NCIS Field Office
Washington Navy Yard
Washington, DC
May 3rd 2018
….
Gibbs checked his watch, again. It was a few minutes to eight. McGee and Bishop would be in soon. He rubbed his face and picked up his coffee cup, realised it was empty, growled and threw it in the trashcan beside his desk. Pushing back his chair he grabbed his badge, gun and coat and headed out to find a coffee. 3 so far this morning weren't enough.
When Gibbs returned to the bullpen 15 minutes later, coffee in hand, he noticed Bishop and McGee sitting at their desks; small brown packages staring back at them. He glanced over at his desk and noticed a package perched on the edge. He looked at it, took a step toward it and then stopped.
Before he had a chance to say anything, Abby came barrelling into the bullpen.
"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, did you get it?" she turned to McGee "McGee?", looked towards Ellie "Bishop?"
They waved their boxes at her as Palmer and Ducky came into the bullpen, packages in their hands too.
"Calm down Abigail" chuckled Ducky as Abby started dancing with excitement.
"Abs" Abby stopped jumping as Gibbs rounded his desk and sat down. He put his coffee down and pulled the box towards him.
"Come on, can we please open it now? asked Abby resuming her bouncing.
Gibbs was about to ask what was happening when he noticed the return address at the top of the box. Israel. He smiled and looked up; Ducky and Palmer had pulled up chairs and Vance was descending the stairs. He took a sip of coffee.
Vance rounded Tony's old desk - currently unoccupied as noone seemed to stick - and lifted the package he held as he smiled and grabbed a chair.
Abby couldn't sit still anymore and nearly fell out of her chair. She actually squealed when Gibbs nodded slightly in her direction and pulled a knife from his pocket to slit open the package in front of him.
There was scraping of cardboard and the crinkle of paper as confetti was thrown from the boxes. Abby was the first to reach the gift within and pulled out a beautiful card. It was charcoal with a circle on the front surrounded by tiny yellow and blue birds, a picture of a tiny baby swathed in white took up the circle. Welcome, was written in cursive underneath.
"AAAAAAAW" shrieked Abby as she glimpsed the baby.
"That'll be $20, thank you Mr Palmer" quipped Ducky as he flipped his card open, "you too Eleanor", he glanced at her with a smirk as she cursed under her breath.
IT'S A BOY! was written in cursive on one side of the card, a poem underneath it - May you touch dragon flies and stars, dance with fairies and dance with the moon. May you grow up with love and gracious hearts and people who care. Welcome to the world little one, it's been waiting for you!
The other side was a photo of a tiny baby, little legs crossed over, lying on a thin royal blue baby blanket. His birthdate and time - 6:16am, April 21st 2018, birth weight - 7 lbs 6 oz and birth height - 18in were written in cursive along the bottom, followed by the words; Very Much Loved by Anthony and Ziva Dinozzo and Big Sister Tali Abigail.
On the top of the photo was their baby boys name; Axel Leroy.
"He was named for his Grandpa" said a voice from behind them. None of them had heard the elevator ding but their heads shot up and Abby screamed and launched herself across the room at their guests.
Everyone else stood, mouths agape as Abby and Ziva embraced gently, so as not to jostle the 4 1/2 year old on Ziva's hip. and Tony stood, grin on his face and baby carrier in his right hand.
Ducky was the first to move, stepping over the paper as he made his way over to Ziva, enveloping her and Tali in a warm hug, before doing the same to Tony. Jimmy was next, followed by Vance, Bishop and Tim; who slugged Tony lightly in the shoulder "that's for not calling".
Gibbs stood by his desk, emotions threatening to overwhelm him. Ziva could see he wasn't about to move any further so she did, stopping just in front of him. She wiped a few tears from her cheek as she all but whispered, "Abba". Her use of that name registered with Gibbs, who closed the space between them and gathered her and Tali in his arms, stroking Ziva's hair as she cried. He looked over at Tony and nodded, Tony dipped his head in response before squatting down to the carrier he'd just placed on the floor and picking Axel up.
"I know I told you before but fatherhood really suits you Tony" noted McGee as he watched Tony cradle his infant son to his chest.
"He's just beautiful you guys" gushed Palmer "I remember when Victoria was that tiny, she still is for her age. Can you believe she's almost 4 now? you know the other day…." Jimmy stopped talking when he noticed Ducky looking at him.
"Perhaps you can regale us with stories of young Victoria tomorrow Mr Palmer" he said pointedly.
"Ah yes, of course. ahem, he really is beautiful you guys"
"Thank you" said Ziva, as she and Gibbs joined the crowd around Tony and baby Axel.
Tony looked up at Gibbs, smirked and said "would Grandpa like first hold?". Gibbs nodded, squeezed between Bishop and Abby and gently accepted Axel into his arms. He bounced gently from side to side as he took in the tiny replica of his two best agents. Axel's dark hair was messy, his lips quirked in a half smile, which produced a tiny dimple on his little cheek.
Gibbs laughed "He's definitely a Dinozzo, poor kid".
"You wound me boss" everyone started laughing and Axel stirred.
Gibbs looked back down at the little boy and watched as he wiggled, stretched and opened his beautiful eyes. They were a brilliant shade of brown, just like his Mother's.
"Okay, my turn. Aunt Abby wants to cuddle that scrumptious baby"
Everyone laughed as Gibbs gently passed Axel over to Abby, who promptly smooshed her face to his.
Gibbs retreated back to stand beside Ziva, as they watched everyone gushing over the newest member of the family; both momentarily shocked when Tali threw herself at him. He readjusted her on his hip and she snuggled into his neck, clutching his suit jacket and quietly mumbling 'Saba'.
He cleared his throat to stop the swell of emotion her use of the term Grandpa brought on, before gently kissing the top of her head and whispering "Ani ohevet otach".
Wrapping his other arm around Ziva and kissing the side of her head he had to blink back more tears. He hadn't felt this happy since Shannon and Kelly, a thought that made his heart ache and sing at the same time. He chose to focus on the latter.
"Welcome home Ziva" he whispered as she leaned into his side, while they tried not to laugh at Abby's face and pleas of more cuddles as she begrudgingly passed Axel to Ducky.