I wrote this in an hour and a half whilst I was waiting for the plumber to fix the shower. He is still not done yet, and I am starting to get grumpy. He has been fiddling with it all afternoon and I really need a shower!

I seem to like writing scenes with Evita and Tony. Wait, you do not know who Evita is? You mean to say you have not read 24, my 50th NCIS story? Well, why not? It is great, go read it.

No, really, you do not have to. Not to understand what is going on here, anyway. I mean, it might help, but it is up to you. It is 24 chapters long, and some people do not have time for that.

But if you have read it and you want to read more of little Evita, read this then go and check out the other one-shot, Bedtime.

This takes place about a week or two before chapter 18, so mid-May sort of time.

...

Bomb Blasts and Baby Bottles

It was an automated response. Just like if he had programmed it into his phone himself. "On it, Boss. Get McGee to send directions." Of course, as he rolled over, preparing to tell Ziva, he realised that it was no use. And then the crying started. He cursed the idiot who blew the marines car up, cursed the elderly neighbour who had fallen and called to have Ziva drive her to the hospital for the third time that month and cursed the clock for it reading 2300hrs. He scrambled out of bed, hurried through to Evita's room and scooped her up, trying to calm her down. He wished that he had chosen to take Mrs Kowalski to the hospital after his rock beat Ziva's scissors and not stayed at home on Eva-duty. "Where's Ima when you need her, hey little baby? Where's Ima? Ima's with Mrs Kowalski." He calmed the baby down until he realised that their other neighbour was on holiday and the only other person they knew in the building worked nights. "Who's gonna look after you, hey? Who's gonna look after Eva? I think it's gonna have to be Daddy? Do you wanna come to work with Daddy? I think you do. You wanna come to work with Daddy." He did not want to have to take her to the scene – it would hardly be a good formative memory – and Ziva would kill him when she realised that he had taken her daughter to a crime scene, but he had no other choice.

Gibbs was going to kill him too. "Okay, let's let Daddy get dressed while Eva goes back to sleep, hey?" He settled the five-month-old into her car seat where it sat on the couch. He jogged back into his and Ziva's bedroom, pulling his slacks and shirt on from earlier that day and grabbing a pen and a post-it, scribbling a quick note along with the address of the scene and sticking it to Ziva's pillow.

Tony grabbed Eva's car seat as gently as possible, realising that she was not asleep anyway, and left the apartment, only noticing that he had left both her blanket and her monkey when he had her situated in the front seat of his Mustang and she started wailing. "Baby, Daddy's running late. I'm not gonna unclip you and run back upstairs again." She seemed to calm down slightly when he put his hand on her head, and she settled immediately when he moved down to place his hand on her chest, tickling her tummy. "Is that funny? Is Eva ticklish? I think she is." He pulled faces at her and wiped her tears away. She screamed when he moved his hand to start the car and start driving. "Daddy can't drive with only one hand, Baby." But after the first hundred yards, he relented, letting her chew on one of his fingers.

"You're Grandpa Gibbs is gonna be so mad at me." Tony muttered as he pulled his baby out of the car and started walking over to the NCIS truck. He was relieved that there were no sirens, merely bright lights because he knew that Evita would not have appreciated sirens.

"DiNozzo, I told you to be here fifteen minutes ago."

"Yeah, Boss, I had a slight problem with that."

"If you dare give me some traffic BS, DiNozzo, I'm gonna…" Gibbs stopped when he rounded the corner of the truck, seeing Eva. "DiNozzo, what have I said about the baby staying at home?"

"I…uh…I thought I should leave it a few years until I leave her alone, you know how wild the house parties can be when they're this age…"

"I called you because you're on call and Ziva isn't this week."

Tony held Eva slightly tighter, knowing Gibbs would not actually do anything to him whilst he had the child in his arms. "Ziva might not be on call for NCIS, but she is for Mrs Kowalski across the hall."

"Again? How many times is that this month?" McGee's head popped around from the back door of the truck.

"Three. Look, I've left her a note, she'll come and pick Eva up from here once she's done at the hospital."

"And until then, DiNozzo? How are you gonna work a scene with a baby?"

"I…hadn't really thought that far."

Gibbs shook his head. "Go question the witnesses." He nodded to a huddle of people standing next to two ambulances as McGee tossed Tony his windbreaker and notebook.

