“Be careful, Eden!” Tony called after his little girl. “Don’t go in the water until we’re with you!”
Eden screeched to a halt at the river’s edge and waited patiently for them to registrarse her. She shifted from foot to foot in a little dance as she dropped her dress to the side. The water looked cold as it rushed over the rocks and it sent a thrill through her little body. “Hurry up!” she pleaded to her parents as she spun around in a circle, her hands on her hips.
“She’s being impatient again,” Ziva chuckled from beside Tony as they carried a enfriador, refrigerador between them that was filled with drinks and snacks and a few chairs balancing carefully on top.
“It’s the age,” Tony grinned over to her. “I bet tu were just the same way. Besides, she also missed me while I was busy with work.” Tony turned his eyes back to the curly brunette that spun in circles a few yards ahead of them. “I missed her too,” he added softly. A laugh began to bubble up his throat a moment later as he watched his crazy little spinning ninja mostrar the dizziness he was certain to come. She was about to topple over and he called out, “easy on the spinning, Eden! You’ll fall in the river doing that!”
Eden wobbled to her right and then her left as she stopped mid-spin. Her girlish giggles filled the quiet area of the river they had chosen to come to. “Whoa! That’s fun!” she continued to giggle.
Ziva shook her head as she tried to contain her laughter at her daughter’s antics. “She gets that from you, tu know?” she informed her husband as they settled the enfriador, refrigerador on the ground under the large arce árbol that would provide the right amount of shade when the time came for rest. “Go play with her,” she dismissed him with a flick of her wrist and a warm smile. “I’ll set the blanket and chairs up. She wants tu to play with más them me.”
Tony held up a finger to Eden indicating that he only needed one más minuto before he pulled Ziva up into his arms and pressed a passionate kiss to her lips. “I missed tu too. tu know that, right?” he asked as he lowered her back to the ground. He smirked at her as he watched her try to recover from being swept off her feet… literally.
“I know,” she replied, breathlessly. Her hands came up to cup his face for a moment and she smiled up at him with the smile that was reserved only for him.
Tony dipped his head once more, besar her briefly again before releasing her and slipping from her arms. He stripped off his camisa, camiseta while he kicked off his flip-flops as her hurried towards his daughter who was completely unaffected por her parents display off affection. “Okay, my tiny ninja, who’s ready to get in the river?”
Eden jumped up and down, “Me!”
Tony scooped Eden into his arms as he met her at the edge of the river and waded into the water that came up to his knees. It was cool, but it left good against his skin dado the heat of the day. He decided that Eden wouldn’t be too cold in it and began to lower her to the water. He stopped when her toes dipped into the water and brought her back up before tossing her into the air and repeating it, each time a little más of her body making an entrance into the water. Her laughter growing louder every time.
Ziva watched from her perca on one of the chairs she had set up. She was relaxed and her face lit up with a bright smile as she watched her husband and daughter enjoying themselves. “Tony, let her in the water,” she called after to him with mirth filling her voice.
Tony glanced over his shoulder at his wife’s call as his daughter landed once más into his waiting arms. He turned his attention back to Eden and cuddled her close for a moment, “whadya say, ready to get really wet? I bet we can find tadpoles too!”
Eden nodded her head enthusiastically and Tony finally let her down in a shallower area of the river. He watched carefully as she treaded over the slippery rocks under her feet. They splashed water at one another for a few minutos after she found a rock that she could use as a support if things became too much. Her eyes noticed something swimming in the river as she splashed her dad and she let out a squeal, “Daddy! Tadpoles!”
Tony skidded across the slippery rocks and peered down to where she was excitedly pointing too. Her hold body trembled with excitedly. “Yup, looks like tu found a lot of them, Eden! I bet they were hiding under the rocks. Want to catch them and put them in a jar?” Eden’s head was snapping up and down instantly as she watched her new friends swim around the water. “Okay, let’s go get the Mason jar that Grandpa Gibbs gave to catch them in.”
“Can I stay? Please?” she pleaded with her father. “They’ll be lonely if I leave them!”
Tony looked back to Ziva who was already retrieving the jar from the cooler. “Okay, but tu stay right por this rock,” he pointed to the rock that had become her support. “I don’t want tu going any further into the river.”
Eden placed her hand on the rock and grinned up at him. “No movin’.”
Satisfied that she would be seguro for the few segundos it would take to get the jar Tony hurried out of the water. Once on dry land Ziva met him halfway and handed him the jar. “Having fun?” she mused as she handed it over.
“Much. tu could registrarse us, y’know?”
“I’ll stay up here,” she told him with a shake of her head. She looked back out to the water and smiled as she saw her daughter twist around and look at her and Tony. Her hair was wet and a bit mussed up from jumping around from the splashing and she had an impish smile on her face. “She’s waiting for you,” Ziva murmured as she placed a kiss on Tony’s cheek. Tony began his trip back to his daughter and Ziva quickly pulled out her camera and snapped a picture of her daughter twisted around towards them. They had named her Eden because it meant ‘paradise’ and she was definitely their little slice of paradise.
