Hi all, another chapter and it's not a year in the waiting. I was kind of sad that I only had three reviews for the last chapter…I won't ever hold a chapter hostage, but reviews drive me to write more and write what you guy want to see. So…reviews please?
Tony hated studying. He especially hated studying in a language he knew nothing about. He turned up the volume on his headset as he tried to memorize a section from the Torah. He had been secretly going to the synagogue to visit the rabbi each week to talk about conversion and to learn more about the Jewish faith. He was doing…okay in most aspects, but Hebrew apparently was his Achilles' heel. Sighing heavily, he squinted at the clock on the wall. It was still late, so he knew he had time. Taking out the Torah along with a translation, he started to slowly mumble the Hebrew words as softly as he could. He knew that despite Ziva's outward apathy towards her family and religion, she would want a Jewish wedding and he would do everything in his power to grant that to her.
"Papa…"
Tearing off his earbuds, Tony turned around and looked up sheepishly at Daniela who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen in her pyjamas, sleep in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Princess. Did I wake you?" He asked, pulling out the chair beside him.
Daniela shook her head and climbed onto the chair. "I came out to get some water." She explained. Tony nodded and went and poured her a glass of water and put in a bendy straw, just because. While Daniela was closer to Ziva than she was to him, Tony wanted this to change and it was small moments like this, small-unguarded moments that gave him hope.
"Thank you." Daniela said taking a sip of the water, sitting up on her knees to see what Tony was doing. "Is that the Torah?" She asked, reaching out for the Hebrew book. "Why are you reading the Torah, Papa?" She asked, putting the book back, making sure not to lose his page.
Sighing, Tony moved closer to Daniela. "Well, you, Jacob and Mummy are all Jewish."
The small girl nodded and gave him a look that said "duh."
"I'm not."
Daniela nodded again and raised her eyebrows at Tony.
He couldn't help but chuckle at his own nervousness at admitting what he was doing to an eight year old. "Ziva and I…er…Mummy and I are going to get married…and I would like it to be a Jewish wedding. I want to be Jewish…like you guys." He finished lamely.
The little girl stared at him, sipping her water, her big brown eyes staring back at him. Finally, she pulled off the straw and rested her chin in her hand. "Papa, I do not think Mummy cares that you are not Jewish. And Jacob and I do not care. We love you because you are…Papa." She said with a shrug. "But if you want to learn Hebrew, I can help teach you." She said pulling her chair flush against his. She started to write some Hebrew letters along with the pronunciation beside them. He wrapped his arm around her chair and pulled her close. He could tell her that he had a program on his iPad that translated things for him. He could tell her that he was getting lessons from the rabbi. But instead he pulled her as close as he could and followed along repeating sound by sound with her, watching her face light up when he said things correctly.
After an hour had passed, he picked up Daniela, whose eyes had drooped considerably, and carried her to her room.
"You're doing well, Papa." She said sleepily.
He grinned and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Thank you Princess. Now try to sleep." Before her light was off, the little girl had already fallen asleep and Tony stood in the doorway just watching her for a few minutes. Shutting off her light, Tony tiptoed his way to their room and was unsurprised to see Ziva sitting up in bed, reading a book. She was radiant.
Sitting down on his side of the bed, he tugged off his pants and shirt and crawled into the bed, propping himself up on his elbow to watch her as she read. He remembered the first time that they met. The night Kate was killed. She had walked into the squad room in her fitted white tshirt, the large olive one engulfing her figure, the baggy cargo pants cinched at the waist and a light purple head scarf taming her unruly curls. But even then…
"Tony, you are staring."
He laughed and flopped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. She was so young then, hell, she still was. He had snuck a peek at her passport one time. Birthdate 1982. 25 years old. She was younger than both McGee and Abby, though her experience seemed to add so many years. She was in her mid-twenties while he…he was quickly approaching the big four oh. After a few minutes he looked back, smirking when he saw Ziva's dark eyes on him. "Now who's the one staring?" He teased.
