Ziva frowned as she stepped out of the furniture store and into the crowded square of an outdoor shopping center. This has all been an ugly strip mall, the last time she had been there, back when she called Silver Spring home. Even then she had only ended up there because she got lost looking for another way to get into Rock Creek Park, to go for an extra long run. That had been back when people kept paper maps in their cars. Tali could not believe it, when her parents explained that back in the day, people did not carry their whole lives on their phones.

"So," Tony said, as he put his sunglasses on. "Thoughts?"

They had come to this shopping center for the three furniture stores it contained. They still needed a new dining table. The tiny square table meant to seat four was too small for their dining nook. Especially, if the offer Tim and Delilah had put on the house across the street went through.

Ziva had visions of the kids playing in the yard, while the adults enjoyed a lazy lingering dinner. Of winter game nights, while the kids watched movies in the lounge, and it snowed outside.

Except Ziva could not find a table.

The tables they viewed were too flimsy, too expensive or too delicate.

She might not have a job to start or any concrete plans for the next few months, but she did not plan to spend her days cleaning fingerprints off a glass table.

All she wanted was a simple wooden table, that could seat eight if it was pulled out, and fit in the dining nook.

"Some of them were nice," Ziva said.

She had no idea about why she was so focused on this dining table. In a previous life, she had not given much thought to the furniture in her home. She would simply pick the piece she most liked from a selection that was in her price range, and often from the Swedish furniture maze that had been available in all three of the countries she had lived in.

Was it because almost all of the furniture in their home was from the Parisian apartment, and was picked by Tony.

Was it because, since she woke to find blood in her underwear earlier that week, an unexpected and unwanted period, she had felt the need to control something. She had taken herself on an extra long run that morning, trying to punish her body.

"But, you didn't find the one," Tony said with a sigh.

He had offered to let Ziva make all the decisions on this table, as she seemed to care the most. He was willing to live with a table that was not his first choice, just to have a table that Ziva liked.

"It's hot," Tali whined, as she ran her sweaty hand down her dress.

Tali still carried the scent of chlorine from their visit to the waterpark the day before.

Tony placed his hand above his sunglasses and looked around. This mall was technically closer to them, than the town square they took Tali to, and while it had more shops, this mall did not have a splash pad, or the cool ice cream place that had become their go-to.

It did not have the canopy of trees that Tali said reminded her of Paris.

Ziva did the same, feeling sweat roll down her back. She wanted to go home and lie under the air conditioning vent.

Next year we're definitely getting a pool membership, Tony had said that morning when they woke up to yet another day of sticky humidity.

It had been six weeks since they had moved into their little suburban house, which was the closest to walkable they would get in Southern Maryland. Their house was a ten minute walk to the metro, a eight minute walk to a supermarket, and had only cost them a fraction of the houses a few metro stops closer to the city. It was also a twelve minute walk in the other direction, to a community center that had a pool. Sometimes, when they were in the park, they would look over to the path that led to the pool, and watch as kids excitedly ran toward the pool.

Tony pointed to a small coffee shop sandwiched between a Japanese clothes store, and an overpriced homewares store they wouldn't dare take Tali into.

"Shall we get a snack?" Tony asked.

Tali frowned from under her sun hat, and heart shaped sunglasses, the second pair they had brought this summer.

"Fine," Tali pouted.

She was seven going on seventeen.

They'd make sure that they would do something fun over the weekend, keeping the promise they had made to Tali when they first moved.

Senior was also planning to visit on Friday, his third visit of the week, which would perk Tali up, when he had texted Tony earlier that day, he had said he wanted to show him something. Probably another puzzle to share with Tali. The completed puzzle of Paris, sat pride of place on the coffee table, with Tali refusing to put it back in the box.

Once, they decided on a dining table, Ziva wanted to invite Odette over again, and she was sure that Tali would like to see Odette's dog again. Ziva would like to sit with Odette again. She had worried that she had lost Odette's friendship, now that she was out of the shadows, but Odette had not let go. The conversations were different now there was no threat, but sitting with Odette brought a smile to Ziva's face.

Their lives were so full now.

Tony looked at the crowded coffee shop, and then back at a shady spot near a fountain, that had just been vacated by an old couple in matching outfits.

Ziva looked down at her own engagement ring, and wondered if she and Tony would be like that in forty years. Not that either of them looked good in lemon yellow.

