Chapter Text
Bored is an understatement. She has been awake and lying in this bed for nearly ten hours now and she wants to do nothing more than leave this hospital. Tony and the doctors have explained to her multiple times that she had spent two days asleep after her surgery, and she needs to be monitored before going home. Wherever home was that is.
Tony had given her a kiss, telling her that he’ll be right back. Ziva can’t help but smile at the way he looked at her, the way he kissed her, and the way he had sat with her during the time she was under. He was finally with her again. They may not be officially together, but they were together nonetheless. They are one again.
She shifts her position on the bed, and flinching when she feels a twinge of pain in her stomach. It shouldn’t hurt, she went through labour and that was a lot more painful than this. But this was a deep sharp pain that she’s never felt before. As soon as she settled into her pillow, the pain became dull, and she soon forgot about it.
She looks around the room, before setting her eyes on the door, waiting for her man, god, her man, to return to her. She lets out a large yawn, blinking quickly, and soon falls asleep in her hospital bed.
***
When Ziva woke up again, Tony was in the room with her, sitting beside her bed with the chair pulled up and his socked feet resting next to her feet. She blinks her eyes a few times to make sure she was actually seeing what was before her. There was Tony. Reading. A book. Not a magazine. What happened to him?
She watches him read, taking in every twitch of his brow, the lifting of his lip before his jaw tenses. It must be a good book if he hadn’t noticed her awake yet.
“Good book, Tony?”
The grin on her face widens when he jumps and fumbles his novel. “Ziva!” Getting a steady hand on the paperback, he places it down on the table beside her bed. “Hey Ziva, how’re you feeling?” She doesn’t answer him as he reaches out and cups her cheek. Oh how she has missed this. Missed him. Closing her eyes, she hums as she leans into his touch. “The doctor says you can be discharged in a couple days. I tried for earlier, knowing how much you hate it here, but they won’t give.”
“They won’t give what, Tony?” Her brows furrow, surely they wouldn’t give her any more medication? She was already high as a kite on these things as it were. But the smile on his face makes her heart leap for joy.
“They won’t let you, no matter how much we ask.” He says softly, using his other hand to pull hers towards his mouth. Moments pass without a word, just Ziva staring longingly into her partner's eyes, hoping that this isn’t a dream. That she isn’t dead after her accident. “I have some good news.”
“Oh?” She raises a brow. What other kind of good news was there? She already had her partner back, the one true man she’s ever loved, and her daughter was healthy and safe.
He gives her wrist a kiss. “That final group you and the team had tracked down, the ones with connections, Gibbs gave me a call to tell you that they’ve all been killed. They were the last of them. You’re free.”
You’re free.
She’s free.
After seven years, she’s finally free.
The knot grows larger in her throat, unable to swallow as her lip starts to quiver. She didn’t even realize she was crying until Tony became a blur right before her eyes. She tries so hard to speak, to say ‘I am free’ but nothing more than a whimper leaves her lips.
She is free.
Tony leans forward, placing a soft kiss on her forehead, and gently moves her wires and tubes out of the way. She doesn’t take her eyes off of him as he pulls himself up onto the bed beside her, pulling her into a hug. She holds her breath as she shifts on the bed, making space for him. The pain wasn’t as sharp as it was before, but it did hurt still. Once the two of them were settled, Ziva rested her head on his chest, where she knew she belonged, and he rested his head on top of hers.
Ziva closes her eyes, finally content. But she knew something was missing. Her daughter. She knew that she didn’t want Tali to see her in the hospital, but Tony was spending so much time here with her, that she wondered how worried her daughter must be to be away from him after seeing him almost every day since before she turned two.
“Tony?” She asks after half an hour of silence.
“Hm?” He doesn’t move from his spot, but his fingers play with the hem of her shirt sleeve.
She rolls her head back, he lifts his own, and their eyes meet, the love in his eyes meeting hers. “Can you…? Do you…?” He blinks slowly down at her, encouraging her to go on. “I want to see Tali. I need to know if she remembers me.” She knew he could see the pain her eyes the moment she spoke. Would Tali know her? Remember her? Her heart sinks at the thought of being a complete stranger to her nearly six year old daughter.
His eyes crease with worry, the wrinkles admitting his age. “Of course, my love.”
She settles back down onto his chest, but she could no longer close her eyes. Anxiety plagued her mind as she went over all the different ways she could possibly meet her daughter again. She couldn’t sleep until exhaustion consumed her, nor did she feel Tony get up and leave the room to make a phone call a few hours later.
***
Tony sits on the bench outside of the hospital, letting out a few deep breaths as he leans over his phone, ready to dial his friend. He knew Ziva was worried, her silence was obvious to the fact.
He had to wait until she had fallen asleep before he made the forthcoming phone call. He wants the best outcome, he has been preparing his daughter since the moment he took her home that her mother wasn’t dead. But that was just pictures. He doesn’t even know if Tali would recognize the same person from the pictures to the woman in life.
After settling his stomach, he makes the call. “Palmer, I need you to do me a favour…”
An hour later, he’s in the cafeteria, sipping on a coffee with the paper plate of a muffin sitting in front of him. It was the only thing he has eaten today, but he figured that now it was after dinner time, he needed to consume some kind of food. This just seemed to be his poison of choice.
“Aba!” Tali greets as she runs up to his chair. His smile didn’t have to be faked when he sees her for the first time in two days. Yes, he had called her multiple times a day, and receiving texts from Jimmy’s phone with her name assigned to it. But being able to hold her, it was almost overwhelming. “Are you okay, Aba? Why are you in a hospital?” She asks, cocking her head at him. “Are you sick?” She asks, holding his large hand.
