Another thank you to all who have favorited, reviewed, and added my story to their alerts! And thanks to those who review each chapter, I appreciate it very much!
This one got a little sappy; I couldn't make myself cut anything out. My apologies.
Note: I use the name that I use in my previous two stories. I don't really consider them related, but I have a thing for consistency. Bear with me.
jae
Five
On the fifth day, she learns how to be a mother again.
Although she learned of her existence the previous night, the little girl slept peacefully through the entirety of her visit. This, Tony reasoned, was to make it easier for both mother and daughter.
Gibbs had allowed the family some time alone, and went on what he truly considered a futile mission to find something - anything - that constituted as coffee. He left the three surrounding Ziva on her small bed, smiling as he went.
And so Tony tells her all that is vital she knows before she returns home to them tomorrow, adjusting Ziva to motherhood with baby steps.
Ziva strokes her daughters fine curls hesitantly as Tony tells her about this amazing, little person.
He tells her that her name is Piper. Piper Talia. Tony tells her he insisted they remembered her sister this way, so that her memory could live on. Ziva's eyes fill at this, and can't help but test the name herself, tasting how it feels to say. She discovers that she loves it, finding this name a perfect fit for such a precious child.
He tells her that they speak to each other in Hebrew, and how proud Ziva is because she is learning so quickly. She often calls Piper little names in different languages, but the one she favors the most is tatehleh. He tells her she was born almost a month in advance, and arrived in January, about three and a half years ago, rather than February. She was a quiet baby, and very observant.
He tells her how she is still very much the same; quiet, but not shy, and sometimes so observant and intelligent, it catches them by surprise. She has the ability to wrap anybody around her little fingers. She's affectionate; as well as a snuggler, Tony warns with a chuckle. Cartoons have never entertained her, and they spend sunday nights curled up as a family watching old classics that their daughter watches transfixed. She has a taste for the classics, much to Tony's evident delight. She loves sleepovers with her "Grampa" Gibbs, and helping him build boats. And much like the futile effort it is to requisition Ziva from her weapons, you cannot get Piper to part from her baby duck pillow pet that their own Ducky gave her when she was born.
Ziva grows more awestruck with everything she learns, but Tony tells her there is one very important thing she should know.
"Our little girl," he begins, "Absolutely worships the ground you walk on."
Ziva smiles and presses a kiss to Piper's head then, and let's go of the tears that had remained unshed.
oOo
As much as Tony prepared her, Ziva has come as close as one can get to a nervous breakdown as they pull up to their home the following day.
She still doesn't have her memory back, and she now has to go upstairs into their home and pretend to their daughter that her whole world hasn't been unhinged from it's axis.
Tony pulls into a parking space outside one of the more higher scale apartment buildings D.C has to offer, and puts their car in park. He turns to look at her, but she continues to stare determinedly out the passenger window.
"She's not going to notice," He begins gently, "And all she cares about is having you home. She adores you. She's the easiest child in the world."
Ziva's stoic mask fails for a brief moment, but he sees the emotions that flash quickly on her face. After all the years spent on understanding her expressions and committing them to memory, he realizes what the problem is once he sees the emotion flicker across her face.
"Don't you dare feel guilty." Tony growls at her forcefully, "You know her. This is temporary. and it's not your fault."
Tony, sensing her need for a few moments to prepare herself, reaches for her hand and offers her a reprieve in the form of these few, silent moments sitting in the car; the past few days, and reality, effectively blocked out.
Ziva smiles without humor in amazement at how perceptive, how attuned he is to all aspects of her.
oOo
They make it outside their apartment door.
Tony, throwing caution to the winds, looks over his shoulder to Ziva as he frees the correct key from his overloaded keychain.
"We good?"
She smirks, and can't help but be grateful for him giving her one, final out to prolong this next step.
And she can't help but deflect with his choice defense mechanism of humor.
She gives him a coy look and returns, "That is the rumor."
He gives her a grin, and she hears the lock tumble as the door opens to reveal her home.
He leads her through the brief hallway and she ends up in what she assumes is the living room. And though she doesn't remember anything about this place, somehow it feels familiar. it's warm, clean, and welcoming; she can see herself living here.
She doesn't have much time to take in her surroundings, however, before she hears a squeal of "Momma!", and a small figure hurls itself at her legs with surprising force.
Gibbs appears moments later off another room, and Tony bends down to greet their daughter to give Ziva a moment to adjust.
But whether it was instinct, or resolution in Ziva, she didn't need his vigilance. She bent down and looked her daughter in her eyes for the first time, bringing her hand up to cradle her small face.
"Shalom, tatehleh," she says softly, "I have missed you."
Piper smiled, winding her hands through her mother's curls, and nuzzled her face into the crook of Ziva's neck.
With all of the innocence of a child, she murmured, "Missed ya, Momma. Loves ya."
And how, Ziva ponders, could she have been so afraid of this?