A/N: Firstly, I just wanted to stick a little note in to thank every one who read/reviewed "Movie Night", I never expected to even get one review so to get 8 was really amazing, so thanks to everyone who commented! This is another story I wrote a while back, an idea that just stuck in my mind, I wasn't sure how to list this one as it's sort of Tiva from McGee's perspective... but hopefully all becomes clear as you read! Once again, I own nothing but the idea! Enjoy!
The Weight of Responsibility
McGee sat at his desk, his fingers were a blur over his keyboard; he was tracing yet another cell phone, putting out a BOLO and scanning through security footage. He hated being the technically savvy member of the team sometimes; while it came with perks, new gadgets, praise when he was the one to put the missing piece of the puzzle together and the ability to hack into anyone's computer, internet, phone and e-mails, it also meant that nine times out of ten he was the one stuck in the office while his team mates were out in the field physically catching the bad guys. Today was no different, he found himself the only member of the team behind his desk while the others were in Maryland; he'd give anything to actually get to go away on a case.
A melodic ping of the elevator sounded breaking his concentration for a brief moment while he allowed his eyes to wander from the screen to the approaching guest at NCIS.
The girl stepped from the elevator and instinctively turned right; most people that exited on the floor were escorted by team member or a marshal of some description; she was alone. She was of average height and a slim build; she had olive skin and long dark hair flowing down her back. Her skin contrasted with her dark features, her deep brown eyes and strong cheekbones. She wore a pair of beige cargo pants, a simple white t-shirt and a thin black cardi; she was the image of Ziva, only younger.
McGee had returned to his task at hand almost instantly after registering that the guest was not anybody he needed to direct, arrest, interrogate or answer to. He hadn't noticed that she had made her way over to the teams' collective desks and was now positioned in front of his.
"Hi Uncle McGee." She said, her voice delicate and undeniably American which to anyone who didn't know her, might come as a surprise judging by her exotic looks.
McGee almost did a double take; he couldn't believe quite how much the girl looked like her mother.
"Talia, hey." He smiled looking up at the girl. He checked his watch, it was 3pm, she must have come here straight from school. "Your mom isn't here right now, the rest of the team are chasing a lead on a case; they should be back this evening, but I could call her if you like." He reached for his cell phone.
"No, no, I um, I actually came to see you." she said, her hand outstretched to halt him from making the call.
"Oh," A confused and slightly concerned look crossed his face, whilst she didn't look anymore comfortable about the situation either.
McGee had half been expecting this day to come, for 14 years it had weighed on his mind, ever since the day Ziva had told the rest of the team about her pregnancy. While she withheld the father from the rest of the team at the time, it was pretty clear from the shocked look on his face that day that Tony knew more than the others. It later transpired that one night after a difficult case the two of them had visited a bar, drinking to excess into the early hours of the morning. Tony had confided in McGee that the conversation between them had shifted to Somalia and a combination of what both Ziva and Tony had gone through during those days which had then led to one intense night together; a night that had meant everything and nothing to them all at once. It was both a moment of sheer desire and need, a moment where they could prove everything each other had ever meant to them and yet a moment of pure basic instinct, where they just needed to feel anything to know that they really were human. When the news broke that Tony was the father Gibbs took it better than everyone had expected. He had called Ziva aside, and if he was honest, McGee had feared for her, Gibbs had a mean temper when he unleashed it, and since rule 12 specifically detailed dating a colleague was forbidden, he was almost positive she was going to end up on desk duty for the rest of her time at NCIS. However, he had in fact acted more like a father to her, offering her support and advice; he even built her a Gibbs' original crib with tiny ducks carved into it. Of course Gibb's had also taken Tony aside and swiftly proceeded to give him a sharp smack on the back of his head before telling him that if he ever thought of doing anything to hurt Ziva or their baby that he would ensure Tony felt every ounce of that pain doubled for the rest of his life… and he'd ensure Tony would never spawn another child again.