"Why doesn't Ima get some stuff to go?" Tony said, as he moved across the plaza to claim the spot. These shady spots were in high demand. "Then, we'll get what we need to get, and decide what we want to do over the weekend."

Tali's face lightened.

"Can we go to the beach?" Tali asked.

The weather promised to be warm for the next few days. Maybe they could pack up their new car and go to the coast for the weekend. Or they could get a cabin in the mountains. Both were day trip distances, but would also make a nice mini vacation. If it still felt a little like a vacation, they might actually make it one.

"Let's have a look," Tony said, as he took out his phone from the pocket of his shorts, and sat down in front of the fountain.

Ziva left the shopping bag, they had stopped at a bookstore between furniture shops, at Tony's feet, and moved toward the coffee shop.

The coffee shop was busy but not crowded. Groups of teenagers sat at tables drinking brightly coloured drinks with cream on top. Two old ladies had taken over a back table and were sharing gossip. One of them erupted into a cackle.

After over a year spent distancing and fearful of an airborne virus that had taken so many, it was such a lovely scene. One Ziva would never take for granted.

The queue moved quickly. Coffee shop regulars ordered quickly, and shared small talk. This mall was part of a transit oriented development, with apartments and offices above the shops.

If Ziva were younger and single she might like to live in a place like this.

"Ziva," a voice called from behind the counter.

It took Ziva a second to take in the person who had called her name.

Since they had moved back, it was usually Tony who bumped into someone he knew, and someone who had to explain their complicated little family. There had been a few men from the men's group he had joined after Ziva made him leave Israel, that raised their eyebrows at the mention of Ziva's name.

Ben Ramsey stood in front of her. Almost a decade older than when she had last seen him. There were dark circles under his eyes, and lines near his eyes. The type of life lines that only came from sleepless nights.

"Oh wow," Ben said, as he stepped out from behind the counter. "It's really you."

Ziva remembered the young man who had sat with her in Odette's little cabin. The man riddled with guilt and blame.

We fought about the baby. I was only nineteen.

If had been a better man, maybe she wouldn't-

Maybe, we wouldn't be here.

"I heard -," Ben said, as he looked around the coffee shop. All the guests were happy in their little bubbles, completely unaware of the story that was playing out in front of them. "Odette said you were alive."

Ziva chuckled to herself.

"Yes," Ziva said delicately. "I am sorry I could not reveal myself. There was a lot going on at the time."

That was an understatement, but the best way Ziva could describe it.

"Can I hug you?" Ben asked.

Ziva nodded.

Ben's arms wrapped around her. Ziva felt the bristle of some facial hair.

"You know at the hospital with Morgan and Lily, I was sure I saw you," Ben said, as he pulled back from the hug. "I thought I was going crazy. They say that your brain can make stuff up, when it's under extreme stress."

Ziva looked down at her sandals. That visit to the hospital had been so dangerous. If Gibbs or any of the others had been at that hospital, they would have seen her.

But, it was a risk she had to take.

If Adam has been in town, he would have locked her in the hotel room, because Odette's cabin was compromised at that point.

But, she needed to read Morgan's mother's letter. She needed to fulfil a dying woman's wish. Ziva David did not break promises.

It was the same need that had sent Paraguay chasing after two men who believed her dead.

"Morgan is going to be so excited, when I tell her," Ben continued. "I told her how you never gave up on her, and she's always wanted to say thank you."

A wave of guilt rushed through Ziva, she had left Morgan Burke for dead, and now the woman wanted to meet her.

"That is not necessary," Ziva said.

She had only persisted with this case, because of that initial screw up. If she had not have let the sheriff take over the case, they might have found Morgan sooner, before she suffered a decade of pure horror.

You have to make peace with the past, her therapist in Paris had said. All of it.

That was easier said than done.

"It is," Ben said. "You gave me my girls back, thank you doesn't feel like enough."

"You and Morgan," Ziva started, "You are together?"

Ben shook his head.

"We are a family," he said. "We all live together, and we're each other's support system. I love Morgan, and always will, but she's still working through things. Whatever happens, we'll always be a family."

The speech sounded rehearsed. An explanation that had probably been repeated half a dozen times, to concerned friends and family that had no comprehension of what the family had been through.

"Of course," Ziva said. "It must have been quite an adjustment, for all of you."

Ben deflated a little.

