Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS

Ziva could hear her phone ringing, but where was it? She looked hopelessly around the living room, before hearing it in Tali's toy kitchen. Ziva went over and fished it out of a toy pan in the cupboard.

'Ima, no' cried Tali, sounding annoyed. Ima was ruining her game.

'No, Tali. I need to answer this.' Ziva took the phone and pressed the green button, whilst batting her daughter's hand out of the way. 'Hello?'

'Ziva? Hi, it's Bob Kim.'

'Oh, hi Bob.' Ziva recognised the voice of the photographer. 'How are you?'

'In a bit of a pickle. I'm shooting a wedding in Arlington this weekend and my second shooter has broken his hand. Literally cannot hold a camera.' Ziva laughed a little. 'I was wondering if you could replace him. I know it's a bit short notice, but if you're free. You'd be paid of course.'

'Yes, I am free' said Ziva, almost immediately. She had shadowed Bob at a wedding in August, working as his assistant (not that he needed one). Ziva had really enjoyed the day, talking about it endlessly to Tony when she got home.

'That's great Ziva. Can we meet tomorrow, go over everything about the weekend and your contract? Say my studio at 11am?'

'Yes, I can do that.'

'Excellent, and bring any photos you've taken since we last spoke. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Ziva.'

'Bye Bob.'

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Ziva walked into Bob's studio at 11am the next day. The building used to be an old warehouse that had been converted into office spaces. As a result, Bob's studio had high ceilings and big windows, letting in lots of natural light.

'Ziva' called Bob from his desk on the other side of the room. He came over and hugged her. Bob was a tall, Korean-American man, who always had a pencil tucked behind an ear.

'Where's Tali?'

'With my father-in-law. They will be having a shark of a time.' Bob looked a tad confused.

'Do you mean a whale of a time?'

'Yes, that. Sorry.'

'Don't' said Bob, as he led them over to the meeting table in the corner. 'Have you brought any more photos?' he asked. Ziva pulled out her iPad and handed it over to Bob to flick through. The look on his face gave Ziva hope.

'These are good Ziva. You've been practising.' Ziva laughed.

'The course with Julia really helped. And I have had some paid shoots as well.'

'That is good.' Bob handed the iPad back to Ziva. 'So, the wedding is on Saturday at The Ritz-Carlton in Arlington. The ceremony starts at 1pm but as you know, we need to be at the hotel for about 10am. Your main job for the ceremony and reception will be to take candid, behind the scenes photos. Very little posed, at least deliberately posed. For the party at night, the couple are having a photobooth with props. This will be your job then, and the main reason why I wanted to have a second shooter. I can't split myself in two' he said. Ziva laughed. 'I take it that all makes sense.'

'Yes, it does.'

'Excellent.' Bob pulled some paper out of a folder. 'This is your contract, for this wedding. I have all my second shooters sign a contract per event. We'll go through all of it in a second, but the thing most people are interested is the fee.' Bob turned over a page. 'You'll be paid $300 for the day. Again, that's what I pay all my second shooters. How does that sound?'

'It sounds great, Bob' said Ziva, smiling. She could feel the excitement bubble away inside her.

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'Ziva?' Ziva turned around. EJ Barrett was standing not far from her, wearing a navy-blue dress, wine glass in hand. Her long blonde hair was swished up in some hair grip. It was cocktail hour at the wedding. Both Bob and Ziva were taking candid photos of the guests, whilst the newly married bride and groom had a private moment.

'EJ? What are you doing here?'

'I'm friends with Sophie.'

'The bride?'

'Yeah. We went to college together. What are you doing here?' Ziva waved her camera.

'Photographer. Bob Kim is the main photographer. I am just the second shooter.' Ziva wanted to make sure that Bob got the credit for the wedding. He was the one who was hired by the bride and groom, not Ziva.

'Wow, so you're not at NCIS anymore?' Ziva nodded her head.

'Not anymore. I left a couple of years ago. Took up photography. I am still quite new at it.'

'That's cool. Ziva David, the photographer.'

'Ziva DiNozzo.'

'What? You and Tony got married?' Ziva nodded again.

'Back in February.' She pulled out her phone and handed it to EJ. Ziva's screen had a photo of Tony, herself and Tali.

'Your daughter is adorable Ziva.' Ziva laughed. 'How old is she?'

'Tali is almost sixteen months' she said, as EJ handed the phone back to her. 'What are you doing now?'

'I'm teaching down at FLETC. After the whole watcher fleet case, field work didn't have the appeal that it used to have.'

'I know the feeling' said Ziva. EJ gave her a look. 'The few months before I left NCIS, the work got harder, to a point that I did not want to do it anymore. I did not want that weight on my shoulders.' EJ nodded her understanding.

