Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, unfortunately


================Life is Good===============

“Why won’t that stupid dog be quiet?!” Tony grumbled with a murderous glance at the wall of the apartment towards the sound of the offending noise of the yapping dog. A chuckle reached his ears, announcing the arrival of a dark-haired woman into the living room from the kitchen.

“You must be used to it enough by now, Tony,” Ziva said smiling as she sat herself down next to Tony, handing him a glass of wine and folding her legs under her.

He shrugged as he took a whiff the glass and took a small sip of the blood red wine. “No matter how much I hear that sound, I’ll never get used to it,” he said, settling the wine glass in both hands.

The soft musical sound of her laughter floated through the room as she then took a sip of her own wine. “Oh Tony,” she said with a smile at him. “You got used to my snoring quickly enough.” She then smiled into his soft brown eyes as he reached over and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen loose in front of her face back behind her ear.

“Well, that wasn’t too hard to accomplish, sweetcheeks,” he said flirtingly as his hand came back to rest on the couch between them. Ziva softly hit him on the arm at the name of the nickname he had given her back when they had gone undercover.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, trying to look offended, but failing when her hand came to rest on top of his hand. Her thumb softly stroked the top of his hand as the gold wedding band on her hand glittered in the light.

“Can you believe it has almost been a year?” she asked softly, a content smile crossing her face.

“No,” Tony answered truthfully. “It seems like only yesterday that you were trying to kill me and McGee on the way home from your first crime scene with the Civil War Reenactor dude, and that was almost 5 and a half years ago.” Ziva’s mouth opened to retort, but Tony was quicker, “Hey, don’t tell me that wasn’t a justified fear for my life.”

Ziva then smiled and looked down into her wine glass and back up at Tony and finally admitted, “Yes, Tony I guess it was.” She then took a sip of her wine, enjoying the silence that fell across the apartment as the dog finally stopped yapping. Then, quietly at first and then getting louder, the soft cry of a baby reached Tony’s and Ziva’s ears. “Oh, Caitlin,” Ziva said softly with a sigh as she placed her wine glass down on the table and made to get up. Tony put his hand on Ziva’s shoulder.

“It’s alright, I’ll get her. Don’t worry,” he said, placing his own wine glass down on the table.

“No, Tony, it’s fine, really. You got up a lot last night,” Ziva said, placing her bare feet on the ground and standing up.

“But…” he began, but she silenced him with a soft kiss and made her way into the closest bedroom down the hall. She walked in and flicked on the light, illuminating the violet colored room with the soft white dresser and rocking chair flanking the also soft white crib where a currently very unhappy baby was crying her lungs out.

“Shh, there Caitie, it’s ok,” Ziva said softly, reaching in and lifting the tiny bundle out. She then proceeded to rock her daughter in her arms, cradling her tiny head and body in her own surprisingly gentle arms. She then quietly started singing her a Jewish lullaby, and her cries began to diminish, until they were gone altogether, and she just stared wondrously up at her mother, her eyes almost mirroring those she was looking in. Her mouth then opened wide in a huge yawn, and Ziva smiled down at her. “You ready to go back to sleep?” she asked her softly, and little Caitlin seemed to answer as her eyelids drooped closed over eyes, and her breathing became slower and her tiny body relaxed. Ziva leaned into the crib and placed the tiny bundle back down and tucked her in with the crocheted violet blanket that matched the walls. Ziva lovingly stroked her daughter as she then stood back up. Jenny had made Caitlin that blanket when she was born, and Caitlin seemed to love it. She never slept without the blanket as well as she did with it. Her smile widened even more as Caitlin, in her sleep, reached out and grasped the small stuffed hippo in her crib, a gift from Abby.

Tony stood in the doorway, leaning against the door jam, and smiling softly at his wife and daughter. The deadly assassin turned NCIS agent had fallen in love with their daughter immediately after she was born. Everyone had been there for the birth, waiting in the waiting room of course. Jenny had been there, Gibbs, McGee, Abby, Ducky, one of Ziva’s friends from Tel Aviv, and even Palmer, Cynthia, and Agent Lee had been there. And, surprising everyone, Deputy Director David had been there. He had wanted to be present at the birth of his first grandchild like he hadn’t been able to be for the birth of his own daughter Ziva. Ziva’s and her father’s relationship wasn’t perfect, but they were working on it. Ziva had been touched by her father’s presence and had even started crying from how emotional the whole situation was. But, only Tony had been there (besides the doctors of course) to see Ziva’s first reaction to her daughter. Surprisingly enough, she had been pretty calm through the whole birthing process, luckily for Tony who had been holding her hand, and when they had handed her her daughter, she had just stared at her in wonder, and Tony could see the whole maternity drive just kick in. “Hello there my little one,” she had said softly, cradling her in her arms. Tears had slowly ran down her face as she looked lovingly down into her daughter’s eyes, then she looked up and looked lovingly upon him. He had then rested his own hand on own his daughter’s brow for the first time, and he had fallen head over heels in love as well.

Ziva then turned around from her daughter’s crib and smiled lovingly at her husband. He had been absolutely wonderful since Caitlin had been born. Despite her prior teasing of him not having the magic touch with children, he had found that fatherly streak in himself and had run with it. She couldn’t count how many times he had let her sleep while he cared for Caitlin in the middle of the night when she awoke crying after Ziva had been exhausted by the day. Caitlin was his pride and joy, and Ziva had laughed the first time he had brought his daughter to work. He had paraded her around NCIS, showing everyone his daughter as Ziva had watched on in wonderment, laughing at Tony’s newfound love of life that had begun to return since they had started dating months after Tony’s heartbreak with Jeanne. Caitlin’s birth had jumpstarted that childlike streak in him again, though he could still be as protective of her as a German Shepherd. She couldn’t think of a more perfect father for her child, and she expressed this to him as she approached him and placed a soft kiss on his lips as he wrapped his arms around her. She rested her head on his chest as they both gazed lovingly at their now sleeping daughter.

“I love you, Tony,” she softly told him.

He responded with a soft kiss on the top of her head, “I love you too, Ziva.”

Life was good.

=================The End================