Disclaimer: I don't own anything, NCIS' characters are not my property, I only intended to have fun writing about them.
A/N: This One-shot is not edited and corrected by a Beta, so forgive me for my grammar mistakes. English is not my first language. Mi primer idioma es español, en caso que quieran saber (My first language is Spanish, in case you want to know).
Ziva couldn't finish the sentence because a scream escaped from Ellie's mouth, who was pointing at the ring on Ziva's left hand. Nick immediately looked at what Ellie was pointing at and smiled because despite not knowing her a long time ago, that "kick-ass demon" known as Ziva David deserved to be happy.
- Omg! Congratulations both of you, I can't be happier for you! - Ellie exclaimed as she launched to hug Tony and Ziva.
The three embraced for a moment, while Nick watched the scene with a certain hint of hope ... perhaps he too will be able to get married at some point.
Ziva looked at Torres and raised her eyebrows, he shook his head while smiling.
- You are boring, Nicholas - Ziva pronounced while breaking the hug, Ellie and Tony were chatting animatedly.
- I'm not boring, it's just… let's say hugs are not my thing and I already gave you one today.
- Ok, I understand ... but I hope a hug from you at my wedding.
- Okay, boss, I will try hard and I will hug you at your wedding - Nick extended his hand towards Ziva, she also extended hers, and they both shook hands -. Congratulations, kick-ass demon, you deserve to be happy.
Ziva smirked and moved closer to Nick.
- You can be happy too, but you must tell her how you feel, you wuss.
He swallowed and the elevator sounded, they had reached the first floor. They got out of the elevator and started walking toward the parking lot.
Nick took Ellie by the arm as Tony and Ziva followed the path to find the car. The blond looking at him angrily.
- Look, Ellie, I'm sorry ... I do not doubt that you can with that training, I will never doubt you, but ... I don't want all this to change who you are.
They were still looking into each other's eyes. Ellie sighed, she reached for Nick's hand and squeezed it gently.
- It won't, I won't let that happen ... - Bishop released her partner's hand and they moved away from each other - and if it makes you feel better, just think I'm going to jog and that's it.
Nick laughed heartily, knowing that Ellie was a fixed-idea person.
- Nicholas, do you have the key to the other car? - Ziva asked when they approached.
- Yes, boss, do you need the key? I thought we would go in one car.
- That's right, I need one of my journals - Ziva explained.
- Shall I accompany you? - Ellie asked.
- Sure - Ziva turned to see Tony - we'll see you at Lisa's house.
Tony nodded and Ziva kissed him on the cheek, then turned and Nick handed her the keys.
- Ellie, I hope you like adrenaline, you are about to live Fast and Furious.
Bishop frowned and Ziva shook her head. They had already reached the cars.
- We will see you later, call if you need anything.
- Yes, sweet cheeks, try to be happy in these minutes without me - Tony said with a sensual voice as they got into the respective vehicles.
Ziva took the pilot's place, put on her seat belt, and started the engine. Ellie took the passenger's seat, put her seatbelt on, and sighed.
- Are you okay?
- Yes, it's just that Nick has ... - Ellie grimaced - strong emotions about my new training.
- I see ... Do you want to talk about it?
Eleanor shook her head and Ziva nodded. Five seconds passed and the blonde began to talk.
- He believes it will change me as a person, but I am sure it will not, this is just an addition to who I am, something to add to my resume, something that will help me to be a more complete federal agent, it does not define me as a person
- Mh-hm.
- What happen? Why the "Mm-hm"? - Ziva shrugged and smiled.
- Don't you see it?
- See what?
- Nicholas is scared, Ellie, that's all - the brunette explained. He is scared because the training of the same type that you are in, completely changed him and defined him as a person ... he is also scared that all this can hurt you physically and mentally. No one completes this type of training without leaving something of themselves in it, that is inherent.
Ellie sighed and ran a hand through her hair, Ziva chuckled and the silence was the protagonist for a few seconds.
- Ziva?
- Yes, Eleanor?
- First, you don't Eleanor me, please, and second, have you talked to Odette?
- Okay, Ellie. And yes, I have spoken with Odette, she told me that you are advancing in your training ... also she believes that the changes that I suggested fit perfectly for you.
Ellie's jaw dropped.
- What?! Are you also "inside" my training with Odette? - Bishop asked with surprise in her voice, Ziva turned a few seconds to look her in the eyes.
- Yes, Ellie - Ziva sighed and fixed her eyes on the road -. I was the person who told Odette that you had the potential for advanced training, that you deserved advanced training.
Ellie looked down as she still couldn't believe what she was hearing since despite not knowing each other for a long time, her predecessor had believed in her. Just by seeing Ziva David a few times, Ziva David, the myth, the legend, had believed in her.
