Chapter 5
A few weeks had passed since Tali's Birthday, a few weeks since she first saw the video of her mother. Tali had just taken her 6th singing lesson and her voice was becoming more and more like her mothers everyday. Tony loved hearing her sing and the enthusiasm in her voice told him that he had bought her the perfect birthday present.
[3 hours later]
"Abba... can I ask you something?" Tali's stammer immediately caught Tony's attention. She was normally a confident young girl and Tony hated to here the uncertainty behind her words, it meant something was worrying her, was she in danger? So many thoughts were flashing through his mind, all he wanted in this world was for his daughter to be safe but she was growing so quickly."
"Abba, are you listening?" Tali repeated as her father didn't answer the last time.
"Hmm? Yeah Tal what is it?"
Tali stopped, carefully planning her response, "there's this thing at school..."
"What type of thing? Is somebody upsetting you? Do you need me to talk to the teach-"
"No, nothing like that, I'm fine, it's just there's this talent thing, a show and the parents are allowed to watch and, well, Faith told the teacher I could sing. I don't want to do it unless you're there, please would you come and watch? I can't do it without you there"
Tony looked at his amazing young daughter, she was growing so fast but so gracefully, he was so proud.
"Of course! That's amazing, I'm so proud of you when is it? Do you need any extra singing lessons? Do you need me to listen over your song? Is there anything else I ca-"
"Abba, stop it! I'm fine, it's on Thursday and I don't need anything else, as long as you're there, I'm good."
"What date is that again?" Tony asked.
"Err the 12th I think? Is that okay?"
"Of course" he said, but his face said otherwise, his expression had dropped, the joy in his face no longer existed.
"Hey Tal, you're sleeping at aunt Abby's tonight, get your stuff ready".
Later that evening, Tony had dropped Tali of with Abby and had gone back to his apartment, he had watched the video left for his daughter at least a dozen times and the tears weren't stopping, he tried to be strong, all these years but of all days, why this one? He always puts his daughter first but this time he wasn't sure. This date meant a lot to him, he wasn't sure if he'd make it through the concert, but he would have to. His happiness isn't important to him anymore.
[Thursday 12th]
Tony was sat in the audience with dozens of other proud parents, all waiting, anticipating how good their child will be on that stage. Tony knew the truth, most these kids aren't talented at all, they're nothing special, not like Tali. He sat, act after act of children dancing or playing three blind mice on recorder. He sat through magic acts in which the children couldn't shuffle the deck never mind do a trick. He sat through children telling jokes and reading poems and even though to him they were nothing, he still smiled and clapped. It's what she would have done.
Finally Tali walks onto the stage. She had a nervous smile on her face and looked to her father, making sure he was listening. She lowered the microphone holder to her own height and cleared her voice.
"Hi, I'm Tali" she said glancing over to her father again "today I'm going to sing a song, one that's very special to me. One my mother taught me. She died when I was two but she left it on a video. Today would have been her birthday, so I'm dedicating this act to her, and to my Dad"
She took a moment to prepare herself and began singing lullaby by Billy Joel, the song on the recording.
Tony had never heard her sing this song, never even heard her practice, or hum along to the video, he'd only ever heard it come out of Ziva's voice. Tali couldn't stop smiling all the way through the song, she knew that she had done the right thing. She knew that she could've performed without Tony there but she also knew that he needed to be there to hear this. She knew it was her mothers birthday when the school first mentioned the date. She wanted so much to take part but knew it would be hard for Tony to be there. That's why she chose this song. She wanted to honor her mother.
When she had finished Tony was stood to the side of the stage waiting, the little girl ran of the ride of the stage straight into her fathers arms, "did you like it Abba?"
"More than you will ever know" Tony responded through his tears "I love you Tali".
