#tivali

[nexttomylasagne]

Tony holding both of his girls. 🥺♥️

[indestinatus]

#gasp

NCIS: Tony & Ziva ↳ 1x07 - DARK MIRROR

[stephjw]

SOMEONE FUCKING SEDATE ME

[shipsthatwelove]

No words needed!

[sheistheweapon]

her favorite people being the recipients of a ziva david cheek squeeze 🥺

NCIS: tony & ziva - 1x06 & 1x08

“tali couldn’t ask for a better mother and i couldn’t ask for a better… safe house roomie.”

[hopeless-nostalgiac]

After writing this post, another scenario hit me

(and know this would honestly be my dream scene)

With all the bedrooms filled up at the safehouse, Tony insists on Tali sharing the bed with her mother after everything that happened, even though their brave 12yo says she's fine. Where, and from whom, has Tony heard that before?

But the choice is made. Tony is left with the couch, so of course he tosses and turns -- both the hard cushions and imagined flashes of losing his daughter keeping him from achieving any true sleep.

In the middle of the night, he gets up and heads to the kitchen for some water. That's when he hears sounds from above, and he races up the stairs, heart pounding. He follows what seems to be crying to the bedroom where Ziva and Tali are sleeping. He doesn't wait or knock, just bursts in.

The cries turn out to be from Tali, who is curled up in her mother's lap and sniffling. Ziva has the whimpering girl wrapped in her arms and is rocking her, just as she did when Tali was a baby -- only she is not so little anymore, her gangly legs spawled over Ziva's hip. Tony is somewhat relieved there is no real danger. The shot of adrenaline cools in his veins as he asks if they're okay.

"Nightmare," Ziva replies succinctly.

He nods and closes the door behind him, walking over to the bed and easing down onto the edge. "I thought this might happen tonight... Aren't you glad Mom was here with you, Tals?" He rubs Tali's back, both parents comforting her, like they had outside the safehouse in Germany.

Tony hates the situation they're in, but these moments of being a family again are doing things to his heart that he can't deny enjoying anymore than he can deny the reemergence of feelings he's experienced for Ziva since 9.4 entered their lives.

Tali snuffles and pulls something in close to her chest. It's the pink axolotl, the one that had been left behind at the safehouse for years and only rediscovered when Sophie took Tali there less than two weeks earlier.

"Ah, and you've got Roxy the Axolotl to keep you safe. Nothing's going to happen to you now."

Tali turns her face out from where it was buried in Ziva's neck to look at him. "Can you stay with me, too, Dad?"

"Of course he can," Ziva answers for him, sharing a proud look with Tony and passing Tali towards him. She starts to get out of the bed, giving father and daughter their time together, but a distressed cry goes up from Tali.

"Where are you going, Ima?"

It's been a long while since Tali used that endearment for her mother, and Ziva melts. She glances at Tony, who gestures with his head at the spot she vacated.

"Nowhere. She'd never leave you, Tali. Ima and I are right here, okay?"

"We love you, Tali," Ziva whispers to her after she once again climbs onto the mattress and they get their child to lay down between them.

"To the stars and back a million times," Tony adds, settling onto his side facing inward, a mirror image of Ziva on the opposite side of the bed. They're like parentheses around their daughter, their priceless content, their love.

It goes without saying that neither of them plan to sleep, but once Tali returns to slumber, they chat quietly, though mostly, they just watch their daughter sleep. At one point, Tony slides his hand on top of Ziva's hand, which is resting on Tali's back. There is no need to say anything. They've always communicated better through actions than words.

Ziva's eyes flutter up at him. She smiles softly and flips her hand so that their palms touch and the worn-in grooves between their fingers welcome each other's fingers like old friends.

They stay like that, holding hands, their child peaceful in their sights.

Within a few minutes, Ziva drifts off, too.

Despite the torture couch and not getting a wink of sleep, Tony finds that he isn't tired anymore. He's more than happy to keep watch over his family until the sun rises on another day.

@mrsmungus @samwhity

[tonysziva]

One day you will dance with a man who deserves your love.

[tivajunkie]

“Our girl is safe.”

You’d think I’d be used to “our girl” by now but I sure am not!!