Second chapter is here! Hope you'll like it!
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Chapter 2:
"I believe you are looking for me."
Silence. No words. Just quiet. They stared at her, not believing she was actually there.
"Ziva." Gibbs shot up from his seat.
"Wait." She waved her hand his way as her expression changed. Her eyes got focused. Anger.
"You survived? Hah what an unpleasant surprise. "
Kort was lead out by two agents, handcuffed. He needed medical care after Tony's visit.
Ziva swiftly moved. "You son of a bitch." And punched him.
"Ziva!"
"You think you and your little friends can get me?! You crossed the line and you will pay for it!"
"What? Did something happened to your little girl?" Kort chuckled while blood run down his face. Man had a tough day.
"Alright, let's see. How much pain can CIA bastard like you handle?!"
"Ziva stop! Get him away from here."
She breathed hard while she tried to calm down. She looked around, seeing many new faces. Before, she didn't really notice the one that mattered the most.
"Ziva, talk. What happened?"
"I knew something was happening. Couple months ago I noticed they were following me. I knew something was gonna happen."
"Not just recent months, Ziva." Tony said.
"What do you mean?"
"Kort. He knew some… Things. They were following you longer."
She started to think, looking confused and not as her usual self.
"Anyway, Recently, they knew I knew and they didn't mind. I got ready for a fight. Mossad helped me. Friends helped me. I had a lot of luck I wasn't in the house. We were not prepared for that."
"Agents! My Office, now! You too, David." Yelled director from upstairs.
…..
"What the hell is going on? Do you have the file?"
"Yes. Thank god I found that. I just did not expect Kort to be such a bastard."
"We got him now. Just talked to Mossad, they've got the hit man. So is there still someone else who we should be worried about?"
"I'm scared it is a lot complicated than that. I don't think this is just his work."
Gibbs and Vance shared looks. Tony just sighed.
"We will need more than that, Ziva."
"I don't... I don't really know. Everything was calm... And now I don't even... „
She looked troubled. Not okay.
"Ziva, do you feel okay?"
She sat down on the couch, covering her face in her hands.
"It's complicated. I don't really know what is happening anymore..."
Her phone buzzed in that moment. She picked it up.
"Good. So she doesn't pick up just my calls." DiNozzo said too loudly.
"You have something?... No, Orli I don't know. She is safe… I don't know. No I don't need this, especially not now and not from you!... I'll let you know once everything is fine."
She ended the phone call with tears in her eyes. Four men and Bishop just watched her unsure what to tell.
"What? " Gibbs picked up his phone. „Okay."
"What was that?"
"Somebody is looking for you, Ziva." Her eyes looked at him and sparkled. With tears and hope. She stood up and quickly paced her way down.
"Anyone understand what is going on here? McGee asked.
"Just follow her, Tim."
Ziva basically ran down the stairs, everybody on her heels. Eyes from all around the office were on her. She was Ziva David after all.
A man stood next to her former desk, visitor tag on his jacket, and a very hairy child in his arms, clinging to him tightly.
It was Adam Eshel. And Tali.
"My baby." Said Ziva, approaching them, taking her daughter between her arms.
"She's okay?"
"Yeah. She cried, but should be alright."
A mumbling came out of her tiny mouth as she saw a familiar face, her face burying in her mother's neck.
"Thank you. Thank you so much"
"You're welcome Ziva." Adam smiled.
"Ziva?"
She remembered that there were other people looking at the scene in front of them. She looked around as her former colleagues observed the child in her arms.
"This is Adam Eshel. He helped me with... Well everything. And this is my baby girl. Tali, like my sister." she told the last part proudly, smiling wide.
She received dazed stares. It was hard wrapping their minds about the fact that she was a mother.
Hard for everybody. Harder for Tony.
He was never the top student, but basic math he could do. And he looked at the child whose not so dark curls were sticking up all directions. And he counted. And counted.
"How old is she?" Tony's voice was steady. Too steady, it even surprised him.
She just kept looking at the toddler who was busy with pulling on her mom's hair. She didn't mind anything from her surroundings; only thing that mattered to that little girl was that she was with her mom.
Ziva ran her finger through her soft hair. It calmed her down. Her daughter's presence made her feel better than anything in the world.
"Ziva." She tried to shut out his voice. She tried to ignore it. She wanted to disappear and skip this conversation.
"When was she born, Ziva." His voice, not so steady anymore. Rising in power and volume.
Her legs started to shake. What was she supposed to tell him? She cannot handle this. She cannot handle him.
She refused to look into his eyes. Many pairs of eyes were on her, digging into her body; yes she could always tell when she was being watched. She felt anxious. Her breathing was fastening. Shorts of breath. She knew very well this feeling and she was even more scared.
But then, her little angel looked up at her. "Ima" said the girl. Big smile, her little teeth out, grinning just like her father.
And so she looked at him, trying to ignore all the other curious stares. Their eyes connected. Their secret communication. Her eyes, giving him the answer he longed for. And just like that, he knew.
Then he shook his head. "No. No. This… No."
And she got scared again. Since she became a mother, her fears got bigger, stronger. Losing her she would not survive. Losing him… Well, she had given up on him because she believed she didn't deserve him. But him hating her, him not wanting her, that she would not survive.
"When was she born, Ziva."
On repeat, his question. He needed to be sure.
"29th of June 2014."
He was the first one to break their eye contact just to look at the child. He backed a bit to lean on his desk.