Tony had taken to the idea of fatherhood better than anyone would ever have thought. Whilst it had come as a total surprise and he had hoped Ziva would have told him first before informing the whole team, he couldn't blame her for the way she did it. He went out that very day and returned with a bag which he proceeded to place on Ziva's desk.
"What is this?" she had asked.
"Open it." Tony said.
McGee looked on as Ziva reached her hand into the gift bag and pulled back a few layers of crisp tissue paper. McGee smiled as he watched Ziva's eyes light up. From the bag she pulled a tiny white all in one babygro with a light brown bear on the chest. Next she pulled a tiny white cotton hat with a knot tied in the end and the same bear on it, and finally a pair of little white booties, smaller than anyone would think possible to fit a human being! The booties also had the bear emblazoned on them and tiny white dots all across the bottom.
"I wanted to buy him his first outfit." Tony smiled. "Or her. It doesn't matter to me."
Ziva held the suit to her barely showing bump.
"I think it is a good fit." She grinned, her entire face illuminated.
McGee felt tears welling in his eyes, it was a beautiful moment to witness, but he immediately blinked them back; he didn't want to have to face the years and years of McWeepy, McSensitive, McTearful, McSappy or McSadness jokes.
The following months of the pregnancy had been a flurry of excitement for not only Tony and Ziva but the entire team. Abby had set about crafting mini Goth gifts for the baby, Ducky had dug out some of his old childhood favourite games from England, Gibbs had tried to remain the professional but had succumbed to the baby hype on more than one occasion. However, the main talking point of the office had been what they would call the baby. They had mutually chosen not to find out the sex of the baby, after all there were few things in life that were real surprises anymore. This meant they had to play around with names for both genders.
McGee recalled a time when Tony was kneeling on the floor in front of Ziva's chair, which had been aptly pushed back from her desk, his ear delicately pressed against her ever expanding stomach.
"Anthony DiNozzo the third?" He said with a smile, gently running his fingers over her bump.
"Not a chance." Ziva replied.
"Why?"
"Because, when I yell Tony, you will not know which one of you I am talking to and if this baby is anything like you I will have a tough enough job getting it to listen to me anyway!"
"Well that's true." Tony nodded, his ear still against her stomach, a smile illuminating his face as he felt a kick under his cheek. "What about David, that way he gets your name and mine."
"Who said he will be a DiNozzo?" she asked coyly.
Tony's head bolted up from her stomach.
"He's not?" The look of shock on his face said that he had never considered this possibility.
"I have not decided yet." She grinned.
"You know that if you call him Daveed, he's just going to get called David."
Ziva thought on that for a few seconds; he was right.
"Well, we do not even know that it is a boy."
"Right, well, I think little Antonia would be perfect." He grinned.
Ziva raised her eyebrows, a clear sign that she did not approve.
"Tony, you are going to have to move."
"Why?"
"Because between you and the baby, my bladder is getting seriously squashed and I really need to use a bathroom."
"Oh." Tony immediately stood to his feet and helped Ziva get out of her chair.
Once she was firmly out of earshot McGee opened his mouth.
"You aren't seriously thinking of calling that baby Antonia are you?"
Tony made his way back to his own desk and sat down.
"What's it to you McNosy?"
"Nothing I just… you know, it's not the best name…" McGee realised he was only digging himself a hole.
Tony gently swivelled from side to side in his chair.
"I'm just messing McGee, it's Ziva, she can name the kid Mossad Ninja, or… Moonbeam if she wants! As long as she's happy, that's all I care about."
McGee smiled, it seemed Tony really had grown up.
Two weeks before the baby was due, Tony moved a suitcase of clothes into Ziva's apartment. Whilst the two of them were not pursuing a relationship, they had agreed that Tony would move in temporarily to be there when it was time to take Ziva to the hospital and then to help out as much as he could in the first few months of the baby's life. He would happily sleep on the sofa if it meant he could be there for his baby.
As he unpacked some of his shirts into the space Ziva had given him in her wardrobe a thought suddenly came to him.
"Ziva?" He called.
"Yes?" she replied from the next room.
"I've been thinking about the name."
