It was the beginning of December. It has been a few weeks since Ziva, Tony and Tali had been reunited. Ziva was still trying to adapt herself to this new way of life. She was looking through the window, holding a cup of warm tea in her hand. Tony was out. She was alone with Tali. The weather outside was pretty cold and she was nervous. She was getting nervous every time Tony or Tali were away from her. The first time Tali went back to school after they got reunited had been a struggle for Ziva. Leaving her to strangers. She felt like she was abandoning her again. Tony had really helped her getting through this by keeping her mind busy and taking her to beautiful places every time her demon was too hard to fight on her own. She was now getting used to this and the panic attacks were less difficult to counter. Ziva was wondering what Tony was doing. He had been acting very strangely the entire day. Ziva heard the sound of a key unlocking the main door. Tali jumped on her feet and ran to the door. Tony walked in. He was dragging an enormous Christmas tree:
-"Ladies, I give you: THE DINOZZO'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS TREE"
Tali was hopping up and down with excitement. Senior appeared behind the christmas tree. Tali screamed: "GRANDPA !!!!!" And rushed to him. He caught her and hugged her. Tony was getting the tree inside the apartment, he stopped next to Ziva and gave her a kiss. Ziva smiled to Senior. He kissed Tali one last time and put her back on the floor. He paused to look at Ziva and opened his arms. Ziva smiled and walked to him to get a hug.
Before dinner they decorated the christmas tree. Tali was giving her instruction on where they should put the ornaments. Senior joined Ziva on the couch. They were both looking at Tali. Senior spoke first:
-"she's perfect. You and Junior did a really good job."
Ziva smiled:
-"teamwork has always been our thing" she placed her hand on Senior's knee and continued: "thank you for taking care of her"
-"it must have been hard to be away"
Ziva could feel the tears growing in her eyes. She was not ready to talk about it yet. She just smiled and answered:
-"almost as hard as it was for Tony to deal with all of this alone"
-"He has never been alone, you were there, even though you were away. I spent some time with them at the beginning and there wasn't a day without Tony mentioning you to her"
Ziva was moved to tears. She thanked Senior and kissed his cheek, then she stood up to help Tony and Tal. Once the tree was all set Tony asked Tali:
-"aren't you forgetting something ?"
Tali rushed out of the room and came back with the menorah. She gave it to Tony. He placed it on top of the fireplace. Ziva was touched by this gesture. She could not believe that even if she was not there all these years, he had maintained her traditions in her daughter's life. Tony proudly said:
-"I called Schmeil a few years ago to ask him about your traditions...I've just forgot how talkative he was. Now I know the entire timeline of jewish traditions"
Ziva kissed him and whispered: "thank you"
Tony then suggested to Tali:
-"How about we take a family picture to send it to uncle Tim ?"
Senior took a picture of them and Tony send it to Mcgee and Gibbs with a note saying:
-"From our [reunited] family to yours, thank you. Happy Holidays. The DiNozzo-David Family"
Christmas day
Tony, Ziva, Senior and Tali had been enjoying Christmas eve together. Tony and Ziva were slowly waking up. Ziva's head was resting on Tony's chest and her hand was on his abdomen. Tony opened his eyes and moved which made Ziva's hand moved lower on his abdomen. Tony tensed up and said:
-"if you keep your hand in this area, you gonna be in serious trouble"
He felt Ziva's hand sliding lower. He could clearly feel his body reacting to her hand so close to his manhood. She asked with an husky voice:
-"really ?"
Once her hand had finally reached its final destination Tony tensed up a little bit more and kissed her before saying:
-"this is a declaration of war!"
And he pushed her back onto the mattress to get on top of her. She laughed. Seeing her laughing was the most beautiful gift he could have asked for Christmas. He smothered her neck with kisses. When he came back to her face, he kissed her and took a moment to look at her face. The face of his partner, his best friend, his confidant, his soulmate. Tony was praying that Tali was still deeply asleep so that nobody could interrupt their moment together.
An hour and a half later. Tony was stroking Ziva's back. His other hand entwined in her hair. They were both enjoying this moment. The calm after the storm. This quietness didn't last long as they heard screams getting closer to their bedroom. Screams of joy and excitement from a little girl who wanted to open her christmas presents. She opened the door and rushed to her parents bed. She was jumping out of excitement on the mattress and screaming "It's christmas day!!!". Cuddling time was over. They both got out from bed and walked to the living room. The room was filled with presents, mostly for Tali. Some were coming from Tim, Gibbs and Ducky. Senior was helping Tali with her presents. Tony wrapped his arms around Ziva's shoulder, both looking at Tali with pride.
