A few weeks had gone by since Mother's Day and the spring days were getting warmer. The DiNozzo's were currently shopping at their local Home Depot. Ziva was in the garden shop filling her cart with flowers to plant in the front and back of the three bedroom home she and Tony had purchased shortly after Ben was born.
The house features a very large backyard complete with an in ground swimming pool and a lush and beautifully manicured green lawn, Tony went to great lengths to make sure his lawn received only the finest fertilizers and anti- weed protection available. While Ziva was in charge of the kitchen and taking care of most of the household chores, including picking up after her sometimes very untidy husband; the outside chores were his and his alone. In fact, Ziva had to threaten him with bodily harm in order to receive a small plot of land near the back fence to start a fruit and vegetable garden. She didn't like to admit it but her husband seemed to be much better at getting things to grow and knew just the right way to arrange the flowers to create both texture and color, but that didn't mean she couldn't at least try every now and then.
While Ziva continued her shopping, Tony and Ben were in the lawn and garden section checking out the new line of lawn mowers. Ben was currently sitting on a John Deere riding lawn mower pretending to be driving. Apparently he was currently stuck in traffic because he was yelling out insults to the invisible drivers in front of him. Tony thought this was hilarious but he knew that Ziva would fail to see the humor in it.
Tony helped Ben down from the riding mower and the two made their way around the store, they found themselves in the outdoor playground section standing amongst row after row of swing sets and jungle gyms. Ben of course just had to have a swing set of his very own and began asking in earnest.
"Please daddy, can we buy swings….please, please, please daddy", Ben asked his daddy.
Tony looked at the price tag and his eyes got wide. He knew that he and Ziva had an agreement that neither of them could make a large purchase without consulting the other.
Just then, Ziva arrived with her cart of flowers and Ben immediately said, "Daddy buy me swings mommy".
"Ziva looked at Tony and said, "Did he now".
"Ziva I swear I did not say we were buying the swing set, honest".
Ziva picked up the advertisement for the swing set and began reading it. The set featured two swings, monkey bars, a rock wall and slide with an attached sand box. It was quite big and to Ziva it seemed a little advanced for their three year old.
Tony looked at some of the smaller sets and reasoned, "He will grow out of these in just a few years. It makes more sense to me to buy one that he can play on until he is eleven or twelve".
Ziva had to agree that her husband had a valid argument. Then she said, "Wait a minute, it took me over a year to convince you to give me a 6x6 section of your precious lawn for my vegetable garden and now on the spur of the moment you are willing to give up the space needed for this", she said as she pointed to the giant display.
Tony looked down and shrugged his shoulders saying, "I know but it's for Ben". After that, Ziva could only say yes. She knew that if her husband was willing to sacrifice a large portion of his lawn in order to make their son happy, then how could she say no?
"Yay, I getting swing", Ben cheered and ran over to the swing set and began climbing up the slide. Tony pulled him back down and said, "We're not allowed to play on these swings Ben, they are for looking only".
"I no want a swing like that daddy", Ben said his lower lip turning into a pout.
Both Tony and Ziva laughed. Tony picked Ben up and explained to him, "We have to get the swing home and once we put it up in the backyard then you can play on it."
Ben looked from Tony to the swing set. "How we fit in car daddy"?
"We have to have a man deliver it to our house in a big truck", Ziva told their son.
They called a sales assistant over and made the arrangements to have the set delivered in a few days. The sales assistant tried to convince Tony to pay the extra $200 and the store would set up the swing set but Tony declined saying that he was more than capable of putting together a swing set for his son. Ziva laughed to herself thinking, "Sure you can", and made a mental note to call Gibbs and see if he was going to be free this weekend.
Since the DiNozzo's had purchased their home, Gibbs had helped with many of the updates, including building a deck around the in ground swimming pool and installing a fence to keep Ben safe. He and Tony worked side by side for weeks on end making the newly purchased house a home. Many of the new neighbors assumed Gibbs was either Tony or Ziva's father and neither of them bothered to correct the misperceptions of others. Gibbs was family and that is all that mattered.
The swing set was delivered on a Thursday and Ben could not understand why his daddy could not go outside and put it together right now. He had spent all of Thursday night sitting on the kitchen floor looking at the boxes out on the deck through the sliding glass door wishing for the weekend to get here.
Friday was a good day. The weekly trip to the grocery store went off without a hitch. Ben got to ride in the race car shopping cart and had not one but two rides on the mechanical horse outside the store. Ziva was preparing dinner while both father and son were getting ready to mow the back lawn before the swing set was set up tomorrow.
Tony had already added fresh oil and gas to his mower and was currently adjusting the blade to the proper length. Ben sat next to Tony working on his bubble lawn mower, watching and copying his daddy's every move. When Tony got up, so did Ben. Tony helped Ben into his little pair of work gloves and safety goggles, than Tony did the same.
When Tony pulled the chord on his mower bringing it to life, Ben pretended to do the same on his bubble mower and he followed Tony all around the backyard helping his daddy cut the lawn. Once the two were satisfied with their work they parked their mowers on side of the garage and cleaned off the mud and grass then stored them in the garage.
They had just enough time to go upstairs and wash for dinner. Ziva made spaghetti and salad and both Tony and Ben had seconds and still had room for the ice cream Ziva served for dessert.
Ben was so wound up about his swing set being built tomorrow; both Tony and Ziva had a hard time getting the little guy to sleep. Finally, three story books later, the little boy fell into a peaceful sleep allowing his parents some much needed quiet time of their own.
Ziva was already in bed by the time Tony had finished brushing his teeth and flossing. He stripped down to boxers and a t-shirt and crawled into bed next to his wife. While Ziva read her latest romance novel, Tony studied the directions for assembling the swing set, still under the illusion he would have the project finished by lunch time.
Ziva had a hard time containing the laugh she almost let slip and instead pretended she was clearing her throat. She somehow had a feeling Gibbs would be coming by tomorrow and that is why before coming to bed she pulled an extra steak out of the freezer to defrost.
AN: Please review and let me know how I am doing. I will gladly continue the story if enough people are interested. I do not have a fragile ego so any criticisms that will help in my writing are also appreciated, lol!