I'm Positive
By: Lawrali
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except half the plot.
Note A friend gave me the idea for this story. Thanks jrdinozzo!
Ziva kept her eye on the computer screen in front of her but wasn't registering anything on the screen. She could only think of what she'd learned earlier that morning. She knew she was going to have to tell him but was a little worried as to what his reaction would be. She'd only just realized the truth about her feeling toward him. Working next to him for the past three years had caused it. She'd spent many years building walls around her emotions and now they seemed to be failing quickly. She looked up to see him diligently working at his desk. She wanted to throw something at him; get his attention or annoy him or simply just in hopes that it would relieve some tension she felt growing in her shoulders."Something wrong, Ziva?" He asked, not looking up from his computer.What was she to tell him? The truth? In the middle of the bullpen? With everyone around them? Gibbs had strict rules about relations between co-workers outside of work. No one knew about their recent intertwined personal relationship. They'd agreed that, at least for now, they needed to keep it quiet. Especially at work. Mostly around Gibbs and Abby. Abby was Gibbs' favorite and she wasn't good a lying to begin with."Why would you think something is wrong?" She asked him."Well for the last twenty minutes, you've been staring at your computer screen with your hands on the keyboard but haven't typed a single word. That and I can feel your eyes burning my head." He smiled.She rolled her eyes. Ok, so he was right. She hadn't written a single word in her case report but trying to read her notes was like trying to read some unknown foreign language. Was there a language she didn't know? It looked like Gibberish to her. Or maybe hieroglyphics. "Well, it's nothing I want to talk about here." She said, making another attempt to read the notes.He stood from his desk and walked to the front of her desk, kneeling down in a way they could have a quieted conversation away from the ears of other Agents in the room. Ziva looked up to Gibbs' empty desk. She was glad that he had to go to MTAC, otherwise he'd overhear their entire conversation and know their secret."Ok, you will talk about anything, anywhere. So, what's up?" He asked again.Ziva sighed and then lowered her voice to him. If he wanted to know right then, fine. But it was on him if anyone overheard what she was about to say."I'm positive.""Positive of what?" He asked, clearly confused.Ziva groaned. Her voice returned to it's normal volume as she spoke out of shear frustration of his not understanding her."You know, the little plastic stick that you pee on… I'm positive." She spoke fiercely to him.He simply looked at her. She could almost see and hear the people in his brain scrambling to find the definition of positive. "Positive, like pregnant?" He choked out."Yes!" Ziva cried, even more frustrated.
He looked at her in complete disbelief. A slow smile formed on his face and a laugh erupted from his lips. She looked at him like he'd lost his mind. What exactly about the situation did he find funny. Neither of them were prepared for that type of commitment. They'd hardly even been dating each other long. And the relationship had somewhat happened on it's own, surprising both of them.
"Why are you laughing?" She asked, throwing daggers at him.
"Did Abby put you up to this? I mean, you are joking right?" He laughed.
"What? No, I'm not joking. Would you like to see it?" Ziva countered.
He stopped laughing and looked down at her desktop. "You brought it with you?"
"No," He was only adding to her frustration, which was starting to bubble into anger. "It is at home. But I can assure you that I am not lying." She paused, silently counting to five.
The morning had gotten worse since she'd bought the test on the way home from her morning run after realizing that she was five days late on her monthly period. She taken the test, not really thinking about it, and looked at it after dressing. She forgotten about it until she'd gone to brush her teeth and saw the stick lying on the counter top, the bright pink plus sign clearly visible in the small window.
"It said that I am pregnant, Tony."
Tony's attention failed miserably after that. The rest of the day he'd been unable to have answers to Gibbs' questions and was scrambling for them before Gibbs decided to fire him. He kept trying to tell himself that Ziva was joking with him. She couldn't possibly think him ready to be a father.
The end of the day finally came and Tony grabbed his gear and left the emptying bullpen along with Ziva and McGee. He stood shoulder to shoulder with her in the elevator as McGee pushed the button to the parking garage. He shifted slightly causing him to bump into her softly.
"Drink, Ziva?" He asked, trying to sound as if he asked to hang out with her everyday.
McGee lifted a single brow as he glanced to them over his shoulder. The elevator announced their arrival to the parking garage and McGee left without saying a word to either of his team mates. Ziva followed him with Tony right behind her. He grabbed a hold of her arm to slow her down.
