(A/N: The response to this story has been overwhelming and really, really awesome. You guys are amazing and I want to thank everyone who's read, favourited and alerted this story, and particularly to everyone who's reviewed!

There were a lot of requests for a follow up, but this is not a direct sequel to the first chapter. I still haven't seen the last few episodes of season 13, or indeed the episodes where Ziva left in the first place. As such, I didn't feel like I was in a position to write a piece where they have some very needed conversations. All the same, your feedback kept me thinking about this story, and this came out. It's basically a jump forward into the future by a year or two, to a time when Tony and Ziva have discussed everything and come together with Tali as a little family. Again, if anything doesn't fit with the show, that's probably because I've forgotten details or not seen episodes yet! Oh, and I got to the end before I realised I forgot to include Dinozzo Sr., but oh well. Consider this an epilogue, and expect a lot of sweetness and balloons - because I really love a happy ending.)

There is something about Tali that is healing them all.

It is a slow process, and there are times when Tony's joy is tinged with sorrow. He sometimes looks at his little family and sees what Gibbs has lost - his wife and daughter but also the future they would have had, the grandchildren he might have known and the man he might have been. He sees what Ellie might have had with Jake, the love McGee nearly lost in an explosion, the people Kate never met, the childhood Ziva lost too young. Sometimes it is his own hurts that strike him, old wounds that haven't passed - cases that still tug at him, mistakes, and that premature and blessedly misplaced grief for Ziva. And there is still that strange pang of loss for those missed years of Tali's life; for all that he is here with her now, he finds himself mourning those days when he wasn't there to marvel at Ziva's growing bump, to watch his little girl being born, to hold her to sooth those earliest tears.

There is much in all their lives that is full of pain and darkness, but the tide is turning for them now. Without having to do anything but be herself, Tali is saving them.

As far as Tony can tell, anyway, his kid has to be a miracle worker. He'd begun to realise, in the years before Tali, that he was always going to be on his own. He couldn't regret the decisions he'd made in his life, not when he considered the people he'd helped and the people he'd known, but there was no shaking how deep the finality of that knowledge went.

She's changed his life, and he's not the only one.

This day, right here, sums the whole wonderful thing up, really.

They're in his back yard. The nice big back yard that goes with the little house whose mortgage is in the happiest combination of names he knows - Anthony Dinozzo and Ziva David. They found it pretty soon after returning to Washington from those weeks in Paris that were all arguments and kisses and tears. There was so much hurt to resolve but so much wonder at the little girl who giggled and cried and screamed, kept them up at night and fell asleep bundled between them in the morning. They'd got back to his flat and it just hadn't felt right any more because it belonged to another man - a man who was happy but still sad in so many ways, and the sleek lines of the apartment didn't feel warm enough for the light they were bringing in. It certainly wasn't big enough.

So he'd sold it without a second thought, and they'd gone house hunting. Ziva David prowling round suburban neighbourhoods and calmly questioning estate agents about good school districts ranked pretty high on the list of things Tony never thought he'd live to see, but there they were. The flat had sold quickly and with a high figure (turns out McGee was right about another thing, after all) - which was good, because Ziva's accounts were still suspended on account of her theoretically being dead and all.

And yeah, it was close to a good school, and a park, and there were cosy bedrooms and a big living room that now houses Tony's collection of DVDs, expanded to include more Disney titles than he ever knew existed. Most importantly, though, it's within an easy drive to Gibbs' place.

Which helps to account for what Tony is seeing right now. The yard is decked out in what must have been every streamer, banner and string of bunting in the store. They're wound between fence posts, looped into the branches of trees and tacked onto the windows. In every available space, balloons dance in the breeze, helium trying to tug them towards the sky. Ziva and Gibbs had been formidable teammates in the field, as Tony would have been the first to say; all the same, he would never have predicted the day when that military efficiency would see them hanging party decorations.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, what about this one? It was on the ceiling, I jumped for the string!" Tali runs over to Gibbs with a forgotten balloon clasped in her hands. It is bright yellow (the favourite colour of the month) and covered with the words 'Birthday Girl'.

Gibbs finishes the knot he's working on and looks down at the little girl with an expression his face once didn't seem able to achieve, but it comes so naturally to him these days. It's full of such raw love - a love he isn't trying to fight against to protect himself, or hide from everyone around him. He lets himself be the version of himself that was stolen so long ago when he is around Tali, and it fills Tony with a happiness he doesn't have words for.

"Can't forget that one," Gibbs says, and he reaches to pick her up. Tali leaps into his arms eagerly; Gibbs doesn't react, but Tony winces for him. That must be tugging on some old injuries, but Gibbs never complains. Following his lead as ever, Tony hasn't said anything to Tali either. They have all seen the darkness, but she doesn't need to.

"Here," Gibbs says, holding her up so that she can reach one of the branches. "You tie that one up, right there. What do you think?"

"Perfect, Gibbs!"

Yeah, that was something they'd tried to work on. Tony and Ziva had run through a lot of options - granddad, grandpa, grandpappy - but nothing really seemed to fit, and eventually Tali had picked up on what they always called him anyway. Gibbs had given Tony a look, once, but Tony had just shrugged with an unrepentant grin, because it was kind of the cutest thing to hear that name called with such innocent love, and said that at least she wasn't calling him boss.

