Chapter 25, Chile: February 2031
A/N Thanks for all the reviews, favs and follows! We are getting to the half way point. 52 chapters total!
Santiago Saturday 2/8 – 2/15
"Ima, we got this." Tali reassured her mother after the fifth time Ziva went over the daily checklist for all of the kids. "Grandpa Gibbs is not going to let us miss important things, plus we all know our own schedules. We remind you!" Tali rolled her eyes so Anthony could see, and he grinned at her, knowing full well if Ima caught the eye roll, Tali would get an earful.
"Do NOT roll your eyes at me, Talia Elisheva DiNozzo!" Anthony smirked at his sister with an "I told you so" look. Ziva turned to Anthony, "And you, Anthony D. DiNozzo, the third, are not off the hook for encouraging your sister." Anthony started to protest, but thought better of it.
Tony and Ziva's flight to Santiago departed Dulles at 2200 on Friday, and arrived around 1400 Saturday afternoon, with a layover in Atlanta. Gibbs would stay with the kids for the week. Tony had the bags packed in his truck, ready to head to the airport. The family had eaten an early dinner, and all of them had been home for dinner. Gibbs had been at the house since early afternoon.
Ziva hugged each of her children, as did Tony. Anthony tried to squirm away from his Abba, but Tony managed to get a quick hug and ruffle the young man's hair. "ABBA!"
~TIVA~
The check-in and flight to Atlanta went smoothly and they arrived earlier than scheduled, which made Tony happy that they did not have to do a mad dash to the international concourse. They rode the train from the concourse where they landed to the international concourse, each glad that they had kept the carry-on bags light. They went through the international security checkpoint and then found an open fast food store to get a snack. Tony also found a Guidebook for Chile and Santiago in one of the newsstand shops.
The flight from Atlanta was only half full and Tony and Ziva were the only ones in first class seating. Tony read his guidebook for a bit and noticed Ziva had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. He was glad they had folded the armrest between the seats up. He snaked his arm around her and rested his head on hers. He flashed back to a case at NCIS where he and Ziva had fallen asleep in about the same position. He chuckled to himself, remembering the glare from Gibbs. Ziva moved and asked Tony what was so funny. He told her his flashback and she also chuckled. Since Ziva was awake, Tony suggested that they recline the seats. After doing so, he pulled Ziva to his side and snuggled with her.
"Mrs. DiNozzo, I do believe you are still as cuddly as ever." Tony kissed her curls and closed his eyes.
~TIVA~
Once in Santiago, they went through customs and claimed their luggage. Ziva spotted the sign for the car rental agency and headed in that direction. After a short wait, they were in the car and on their way to the house, which neither of them had seen other than in pictures. Ziva navigated as Tony drove on Ruta 68 to Curacavi, west of Santiago. The house was on about two acres of land and had a tile roof. There were five bedrooms and three bathrooms, and what had been described to them as an "American kitchen." Since it was summer in Chile, the air conditioning was on and the windows on the side with the afternoon sun were shuttered. They put their bags in the master suite and explored the house.
Ziva went to the kitchen first. She wanted to see the remodeling that they had contracted and how the finished cabinets looked in person. She nodded approval as they looked around the kitchen. Tony checked that their property manager had stocked the refrigerator and pantry with the items he had requested.
The family room had been painted and a tile floor installed. They had satellite television and an internet connection via satellite. Tony was pleased with how the entertainment center came out and looked forward to browsing the channel offerings.
Each of the bedrooms on the second wing, on the opposite side of the house from the master suite, had been painted, re-carpeted and furnished in neutral tones. They were pleased with the work. Their property manager and the contractor had been highly recommended by one of Tony's coworkers at FLETC.
They went back to the kitchen and Tony's stomach growled. "I guess we need to feed you, yes?" Ziva patted Tony's stomach and smiled. "Let us go see what we can make for an early dinner." Ziva found fresh tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and pasta. She made a pasta salad. After the meal, they went outside to check out the large porch and the property behind the house.
The one big difference for this property from the others was the mountains. Tony remarked that this property seemed out of character for Eli. Ziva agreed, but did not want to dwell on thoughts of Eli. Tony, sensing her hesitation, apologized, "Zi, I'm sorry; as much as Eli is someone you want to forget, we did get a lot of assets from him and our children will have a bunch of stuff to fight over when we're gone." Tony smiled at his ninja. She turned and looked at him and started giggling. "What's so funny?"
"Can you even imagine our five fighting over assets? Not a one of them is a fighter. Tali would go all mother chicken before they could even disagree." Now Tony was giggling.
"Mother HEN, Zi," Tony laughed, "Anthony would take pictures, LJ would paint the scene and Beth and Rivka would go find a book or go on the internet for information."