"What is wrong?" She asked placing a bookmark in her book. "I can see that something is bothering you."
"You're younger than both McGee and Abby."
Ziva nodded. "Yes. I am almost ten years younger than Abby and four and a half years younger than McGee." She said brushing her hair off her face.
"And almost twelve years younger than me. When you were in kindergarten, I was graduating high school." Tony said shaking his head.
"And this bothers you." Ziva said slowly, not understanding what his problem was.
"When you're forty, I'll be an old man."
"You're already an old man." Ziva teased, frowning at his instant reaction. "Tony, I do not care that you are older than me. I would not care if you were younger than me. I love you because you are…you Tony." Ziva said softly. She reached over and placed her hand on his cheek, her thumb gently rubbing small circles. He gently gripped her wrist and nodded. "In Mossad…I did not even think about growing old with someone because…you do not grow old in Mossad." She said quietly. "But with you, Tony, I do. I dream about growing old. About spending time with our kids. About being a family. I dream, Tony. And it is because of you." She whispered.
Leaning back, Ziva picked up her book and returned to reading, leaving Tony alone with his thoughts.
Tony placed hi hand on his cheek where Ziva's hand had been before turning and looking at her. "I love you too, Ziva." He said quietly. "And I'm happy that I can bring you your dreams." He said giving her a sheepish smile.
The Mossad officer smiled. "You are a better man than you give yourself credit for." She said softly. "And I know a lot of people who would agree." A few minutes later, once she finished her chapter, Ziva closed her book and placed it on her nightstand. Reaching over she turned off the light and the room was suddenly dark. She moved over towards Tony and wrapped her arms around him. "Goodnight, Tony." She whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to his chest.
"Goodnight, Zee." He replied, his fingers running through her mass of curls as she fell asleep in his arms.
#
Tony stood over the grill as he flipped burgers and chicken around on the heat and brushing on some barbeque sauce. Closing the lid he moved over to the larger grill that housed ribs and sausage and hamburger patties with cheese, he took a new brush and layered on some sauce before closing the lid.
"Two barbeques?" One of the new neighbours, Mark, asked eying up Tony's set up.
"Gotta stay kosher." Tony replied taking a swing of his beer. He hadn't had a bacon cheese burger in…in forever and it didn't even bother him.
"Oh." Mark replied, rubbing his cheek. "DiNozzo…that…isn't a Jewish name."
"No, but my fiancée is Jewish and we're raising our kids Jewish." He said with a shrug. He didn't delve into the fact that their kids weren't REALLY their kids, but went back to adding more meat onto the grill.
Ziva sat back in the lawn chair as she sipped the sangria that Michelle had brought over as they watched the kids play. "Any news from JJ?" She asked, twisting the glass in her hand nervously.
Michelle shook her head. "Sorry, Ziva." She said softly watching as Lucy and Daniela helped some of the younger kids onto the trampoline. "How are they doing?" She asked stealing a peek at the younger woman before taking a sip of her own drink.
"For the most part, they are doing well." Ziva said slowly. "Jacob is happy. He keeps on asking us when he will get his new ears." She said with a grin. "Daniela…she had her good days like today and then her bad days. She caught Tony and I having sex." Ziva started.
The darker woman stopped and stared at Ziva. "She caught you having sex…"
Nodding shyly, Ziva continued. "We had not locked the door and she thought Tony was hurting me so she tried to strangle him. We had a conversation and we talked about it. She is okay now, but she was afraid because of…"
"What happened to her." Michelle finished. She placed her hand on Ziva's arm. "You're a great mother, Ziva." She said squeezing her arm gently. "If you believe me or not, it's true. And when you get a court date for the adoption of those two, I will stand up and tell the judge that you and Tony are great parents."
"And so will we."
