An Unconditional Love

Chapter 7.

Finally as Tia enters her eighth month of pregnancy she is allowed home for good. Although she is very happy of course because of now being so heavily pregnant she is moaning quite a lot and wishing that he was out of her. But even with a couple of false alarms while she was in hospital they know that he still isn't ready to come into the world yet. Over Tony returning to work he has done so, but is only on desk duty, partly so that he isn't stuck at a crime scene if she does go into labour. But also because of all the leaps and bounds they've been making in the case it's been difficult to judge over if it's safe for him to be there with Jordan's lawyers saying that he'd had a chance of tampering with evidence because of being in the same building. But for now he's quite enjoying just being on light duties because it means he get's home at a decent hour in the evenings, not only that he can also get home and have some lunch with Tia as well.

On that very first day that she came home in the build up to her coming home permanently, as they both packed up for it the couple were both feeling slightly nervous as well as exited that they were building to getting her home for good. That morning before bringing her home Tony quickly pops home so that he can lock the nursery up so that she doesn't see it because he wants her to have the surprise on the day that she is officially home for good. But he also wants to put her journal away once again, because he had been carrying it around with him still just in case she had decided that she did actually want it with her. Although as he puts it back from where it came from he has a feeling that she'll probably know that he did actually have it on him or that he'd moved it and may kill him for it. As he goes round the house he finds himself becoming reflective about the last few months and how much they'd been through as a couple, but a bit of anger also starts to creep in as well. Because of how much the two of them had missed out on their early married life together in their new house. As well as how much of the early pregnancy days they also missed out on as a couple. Most of all of course he is happy that his wife is now well and truly on the road to recovery and at least when she does finally get home for good, they can at least share the end of her pregnancy together and new life with their son when he does eventually decide to come along. As well as hopefully get the whole Jordan situation sorted out once and for all, over and done with. Most of all though he knows that they have and will come out of this as a really strong couple, and if they can get through all of this together, then in the future they can get through anything that gets thrown at them. After doing all of that and heading back to the hospital again to pick her up, he finds himself feeling very happy that he is getting the chance to bring her home again, even if it just for the one day.

On the drive home he can tell that Tia is feeling very happy about heading for home, but he can also tell that she is also feeling a bit apprehensive about things as well and wondering if she can manage to do it on her own without ending up back in hospital once again. When they do finally get home after opening the front door, he surprises her as he carries her over the threshold. Not only that it also makes him happy to hear her laugh and giggle at him doing it, even with her also warning him to be careful of his back with her now being so heavy.

After putting her down on her feet again, they kiss and as they break apart he whispers in her ear "Welcome home even if it is just for today." And she then whispers back to him "Thank you." Before the two of them begin on a silent journey around the house with them holding hands, with Tia leading the way round looking at it with new eyes because of not having been home for so long. When they get into the bedroom with her free hand she runs her fingers over the covers, as Tony spots her wry smile as she does it, he guesses that she's probably thinking about all the times the two of them made love in that bed, especially when she then moves her hand from the bed to rub over her bump. When they finally finish their journey round the house she goes to sit on the sofa in the lounge as he tells her that he's going to make them a drink. As he comes back with the drinks he finds himself starting to feel emotional as he stands in the doorway watching her rub her bump and quietly telling junior that this is one more step for her getting home for good and promises him that he will always have a happy home with his mom and dad, along with any other brothers or sisters that they may have for him as well. Because of her having also laid down on the sofa while he was out of the room, he then lays down with her after he puts the coffees down on the table and they cuddle up together. After joining her he also slips his hand under her top to have some skin to skin contact with her along with feeling junior kicking away inside her. As they both lay there thinking they also think about how good it's feeling that even if it is just for one day, for the first time in a long time they can actually be a couple in their own home at last. Because even though the two of them have always had a very touchy feely kind of relationship and kind of turn things down with what they do when their in public, they still somehow always end up holding hands or having their arms round each other. But even when the two of them are at home together it's just the same with the way they have to cuddle up in some way at times. And when they eat together they had to sit so that their knees would touch under the table and would also end up holding hands as they ate as well. Quite a few times people had told them that it was just because they were in the honeymoon period of their relationship and they would soon stop doing it. But it had never left the two of them and why it was Tony found it so hard that he couldn't touch her in any way while she was in isolation. Plus their sex life had also been so good, but even Tony had guessed that it may tail off a bit once junior had arrived. Most of all though with each day that passed he knew that he was falling more and more in love with his wife if it was in any way at all possible.

For most of that first day home for her the two of them just enjoyed having a really quiet time together and enjoying being on their own, without being disturbed by doctors and nurses walking in the room or being in the at times noisy and crowded corridors of the hospital. That night they also cooked together for the first time in a very long time for them and for both it was also very nice to be able to eat a very nice home cooked meal, rather than it being hospital food.

