"If you do not want any more of your juice, I will put it away now." Ziva warned, grabbing the sippy cup from Isabella who was tipping the cup over and spilling the juice. Isabella made a pouty face, pushing out her lower lip while trying to reach for the cup as her mother stuffed it away into the diaper bag.
The other passengers on the plane were busy putting away their carry-on bags overhead, others taking longer than most to do such a simple task. Ziva sighed, watching her two children become more irritable from the long, confusing day they'd had. She knew neither of them had understood why the trip to see Daddy had been so short lived. Not to mention, Daddy seemed extremely frazzled when they found him at the hotel and she wondered what had been going through their minds when they saw another woman in his hotel room. She prayed that perhaps they were too young to understand and thing and simply figured she was a maid at the hotel like they had seen in movies.
Head maid, she scoffed to herself, the flight attendant coming on over the speakers.
-x-
Tony leaned forward, peeking out to the seats directly diagonal from him. He inched his head forward to try and get a better view.
"Is something wrong?" The woman in the seat next to him asked, her eyebrow's arched as to why he was so interested in the left row in front of them.
"No, no." He shook his head, turning towards the elderly woman. "That's my family right there." He pointed towads Ziva, Ty and Isabella.
"Oh." She smiled, looking towards where he pointed, "They're beautiful."
"Yeah, yeah they are." He smiled back, cringing at how much he was just about to lose or rather had already lost.
"What are their names?" She asked, taking a mild interest.
"That's my wife, Ziva." He whispered, making sure Ziva wouldn't suddenly hear him with her ninja senses. Luckily the flight attendant was still chatting away as the plane began to move for take off. "My son is Ty, it's his birthday today. And our youngest is Isabella. She's a pistol." He laughed, sure not to be too loud.
"Ziva? That's a worldly name. Where is she from?" The older woman put down her magazine and Tony pondered why she cared so much. He was just a guy on a plane, keeping an eye out on his family who wanted nothing to do with him.
"Israel, born and raised. She came to the states about 16 years ago. I'll never forget the day," He looked down into his lap, the guilt washing over him once again.
"How did you two meet?" She placed her wrinkled, cold hand on his and noted the weary look that took over his face. There was something wrong here.
The speed of the plane shot up, the brake wheels locking up and into the sky the jumbo jet took off. Isabella squealed, Ziva shushing her and Tony leaned forward to make sure that everything was okay before continuing to talk, "I work for NCIS. At the time, I was a Senior Agent and she pranced into our office like she owned the place." He chuckled, recalling her eyeing him down like a predator. "She was coming to find her brother. He was, I guess you could say… on the run. She had no intention of ever joining our team because she was working for her father, back in Israel. Some things happened after that and about a month later, there she was…at the desk across from me as our new liaison agent."
"Fate," The woman smiled upon listening this story.
He looked up, a genuine smile taking over his features. "Yeah, it was definitely fate."
-x-
They had been in the air for about a half hour when the plane started to hit some turbulence in the air. Isabella began to whimper, her droopy eyes trying not to give out when the movement began.
"Shhh," Ziva cooed as the little girl began to cry. The buckle up signs lit up on the ceiling and Isabella crawled into Ziva's lap. "It is okay, my love. Just a few bumps in the sky… it is alright." She whispered into Isabella's hair.
Hitting another wave of turbulence, the oxygen mask in the front of the families seats fell from the ceiling, panic rushing to Isabella. The crying became louder, Isabella wailing as her mother gently placed her on her right shoulder and rocked her. Isabella weeped, crocodile tears falling from her tiny brown eyes while she continued to shake in her mothers arms.
"You are safe, Isabella Marie. Ima would not let anything happen to you or your brother. I promise." Ziva soothed, rubbing her tiny back.
Isabella rubbed her face against Ziva's shirt, leaving a wet mark from her tears and the drool coming from her bottom lip sticking out. The turbulence hit once again, scaring Isabella once more and she continued to cry, fists balled up in the material of Ziva's shirt as if she was gripping on for dear life. Trying her best to comfort her daughter, Ziva kept rubbing circles on her daughters back and rocking her body, so they wouldn't cause any commotion on the plane. Isabella gazed up from her mother's shoulder, looking directly at her father. "DAHDEE!" she screeched, reaching out towards him and Tony gulped.
"Daddy's not here." Ziva exhaled, wondering how she was going to explain today's events.
"DAHDEE!" She screamed again, extending her arms and Tony cleared his throat, allowing Ziva to turn around and look at him.
"Oh." Ziva turned back around in her seat quickly, patting Isabella's back. "You cannot see Daddy right now. We are not allowed to get up from our seats."
Isabella grunted, calming when the turbulence came to an end. Tony rubbed his temples, watching Isabella's big, brown eyes stare at him alas sucking on her thumb. Her eyes resembled her mothers, to a tee.
He wondered what the woman seated next to him thought when Ziva completely blew him off. Couldn't have seemed like a happy marriage to anyone on the outside, especially if she wouldn't make eye contact with him when their daughter was screaming his name.
"Turbulence happens in relationships, as well." The woman patted Tony's hand again, squeezing his thumb. She winked when he looked at her. "I was married three times. First and last to my soulmate. We couldn't stay away from each other and drifted back during our second marriages. Things happen, but you always go back to your soulmate." She chuckled, Tony's eyes growing large at how, yup, she knew there was something wrong.