"Hey, we need to talk about this." Tony said.
"I am not going out tonight, Tony. I want to go home and forget about today." She mumbled.
"Going home and hiding in a dark corner with a pint of ice cream isn't going to make this," He waved down to her stomach, nervously and sighing. "It won't make it go away."
"I am not stupid, Tony. But I do not know what else to do." She stopped at her car and turned to Tony. "This was not suppose to happen, Tony. You are not…I am not ready for this." Ziva said before opening her car door and climbing in.
Tony pounded on her car window, trying to get her to stop as she started her car and put it into gear. "Maybe you should call a doctor." He called thru the glass.
She pulled her car away from him and drove out of the parking garage. Tony stood in the spot she'd left him and watched as her car gain more distance from him. He was only trying to do what he thought was right. His undercover time with Jeanne had shown him that he needed to grow up. Now here Ziva was, pregnant with his child and she refused to talk to him about it. She'd basically told him that he still wasn't past his fear of commitment. A baby was a huge commitment. Yes, he was scared. But he'd already screwed up one relationship by lying. He wasn't about to do it again; not with Ziva.
Ziva sat on her couch with her feet tucked underneath her. The fire she'd built crackled in front of her and the noise of the movie Tony had left at her house hit her ears but the words were unable to register in her mind. She was trying to figure out how she'd come up pregnant. Of course, she knew how it happened but how did it happen, she kept asking herself.
She'd called a doctor when she'd gotten home from work. Maybe Tony had a good idea. She knew that if she was pregnant then she'd be going to the doctor a lot. Gibbs was going to find out about her and Tony then. They were going to be fired. She'd be sent back to Israel. She couldn't raise a child alone. She definitely wasn't going to ask her father for help. She wasn't ready for marriage. At this point, it would be the only way to keep her in the country. Israel had seemed like a foreign country now. America was her home. Maybe she'd apply for citizenship. That would piss her father off.
The appointment was for the following month. It was going to be a long three weeks. She needed to talk to somebody. She knew that she needed to talk to Tony but at the moment she needed advice. Advice from a doctor. She pushed her feet from under her and picked up her cell phone. She punched in the number for Ducky and waited for him to answer.
"Ducky," She started.
"Ziva, my dear. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He said, the yapping Corgie's in the background.
"I… was wondering if I could buy you a drink?" She said, softly.
An hour later she found herself sitting at the bar waiting on Ducky. They normally all got together on Friday's after work. He had a feeling that this was something important for her to ask him to meet her. He immediately agreed and fixed his mother up some dinner before leaving the house to meet Ziva at the bar near the Navy Yard.
He walked in and saw Ziva sitting at the bar with a beer bottle in her hands. He sat down, taking his hat off and placing it next to him. He order his usual drink and looked at Ziva expectantly. She smiled softly and suddenly didn't want to talk to him. She knew that he wouldn't push but he was the only one at work that she could talk to who wouldn't go blabbing purposely. She did know that Gibbs would most likely find out after talked to Ducky but she didn't have to saw who had gotten her pregnant.
"I need to ask you something." She said nervously, glancing toward him but not making eye contact. "I need to know what kind of symptoms you would have when pregnant?"
Ducky looked at her confused and looked down toward the bar as his drink was served. "Why would you want to know the symptoms of…" He paused, looked to her and then understood. "Ah. Does Tony know?"
Ziva looked at him suddenly, trying to steel her face in a face that wouldn't show she'd been busted. "Why would Tony need to know?"
"Well I assume he is the father, correct?" Ducky said with a hint of a smile across his face.
Ziva looked at him. How did he know? She and Tony hadn't shown any differences in their behavior at work. Of course, she was talking about Tony. He probably told everyone at NCIS but made them swear not to act as if they knew.
"I'm old but I'm not blind, my dear." He said.
Ziva sighed and drank down a long swig of her drink. Ducky lifted his hand and took it from her. "You should not be drinking this." He put the bottle on the other side of himself so Ziva couldn't get it from him. "How long?"
She stared at the bottle for a moment but quickly recovered and started to answer his questions. Somehow she always felt better when talking to Ducky. He never judged and was always a good listener.
"Just this morning. I called the doctor after work but appointment is not until next month." Ziva spoke to her hands. "So what do I have to expect?"
