Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I have had a lot going on lately, I can't thank you all enough for all of the reviews I have gotten, they make me smile on a hard day.
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"Ziva it is I who should be sorry, I overreacted and I have said it once and I will say it again, Tali has no father, I am not trying to get over anyone, now can we please go to sleep?" Abby said when she had calmed down.
"Yes let us sleep," Ziva said pulling Abby closer to her until her back covered by a baggy t-shirt was pressed tightly against her stomach.
Abby woke up before anyone in else in the house had woken up, she allowed herself to enjoy the warmth Ziva's body emitted onto her own body, but only for a moment.
Abby slowly tried to untangle herself from Ziva's strong grip, she was almost free when suddenly Ziva tightened her grip and pulled Abby back to her.
"Where do you think your going?" Ziva mumbled into Abby's ear without opening her eyes.
"I have to go use the restroom," Abby lied in a whisper.
"Go back to sleep, I will be back soon," Abby lied again as she untangled herself from the bed and from Ziva once more.
Ziva let out a sigh and turned over so that she was facing away from Abby.
Abby grabbed a pair of cloths that she had picked out the night before and tip-toed out of the room. Abby slipped into Tali's room where Tony was sleeping on the floor.
Quietly, Abby shut the door behind her and walked over to Tony before crouching down.
"Tony," she whispered as she shook her sleeping friend.
"What? What is it?" Tony whispered as he started to blink the sleep from his eyes.
"I have to go out for a while, can you watch Tali while I am gone," she asked as she started to change her clothing.
"Yeah sure, where are you going?" he asked sitting up.
"You will see where I went when I get back," Abby whispered pulling her shirt over her head and slipping on a pair of sneakers that she had cleverly placed in Tali's room just in case.
"Okay fine be secretive like that," Tony whispered with a teasing smile.
"Oh shut up," Abby whispered swatting at his arm.
"I will be back later today, just cover for me, okay?" Abby whispered looking to Tony as she waited to open the door once more.
"Okay, I got your back," Tony said with a yawn as he laid back down.
Abby opened the door just far enough for her to fit back through, then she slipped through the crack in the door.
She tip-toed down the hallway and peaked around the corner to see that luckily, it was McGee who was sleeping on the couch in the living room, that meant that Gibbs, Ducky, and Eli, were all sleeping in the two guest bedrooms that she had already sneaked past.
McGee wasn't half of the light sleeper that those three were she could be less careful getting to the door, next to the door on a small wooden stand was her keys, her wallet, and her cell phone, Abby had chosen a pair of jeans carefully so that she had large pockets and she didn't have to carry a bag.
Abby sneaked over to the doorway and stuffed her wallet in her back pocket and her phone in her front pocket, then she picked up her keys, unlocked the door and sneaked out onto her small cement stairs in front of her door.
Abby had moved out of her apartment a few months before Tali was born, she knew that the apartment would be too small for a child and herself, so she bought a house outside of the city where people were much nicer, Abby now lived in a house that had a field of grass behind her house.
Abby backed up a bit and locked the door behind her before walking out to her car, her hearse would forever be dear to her heart, but until Tali was older, she couldn't have her in it, it was too dangerous to have Tali around so she settled for a small silver car while her hearse settled in the garage.
Abby climbed into her car and started messing with her hair that she had no time to put up, she didn't really need to look nice for where she was going.
Abby pulled up to the small store that was about an hour away from her home, she was sure that now everyone would be up and that Tony had come up with some reason why she was not there with them all, she wish she could be there to wake up with Ziva and their daughter, the thought sent a ping of pain through Abby as she turned her car off.
Ziva was so close to their daughter, but yet, she could never know that Tali was her daughter just as much as she was Abby's daughter.
Abby shook her head to get rid of the sad thoughts and she opened her door, grabbing her keys and exiting the car.
Abby walked up to the shop and opened the door, inside the store heavy metal music was playing inside the shop, Abby smiled at the sound, she hadn't realized how much she missed it, she had to give that up as well, her music would have damaged Tali's ears, it was a small price to pay for her beautiful gift though.
"Abby," a very muscular man with both bare arms covered in tattoos shouted cheerfully.
"Hello Stan," Abby said walking up and hugging Stan.
"I haven't seen you in a while, what can I do for you today?" Stan asked sitting down on a wooden stool.
"I was hoping that you could have this done for me?" Abby said handing him a small piece of paper.
Stan looked at the paper for a moment before looking up at Abby with a smile.
"Sure, where do you want it?" he asked motioning for Abby to lie down on the chair.
"Right here," Abby said lifting her shirt and pointing at the juncture of her right hip.
"Gotcha," he said picking up his tools.
"Where did you say Abby went again?" Ziva asked sat down tapping a pen on the small island as she sat down on the stood.
"She went into town to get some chores done, how many times do I have to tell you? If you keep tapping that pen like that you are going to drill a hole in that counter top and Abby will not be happy about that?" Tony said bouncing Tali on his knee.
"Abby shouldn't have left like that and I wouldn't be tapping this pen like this," Ziva snapped.
"Tony?" Tali said looking up at Tony with pleading eyes.
"Yes Tali?" Tony said looking down at the small child who held her stuffed lamb.
"Mommy?" Tali asked with curiosity sparkling in her bright green eyes.
"Mommy will be back soon," Tony said soothingly as the child went back to being distracted by her stuffed lamb.
"Hopefully," Ziva mumbled under her breath.
"What did you just say?" Tony said placing Tali on her blanket in the middle of the hardwood floor.
