A/N: Chapter 2 to this random story of unplanned plot bunnies that's been hopping around in my head. I guess I am doing okay for a story that wasn't even thought out or planned. I just...wrote. Tony man's up a little bit more in this chapter, but that doesn't mean much of anything. There's still a long road ahead for Tony, Ziva, and baby.
The last lines in italics in this chapter are from a song called "It Takes A Man" by Aaron Lines. The title of this story is also from the song "I Haven't Even Heard You Cry" by Aaron Lines. Just thought that I should say that, and also state that I do not own these songs. I also don't own NCIS.
Things were tense in the bull pen at NCIS and both Gibbs and McGee were getting the brunt of the storm that was going on between Tony and Ziva. Tony was early for work that day and Ziva had showed up over an hour late with blood shot eyes, looking like she had been crying. No one dared to even ask her what was wrong because she had given Tony a very noticeable death glare and then sat down at her desk. Something was clearly wrong between the two of them because normally if they were fighting they'd be rude to each other and make fun of one another. Ziva seemed as if she was not just angry at Tony but angry at the entire world. She had slammed her computer mouse down on her desk multiple times and it was now smashed to bits.
I think the whole team was glad to hear Gibb's calling out to gear up and that they had a case of a dead marine on their hands. Ziva and Tony both noisily grabbed their gear, not being discreet about their anger with each other and Gibbs and McGee just looked at each other, wondering what was going on. It was only when Ziva stumbled and started looking extremely pale did they start becoming a little bit more concerned about the situation.
"Ziver, what's wrong?" Gibbs asked her, "Are you feeling okay?"
"I am just a little bit tired right now." Ziva said, shrugging. "Sometimes we all get that way."
Gibbs raised his eyebrow, "Should I be benching you for the day, Ziva?"
Ziva shook her head and went back to glaring at Tony who glared back at her in turn and Gibbs decided that it was safest to stand between the two of them. If your agents are acting like children then you should treat them like children until the both of them learn to grow up and stop bickering at each other like little kids in the first grade do. Neither of the two seemed to mind that Gibb's felt the need to separate them and Ziva started making small talk with McGee who seemed relieved that what was going on seemed to be calming down a little bit. Mind you, no one was ready to start pushing Ziva just in case she flew off the handle and happened to have a paper clip in her pocket.
Ziva and McGee ended up going in the NCIS truck with McGee driving and Tony went with Gibbs, just to keep the two of them split apart.
"What happened with you and Tony?" McGee asked, "You seem pretty angry, Ziva."
"What happened between Tony and I earlier today is between Tony and I and will remain between the two of us until he stops being such an annoying jackass who is acting more like a teenage boy than a man. He takes the prize for most teenage like attitude right now."
"Actually, I was more thinking that the both of you were acting like two 6 year old kids who got in a fight over a coloring book and have decided to take it out on everyone else for the rest of the day."
"McGee, do you value your life right now?"
"Of course I value my life…" he trailed off.
"Then maybe you might want to start acting like you are valuing your life right now. Remember where I came from and what I can do. I am also not afraid to inflict any injury right now."
McGee paled visibly and returned back to driving pretending that it was taking much more concentration that it really needed. If the ninja threatened you then your best bet was to shut up and not talk to her anymore until she cooled down.
On the scene of the crime Ziva did her best to avoid trying to do anything that might end up upsetting her stomach, such as taking pictures of the scene. She specifically requested if she could do the interviews and Gibbs allowed her to do as she wished. As a father figure he was being respectful of her mood and trying to get her to soften up to him. He couldn't have his agents fighting with one another when he needed their concentration on an investigation, so if interviewing people made Ziva happy he wasn't going to question it.
Ziva questioned the husband of the dead Marine who wasn't making much sense to her at all. The man was distressed and held a crying two year old boy in his arms. The child clearly knew that something was going on and was crying out for his mother. The agent tried not to let herself be affected by the little boy when trying to conduct her interview.
"Is there anything else that you could tell me about your wife, Mr. Morgan?" she asked, prepared to write down more information.
"She was 2 months along in pregnancy." The man's voice quivered, "We were hoping for a little girl, a sister that my son would fight with and pick on and then eventually be overprotective of."
Ziva paused and then nodded, biting her lip. "I think that's all the information that we'll need right now but if we need anything more we'll be sure to contact you. If you think of anything else you can call this number." She gave him a card, "We'll let you know more once we get the body to autopsy and start running some forensic tests. I am sorry for your loss. Both of them."
