For Life Is This Way

Rifiuto: Non Miriena

Summary: The biggest challenge Tim and Ziva face isn't in some far off country where they play the roles of American Ambassadors. It's at home. Established McGiva. The sequel to You Are My Home, Welcome to the Real World, A Small Distraction and The Way You Make Me Feel.

A/N: Here's the sequel to You Are My Home and Welcome To The Real World. It follows Tim and Ziva from their departure in the beginning of S11 (and Cote's departure) on up.

A/N: Adi's weight is based on what I weighed at ten- I was 4'11 and exactly 70 lbs, and adults could pick me up without any trouble.

Thanks to earthdragon and Gottahavemyncis for reviewing chapter 30 of Welcome to the Real World.

Barcelona, Spain

2020

Ziva stretched out on the sofa in the apartment. She had so very few moments to herself anymore, that when she found the apartment silent, she often took advantage- from baking to reading, to working her way through reruns of Eureka on Syfy. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, settling down for a nice long nap-

"Ima! Ima!"

Ziva's eyes snapped open, and she groaned, grabbing a pillow and pulling it over her head as she turned to face the back of the sofa. She refused to turn around, instead focusing on falling asleep, to no avail. Small hands reached out and shook her shoulders. "Ima?" A moment passed, before she turned to glance over her shoulder. She looked up into a pair of bright green eyes. Her daughter Adina stood over her, lip between her teeth. She looked frightened, and that instantly set Ziva's maternal instincts on alert, and she sat up.

"Mah karah, tinoket?" Adi opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, trying to think of what to say. Quickly, Ziva reached out, grabbing her daughter's head and forcing her to stare into her eyes. "Adinaleh, mah karah?" A moment of tense silence filled the room, before Adi whispered,

"A... I'm... bleeding." Ziva raised her eyebrows.

"That's all?" Adi nodded. Suddenly, all the worry and fear that had crept around Ziva began to dissapate, and she released her daughter's face, sitting back. "Okay." She studied her daughter. "Where is the cut?" Adi paled, lower lip quivering. Ziva narrowed her eyes. "Adinaleh, what are you not telling me?" The child swallowed before glancing at her feet. She shuffled her feet for a few minutes before muttering something. "No, Adina, you look at me and tell me, not the floor." The girl's head snapped up, and she took a deep breath after staring at her mother, horrified. Ziva sighed, reaching out a hand. "Come here. Now, where are you bleeding?" The girl let her dark eyes move over her mother, before resting at her abdomen. A mometn passed before she whispered,

"There." She gestured quickly to her mother's abdomen, and Ziva furrowed a brow.

"I... I don't understand-" She laid a hand on her own abdomen, but the girl shook her head with a soft,

"No, lower." As Ziva slipped her hand closer to her thighs, it began to click.

"Oh. Oh! Oh, Adinaleh, why didn't you come get me?" She asked, gently tugging the child onto the sofa with her. The child swallowed, biting her lip.

"You wouldn't get angry?" She asked, meeting her mother's eyes. Ziva shook her head.

"No, of course not, why would I get angry?" She asked, squeezing her daughter's hand. Adi shrugged.

"I don't know." She thought a moment before asking, "Ima, when did you get yours?" Ziva thought a moment, pursing her lips.

"When I was about twelve or so. Twelve or thirteen."

"Oh. I... I'm ten." Ziva chuckled softly.

"I know you are ten, tinoket. I am well aware of the years passing me by; both Abba and I are." She said, brushing a stray curl off her daughter's forehead. Adi automatically glanced towards the door, in case Tim had come home early.

"When will Abba be back?" Ziva sighed, tucking her daughter's curls back behind her head.

"Soon. Once he's done drawing up peace contracts with the others at the embassy, then he'll be home. I promise." Adi sighed.

"Where are we going after this?" Ziva licked her lips, unsure of how to answer. Tim was so much better at answering Adi's questions than she was. He knew how to ease the child's fears about a new culture and new people. Ziva had never been very good at that sort of thing. She hadn't had much of an opportunity to try, growing up, unlike Tim.

"Ani lo yodáʿat, tinoket. Okay? I don't know." The child nodded. "Now, let's go deal with this problem, shall we?" Ziva stood, pulling Adi into her arms. The girl was small for her ten years, weighing only about seventy pounds or so; something that, according to her pediatrician, was completely normal for a child her age and size. Adi was smaller than the majority of her friends, and for that, she got teased, and thus preferred to stick close to her parents. Throw in that she was also the daughter of the American Ambassadors, and Adi felt as though she were in a cage, being stared and jeered at. So she stuck close to home, only making a few very close friends.

When they reached the bathroom, Ziva quickly shut the door, setting her daughter back on her feet. "Undress for me, tinoket." Slowly, the child did as told. Ziva perched on the edge of the tub, thinking.

"Is this normal, Ima?" Adi asked, holding her shirt to her chest. Ziva glanced at her daughter; she was thin- she had always been thin- and small. She sighed; Adi had gotten Ziva's physical traits, making her small and slender and tiny in every respect. From her facial features to her body, she was tiny, petite, with small hands and feet that most girls envied. Adi hated it. She hated the way she looked; she didn't see what everyone else saw- she didn't see her mother's beauty or her father's charm, she saw a child who just happened to get lucky to have them as her parents. "Ima?"

Ziva snapped out of her study. She sighed. "It is, but usually, a girl starts puberty about eleven or twelve. It is rare to start at ten. Would you feel better if I called Dr. Michaels in the States and asked her about it?" Adi nodded. Not that Ziva didn't trust the healthcare in other countries, but she and Tim trusted Dr. Erin Michaels. "Okay. So, I will go call real quick so we can calm those fears, and when I get back, we shall talk, okay?" Adi nodded as Ziva got up and pressed a kiss to her forehead before slipping out of the bathroom.

She returned to the living room and reached for the phone just as Tim removed his coat. Jethro- who they'd decided to bring along with them, and who Adi had personally begged the people at the embassy to let him come that first year- trotted over to Tim, who patted his head. When the dog returned to his pillow, he went to Ziva, kissing her quickly and wrapping her in his arms. "I'm sorry I'm so late. I would have been sooner if they hadn't decided to scrap it and start over." She chuckled.

"So they were behaving like children?" She asked; she'd ducked out early due to a migraine, and so she could watch over Adi and make sure she was doing her homework. Tim groaned.

"You have no idea. So, how are you feeling?" Ziva sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck. How exactly did she bring this up to her husband.

"I am... feeling much better now." She said, kissing him quickly.

"Good." He whispered, resting his forehead against hers. She opened her eyes; deeming it safe, she added,

"Oh, and Adina started her period."