Okay, would it sound crazy if I admit the idea for this story came from the thought I had about Ziva not being at Jackson Gibbs' funeral? And then I realized she may have been giving birth to Tali at that time. And from there it sprung.

I tend to write fanfictions where I like the story but to a point and then I feel the overwhelming need to fix it because the writers screwed it up. Fine, in this case, the actress left the show, but it still burns with the amount of stupid they heaped on. So, it didn't happen. My head!cannon.

So, turn the clock back to 2013. Yes, Ziva chose to stay in Israel, but events have conspired to change her mind. Unfortunately it may be too late. Will fate be cruel and take their second chance away?

She was surprised, but at the same time, she wasn't. She knew what she should do, but she didn't know what to do. She wanted to go home, but she wanted to run away.

Well, she thought, I have already run away. How much further can I go from DC than Tel Aviv? She recognized her own confused state and let out a breath. Her life had been so ordered, so disciplined, before her father had sent her to Washington, to clean up a mess that had been years in the making. It was there that she had met them, these people who had become more her family then the one she had by blood. McGee and Abby and Ducky and Palmer and Gibbs…

And Tony.

Ziva closed her eyes and let out a soft cry. She had hurt so many in her life and him most of all. Why hadn't she gone back with him? He wanted her to. He loved her! He may not have said it, but she knew it was true. And now, that was all ruined.

But a little voice inside told her it was not. She still had time to correct her mistakes. She still had time to run to him, tell him she was wrong and that she wanted to be with him.

Tell him he was going to be a father.

She laughed at that thought. He had the maturity of a twelve year old! He eyed up every woman who walked past him. He was a slob, a, a whiner, a hundred other things...but was he really? She had seen his apartment and it was immaculate. He was the one who had come after her, rescued her when her own father had left her for dead.

That was the first time she thought there was more to their relationship. The first time she thought he might…

She had dismissed it, of course. They were exact opposites. She took everything in life seriously, he made a joke out of everyday living. And that was the man who was the father of her unborn child.

Ziva wondered briefly what her father would think about this situation. While he would have been been thrilled at being a grandfather, she was well aware of Eli's opinion of Anthony DiNozzo. It had never been high and after Michael Rivkin's death, well, she remembered how it was when they met in Israel.

Thinking of her father led her, for some reason, to think about Anthony DiNozzo, Senior. While he was no paragon of fatherhood, having heard all the stories, he would be thrilled with the latest development. Ziva knew the older man's affection for her and he had tried to push them together at times.

With fathers still on her mind, she thought of the one man both she and Tony looked to with the respect and affection children should have for their fathers, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. She wasn't sure what his reaction would be. Would he be happy for them? Would be be pissed? They had broken Rule 12, although technically they were not co-workers now.

She could not get Gibbs out of her mind after the initial thought. She tried, but he haunted her even more than Tony. It drove her, at last, to her computer, to book a flight. She needed direction and her taciturn former boss, she hoped, would provide it.

By the time the plane touched down at Dulles the next day, she had changed her mind, at least a little bit. She got in her rental car and drove in the direction of Tony's apartment. Ziva parked across the street and waited for him to get home. It was a little after five when he finally showed. Tony was getting out of his car, phone to his ear and a wide grin on his face. It looked like he was talking to a woman, by the goofy expression on his face. A spike of jealousy flared in her until she realized she had no right to it. She had let him go, when he was desperate to hold on. No, she decided, she would not be that woman.

She was almost ready to head straight back to the airport, straight back to Tel Aviv, but her body steered the car to a small, dark house, one that she noted had an empty driveway. It didn't matter, though, as she found herself getting out of the car and reaching for the doorknob. As she had expected, it turned freely, having been left unlocked, its usual state. She was about to turn to the door that led to the basement, but a flash of memory stopped her. She heard her brother's voice, Ari's voice, taunting Gibbs, revealing her father's nature, at least as he had seen it. Eli David was certainly aware of the strategy Ari had laid out, but she still was not convinced it was true, even after all these years.

Instead, she made her way to the couch, in front of the window. It had pillows and a blanket at one end, evidence that it was still being used as Gibbs' primary rack. Exhaustion finally got the better of her as she collapsed onto the couch, threw the pillows under her head, pulled the blanket over her and drifted off to sleep.

She didn't know how long she had slept when she felt the hand on her shoulder, gently nudging her. She didn't want to open her eyes and face him. She didn't want those eyes drill into her very soul. But another nudge made her realize she had to face it, whatever it was.

Gibbs was crouching at the side of the couch, his face as unreadable as ever. She kept her face neutral, a struggle to do so. For a long moment, neither spoke. But then she ventured a word, whispered, hesitant. "Gibbs."

He nodded his head. "Ziva," came the reply.

"I'm sorry." Another rule broken, this time Rule 6.

"Nothing to be sorry about. You needed time. I know the feeling." He looked to his side, then back at her. They shared so many secrets, she and Gibb, going back to the one no one, not Jenny Shepard, his ex-lover; Ducky, his long time friend; Tim or Abby or Tony, who had worked with him longer than she, had known.

Now they would share another, at least for the time being. But before she could form the words, she straightened her body, putting her feet on the floor to stand. He watched her, but to her surprise, his expression remained the same. She laid her hand on her belly as she looked back to him. She had no word to say, as they all seemed to die in her mouth.

Finally, the human Sphinx, the functional mute as Tony called him, opened his mouth, his words shocking her even more. "Does he know?" She shook her head, still silent. Gibbs let out a heavy sigh, looking heavenward momentarily. "Well, what are you going to do about it?"