Ziva had spent an hour with Ducky. Three days had past and she hadn't gotten a single hint that Gibbs knew that she was with child. Maybe Ducky hadn't told him about their conversation. She was seated at her desk doing some research on a victim they'd found murdered the night before. McGee was with Abby doing some technical stuff with the shattered cell phone they'd found on the body; Gibbs was most likely in Autopsy getting a report from Ducky; Tony. Tony was sitting across from her, not working, staring at her.
They'd finally talked. He had apologized for ten minutes before she threatened him with the stapler. She told him that it wasn't entirely his fault. After all, she'd had sex with him too. He had smiled mischievously after she spoke. Slapping him on the back of the head in true Gibbs fashion, she'd returned to her desk to work after that. Now he simply watched her instead of doing a background on the dead Marine.
"Would you get back to work before Gibbs comes back and strangles you?" Ziva said, finally growing annoyed at his staring.
"I'm just trying to image what he's going to look like." Tony said, getting up from his desk.
"What makes you think it will be a boy?" She asked.
"Come on, it's a DiNozzo." He smiled. "He'll probably have my boyishly, handsome charm and your interesting and unique assassination skills."
"Or," She said, thinking. "She'll take nothing from you aside from maybe your eyes and dim witted sense of what you call humor."
The elevator dinged and Gibbs and McGee stepped out and toward their desks. Gibbs spoke as he sat down. "Tell me that you've gotten some work done, DiNozzo."
"Yeah boss." He said, straightening up from his conversation with Ziva. "Neighbors heard a commotion about 4:35pm.Claimed they couldn't see anything but did hear some shouting coming from the officers home. Five minutes later the argument was over. However, no one found Shue until three hours later when his girlfriend came home."
"Ziva, the girlfriend."
"Elisabeth Winston, 24, says she was at class all day. Didn't get home until 8pm when she found the body and called the police. Neighbors confirmed that she was gone all day from about nine am when she left for class." Ziva said, pointing the clicker to show the DMV photo of the girl.
Gibbs sighed heavily. Basically they still had nothing until Abby could fix the cell phone and Ducky could finish the Autopsy.
"What am I going to do, losing my best case agent?" He said aloud but not directed toward anyone.
"Boss?" Tony said, confused.
"You heard me, DiNozzo." He said, standing.
Tony watched as Gibbs started walking toward him, getting into his face. "I'm going to lose my best case agent. How do you suppose I'm going to run a successful team without my best agent?"
Tony tried to see what Gibbs was talking about in his eyes but his boss was to good at clouding what was in them. He took a deep breath and spoke softly. "I'll go clear out my desk."
He turned to go back to his desk. McGee was watching with concerned interest and Ziva watched as Tony skulked to his desk.
"Not you, DiNozzo. I'm talking about Ziva." He looked to her. "I'll deal with you while she's on Maternity Leave."
"Maternity leave? Ziva?" McGee said.
"Shut it, Probie." Tony yelled.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs warned.
Tony continued to look at McGee but stopped at Gibbs' warning. Ziva stood and joined Tony in front of McGee's desk. She was almost scared to look at Gibbs. She crossed her arms over her stomach.
"Tony, it is not McGee's fault."
"Then how did Gibbs find out?" He whispered frantically.
Tony knew that his job and probably any future job was on the line. Gibbs had strict rules about coworkers having relations outside of work.
"I called Ducky." She said, causing him to turn his attention to her. "I wanted to know what I would have to look forward to."
"Looking forward to?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Perhaps," Ziva said, walking back to her desk. Gibbs smiled to himself. He remembered not long ago when Ziva had not been sure if she wanted children. Now she seemed almost excited about the idea.
It was true, Ziva had gotten used to the idea of being a mother. Even after only a few days that had past since she'd learned about her impending future. She wouldn't go as far, yet, as saying that she was in love with Tony. She loved everyone on the team, in different ways of course, but she'd recently gotten closer to Tony. Obviously, seeing as she was now pregnant.