"I can't believe this. I can't…"
"I'm sorry…"
"Are you?! Are you?! If all of this crap didn't happen, would you ever tell me?!"
"Okay, we will talk. Here, take Tali." She gave her back into Adam's arms.
"Come." Tony looked around, hoping for somebody to say something helpful. He received nothing. So he stood straight and followed Ziva.
Men's bathroom, of course, her favorite place to discuss important issues.
"So? How do you plan to explain this to me?"
"Okay." She steadied herself against the sink. She needed to feel some support. Her heart was racing, she was afraid of his reaction. She was afraid he would not want them. Now, or ever.
"I wanted to tell you. I really did. From the start. But I didn't want to come back, wreaking all the life you've got for yourself. You moved on and so would I if I didn't get pregnant and even though that girl is the job of us both, I didn't think you would actually want that." Her voice softened. "I didn't want to disrupt your life, Tony. I didn't want to disrupt your world."
He looked like he didn't believe her. Not her words, but how could she think such a thing.
"And you haven't thought that maybe you were my world?"
The sincerity cut too deep. Their wounds were already bleeding. How much of this can they handle?
"I would quit my job, I would stay in Israel, I would move anywhere on this planet with you. All I needed to hear was if you wanted the same thing. You wanted to start over. I get that. But if you getting pregnant wasn't the biggest sign of the times, then I don't know what are you looking for, Ziva."
"We can start over."
He looked for hesitance in her eyes and he found it. She was different person now, he figured that out very soon.
"What about Adam?"
"He is just helping me, Tony. I know I can trust him."
"So he just spends years protecting all of his friends?"
Jealous Tony. Ziva smiled. "He is just a friend."
"Sure you see him that way but he wants more."
Their eyes, as always connected. Communicating without any words or mimics.
"I want to hear everything about her. I want to know her. I want to be her dad."
Ziva nodded. "Yes. I'll tell you everything from the start. And obviously you can spend as much time with her as you want. She will be pleased to have a new person in her life. I'm really protective over her so she spends first minutes of meeting people touching their faces and pulling their hair."
Tony smiled. His kid was not even 2 and already had experience with annoying people. He felt proud.
"I want what we could have had. I want you. I always wanted you. I want us. No matter how disruptive we may be, we owe that to Tali. I am ready to fight for us. The question is, Ziva, are you ready to give us another chance?"
"You are not wasting any time here, aren't you."
"I already wasted to years of her life."
She felt pain in her heart. She will blame herself for not telling him sooner.
"I am ready to fight for us Tony." She smiled. For Tali. They have to do this for Tali. And for them. Don't they deserve a bit of happiness?
"But all of that later. We have bigger problems. Come on." Ziva took his hand and guided him from the bathroom.
Before they could leave, Tony stopped her.
"Wait." Their eyes. It was always about their eyes. Connected together until they slipped lower, to their lips. Connecting. They were master of connecting. Eyes. Lips. Hearts. Private parts. For now, they ended up with lips.
Slowly dancing together as their hearts flutter. Tony tried to pull her closer, but there was no more space between them. Kissing her was different than kissing any other woman. No one else ever had this power over him. Lips dancing. Tongues meeting. Forehead pressing together.
"I love you, Ziva."
"I know."
His eyes shot open to see her grin. Ah, his teasing girl.
"Star wars. I was very pregnant and eating lots of chocolate. So I watched Star wars."
"You are amazing Ziva." He smiled with his boyish looks.
"I love you too, Tony."
…
"It's too late. Everyone can go home." Vance finally told the verdict.
"Ziva, do you have a place to stay?" Gibbs asked concern about the mother and her daughter.
"Yes. Safe place. An apartment downtown."
"Alright. Go there. Sleep. Eshel's with you, right?" Ziva looked at Adam and he nodded. Tony flinched. He did not want this man to spend the night with Ziva and their daughter. But what choice did he have now. To be quiet. To look at Ziva, walking away, again. Hopefully, just for the night.
"Keep your eyes open." Ordered them Gibbs.
"I will. What will we do next?"
Nothing was certain. Who to trust. What step to take next.
"We will get in touch with CIA. They cannot cover for Kort. There might be something we don't know yet. Come here tomorrow, it's safer here."
"Thank you Gibbs. Thank you all, guys." Said Ziva.
With Tali in her arms, she stepped into the elevator with Adam. They all needed rest, the needed to get some sleep. She saw Tony, and the pain in his eyes. He should be the one right now by her side, protecting them. For now, it is Adam's job.
-To be continued-
…..
First of all, about the birth date- I did basic math(just like Tony did), but since I am not Tony nor NCIS writer, I made up my own date. You can ignore it and pretend it is different day, honestly I just needed that info for the story ofc. You can let me know about your baby mathematics- when do you think Tali was born.
This ff already has an ending but maybe I'll be able to write more, that will need some time. For now, it has around 4 chapters (maybe more, who knows lol), but the thing is, that there is one "scene" that I skipped before and I just noticed that, so you'll have to wait for the next chapt a bit more, but trust me, I'm working on this.
If anything pops up- ask, if you have some note- review or message, you know the drill. And again, really sorry for any possible grammar/ syntax mistakes- the conquer of more languages also means that mistakes appear in every single language that I speak. By every single I also mean my native language. Multilingual culture is to understand and be understood (just like Ziva-isms). So I hope you can actually understand me.
Be back soon, xoxo.