Ziva's POV

When Tony's cell phone rang, I had just started to feed Isaiah, using the bottle, as my body was out of milk. Our only son latched onto the bottle immediately, making happy sucking noises as he fed. His green eyes- so much like his father's- gazed into mine, and I marveled at the peaceful look that radiated from them.

"I hope that you keep that peaceful look forever little one" I murmured as he continued to watch me. "You and your sisters will never have to endure that so-called 'childhood' that I went through. Not as long as I still have a breath to fight with." As Isaiah continued to feed, seemingly taking in every word, a feeling of profound peace washed over me.

That peaceful feeling did not last long, however. Seconds after I had finished speaking to our son, Tony came stomping into the nursery, cursing angrily. This quickly caught my attention- Tony never cursed around the babies. In fact, he had never shown any kind of anger while around them. When his face turned to me, I was taken aback. Tony's jaw was clenched; the cords in his neck stood out in sharp relief, and his eyes radiated fury. Poor Tali, who was always quick to pick up on our emotions, was terrified by her father's sudden anger and was trying to shrink away from him, whimpering in fear.

"Tony, what is wrong!" I gasped. When he did not respond to my question, I sharpened my tone. "Tony, stop! You are frightening Tali!" That worked. Immediately a concerned look replaced the earlier look of fury on Tony's face when he beheld Tali's frightened reaction.

"Oh, Tali, I'm so sorry, sweetie. Shhh, shh, it's okay, Daddy's not mad at you. I could never be mad at you, princess." Tony rocked our middle daughter back and forth until she calmed down and eventually fell asleep. Tony placed Tali back in her crib and then turned and faced Isaiah and me, the dark look returning on his face yet again.

"I'm sorry for the outburst Zi. Gibbs just called- a Navy Lieutenant was found dead this morning, but that's not the worst part. Apparently she'd just given birth, and the baby's been kidnapped." I gasped and instinctively rose out of the rocking chair to move protectively towards my babies. My mind in turmoil, I burped Isaiah and laid him back in his crib before turning back to Tony, who was waiting for my response. I let out a tired sigh.

"You need to go to the Navy Yard, yes?" I knew that the situation was dire, but this was the first time that Tony had been back to work since the triplet's birth, and I did not like having to be separated from him- Gibbs had yet to allow me to come back to work, due to the fact I had undergone surgery only a month before. Tony started rubbing the back of his head nervously, a sure sign that he had not told me everything yet.

"Actually Zi, Gibbs asked that you come down as well. He said he doesn't want you to do any fieldwork, but he does need your experience."

Immediately I drew back from this. The triplets were only a month old, and I did not want to leave them yet. There was also the fact that I did not feel that I was physically ready for work. Tony must have caught my hesitation, because he gently placed both of his hands on my shoulders.

"Ziva, I know that this is a lot to ask of you, but we need your help. The triplets can stay at the new baby daycare that we looked at, and when we're in the field you can go visit them." In a softer tone he added, "Zi, you know Gibbs and I wouldn't ask you to do this if we didn't think this was so important. But there's a newborn baby out there that may be running out of time. That baby needs our help. Please Zi."

What if it were Kate, Tali or Isaiah? I thought, and at that moment I knew what I needed to do.

"Alright" I said, "I will go back."

…..

Forty-five minutes later Tony and I had dropped the triplets off at a brand-new daycare center five blocks from our home and were striding into the bullpen. Gibbs and McGee were standing by the plasma, accompanied by a nervous-looking red haired agent in her mid-twenties, whom I guessed was Probationary Agent Carla Reiley, my temporary stand-in. Her blue eyes were nervously fixed on the screen in front of her, and I wondered how she had managed to stay on the team for as long as she had. From the space between her and the two male agents, I guessed that she had not made a good impression on them.

Looking at the plasma, I saw that it displayed two pictures. The first was a Navy ID photograph of an African-American woman around my age looking confidently at the camera, her black eyes strong and piercing. When I looked at the second photograph, this one from the crime scene, I was immediately taken aback- that picture showed her to be thinner, weaker, beaten. I was so shocked by the second picture that I almost missed what McGee was saying as he caught us up on the case.

