"Mama! Mama!" Tom's cry jerked her from all the reminiscing. She turned round to face her son.
"Tali took my soldier away from me." Hiding a smile, she picked up her son tenderly. Ziva too had loved to play with G.I Joe. She stroked his soft brown hair.
"Tali! Come here!" Her 5 year old daughter ran into the room. In one hand was G.I Joe, in the other was a Barbie. Tali was an exact replica of Ziva, except she had Tony's nature.
"What are you doing?" asked Ziva. "Apparently you took G.I Joe off your brother. That's not very nice Tali, is it?" Tali giggled. Ziva put Tom down and went over to look at Tali. In one hand there was a Barbie, in the other a G.I Joe. But Tali had transferred Barbie's clothes to G.I Joe and vice versa.
"Why?" asked Ziva tiredly after a pause. Her daughter hugged the khaki-clad Barbie. "I wanted Barbie to be a soldier. Tom can have the G.I Joe...with the dress!" Tali laughed. Ziva had an idea.
"Tali," she whispered. " Dress G.I Joe the RIGHT way, and give him back to your brother. If you do that then I will arrange for clothes of your choice for your Barbie. Deal?" They shook hands. Tom ran forward and ran his hand down his mother's face. He turned to his sister.
"Mama's upset. She's been crying. See?" He made Tali do the same. Tali put her hands on her hips. "What's wrong Mama? You're sad...is it because of Papa?" Ziva smiled sadly. She really couldn't hide anything from her children. Tom sat down on the floor determinedly. Tali followed suit. "Mama, tell us about Papa. Please?" She couldn't ignore them, their pleading faces, their eager eyes. They deserved to know; about their past and themselves too.
"I always had feelings for your father. We saw each other every day, we even had to pretend to be married on a few occasions. But there was one instance where we both realised, and accepted our feelings for each other. We also got the courage to tell each other." Tali was deep in thought. "Mama, tell us MORE! Actually, tell US everything!" Ziva smiled. It would be good to speak to her children about Tony; for them and herself. Ziva started to tell her tale.
"It all started with a pair of black boots..."