Chapter Text
He didn’t expect to be here at this point in his life; he didn’t expect to get a call at three o’clock in the morning from his old Director with the instructions to come in ASAP. And not to mention to find a babysitter once he got into the country.
He had his gut feeling as to why he was called back after so many years, but no one would say a thing to him. Not even Breena who met up with him on the Yard to take the girls to the children’s museum.
He takes a few deep breaths before opening the door to the office reception, only to find Vance was standing guard at the door.
“Ah! DiNozzo, there you are.” A hand was extended to greethim, and he takes it firmly.
“Director, what is this about?” He asks, curiosity getting the better of him.
The older man smiles sadly. “I’m not your director anymore, Tony.” The tension in his shoulders was becoming unbearable, his gut churning. “But I don’t know how to explain it. I thought it was better to show you.” Taking a step to the side, Vance places one of his hands on the door handle. In a swift motion, he opens the door.
Tony was not expecting the person who was standing in the middle of the room. His eyes harden at the sight. “I’m going to leave you two alone.” And with that, Tony’s saving grace, his old boss, left.
Walking into the room, he closes the door, slamming it hard enough to make the windows shake. The other person in the room flinches, but doesn’t take her eyes off of him. Not moving an inch. Not breathing. And neither was he. He was damn too pissed to even think about breathing.
“Tony, I…” Ziva starts, trailing off when he flares his nostrils.
“Do not even start with me.” He grounds out, his hands clenching.
She opens her mouth to say something, but no words ever come out. He watches as she tears her eyes away from him, looking at her feet. He takes the moment to glance her over, to see the bruises on her face and arms. For a second his heart skips a beat, fearing what had happened to her, but he quickly dismisses it.
“How could you? Do you think I would have welcomed you with open arms after what you put me through? After what you put my daughter through?” He growls. “Did you think abandoning my daughter would give you any respect so you could go off and save the world?” He takes a step closer, his shoulders hunched.
She stays where she is, tilting her head up so she can look into his eyes. Was that fear in them? Pain? Sadness? Whatever it was, she deserves it.
“Tony! I was in danger!”
“And do you think putting my daughter through that trauma was a good enough reason to leave her? To drop her off with someone who didn’t know of her existence? Knew nothing that would soothe her?” He yells. He half expects half the building to be listening in on their conversation. “By god Ziva, everything you did was inexcusable. Everything!” He throws his hands in the air.
In a small voice, choked up by the hint of tears in her eyes, she whimpers. “I didn’t think you were ready.”
“No you didn’t think!” He snaps, glaring at her. “Everything you did traumatized my daughter. Everything wrong in my daughter's life is because of you.” Ziva visibly gulps, shying away from him.
“I-I-I didn’t-“
“Of course not, because you didn’t think.” He turns his back on her, not wanting to watch the tears pouring down her face.
“What is wrong with her?” She whispers to him, crossing her arms over her chest, shielding herself.
Tony spins around on his heels, crossing his own arms. “Everything you expect from a child who has lost a parent. Separation anxiety, bed wetting, believing that it was her fault, just to name a few.”
She wipes away a tear, sniffling. “I only did it to protect her, so she wouldn’t become a target. And neither would you.” She adds quietly.
“You tell that to the little girl who’s been in therapy since she was three. To the girl who still thinks everyone who’s at the door in her Ima. No matter what her doctor and I have done to tell her that her mother was not coming home.” Ziva reaches for him, he knows she wants to touch him, but he takes a step back, away from her reach. Her hand pauses in midair before being retracted.
“No you won’t.”
“What?” She asks, her head snapping back up to look at her.
“You’re not going to see her.”
“She’s my daughter!”
“No.” He puts his foot down. “She is my daughter, you gave up that right when you put her on that plane.” He wants to break when he sees the fresh tears run down her cheeks again. “I will not let you break her heart all over again. You’re lucky that I didn’t walk away the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Please Tony…”
“No, you’ve broken enough hearts to last a lifetime.”
He moves to walk away from her, but her hand on his bicep stops him. “I love you, I have always you.”
“I had loved you once, but people move on. They change.”
“Please, let me change with you,” she begs, a slight hiccough in her words. “Trust me.”
“You’ll have to move the earth before I can trust you again.” And with that, he walks out the door, leaving behind him the woman he loved collapsing to her knees and sobbing into her hands.