She walked away from the man and his fussing toddler and back to the NCIS van. She stood beside it and let the tears fall down all over again. She had definitely cried too much in the span of not even 24 hours and she had a feeling there were many more days like this ahead in her future. Tony headed over towards her with some bags of evidence that he was quite obviously going to put in the back of the van. His walk slowed slightly and Ziva turned around to face the van and not him. He did not need to see that she was crying again. Tony did not need to see her as weak and as broken as she was.
She heard him slam the doors of the back of the van shut and assumed that he would leave again, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. Ziva ignored Tony and shook her shoulder slightly to try and get his hand away from her. She did not want her partner anywhere near her at the moment because it was him who was leaving her in this situation. It was Tony who was leaving her vulnerable and an emotional mess of pregnancy hormones. He played a role in the making of the baby and he couldn't even man up and accept that he was a part of it. She couldn't stand to see him and she just wanted him to go away. Ziva felt like telling him that he could go and shoot himself in the foot and she would care less. Though really, she'd be lying to him and herself. She would care if something happened to Tony. She would always be there for him, even if he wouldn't be there for her.
"Ziva, I want to talk to you." Tony said, "Please look at me."
"I don't want to talk to you right now, Tony. I want you to leave me alone and never bother me again unless I come to you and say that you can speak to me. I don't even want to see your face. In fact, I just want you to stay away from me until you grow a pair."
"Ziva, you have to listen to me right now. We can make plans to talk to each other later. I'll take you out for supper after work and we can talk about this. Please, Zi?"
"No, Tony. I am mad at you right now and I want you to respect that. We could have talked this out this morning but you did not want to talk about it. All you were concerned about was if you turned out like your father or not."
"That's a lie and you know it!" Tony grumbled, "I am concerned about so much more than that and it is understandable that I am. Ziva you're just letting the hormones get to you. I am trying to talk this out with you now that I've given myself a chance to let all of this information sink in. It's a lot for me to think about."
"There we go! All Tony ever thinks about is Tony. You can't think about anyone else for once in your life because I guess that is too hard for you to do. You just don't get it! Now go away, I said that I don't want to talk to you and I will personally break your nose if you don't leave me alone."
Instead of anger, silence filled the bull pen for weeks following the last encounter that Tony and Ziva had with each other. Ziva was still not willing to talk to Tony and was now just being irrational. It seemed that it was impossible for the Senior Field Agent to reason with the "probette". Gibbs and McGee were also noticing that Ziva always subconsciously had her hand on her stomach as if trying to protect it from something. Gibbs was becoming suspicious of Ziva and was slowly starting to piece the situation together but had decided to let the two agents figure out their issues for themselves and then give them the rule twelve talk.
The two were forced to go down to Abby's lab together to check on something and as soon as the elevator doors closed, Tony stopped the elevator. Ziva glared at him and he just looked calmly at her and started to speak.
"Ziva, I can't take this anymore. I know that you're hurting and I know that you're not sure of what to do which means you're taking it out on everyone else. If you'd just talk to me things would start being a little bit better though, I promise. I am your partner and I am on your six. I have your back, Zi." Tony explained, "If you want to keep the baby, keep the baby. I will support you through it and I will help raise him or her. The child will be wanted and I have faith that you will be a good mother. Please Ziva, just agree to talk this out with me. Things can work out between us, I promise you that they can."
"Do you really mean what you are saying, Tony?" Ziva asked, speaking to him directly for the first time in weeks. "I don't want to let you in if you're only saying this if I'll stop being mad at you. I want to know that you really mean what you're saying."
"I really mean it, Ziva. I have got your back and I have got our kid's back." Tony pulled his partner to him and rested his head on top of hers, "I have no faith in myself when it comes to this baby and raising him or her, but I have faith in you, Zi."
"Please don't let me down, Tony. Or I do not think that I would ever forgive you and I mean that. If you ever let me and your baby down, you're done."
"I won't let the two of you down, Ziva. I promise you I won't let you down. I've had lots of time to think about this and I don't want to leave you scared and alone through this whole thing. You may have protecting yourself and being an awesome agent down to a perfect art, but I can see that you're not sure what to do with this situation. We can figure this out somehow. You're going to be okay, Ziva."
And my heart hit like a hammer, and my thoughts were running wild. Any fool can make a baby. It takes a man, to raise a child.