"Why would DiNozzo want to meet at a fancy restaurant? Pretty sure they don't sell bacon cheeseburgers or pepperoni pizzas here." Gibbs grumbled straightening his tie and jacket.
Jenny grinned and straightened his jacket for him. "They have probably a VERY good reason."
He shrugged. "They don't need a big dinner to announce it."
"Jethro, it is a big deal." She pushed a lock of her red hair off of her face as they walked towards the restaurant.
"I didn't make a big deal of it when I got engaged." He grunted, holding the door open.
"First, second, third or fourth time?" She grinned. "Just act surprised and supportive. AND happy."
He wrinkled his nose slightly, but didn't reply. They walked into the restaurant, and waved at the already full table. McGee and Abby sat next to each other, McGee in a black suit with a red tie, Abby matching with a black dress with red accents. Ducky was next, looking pristine in his suit, suspenders and bowtie. Palmer looked oddly comfortable in his pinstriped suit. They sat down, smiling at the group.
"Where are DiNozzo and David?" Gibbs asked, pulling out the chair out for Jenny and then sitting down.
"They called, it seems like they were having problems with young Master Jacob." Ducky said with a smile. "Appears the boy did not appreciate having to get dressed and stripped naked in car and tried to throw his clothes out the window."
"We're here, we're here, just a bit late." Tony said, rushing in holding Jacob firmly by the hand. The boy scowled and pulled pitifully at the tie that he wore. "Ziva and Daniela will be right in." He sat down , pulled a booster seat on the chair and plopped the child onto the seat beside him. "Sorry we're late." Tony tightened his tie
"Ducky explained the whole thing." Jenny said with a smile, waving at Jacob.
Ziva and Daniela walked in, Ziva wearing a black dress with heels and Daniela wearing a plaid jumper and with a white shirt underneath. "Sorry, we had a much needed bathroom break." She sat down beside Tony and put Daniela on the other side of her, beside Abby. "Thank you for coming."
"So what's this all about?" Gibbs asked gruffly, watching the eyes of his agents.
"Well…" Tony cleared his throat and stood up, motioning for Ziva to stand up next to him. "We're…getting married." He said softly, blushing hard. Gently he lifted up Ziva's hand and showed the engagement ring. The group at the table was silent, with Gibbs fishing out his wallet out of his back pocket. He pulled out a few bills and passed them over to Ducky who was collecting money from around the table.
"Sorry Anthony, Ziva, but we had laid bets." Ducky said pocketing the money. "Congratulations." He said with a grin, standing up and hugging the couple. "It is long past due, but it does not tarnish the act itself." He kissed Ziva on the cheek and shook Tony's hand.
Jimmy grinned and smiled at Tony and Ziva. "Congrats guys! This is great!"
"We already knew." Abby said with a smirk. "Gibbs?"
The silver haired man cracked a soft smile, after giving Tony a hug, whispering in his ear. "Learn from me Tony, don't screw it up. Cherish her, cherish it, cherish them."
Tony swallowed hard, fighting back tears. "I will."
Gibbs nodded and gave Ziva a tight hug, whispering something in her ear. She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Gibbs."
Jenny smiled at both of them, waiting her turn to congratulate her two senior agents.
#
"So, now what am I going to call you guys? DiNozzo one and DiNozzo two?" Gibbs asked, taking a bite of his meal.
"I will be keeping my last name, at least at work." Ziva said with a smile.
"Good, because it'd get confusing yelling 'DINOZZO!' and having both of you two come running." He said with a smirk.
"I NEVER run." Tony lamented.
"Nope, you're too fat." Daniela said with a grin.
Tony waved his fork at her. "You be quiet."
Daniela grinned but kept eating her pasta.
Jenny smiled and turned to Ziva. "So, when is the wedding?"
"We are not sure yet. We have…other things that must be dealt with."
Across the table a high pitched giggle broke up the conversations. Jimmy had shoved his breadsticks under his top lip making a sad excuse for a walrus. Jacob laughed, clapping his hands together. Ducky rolled his eyes, going back to his conversation with Abby and McGee. Tony grinned, reaching for breadsticks before Ziva glared at him. Daniela shook her head stabbed a piece of penne. Gibbs didn't even bother to look.
#
"That is great." Ziva said into her cellphone. "Okay, we will contact the legal authorities and schedule an appointment then."
"Awesome! Yeah, we were out of the country. Okay, great. We'll swing by and sign all of the papers." Tony said walking into the room, talking on his own cellphone. "That's awesome. Okay, whenever it works for them. Two months? Yeah, that should be okay. Let me check with my fiancée." He covered the mouthpiece. "Zee, two months for a move in date? Does that work?"
Ziva shrugged.
"Yeah, two or thee months. Whichever."