“No, bambina, I’m not sick.”
She looks at him, confused, before looking over her shoulder at her uncle. “Why are we here, Aba?” She frowns, unable to keep still. He doesn’t blame her; he remembers how Ziva could hardly keep still whenever she was restless for something to happen.
“Someone is here in this hospital, they want to see you.” Tony looks up at Palmer, observing the interaction between father and daughter. His eyes meet the darkening eyes of Tali’s before he continues. “Someone who means a lot to me.” Tali smiles shyly, but she doesn’t say anything. “Can you meet her for me?”
“Yes Aba.”
***
Jimmy stood outside the room with Tali as Tony walks into the hospital room. She was still asleep, but if she wants to get to see her little girl, he has to wake her up. Quietly he steps closer to the side of her bed, taking ahold of her hand, he brushes her hair out of her face. “Ziva.” He whispers, but she didn’t wake. He presses his lips to her head, then he speaks a little loud. “Ziva.”
“Hm.” She moans, coming out of her unconsciousness.
“It’s time to wake up, someone is here to see you.” His voice is soft, but it was able to get her to open her eyes. He looks into her tired chocolate eyes, staring into them as she comes to. “I had asked Palmer to bring Tali by after dinner.”
That got her attention. “Tali?”
“Yes.” He whispers, kissing her forehead again. “I’ll give you a couple minutes to wake up before I bring her in.”
Ziva squeezes her eyes shut for a second before opening them wide, allowing the light in the room to wake her up. She peeks outside the room, to see if she can see her daughter, and Tony couldn’t help but smile at her. He helps her sit up, raising the bed up to help her rest against it.
***
Ziva watches as Tony walks out of the room to bring their daughter in. In the minute he was gone, her heart races more and more by every thought that runs by her mind’s eyes. She fears nothing more than the rejection by her own daughter.
Her eyes shift nervously around the room when she feels like he was gone too long. What if he had left her? What if Tali didn’t want to see her? She is brought to her senses when she hears her heart monitor increase. She couldn’t panic now, not when shecould still see Tony’s back through the window. Not when the nurses could come in at any moment and delay their meeting.
Where was her anxiety medication when she needed it?
The movement from outside the room draws her attention to Tony and Tali walking through the door. She is silent as she watches Tony take their daughter’s hand and leads her to her bedside. But her heart raced on.
“Bambina,” Tony starts, looking down at Tali. “Remember when you first met me?” He asks, kneeling down to her height, eye to eye. The little girl nods slowly, unsure where he was going with this. “Before you were with Aba, you had lived with Ima before the bad guys came to hurt her.”
Ziva watches closely as Tali takes in the information, though recognition was in her eyes. “Ima, like in the pictures at home?”
“Yes, like in the pictures. Do you remember what Ima looks like?” She nods, looking back and forth between the two adults in the room. “What does Ima look like?” He asks.
Tali looks at Ziva, keeping her hands at her side. “Almost like her…” She says, before looking back at her father. “Except her hair, it’s almost like mine, but darker.”
“Almost?” He asks, looking up at his partner. “What if I pulled out a picture of your Ima, would you be able to remember?”
Tali nods, looking at Ziva again.
Tony pulls out his wallet and opens it, he pulls out an old photo and holds it up in front of her. Ziva can’t see what’s on it, but the furrowed brows of the little girl gives her the hint that it was of her and Tony from years ago. Suddenly Tali gasps. “Ima has hair like mine!” Then she looks up, meeting Ziva’s eyes. “Is she my Ima?”
Ziva stays silent.
“Yes Tali.” Tony whispers. “This woman is your Ima.”
“But you said Ima was busy being a superhero?” Ziva wants to laugh and sob at the same time. But she holds her breath.
Tony chuckles lightly, resting his hand on her back. “Yes bambina, but Ima is done fighting super villains. She can come home now.”
“She can?” Tony nods. Quietly, Tali asks. “Can I ask her to come home with us?” Ziva covers her mouth as a sob lets out, catching the attention of the father-daughter duo. Tony nods, rising to his feet. He lifts the child onto the bed beside her mother.
Finally, Ziva speaks to her daughter for the first time since she promised the toddler that her Ima will be back, that she’ll protect her forever. The memory brings a small tear to her eye, but here was her not-so-little girl, right before her. Softly, Ziva speaks. “Hi, yaldati.” The tears in Ziva’s eyes start to flow and a smile is brought to her face when she sees Tali’s eyes light up.
Tali looks back at her father, smiling, receiving a nod from Tony, she turns back to her. “Shalom, Ima.” Ziva’s heart stops. She wasn’t sure if Tali remembers the Hebrew Ziva had taught her as an infant, or if Tony had been honouring her and had her take classes while she was also learning French. “Don’t be sad.” She says, reaching forward to wipe a tear away.
“Oh, yaldati, I am not sad.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“These are happy tears, Talia.” Ziva says, her heart skipping a beat as she says her daughter’s given name. “I am really happy to see you again.”
Tali leans forward. “You’re not going to go away again?”
Ziva sniffles. “No, yaldati, I will not ever leave you again.”
“You promise?” Tali asks, holding out her pinky. “Pinky promise?”
She laughs, glancing over at her partner. “Ken yaldati, I promise.” And grabs ahold of her daughters finger with her own.
Suddenly Tali turns to her father. “You hear that, Aba? Ima’s coming home!”