It was after hours in the NCIS building, and Tony and Ziva were the only two that were still there, finishing up paperwork from their last case.
"Hey you," she smiled at him, catching up with him in the break room, before heading out to her car. "When should I expect you tonight?"
He looked down at the tile before responding, "Actually, Ziva, I have plans tonight. I'm going to grab a drink with some guys from college that are here in town for the weekend."
"Oh, it's just that I thought that you were going to come with me to Abby's dinner party tonight."
"I know, but I just thought that since we've spend so much time together lately that you wouldn't mind if I went out with my buddies tonight."
"Oh, okay. I guess that's fine. I will see you tomorrow." She walked away hastily.
"Hey Ziva, Ziva, Ziva…" He chased after her, grabbing her shoulder to turn her around towards him, "Don't walk away from me like that. What's going on with you? Why are you acting like this? I didn't think it would be a big deal, seeing as we've spent every night together for the last two weeks."
She stared up at him unresponsive, and if he didn't know better he would have sworn that she looked close to tears, "Ziva, I know there's something wrong, this isn't like you. You aren't normally so…needy."
It was the wrong thing to say. He knew it the second it came out of his mouth. Ziva may be different from every other girl that he's ever been with, but sometimes even she was quite emotional, especially after the Jameson baby case. He knew that it had really affected her.
Unsurprisingly, her response to him was scathing, "sorry, Tony, I was under the impression that you enjoyed spending time with me, and perhaps, I was just getting used to having a steady sex life. Do not worry though. I will not bother you anymore."
He ignored her threat, and for once decided that he would be the bigger man, seeing through her pain and trying to get to the real issue, "Ziva, you've been acting really strangely lately. I know something is wrong. You just need to talk to me about it, instead of keeping it bottled up and then lashing out at me randomly."
She looked up at him solemnly. Previously unaware that he could see through her faux show of anger so clearly, "I cannot talk about it, Tony. You will not understand. You might even get angry."
Tony looked at her intensely, motioned for her, and said softly, "Come here."
He pulled her into a strong hug. His arms wrapped tightly around her, assuring her that she was safe and that he wouldn't allow anything to ever happen to her. He kissed her forehead and whispered into her ear, "You can talk to me about anything. I can't promise that I won't be upset, but I can promise that I'll get over it. I love you so much."
"Anything?" she asked meekly. "What if I told you that I slept with someone else?"
Tony swallowed hard, "Did you?"
"Answer me first." She demanded.
His head was spinning trying to think of the right thing to say after that insinuation, "Well, I'd be pretty fucking angry, Ziva, and I might beat the shit out of the guy in a fit of jealousy, but yeah eventually I'd probably get over it, after a year or two."
He still had her in his grasp, albeit more loosely than before, urgently he demanded, "Ziva, please tell me you aren't sleeping with someone else."
"I have not, but I think I have done something worse, even more deceptive."
"Okay, Ziva. You're making me really nervous, and now you have to tell me because you can't just say something like that and expect me to forget all about it."
"I want a baby, Tony." She stated simply.
He looked at her, still grasping at her waist, completely stunned. Out of all of the horrible scenarios that he had playing in his mind of possible atrocious deceptions that Ziva could have committed towards him that one was not even on his radar. He wasn't even entirely sure that it was classified as deception.
"What?" He mumbled, as it seemed to be the only response that he could get out of his mouth.
"I went off birth control and did not tell you. I wanted to get pregnant." She paused there, not quite done explaining herself yet, but knowing that it would take a few minutes for him to process this information.
Tony suddenly felt a wave of nausea overcome his body, as he let go of his grip on her. He gradually began to realize that the absurd amount of sex that they'd been having lately had come with an ulterior motive and was having difficulty sorting out his feelings towards her disclosure. Although it wasn't even close to being as bad as what he had been bracing himself for when she started this little conversation, it was still innately deceptive on her part to withhold that kind of information from him.
He should have realized that something was going on with her, as she had been so un-Ziva-like of late. He had been so appreciative of all of the mind-blowing sex that he hadn't even stopped to wonder why she had been playing the role of 'wife' for the last two weeks.
He'd been such an idiot. Since when did Ziva cook him dinner on a regular basis or do his laundry. That should have been a definite tip off right there. All at his apartment too, when she normally wouldn't even come over there, as she preferred to make love in her own bed.
He laughed internally at himself. She was practically nesting under his nose, and he hadn't even thought twice about it. His investigative skills must be off.
He looked her over, imagining her pregnant with his child. He felt amusement more than any other emotion. After falling for Ziva, he'd gotten over his fantasy of having the wife and the kids and the Saint Bernard. He'd never even considered that maybe she would want those things too. It didn't seem like it suited her. However he'd always known that she was a complicated woman full of endless surprises.
