"Do I look okay?" Tony asked for the fiftieth time that morning as he tried to flatten his hair to no avail.
"You look fine." Ziva reassured him straightening his tie.
"I just want everything to be perfect." He replied with a frown. "It has to be perfect."
"Tony. It does not have to be perfect. It just has to be us." She leaned on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on his lips. "We just have to prove to them that we love the children."
"We do."
"Then we are fine." Leaning her head against his chest. "We love them, they will see."
He grunted non-committaly, but wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "Thanks."
"For what?" She looked up at him, a questioning look on her face.
"For being you." He gazed into her eyes, and gave a half smile. "I'm not sure where I'd be if it wasn't for you Ziva, and I don't know where I'd be."
"Tony, you would be fine."
Shrugging, he tightened his grip on her, like she was the only thing that mattered to him in the world. They stood like that for a long time, until she pulled away slowly. "We have to go." She whispered.
"I know."
"Tony, we are doing this for our family." She placed a soft kiss on his lips before turning away.
"If we can be a family again." Sighing he reached over to grab his suit jacket.
"What do you mean, Tony?"
"What if Daniela and Jacob don't WANT to come back?" He sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. "We betrayed them, we let them down...we promised. And we let them down."
Sitting down beside him, she watched as the range of emotions washed over him. "Tony..."
"I know, I know, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
#
They sat in the cold meeting room of their lawyer's large firm, Tony spinning a pen senselessly in his fingers while Ziva rubbed the palms of her hands together nervously. She spun around when she heard the door to the conference room open.
In walked an elderly couple, the woman clutching the man's elbow.
Ziva stood up and extended her hand. "Hello, I'm Ziva David."
The man, who stood well over six feet gave a sharp look to his wife who sat down and stared at her hands. He gave Ziva a look over and went to shake Tony's hand.
"Roberto Vancetti." He shook Tony's hand. "This is my wife Maria-Louisa."
Tony shook his hand, giving a sideways glance to Ziva who had her arms crossed across her chest.
"Tony DiNozzo."
"DiNozzo, good Italian name." The older man smiled and laughed heartily before glancing over at Ziva who was still standing with her arms crossed. "How'd you end up with this Jewlet?" He pointed towards Ziva with a frown. "Good Catholic boy like you, with a Jewbacca, just like my good for nothing son."
Tony's face went hard and stoic, his eyes narrowing. "That, is my girlfri...my fiancée, Ziva David."
"You're marrying that Jew? That's why we haven't spoken with my boy for years. He ran off and married a kike." The large man lowered himself into the small chair. "When we get them kids, we'll be able to beat the Jew right outta them. Turn them into good Christian kids."
"Excuse me?"
"I wasn't talking to you."
Ziva clenched her fists at her side and glared, her face only softening when Tony gently rubbed the back of her hand.
The door opened again, allowing the two lawyers and a social worker to slip in.
"Where are the children?" Ziva asked quickly.
"They're just outside." Their lawyer replied sitting down. "We just want to talk now, then we'll let them in."
"They're okay though, right?" Tony's worry was evident.
"They're fine. We have a great daycare centre, and if I remember correctly, Daniela brought a book and Jacob brought some toys." She smiled and sat down beside them. "I'm assuming you guys met?"
Ziva cocked her eyebrow. "Yes we did."
"We'd like to meet the kids too." Roberto said with a smile plastered on his face. "We never did get to meet them."
"I wonder why." Tony muttered under his breath. "Can we just get this over with so we can see the children?"
"Sure, let's get started." The other lawyer laid out files and nodded. "My clients are the only family these children have left..."
"We ARE their family." Ziva retorted quickly.
"The law states..." The lawyer continued ignoring Ziva's outburst.
Tony sighed and listened to the legal speak shooting back and forth, waiting until it was time for them to see Jacob and Daniela...
#
Jacob looked up from the castle he was building and let out an ear piercing squeal and tore off, throwing himself into Tony's arms. He hugged Tony tight, refusing to let go.
"Hey buddy. Here, I'll pick you up." Tony said slowly, propping the boy on his hip.
Jacob signed quickly, but frowned when he realised that Tony wasn't following. The boy threw a piece of Lego he had in his hand at his sister who looked up and glared.
"He says he misses you." She said coldly before turning back to her book.
"Daniela, we miss you." Ziva said quietly, sitting down beside her.
Daniela rolled her eyes and went back to her book.
"We are sorry."
The girl looked up, her blue-green eyes flashing with what could only be described as pain, hate, hurt and sadness.
"You promised. You promised that we would always be a family. You promised that nothing bad would ever happen to us. I guess it is okay if you guys break promises." She pulled her knees up to her chest and covered her head.
"Daniela, there are things that are out of our control. This is one of them. We love you very very much. Do you know why we are here?"
The girl looked up and shook her head. "To give our stuff to us?"
"No. We are here to try to get you and Jacob back."Ziva brushed a stray curl off the girl's face. Her hair was long and hanging in her face. "We will do everything we can." Her hand lingered on Daniela's face, gently stroking her cheek with her thumb. "Things will work out."
Daniela stared at her before launching forward and burying her head in the collar of Ziva's jacket. "I just want to come home."
Ziva caught Tony's eye who was rubbing Jacob's back and rocking him back and forth in his arms. He shrugged and went back to consoling the boy.