- You have great potential, Ellie, and I suggested that Odette be your trainer just because I couldn't be your trainer - the shocked blonde looked back at the brunette -, I would have loved to be your trainer, Eleanor Bishop. And that is why Nicholas does not have to worry, since I am in charge of adapting your workouts so that they do not remove parts of you, so that you remain the same Ellie Bishop, only with ninja skills.
Ellie answered with a big smile, Ziva answered her with another.
- Thank you, boss - Ziva laughed.
- You're welcome, probie - Bishop laughed this time.
- Perhaps if you guys ever live in DC again, could you teach me some ninja moves?
- Perhaps...
Ziva parked outside Gibbs' house and they both got out of the car.
- That was not bad, Tony is a very exaggerated man.
- He always has been and always will be, he would not be the Tony DiNozzo that we love and know if he behaved differently.
They both laughed, entered Gibbs's house, and made their way to the second bedroom. There were all the journals, Ziva's journals.
- Well, we need all the journals I wrote in 2009, let's do it!
At the same time as their partners, Nick and Tony got into the other car, the senior agent in the pilot's seat.
- Why did you say that about how your fiancée drives?
- Because apparently, the love of my life learned to drive on her own, the first time I was in a car with her as a driver, I vomited - Tony explained as Nick laughed and they left the parking lot, the car that Ziva was driving had already left the navy yard.
- And now that you have a daughter, has she improved her driving?
- Yes, her driving skills have improved, she no longer dodges the other cars as if she were in Israel - Nick frowned - due to possible explosives - the senior agent explained -, and remains in the same lane, even more, I must say that she respects most traffic laws - they both laughed out loud. It's just that for her driving at less than 40 mph is a crime ... although I wish it were only 40 mph - whispered Tony, which sparked another laugh.
- So I have to assume that when the three of you are in the car as a family, you drive, buddy.
- That's right, buddy ... although Tali loves when Ziva drives, she is a speed junkie like her mother.
They both laughed again.
- Do you think we stop by to buy coffee, so we give the girls time to get there?
- Sure, you're driving and you know where to go, buddy.
Nick replied, then looked at the streets of DC out the window.
- Are you worried about Ellie? - Tony asked and Nick sighed as he ran a hand through his hair - You don't need to be strong, you can talk to me, I've been there.
- Seriously? - Tony looked at Nick briefly and nodded.
- A few months before Ziva left NCIS, her father, who was Mossad's director, was killed in a cold-blooded attack on Director Vance's house, the same attack in which the director's wife was murdered - Tony sighed heavily as he continued to drive. Nick kept looking at him intrigued -. Despite the distant relationship with her father, she collapsed because she had lost the last person in her biological family, although she had no fatherly love for Eli, he was still her father… to make this story shorter, Ziva found out that the killer was Ilan Bodnar, the deputy director of Mossad, who considered himself to be a son of Eli David, and she began to pursue him to take revenge on him; I did not know exactly that Ziva was tracking Bodnar because she did not tell me and I thought that she would ask me for help, but I had a feeling what she was doing at the time. At that time, we had already progressed a lot in our friendship and we began to see each other less outside the office, and as the days went by, she was further with me. At that moment I knew that she was chasing Bodnar, and at the same time I knew why she did not ask me for help, it turns out that she wanted to protect me, although she knew that I cared about her and you can imagine how Ziva is on her less friendly side - Tony chuckled and Nick smiled.
- Yes, I could see some of that a few months ago.
- So you know what I mean ... the point is that I know what it is to be worried about someone you care about and not be able to do much about it because, in front of you, you have an empowered and determined woman.
Nick nodded and looked at Tony.
- I don't want her to change ... I don't know if you have done such training, but I do, and in each lesson you complete. you leave crumbs of yourself.
- No, I have not done that type of training, only the academy and FLETC, but not the type that you speak. Although it's something I can see in my ninja's eyes, and it's one of the things we talked about in Israel, almost seven years ago - Tony parked outside a cafeteria and stopped the engine -. The point, Special Agent Torres, is that we all constantly change, I - he said pointing to himself - I am not the same as 20 years ago, or 10 years ago or even a few months ago; and I'm sure you are not the same either.
Nick grimaced.
- That doesn't relax me, Senior field agent.
Tony took a deep breath and opened the car door.
- So you have two options, stop over-thinking this or do something else about it ... I know this is not your case with Bishop, but I had to track down Ziva a few times to stop over-thinking and find answers...
Nick narrowed his eyes and got out of the car.
- I think I will follow the second part of that advice.
They both sat at a table near the door and ordered two cappuccinos.
- So ... How was the process of adapting to live the three together?
- Well - Tony sighed - it was difficult, very difficult, there were tears, tantrums, long talks, sleep and toddler's regression in some aspects, and of course, more tears… but in every moment the love that we have between the 3 of us was always the protagonist, like the peculiar and particular family that we form with my crazy ninja - Nick frowned - What? Don't you think my family is peculiar?
