Chapter 23

~~Holidays 2012

Our Fathers, Ourselves

~~Ziva's Apartment~~

Ziva walked into her apartment, kicking her shoes off near the front door, then walked to the kitchen to set the bags that she had brought over to Gibbs' Thanksgiving dinner on the table, then she went to put some of the leftovers in the refrigerator. Satisfied, she turned around to walk over to the living room and flopped down onto the couch, taking a deep breath, and letting out a tired sigh. She had just barely finished sighing when she heard the key sliding into the lock and unlocking the door. As the door opened, she looked over to the door just in time to see Tony entering.

"I'm home!" Tony said brightly as he stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

She stood up and walked toward Tony. "Hey hi Tony. Good trip back?" she asked.

"Now, I can give my beautiful fiancée a warm hug." Tossing his bag onto the floor, Tony walked to Ziva and gave her a very warm embrace.

"Mm, this feels good." Ziva snuggled into Tony's warm hug, smiling up at him. "Good dinner at Gibbs', right? At least we got to be together in ways that no one would really notice." She sighed in relief because she had been feeling a touch of anxiety during the dinner at Gibbs' house, and had been needing the warm, reassuring touch from Tony to help settle her nerves.

"Better to be able to just kick back for the evening, just chill together, than spend all that time at Gibbs mingling with people, you know." Tony shrugged. He, too, had been feeling like he'd had enough of people for one day and just wanted to spend some quality time in the peaceful confines of Ziva's home. Certainly better than dealing with a bit of drama out there.

"Sounds good. Got some wine for us over there. Would you like have some?" Ziva turned to the kitchen counter.

Tony's eyebrows rose and a smile lit up his face. "Sounds awesome. I'll help you with the wine. Wanna sit on the couch and spend some time together while we wine and stare into each other's eyes?" He waggled his eyebrows a bit, the smile still on his lips as he walked over to the cabinets to get two wine glasses.

"Awesome." Ziva smiled at Tony, while she cleared the coffee table. "We can set 'em here." She winked at him.

"Good idea." Tony nodded with a wink as he got the wine bottle and brought it and the glasses over to the coffee table. He set them down on the table and sat down on the couch with a sigh. He worked the cork on the wine bottle loose, then pulled it out with a resounding pop, then carefully poured out half a glass for each of them.

Ziva scooted closer to Tony after he'd poured out the wine and snuggled up next to him as he handed her the wine glass and took his own. "A good end to the day, wouldn't you say?" She smiled at Tony.

"Hear, hear." Tony held up his wine glass. "A toast to my lovely fiancée."

Ziva nodded and clinked her wine glass on Tony's, and said in a whisper, "And a toast to my rock of my life." After taking a sip of her wine, she added, "Thank you for surprising me with the virtual opera. Really enjoyed listening to Puccini."

Tony took a sip of his wine, then smiled and nodded. "Even though I know it's not the real thing, I thought, why not. I know how hard it has been for you these past few days. I'm sorry about your sister," he said quietly to Ziva, then set his wine glass down on the coffee table in front of him and put his arm around Ziva on the back of the couch, and looked at her, peering into her eyes.

Ziva smiled. "You're the best." She leaned forward and set her glass on the table, then she gently laid her head onto Tony's shoulder and hugged him, smiling.

~~Christmas~~

Ziva sat on the couch, pouring over her laptop, taking a break from the preparation for the Christmas dinner. As she read through her emails on the laptop, she noticed an email that had arrived very early in the morning, while they were still asleep. She recognized the email, and opened it. She had barely finished reading the email when her phone rang. She leaned over to reach the phone that was laying on the coffee table, and looked at the display to see who was calling. It was Tony. Smiling, she answered the phone. "Hello, Tony. How're things?"

"Hi Ziva, Dad and I just got finished with the shopping. Found everything on the list you gave me. Need anything else before we head on back?" Tony's voice reached her ears over the phone.

"Wonderful. I think that covers everything." She paused for a second, then said, "Guess what?" Ziva's eyes flicked down to the email she had been reading before she got the phone call.

"Oh? What's that?" Tony asked.

Ziva let out a sigh, then said, "Well, I got this email from my father. Sounds like he's in town for some business, and from what I'm reading, he'll be stopping by later to visit. I was not expecting this."