"Yeah," he said. "All of my friends who are Dads always talk about how there is no instruction manual, but there really isn't a manual for meeting your kid when she's nearly ten, and has been through something too traumatic to imagine."

There were tears in Ben's eyes. He used his hands to wipe them away.

"Sorry," Ben said. "I'm unloading. I guess I'm used to talking to you, and you kinda get it."

I was held captive once, Ziva told Ben in Odette's cabin. I know you want to believe Morgan is alive, but sometimes there are things almost as bad as death.

How prophetic those words felt now.

"I have sometimes wondered," Ziva started. "How the three of you were, after everything. It is a lot to make sense of, and to rebuild."

Not everything could be rebuilt.

Those old fears came back to her, that anxious plane ride to Paris, where she did not know what she would be walking into. Tony had said that they would work it out, and be a family, but Ziva wondered if too much time had passed. She worried that there had been too much pain.

For so long, she had waited for the other shoe to drop, for Tony to tell it was too hard, after they put Tali to bed.

It hadn't, and it probably wouldn't. They had overcome their past, and they were planning a future.

For so long Ziva had only operated in the present, that the hope of a future felt dangerous.

"It's been hard," Ben admitted. "We do a lot of therapy. One on one, and as a family. Lily really struggled in those first few months, Morgan has a lot of trust issues, and the shelter in place order was hard on all of us. We'd just moved into our new place which has a bit of yard, which was good, neither of them like to be inside for too long."

Ziva nodded.

She thought of their little Pairs apartment, and how cramped it felt when they were all on top of each other.

She made sure to go on a walk almost every day, and some days that kept her from falling into the despair that came with lockdown.

"But, it's not all bad. In fact we have way more good days than bad days," Ben said, his face brightening. "Lily is so smart, like she had never been to school until two years ago, and now she's all A's and B's. And, she's the fastest little runner. I think it's more than running for her, she says it makes her feel calm, but she loves it and is really good at it."

Ziva's phone buzzed in her pocket.

"Morgan's doing really well, too," Ben continued. "She did a lot of art therapy in the beginning, and discovered she really likes art. Our house is like an art gallery, and she painted that."

Ben pointed to a huge painting on the back wall of a coffee shop. It was fashioned after a Parisian cafe. Ziva had assumed it was professionally done.

"Did you finally get your own place?" Ziva asked.

You are putting your life hold, Ziva had told Ben delicately during one of their late night chats. You cannot let yourself do that.

Ben smiled proudly.

"Yeah," he said. "The plan was always to get somewhere in DC, but I ended up renting a house not far from here, because I have to worry about school districts now. I didn't work during the pandemic which was probably a good thing. Then after the pandemic there were some small business grants going around, and well here we are."

Ben motioned around the cafe.

"I poached some colleagues from the old place, I needed to make sure I could leave this baby in safe hands, in case my girls needed me," Ben continued. "Family comes first."

Ziva turned slightly and looked out the window to her family. Tali had gotten up, and was standing in front of Tony. They were part of their own secret world.

Ziva's phone buzzed again, and Ziva saw Tony looking around the square.

"I've been so rude," Ben suddenly declared. "How are you? What's it like being not dead? That's probably not not the best description."

It had been a little over two years since she stood at the top of Gibbs' basement stairs, and changed everything.

Sometimes, Ziva had to pinch herself to remind herself that she was no longer hiding. That she was free to take photos of her daughter without compromising either of them. That she could buy pointless things, because she no longer had to be ready to move at a moments notice.

"It is not," Ziva said softly, "But, there is not really a good way to describe it."

Tony tended to describe it as being out of the shadows.

But, the shadows lingered.

Last time Tali had been really sick, some sort of stomach bug, she had only wanted Tony.

Was it because Tony always made her laugh when she felt rotten?

Or, was it because Ziva hadn't been there to comfort her for almost four years?

"It has been nearly two years," Ziva finally said. "It was quite an adjustment, especially for Tali."

"Tali?" Ben asked, frowning with confusion.

Who's that in the photo? Ben asked during one evening in the cabin, as he held the photo.

The girl in the middle is me, Ziva said, the little girl was my sister Tali, and the boy was my brother Ari.

Was? Ben asked.

