Just a little one off that has been buzzing about in my mind for a while, I hope you enjoy reading! Feel free to leave any feedback :)

Ziva embarked down the well-trodden and familiar steps into Gibbs' basement, not bothering to silence her footfalls. There would be no point in hiding anyway, she was always welcome here.

"What brings you here Ziver?" He said casually, as if he was not surprised by her unannounced visit at this time of night.

A wry chuckle escaped her lips "you were expecting me Gibbs?"

"You know me, I'm always expecting someone" He replied smiling and pulling up a stool from the work bench and invited her to sit down, Ziva took up the offer and perched herself on the seat. Gibbs eyed her with mild interest before turning his back and going through some draws "Bourbon?"

Ziva was wringing her hands loosely in her lap, hesitating for a moment "Um, no thank you Gibbs…"

Pushing the extra glass to one side he poured himself a generous amount and pulled up another stall opposite Ziva's, which made it feel like an interrogation, she would have laughed if she wasn't so nervous because when she had said what she needed to say to the older man, it would probably turn into one.

"I was hoping this was just a social call, but judging by your behaviour, I'm guessing it's not." Gibbs regarded her with a look somewhere between concern and suspicion, before she was able to open her mouth to reply he continued: "You're nervous, I can tell by your body language and you're never nervous. Or at least you never look it. So what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong exactly, it's just that I've made a decision…" Ziva started tentatively, she glanced up at Gibbs who was giving her an expectant look, she continued: "And… Well, it's going to change a few things" Gibbs was looking down right worried now "I just feel like I needed to talk to you before I can be happy with my decision, does that make sense?"

Gibbs' mind was reeling, in all honesty he had no clue what Ziva was trying to tell him, all sorts of things were flashing through his mind. This was all very strange, there had been many times where the other members of the team would come to talk to him about things they were struggling with but never Ziva. She would come to talk to him, ask for his opinion, his advice even but she always knew what she wanted. Whatever it was she came here to tell him it seemed that she wasn't going to volunteer the information, so Gibbs calculated some questions: First things first, personal or professional?

"Is this about work?"

Ziva hesitated for a moment, internally debating her answer: "No, well I suppose so yes, it will affect NCIS, but it's more about family…"

Gibbs thought for a moment, the only family Ziva had was back in Israel, unless of course she was referring to the team. But he had never heard her refer to them as such, and seeing as she was never one to be overly familiar or emotional he thought it unlikely that by family she meant them. So Gibbs returned to his first thought, the only member of family she had any regular contact with was an aunt that still lived out there, perhaps she was sick? Again it seemed unlikely that she would be beating around the bush so much just to ask him for some compassionate leave? That only left one scenario, and the prospect made his stomach drop. The family business. At that moment it clicked, it all made sense to him now. What had her behaving so out of character, she was leaving NCIS and going back to Mossad. Gibbs was convinced.

"I didn't think this would ever happen again" He said so quietly it was almost as if he was muttering to himself, but Ziva caught it.

"That what would happen again?" she replied in a confused tone, leaning half off of her seat in order to hear him.

"I…I thought you were better than that Ziver, I really did" He was practically shaking with suppressed rage by this point, although he managed to keep his voice steady. The thought of Ziva leaving the team again after all that had happened was starting to dawn on him and the emotions that came with such a betrayal were bubbling to the surface.

She was beginning to think that perhaps he may have misunderstood, she had no idea what conclusions he had come to, but they were clearly making him angry. So she asked outright: "What are you talking about Gibbs?" The question hung in the air for a moment before Ziva decided that it had probably been the wrong thing to say. Gibbs had abandoned his stool and was now pacing as if he was going to explode, he turned himself towards Ziva wearing a look of utter disbelief.

"What am I talking about? I'm talking about you, leaving NCIS!"

Ziva recoiled with the impact of his statement, this had all gone terribly wrong, in her shock she rushed to correct him without thinking: "God no! I'm not leaving NCIS Gibbs! I'm pregnant!"

Silence.

Ziva dropped back onto the stall now irritated, this was not how it was supposed to happen at all. Despite her frustration she bit her tongue and waited for Gibbs to respond, worried that one more comment might send him over the edge. His intense anger followed by what looked to be the shock of his life had rendered him frozen and apparently unable to speak. So she sat patiently, his movement almost made her jump. All of a sudden he swooped down to pick up his glass and filled it to the brim with bourbon which he proceeded to drink in one go.

His back remained on her for some minutes before, a more composed Gibbs spoke: "So, am I guessing correctly that DiNozzo has something to do with this?" His tone was calm now, but still bore traces of the hysteria from a few moments earlier.

Ziva steeled herself, this was the part that she had anticipated his anger, it had been the prospect of this moment that had made her nervous to come and see him in the first place. But since she had already been confronted with a very angry Gibbs she decided to answer honestly.

"Yes…Tony is the father"

Breathing a sigh of relief she thought to herself, it was done. Her eyes drilled into the back of his head waiting for any sign of a reaction, half expecting him to start up the shouting again. But when he turned back to face her his reply was totally unexpected:

"So where is Tony then?" Gibbs said, looking around almost as if he expected Tony to miraculously appear. "I would have thought he would want to have come with you?" He was beginning to feel the pangs of anger once more at the prospect that Tony had let her come on her own to deliver this news, and he thought oddly, it made him feel a little hurt too.

Ziva could see he was getting wound up again so she wasted no time responding to his question: "Tony isn't here, because… Well I haven't told him yet" she looked up at him with an equally confused and embarrassed expression "I don't know how, I don't know what to say…"

"Well I can guarantee that telling Tony won't be as traumatic as telling me, he doesn't have enough intelligence to jump to conclusions!" Instantly the tension in the room was broken, they both laughed and it felt good, it felt like they were back on normal ground.

They talked animatedly about Tony's possible reactions and beyond for a while until Ziva yawned and got up to leave, Gibbs followed her up out of the basement and to the front door. Before leaving she turned towards him. "Thank you Gibbs" She smiled and walked thought the threshold into the night.

"That's what I'm here for" He said after her, the corners of his eyes creasing with a proud grin. Although they didn't acknowledge it Ziva and Gibbs had unspoken bond, they seemed to have adopted each other into a surrogate father and daughter relationship. Quite by accident, but by all accounts, a good accident.