"Excuse me..." The DFCS worker stuck her head in the door and gave an apologetic smile. "But the grandparents would like to see the children now."
Tony nodded and gently put Jacob on the floor. "We'll be back." He said slowly, making sure the boy could read his lips. "We will be back."
"Daniela, we will be back for you." Ziva whispered into the girl's ear. "We will be back for you."
Daniela nodded and watched as Tony and Ziva left the room.
#
Maria-Louisa Vancetti was a quiet woman, one that was beaten into submission by her overbearing husband. She wasn't physically beaten, that would have shown scars, Roberto wasn't that stupid. He wasn't exactly a smart man, but he was smart enough not to get caught. It was his mouth that got him into trouble. They walked down the hall, passing Miss David and Mister DiNozzo on the way. They walked fast, Mister DiNozzo leading Miss David with his arm around her waist. She and Roberto, they were never like that really. He was rich, she wasn't. He made the money, she cleaned.
Marcus, he was the apple of her eye, her little boy. Even when he joined the Navy and converted, she still loved him. But Roberto, he hated the Navy and he hated Jews even more. He essentially disowned Marcus and wrote him out of their lives. Until they got a phonecall that he died. Roberto didn't do a wake for his own son, he just wrote him off like it was a car going to the junkyard. And now the children. Two children they didn't even know existed...Roberto wanted them. He wanted them to be everything Marcus wasn't for him, especially the boy. He wanted a heir to his monetary throne.
They entered the room, the two children sitting quietly. The girl looked up briefly, before staring down at her hands again.
Maria-Louisa sat down beside the girl and waited for her to look up.
"Hi."
The girl, her eyes full of apprehension, stared at her. "Hi."
"My name is Maria-Louisa, what's yours?"
With a heavy sigh, she looked up again. "Daniela." She bit her lower lip. "You are here to take us away, right?"
"Well, we're your Daddy's parents. We're your grandparents."
"No, Papa only has a Dad, and he says that he is a bit of a jerk." Daniela said colouring a truck in the colouring book.
"Why won't the boy answer me?" Roberto asked roughly, glaring at Jacob who was looking up at him with a small smile.
"He cannot." Daniela replied. "He is deaf."
"Whaddyou mean, deaf?" Roberto stared at the boy with a grimace on his face.
"I mean, he cannot hear. He was born like that."
Roberto glared at the girl and back to the boy. "So he's broken?"
"No." Daniela stood up and walked over to her brother. "He knows sign language."
"But he can't speak?"
"No." She shook her head. "Are you here to take us away?" She asked again, hugging her brother. "I really miss my Papa and Mummy." She whispered.
"But dear, they're dead." Maria-Louisa knelt down beside the girl.
"No they are not." She shook her head. "They were just here."
"Oh, the other couple?"
"Yes. Tony and Ziva." She hugged her knees to her chest. "I miss them. A lot."
Maria-Louisa sighed and looked up at her husband. He shook his head. "No way. They ain't going back to some traitor and his Jew wife."
Silent tears fell freely from Daniela's eyes, dripping onto her jeans.
"Do you really miss them?"
Daniela nodded. "Yes. I miss them so much. I miss Abba and Ima too, but Tony and Ziva...they helped my hurts. It hurt when Abba, Ima and Isaac, when they got blowed up. It hurt lots. But with Tony and Ziva...we were normal. We played games. We went to the zoo." Her voice trailed off and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "We really do miss them."
With a soft smile, Maria-Louisa stood up and for once in her life stood up for herself. She grabbed her husband's hand and dragged him out of the room. "Rob, I can't do it. I just can't. I'm going to talk to the lawyer. I can't take these kids away from their family again."
"But..."
"No buts. I've done everything for you, EVERYTHING. This is the one thing I'm asking you." Her dark eyes narrowed. "Look at them Roberto. Really look." She switched into Italian, their native tongue and spoke faster. "Can you do it? Can you take them away from another family? Can you rip their hearts in two again? Really, Roberto? Can you? Because I can't and I will NOT stand by and watch you do it. I'm going to the lawyer and to Mister DiNozzo and Miss David and see if we can come to an understanding." She held her hand up. "No arguments." She stalked off towards the office of which they came.
They blew open the door and sat down beside their lawyer. "We have come to a decision. We will NOT be looking for custody of the children."
"Are you serious?" Tony sputtered.
Maria-Louisa nodded. "Yes. I saw how much they care for you. There is no way that I can take those kids away from what they have. We will sign whatever it is you want."
Ziva chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. "We, appreciate the gesture, really. But...we were talking. We would like you to be a part of their lives. Would you consider, if we get custody, visiting the children? Getting to know them? They also need grandparents."
"You'd want us to?"
"Of course. Like you said, you are their family." She smiled softly at Maria-Louisa who smiled back. "Thank you so much."
"We'll do everything in our power to help you get full custody." The grandmother said reaching across and clutching Ziva's hand.
.
Ta da!
Okay, so the background story about me being bit. I work with kids on the Autism spectrum during the summer and since apparently, I can deal with kids with behaviours, I get the kids with behaviours. Last week I had two kids, one without behaviours (who was awesome, by the way!) and another that did. This week, I just have one kid. He's a violent puncher/kicker/pincher/spitter/swearer. Yesterday was a great day. We have a new hole in the wall and I have a few new bruises.
Sigh.
I love my job.
Anyway, have fun with this chapter!