Author's Note: Wow, twenty chapters! I'm not sure how this happened. I told myself this story would be ten chapters, tops. Oops? Oh well. Still a few to go, I'm not sure how many just yet. Thanks for all your support and reviews and for reading, you've been amazing so far.
Chapter 20—
After holding his cell phone contemplatively in front of him for a good three minutes debating whether or not to call a cab, Tony just decided to walk. It was about ten blocks to his place from hers, and he could use the exercise, especially after having pizza three nights in a row because of the case and because it was what he called his "thinking food".
He started walking down the empty street and away from Ziva's building. His head was a bit of a mess, partly from the exhaustion, and partly because he had talked about his mother. She'd always kinda confused him, even when she was alive. She was the woman who drank his sea monkeys and dressed him like a sailor but she was also the woman that read him stories and took him to the movies and loved him, really, in her own very interesting way.
And then, all of a sudden, she was gone, without any explanation as to why. Why, he would ask the universe, why take away the mother of an eight year old boy? Surely you can think of better people to get rid of – people who are old or sick or in pain or are criminals and don't deserve another breath (Tony's jaw clenched as he remembered a few of the men he had put behind bars that fit that description).
He guessed, after all, that that was the pinpoint of why he didn't believe the universe really had any power over anything. He didn't judge Ziva – he couldn't after the short and rather devastating life she had led. In all truth, were he in her position, he'd probably be telling himself all kinds of crazy things just to be able to get up in the morning. But he wasn't. And so he couldn't believe all that. He couldn't believe that the universe held all the power because if it did, maybe it wouldn't be so reckless and stupid.
Tony shuddered as a particularly icy wind hit him and he thought about his dad. They hadn't spoken in almost two years – two Christmases ago. And it had been short, with promises to call soon from the other end of the line. Unfulfilled promises, needless to say.
The buzzing of his phone pulled him out of his trance and he read the message. It was from Ziva:
Tali asks why you haven't been over lately. I didn't realise after seeing you at work so much.
Tony frowned and realised he hadn't seen Tali in about a week, maybe a week and a half, and he felt bad. After all, half the reason he had gotten as close with Ziva as he had was because of that little girl. He texted back:
I'll be over tomorrow morning. I'll bring donuts.
It was a few minutes before she replied, but she did eventually:
Tali's favourites are Krispy Kreme.
He smirked. He could almost see the smug expression on her face.
...
"Krispy Kreme, as promised," he said with obvious pride as he handed the box of four over to Tali when she answered the door the next morning.
"You're the best, Tony!" she exclaimed, picking out a chocolate.
"Don't eat too many," Ziva said, tapping Tali's belly through her pyjamas. "And wipe the chocolate off your face!" Ziva licked her finger and reached out, to wipe Tali's face, but Tali did a rather swift manoeuvre to avoid her, which involved almost somersaulting across the rug in the centre of the room without so much as tipping the donut in her hand.
"And yet you still have chocolate on your face," Tony said with amazement. Tali laughed. Ziva told her to go get dressed and Tali pulled a face, but obliged. Then Ziva looked over at him with a different expression.
"Hi," she said.
His mouth stretched into a grin. "I missed you last night," he said, placing the box on the table beside the doorway and running his fingers down her arms.
"You saw me all day," she pointed out.
"So I'm irrational."
"You could have come up," she reminded him.
"True," he said, nodding, moving his hands to hook around her waist and play with the hem of the T-shirt that she'd worn to bed. "But then you wouldn't have gotten donuts."
She reached up and touched his face, making the moment less playful that it had been in the beginning. "I missed you too."
He didn't want to say it. He didn't want to say that he wished that they'd had time for themselves last night. That had been part of the deal from the beginning, and he had been willing to accept that.
"Ziva," Tali called, before coming out into the living room in a sweatshirt and worn jeans, barely giving Tony and Ziva enough time to untangle themselves from each other. "Stacey's mom is picking me up in ten minutes."
"Where you goin', kiddo?" Tony asked.
Ziva smiled. "Tali's going to a slumber party."
"Is that so?" Tony tried to force away the thoughts of joy at having a night alone with Ziva but it was more difficult that he had thought.
Tali nodded smugly, and Ziva's phone rang, so she excused herself into the bedroom. Tony finally decided to actually let himself into the apartment and sit down on the sofa. Tali sat beside him.
"So I hear you were complaining that you don't see enough of me," he said.
"This is you making up for it, then? Because I'm guessing Ziva told you."
He winced. She was too sharp sometimes. "You'd be guessing correctly."
"It's okay – I'm not gonna keep tabs on you and make you come over all the time. I just think you make things a little more fun."
"You can't blame your sister if things aren't always fun," he said. "You know, she works pretty hard and new jobs are tough."
"I know, I know. But still." She finished off her donut.
Tony shrugged. She was right. She did know. This girl needed a father figure – she'd lacked one for years. And if she'd decided that he would be a good one, then he wouldn't deny her that. She certainly didn't deserve it.
Ziva's phone call had ended by the time she spotted a waiting car outside the building.
"Do you want me to walk you down? Do you have all your things? Your phone?" Ziva asked, getting worried like she always did when Tali left.
"No, yes and yes," Tali answered. "I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."
"I love you too," Ziva said. As much as she wanted Tali to be independent, her leaving always made her a little anxious. Tali had been such a shut-in after they had lost their mother. It was good that she wasn't anymore, but still, she hated leaving her alone, and she hated being left.
"That's gotta be hard, huh?" Tony asked softly, reaching for her hand. Tali had left, and they had watched out the window until a girl about Tali's age got out of the car, hugged her and helped her with her stuff, and they drove away. "Watching her walk out the door."
"She'll be back in the morning."
"You interested in a little company tonight?"
She looked over, and squeezed his hand. "I would like that," she answered quietly.
Author's Note: *whispers* (I promise something a little more intimate between Tony & Ziva soon)