Note: I will be making chapter 2 longer because it went too fast. Also, all of the street names and attacks are real and have actually happened. I like realistic circumstances, I hope you do as well.
When Tali started yelling for her mother, Ziva got up from the couch and headed into a separate bedroom, when she came back with her little motek, she looked over to Tony, who had been looking at baby photos of Tali, and asked if he would like to go out and spend some time in the Sarona Market.
"Sure. Wait, uh, sababa! That's right, isn't?"
"Oh, very good, Tony." Ziva winked. Did Tony sense a hint of flirtation?
Ziva placed Tali on the couch and reached for the little girls shoes, as Ziva put on the tiny slippers, Tony got a ping on his phone. He grasped the phone in his pocket and when he fished it out there was a new message from Timothy McGee:
"Tony-went by your apartment, called Senior. He said you were in Israel?"
Tony couldn't get into this right now, at least not without permission from the woman herself.
"I'm spending time with my daughter. Should be back next week. Catch up then."
Tony heard another ping in his pants pocket, but he couldn't answer it, not right now.
Ziva stood up and unfolded a stroller to place Tali in.
"She looks so much like you."
"Hmm...I know" Ziva chuckled, "Although, she is so much like you, you know that?"
"What? No way!"
"Oh yes way, Tony."
Ziva locked up the apartment and as they were walking to the elevator, Tony had to find out what Ziva meant, 'so much like you'…
"Well, does she beat up people if they refuse to bask in the glory of my daughter? Oh, I know, is she a black belt in the quoting of movies, no, she can't talk in more than two word sentences, she will though, I can promise you that. So, Tali likes' ole Bogart? Come on, Ziva tell me! Oh I know, she's the comic relief or the most striking damsel at the playground?"
Ziva looked at him, and with a half-laugh followed by dropping her head back and a deep breath, she tries to crack a little at the façade.
"She's about to be two, Tony, I doubt she will beat anyone up… she must wait until five…at the least."
They get off the elevator and start heading toward the marketplace.
"So let me get this straight, she doesn't really get the movies except cartoons, she doesn't know how to throw a swing-" Tony was intercepted by Ziva.
"Oh! But she knows how to kick! I urge you to try changing a cranky baby at 4 in the morning. Left a bruise for a week."
"Thank you for letting me know, since you have so much experience with her, maybe you change her for like …2 more years?"
"DiNozzo! No, no, no, I think you should be the one to do that. You are responsible too. How can you not oblige with that precious little girl needing you?"
Tony could not resist, even with the short time he has had with Tali, she is certainly wrapped around his finger.
"So manipulative, your ninja skills work on the heart, too." Tony makes a karate movement with his hands.
"On the heart?"
Tony rubs the back of his head, feeling insecure, "Uh, yeah, Ziva, you kind of have that effect on people".
One to two moments of silent walking had them unveil the truth. The truth was when you love a person, on a different scale, on a different universe, than all others that have come before, it messes with you. Love is always patient and kind; Tony had shared facts about himself to Ziva that no one else had known; Ziva… well she shared a whole lifetime of misery and conquering to Tony. Love is never boastful or conceited. Tony and Ziva had had a trial and error kind of relationship, but after Rivkin and her later reunion, they finally could see past the shallow end of their personas and make a stronger friendship than ever before.
Love is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is never resentful. Sure, Anthony could have been angry and painfully hurt by Ziva David's resignation and departure, but he never resented her for it, he understood her initial reasoning. He understood her. For, keeping account of grievances is not love. Anyone who rejoices in other's wrongdoings and mistakes, proves that that is not love. Love finds joy in the truth and rejoices in unification.
"The ability to see past a person's pain and disguise and see the hidden layers that make us all vulnerable." Ziva stopped walking and grabbed Tony's arm, which was on the stroller, he came to a halt, looking at Ziva. "You asked me how Tali is like you, well, that is it. You were the only person close enough to me who could see through that smokescreen I put up. All of those years, Tony … why did you not give up on me?"
Tony delicately put the back of his hand on her right cheek, caressing it, "Because, Ziva David, something about you helped me become a better person, those years I worked by your side, I cared about you more and more every day, even through all the agony. And then I realized, I loved you. . .I loved you".
Love is ready to make allowances, to take risks, to trust, and to hope.
"Three years. Can things ever be back to the way they were?"
"I certainly hope not," Tony smiled at Ziva who suddenly looked worried, "Ziva, I don't want things back to the way they were. It was surprising seeing you again and not feeling like it had been three years, it feels like it had been only a few months or a year. Before, I didn't have the guts to spill my heart out at an airport. Before I didn't have Tali. I didn't have you. I feel like I'm not starting over, but we're just continuing where we left off." Ziva's worry had been replaced with something she had faith to feel again, she felt hope.
"You are making this so easy…" She places her hand in his.
"A few months ago I had told Gibbs and the rest of the team I had come to the realization I wouldn't have children. Just now, standing here, I remembered that. I even bought a whole ancestry DNA kit, trying to find myself and where I came from… I never admitted it but I was depressed. I wanted a family." Tony placed his hands on her soldiers, "God, Ziva, you have given me such a gift…"
"Tony…" There was a glimmer from a few unfallen tears in her eyes.
"I still love you."
"I…" Ziva jumped into him and their encirclement was so strong, an earthquake couldn't pry them a part. You see, the most important part of love is that it is ready to endure whatever is to come. The thing is if it is truly, positively true, unfailing love, it is never ending.
"Abba! Imma! Yalla!" Tali's voice cried out, she wanted to go.
Ziva looked down to her daughter, "Yalla, mami?"
Tali giggled, pointing forward, and Tony returned to pushing the stroller through the outskirts of the marketplace.
They stopped at a patio-café when Ziva explained to Tony that they have amazing gelato.
"Gelato? Ohhohoho, Grazie mille!"
"Al lo da-var."
They would have five days in Israel before their scheduled departure. A departure followed by silence about a resurrection, secrets held by Gibbs, reunions, and ultimately, their new life.