Nightmares and Dreams

Two weeks after Tony and Ziva brought Ava home from the hospital Tony was cleared to return to work. The morning Tony was supposed to return to work there was a knock on the door. Tony, who was halfway dressed, in a pair of pants and a muscle shirt, answered the door. On the other side he found Gibbs and McGee standing in the doorway with Jethro on his leash at McGee's side.

"What's this?" Tony asked as he stepped aside and let the trio though the door.

"Since Ziva will be here by herself we want Jethro here to protect her and Ava," Gibbs said. "Where is Ziva?"

"Here," Ziva said tiredly, appearing from Ava's room. She was dressed in boxer shorts and one of Tony's shirts and her hair was a rumpled mess.

"Was Ava up all night?" McGee asked.

"Yes," Ziva said walking into the living room and collapsing on the couch. Tony rushed over to her and covered her up with a blanket and Jethro, who McGee had let off the leash, jumped up onto the couch, whined once, and then settled down at Ziva's feet.

"If you need anything, call," Gibbs commanded. "Even of you just want Abby to come over and keep an eye on Ava so you can sleep." Ziva nodded tiredly, her eyes already closing. Tony, who had finished getting dressed, put the baby monitor on the coffee table, kissed Ziva's forehead, ruffled Jethro's fur and then left with Gibbs and McGee for work.

An hour after Tony left Ziva awoke to the sound of Ava's static cries over the monitor. She sighed and rolled off the couch and headed to Ava's room with Jethro padding behind her. Ava's eyes were open and she was screaming mercilessly. Ziva picked Ava up and began humming a Hebrew lullaby while she checked Ava's diaper, which was clean.

"You can't possibly be hungry again," Ziva groaned. She picked Ava's pacifier up off of the edge of the changing table and coaxed it into Ava's mouth, who immediately quieted. Ziva gently wiped the tears out of Ava's eyes and carried her into the kitchen, with Jethro following again. Ziva strapped Ava into her baby seat, which was sitting on the kitchen table, and then put the kettle on for her tea. Jethro settled himself on the floor below Ava's chair and laid his head on his paws.

"If you're expecting something interesting to happen, I'm afraid you're going to be sadly disappointed," Ziva said out loud, her eyes on the German Shepherd.

A few hours later Ava had settled down for her afternoon nap in her bassinet and Ziva decided to take a shower. She made sure that Jethro was in Ava's room and then brought the baby monitor, her gun, and her cell phone and lined them up on the bathroom counter. She had been doing that since Asaph had broken in, and she did it regardless of whether Tony was home or not.

Once again, as Ziva was getting out of the shower she heard a noise in the kitchen and over the baby monitor she could hear Jethro growling. Picking up her gun, Ziva sneaked into the hallway. When she peered around the corner, Asaph was standing in the living room with a gun in his hand. AS quietly as she could, Ziva flicked the safety off on her gun and stepped around corner, her gun trained on Asaph.

"Come to finish me off?" Ziva asked. Asaph turned, looking surprised to see Ziva standing there with a gun trained on him.

"Ziva, this is not my choice," Asaph said, apology in his eyes.

"Who sent you?" Ziva asked. "My father, Michael, who?"

"I can't tell you," Asaph said.

"Who?!" Ziva yelled, and she could hear Ava start to fuss in her room.

"Your uncle, Hassaf, he sent me," Asaph finally said.

"Why would Hassaf want me dead?" Ziva asked.

"He knows about Ari," Asaph said, and for a moment Ziva stopped breathing. No one except herself and Gibbs had known about Ari, not even Tony. When it had happened, her father had accepted both hers and Gibbs's reports.

Ziva came out of her memories just in time to see Asaph level the gun on her. Before Asaph even had a chance to pull the trigger Ziva squeezed off two rounds into Asaph's head. She felt the blood spatter her face and she stood there in shock until Ava's cries broke through her consciousness. Dropping her gun, she all but ran into Ava's room and scooped her daughter up into her arms. She then slammed the door shut and locked it. Jethro positioned himself in front of the door, the fur on his back standing up and his teeth bared. Ziva had backed into a corner and slid down the wall, clutching Ava to her chest, eyes trained on the door, unmoving.

McGee and Tony walked up the stairs to Tony's apartment, Gibbs had let them go early because they didn't have a case and Tony hadn't payed attention all day. When they entered the apartment, Tony called out to Ziva.

"Ziva, I'm home," Tony called as he set his keys down on the hall table.

"Where do you think she is?" McGee asked. McGee didn't receive an answer but instead heard Tony pull his gun out of his holster. McGee did the same and turned around to see why Tony had pulled his gun out. On the floor was the body of a man with two bullet holes in his head. Lying on the floor a few feet away was Ziva's gun.