Ziva turned and spotted Abby, McGee, Gibbs and Jenny standing behind them. She swallowed hard and gave them all a teary smile. "Thank you." She whispered.
There was more than enough food to feed the group with Gibb and Tony each manning a grill. Tony slid in beside Ziva and pulled her onto his lap as they ate, every once in a while reaching over to grab a piece of her food. It was comfortable, domestic and natural. Ziva watched as Gibbs watched Jenny with a careful eye, despite the director taking very little on her plate.
After a while, the group had thinned out and only the squad, Michelle and Keith, and Kieran were left, the last one constantly on his phone. "JJ said she was going to come." He muttered, standing up for the millionth time to go call his girlfriend. A few moments later the back gate swung open and a blur of curls and heavy framed glasses ran in.
"We have a court date!" She exclaimed, holding onto a bright pink folder. "Three weeks from today." Her voice was quick and perky. There was obviously a lot of caffeine that made this court date happen. "There's going to be a social worker that's going to come and make a home visit, and then they're going to interview the people closest to you. I gave them all your names; Tim McGee, Abigail Scuito, Leroy Gibbs, Jennifer Shepard, Donald Mallard, James Palmer…" She turned to Keith and Michelle and Kieran. "And you guys." With one more gulp of air JJ grabbed a chair and flopped on it dramatically.
Daniela, who had been quietly taking in the scene from the lawn, walked up and leaned against Jenny's chair, the older woman smiling and wrapping her arm around the child. "What is a court date?" She asked quietly.
"A court date, my sweet little Princess, is when we get to see if we get to be your legal parents." Tony said standing up and kissing Daniela's head. He rushed down and picked up Jacob. Abby signed to Jacob who immediately signed back NEW EARS.
"Aren't you excited, Ziva?" McGee asked, his eyes falling on the Israeli who had suddenly gone ashen.
"Excuse me." She said quickly getting to her feet and rushing into the house. Tony moved to go after her, but Gibbs held up his hand and shook his head. "You stay." He said, ruffling Jacob's hair before slipping into the house. Ziva sat on the couch, her knees to her chest.
"Ziver?" He said softly before sitting down beside her.
"What if they do not like us, Gibbs? What if they look at my record and see that I am not fit to be their mother, what then?" The panic was heavy with each word spoken, her fears surfacing with the ferocity of a missile.
"Are those kids happy?" Gibbs asked after a silent few moments.
Ziva nodded.
"Are they healthy?"
Again she nodded.
"Are they loved"?
Frowning, Ziva looked at Gibbs. "Of course they are, Gibbs." She said quietly. "I love them more than anything, and so does Tony."
"Then what are you afraid of?" He asked wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Those kids adore you and in a few weeks they can officially be DiNozzos, or Davids, or DiNozzo-Davids." He said kissing her curls. "You're already a great mother to those children. You need to stop doubting yourself. You are not your father."
After a few long moments, Ziva looked up. "Thank you, Gibbs." She said straightening her hair.
"Anytime, Ziver." The older man said waiting for her to stand up.
"You guys will be there, right? Like in court." She asked, the vulnerability obvious on her face.
"If you want us there, we'll be there." He said as she stood up and brushed the invisible lint off her dress. "Come on, let's go back out there before they think that I've kidnapped you."
Ziva gave him a small smile and nod before they walked out to the back deck. Tony gave Gibbs a concerned look but the older man just shook his head. He sat down beside Jenny and popped a can of gingerale and passed it to her.
The team exchanged glances as they watched their Director and Gibbs interact. It had been happening a lot lately, Gibbs hovering over Jenny like she was about to break. Finally, the redhead cleared her throat and looked at her team. "I have an announcement to make." She said softly. "As of Friday of next week I will be stepping down from the position of director of NCIS." She held up her hand when she heard groans, squeals and questions. "It is not a choice I wanted to make, but…" She looked at Gibbs who nodded a reassuring nod. "I'm sick. Breast cancer."