly.
'Yum. Can I have some?' asked Tony.
'No. Go and get your own' said Tali. Ziva and Tony burst out laughing.
'She is such a DiNozzo' said Ziva, laughing.
Tony leaned against the side, watching Ziva and Tali sleep on the sofa. Ziva's arm was wrapped around Tali's waist. It was getting late and the three of them would be going home the next day. A scuffling alerted Tony that Crispin had come into the room.
'Everything alright?' asked Crispin. Tony smiled and nodded towards Tali and Ziva on the sofa. Crispin chuckled. 'I don't know how you do it' added Crispin.
'Do what?' asked Tony.
'Whatever you and Ziva have, are. To be apart for three years?'
'Longer.'
'Huh?'
'It's closer to seven years.'
'Seven?' Tony nodded.
Seven years since he had left Ziva standing on the tarmac at the Israeli airport, unbeknownst to either of them that they had created Tali only a handful of hours earlier.
Crispin chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. The subject of Tali's parentage, notably her mother, had always been an off-limits topic at all family gatherings. Whenever it came up, usually by accident, the level of awkward tension reached Olympic champion heights. When Tony informed Crispin and Co that Ziva was alive and would be coming to Montpellier with him and Tali, Crispin lost count of how many questions he thought of. Tony and Ziva answered very few of them and usually cited (inter)national security for the rest.
'You two going to get married?' asked Crispin.
'Don't know. Haven't really talked about it.'
'You two going to have another child?'
'Um, no. We did talk about that one, but we decided to focus on Tali.' In all honesty, both Tony and Ziva worried how Tali would react to a sibling, given how much the sibling would have that Tali never got i.e. two parents from day one. 'Perhaps if Tali was younger, or if me and Zi were younger, then maybe.'
'Oh, ok.'
Tony glanced at his cousin. Crispin was looking Tony, a smile on his face.
'Cris, what is it?'
'Nothing, Tony. It's just that I have known you for almost five decades.'
'Don't remind me' said Tony. Crispin chuckled.
'My point is, Tony, I have never seen you this happy. When Tali came along, there was a definite shift in you, but now that Ziva's in the picture again, you're a changed man, Tony.'
'Thanks, Cris.
'Don't mention it.' Crispin placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'
'Night' replied Tony and he watched Crispin make his way upstairs. Tony turned to the sofa.
'You heard what he said?' he asked.
'Every word' replied Ziva softly. She raised her head to check on Tali. Tony walked over and crouched down.
'Crispin's right' said Tony. Ziva smiled. 'Life is infinitely better since you came back Zi.' Ziva's smile grew.
'Let's go to bed, Tony' said Ziva. Tony manoeuvred a sleeping Tali into his arms.
Tony, Ziva, and Tali went up to bed, happy.
Hope you enjoyed it.
I had originally planned on writing more about this weekend, featuring other characters, but I decided to focus on a couple of scenes instead. With Ziva's scars, I can imagine her being worried about Tali wanting to know where they came from, and Ziva not wanting to tell her daughter those stories.
I also decided to keep Tony's mother's name as Joy. I like it.
Thanks for reading. See you soon.