His amusement had begun to show on his face, and Ziva not expecting any sort of positive reaction was confused by the patronizing grin appearing on his face, as he reached out and touched her stomach.
"You should have told me, Ziva. You could have talked to me, instead of going behind my back like this." He said, very calmly. His composure was surprising, even to him, since he felt like he should be much angrier than he actually felt.
"I knew you did not want one. It is not like I was going to make you marry me or do anything. I just decided to do this on my own." She stated, his reaction wasn't what she had expected and it was throwing her off.
Sarcastically Tony replied, "Sure sure, Ziva, that's why you've been prancing around my house acting like a 1950s housewife because you didn't want me to have anything to do with this. You were buttering me up and planting ideas in my head. You should just admit it."
"I felt guilty for what I was doing, which is why I was acting like that." She said defensively, "and also I have decided that I want a baby even if you do not want one."
"I thought we were going to start being honest with each other and not keep secrets anymore. If you had told me that you had wanted a baby, or that you were thinking that you'd like to take things up to a more serious level, I would have heard you out at least."
"I was embarrassed by my feelings, and I thought it would be easier to play it off as an accident." She looked down at her feet, knowingly in the wrong. "I would not have known what to do if you had said that you did not want one, but the guilt has been weighing on me and I cannot go through with it anymore. You deserve to know the truth, even if you hate me for it."
"You didn't even give me a chance. I could have surprised you."
"I am sorry, Tony. I know that I have acted irrationally. Our last case with the Jameson baby…" She trailed off, not able to put into words what she was feeling, tears visibly showing in her eyes now. "I got really attached to that child and when he did not make it I did not know how to handle my emotions."
He reached for her again, moved by seeing his strong ninja so torn up, unable to even feign irritation anymore. He pulled her back into his embrace, and whispered in her ear, "I just don't know how we're going to raise a baby if you can't even talk to me."
She slowly took in the meaning of his words, and then she bestowed upon him the most adoring tender kiss that Tony had ever gotten from any woman.
Tony leaned back against the vending machine, slid down it onto the floor, and pulled her down with him, so that she was sitting on his lap facing towards him. He held her tightly against his chest for a few minutes, breathing in the smell of sandalwood and crime scene.
He broke their silent embrace, and stroking her stomach over her shirt with his thumbs, demanded, "Well…?"
"Well, what?" She responded, not understanding his subtleties.
"Well are you…are you pregnant?"
She gave him a small smile, rolled off of him so that she was sitting next to him with her back on the vending machine, and said seriously, "It is too soon to tell. It could take a while, you know, considering everything…"
He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and in order to assure her that he understood exactly what she meant, he joked, "Really, the whole I'm old and you've got a history of being starved and otherwise abused thing again?"
She let out a small giggle, and let her head fall against his shoulder. His demented sense of humor was one of his most endearing qualities, "Yes, all of that, and there's the fact that I'm not exactly twenty-three anymore either."
"Tick…tick…tick…guess what I am? I'm Ziva's biological clock." He teased her lovingly, as she slapped at him playfully, "Seriously though, Ziva, we need to do this right. We'll go to the doctor and make sure you're healthy, and make sure that we're doing everything correct. We'll get you on prenatal vitamins and all of that good stuff."
She snorted in response to his last statement. "I love you more now that I know that you know what prenatal vitamins are, and like I said, I was not exactly thinking about things rationally. I should have already gone to the doctor and taken care of that kind of stuff."
"Look at us talking about things. It should always be like this, you know."
"I know." She smiled into his shoulder, "I can't believe we just decided to have a baby, and are talking about it like adults and everything."
The locked eyes and kissed tantalizingly. They probably would have ripped off each other's clothes right there if they weren't aware of the cameras all over the building (except for the elevator.)
Ziva broke away from the kiss first and looked down at her watch. It was almost seven o'clock. They had been here almost two hours after everyone else had left for the day. "Hey baby, I know you have plans with your friends tonight. I do not want you to miss out on seeing them while they are in town because of me."
"Screw them. I want to spend the rest of the day with you." He used his best whiney voice to appease her.
"Thank you, Tony, but I think you are right. Two weeks straight is too long. I haven't been to my apartment in over a week, and I need to water my plants and get my mail. Plus I know that you will regret not seeing them when you have the chance."
"Fine fine, I will go to a bar with my frat brothers and have a drink." He moved his eyes dramatically around the break room in a way that she would certainly notice, "Also I've decided that I do believe in soul mates."
She grinned broadly, remembering when she tried to bait him with her infamous question. She took his hand for a moment, before they walked down to their cars together and said goodnight.