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Chapter 4: I Think I Can Live With That
"Hi there Baby," Tony whispered softly in between kisses, "I'm your Daddy. I love you. I can't wait to meet you. We're going to have so much fun together..."
Ziva ran her fingers through his hair and listened with a smile as he talked to their baby. She could not help the tears that were soon running down her cheeks.
"Ani Ohevet Otcha, Neshomeleh." Ziva said quietly to him in Hebrew, "I love you, sweetheart."
"Ti Amo, Il Mio Angelo," Tony replied in Italian, "I love you, my angel."
Tony and Ziva slept late that morning, and in the afternoon Tony went home to shower, change and run errands. By seven, he was walking into Gibbs house with a six-pack of beer and feeling slightly nervous, although he wasn't sure why. Gibbs had given his blessing the night before, but Tony was still expecting the mother of all headslaps for getting Ziva pregnant in the first place. It wasn't as if they had broken rule twelve... Well, not this time anyway. That was Tony's story and he planned on sticking to it, although he wasn't sure how far it would get him with Gibbs. Gibbs was stoking the fire and watching a western on the small TV in the living room.
"Boss." Tony greeted.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs said without looking up, and continued what he was doing. Tony just smiled. It was nice to have Gibbs back.
"Ah, The Searchers," Tony said, looking at the TV, "Nice." Tony handed him a beer and sat down, setting the rest of the six-pack on the table. Gibbs went to the kitchen to get the steaks, and came back and put them on the grate over the fire, all the while not saying a word. Tony sat back on the couch and let his mind wander over the last twenty-four hours. He was still in a mild state of shock that everything happened so quickly. Gibbs came back, which was a huge relief. He was not expecting Ziva to become pregnant with his child, and he certainly wasn't expecting her to say yes to his proposal. He had meant it with every ounce of his being, but was fully prepared for her to laugh in his face. He had been given the perfect opportunity to ask her and could not pass it up. He always thought that after Wendy, the whole Jeanne debacle and then EJ that he was destined to be always be alone. After he found out that Ziva was pregnant he knew he needed to seize the moment, and doing so turned out to be the best decision he'd ever made. He didn't notice when Gibbs went into the kitchen for plates and then set a steak down in front of him.
"DiNozzo... HEY! DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped, trying to bring Tony back down to earth. "You just gonna sit there with that stupid grin on your face, or are you gonna eat the steak I just cooked ya?"
Tony smiled at Gibbs and Gibbs gave him a smirk back as they took out their knives to start cutting the steak.
"Been a hell of a ride this past year." Gibbs said as he chewed.
"You're telling me... Although the last twenty-four hours has been surreal..." Tony replied thoughtfully.
"So when were you gonna tell me that you and Ziva were breaking rule twelve?" Gibbs asked before taking a sip of his beer.
Tony finished chewing and swallowing before saying, "Technically Boss, we had already resigned when..."
Gibbs cut him off with, "This time, you didn't break rule twelve. What about the other times?"
Tony looked mildly shocked and took a long swig of beer. "You knew about that, huh?"
"Ya think, DiNozzo?"
"Well, we never really dated so technically..."
"Ah hell, Tony, spare me the technicalities, will ya?" Gibbs said before taking another bite. "So you two never dated?"
"No, well... We just uh..."
"Had sex?" Gibbs supplied.
"Yeah." Tony said, his face getting serious. "Listen Boss, I know you're probably not too happy with how this is turning out, with Ziva not coming back to work. And I know that this is happening really fast. I can tell you that I did not expect any of this when I woke up yesterday morning, but I have been in love with Ziva for a long time now... Too long."
"I know." Gibbs replied and Tony continued.
"And, she's having my baby. This is my chance, Boss. I get to marry the woman that I love and I have a baby on the way. I don't regret any of the decision's that I've made. I've always wanted a family of my own, and now, finally, I get to have it. I'm glad that things turned out the way that they did and if you don't like or you don't approve, then..." Gibbs cut him off with a stinging headslap.
"Listen up, because I'm only gonna say this once." Gibbs said, setting his utensils down and looking Tony in the eyes. "I'm not thrilled about losing Ziva from the team, but I can see how happy this is making you two... I've never been real good with words... I'm happy for you, and I'll support you both one hundred percent. Just keep in mind that the butterflies and the honeymoon phase will pass. You guys are going to argue sometimes, more so than usual, and disagree on things. You'll both be sleep deprived an exhausted from the baby. Marriage is forever. Don't be one of those guys that takes that lightly." Tony nodded and Gibbs continued. "It's not always gonna be fun and easy, DiNozzo. Do. NOT. Hurt. Her. That's an order. I know that you can make this work and be happy. I don't expect anything less from either of you."
Tony looked at Gibbs seriously for a long moment, then smiled and held up his beer. "I'm scared as hell, but I won't let you down Boss." Gibbs' bottle tapped against Tony's, and they both took a long sip.
"I know you won't." Gibbs said before Tony gave him a manly pat on the back.
"Thanks Pop-Pop." Tony said and Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him.
"Pop-Pop?"
"Yeah, do you like it? We have to figure out what the baby is gonna call you..." Tony said and Gibbs smirked at him.
"I think I can live with that."
TBC...