~TIVA~
They went to bed early, to shake off the weariness of travelling and to get some much needed sleep. Both had slept on the flight, but one can only get so much rest sleeping in a chair, not matter how comfortable. Ziva curled into Tony's side and rested her head on his chest, over his heart. He wrapped his arm around her and stroked his hand on her skin. She raised her head and kissed Tony. "I love you, Tony." Tony kissed her again, "Love you more, Ziva."
~TIVA~
Sunday morning, Tony awoke before Ziva. He had his arm over her side and she was spooned into his chest and front. He nuzzled her neck, trying not to wake her up. Her curls tickled his nose and face. He gently pulled her to him and inhaled deeply, her scent always intoxicated him. His beautiful ninja, his wife, the mother of his children, his best friend, his other half, his BETTER half, his soul mate, his everything… He loved this woman with all of his being. Even after nearly twenty six years, he still sometimes wondered how he had been lucky enough to deserve her and find her.
Ziva awoke to Tony's hand tracing circles on her arm and stomach. She could feel his warmth behind her and snuggled a bit closer. His familiar scent intoxicated her like no other. Her husband, her lover, her soul mate, the father of her children, her best friend, her everything… She had loved this man for more than half of her life, and she would love him for the rest of her days. She turned in his arms and looked into his emerald green eyes. "Good morning, my love." She kissed him and caressed his face.
"Good morning, beautiful." Tony fused his lips with hers. Kisses became desires and desires became a need. They made love and explored each other's bodies as passionately as the first time.
~TIVA~
After a shower and breakfast, they decided to explore Curacavi. The town was nestled in a valley, with several rivers nearby. There were restaurants, grocery stores, a brewery, a shopping mall, and hotels. Ruta 68 ran through the city, with Vina del Mar and Valparaiso on the western end and Santiago on the eastern end.
They decided to head to the Pacific beaches for the rest of the day. Valparaiso was beautiful, the beaches very different from those back home on the Atlantic Ocean or those of the Mediterranean in Haifa. The stands of sand were not as wide, the mountains came almost to the shore and there were large rocks and rock formations everywhere. Since it was summer in Chile, they had brought swimwear and towels and a beach blanket. Tony teased Ziva about her AWOL bikini, but she reminded him that it was for his eyes only. After they waded in the ocean, hand in hand, they had a late lunch at one of the restaurants near the beach.
They drove back to the house and fixed a light dinner of chicken and vegetables. Tony found a Bond movie marathon on one of the satellite TV channels. Ziva curled into Tony's side as they watched Bond in Spanish. Ziva noticed about half way through the second movie that there was an option to have English subtitles, but both were fluent in Spanish (as well as Hebrew), so they left it without the subtitles.
Tony noticed that Ziva had fallen asleep about twenty minutes into the third movie, but didn't want to disturb her yet. He watched more of the movie, but fell asleep near its end. Ziva woke up a bit after midnight and nudged Tony. "Come on, Tony, let us go get in the bed instead of sleeping on the sofa, or we will both be complaining in the morning."
~TIVA~
The couple spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday playing tourists in Santiago, seeing museums, landmarks, cultural landmarks, and amazing architecture. They took over four hundred pictures of various sights and places.
Thursday and Friday were spent at the house, just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Ziva also used the time together to add to Tony's written Hebrew skills. He could speak the language well, but reading Hebrew was a work in progress, and writing was still at a beginner level. Saturday morning they packed up their luggage and prepared for the evening flight home to DC.
Their flight arrived about an hour late in DC. Ziva had called Gibbs and Tali when the airline had announced the delay in leaving from Atlanta. Since they had left Tony's truck in long-term parking, there was no problem in getting from the airport to home once in DC.
Tony pulled into the driveway at 1005 just as Tali was leaving for work. She hugged her parents and told them she would be home around 1730. Gibbs was the first to greet them when they went in the house. He helped Tony bring the luggage in while Ziva went to look for the other kids. Anthony was on IM with Katie, Beth was working on a school project, Rivka was on IM with John and LJ was painting in the play room.
How different than when she and Tony had returned from Israel four years ago, Ziva thought. She reflected on how her children were growing up and she sighed. She was not ready for this new independence, yet at the same time she was proud of each one of the kids and how they had changed. Tony found her in the kitchen staring off at nothing and put his arms around her. "Penny for your thoughts," he whispered in her ear.
"Just thinking how our children have grown since the Israel trip four years ago. I am proud of them, even though it means they are not right at the door greeting us." Tony nuzzled her neck and pulled her closer to him.
"Yeah, but I'm not going anywhere but with you…" He turned her around to face him and kissed her, stroking her face with his hand. She leaned into him and returned the kiss.
Gibbs cleared his throat to remind the couple that he was still there. He smiled to himself as he thought that some things never change. Ziva and Tony would always be so wrapped up in each other that they could be oblivious to the rest of the world.