He's so caught up watching that he doesn't hear her coming up behind him - not that he would, anyway, because domestic life has not made Ziva lose her edge. Her hands slip around his waist and she presses a kiss against his cheek as they both watch Gibbs talk to his granddaughter.

"I love you," he says, because he can never get bored of saying it, and she kisses him again.

"I know," she replies, and Tony spins around to stare at her. Ziva is laughing, her eyes sparkling with vibrant and beautiful life, and his once idiom-challenged partner just quoted Star Wars at him. Tony couldn't be any more in love.

The others start to arrive. Gibbs starts prepping the barbeque and Tali runs off to greet her guests. McGee and Delilah are first, and they present Tali with a present that Tony just knows is going to be outrageously nerdy. It's good to see them, though, and even if he wraps it all up with a joke about what Tim's wearing, the hug he greets him with is sincere.

Abby comes bearing a large present and a tray of black cupcakes, which she thrusts at Tony in order to grab Tali in a hug. Tali contemplates the little spiders inked onto the cupcakes and points out that it's not Halloween.

"Every day is Halloween if you want it to be," Abby says firmly, and Tony makes a mental note not to take Tali to Abby's place until she's a bit older. "Anyway, you have to eat as much cake as you can fit in your tummy on your birthday."

That's a challenge Tony is going to wish she hadn't issued later, but he finds himself handing a cupcake down to his beaming daughter anyway.

Jimmy and Breena come with Victoria, who's younger than Tali but they seem to be friends if the eager babbling that no one else comprehends is anything to go by. They also gave Ducky a lift, and Tali attaches herself to his waist for about ten minutes before he manages to steer them towards the chairs, and cunningly distracts her with another present.

Ellie is the last of the team to arrive, conveniently coinciding with the arrival of their other guest. They'd mostly decided to keep the party to family, but they've grown pretty close to their neighbour, Roger, a single father with a son about Tali's age, and a daughter slightly older. The two kids join Tali and Victoria, thrusting more presents forwards, and after exchanging their greetings Ellie and Roger choose seats very close together. Tony grins to himself and goes to take over at the barbeque.

It's everything he's ever wanted - more than he ever let himself want. He has a family. His team was always his family but it is so complete now. Gibbs is sitting down on the grass to blow bubbles with Tali and Abby, Ellie is throwing jelly beans across the garden at Tim, and Ziva is lying on the grass with a smile that speaks of peace.

There are still dark days. The shadows of all she's been through still haunt Ziva, and sometimes when Tony is woken by Tali's crying he sees that Ziva has been awake all night. There are horrors that will not leave - but the pain of them fades just a little more with each day that they spend with their daughter.

Their daughter.

And now, surrounded by a family and so much love, she is utterly relaxed.

And so Tony is too.

By and large he gets everything cooked nicely, though the meat ends up a bit more charred than he intended because there's a brief interlude in which Tim and Roger gang up to insist that Tony's doing it wrong, which is an insult he can only avenge by getting the kids on side to chase down the offending force with water pistols. The contest ends when Tony accidentally (and he will swear to his death bed that it was an accident) sprays Gibbs full in the face, and is sent back over in disgrace to rescue their lunch.

They eat sprawled out over chairs and blankets, the kids momentarily rendered silent, and Tony lets himself watch the way the sun makes Tali's hair glow. He needs to take more pictures, he thinks - but realises to his absolute shock that Gibbs is ahead of him, surreptitiously taking a photo of the kids on a digital camera. Who knew this was what it would take to get him into the twenty first century?

Then it's time for the cake. It's store bought, though not for want of trying; neither Tony nor Ziva have ever had much cause for baking before, but there was a look of steel in Ziva's eyes as they bought it that told him she would definitely have perfected the art by this time next year.

It's shaped like a Minion (creatures Tony has become intimately familiar with of late; he enjoys rewatching a classic but no one ever told him just how many times kids insist on watching the same movies) and proudly holds four candles. Tali watches with huge, round eyes as Gibbs lights them, and claps delightedly when the whole group gathers round to sing happy birthday with varying tunes and degrees of success. Ziva cuts the cake and Tony hands round plates, and it's the most wonderfully domestic day of his life.

Gibbs shows him the photos afterwards, when the kids are playing with Tali's presents (Abby bought her a kiddie forensics kit that is winning for now) and the others are gathered around chatting about casual things, about houses and TV shows and kindergartens, where work doesn't feature at all. The shots are mostly of Tali and Victoria, and he sees his daughter blowing bubbles, laughing, smearing yellow icing over her face.

But there's another one that Gibbs shows him in a slightly gruff way that expresses that they're never going to talk about it, but there is a very fond look in his eyes as he hands the camera over. It's a picture of Tony just as Tali went to blow out the candles. His face is slightly lit by the little flames and his eyes are sparkling. He looks a little like he might cry and a little like he might burst back into song; it is an expression of total wonder and absolute love.

"You did it, Tony," Gibbs says, resting his hand on the back of Tony's neck. "I'm proud of ya."

Tony looks around, and smiles. He's proud too - of all of them. For all they've been through and survived to find themselves here, building the best of lives. He looks across the chaos of his beautiful family and his eyes meet Ziva's. They both searched for this for years, on their own and then together, fought and lost and loved and travelled thousands of miles, and now they have found it.

Tali laughs, and they are home.