Yes, was. They are both dead, Ziva said, looking out of the window of the cabin, and into the dark night. Tali got caught in a bombing. They were common in Tel Aviv when we were growing up. Ari was my half brother, and he carried a lot of pain. Pain that made him do bad things, but he was still important to me.

He was your big brother, Ben said.

The way she described Ari was simplistic, but she and Ben already knew too many of each other's secrets.

Gibbs had rule ten for a reason, and here she was almost friends with Morgan Burke's bereft boyfriend.

Yes, he was, Ziva said.

"Yes, my daughter Tali," Ziva said, as she pulled out her phone, ready to show off photos. She was such a proud parent. "She turned seven in June."

Shock washed over Ben's face. She could see him doing the math in his head.

"You have a daughter," he spluttered. "Wow."

Ziva smiled, and turned slightly. She pointed to Tony and Tali. Tali was still chatting, and Tony was doing his best to look interested.

Ziva's phone buzzed again, and she finally read all the texts, in an opposite order to how they were sent.

We're starving.

?

Everything okay?

"There she is," Ziva said pointing to the two of them. "And, the man with her is Tony. He's my -."

Ziva looked down at her engagement ring then at her family.

It was a little complicated.

"He is my partner, and he is Tali's Father," Ziva said, ripping off the bandaid. "We are engaged, which is not something I ever thought would happen when I went back to them. It was all a little complicated."

The worst thing she had ever done was waiting to tell Tony about Tali. She should have never have kept the two of them apart.

"Wait, Tony?" Ben said, as he put all the pieces together, and wasn't sure about the picture. "The guy you worked with. The one who always talked about movies."

Ziva looked down at her sandals, and then back up at him.

"Yes," Ziva said, feeling a smile creep over her face.

They had wasted so much time.

"So, when you suddenly disappeared, it was because you and Tony had finally got together?" Ben asked.

My father died, Ziva said when she met Ben in his old coffee shop, just before she went to Israel. That is why you have not seen me since the new year. My father's death had a lot of repercussions, and I am going to Israel for a while. I promise that I have not forgotten about Morgan.

He had given her the fruit smoothie she ordered for free, and apologised for her loss.

She had never returned to the states.

She had never forgotten about Morgan.

"No," Ziva said. "I made quite a mess. I was not in a good place when I sent Tony back to the states. I did not tell him about Tali. He only found out about her, after I had to-"

Ziva's phone buzzed again.

Everything okay?

There was a relationship between the number of question marks, and his worry.

So she texted back.

Okay. I bumped into someone I used to know.

He sent her a gif of Adele singing that song.

"Go into the shadows," Ziva finally said, gulping as she thought of leaving Tali with Adam in that market. A wave of panic rose through her, as she thought of the emptiness in her arms as Adam took Tali. "He suddenly had a two year old."

"Sounds like we should compare notes," Ben joked.

Her phone buzzed.

Can we come in? We're sizzling out here.

"I was away from Tali for over three years," Ziva said, as she looked out the window, at the two of them. "I guess Tony had a lot of time to make sense of some things. To make some choices."

Yes, let's dine in.

"Are you glad it all worked out?" Ben asked.

Ziva felt a smile creep up her face.

"Yes," Ziva said. "We have good days and bad days, but mostly good ones. Happy ones."

Sitting with Tali as they did crafts. The three of them squished in Tali's tiny bed together reading stories before bed. Holding Tony's hand as they watched Tali play in the park.

"Aren't those just the best?" Ben asked. "It's what it's all about."

"Yes," Ziva said.

The bell of the coffee shop rang, and Tony and Tali stepped into the coffee shop. She watched as Tony sighed in relief as the air conditioning hit him.

Tali took her sunglasses off, and looked at the cabinet of sweet treats.

"We're just getting a drink," Tony warned, as he steered Tali toward Ziva. "Look it's Ima."

Tali bounded over toward her.

"She looks just like you," Ben whispered.

Tony lifted his sunglasses up, and sized up Ben. A hint of recognition crossed his face, but then confusion took over him.

"Tony DiNozzo," Tony said, thrusting out his hand. "I'm Ziva's fiancé."

"That means they are getting married," Tali announced. "Eventually."

They would be married just after the high holidays. Ziva had an appointment for a dress fitting at the end of the following week. They still had to get Tali a bridesmaid dress.

"Ben Ramsey," Ben said, as he shook Tony's hand.

Then Tony's confusion turned to recognition, he almost never forgot a name.

