It was 3am, Israel time. Tony rolled over and stared out the window. They were still in their clothes from yesterday. He felt sticky, probably from his impromptu run and the stifling heat in their room. He silently rolled out of the bed. Ziva stirred for a second, but her snoring resumed so Tony knew she had fallen back asleep. He opened the window, only to be greeted by a wave of hot air. Sighing, he left it open thinking that some air movement, albeit hot, was better than no air movement at all. He stared out the window, watching the lights, until he caved and went and turned on the shower. The hot water beat down on him, washing the dirt, sweat, tears and pain away. He watched the grey tinged water swirl down the drain. The water ran longer than he normally would, but he figured that no one else in Israel would be showering at 3am, at least no one in their hotel. Finally, he shut off the water and wrapped himself in a big fluffy white towel that smelled mildly of bleach. Ziva was still sleeping restlessly on the bed, her body twisting and turning. He pulled on a clean pair of shorts and opened his arms to her, allowing her to press her body against his, her murmers quieting, her almost silent tears drying.
"You left me." She accused quietly.
"I went to shower, I stunk."
A small smile crossed her lips. "I noticed. You smell better." She whispered, her eyes opening a sliver.
"Go back to sleep. It's still early." He whispered, pressing his lips on her forehead.
She nodded mutely and closed her eyes, allowing herself to be held tightly. They succumbed to sleep until the sounds of the Tel Aviv traffic woke them later in the morning…
#
"Is Mummy's Abba nice?" Daniela asked through a mouthful of sandwich.
"Swallow, then talk." Gibbs said, shaking his head.
The girl rolled her eyes and washed her peanut butter and jam sandwich down with a large swallow of milk. "Is. Mummy's. Abba. Nice?" She repeated slowly.
Gibbs frowned. The girl was a hell of a lot more perceptive than people gave her credit for. She peered at him, her blue eyes demanding an answer.
"Well…he is nice to Ziva."
"That means no." Daniela finished rolling her eyes. "I AM eight. I know what that means." She sighed and looked around the hospital waiting cafeteria. "I hate this place."
"I know, me too." Gibbs said taking a sip of his coffee.
"I was scared when I was here." Daniela admitted softly.
"But you were also really brave."
"I cried. A lot." The girl hung her head. "Brave people do not do that."
"Sure they do. Do you know what being brave is?"
"Being not scared."
"No, it's being scared, but following through." He slid his chair closer to Daniela. "Are you scared now?"
She nodded. "I am scared for Mummy and Papa…I am scared that they will not come back. And I am scared for Jacob. I know this surgery is 'posed to help him hear, but I am still scared. That something' is going to go wrong…" Her face dropped. "I know it is stupid."
"Hey, that's not stupid. Everyone gets scared."
"Do you get scared Gibbs?"
He pulled the girl closer. "I'll let you in on a little secret. I get scared all the time. I get scared when we go get the bad guy, I get scared that someone is going to get hurt."
"Like Jenny?" The girl asked slyly, a small smile creeping onto her lips.
"Like Jenny, and McGee, and Abby, and Tony, and Ziva." He said, fighting back a smile. "Even they get scared sometimes."
Daniela gasped. "No way. Mummy is not scared of NOTHING."
"I know she was scared when you guys were gone, and I know she was scared leaving you and Jacob." Gibbs countered.
"I think Papa was afraid too."
"I know he is." Gibbs ruffled the girl's hair. "But they're being brave. And so are you."
She thought about that statement for a second before smiling. "Do brave girls get ice-cream?"
Gibbs rolled his eyes. Yep, she was far more perceptive than people gave her credit for. She knew that she had him wrapped around her little finger. He sighed and dug out some money out of his pocket.
"I guess they do." She flashed him a smile and skipped to the counter.
#
Jacob frowned and narrowed his eyes at the doctor. She was talking too fast for him to understand anything and Abby had stopped translating for him. He was bored. Four year old bored. Four year old stuck in a doctor's office bored. He spied a pad of paper and a pen on the doctor's desk and reached out for it. Firmly in his hand he started to draw, but the pen wouldn't work. With a sigh he turned and pressed harder, this time on the wall. It worked. With a smile he entertained himself, drawing people on the wall. He drew a tall one with hair sticking up everywhere and started on a shorter one before he felt the pen being forcefully removed from his hand. A very upset and embarrassed Abby glared at him.
Jacob. NO.
He shrugged and looked at the doctor who was giving him a funny look, something between a laugh and a frown.
"It's okay Miss Scuito, I should have known. I have three kids myself." She smiled at Jacob. I need to look at your ears.
The boy leaned over and pulled his ears out to the side.
McGee smiled and pulled out his camera phone, and took a picture. Monkey He signed slowly.
Jacob grinned and crossed his eyes.
"Well he's a little ham, isn't he?"
"Yes." Abby signed to the boy and he tilted his head to the side.
"So where are Ziva and Tony?" She looked up and smiled. "That is their names, right?"
"Yeah." McGee gave Abby a concerned look. "Family emergency."
"Well Jacob is a perfect candidate for cochlear implants. When Ziva and Tony get back, get them to give me a call and we'll set something up."
"Thanks." McGee held out his hands to the boy. "Sorry about your wall."