"Okay, so no food or water for 12 hours before?" Ziva continued. "He's four. Yes, profoundly deaf since birth." She wrote something down on a pad of paper. "Okay, great. Thank you." She hung up the phone and threw herself down on the couch. "We have to take Jake in to get checked out one last time and get forms signed."
"We have to go to the bank and get the mortgage figured out." Tony answered, sitting down beside her.
"We also have to meet with the lawyers about custody arraignments." Ziva continued. "And then the school board to transfer Daniela and Jacob to a school in the district. We need to see which schools they want to go to, which schools have the advanced programming for Daniela, has athletic programs…" She was quieted by his lips on hers.
"We'll figure something out." He said softly. "Tomorrow."
"We have to stop procrastinating." She replied, running her hands through her dark curls. "We also have to go into work."
"Tomorrow." He mumbled into her hair. "I'm still jet lagged. Need sleepy." He wrapped her up in his arms. "Need sleepy."
"How old are you Tony? Twelve?"
"Sleepy." He replied closing his eyes. "Tomorrow."
Ziva shook her head. "We need to get some of this stuff done today."
Tony sighed and released his grip on her. "FINE…but then…"
"Then we can come home and you can have your sleepy."
"That's not exactly what I want." Tony replied wiggling his eyebrows.
"You have a one toned mind." Ziva said with a giggle.
"One track mind, Zee-vah."
#
"I'm really sorry." Dr. Michelle Hsu said ushering Tony, Ziva and Jacob into the exam room. "PD day at school and our sitter is sick."
Tony smiled. "No problem, it's fine. It looks like your daughter is about the same age as Daniela."
"Thank God for small miracles." The doctor smiled, her dark eyes laughing. "I'm sure Lucy and Daniela will get along fine. And it makes my life so much easier…it's only entertaining ONE extra child." She looked down at her son Tyler who was sticking to her side. "Go play."
"No, girls are gross." He mumbled, playing with his gameboy.
Laughing Tony looked down at the boy. "Only for about…ten years or so."
Tyler shrugged and went back to playing his gameboy.
"How about after I check out Jacob, you and he go play?" Michelle offered.
"'Kay." Tyler mumbled his eyes on his electronic game.
Michelle rolled her eyes. "Just ignore him. He's on the autism spectrum and is in a foul mood today." She turned to Jacob who was smiling serenely on the bench. "Like I told your brother, Tim, Jacob seems like a perfect candidate. He has fully functioning auditory nerves, he's still very young and it seems like you guys are willing to do therapy with him."
"We are." Ziva said, brushing Jacob's flyaway hair off his face.
"I can't see any problem then." Michelle said, checking off a few boxes on the chart. "Okay Ty, can you take Jacob to the other room while I talk to Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo?"
"'Kay." Tyler muttered, taking the smaller boy by the hand and led him out of the room.
"Don't worry, both my kids can sign so he'll be fine." Michelle sat down across from them and pulled her feet underneath her. "Okay, so let's sit down and figure out some dates…"
#
"I like your hair."
Daniela looked up at the girl and gave her a small smile. "Thank you."
"No, it's wicked. I wish my hair was like that." Lucy said. "Can I braid it?"
"I guess." Daniela shrugged. "My papa braids my hair all the time."
"Your DAD braids? My dad can't even boil water." Lucy sighed brushing Daniela's hair.
"My Papa can't cook. At all. Well he can make pizza, but he has to call for them to bring it." Daniela giggled. "My Mummy does all the cooking."
"So does mine. Or my grandmamma. She does a lot too." The girl turned and rolled her eyes as the two younger boys entered the room. "Hey Tyler. Put down your gameboy and play with your new friend."
"His name is Jacob. And lemme finish this level." Tyler mumbled sitting down on the nearest chair.
"He's just like that. Ignore him." Lucy's hands nimbly worked through the girl's hair. "Man, I wish I had curly hair like yours. I got screwed. Black mom, Chinese dad. Your hair is just like your mom's. I saw you guys as you walked in." She kept nattering. "Hey, do you want to be friends?"
"I do not have a lot of friends. 'Cept my brother." Daniela admitted. "I had one friend here, but he turned out to be mean."
"Oh, I'm a great friend. We can have sleepovers, at my place, and make cookies. Oh, and we have a tramamapoline in our backyard. And your brother can come. See, Tyler likes him."
Daniela stole a glance where Jacob and Tyler were sitting, playing with remote control cars, signing quickly to each other.
"That would be nice."
Lucy finished her braids and smiled. "I'm gonna go tell my Mom that we're friends. Maybe you can come for supper today! We can have pizza and watch movies! Do you like Disney movies? I do. My favourite is the Little Mermaid. Do you watch the Family Channel? I love Wizards of Waverly Place. It's wicked awesome. I have seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. We can watch that and eat popcorn. Do you like popcorn? We've got lotsa flavouring. It's wicked good." She stood up. "I'll be back."
Daniela blinked a few times and watched as Lucy skipped out of the room.
.