Time seemed to pass by quickly. It was suddenly the day of her doctor's appointment. She'd come into work without saying a word and had watched the clock on her computer all day. It seemed that every five minutes she looked down to see the time. Tony was finding it rather amusing. Gibbs had allowed them both a long lunch so Tony could accompany her to the doctor. She looked down to the clock again and groaned. She banged on her keyboard, taking out her frustration to the time moving so slowly. They had an hour before the appointment. She tried to think of something to do that would make time go by faster. They'd finished the case of the murdered Navy Officer three days ago and nothing else had opened up.
Ziva rose to her feet and then sat back down. She then stood again and started walking around the small space that separated her desk from her team mates. McGee looked from Tony to Ziva. "Anxious, Ziva?"
She stopped and turned toward McGee than shot a warning look to Tony before he could even make the comment she knew was dying to come out. "I'm going down to see Ducky."
"Why?" Tony asked.
"It's something to do." Ziva sighed, leaving the bullpen.
An hour later, Tony and Ziva found themselves sitting in a waiting room. Ziva had a clipboard on her lap and a pen in her hand. She'd filled in all of her information and was trying to get Tony to tell her what she needed for him.
"Middle name, Tony."
Tony laughed, "I'm not telling you that." He tried to take the pen from her. She caught his hand in a vice grip.
"Middle name."
"Walter," Tony groaned.
Ziva started laughing as she released his hand and filled in Tony's full name. "Anthony Walter DiNozzo?"
Tony looked at her with a look of annoyance and embarrassment. "Junior."
Ziva finished the paper work and handed it back to the nurse at the front desk. She'd barely made it back to her seat when a door opened and her name was being called.
"Ziva David?" The nurse said, mispronouncing her name.
Tony corrected the woman instantly, much to the amusement of Ziva. They followed the woman and were ushered into a room. In the middle of a room was a table, the head slightly elevated, with a seat next to it. To the right of the table was an odd looking machine with a computer screen.
"If you'll just take off everything from the waist down." The nurse said, laying a paper blanket on the table and walked back out of the room.
"Yeah, Ziva. Take off everything from the waist down." Tony smiled, wiggling his eyebrows. Ziva groaned, picked up a bottle of some blue gel and threw it at him before doing what she'd been asked.
The elevator doors opened and McGee looked up to see Tony and Ziva exit. He wasn't able to read their faces. They ignored his questioning gaze as the took their seats behind their desks. Neither spoke to him or each other.
"So, how did it go?" McGee asked innocently.
Tony looked up to Ziva and then glared at McGee as she climbed to her feet and walked past the two guys on her way to the rear elevator. She pressed the button as she could hear McGee asking Tony again what had happened. The doors opened and she looked up to see Gibbs standing there. He'd been about to exit the elevator until he'd noticed her expression. He stepped back to allow her to enter. The doors closed and he stopped the elevator from it's descend. Ziva looked up to him. He didn't say a word as she circled her arms around his shoulders and started crying.
"Tony." McGee said, no worried about both of his friends. "Tony, what happened?"
Tony slammed his hand down against his desk, causing several other agents to look up over their cubical walls or stop dead in their tracks as they walked past. He got to his feet and started walking toward McGee his anger now written all over his face. He stood over McGee threateningly.
"It was a faulty test, McGee. Ok? You happy now?"
McGee looked shell shocked. He could see something behind Tony's eyes but wasn't exactly sure it was in fact what it looked like. Tony stood upright again and backed away slightly, the angered look had returned to it's blank expression.
"She's not pregnant?" He spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
Tony sat down in his chair with a loud sigh. He ran his hands down his face and then clasped them behind his head. "No. Ziva's not pregnant." He quickly returned to his feet and started pacing back and forth in front of McGee's desk. "It's strange, McGee. I have never even thought about having children and then Ziva told me she was pregnant. Then the doctor he put this thing… well, he didn't find anything. He said that she most likely had a faulty test. They did another test in the office to test some kind of hormone level and they came back normal." He returned to his desk and sank into the seat again. "She's not pregnant."
McGee was silent during Tony's rambling. He sounded like they'd both gotten used to the idea that they were going to be parents. Tim could almost see that they were looking forward to it. They heard a squeal suddenly and McGee just saw the flash of a white lab coat and dark hair. Abby ran for Tony with a smile spread across her face.
"So?" She then stopped as she noticed Tony's face. She turned to McGee who solemnly shook his head. She raised her hand to her chest, her heart totally sinking. She threw her arms around the seated Tony and whispered softly. "I'm sorry, Tony."