Tony nodded, putting the notebook in his mouth and juggling his little girl as he shrugged the windbreaker on. She started whimpering when he held her in the arm that was already wearing the jacket and he groaned, throwing his head back. He knew the windbreaker was going to be a bad idea. "I know, I know." He tucked her underneath the coat so that she was partially wrapped in the fleece and not touching the waterproof material. "That better? That's better, isn't it? Yeah." He emitted another groan when he noticed that half a dozen of his witnesses were wearing pink and covered in feathers, and possibly slightly tipsy, given the way one of them teetered in her stupidly high heels. Why did he have to be the one to question the hen party?

"Aww…there's a baby!" Great. Just great. He got tipsy hen-party goers who all wanted babies.

"Hi, ladies. Hi, I'm Agent DiNozzo, NCIS, I just need to take your witness statements, so if we could all organise ourselves into a sensible order and we'll just get right to it."

"I'll go first, Handsome." The closest to him gave him a wink and walked over.

"Okay, then… Do, uh, do you and your friends want some blankets? I'm sure we can get you some blankets."

"It's not cold, Officer." She gave a pouty, innocent looking face and he forced a smile.

"Agent. It's Agent, not Officer."

"Oh. Is that better?" Her smile was flirty.

"Well…I…I don't think so, I mean, the terms mean different things in different agencies and organisations, so I…" He shrugged. "So, um, you witnessed the, uh…"

"No ring, huh? Not married? That's a shame. Poor little baby should have a mummy and a daddy."

"She does. She does, I'm engaged."

"Oh. Well, it's not set in stone yet, hey?"

"Oh, God…" It was going to be a long night.

"No, no, stay awake now. You can't sleep here." Tony nudged the shoulder of the woman who had leant her head on his shoulder, her eyelids drooping. Eva was wide awake, studying each of the women being interviewed, and he had to wonder if she was trying to find Ziva in amongst the flurry of pink. "Miss, I need you to tell me about what you saw. Eva, no, no don't chew that, that's not for you to chew." He sighed as she continued to gum his collar, soaking it with slobber.

"You know she will chew it anyway." A voice behind him said and he spun around, knocking the bride-to-be off of his shoulder. Ziva reached forward to catch her, helping her to sit down on the kerb before standing back up to kiss him. "I was worried when you were not at home."

"I'm sorry."

"It is fine," she yawned. "What are you doing up, Baby?" She cooed, taking Evita from him. "It is late, you should be asleep."

"I tried to tell her. She's due a feed soon." He said apologetically as he closed his eyes. "And, uh, I forgot the bottle of expressed milk you left me for if you were out late."

Ziva mock-gasped. "Is Daddy forgetful? I think he is. He is."

"Yeah. I also forgot her blanket and her monkey."

"Daddy is very forgetful indeed." She kissed Evita's nose. "How much longer do you think you will be?"

"Well, she's the last witness," he nodded down to the sleeping woman on the kerb "and then it's whatever else Gibbs wants of me. It might be going back to the Navy Yard and sorting everything out there, or I might still be needed to gather evidence."

"Okay. I will probably wait here until you know what is happening and she has had her feed, and then see what we are going to do. If you need, you can take Evita home and get some sleep whilst I go in."

"Nah, that's not fair on you." He smiled, pressing his lips to hers and pulling back as soon as Gibbs yelled. "If you insist on waiting, go over and sit in the truck. I'll meet you over there in a few minutes."

"You're so beautiful." Tony said as he stood at the back of the MCRT van, leaning against the closed door.

"You are wrong." Ziva looked up from her child's face. "Evita is the beautiful one."

"Nope, I'm not wrong. You're not wrong either, but I'm never wrong. Not when it comes to beauty." He climbed into the van, walking over to Ziva and pressing a kiss to her cheek as he sat down before pressing a kiss to the nursing child's forehead.

"Distract her and I will kill you, DiNozzo."

"She's not being distracted – I've not distracted her." He shrugged, wrapping and arm around her shoulders and brushing his lips against her neck.

"Distract me and I will kill you."

He chuckled. "Admitting you're easily distractible, David?"

"No, DiNozzo. Only when it comes to you." She laid her head on his shoulder, shifting so she was as close as possible to him without jostling her child. "I am tired."

"I know, Sweetcheeks. Me too."

McGee folded his jacket up, looking at the tendrils of orange cloud in the dusky grey sky as he chucked the windbreaker in the truck. "Hey, guys, we're, ah…" He backed away, bumping into Gibbs and knocking the coffee cup in his boss's hand to the floor. "Oh, God. Sorry, Boss, I…"

"McGee."

