Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. I also do not have children, but have spent time with them.
To the guest who asked how I write and post so quickly, I'm roughly about 2 -3 chapters ahead of posting.
Tony walked into the living room and found Ziva sitting on the sofa, laptop on her lap.
'Morning' he said, giving Ziva a kiss and sitting down next to her.
'Morning' she replied. Tony peered over and saw his photo on the screen. Tali was strapped to him in the baby sling.
Today was Sunday and as Team Gibbs' were not on rotation, Tony had the entire weekend off. Something that both Tony and Ziva knew from experience to be rare. They were determined to make the most of the weekend. They had gone to the National Aquarium in Baltimore yesterday, Tali's first time. She loved watching the first and creatures swim around. Tali particularly enjoyed watching the dolphins jump out of the water, clapping her hands and cheering whenever they did it. She also became attached to a stuffed dolphin tony in the gift ship, which now sat in the corner of her crib. Tali had refused to go to bed without it. Ziva had also bought Curious George at the Aquarium.
After the aquarium, they met up with some of Tony's old colleagues from Baltimore PD. They admitted that they were surprised to find Tony DiNozzo married, with a daughter, and all of them found Tony and Ziva to be besotted with each other.
If you had to describe Tony and Ziva at the moment, it was 'madly in love'. Annoyingly, disgustingly, madly in love. If not with each other, they were completely smitten with their daughter. Recent events had made the two of them realise how lucky they were to have each other, and Tali.
'What you doing?' asked Tony.
'Getting ready for tomorrow.' Ziva flicked through some more photos. Tomorrow was the first of four sessions that Ziva had signed up for. They were about how to edit photos, which programs to use. 'I have to have a selection of unedited photos to practise with. Change the lighting, colour, get rid of blemishes.' Ton nodded along, impressed with Ziva's knowledge.
'What have you got so far?' he asked.
'I've picked these ones.' She handed the laptop over to Tony. There were six photos; one from their babymoon to Maui, a couple of photos that Ziva had taken for the Hope Rises website, two of Tali and one of himself and Tali from the Aquarium.
'Nice selection.'
'Thanks.' Ziva smiled and Tony leaned in and kissed her eagerly. 'I love you Tony' she whispered.
'I love you to Zi.' The sound of baby babble came through the baby monitor. Tali was awake.
'I better feed her' said Ziva. She was still nursing Tali, though only in the morning and at night. Tali enjoyed eating solid food and took a bottle for her other two feeds during the day.
'You get the munchkin, I'll make us some breakfast.' Ziva went to the tiny nursery. Tali was sitting in her crib, playing with Doggy and her new dolphin.
'Hello' cooed Ziva, pulling Tali out of the crib, and making sure Tali didn't drop Doggy. They went back into the living room. Tony was busy in the kitchen, making his so-called famous scrambled eggs. Whilst they were delicious, Ziva could find no one else who had eaten them, therefore they could not be famous. When she pointed this out to Tony, he looked like she had kicked a puppy and Ziva quickly apologised and proclaimed them to be the best scrambled eggs she had ever eaten.
Tali finished nursing, and Ziva placed her on the playmat. Tony handed her a plate of eggs and the two of them ate their own breakfast, watching their daughter play.
On the edge of the mat, there was a maraca that Tali wanted to play with. They were a particular favourite of hers, loving the sound that they made. She tried to reach it, but the maraca was too far away. Tali rolled over and pushed herself up so that she was on her hands and knees. Tony tapped Ziva's shoulder
'She's going to crawl' he whispered, as if he spoke loud Tali would stop moving. They watched, intently. Tali waved a hand as if she was trying to pull herself forward. Ziva grabbed her phone and started filming. Tony clambered down into the floor and waved the maraca for Tali to see and hear.
'You want this?' he asked, waving it. Tali pushed her foot against the playmat and fell forwards. She waved a hand again, pushed herself on to her knees. Ziva went and sat on the floor to get a better angle. Pushing her foot against the playmat again, Tali shifted forwards a little bit. And again. And again.
