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jae
Wonder
She was a mystery from their very first encounter, a wonder that will never seize, and it still holds true almost a decade later. To him, it feels more like a lifetime.
But it's a lifetime more he has to look forward to, unraveling her secrets, the layers of her life, that make her the woman he's come to love and the irreplaceable partner that she is. She's a paradox, a puzzle, an oxymoron that has him falling for her all over again most days and cursing her maddening ways on others.
The year she moves in with him reveals more of this woman, parts of her that he never knew existed, and the holidays are the catalyst.
He learns that, despite her aversion to whimsical, cheerful behavior, a Ziva at Christmas time doesn't follow her manual's standard guidelines. He finds her humming holiday songs, both english and hebrew alike, at random intervals at home. She decorates; even has several boxes dedicated to the holidays, filled with faded treasures and old memories of a time she celebrated not as a grown, americanized woman, but as a child, a sibling, a daughter; identities she has long since retired. She hangs a stocking besides their own, in memory of Tali, and while it's faded and frayed and most certainly had seen better days, he thinks it brings much more life to their mantle.
He comes home to a white poinsettia resting in an ornate urn he knows once belonged to her mother, and he'll find later, as time goes by, she will keep the plant alive for the months that follow, when winer fades to spring and spring blooms into summer.
She pauses besides the decorations that liter every store, turns ornaments over in her hands with a smile or a roll of her eyes, and the first night it snows he watches her expression fill with a childlike wonderment he's never seen otherwise appear on her face. He's mesmerized as she stands before the glass doors that lead to their balcony, where the white lights twinkle and catch the outline of the falling snowflakes in their glow.
She's an enigma by all counts, by all evidence that fills the years he's spent watching, waiting, taking each and every slow step closer to loving her. And while on some days her mysteries are overwhelming, daunting to tackle, he is above all absolutely, gratifyingly, thankful for her, and the holidays renew this irrefutable fact for their first year together, and each one after that.
She's a wonder by every count.