"Tony, Ziva, our victim is Lieutenant Marcia Terranova of the US Navy. She spent three years of active duty in Iraq before she transferred back to D.C. to become part of J.A.G. Met her husband, Ensign Matthew Terranova there, and married three years ago, and went on leave after she found out she was pregnant. However, six months ago she filed for divorce. The Lieutenant Marcia was found early this morning in her house by a security company when the alarm went off at 3:17 am. Ducky estimates the time of death to be around then, and…" McGee's voice cut off abruptly.

"McGee, what happened to her?" I asked, although I dreaded the answer. McGee closed his eyes, clearly pained by what he had to say next. He was finally able to speak, but his voice did not go above a whisper.

"Du-Ducky said that she had been tied up for at least four days before the birth, and that she didn't receive any medical attention when she gave birth, and the birth was a very difficult one- she had a lot of tearing and bleeding, both external and internal. She was killed with a bullet to the head, but she was already dying by the time the baby was born, even if she had been brought to a hospital, she might not have lived. We-we don't know if the baby survived the birth, but he or she is missing." McGee's eyes remained downcast the entire time he spoke, and I could see that he was shaking slightly. It was clear he was as horrified by these events as I was, and he was probably thinking the same thing that I was- what if this had been one of the girls? Shaking that macabre thought from my head with some difficulty, I forced my emotions aside and tried to think like the investigator I was supposed to be.

"McGee, were Lieutenant Terranova and her husband living together?" I asked, an idea forming. McGee nodded.

"If you are asking whether or not he was there, no, he wasn't, even though they were still living together. We've been trying to track him, but he's turned his cell phone off, he didn't report in to work today and there haven't been any alerts on his known credit cards." Definitely suspicious I thought.

"Do we know why the Lieutenant was filing for divorce?" Tony asked.

"Apparently she caught her husband cheating on her with another woman- it doesn't say who on the documents, but apparently they were going to separate in a few months, and she was going to get custody of their child. She was also requesting for a transfer in J.A.G." Tony and I traded glances.

"Maybe Ensign Matthew was desperate enough to keep his baby that he killed the Lieutenant for her" Tony said.

"If that is true, then there is a greater chance that the baby would be alive, but at the same time, Ensign Terranova will be more desperate to hide from the law." I replied. Before anyone could respond, McGee's computer started to beep, and he rushed over to it.

"Found him!" McGee shouted.

"Where?" Gibbs snapped.

"He just turned on his cell, he's at a downtown bar- I'm printing the address right now." McGee pulled a sheet of paper off of his printer and handed it to Gibbs.

"Gear up! David, you stay here and find whatever out whatever you can about these two." I opened my mouth to protest, but Gibbs stopped me.

"No arguments, David." In a gentler tone he added, "I know it's hard, but you're still recovering from surgery. I need you to stay here. We'll bring him in." I nodded and went over to my desk, which had not changed any since I had left it over two months ago. Apparently Agent Reiley was not allowed to sit there. Starting up my computer, I laid a hand on Tony's arm as he rushed past. He stopped and looked down at me, eyes soft.

"Be careful, Ahava. You have four people needing you to return safely." Tony gave a brief smile and kissed my forehead.

"I'll be fine, Zi, you know that. See you in a bit." He gave my shoulder a quick pat and then hurried after the rest of the team, slipping into the elevator just in time. As the doors shut, I saw him give me a small wave.

I hope you will be alright I thought. I just could not shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong.

First off, I am so very sorry for not updating sooner! I have had a ton of stuff going on (aka homework), and so it's hard to keep up a writing schedule when I'm as busy as I am. I also decided to go back and change how Ziva gave birth in Undeniable, and so that took some time, as I had to fully re-write several chapters, and tweak others. But that's all done, so if you want to go back and see what I've changed, you're more than welcome to!

On that long note, please do let me know if I put any contractions in when Ziva's talking, and where it is. I want this to be as accurate as possible, but I'm only human!

And please REVIEW!

Happy Halloween! (In three days)

Yeah, sure, you becha!