"But I thought he was dead to you?" Tony's puzzled voice sounded over the speaker. "Guess he wants to see you really bad. We'll see if he actually shows up or not."

Ziva could hear a muffled "Who?" over the phone, and knew that was Senior asking Tony that question. She cleared her throat slightly, then said, "Yeah, well. Whether or not he actually shows up, I'm prepared either way. Doesn't matter to me because we haven't talked for a long time." Her eyes flicked up to the clock as her mind flashed back to the last meeting she had with her father, which hadn't been all that pleasant.

Tony chuckled to Ziva over the phone. "Well, I very much appreciate you letting me know. I better keep my eyes on the road. Dad's anxious to see you again."

"Alright, sounds good, see you guys soon." Ziva smiled as she hung up the phone, and went back on her laptop.

An hour later, Tony and Anthony Senior arrived at Ziva's apartment, while Ziva was preparing the food for the dinner. When she heard the door open, she walked up to Tony and Senior and took a couple of bags from them. "Hello, Tony. And to you, too, Senior." Ziva tilted her head and smiled at them as she set the bags down on the counter, then turned to hug Senior. "It's so good to see you, again."

Senior perked up with a smile and returned the hug. "Oh, it's good to see you again, darling!" He broke the hug and stepped back and held Ziva's hands and looked her up and down once. "You look dashing, as always."

Ziva chuckled at Senior. "And you look good, too. It's good that you and Tony worked things out earlier at the MTAC."

Senior's hands ran across the ring on Ziva's finger. "What's this?" he muttered as he lifted Ziva's hand up and looked at the ring. When he saw the ring, he recognized it and let out a surprised gasp. He turned to Tony and said, "This is your mother's engagement ring!"

Tony chuckled at Senior. "It was meant to be more of a surprise for you."

Ziva turned to Tony. "You haven't told him about it, have you?" She smiled at Tony.

"No, Ziva. Just wanted him to see for himself in person." Tony turned to his father and patted him on the shoulder. He smiled at Senior and said, "As to your questions that you're dying to ask, yes, Dad, I've been thinking about a lot of things, and I think I want to settle down. And so, I've asked Ziva to marry me." Tony smiled a bit nervously at Senior, unsure of how Senior would react.

Senior clapped his hands together and exclaimed, "Oh Tony! So soon? Son, I'm happy for you, but so soon?"

Tony glanced at Ziva as she glanced back at him, then he looked back to Senior. He sighed, then said, "Actually, we've been together for some time now. Just that nobody knows, and I'd like to keep it that way for a while."

Senior nodded, smiling, and gestured that he was locking his lips shut. "My lips are sealed. I won't tell anyone."

Tony flicked a finger in the air once to Senior. "Not even Gibbs. He'd have a cow if he ever found out. I'd find myself in the unemployment line so fast my head would be spinning."

Senior stopped and turned to look at Tony. "Are you serious? He'd fire you over that?"

"Oh, yes, he would." Ziva cut in before Tony could answer. "He forbids coworkers from having relationships with each other."

Senior turned to Tony. "Oh, son, your mother would be so proud of you for choosing a woman worthy of you. Somehow, I always had the feeling that she was the one for you. You certainly have my blessing," he said, smiling at Tony and patting him on the shoulder.

Tony smiled and hugged Senior. "Thanks, Dad," he whispered. He reached out and brought Ziva into a group hug.

A short time later, Senior walked into the kitchen and took a look at the food spread out on the countertops as Ziva started preparing the dinner. He walked up to Ziva and said, "I thought it'd be a good idea for me to make the Christmas dinner for you two, if you don't mind?"

Ziva tilted her head at Senior. "You sure you want to cook?"

Senior nodded his head and smiled at Ziva. "Where's the bird?"

"Oh, I just put it in the oven," Tony said. "But you're free to check on it every once in a while so it doesn't dry out."

Ziva smiled and pointed toward the spice cabinet. "Seasonings are up there if you need 'em. If you need my help, let me know."

Senior smiled and started preparing the rest of the dinner. "Wanted to make up for what happened earlier, Tony. Again, my apologies for the mess at your apartment."