"I said, 'hopefully', hopefully Abby will be back," Ziva sneered.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Tony asked defensively.
"It means that I am not exactly sure that Abby will be back," Ziva said looking at Tony with eyes that burned with anger.
"Don't you dare say that again," he said pointing at Ziva.
Ziva opened her mouth to reply, but Tony quickly interrupted her.
"You don't get to say those things, you are the one that left, you are the one that broke her, she didn't leave you, you left her, twice you left her willingly, Abby never left anyone, but everyone else has left her at least once besides Tali. The difference between everyone else and you, is that we all came back for her," he said in an oddly calm voice.
The look in Ziva's eyes died away as he spoke, she listened with sad eyes that belonged to the Ziva that Abby had fallen in love with.
"I know, I should not have said that, you are right, Abby would never just disappear like that," she sighed.
"Exactly, you need to learn to get back to your old self, or Abby will never let you back in, this person that you keep going back too, the one that yelled at Abby before she left, she is not you, Abby won't let her in, she doesn't trust that person," Tony sighed looking straight at Ziva.
"Abby does not trust me?" Ziva asked turning her head to Tony with tears in her eyes.
"Abby doesn't trust the person you have become, Abby trust Ziva, she trust the old Ziva, the woman you used to be," Tony said sitting down beside Tali who had picked up a small stuffed duck with a lab coat.
"I understand," Ziva said standing up and walking over to the blanket and sitting down opposite of Tony.
For a few moments they sat in silence as Tali spoke gibberish to them while she played with her two stuffed toys.
"Tony? Are you and Abby in a romantic relationship?" Ziva asked looking up at him.
"No, we are not," he said with a slightly sad smile.
"Is Abby out with someone that she is in a romantic relationship with?" Ziva asked noting his sad smile.
"No she is not," he said with a laugh.
Tony's stomach growled loudly and he groaned.
"I really wish the team would get back here with that food already," he groaned.
"Yes, I am hungry as well, but I got a text a few minutes ago, saying that it would be another hour until it was ready, then, it will take them an hour to get back here," she said with an amused smile.
"Tony, does Abby have romantic feelings towards anyone?" Ziva asked with a sly look.
Tony studied Ziva for a moment, trying to decide on what he should say or not.
"Yes, why do you ask?" he said with a sly goofy face.
"Oh, never mind then," Ziva said with a disappointed face.
"Is it a man?" she asked not looking at Tony.
"No, why do you plan on wooing our dear Abby?" Tony said teasingly not expecting a serious answer.
"Yes, I do," Ziva said looking up at him with a sly smile.
"You do realize, that if you want Abby, you have to want Tali as well," Tony said slowly.
"Yes and Tali is an exceptional child, she is smart, beautiful, and kind," Ziva said kissing Tali's cheek.
Tony busted out in laughter at how ironic it was that Ziva was saying these things.
"Tony what are you laughing at?" Ziva asked in true confusion.
"I-I c-can't t-t-tell you," he laughed hugging his now aching sides.
Abby hobbled out of her car and up to her door, she took in a deep breath and forced herself to walk normally as she walked into her house.
"Abby, is that you," Tony called from the living room.
"Yeah it is me," Abby said walking into far enough into the living room so that Tony could see that it was her.
Abby smiled at the sight of Ziva napping on the couch with Tali held close to her chest and Tony organizing her DVDs in the middle of her living room.
"Tony, come with me," Abby whispered motioning for him to follow her.
He did as was asked of him and followed Abby as she walked into the kitchen.
"Why do you want me in the kitchen?" he whispered.
"Because I wanted to show you something, but I am sure that the three of you are just as hungry as I am," Abby said grabbing a pot from a cupboard and filling it with water before placing it on the stove and turning the stove on.
"What do you want to show me?" he asked with eager eyes.
Abby lifted her shirt slowly to reveal a white bandage held on by tape. Slowly and tenderly Abby peeled the bandage away from her hip.
Tony leaned down and looked at the small black symbols: טלי
"What is it?" he asked softly running his index finger over the reddened and sore skin causing Abby to hiss.
"Its Tali," Abby said simply.
"In Hebrew?" he asked raising his eyebrows as he stood straight once more.
"Yes, it combines them both," Abby said still holding her shirt slightly up.
"It is beautiful," Ziva said making both Abby and Tony jump.
Abby quickly yanked her shirt down and turned to see that the water was boiling.
Abby walked over to another cupboard and grabbed two boxes of Mac and Cheese, then she walked back to the pot and poured both boxes of noodles into the pot.
Abby started to stir it, but she was soon stopped by a hand covering her own hand.
Ziva pulled Abby's hand away and Tony took Abby's place.
"Let me see," Ziva smiled tiredly as she guided Abby to the middle of the kitchen.
Abby stood frozen in shock as Ziva dropped to her knees and pulled Abby's shirt up a bit so that she could see the small tattoo.
Ziva gave a soft smile before leaning in and softly brushing her lips against the tattoo causing Abby to gasp.
Ziva smirked at the sound and stood up once again, she laughed lightly at the shocked expression still on Abby's face.
Abby looked at Ziva, who was now her same height now that she wasn't wearing platform shoes, as she looked at Ziva's face tears filled her eyes.
The tears shocked Ziva and imidiettly her smirk changed to a look of concern, Ziva opened her mouth to ask Abby what was wrong, but before she could Abby ran went around Ziva and ran to her room locking her door behind her.
Once Abby was safe inside her room, she pressed herself against the door and slowly slid down to the floor allowing the tears to flow freely now.