Dixie Dewdrop: Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. Yes, Kate is alive, and married to Gibbs. Ellie is Eleanor, and I changed her last name from Bishop to Naasir because in this fic she's married to Qasim.
"What?" Ellie gasped, as beside her, Alex's eyes nearly popped out of her skull.
"I believe you're giving birth."
"But that's impossible," Ellie stuttered, unable and unwilling to believe what she was hearing, what the man she trusted more than almost anyone was telling her.
"Not if the child is small-" A bolt of lightning went through Ellie upon hearing those words. The child. My child. Qasim's child. Ellie swallowed. Our child.
Ducky kept talking. "-and if you experienced no morning sickness, you would have no reason to-Eleanor," he said, suddenly looking embarrassed. He continued in a much lower voice,"When was your last menstrual cycle?" Up until this point, Gibbs, McGee, Torres, Reeves, Quinn, and Kate had been listening with great interest and concern, but upon hearing Ducky's quiet words (for of course they were eavesdropping) the four men suddenly found they had very much to do and began rustling papers and drinking coffee loudly. Ellie turned red and winced again as another jolt of discomfort tore through her.
"Twenty-eight days ago."
Ducky frowned. "That is unusual, but not unheard of. Why, I knew a woman in Patching who came in telling us she had kidney stones, but upon examining her we discovered that she was 10 centimeters dilated and ready to push. She-"
"Ducky!" Kate barked. "Now is not the time." Ellie let out a strange keening sound somewhere between a groan and a whine, and Kate narrowed her eyes in worry. Alex was supporting most of her friend's weight by then, and tried to lower Ellie into her chair as another contraction hit her (I'm having contractions! I'm having a baby!). Kate bit her lip and started pacing.
"All right-Alex, you and Nick go pick up Qasim from the airport and bring him to Bethesda." Everyone turned their wide eyes on Kate, grateful that she was able to think coherently and give them instructions.
"Which gate?" Alex asked blankly, still holding Ellie's arm.
"You're a federal agent, figure it out!" Kate snapped. Alex shrank back slightly, before nodding and scurrying to her desk. Nick followed and leaned over her shoulder, an action that would have annoyed her to no end in any other situation. But in this case, she ignored it and began typing feverishly.
"Uh… Oh! Ellie!" Kate said sheepishly, remembering that getting Ellie to the hospital should be first on the to-do list. "Right, um, Clayton!" He turned to her, mouth gaping and eyes wide. "Drive Ellie to Bethesda."
"Me?" Clayton spluttered, obviously unsure how he was going to manage that task. His eyes darted to Ellie as she groaned again, then back to Kate, slightly panicky.
"No, the other guy named Clayton right behind you. Yes, you! Go!" Clayton grimaced but hurried to obey, gathering his coat and walking around the partition to Ellie's desk. Kate continued. "Ok, we've still got an infant car seat at home, I'll go get it and then I'm going to Ellie's apartment to pack a go-bag. Ellie, I need-"
"I have a go-bag," Ellie hissed through clenched teeth as Clayton pulled her to her feet. "It's in my car.
Kate stared at her for a minute before blinking and shaking her head slightly to clear it. "Of course you do," she said, a surprised frown still on her face. "All right, then I'll need your keys." Ellie gestured toward her desk, where she had dropped her keys upon arriving that morning. "Ok," Kate grabbed the keys, "thank you, Ellie. Now go." She made a shooing gesture towards the elevator. "Go!" Ellie searched Kate's face for a moment, so Kate smiled reassuringly. Or tried to, anyway. "Everything will be all right." Ellie watched her for a second more before nodding and allowing Clayton to drag her away. Kate watched until they were safely aboard, then turned to Gibbs and McGee, who were still staring at her.
"Jethro, we gave our extra crib to McBaby Ella, right? So we don't have an extra?" Gibbs nodded. "Ok, you and McGee go buy a crib, take it to Ellie and Qasim's apartment, and put it together." McGee's mouth dropped open.
"Buy a-"
"Yes, McGee, go buy a crib. And some sheets, too." By this point, Gibbs had grabbed his coat and his coffee and was walking out of the bullpen.
"On it," he announced, as he brushed past McGee. "McGee!" McGee jumped and gathered his own coat and hurried after his boss.
"Coming, Boss!" he called.
"Oh, Jethro!" Kate hollered after her husband. He stopped and turned back halfway, causing McGee to nearly run into him. Kate removed what appeared to be Ellie's apartment key from her carabiner full of keys. She threw it to Gibbs, and he grabbed it out of the air before turning and continuing towards the elevator. McGee scuttled after him.
"Got it!" Alex exclaimed from her desk. Nick jerked back at her sudden roar. "Flight 4726, Gate B4."
"Good job, now go." Kate ordered curtly. Quinn hopped up, grabbed her bag, and ran out of the bullpen, Torres trailing after her. Kate watched them go before turning and almost colliding with Ducky. "Ducky! I'm sorry, I forgot you were here."
"Oh, it's quite all right, my dear, you appeared to be 'in the zone.'" He chuckled a little at his use of "modern" language. "What can I do?"
"Um..." Kate was anxious to get going, she wanted to meet Ellie at the hospital before too long. "Oh!" She frowned guiltily, having realized she had overlooked something very important. "Can you tell Abby what's going on? She'll want to go to the hospital." Ducky nodded sagely. Indeed, Abby would be very excited and probably need someone sensible to keep her in check. "Thanks, Ducky," Kate said gratefully as she grabbed her coat and purse. She kissed him on the cheek. "Everything will be ok." Ducky looked up at her in surprise. He had thought he had kept his own anxiety out of his face, but it was very difficult to fool Kate, as she was a profiler. He smiled reassuringly.
"Of course it will, my dear." Kate nodded, trying to take comfort from his words and not quite managing. "Now, off you go." Kate took a step and then stopped, looking back at Ducky. He smiled again and squeezed her elbow, attempting to comfort her. She smiled back at him, then slipped out from behind her desk and out of the bullpen. She pressed the call button on the elevator and looked back at Ducky again. He waved cheerfully. She smiled falteringly, then nodded and stepped into the elevator.
Ducky sighed and ran a hand over his eyes. Then he took a deep breath and headed toward the stairs to break the news to a certain, excitable lab tech.
A/N: Did you like it? I'm new to writing, and I would very much appreciate any tips you have for me. Thanks for reading!