What Senior had done at Tony's apartment earlier had rankled on Tony's nerves, and so he let out a sigh. "I can see you're trying to put forth your best effort to make this a good holiday. That's also why I took you out on that shopping trip to get more food. Forget that mess in my apartment, start over."

Senior sighed and nodded. "Shame you didn't have much there for me to cook with, so I had to get creative."

"It didn't have to include that neighbor!" Tony blurted out. He stopped himself and held up his hand before Senior and Ziva could object. "Anyway, that's in the past. Let's enjoy the day together, the three of us."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Tony's head shot up. "Who could that be?"

"I'll get it," Ziva said as she strode over to the front door and opened it, to reveal Eli standing in front of her door, holding a vase with an olive branch in it in one hand, and a bag of gifts in the other.

Ziva gasped in surprise, her eyes flicking to the vase, then back up to Eli. "Hello, Abba. Didn't know when you would show up."

"I take it that you got my email." Eli smiled at Ziva.

"Yes. The reason why I wasn't sure when you would show up is because I know how you can be busy."

Eli held out the vase with the olive branch to Ziva. "I wanted to give you a peace offering. I know we haven't been seeing eye to eye with each other, much less talking with each other. And for that, I'm sorry. I'd like to be able to have some time to visit my daughter over the holidays, if that's alright with you?"

Ziva looked at the vase with the olive branch, then slowly took it from Eli, swallowing the lump in her throat. She slowly nodded, then said, "Alright. This is the holidays, after all."

Eli took a step into the apartment. "So – are you spending your holiday time alone? Can we talk more and spend some time together?"

Ziva put a hand on Eli's chest, stopping him. "I'm not alone, Abba. I'd appreciate it if you kept things civil." She stepped aside and let Eli enter.

"Oh? Who's here with you?" Eli took a couple more steps into the apartment, then stopped when he saw Tony standing there across the room.

"Hello, Eli." Tony waved at Eli, then walked up beside Ziva, looping an arm around her waist. "Long time, no see."

Eli turned sharply to Ziva and took a deep breath, his expression showing pure anger. "What's this clown boy doing here?"

"Abba! Enough! Or I'll kick you back out and we'll not see each other again!" Ziva shouted at Eli. "This is the holidays, and I already told you to be civil. If you can't do that, you can go your own way." She held up the vase with the olive branch. "I thought you said you wanted peace, and this is not the way to begin the visit."

Eli stood rooted for a few long moments, taken aback by Ziva's sudden fury at him. He swiveled his head between Tony and Ziva, his brain trying to process how Ziva had changed, still not quite accepting it. He sighed, slightly defeated, then cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up on his face. He walked a little further into the apartment, down the hallway toward the kitchen, and saw that Senior was busy cooking up the dinner. He turned back to Ziva and said, "I was hoping to cook up a dinner -"

Tony stepped up beside Ziva and said, "Eli, please meet my father. Dad, this is Eli David. Ziva's father." He turned to Eli and said, "If you want, you can help my father with the food." He held out a hand toward the kitchen.

Eli looked back at Senior and smiled slightly. "I'd be honored to help him with the food." He walked into the kitchen with Senior to help with the food.

Senior looked up at Eli, a slight look of disgust on his face. "I heard some loud voices in there. What was that?"

Ziva walked up to the counter and put her hands on the counter, looking at Senior and smiling. "Everything's good. Just had to clear the air with my father."

Eli flashed a smile at Senior. "I said something that upset Ziva, and she wouldn't have it. My apologies." He turned to Ziva and looked at her, then suddenly noticed something shiny on Ziva's hand. He gasped, then picked up Ziva's hand and looked at the ring on her finger. "What's this?" He looked up sharply at Ziva.

"Yes, Abba, I'm engaged." Ziva glared at Eli. "I can make my own decisions for myself."

Before Eli could say something, Tony clapped him on the shoulder and pulled him away from the counter. "I think we need to talk. Man to man."

Eli turned to Tony. "Alright. Let's talk."

"Not here." Tony guided Eli into the living room. "Let's talk in there."

Eli walked with Tony to the living room. Once they had reached the room, he turned sharply to Tony and held up a finger. "I never wanted you to be with my daughter! I always thought you were a player," Eli whispered harshly to Tony.