"Ziva?" Tony called. He could hear Jethro's growls and Ava's cries coming from the nursery, but when he tried to open the door he discovered it was locked. Tony took a few steps back and then kicked the door down. McGee was right behind him and put a leash on Jethro so he wouldn't attack Tony. Tony ran into the room and locked around. Ziva was still in the corner, clutching Ava to her chest. Tony gently pried Ava from Ziva's arms and handed her to McGee and then squatted down in front of Ziva.

"Ziva, what happened?" Tony asked quietly.

"Asaph, he came back," Ziva said, finally coming to her senses now that Tony was there. Then, she realized that Ava was no longer in her arms. "Ava, where's Ava, where's my baby?" Ziva asked frantically, sounding borderline hysteric.

"Ziva, Ava's fine, McGee is holding her," Tony said. He opened his arms to Ziva, who fell into them sobbing.

"My uncle, my uncle sent him, my uncle wants me dead," Ziva said as she clutched Tony tightly.

"It's alright," Tony murmured, "I won't let anyone hurt you or Ava."

Two days later Eli David shot his brother in his home in Tel Aviv. Ziva finally calmed down and her fear of being murdered subsided, although, she insisted that McGee bring Jethro over every day to stay with her while Tony was at work.

When Tony got home from work that night he found Ziva on the computer.

"Whatcha doing?" Tony asked as he slipped his arms around Ziva.

"Sending pictures of Ava to my father," Ziva answered as she clicked send.

"Well, you need to go get dressed," Tony said, a devilish smile on his face.

"Tony, I am dressed," Ziva said, motioning to herself. She was dressed in a pair of black corduroy pants and a purple v-neck shirt.

"We're going out to dinner, Abby and McGee agreed to watch Ava for us," Tony said.

"Where are we going?" Ziva asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Tony said. "Now, Abby assures me that you have a stunning cocktail dress in your closet," Tony said as he lifted Ziva up from the chair she was sitting on and turned her towards the bedroom.

Ziva was just about ready when she heard a knock on the door and then heard Abby's overly enthusiastic voice echoing through the apartment. Putting the finishing touches on her makeup and strapping on her shoes, Ziva walked down the hallway and into the living room. Abby was on the couch, cooing to Ava, who was nestled into her arms and McGee was next to her while Tony stood over them. Abby saw Ziva first.

"Ziva," Abby said sounding stunned. "You look gorgeous. Aren't you glad I made you buy that dress?" Both McGee and Tony turned to look.

"You look great, Ziva," McGee said. Tony, meanwhile, was speechless. Finally, he regained his senses.

"Babe, you look amazing," Tony said and Ziva blushed.

"Thank you," Ziva said. Her dress was a short white one with flower embellishments on the lower left hand side. Both sides of the dress were lace up and there was a diamond cut out below her chest. Tony held out his arm to Ziva.

"Madame," Tony said, bowing slightly. Ziva smiled and took his proffered arm and allowed him to lead her out of the apartment.

Twenty minutes and a blindfold later Ziva felt the car slow to a stop and heard Tony put it in park.

"Are you ready?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Ziva said and she felt Tony reach around and pull the ties of the blindfold. They were in the valet line for Ziva's favorite restaurant, Ferrari's. It was an Italian place and an very high end one at that.

"Tony," Ziva cried in amazement.

"I figured that you'd like it," Tony said sheepishly. The valet opened the door for Ziva and helped her out of the car. She walked around the where Tony was and they linked arms.

When they got inside Tony whispered something into the maître de's ear and he immediately took them to their table where Tony ordered a bottle of champagne.

"Tony, this is too much," Ziva said. She had only ever been to the restaurant once, to celebrate Officer Bashan's retirement.

"Well, I figured that you deserved it after all you went through," Tony said, and I remembered that you mentioned you liked it."

Just then the waiter returned to the table with the champagne and Ziva noticed that there was something in her glass. She was about to call the waiter back when it caught the light and sparkled. She picked up her spoon and fished it out of her glass and gasped when she realized what it was. It was a diamond engagement ring.

"Tony," Ziva gasped. Tony took the ring from Ziva and knelt down on one knee.

"Ziva David, will you marry me?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Ziva said and allowed tony to slip the ring onto her finger and kissed him soundly.

Yay, they're making it legal!!! Okay, check out my profile for links to see Ziva's cocktail dress and engagement ring. PLEASE REVIEW!!! (Oh, and for those that think Ziva is acting OOC, think hormones)