Disclaimers: NCIS, the rights to the show and its characters do not belong to me. No money was made by this.
Spoilers: none really, belongs to the Connor!verse
Pairing: Tim McGee/Ziva David romance (est. relationship)
Summary: It's been less than a year since the birth of their son when Ziva wakes up to an empty house.
Happy Mother's Day!
Slowly waking, Ziva frowned lightly before blinking her eyes open. The room was bathed in light and she turned her head to glance at the look, her eyes widening in shock at the time. Past nine am. Her eyes flickered to the baby monitor next to her alarm and her heart skipped a few beats when the little green control lamp remained dark.
"Oh no." she breathed. "No, nononono. Tim, wake up." she almost yelled, sitting up hastily and halfway out of bed when the lack of response from her husband registered. When she stood, Ziva suddenly found that the bed was completely empty, the covers on Tim's side folded back. His watch was missing from its usual place on the nightstand and the empty glass of water had also been removed, but the shirt he had worn was lying across his pillow.
Ziva frowned again, harder this time. Well, at least now she did not have to panic because neither of them had heard their son's frantic crying. Connor usually woke at six, half past the latest, and demanded to be fed. Apparently she had missed the crying and Tim had taken care of it. That didn't explain why he had let her sleep so long, though.
Drawing a deep breath to calm down, she grabbed her robe from the back of the door and put it on. Despite it being May, it was strangely cold in Virginia. Or maybe she was just tired of not being able to put her winter clothes completely away yet.
Before she made her way downstairs, she quickly checked the nursery, but neither her son nor her husband could be found there. Though she did notice that Tim had cleaned out the diaper bin and restacked their supply. He even had put away some of the onesies, though he had given up at the pile of tights and shirts, never mind the chaos the sock drawer now was.
The house was strangely quiet for this time of day, especially considering that Connor was up. He didn't cry often, no, but he loved to laugh at everything and was entering the stage where he started to babble nonsense, stringing sounds together. But the TV was off and Ziva couldn't hear either one of her boys, either. Though that mystery solved itself when she heard a car pull up and the engine got turned off. Figuring it was her husband, she went to open the door for him and frowned lightly at the surprised look on his face.
"You're up." he noted, leaning in for a quick kiss before handing the car seat with Connor over to her.
"It is past nine." she reminded him, smiling at her son as she set the seat down and unstrapped him, lifting him into her arm and showering his face with kisses, much to the delight of the boy who laughed out loudly, flailing his arms and legs. Tim smiled at the picture the two made, shaking his head.
"Yeah, I figured we'd let you sleep in." he told her as Ziva settled the boy on her hip.
"Not that I did not appreciate it, but could you warn me before you do that next time?" she asked him, kissing Connor's hair and hugging him close. "I woke up to a switched off baby monitor and freaked because I thought we had both slept through his cries."
Her husband flinched. "Ops, I didn't consider that." he muttered. "Sorry, I'll tell you next year."
Ziva frowned lightly at him, looking at her son when she felt him try to bite into her arm. "Did he eat breakfast?" she wondered, though she was pretty sure that if he hadn't, Connor would be nowhere near as happy and content.
"Yeah, but I was playing bad parent and made him eat vegetables." Tim told her, rolling his eyes at Ziva's surprised face. "We ran out of fruit baby cereal and since the point was to let you sleep, I didn't want to turn on the blender to make some."
Ziva sighed, lifting her son up in front of her. "Did Daddy give you yucky food?" she asked him. As if he understood her, Connor blew a few spit bubbles before sticking out his tongue and scrunching up his face, making his parents laugh.
"Yeah, of course you'd agree." Tim shook his head with a smile, reaching out and taking the boy from Ziva so she could fix herself some breakfast as they went into the kitchen.
"Where did you go, anyway?" she asked him, pulling out a bowl and some cereal before going into the fridge for yoghurt and fresh fruit.
"For one, I picked up some food for this guy here," Tim told her, setting Connor down on the counter and earning himself a glare from his wife. He ignored her and unzipped the boy's jacket, helping him out of it. "And then we picked up your surprise and some very pretty flowers. Connor liked them so much he wanted to eat them." the man chuckled as Connor babbled along, looking around.
"My surprise?" Ziva frowned, looking up from where she was slicing up a banana and holding out a piece for her son, who accepted it readily.
Tim rolled his eyes, until the genuine confusion on her face registered. "You are joking, right?" he asked her, suddenly no longer sure of that.
"No, I- Oh my, did I forget our anniversary?" Ziva breathed, the color draining from her face. "I am so sorry, honey, I swear I didn't, I'll make it up to you, I promise." she apologized quickly and Tim blinked at her, shaking his head.
"No, no, our anniversary is next week." he assured her, frowning lightly. "You really have no idea, do you?" he asked, an amused expression settling on his face.
"No, I… what is so funny?" Ziva asked him, narrowing her eyes at her husband. Tim laughed and lifted Connor up. He placed the boy in his high chair and then pressed a soft kiss to Ziva's cheek.
"Be right back." he told her, disappearing from the room. She stared after him, completely bewildered.
"Your father is a strange man, Connor." she told the boy, who just tried putting his whole fist in his mouth as an answer. Ziva shook her head and pulled his hand away, making a face at the spittle. She grabbed a paper towel and cleaned him up, releasing his hand just as Tim came back, handing her a huge bouquet. Ziva blinked at the flowers in surprise and inhaled their scent.
"They are wonderful, Tim. Though I still have no idea why-"
"Happy Mother's Day." her husband said. Ziva's breath caught in her throat and she found herself fighting tears all of a sudden.
"Oh my…" she breathed, reaching out to gently stroke a hand over Connor's head. "I completely forgot about that." she admitted as Tim stepped closer and hugged her, kissing her gently.
"You okay?" he asked her carefully as she left his embrace and went in search of a vase, taking her time to arrange the flowers before placing them on the dining table. Ziva sighed, crossing her arms in front of her.
"I am not sure." she muttered, turning to see Tim lift Connor from his chair as the boy grew frustrated with the restriction made on his movements.
"Hey, let's give this to Mama, huh?" he whispered to the boy, holding onto the present himself as Connor grabbed it. "Can you say 'Happy Mother's Day', Connor?" he joked, but only got more spit bubbles from the boy. "Huh. We'll practice for next year, I promise." Tim smiled at her as he rescued the present from Connor's hands and handed it to Ziva. She shook her head and placed a soft kiss on her son's cheek before kissing her husband.
"Thank you." she whispered, rubbing her nose against his. Tim rested his forehead against hers.
"You're most welcome." he answered. "Now open it."
Ziva rolled her eyes slightly before getting a knife and slicing through the ribbon around the small rectangle box. She opened the lid and a soft gasp fell from her lips when she found a golden bracelet inside. She carefully lifted it up, keeping it out of the baby's reach. The sunlight reflecting of the bracelet caught Connor's attention and he stared with wide eyes, his mouth moving soundlessly.
"It's… beautiful." Ziva muttered, noticing the two charms dangling from it.
"They are your birthstones. Yours and Connor's." Tim supplied, setting the boy down so he could help his wife put it on. When he was done, Ziva wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly. He felt her tremble against him and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace, running a hand through her curls and over her head.
"It's okay." he whispered, pressing a kiss to her temple and Ziva nodded into his shirt. When she leaned back, there were tears on her face and she quickly wiped them away before bending down to pick up her son.
"I love you two so much." she muttered, kissing her son's cheek as Tim wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Good, because we love you, too." he responded, nudging her gently before kissing her again.
fin.