"Morgan Burke's boyfriend," Tony said, before he could stop it.

"Yeah," Ben said. "I didn't mean to keep you guys from your drinks, but I really wanted to say thank you to Ziva, and it doesn't feel like enough."

Tony swallowed thickly, and nodded.

"Why is it not enough?" Tali asked. "Thank you is polite."

Tony's face flushed red.

"You must be Tali," Ben said, as he bent down to Tali's level. "I have a daughter who is a few years older than you. Her name is Lily. She and her Mom were away for a long time, and your Mom helped them come back to me."

Tali looked down at her feet.

"Ima makes sure the monsters stay away," Tali announced.

Ben pulled himself, and the three adults looked at each other.

Sometimes the scariest monsters were not under the bed.

"Yeah," Tony said, as he rubbed Tali's shoulder. "Ima is a protector."

One of the coffee shop employees moved toward Ben with an anguished look.

"Duty calls," Ben announced. "There's a table in the back that's pretty quiet, and everything in the cabinet is fresh this morning, let me know if you'd like something else, I should be able to whip something up. And Ziva, I know you said I don't need to say it, but thank you."

Tony reached behind Tali, and took Ziva's hand. He squeezed it tight.

They stayed for a snack. Tali got a smoothie and a sugary treat, and her parents decided it counted as a balanced diet.

Her tea steamed, his iced coffee was all gone, and the croissant they had shared was nothing but flakes on a plate.

Tali's had chocolate smeared on her cheek.

"I always wondered what happened to them," Tony said, keeping his voice low. "When Gibbs told me that Morgan had been found. It's a lot to come back from."

During the first year together, they had worked two cases that Ziva often thought about. There had been that North Korean sleeper who had married an American Marine, and had a baby with him. It would have been so easy for the husband to take his daughter, and walk away from his wife, but instead he vowed to stay with her. At the time she had thought the man was deluded. Even if his wife avoided jail time by striking a deal, they would have to go into witness protection at the very least.

Would a man be able to give up his whole life for a woman who had lied to him from the start?

The other case Ziva found herself thinking back on, was the boy who had walked into his classroom with a bomb, because he wanted to see his 'dead' mother. At the time, the case had haunted her, because she had already seen too many teenagers with bombs. After the case, when the boy was reunited with his mother who had faked her death, Ziva's thoughts had turned to Tony, because the case had weighed heavily on him. The boy with the bomb had gotten what every motherless child wanted, their mother back.

Now, Ziva wondered how the little family had rebuilt itself. The boy had already been a teenager when his mother faked her death, but the trust had been broken. Ziva wondered what it was like for that little family fifteen years later.

Ziva wondered if people thought the same thing about her and Tony.

Perhaps Breena or even Delilah had said as much to their husband, after Ziva got on the plane to Paris.

How do you come back from that? Tali has gone so long without her mother.

"Love finds a way," Ziva said, as she watched Ben clean a table. "Ben is a good man, he would have fought for his family."

"Sounds like a good man," Tony said.

Ziva nodded at him.

"He sounds like someone else I know," she said.

Tony smirked.

"Can we go now?" Tali asked.

Tony handed her a tissue and motioned toward her face.

A few minutes later the trio slipped out of the coffee shop. Tali wanted to check out the arcade near the movie theatre, but they had decided that they would leave the other furniture store for another day.

"Bye Guys," Ben said, giving them a big wave. "See you around."

The shopping centre was not too far from Tali's new school, and was close to a metro stop. Tony was rather impressed with the coffee too.

So, just maybe they might.

A/N:

I don't own a thing.

The draft of this chapter was written before I started planning 'A Family, Settled', and it was writing this chapter that made the muse want to extend the fic. That's also why I've been able to publish a chapter this week, despite being on holiday.

I couldn't rewatch the episode so I had to rely on recaps and some gifs from the episode. I don't know how friendly Ziva and Ben were supposed to be, but that is the magic of fanfic.

Also, I am fascinated by the case that was 'She' mostly because those characters would have to work through even more healing than our favourite little family.

If you weren't a fan of our little family bumping into Ben, don't worry he won't be reappearing.

Also, after FFN's little issue last week, I uploaded this fic and 'A Family, Reunited' onto AO3, if you prefer to get your fics from there, I go by the same user name there.

Next chapter will be up next week, and will feature Senior.