'Oh Tali, did you crawl?' cooed Ziva, smiling. Tony too was grinned. Tali gurgled. She wanted that maraca and she was going to get it. She pushed herself forwards again, and again, until she finally grabbed hold of the maraca. Grinning, Tali shook it, laughing at the noises it made, feeling accomplished at crawling for the first time.
Tony picked up Doggy and waved at Tali.
'Let's see how far she can crawl.'
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Ziva stared at the computer screen, trying to figure out what had gone wrong with editing her photo and why she couldn't change the tool she was using.
Before Christmas, Ziva had applied for a photography course ran by a local photographer, Julia Marks. It was a popular course, therefore a little competitive to get on it, but Ziva managed to score a place on the waiting list. A week after the wedding, Ziva received a phone call saying that the next course would start the following week and would she like a place on it. Ziva signed up immediately.
The first four sessions had been out in the field, taking photos of landscapes, architecture, models and nature. They had been encouraged to go out whenever possible for practice, so Ziva ventured out, sometimes with Tali strapped to her front. Tali loved it, going to see all these new places. It was a little tricky to take pictures with a nine-month-old baby's head sometimes getting in the way, but after a month of being stuck inside, Ziva was glad that the two of them were getting outside. Now that those sessions were over, Ziva had now started the four sessions that covered editing photos. Tali stayed at home with Tony.
Julia wandered over to Ziva. She could see that Ziva was struggling.
'What's up?' asked Julia
'I do not know. I made this mistake and I am trying to change tools but it will not change.' Ziva was starting to get annoyed. Julia scanned the screen and smiled.
'Oh, you've locked the layer. You won't be able to do anything until you unlock it.' Julia moved the mouse, clicked on an icon and switched tools. 'There you go.'
'Thanks Julia.'
'Show me what you've done so far.' Ziva flicked over to the edited photos and handed the mouse to Julia.
'Is this your daughter?' The photo was of Tali asleep in her crib. Ziva smiled.
'Yes. Tali.'
'And you used natural light?'
'Yes.'
'It's good Ziva, really good. Good use of light, nice angle of Tali. It's a sweet photo. Doesn't need too much editing, simply cropped the image?' she asked. Ziva nodded. 'You've got good instincts Ziva. I particularly like this one.' Julia clicked on another photo. It was of Tony standing in front of a waterfall in Maui. 'I really like the location; again, good use of natural light and you don't get distracted from the waterfall behind your model.'
'Husband. If I call him a model, it will just go straight to his head.' Julia laughed and moved onto another student.
When Ziva got home that night, the apartment was quiet. Slipping into the nursery, she saw Tali fast asleep. Whilst Ziva loved interacting with her daughter when she was awake, and hearing her laugh and giggle, it was nice when Tali slept. Ziva walked into her bedroom and saw Tony in bed, on his iPad.
'Hey' he said, sounding tired. 'How was it?'
'It was good. A lot of work, but really good. Next one is on Tuesday next week.' Ziva changed into her pyjamas, climbed into bed and shuffled over to her husband so they were closer. Tony draped his arm over her shoulders.
'Did you finish you task list?' she asked.
'Yep. The entire apartment is now baby proofed. It may also be adult proofed as well. I was struggling to open things.' Ziva laughed. 'Tali crawled again. Managed to film some of it.' He handed the iPad over to her. A video of Tali crawling from the living room to the nursery. On the video Tali was also babbling away.
'Is she trying to talk?' asked Ziva.
'I think so. I tried to get her to say Dada but she wasn't having any of it.'
'Well, it takes a lot brain power for crawl and talk for the first time.' Tony laughed at Ziva trying to sooth his feelings. He kissed the top of her head.
'We've got a pretty good life, don't we Mrs DiNozzo' Tony said quietly.
'Yes, we do Mr DiNozzo.'
I am not a photographer, though I do use Adobe Suite on a regular basis.