All throughout the flight, Tony thought (and dreamt) about her. After the relief that she was, in fact, alive had subsided, he began to feel painfully angry. Angry that she had not told him about his daughter, his only daughter that he had not known about. He would be getting answers soon enough, but the thoughts just nagged at him and bit him like fleas. Even if all the feelings he felt were temporary, they all came to a halt when he looked at Tali. She looked so much like Ziva, her thick hair yet the color of it was more like his. The face, the eyes, the personality…he just admired how she existed next to him so perfectly. On the plane, she would occasionally let go of her doggy or one of her books and let out an "Abba!" in request for him to hold her. He started to fall faster in love with the little girl, his little girl every day.

A few hours before they arrived at the Tel-Aviv airport, Tali was gibbering in Hebrew and English, the words not very recognizable to Tony's limited Hebrew vocabulary. A young American-Jewish woman kept smiling at Tali and said a few things in Hebrew, Tali would respond and then hide behind Tony's arm. Tony chuckled and looked over at the woman, she told him that he had a beautiful daughter. Tony had a grateful smile and simply said, without even thinking, "She gets it from her mother".

Tony carefully picked up Tali when the plane landed and the flight attendants opened the door, he grabbed the overhead baggage; one of the last few steps of his old life, and until he would be reunited with his love and the mother of his child.

Tali was the first to spot Ziva. "Imma!" Tali got excited and jumped from Tony's arms and ran to her mother standing by an airport bench in front of the coffee bar.

A few seconds after she jumped from Tony's arms (and after Tony's heart skipped because his daughter ran off without him-without parental supervision) he saw her. She was wearing a loose white button down shirt, dark-washed jeans, and an olive colored scarf wrapped loosely around the neck; the hair was down and shorter but still possessed those infamous curls. He stopped walking, possibly even stopped breathing, when he saw her, Ziva. She looked up from her daughter, holding Kalev, and unto him.

Feelings, feelings that brought him back to the fall of 2013 when he first made love to her. Suddenly the years that had separated them only seemed like a few months. He walked to her, never losing eye contact. Each step closer, his heartbeat became faster and louder in his head.

"Tony…"

Ziva took a deep breath and delicately placed her right hand to Tony's chest. She had to know he was there and not just a hallucination; the man in front of her is the same man she had loved all these years, yet somewhat different, older and more tempered.

Tony needed to hold onto her but he wanted to prove to himself, prove to her, he shall not break his outer wall of confidence and masculinity.

"Ziva…wow…" in an attempt to regain his Tony-ness he follows with, "You know that Israeli sun did wonders for you. That uh, hair got shorter, nice."

"Well, Tony, the weight of it was bothersome to me, it is quite hot here, you know?"

"Crazy, deserts being…hot."

"I am surprised you do not remember!"

"Oh, and look at that, I'm getting my memory back…" He never forgot.

"That is very good…DiNozzo." She says begging the vacancy for there not to be any awkwardness.

There was a pause maybe 5 or 7 seconds and then Tali questioned the silence saying "Abba". This broke both the parents and then threw them into a whole new reality.

In a serious tone, Tony said "Well, I think it's time to address the elephant in the room."

Ziva steps back, "I believe, uh, you have met Tali."

Tony looks down and back to Ziva in an attempt to gather scattered thoughts, "It's a giant elephant in the room. Big elephant. Small room. You get it? It's an American expression-"

"I know what it means."

"Oh good! Now would you like to back up to the part where you didn't tell me…oh, I don't know…I'm a father?"

"Look, Tony, I know you have many questions. I can not discuss any of it here, I have been busy the past few months trying to get you here-safely."

"What- what do you mean? You talked to Orli, yourself. Trent Kort is dead. I shot him, along with the other 20 shots fired by the rest of the team."

"How did you know I talked to Orli?"

"Orli told me you and her mended a relationship in recent years. And, frankly, at one point I knew you. I could put two and two together…"

"Listen to me, Tony. Okay? You have to understand, all of the things I have done…there was a reason."

"Yeah. Well. Was it a good one, Ziva?" half angry, half emotional he stated matter a factly, "three years, three (damn) years, and you only contacted me, like, what? Four times. Neither of those times you ever mentioned a child."

"Please Ton-"

"Ziva, you should have called, I would have been there."

"Look, now and here, in an airport, is not the place." She took a breath and pleaded with Tony, "Can you just pretend, if not for me, for Tali, that everything is normal. Just know, Tony?" Ziva put a hand to his cheek, forcing him to take her in, "Just know that I...I care deeply…about you and Tali, and no, that does not excuse the actions I took, but I did what I had to do. Things were very different when you left. Some bad…" Ziva looked to Tali, "Some good."

Tony knew he would get answers and judging from what he heard from Ziva, they had to be some good ones. He could put on a face for his daughter, if he needed to. "Some very good." Tony chuckled as Tali crossed her arms, expecting him to pay attention to her, Tony made a really big smile to her which made Tali laugh.

"So. Are you with us?" Ziva had an optimistic tone to her voice.

"What do you need?" Whatever it was, it certainly went a lot further than just a rogue CIA agent and a mortar strike. He wanted to help her, be her partner again.

"Well, right now, we have to be somewhere in about 20 minutes, I have a ride waiting." Ziva picked up Tali and looked to Tony, "Shall we?"