A few seconds of silence passed before Ziva appeared in the doorway of her bedroom; her stomach now rounded and swollen fit to burst. She looked at Tony with a raised eyebrow, half expecting him to suggest something like Leroy Jethrina.
"If it's a girl, why don't we call her Talia." He watched as her face relaxed and her mouth lightly dropped open.
"You are serious?" she spoke gently.
Tony nodded. "It's a really pretty name and I just thought, I dunno, it would be a great way to honour your family, your sister." He smiled.
Tears pricked at her eyes as she chewed on her bottom lip to stop herself from crying; her sister was a tough subject for her to talk about, she still hadn't fully accepted her death, but maybe the baby would help her to put the past behind her.
"I would really like that." She said softly. "Thank you Tony." Though that was barely more than a whisper.
McGee remembered feeling the way he did right now the day he first met Talia. He, Gibbs and Abby had gone to the hospital as soon as Tony had made the call to say the baby had arrived. It had been little over forty minutes since the birth when the team arrived, but they found Ziva propped up in her hospital bed, hair neatly tied in a ponytail, a smile on her face and looking nothing like she had just given birth. She held a tiny bundle in her arms dressed in the outfit Tony had bought the day she had announced the pregnancy. Wrapped in a white blanket, the baby nestled close to her mother and already the similarities between the two were uncanny. Tiny wisps of downy soft black hair protruded from under the hat and her olive skin was an elegant glow against the blanket. Tony on the other hand looked a little worse for wear. His hair was dishevelled, a far cry from his usual neat crop, he had the beginnings of stubble forming on his chin where he had not had the chance to shave. His shirt was creased and wrinkled and his eyes were ever so slightly red, a tell tale sign that he had cried when the baby made an appearance. Whilst the other team members had instantly made a beeline for the baby, McGee had looked at Tony; he knew that his friend would have been the perfect birthing partner, holding her hand and mopping her brow, breathing her words of encouragement; for all his bravado Tony really was the perfect gentleman.
"Can I see her?" Abby squealed taking a seat on the end of Ziva's bed. Ziva smiled and handed over the baby.
"Gently Abs." Gibbs warned as he watched his enthusiastic colleague squeeze the baby close to herself.
"I will be Gibbs." She replied smiling at the child. "Ziva she's beautiful." Abby grinned. Ziva smiled and nodded.
"You did good kid." Gibbs added. "Well done DiNozzo."
"Thank you Boss." Tony replied.
McGee set down a little hamper the team had put together for the baby as well as a pink helium balloon declaring "It's A Girl" with tiny baby footprints all over it.
"Do you want to hold her McGee?" Ziva spoke.
A look of worry washed over him, he was too scared he might drop her, or hurt her, or wake her, or scare her.
"I'll just look, I don't think we can pry her away from Abby anyway." He smiled.
"She won't bite McScardy." Tony smiled. McGee rolled his eyes but chuckled all the same.
"Actually, we're glad you're all here together, we sort of have something we'd like to ask you." Tony said.
All three team members looked to Tony and Ziva, as Tony perched closer to his child's mother and took her hand. Abby's face illuminated as she assumed a wedding would be on the cards, this would mean she would get to plan, or flower arrange, or be bridesmaid or at least have the opportunity to buy a new hat!
"Since neither of us have any family," Tony began.
"Or none that we want to be a part of this baby's life, anyway." Ziva added.
"We'd like to ask you if you would be honorary aunts and uncles." Tony smiled.
A squeal erupted from Abby, stirring the baby.
"I get to be Aunt Abby!" she smiled.
"Abs, not so loud." Gibbs warned, taking the baby from her arms as she launched herself forward to hug Ziva.
"Well you are all our family anyway." Ziva said patting Abby on the back.
"And that means you get to be Grandpa Gibbs!" Tony grinned.
Gibbs narrowed his eyes at Tony. "McGee?" He said, his voice low and soft. McGee stepped towards Tony and his hand lightly made contact with the back of Tony's head.
"You're lucky I've got the baby, mine wouldn't have been nearly as soft." Gibbs warned.
