A/N Thanks for all the reviews!
Chapter 4
The next morning
"Ziva, come on, this is stupid," Tony called through the bathroom door. "Come out."
"No!" Ziva yelled back. She was lying on the floor, holding the door shut with her feet.
"It's eight-thirty. We have to go to work."
"I'm not supposed to be working, remember?"
"You can still come in to work to see everyone. Come on, you've been in there for hours," Tony said. He didn't get a reply. He went down the hall and picked up Bella and her backpack. "I'm taking Bella with me!" he yelled down the hall.
On the way to the car, Bella started talking. "Why isn't Mummy coming with us?"
"She's taking some time for herself," Tony replied, switching Bella to the other hip.
"Why?"
"You remember Mummy telling you that you were going to have a little brother or sister?"
"Yup."
"Well, Mummy is just making sure that your little brother or sister will be alright when they are born," Tony said, not exactly sure how to explain the situation to a two-year-old. He buckled Bella in the back seat and soon they were on their way to NCIS.
Tony arrived at the office within ten minutes. McGee, Gibbs and Jenny were all sitting in the office.
"Where's Ziva?" Jenny asked, standing up.
"Lying on the bathroom floor," Tony replied, slinging his and Bella's backpack down and setting the little girl on his chair.
"Why?"
"She is 'relaxing' and won't come out."
"You tried talking to her last night, didn't you?" Gibbs said. Tony nodded guiltily.
"She's get over it. She isn't the same Ziva that she was before she had Bella," Jenny said. At the mention of her name, Bella got excited.
"I like coming to work!" she said loudly. Tony smiled at her and gave her some pens and paper.
By nine o'clock the team still hadn't come up with any new leads on what they now called 'The Killer Rose' case. With the lack of evidence added to the lack of leads, it was looking like this would be the first unsolvable case.
The elevator dinged, and Ziva entered the squadroom.
"Ziva, good to see you," Gibbs said, breaking the awkward silence.
"I'm not here to work. I'm just taking Bella to see Abby," Ziva replied shortly. She picked up the squirming toddler and returned to the elevator.
"What was that?" McGee said.
"She's annoyed because we want her to take it easy," Tony replied, continuing to type on his computer.
"She's annoyed because we care?"
"McGee, think about it. Ziva spends all her available time on the move. Now we're asking her to stop. It's a big change for her," Gibbs explained.
"She'll be putting the baby at risk if she doesn't slow down," Tony said quietly. Gibbs knew something else was wrong with his senior field agent. He motioned to Tony and headed to the elevator.
"What else is bothering you, Tony?" Gibbs said, getting directly to the point.
Tony exhaled loudly. "It's nothing."
"Tony," Gibbs said, making it clear that he wasn't dropping it.
"She won't listen to me."
"What?"
"Ziva. She won't listen to me. I talked to her and she left. If I can't get through to her I don't see who can."
Gibbs smiled slightly. "You'd be surprised, DiNozzo. You'd be surprised…"
Ziva arrived down in forensics. She had no intention of talking to the team very much, but she figured Abby would be sympathetic of her situation. "Abby?"
"Yeah?" came a reply from the other end of the room.
"Visitors!"
Abby's head appeared at the doorway of the ballistics lab. "Bella!" she squealed. She disappeared for a moment, the reappeared without her goggles and her hands void of weapons. She ran over to them. "How you guys doing?" she said, taking Bella from Ziva.
"We're doing fine," Ziva replied. Abby had a way of making her feel happy just by being in the same room as her. Must be the caffeine in the air.
"How is the-"
"The baby is fine as well."
"I wish you would let the doctor tell you what you're having," Abby replied as Bella pulled at her pigtails.
"We want it to be a surprise, just like it was with Bella," Ziva said, taking a seat at the table. Abby gave her baby Zombie doll with the paint on it's forehead to Bella and set her down on the floor.
"What wrong, Ziva?"
"Why would something be wrong?" Ziva asked.
"Because you came down here by yourself. Usually you come with someone else, and I know that Tony came in to work by himself as well. What's up?"
Ziva looked at her directly in the eye. "Alright, fine. Everyone wants me to slow down. Gibbs, Jenny, McGee, Tony. I have been doing desk work for three months now. I'm bored senseless. Gibbs won't even let me go to the shooting range," she explained, Abby nodding in understanding. "I just want to do something other than putting out BOLOs or looking into peoples' histories."
"You could go out one last time," said Bella, not taking her eyes off of the doll. Abby and Ziva both looked down at her in amazement.
"Why didn't I think of something like that?" Ziva said, picking Bella up and setting her on her knee. Bella dropped the doll in the process.
"Mummy, I want doll-" Bella said, trying to escape Ziva's clutches, but Ziva didn't notice.
"I could ask them to just go out one last time."
"Mummy, dolly-"
"I could go to a scene where there won't any action."
"Want dolly-"
"They can't say no to that."
"MUMMY!"
Ziva jumped in surprise. "What?"
"Want dolly!"
Ziva promptly stood up and gave the doll back to Bella. Abby was having a silent fit of the giggles.
"I'm gonna go talk to them now," Ziva said, leaving the room. "I'll see you later, alright?"
"Yeah, sure," Abby said, going back to work. "Hey! Can I have the doll back?" she yelled after a second.
Bella appeared at the door. "Nope!"
"Drat."
A/N Please review!
Also please look at 'Undercover, Again'. I am desperate to get 10,000 hits!!
I'll try to update this story ASAP, but I'm working on another story as well and I have exams at school…..curse French.