- Yes, man, of course, you are, but all families are peculiar because we are all different ... and both of you made an extraordinary mix, in general, I do not get along very well with children, even though I always need to protect them, even without knowing them, but your daughter, your daughter made me surrender at her feet just by looking at her bright eyes, and then that hug… - Tony raised his eyebrows and took another sip of his coffee.
- I know, believe me I know ... You know, Ziva saved my life through Tali, that's why I could never hate her even on those nights when Tali's tantrums crying for her mother left me exhausted, I could never hate her ... maybe I was very angry a couple of times, but it didn't last long because then I looked at Tali and the anger was gone.
- She is an extraordinary girl, but I must ask you something. Did you know that Ziva was alive? I mean, did you know before us that she was alive?
Tony took another sip of his coffee, raised his eyebrows, and chuckled. Nick was staring at him.
- Yes, to be honest, I never believed in the death of Ziva, and even less when that news came from Mossad ... also, the go-bag had no smoke smell and from the moment Tali called me "abba" I knew that Ziva was alive .. .so I went back to "thinking like Ziva", and after leaving NCIS I started looking for her for the third time in my life, but now with our princess ... and I found her in Cairo, it was only 3 days, and there I decided that we would wait for Ziva in Paris, in her favorite city.
- Wow… You are such a tough man, I mean how could you survive knowing that Ziva was out there fighting and maybe she wasn't coming back?
- I trusted and I trust Ziva, we also reached a deal in which she had to communicate with me, every 3 months or every time something extremely important happened, but there could not be more than 3 months between the times we communicated ... it turned out well, and thanks to that I was able to survive and raise Tali.
Nick sighed regretfully and ran his hands over his face, although he found it curious that Tony's smile never left his face.
- I feel like I'm being an interrogator right now, but…
- Don't worry, I love to talk - Tony explained - if you had asked Ziva ten years ago, what is one of the things that Tony likes to do the most ?, aside from the obvious answer that is watching movies and date sexy women she would have told you "one of the things Tony likes to do the most is talk about himself", and just to be clear, I still love talking about myself, but when you have kids you're in the background… accordingly, It doesn't bother me at all, it's quite flattering, so shoot, Special Agent Torres.
Nick chuckled and shook his head.
- Very well, Special Agent DiNozzo, now that you are already engaged, and the wedding is very soon - Nick stared at Tony while creating suspense by shutting up for a few seconds - do you want to have more children with Ziva?
Tony smiled and sighed loudly.
- It is one of the things, which are not things, that I have wanted the most since the moment I discovered that Ziva didn't die. So, yes, I would love the idea ... although, to be honest, this is a topic that we have not discussed yet.
Nick nodded and countered seriously. Right now, he felt more like a gossip journalist than an investigator, but he couldn't help but quench his curiosity.
- But you realize that the new baby will not be Tali, that is, the baby will allow you to live what you did not live with her, but he will not be Tali. That is clear to you, right?
Tony laughed, wiped a fake tear from his eye, and took another sip of his coffee, half caffeinated and half decaf, as usual. Nick was stumped for a few seconds, then joined the laugh.
- Well, Nick Torres, first of all, I like your style.
- I also like yours, buddy, I did not think that such a serious question would make you laugh out loud.
- Neither did I - they both laughed again -... well, secondly, thanks for the question because nobody had dared to ask me such a direct question, well, maybe Gibbs and Ziva, but you know how my relationship with them is - Nick nodded -. And yes, Nick, I know that the new baby will not be Tali, nor will it be his "work" - Tony made the sign of quotation marks in the air with his fingers - make up for everything that I could not live with Tali, I am very clear - Nick nodded again and Tony sighed -. But I will not lie to you nor will I lie to myself, because I know that at some point when I am holding my newborn, it will be impossible not to think of Tali as such a small and fragile baby, and the fact that I could not be with her in those moments… In short, yes, I know that the baby will not be Tali, but I also know that those thoughts will be present in my mind; however, my plan is not to think about the past because there are painful memories, so I plan to think about the present and being happy with my family.
Nick nodded and took a sip of his coffee, put it down on the table and played with the spoon between his fingers.
Tony noted that the confession had made his new (and temporary) co-worker reflect. Although he didn't blame him for that, it had also made him reflect. The senior agent took another sip of his coffee again when he heard the sound of the doorbell, his brand-new fiancée and his dearest Ellie Bishop were making their triumphal entry.
A/N: First of all, thank you so much for every review, favourite and author alert; you are the best. These days I have been inspired, but very busy ... having to be at home and under a new modality of classes is a challenge, however I am a lucky person, my family is healthy and most of us can stay at home. I hope all of you and your families are safe and sound, and please stay home. Thanks for everything.