"Right, sorry Boss." Tony said. "You can be uncle… old uncle." He muttered under his breath. Gibbs' eyes narrowed yet again, it seemed bat hearing was one of his uncanny abilities; thankfully Talia was still in his arms.
"What about you Probie?" Tony smiled, quickly changing the subject. "You ready to be Uncle McGee?"
And that was when he knew. At some point in this kids' life she was going to come to McGee with a problem that she couldn't take to her parents. She was going to ask him for help and he would have to be ready for it. Ready to face up to the responsibility of being an uncle; make sure he pointed her in the right direction, make sure he would give her the advice her parents would, make sure he would counsel her in a way that would make anyone who mattered proud. He wasn't sure he would ever be completely ready for that, but he knew that when it did come, he would give it a damn good shot.
McGee nodded.
"Yeah, I'm ready." He smiled.
"Good, because look at her, she's gorgeous, and that's all Ziva; which, by the way is a good thing, look at me, I'm all manly, that would not be a good look on a little girl!"
Gibbs looked over at Tony and laughed.
"But that means that the personality, is all me. This baby is gonna torture you Probie!" Tony laughed.
"Well, at least I've had years of practice." McGee replied with a sigh.
With Talia standing before him now, McGee grew concerned over what she might need his help with. It wasn't like he had never been entrusted with her before; he was just worried about this time being behind Tony and Ziva's back.
Ziva had returned to work within 2 weeks of Talia's birth, and if you didn't know her, you would never have thought she would just have had a baby, she didn't show any of the classic signs. McGee remembered the first time he was asked to watch the baby alone. He was sitting at his desk working on a report when Gibbs had called and requested Ziva join him at a crime scene.
"McGee, will you watch Talia for me?"
"Sure." He replied, hesitantly, she was barely a month old and he had never been left alone with a child before.
"Thanks. She is sleeping right now; you can work from my desk if you want." Ziva gave McGee a smile, grabbed her bag, slung it over her right shoulder and exited the building.
McGee stood up and crossed the few paces over to Ziva's desk. There neatly tucked in the open bottom drawer of her desk was baby Talia. She was wrapped in a white baby blanket nestled inside the drawer which had been lined with other blankets for padding. McGee smiled, only Ziva would be that resourceful!
The drawer had served as Talia's make shift bed for a good month and a half until the day Gibbs' walked in and slammed a brand new Moses basket on Ziva's desk. It was woven of wicker, lined and padded with pink cotton and fleece and had a delicate lace trim around the edges. It was beautiful.
"That baby is going to grow out of the drawer sooner or later." Gibbs spoke without looking at Ziva, who was running her fingers gently along the lace, a smile spreading across her face. "Or get shut in there by some idiot cleaner. She needs somewhere real to sleep."
"Gibbs, I…"
"Baby's first present from Uncle Gibbs.". He had smiled, sipping from his coffee.
And then there was the time that Talia had spent a week living with McGee.
Right from the start of the pregnancy, Tony and Ziva had maintained they would never be a couple, friends they were for sure, but a couple was a recipe for disaster in their books. The whole team could see that they were perfect for each other, heck, even people they interviewed or worked with once could see it; it was only the two of them that couldn't. The team decided to conduct an interoffice poll, a little bet on when the two of them would finally stop fighting and accept the inevitable; they were made for each other. Abby, forever the optimist, had given them six months after Talia's birth, McGee, a little more realistic had gone with a year and a half. But Gibbs knew it would take them that little while longer; he had watched them both sabotage their own relationships over the years before they had a connection as strong as Talia; it only made sense that their bond would be stronger with her. His bet had drawn a lot of surprise when he had voiced it, he gave them five years.
On Talia's fifth birthday McGee was entrusted to walk with flower girl Talia down the aisle, Abby, in her new hat, sat front row with a box of tissues in hand, Ducky and Jimmy either side of her and Gibbs had the honour of giving Ziva away to Tony; with a big wad of money in his pocket having won the bet!
"McGoo, I got a favour to ask you." Tony had said.
"Ok." He replied with trepidation.