"I'll, uh…I…um…it…" He blushed and swallowed. "Tony and Ziva are in the truck."

"And?"

"They're sleeping."

"So?"

"Well, I think Ziva might have been feeding Evita because, uh…" To say he was flustered would be an understatement. "Her shirt, it's…it's not…"

"Got it, McGee." He tossed the younger man the keys to the vehicle, stepping into the van and walking to the back where his sleeping colleagues were. Keeping his eyes as averted as possible, he tugged Ziva's shirt back across her chest before turning to the child asleep in her arms. He picked his granddaughter up, gently so as not to wake her, and then went about waking the parents. "DiNozzo, time to go." He had seen them sleep in the same position before, in Ziva's first year at NCIS, and even now, in sleep at least, they retained the same young, innocent look they had back then. It could not have been comfortable, tangled together on the metal floor of the truck, yet they were tired enough to sleep there. He hated to wake the couple, but they had to get going if they were going to get the evidence back to the lab. "Ziver, wake up." He did not think he had used such a soft voice with anyone other than Evita since Shannon and Kelly, and he had to swallow the lump that thought brought.

She stirred, blinking slowly at him. "Good morning."

"Not for our dead guy. Come on, time to wake up."

"Mmnn." She looked around, frowning at her surroundings and looking down at her clothes before looking to Tony. Her shirt was unbuttoned, bra missing, but her jeans were on and Tony was fully clothed. And Gibbs was not angry, so they had probably not been doing anything they were not supposed to be doing. "Why?"

"I said. Dead guy. We were called out last night, you came to pick Evita up and never left."

"Why was Evita with the dead guy?"

"She wasn't. She was with DiNozzo."

"Oh." The previous night was coming back to her. "What time is it?"

"0400hrs. We've been out here all night, not that you and DiNozzo were much help."

"Sorry." She yawned and stretched, hitting Tony in the face in the process.

He moaned, turning to glare at her through half-shut eyes until he registered his surroundings and her unbuttoned shirt. "What happened last night?"

"Case." She smiled, kissing him softly. "You need to brush your teeth."

"Hey, don't act all innocent there – you need to brush your teeth, too.

"Well, both of you can get out of the truck and brush your teeth." Gibbs nodded to the door. "Who've I got coming in today?"

"Me today, Boss." Tony groaned as he stood up, stretching his back and holding out a hand to Ziva. "I'm too old for sleeping on the floor. My back hurts."

"Try carrying a baby in you for nine months, DiNozzo. Then you can complain about your back hurting." Ziva slapped his chest. "I will bring lunch in."

"Mmm. I love you."

"You only love the fact that I feed you." She said as she hopped out of the truck.

"There are other things, too."

"Like?" She watched as Gibbs walked away from them with her daughter, taking the child away from their noisy banter.

"Your body. I love your body."

"Mhmm. And?"

"Your hair when it's all messy, when I've run my hands through it like this," he turned her around, tangling his hands in her hair and cradling the back of her head, touching his lips to hers.

"And?" Their noses were touching as each of them grinned, both chuckling occasionally at simply the looks in each other's eyes.

"I love the way you can be so passionate and so gentle all in one kiss."

"You are pretty good at that too."

"Well thank you very much."

"What else?"

"Hmmm… I love the way your words slur together when you're sleepy."

"They do not."

"They do. And I love the way you look at Eva when she's feeding, and when you're singing to her, and when she's sleeping, and every time you look at her, really. You put so much love and adoration into one little look."

"You do that, too."

"I love the way that every morning we are holding hands when we wake up, and you never leave bed before me because you don't want to let go."

"I leave bed before you wake up when Evita wakes." She leant her forehead against his, taking his hands in her own.

"That's different."

"Hey! You two lovebirds done over there? We've got work to do!"

Tony sighed as they both looked over to Gibbs with a now-awake Evita in his arms. "I'll see you at lunchtime."

"Possibly earlier if I get bored. I might go in and see Abby."

"Okay." He kissed her one more time, slightly longer than all the other kisses that night, before pulling away and saluting. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

...

I will let you in on a little secret – I was going to have a sniper shoot Tony as he says 'I love you' for the last time, with the salute, but then I remembered that as this is kind of an offshoot of 24, and it comes in just before chapter 18, I could not kill him off. I wrote it all out and everything. I had not even planned for it to happen, it just did, and then I realised that it could not happen, and so I had to delete that part. But it has a happy ending now, so that is good, yes?

For my reference: 57th NCIS fic.