Tony scoffed at Eli. "Says the overbearing controlling father. What kind of father goes off on business trips all the time and leaves his kids alone with their mother? You were never there for her, right?"

"I got her into the Mossad! She works for Mossad! For me!" Eli raised his voice slightly, completely ignoring what Tony had said. "She shows loyalty to no one but me!"

Tony shook his head to Eli. "No, you think so. You can't just force loyalty on anyone. She chooses who she wants to be with, and where she wants to work. Not you. If you can't allow her to be the woman that she is, then you might was well not see her again. Is that clear?" Tony shot back at Eli.

Eli's face was a mask of rage. He glowered at Tony, but said nothing for a few moments. He took a couple of steps toward Tony, finger raised in the air. "How long have you really known Ziva?"

"Long enough. Ever since she was seven years old, actually." Tony looked Eli up and down, disgust obvious on his face. "And what about you? Were you there for her all these years? No?" Tony got right up in Eli's face, his voice hissing in anger. "When Ari was bullying her when she was young, who was there? I was. When she came out to New York City, who was there? I was!" Tony listed off all the times he'd been in Ziva's life. "Rome? Her struggling with the taxi service? I was there! Somalia? Who was there for her? I was!"

Eli glowered at Tony. "Well, I was there when she was injured in an explosion on one of her missions. Did you know that she had a baby and lost it?"

"No!" Tony shot back at Eli. "At the time that happened, we had no idea at all that she was pregnant. Is that why you kept calling me a clown boy player?"

"You were not supposed to have relations with her before marriage!" Eli fired back at Tony.

In the kitchen, Ziva was helping Senior with the food, when she heard raised voices in the living room.

Senior looked up, a bit worried. "Hope we don't have an all-out war in the living room. What's this about you losing a baby?" he muttered to Ziva.

Ziva sighed and looked toward the living room, then back to Senior. "I think I better go and keep an eye on them." She wiped her hands off on the dish towel and tossed it onto the counter before walking toward the living room to see Eli glowering at Tony. "Everything okay in here?" she asked.

Eli looked sharply at Ziva. She had caught him totally off guard. He swallowed hard, then looked back at Tony, who was still staring him down. He cleared his throat, and straightened his tie slightly. "I'm fine."

Ziva stepped up to Eli and glowered at him. "No, you're not fine. I heard what was said in there. You have no right to get on his case like that! He has shown me true integrity in every aspect of my life. No one can take that away from me." She pointed to the olive branch in the vase sitting on the coffee table. "If this was your idea of trying to get back into my life and dictating who I should and should not be seeing, then you can leave right now and not come back. I didn't allow you in here just so you can argue on the holidays with me or Tony."

Eli looked at his daughter, and saw the fire in her eyes. The moment that he saw Ziva walk up beside Tony and take his hands into hers, he saw the bond between Tony and Ziva and realized how much he had screwed up and how he had driven Ziva away, straight into Tony's arms. He turned to Tony and said, much more subdued, "You can say your piece now. I'm listening."

Tony sighed to Eli. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to ask for your blessing, to ask your daughter to marry me. Now that you're here, I mean." He held up a finger, forestalling Eli. "Like I said, we kept bumping into each other over our lives. When I saw her show up at NCIS, I somehow just knew she was the one for me, from the very first few lines we said at NCIS."

"All these years, and I never knew," Eli muttered to himself, his voice a raspy growl. "And – why? How?" He still didn't quite understand how Tony and Ziva were so close with each other. He couldn't have, after all, because he was hardly there during Ziva's lifetime.

Tony scoffed to Eli. "We've been asking ourselves that question over and over again, and we do not have an answer as to why we're destined to be together. Might as well make it official. Just on the down low, for now. Look, I really love your daughter. I never completely understood why things happened the way they have, but it is what it is." Tony shrugged and held his hands up in the air.

Eli stood there quietly, allowing Tony to rant and rave while he was contemplating things. He realized how much he had screwed up with Ziva, and tried to come up with a way to defuse the situation. He looked at Tony. "You done?"

Ziva looked at Eli, but said nothing, leaning her head on Tony's shoulder as she held his hands.

Tony looked at Ziva, then back at Eli and sighed, "If you love your daughter so much and want her to be happy, why don't you allow that to happen?"