"How would you like to take care of your favourite niece for a week while Ziva and I mix things up a bit on our honeymoon?"
A look of shock and confusion crossed McGee's face.
"Um, sure." He replied. "Buy why me? Wouldn't you rather Gibbs do it? Or even Abby, wouldn't she rather stay with a woman?"
"Well McGee, that's the thing, I'm gonna be honest with you, you pretty much would be my last choice, and not out of spite or meanness, but because when she was 4 months old you tried to feed her pizza, when she was 8 months old you left her sitting on the counter top while you battled a dwarf online, when she was two you let her drink a cafpow and me and Ziva didn't sleep all night trying to get her to wind down and just last week you left her alone while your computer was logged into your elf lord chat room. Let's face it Probie, parenting isn't exactly your strong point."
McGee nodded, he couldn't disagree, he had made some pretty stupid lapses in judgement over the years.
"But the kid loves you."
McGee's face lit up and a grin wider than he'd ever grinned spread over his face.
"Seriously?"
"Go figure McCheshire Cat, Uncle McGee is her favourite so you must have done something right."
"Wow." McGee smiled. "That's… that's…"
"Yeah it's magical McSensitive, you think you can keep her alive for a week, because I gotta tell ya, I'm pretty sure one is enough for Ziva and me."
"Yes, I can do it." McGee reassured.
He recalled a time shortly after Talia's birth when Tony had confided in him. He had told him that even though both he and Ziva considered what had happened between them to be a mistake, Talia was the most beautiful mistake he had ever made and he and Ziva would never regret that night for as long as they lived because Talia was a living, breathing reminder of just how beautiful, perfect and miraculous a "mistake" could be.
"I'm not even kidding McGee, if I come back and she is missing so much as one hair on that adorable little head, and I will know, believe me I will know, you will not live to see elf lord level 55 or whatever it is you are up to now!"
"Tony, I promise, she will be fine."
"Good. So we'll drop her by in the morning?"
"Sure."
Tony headed for the door to McGee's apartment, as his hand touched the handle McGee spoke, stopping him in his tracks.
"Did she really say I was her favourite?" He smiled.
Tony grinned to himself before turning around to face his friend; it was sweet how much that meant to him and he knew that despite all his stupid errors, McGee really did love Talia.
"Yeah, she did. But let's face it McGee, I'm pretty sure she picked the lesser of three bad options."
McGee's smile dropped slightly.
"She said, and I quote, "I like staying with Uncle Gibbs but I don't want to spend a whole week sanding boats and as much fun as I have with Aunt Abby, I don't like sleeping in her spare coffin. Uncle McGee is my favourite, 'cos he lets me eat fun food and put make up on him."" Tony stifled a laugh by biting his lips together.
"That was one time." McGee said sheepishly. "I swear, one time, she was crying, she'd just watched Bambi, I couldn't do anything to cheer her up."
"You let her watch Bambi?" Tony's face went deadly serious, his voice grave.
"Uh, no, no never."
"You KNOW how Ziva feels about that, the woman cried for a week!"
"I know, I didn't… it was on the Disney Channel and…"
"You subscribe to the Disney Channel?" Tony asked. McGee widened his eyes; it seemed he was letting too many secrets slip today.
"It came free with my package deal." He mumbled.
"Yeah, sure." Tony nodded. "I can see why you're her favourite." McGee simply smiled, he didn't care if Tony was going to make fun of him, he was Talia's favourite!
"We'll bring her by tomorrow."
That week with Talia had been the most nerve wracking and exhilarating of McGee's life. But he had a feeling things were about to get even more nerve wracking and exhilarating.
"Ok, what, um, what," McGee adjusted his tie, suddenly feeling like it was cutting off his air supply. "What can I do for you?"
"It's about a boy." Talia sighed. McGee gulped loudly and offered Talia his chair to sit in. She accepted his gesture, shrugging off her bag, before he perched himself on the edge of his desk.
"Are you in some kind of…" Another gulp. "…trouble?" McGee's eyes widened as he carefully scanned over Talia's stomach looking for signs of change.
