Hello, everyone! Thank you for all the kind reviews! I appreciate them beyond words and it's always entertaining to read what everyone is currently thinking about the story! As always, I leave you with a promise that it will get better. It just takes time, haha. Can't have the story speed on up to something good happening without any resolution to the drama. And after all, the primary part of this story is angst. I hope you keep enjoying what I put out and you may be wondering about these past few quick updates. My new semester starts next week and I am trying my best to get as many chapters out as possible because it will most likely take some time in between for new updates due to a heavy work load, unfortunately. I will try my best to get chapters update, but until then I will upload as quickly as possible because this story has been going on since 2013 and I'm hoping to end it and start another. Thank you again!

xoxo Ash

-x-

"Okay. Yes, yes. That sounds good. Alright. Thank you!" Ziva hung up the phone, tucking it into her purse before pulling the strap over her shoulder. She had just exited her lawyer's office after speaking on the phone with the lawyer that Tony claimed he would have for this process.

They hadn't spoken to each other since she kicked him out of the house and he'd left to go back to New York which was a month ago. Figuring his move back to New York was his answer for everything that had happened and his way to get away from it all, she left it alone and filed for divorce at the local courthouse in DC. Her and Tony had shared this lawyer, so he was relatively surprised when she asked him for divorce papers and stated that Tony would be moving his business to another lawyer. What she had thought would be a quick and painless process turned out to be the opposite. Not to mention, the struggles of being a single mother were slowly getting to her. It seemed that the dark blue bags that hung beneath her eyes would become permanent. The kids were no longer sleeping well at night, the need for their Dad becoming more apparent to her than she had thought.

They were used to having a family and weren't transitioning well to the huge change at all. Ty, significantly not liking what was happening once he started to notice that Grandpa Gibbs and Uncle McGee were taking Dad's clothes out of the house to ship to him in New York. One by one, Tony's belongings were disappearing out of the house and the disappearance wasn't going unnoticed by the four year old. Ziva had to fight with her young son about why his Daddy's DVD's were being packed up into a box and that they could get copies of the movies themselves. This resulted in Ty throwing a tantrum, kicking and screaming that he wanted Daddy and Ziva in tears. It just wasn't easy. And of course, no one had answers for Ziva when she asked the best way to explain to the children that their father would be living in New York for good and not coming back. There was nowhere to begin with the little ones about how Tony didn't even get into contact with his children since all of this, furring the anger in Ziva's veins to the highest notch. Just because things could not be resolved with her and him, did not mean that he could walk out of his children's lives for good – an underestimated Eli David move that Tony had clearly mad. Still , she persevered through each day that she woke up to and tried to be the best that she could be for her kids. Even if she was alone, she could conquer anything to make sure that her children lead on the best, happiest and healthiest lives.

Though the nights were restless for her, the terrors of Somalia coming back easily enough, she awoke everyday ready to make a change. Returning back to their original routines, she dropped Ty off at preschool, Isabella at the NCIS daycare and went to work. When it was time, she would pick Ty up from preschool and if necessary, drop him off at daycare with Isabella while she worked on a case with the team. Otherwise, she would bring both of her children home and spend time with them.

It was going to be a hard transition, but they would learn how to make it through together. Her day had been quiet at NCIS due to no cases being called in. She worked on fixing her fax machine, the one she had karate chopped when everything went down. McGee helped her, asking for advice about his relationship with Delilah in which Ziva happily complied. He was worried about her returning, she had been gone for some time helping at a non-profit organization in Africa. The understanding look in McGee's eyes inquired that he understood the flinch Ziva made when he mentioned Africa and he touched her shoulder in remorse. However, he was persistent in explaining how nervous he was to see her again and Ziva tried to comfort her friend as best as she could, although the newly failed relationship in her life wasn't much of a help to him.

"I do not know, McGee. I am totally not a relationship expert." She laughed, furrowing her brows together. "You really like her, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. But I'm even more impressed at the moment that you just used a contraction!" He joined her laughing, noting the surprised look on her face.

"I guess I am learning, yes? Have to be able to teach my children the trades of tricks." She smiled, gathering her belongings from her desk.

"Tricks of the trade," McGee corrected, winking at her. "We'll get them all correct someday."

She snorted, "That is what Tony promis-" Stopping herself before she could complete her sentence. She heaved a sigh, burying her face in her hands.

McGee frowned, looking at the paperwork on her desk. "Hey, why don't you go get my favorite niece and nephew, go home? I'll finish up here."

She peeked between her fingers to look at him, quizzically. "But-"

He interrupted her, "No buts. I'll take it from here. Besides, Delilah's flight doesn't come in till midnight. I can just leave to go get here from here." He smiled and she packed her things up, running over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Tim." She smiled, patting his cheek after she kissed him and ran to the elevator.

-x-

Once she had picked up Ty and Isabella from the daycare, she decided that it was time they stock up on food. Driving a short distance to the grocery store, singing along to the radio with the kids, she parked the car and headed inside with both. She grabbed one of the carts with a car in the front of it, representing a fire truck. Isabella and Ty excitedly climbed into it, making horn noises as their mother pushed the cart around the store.

"Bewwa, you're driving crazy like Mommy!" Ty giggled mimicking his father, watching Isabella spin the pretend steering wheel around in circles. Isabella's giggles followed her brothers as Ziva pushed through different aisles.

She was browsing the baking section, searching for the right ingredients for her latkes when she heard someone say her name.

"Ziva?" The voice questioned, coming closer to her and the kids down the aisle.

She spun around, keeping her hold of the cart as her motherly instincts took over and she sulked, raising her eyebrows when she saw the man sharing the same aisle as her. "Dr. Smith?"