Eli nodded, his shoulders slumped, a look of defeat on his face. "Alright," he whispered to Tony. He had finally let Tony off the hook. He looked down at the floor for a few moments, thinking to himself, then looked back up at Tony. "I was going to give you my blessings, but since you wanted to talk, I let you rant." Eli chuckled gently and walked up to Tony and patted him on his cheek.

"Why did you make me go through that?" Tony scoffed as he took half a step back.

"Because I can." Eli laughed at Tony. But he held up a finger in the air. "Let me tell you something. You have shown yourself to be worthy of my Ziva. I did not realize until now that you have the courage and balls to stand up for her. You have passed where all others have failed. I give you my blessing." Eli smiled as he shot Tony a look.

"Really?" Tony tilted his head at Eli, surprise on his face. He glanced at Ziva, then looked back to Eli.

Ziva gasped to Eli, a mixture of surprise and joy on her face. "Abba? Seriously?"

Eli paused to reach his hand on Ziva's cheek, "Yes. I want you to be happy. Go ahead, marry him. He has shown me how worthy he is to be with you." Eli smiled at Ziva.

Ziva reached out to hug Eli with joy and relief on her face. "Oh, thank you Abba!"

"Thank you, Eli" Tony took a deep breath and held out his hand for a handshake from Eli.

But Eli let go of Ziva and reached out to hug Tony, and planted kisses on both of Tony's cheeks, catching him off guard. "Welcome to the family," he said.

Ziva chuckled at Tony's surprised look. "It's all good. Our custom," she said. "When a man asks for the woman's hand and the father accepts, he welcomes the suitor into the family like so."

Tony nodded and smiled. "I figured as much. Just didn't quite expect it, is all." He turned to Eli and said, "Thanks again for talking with me about all of this."

"Not a problem, son," Eli smiled at Tony.

"Where's the pan for the potatoes?" Senior's voice reached their ears.

Ziva turned to look at Senior, then laughed. "I'm coming, I'll help you out."

Later that evening, Tony, Ziva, Senior, and Eli sat around the table that Ziva had just set. Eli looked at the spread of food on the table, freshly cooked. "This food looks amazing," Eli said, smiling at Ziva and Tony.

Tony turned the turkey around on the table a full 360 degrees, looking at the bird. "And perfectly done, to boot."

"Oh yes. It smells so good." Ziva smiled at the food on the table. She paused and looked at the three men at the table, her eyes settling on her father. "Abba, will you do the blessing for the meal? I can translate for Senior and Tony." Ziva smiled at Eli.

"Oh sure, I would be more than happy to be honored to do the blessing, that would be great if you do that?" Eli smiled at Ziva, patting her shoulder.

"Wonderful." Ziva nodded and smiled. "Ready when you are."

Everyone joined hands as Eli bent his head over the table and said the blessings in Hebrew, as Ziva translated. As soon the blessing was over, everyone filled their plates with food.

Tony smiled as he finished putting some food on his plate, grabbing a turkey leg while he was at it. He took a bite of the turkey leg and savored the taste of the turkey. Swallowing the bite, he muttered to himself, "Mmm, so juicy. So wonderful."

Senior looked up and smiled at Tony, then noticed the ring on Tony's finger. "Son, is that the family ring you're wearing?"

Tony looked down at his hand, still holding the turkey leg. "Oh, yeah. Put it on earlier, just before we sat down."

Eli chuckled as he poured out the gravy over his mashed potatoes. He looked up at Tony and Ziva. "This gravy reminds me of something that happened a long time ago."

Ziva shot her eyes over to Eli, a memory suddenly jarred afresh. She put her face in her hand, slightly embarrassed, blushing. "Oh, please, Abba!"

"Eli looked at Ziva and chuckled. He turned to Tony. "One year, she was helping her Ima cook. She was helping make gravy, and got a little... what's the word?" Eli snapped his finger, trying to come up with the right word. "Overzealous. She dumped half a box of powdered sugar into the gravy."

Tony guffawed. "And what happened next?"

Eli chuckled, "Well, we had no choice but to help Ziva make a new gravy. This time she did much better. Right, Ziva?" Eli tilted head at Ziva with a smile.

Ziva nodded. "Never forgot how to make gravy the right way ever since that day. Good lesson to learn from you, and Ima." Ziva nodded at Eli.