"No, geez Uncle McGee what do you think I am?" She breathed in disgust.
"Right, ok, sorry, maybe you should, um, tell me first."
Talia smiled.
"Yeah, good idea." She grinned. "So there's this boy I like at school and I've been out with him a few times,"
"Do your parents know?" McGee interrupted. Talia looked sheepish before she chewed on the corner of her bottom lip and looked at him again. "Did he hurt you?" McGee asked, a fire building inside him and his left fist instinctively balling up tightly.
"No, he's not like that." She quickly interjected. McGee felt himself relax a little, but he was still on edge.
"So what's the problem?"
"Well, I really like him, like, really like him, but he's kind of seeing this other girl too,"
"So he's cheating on you?" Once again the tension returned to McGee's body and he felt his protective Uncle instinct rising.
"Well not exactly, see we never agreed to be exclusive but I've never felt this way about a guy before and I wanted to talk to him about maybe being exclusive, but I'm not sure how, what would you do Uncle McGee?" The innocence in her voice was truly endearing to McGee; life for a teenager was so simple, even if it didn't seem like it at the time. He ran a hand through his hair, truth be told, it wasn't exactly like he had encountered this problem himself.
"And you're sure you don't want to talk to your parents about this?"
Talia rolled her eyes before giving him a look with one raised eyebrow, the exact look that Ziva gave when she thought the answer to a question was obvious.
"Please, if I tell dad, he will kill any boy that comes within ten feet of me; well, maybe not kill, but he'd definitely hurt him enough that he'd never come near me again… and that's if he had the ability to walk still in tact." Talia mused. "And mom, well, she actually would kill him. Like, actually, physically dead and gone. Sometimes its fun to say your mom is a ninja… other times, it pretty much sucks." Talia sighed.
McGee nodded, it was true, he'd hate to be in Talia's shoes, while Tony and Ziva were great parents, and would offer all she ever needed in protection matters, when it came to boys, she did have the rough end of the stick!
"True." He voiced. "Ok, well let's see." McGee rubbed his chin with his hand while he thought it over in his head.
Come on McGee, this is it, your defining moment as an Uncle, the advice she needs can come only from you, make it good.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds before reopening them and looking Talia right in the eyes; it was eerie how much she looked like Ziva, he almost felt intimidated talking to her.
"I say tell him the truth. Be honest with him. Tell him that you like him, that you really like him and tell him you want to take a shot at seeing how things work between you, but to do that you need to know that he would be willing to see you and only you. He will respect you for voicing your true feelings, and if he feels the same way about you as you do about him then he won't have any problem with it. What's the worse that can happen if you tell him the truth? At least you will have tried, and if you don't, you will always wonder what could have happened if you had done it." McGee saw how she was hanging on his every word, she was captivated by his advice, listening intently, her eyes lighting up with realization as he spoke. "And if he doesn't feel the same way, it's his loss, because any guy would be lucky to have you and he will be the one that lives to regret it when he sees you with a guy who truly deserves to share his life with someone like yourself." He watched as Talia smiled and blushed slightly.
"Thanks Uncle McGee." She grinned standing up and hugging him tight. "I knew you'd be able to help." McGee put one arm around the girl and lay his chin on her head.
"You're welcome." He said as she pulled away from him. She picked up her school bag and shrugged it over her right shoulder, the way Ziva always did. She turned back to McGee and wiggled three of her fingers to say goodbye. He put up a hand and smiled as she walked towards the elevator.
"Hey Talia," he called after her. She turned back to him just as the doors pinged open. "And if he breaks your heart, your parents aren't the only ones who can inflict pain." He winked.
Talia half smiled, half laughed before she nodded and stepped into the elevator.
McGee sat down on his chair and breathed a sigh of relief; Uncle mission accomplished, the weight of responsibility had somewhat lessened on his mind and he knew that if and when the time arose again that his services were needed, he could face them without fear. He leaned back in his chair and gently flexed his fingers with a grin on his face, before he returned to tracing cell phones; awash with a sense of achievement.