'Do you remember that conversation we had all those years ago?'

'In the motel, waiting for Tony? Yes, I do.'

'Everything seemed to work out for us, didn't Ziva.' Ziva nodded again.

'I had better go and take some more photos' she said, waving the camera. 'It was really nice seeing you EJ.'

'Yeah, same here Ziva. And I'm really happy for you and Tony. I mean it.'

That night, Ziva quietly closed the apartment door, tiptoeing in. It was almost 11pm, and the apartment was silent. Tony and Tali were in bed, Ziva assumed, fast asleep. She switched on the lamp on the desk in the corner of the apartment to upload the photos she had taken. Bob had also uploaded them as well so that the happy couple could have them, but he wanted Ziva to have the photos she had taken for her portfolio.

Ziva was about to put the computer to sleep when she noticed an email that Tony had written. She did not read it, but immediately recognised the email address it was going to. Richard Bradford worked at the Quantico FBI training academy. The email below it had been sent to Charles McCoy, who worked at Metro DC police training academy.

Ziva knew that Tony had been thinking about the future. They both had; if they wanted a second child, if their current lives would have enough room for another child. Tony had told Ziva how he hated the fact that the parenting seemed to fall on Ziva's shoulders, that it should be fifty-fifty between them. Ziva had not said anything to Tony yet, because she knew from her own experience that Tony needed time to think it through before talking to her about it.

Ziva put the computer to sleep, checked on Tali in the nursery before going into her own bedroom. Tony was asleep in bed. Ziva quietly changed and slipped under the covers. As she did, Tony rolled over and pulled her close.

'Missed you today' he whispered, sleepily.

'Me too.'

'How was the wedding?'

'I'll tell you tomorrow. Go back to sleep Tony.'

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Ziva woke up the next morning and found Tony already awake, flicking through his phone.

'Morning' she said quietly. He turned and gave her a DiNozzo grin.

'Morning sweet cheeks.' That made her smile. Tony put his phone down on the night stand and rolled over onto his side. 'How was the wedding yesterday?'

'It was good. Exhausting, but really good. Bob is going to put on his list of regular second shooters.'

'That's amazing.'

'Yes, it is. Guess who I saw at the wedding?'

'Who?'

'EJ Barrett.' Tony's face grew with surprise.

'EJ?' Ziva nodded 'How is she? What's she doing?'

'Teaching at FLETC. Seems settled down there.'

'Wow. She was a good agent, and team leader.' Ziva nodded slightly, agreeing. It felt like a lifetime ago when they worked with EJ. Ziva couldn't help but notice a flicker of something in Tony's face when she mentioned FLETC.

'I saw the emails you sent' said Ziva quietly. 'I was not snooping, just uploading the photos from the wedding. I was about to put the computer to sleep when I spotted them.' There was another flicker of something in Tony's face. They did not keep secrets in their relationship.

'Gibbs asked me a few weeks ago what my reason is doing this job. I joined law enforcement after college because I wanted to help make the world a better place.'

'Is it still your reason?' asked Ziva. Tony nodded.

'Yeah it is. Gibbs said that things change but the reason stays the same.'

'It did with me. My reason for what I do now is still the same reason for working at Mossad and NCIS.'

'Your sister.' Ziva nodded. 'My reason hasn't changed, Zi, but things have changed. I have you and Tali now. A promotion is not coming my way any time soon, not after I turned down Rota. That used to bug me, but it doesn't anymore. If I had gone to Rota, we wouldn't have Tali.' Tony reached a hand and tucked a strand of hair behind Ziva's ear. 'I'm not going to resign tomorrow Zi, or even applying for another job. I'm just looking at other possibilities, options, seeing what others have done.' Ziva gave her husband a warm, kind smile.

'I am here for you, Tony. No matter what you decided to do, I have your back.'

'I know Zi, and I love you for it.'

'Ima. Dada. Poop' cried Tali over the baby monitor. Ziva and Tony laughed.

'On three?' asked Tony. Ziva nodded and they pulled their hands out from under the covers.

'One, two, three.' Scissors cuts papers, and Tony climbed out of bed to fetch and changed Tali. Five minutes later, they came back into the bedroom, Tali clutching Doggy.

'Ima.' Tali was happy to see her mother.

'Hi motek. Did you have fun with Dada yesterday?' Tali started to babble to Ziva about her day with Dada, waving Doggy around. Tony climbed back into bed. He and Ziva were sitting up right now. Watching his wife and daughter interact, Tony knew that his reason had not changed.

Help make the world a better place. For my family.

Some of will have noticed that we're now in season 13, but it is not over yet.

Please be patient, especially with regards to two stubborn (male) characters.

Also, I'm not a photograher so I researched about second shooters.

Thank you for reading