Tony dug into the mashed potatoes and gravy and took a bite. His eyebrows shot up in delight. He swallowed his food, then said, "This gravy is champion. You knocked it right out of the park. Love it."

"Aw thank you, Tony" Ziva smiled.

Senior chuckled. "Tony's had his share of doozies growing up as well."

Tony groaned internally and put his head in his hand. "Thanks a lot, Dad," he muttered to himself. He thought fervently to himself, "Oh crap! I hope he doesn't tell the story of me washing the dishes in the toilet." He looked sidelong at Ziva.

Ziva looked at Tony and chuckled at his expression. His eyes had told it all to her. She then turned to Senior. "Do tell. I'm interested to hear how he was growing up."

Senior giggled at the memory. "Well, he always loved going outside with very little to no clothing on when he was a very wee little boy, I'd have to say around preschool age. Didn't matter if it was rainy, snowing, sunny outside. One time I had to cancel an important business trip to take care of Tony when he'd fallen ill from being outside in the snow, playing with his old dog."

"Oh Dad" Tony sat back, chuckling and being a bit embarrassed at the same time.

"It's true, son." Senior looked at Tony.

Eli chuckled as he wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Alright, I've got another story to tell you guys." Eli smiled as he put his napkin on the table.

Tony's eyebrows shot up as he looked at Eli. "Ah really? Please tell us some more, Eli." Tony glanced over to see Ziva, smiles at her.

"She loved to climb trees when she was young," Eli said.

Ziva choked slightly on the bite of turkey she ate, thinking to herself, Oh no, he's going to tell the story of when my shorts snagged on the tree and tore to shreds so I had to come down without them."

Eli looked at Ziva with a smile and patted her hand, then looked at Tony and Senior. "Ziva was a happy child. She loved to climb up a tree and just read up there, for hours. One time she spent so long up in the tree, we didn't know where she was. We thought she had run away. Her Ima had been hanging the wash out on the line, and Ziva jumped down out of the tree, right in front of her Ima. Damned near gave her a heart attack, too."

"Oh Abba!" Ziva blushed at the memory. She turned to Tony and said, "Luckily I made it into that huge basket of laundry that my Ima was hanging out to dry."

Tony slowly turned to Ziva and looked at her appreciatively. "No wonder you were able to climb that tree on one of the cases we worked."

Eli craned his head around to Tony. "She still climbs trees?"

Tony nodded, grinning. "She's a regular Ninja. How she got up there so quietly and quickly, I still have no idea. Damned near gave me and McGee a heart attack when she jumped down out of that tree."

Ziva chuckled. "Certainly made it easier for me to do certain missions. Both with the Mossad and with NCIS."

Eli smiled and nodded at Ziva. "Wonderful!"

Senior held up a hand and said, "Tony had a penchant for mischief, as well. He must have been maybe seven or eight years old, when it happened. He caused a nanny to quit one year."

"Oh?" Eli looked at Tony, who buried his head in his hand and shook his head slightly."

Senior chuckled slightly. "I shouldn't be laughing at this, but I find it funny, now. But back then, it was a rough period for Tony. Y' see, his mother had just passed away, and not knowing what to do, I hired on a nanny. I didn't realize that Tony didn't care for her."

"No, I didn't." Tony sat back in his chair, resigned to the fact that Senior was about to tell his story.

Senior looked at Tony, then back at Eli. "He caught a mouse in a cookie tin and shook the bejesus out of it until it stopped moving." He mimicked Tony angrily shaking the cookie tin.

"Oh, no!" Ziva put a hand over her mouth, a grin on her lips.

"Oh, yes." Senior chuckled at Ziva, then turned back to the others. "How I found that out was when I got home and he was all alone at home. I had to call the nanny and find out what he did. Tell 'em what you did, Tony." Senior prodded Tony.

Tony sighed, then said, "Yeah, well, after I shook the life out of that mouse, I went into the kitchen where the nanny was fixing something up. I put the mouse in her cup and asked if she wanted some coffee for herself. She took one look and screamed the loudest scream I ever heard in my life and threw the coffee cup so hard it left a mark on the wall when it shattered."

Eli let out a guffaw. "That sounds exactly like what Ari would do to girls when he was young."

