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She was the light of his life.
If someone had asked him years ago if he thought he’d love a child like this he would have said no, would have explained that he didn’t know how to love a child, that he didn’t have the best example of what a father should be. Then he’d met Tali, heard her call him abba for the first time, and he knew that his heart was sold. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for that little girl. He would give her the world.
And he had. He’d resigned from NCIS immediately and set off with Tali, determined to keep her safe from the fate that had befallen her mother. New York was as good a place to hide as any, an easy place to build a new identity. The tug of familiarity it brought didn’t hurt. He could raise Tali in New York, could keep her safe from anyone who might come to hurt her because of who he and Ziva were. Tali would be protected.
It was a Thursday, movie day, and Tony was walking to Tali’s Hebrew school, ready to pick her up for their nightly tradition. The old theater that his mum had taken him to was still open, still playing the classics. He had started the tradition with Tali when she was four and struggling to learn English. The same method that had taught him English had taught his daughter, a tradition he’d been proud to carry on. It was something he could give her of his mum, something that would connect her to family.
His mind was on the movie, on what Tali would tell him she’d learned today, on the crowds around him. That was the only reason he saw her standing there, leaning against a tree on the other side of the street, looking achingly like the little girl he was about to pick up. Tony pulled up short and stared at her for a few minutes, wondering if she was really there or if she was a ghost. Then she glanced away from the school and their eyes met and he knew. This was really her.
Crossing the street, Tony fought down all the emotions he was feeling. He didn’t want to lose control in front of the school, didn’t want Tali to see him angry or upset. He’d calmed down a lot from the hothead he’d once been. He wouldn’t lose his temper.
“You’re looking very healthy for a dead woman,” he stopped in front of her, emotions carefully blank. “Where have you been, Ziva?”












