First off, a massive apology (AGAIN!) for my tardiness. Life seems to steal my muse from me. But with my growing excitement for the Season 9 finale, I managed to claw it back, and I bring you this! I have every finger and toe crossed that the writers haven't been building all this tension in the season for nothing... I'm such a fanboy, honestly.

So this is for all of you that are still with me, patient, wonderful humans that you are. You are all loved very much.

Beginnings

The question came over dinner one night, completely out of the blue.

" Daddy. I have a very serious question for you."

Tony glanced up from his plate, wide-eyed, fork halfway to his mouth, looking very so much like a deer caught in the headlights that Ziva had to snort with laughter. He watched his youngest son, worry growing at the contemplative, and rather deep look on his face.

" Shoot, Timmy."

" Well..."

The little boy pushed his plate away, and sat back, folding his arms.

" I want to know how we got here."

The silence that rang out following his words was tangible. Tony stared at him, trying to decipher what exactly that meant. His eldest, through a mouthful of pasta, made a sarcastic jibe that had become his norm as he had embraced teen-hood.

" We walked in the front door, came through to the kitchen-"

Tony received a glare from his young brother in response. He shrugged, and went back to piling food in his mouth, earning a swat around the ear from his mother.

" Good heavens, do you have to eat like a pig? I was sure we'd instilled some manners in you. Now, Timmy, yakiri, what do you mean?"

" Well...you and Daddy got together, right, and had us... but how?"

Abi scoffed, glancing up from her cell phone with a roll of her eyes.

" Oh lord. It's THE question, el heffe. How you gonna handle this one?"

" I was pretty sure they'd have taught him the bits and tits at school by no- OWW!"

Ziva shot her eldest a filthy look as he recoiled, clutching his ear.

" We are at the dinner table. And for the record, 'tits' is such a vulgar word. If you must make it your topic of discussion, at least use 'breasts'. Just because your father struggles in his respect for the female body does not mean you will."

" HEY! I do not struggle-"

" I don't see what's wrong with the word 'tits'! 'Breasts' is so un-sexy..."

" Because they have a purpose other than to serve the filthy dreams of your corrupt little mind, and serve as a focal point for your approaches and verdicts of women! And Abigail, I've told you about your cell phone at the dinner table!"

" I was replying to Becky!"

" Well, I am sure Miss Palmer will be there when we are finished, so for now-"

" HEY!"

The entire table stopped their bickering, turning to stare at the mop of brown curls that glared at them.

" I had a question!"

Tony cleared his throat, placing his fork down.

" Well, son, when a man loves a woman-"

" I don't mean that!"

The table was silent, once again lost, settling back into their seats. Timmy rolled his eyes.

" What I mean is... You and Momma worked together, right? But you worked together for ages before you actually got married and had us... So how come it took you so long to get together?"

The parents glanced at each other, slightly bemused; Tony had frankly been better prepared for the question on baby-making than this. Ziva, rather thankfully, cut in first.

" Well, you know about your Grampa's rules... Rule 12 is-"

" Never date a co-worker."

" Thank you, Abigail. So, because we respect him, we respected that."

Timmy mused for a second, eating another mouthful before replying.

" But you did get together. You ignored it after all...so come how it was after so long?"

" He kinda has a point, you know. How come you didn't just get together from the start?"

This time, it was Tony that answered, after realising that this matter was not just going to disappear.

" Well, it takes time to get to know someone-"

" Years?"

" She took longer than usual falling under the DiNozzo charm.."

He shot his wife a playful grin, taking a bite of food. Ziva scoffed, before turning back to her children.

" There were...complications. We had to think about work too. We both saw other people..."

All three children protested this.

" But WHY?"

" You said you loved her!"

" Wasn't he good enough?"

Tony and Ziva shared a look of slight exasperation between them, mingled with a smile. Ziva shushed their shouts, holding up a finger.

" We were very different people when we first met. It took us a long time to change, and adapt, and...work things out. There were many bumps along the way, many other people involved, but if you want to believe, at the end of the day, fate had it planned out. I wanted to settle down, have something stable in my life. Your father wanted to have a family around him. It made sense to get together. So we did, and we had you three."

The younger Tony wrinkled his nose.

" You make it sound very matter-of-fact. Very...procedural. What about love,and attraction..." He shot his father a very DiNozzo look, wriggling his eyebrows. " Lust."

The elder snorted into his plate, whilst his mother looked on with a mixture of exasperation, and almost pride.

" How very romantic of you, Anthony. I almost thought you were going to come out with something deep there"

" I tried."

Clearing his throat, Tony Senior spoke, eyes fixed on his wife, smirking playing across his lips.

" It did help that your mother was the beautiful Israeli ninja that she was, and still is, that I will not deny."

" And perhaps your father was not quite as annoying as he had been at the beginning. That seems to have got better with age. He also decided to shave too."

Tony gained colour in his cheeks at her comment, shooting his wife an indignant look. Ziva giggled, raising an eyebrow, as the younger occupants of the tableglanced amongst themselves, puzzled.

" Isn't that right, my little furry bear?"

" The name is Jean-Paul, Sophie."

Ziva burst into loud peals of laughter, placing a hand over her mouth, as Tony laughed around his glass, their children looking completely confused.

" What the heck are you guys on about?"

Ziva waved off the question and turned back to Timmy, controlling her laughter as Tony stood up to fetch another drink.

" It is a long story. Maybe when you are older. So does that answer your question, Timotheos?"

Timmy shrugged and nodded, content, and there was peaceful silence again as they continued eating. Ziva caught her husband's eye across the room, his smirk returning, a clear reminder to her that he recalled much more than the nicknames from that particularly mission, and a rather devilish smile of her own found its way onto her lips. As far as operations went, that had been one of her favourites, and the beginning of many things to come.

" Hey, so, quick question, casting back. Just so I'm clear. Am I allowed to say boobs, or is that-OWW, HEY, IT WAS LEGIT!"