Ziva shook her head and sighed. "Yeah. That's why I always climbed up trees when I was young. To get away from Ari. It was my safe place up there. He couldn't climb trees, so I used that to my advantage."

Before Eli could say something, his phone rang. He grunted as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at it. He shook his head at the phone and set it on the table as it stopped ringing. "People could never leave me alone, even on holiday," he muttered to himself.

Ziva looked sharply at her father. "Abba, must you always have the phone with you?"

"I'm the head of the Mossad, remember?" Eli reminded her.

Ziva sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Alright," she said to Eli, her voice barely above a whisper.

Tony reached around her and pulled her closer to him, and whispered to her, "It's alright. You got to spend some time with him, after all."

Eli's phone rang yet again, more insistently. "Must be something important," he muttered. He picked the phone up off the table and said, "Excuse me while I see what's going on here." Eli pushed himself away from the table and walked to the living room.

Senior watched as Eli walked out of the room. "What was that all about?" he asked.

Tony took a sip of his drink and set it down on the table. "No idea. The guy's unpredictable, as always."

Senior looked at Tony, then at Ziva. "Is he always like this, your father?"

Ziva nodded. "That's my Abba for you guys."

Eli walked back into the room just then. "I have to apologize for leaving so suddenly. Something came up and I need to... handle it."

Ziva had noticed the pause in Eli's speech. "Couldn't it wait until after -"

Eli cut Ziva off slightly. "I'm sorry. Urgent business. Couldn't wait." He reached out to stroke Ziva's cheek, then said, "Walk me out, please?"

"Sure," Ziva said automatically as she stood up and walked to Eli. She glanced over to Tony furtively and bent her finger and beckoned Tony to come with her, without Eli noticing.

Tony nodded slightly and got up from his chair as well, shadowing Ziva. "Well, it's been good to have you here. Even though we didn't quite start off on a good note. Hope whatever you need to take care of goes smoothly," Tony said to Eli.

Eli nodded and smiled as he walked with them to the door. "I don't anticipate any problems, but you never know in my line of business, right?"

Ziva nodded. "I know this all too well," she said.

They stopped in front of the front door. Eli put his hand on the knob and turned to Ziva. "I'll be back when it's all done. I'd like to spend some more time with you when it's taken care of… this business."

Ziva smiled at Eli. "That would be wonderful."

Eli smiled at Ziva, then turned the knob and stepped out the door, then stopped himself and turned back to face Ziva. "Farewell until later." He held out his arms, expecting Ziva to come and hug him goodbye.

Ziva swallowed the lump in her throat as she stepped up to Eli and hugged him, planting a kiss on each cheek. "Shalom," she said, waving him off. She closed the door as he walked away, then turned to Tony and sighed.

Tony looked at Ziva, a slight hint of puzzled look on his face showing. "Did he say what I think he said?"

Ziva blinked at Tony. "I have a feeling about his 'business' that he has to take care of, and I don't want to think about it right now." She had this uneasy feeling all of a sudden, but she shook her head, putting that thought to the side.

Tony walked up to Ziva and hugged her. "Whatever it is, I'm sure he can handle himself," he whispered to her.

Ziva leaned her head into Tony's chest. "I hope so, for God's sake. I really hope so, Tony."

Tony put a finger under her chin and lifted it up so he could look at her. "Hey. At least he came and gave us his blessing."

Ziva smiled and a small chuckle escaped her lips. "That alone means a lot to me. Even if my father had not been the greatest father in my life, he did try to make up for his shortcomings," she said to Tony.

"That's right, and you hold onto that. He can't go back on his word, now." Tony smiled at Ziva as he hugged her close to him.

Ziva nodded. "That's true." She smiled as she hugged Tony back. After a few moments, she looked at his face, stroking his cheek, then kissing him full-on for a split second before breaking the hug.

Tony smiled at Ziva. "We better get back to the table before my dad wonders where we went off to."

"Wouldn't want that to happen, do we?" Ziva chuckled at Tony, then walked with him to the kitchen.

A/N: Dear Readers, This Au that were being filling in on the canons of Shell Shock and You Better Watch Out episodes, more to come, and in the advance, thank you for the reviews, tweets, messages, and kudos.