"No problem, I've had worse at my house." She knelt down and gave Jacob a sucker.
He grinned and ripped the wrapper off, sticking the purple sucker in his mouth.
"Great, more sugar." McGee mumbled, grabbing Jacob's hand.
Jacob grinned his dark eyes flashing. He wasn't bored anymore.
3
"What was that noise?" Tony asked rolling over and looking at Ziva.
"My stomach. It has been too long since I have eaten." She admitted.
"Did you eat yesterday?"
She shook her head. "No. I was…otherwise occupied."
He smiled and placed a kiss on the top of her still damp head. "Well, we'll go out and get food."
"Tony, are you sure you are okay?" She pulled him down so that they were eye to eye. "You seem…"
"Ziva, I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm jetlagged and I'm pretty sure that I pulled a muscle on my run yesterday." He gave her a soft smile. "I'm not angry with you. I wish that you would have told me sooner. I wish that there was something that I could do for you. I wish that I could have been there for you. I wish that things ended up differently, but I'm not angry. I'm a little disappointed, I'm not going to lie, but any kids that we have, biological or not, they will be our kids. They will have our last names. We will be able to raise them together." He rubbed his temples. "Do they make good coffee here in Israel?"
She laughed. "Yes."
"And pancakes?"
"Yes Tony. But no bacon."
His face fell.
"It's not kosher."
"As long as they have pancakes." He said finally, pulling on his shoes. "What kind of place doesn't have bacon?"
"Pretty much any country in the middle east. Israel because it isn't kosher, the others because it is not halal." She rolled her eyes when a confused look crossed his face. "Same thing as kosher, but in Arabic."
"Oh." He said standing up. "It still doesn't make any sense, but I'm too hungry to care."
She smiled as they linked arms and left the room.
The hot air hit them as soon as they got outside.
"Is it always this hot?"
"We're in Israel Tony. It is to be expected." She smiled and took his hand in hers. "You do get used to it."
"I feel like I'm in an oven." He whined as they walked further down the street. "Aaaaaaaaand I'm huuuuuuuuungry."
Ziva rolled her eyes and pulled him into a restaurant. "Here, it's air conditioned and they have food."
He smiled contently as they sat down. "I want pancakes."
The waiter came by and Ziva spoke in quick Hebrew.
"Do you want to talk…about…you know?" He fished an ice cube out of his glass with a spoon.
She shook her head. "T-Tony…I do not think I am ready. You are the first person, besides my father, that knows about this. It feels like every day I relive it. When I see Daniela, I see my baby. When I see Jacob, I see my baby." She dropped her eyes. "Do you know that I did not even know if my baby was a boy or a girl?"
Tony sighed, watching helplessly as Ziva swallowed her emotions. Somehow, the pancakes didn't taste nearly as good as he had hoped.
After eating and Tony paying for the breakfast, they sat at the table watching the people hurry to their destinations. He leaned forward and placed his hands on top of hers, running his finger over the diamond ring that adorned her hand.
"We still have to go back and speak with your father."
"I know." She said slowly, avoiding his eyes. "I do know that we have to."
"And this time, I'm going to be there, whether your father likes it or not."
#
Eli David sat in his office staring out of the window. Perhaps, he thought, he should be happy about the fact that Ziva was engaged, even if it was to a Christian. It could be worse, it could be a Muslim. He rolled his eyes. But engaged to Anthony DiNozzo…he would not be his first choice for a husband. Or even for pool boy. The man, he lacked social skills in every sense of the word and had the maturity of a squirrel. And a family? He shook his head, those children were not HIS grandchildren. They were American. Sure, they had lived in Israel, but their father was a convert, and that was not good enough. If you were Jewish, you were born Jewish and you died Jewish. Those kids, Danielle and Jake, or something like that, they were nothing more than toys that Tony and Ziva could play with. They were not really theirs and Eli knew that eventually they would get bored of the children and return them to wherever they got them from. Especially Tony. He was slightly impressed that he wasn't bored of them already.
With a look of disdain Eli looked at Ziva's Mossad credentials that sat on his desk. Quitting was not acceptable for a Mossad agent, let alone a David. There was no quitting. He would make sure of that.
.
Okay, so here's the deal. It's labour day weekend…if you're not from Saskatchewan you probably don't understand what that means. It means football (against our arch rivals, the Bombers.) It also means my huge and dysfunctional extended family is in town. So, as of tomorrow my one bedroom apartment will be home to me, my boyfriend, my parents and my brother's girlfriend. Yes. That WOULD be five of us in my one bedroom apartment. FML. Anyway…it's a yearly event that encompasses a shitton of booze, a lot of really loud people and massive stupidity. Two years ago my dad broke his elbow playing football, last year my cousin broke his face running into my brother's arm. (Seriously. It was sort of epic.) Too bad I'm generally quiet in large groups and I hate most of my extended family. I might punch out my 16 year old cousin. She dislikes clothes and likes booze. She usually ends up half naked and hitting on anyone who will look at her. I also might punch my other cousin. He has no social skills and last year lit my hat on fire. It was on my head. I punched him in the nards and threw his cowboy hat in the fire.
If I don't update in about a week…expect the worst.