It was also that night that he also got found out about him having had her journal. Because after they'd had their food he said that he'd get on with the clearing up and then he would bring them both a drink in. Rather than heading for the lounge she knew that to mark the occasion of her being home she wanted to write an entry in there for the day. Of course when she goes to the place that she kept it in, she knew that it had been moved. So when he all of a sudden hears her yell "Tony!" Along with the tone of voice that she uses as she does it he automatically thinks "Oh oh, I'm in trouble!" Although when he does finally get to her he's a bit confused by the look she has on her face. Because some of the look says that she's angry, but as he sees the glint in her eye he can see that there is also a look of mischievousness there as well. When he first gets to her as well he also stays just standing in the doorway looking, so she then crooks her finger at him indicating to go to her. When he gets close enough to her she reaches round and gives him a slap on the ass, as she then tries to say angrily, but somehow it doesn't come out that way because of the humour coming out in her voice as well "Anthony DiNozzo you read my journal didn't you?" So he then decides to play along with her, so he kneels down on the floor next to her with his head down, with a very ashamed look on his face, making sure that he also keeps his eyes down. Because he knows that if he's going to play along with her he'll never stay serious and do it if he can see her face. Not only that he also had to admit that he quite liked the way she slapped him on the ass as well, especially as no woman in the past had slapped him that way either. Yes he'd had a few slaps to the face from women in the past when he'd ended a relationship, which was why he'd ended up not doing it face to face any longer and tried to mostly do it by phone or just ignoring them until they got the message that things were over. So he was actually finding it pretty hot and sexy, especially as it was his wife that had done it to him. So to then carry on the rouse even more he replied shamefully and full of remorse along with it "I'm sorry, yes I did. To start off with I did it because I missed you so much and somehow it felt like I could actually hear your voice in my head. Then as we started to struggle with the case and didn't have any clues as to where it was going, I started to look at it differently and was trying to see the clues in there. Plus I also knew that under normal circumstance they would have been the ones looking at it and I didn't want them reading your own private thoughts. Gibbs sent me home the night you had the heart attack and it was that night that I found the Jordan connection and somehow it became a comfort to me. Then after that I carried it around with me for a while when you woke up, just in case you decided that you wanted to write in it again. I snuck it back again earlier and hoped that you wouldn't notice it."

She then cups his chin to make him look at her and says "I'm glad that you did find the Jordan connection and that the others didn't get to see it. I knew it had been moved, even if it was so very close to where it had been, but it just wasn't quite close enough. Not only that because of the way that you'd been carrying it around with you, it's started to smell a bit like you too." She then pauses and adds "Look Tony in the past I've always been very private about my journal." As he then goes to speak, she puts her finger on his lips to stop him and then says "But we're husband and wife now, so most of the stuff that will go into it we'll probably end up talking about it anyway, so I don't honestly mind if you do end up looking at it. But you must promise me that if you do look at it, then whatever is in there must stay just between us."

She then removes her finger from his lips and he says "I promise you that everything in there will just stay between us, I love you and I will never ever tell your secrets." As she then takes her hand away from his chin, he gets up from the floor, he then pulls her up from the sofa and put's his hand under her chin to cup it as he then adds "Especially when it also stuff about our sex life. What happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom."

As he waggles his eyebrows at her mischievously she then adds to his remark "Although with the two of us at times you can say that we haven't even made it to the bedroom!"

He does one of his million watt smiles as he replies "I know, but I have to say that I think one of my favourite times for that to happen was right here in front of the fire."

She then smiles at her own memory of that moment, which had happened not long after they'd moved into the house, as they were making out on the sofa and it being a chilly night they had lit the real fire. He had then surprised her when he'd stopped things to chuck the cushions on the floor in front of the fire from sofa and built a kind of nest for them; he'd then gone and dimmed the lights so that the room was then mostly filled with the firelight. He'd then come back to help her onto the floor where the making out had continued, until it had built to them just slowly undressing one another and making love. That night not only had Tia loved the feel of the warmth of the fire on her skin, but she had loved the way the firelight had flickered on both of their bodies as they made love there, in fact she had felt that it had been one of the most special nights that the couple had had together. With the memories of that night going through her head, he takes her in an intense kiss which she knows instantly where it is leading to, especially when his hands start to roam her body. When he breaks the kiss and whispers close to her ear with a slight growl "So let's go and make some new entries to put in that book." It sends a shiver down her spine, especially as he starts to add some nips to her neck, making her groan at the contact, as he then finally takes her hand and leads her up to the bedroom. When they get there they just take their time over stripping each other of their clothes, before he scoops her up into his arms and lays her down gently on the bed. Enjoying the moment of being together and alone for the first time since the night they made love to celebrate the news of her just finding out that she was pregnant. Her emotions also seem to take her a bit by surprise because she is so happy to finally be home with the man she loves very much, even if she does still have a long way to go to her full recovery.

On the day that she does finally get home for good, as they arrive home and pull into the driveway, when she spots the big 'Welcome home' banner on the front of the house surrounded by balloons. They turn and smile at each other as he says "Sorry, I did tell Abby not to go mad with things."

She shrugs as she takes his hand and says "Don't worry as I told her exactly the same thing, but I think that I knew that she wouldn't listen."

After that the two of them get out of the car and walk to the front door with him having his arm over her shoulders and hers round his waist. As soon as the key is turned in the lock and the door is only a very tiny bit open, even though they both expect it, they still manage to jump as everyone yells "Surprise!" at them as they walk inside. After that the night then seems to become a mixture of a welcome home party for Tia as well as a baby shower.

As the night comes to an end and everyone slowly drifts away to their own homes leaving just Tia, Tony, her dad and Gibbs. Tony finally hands her the key to the door of the bedroom that he'd not been letting her go into. After they go upstairs, she unlocks the door and then opens it a little bit, before Tony puts his hands over her eyes and then slowly guides her into the room. When they finally stop in the middle of the room he says quietly into her ear "This is my welcome home surprise for you." Before he then removes his hands from her eyes.

Taking in the sight of the room for the first time and seeing the nursery for their baby, it's exactly how she pictured it in her mind how she wanted it to be, as well as of course it being a very boy orientated room. As she goes round the room looking at it all, she runs her fingertips on all of the wooden furniture, and then as she runs them over the top of a wooden rocking chair and cot rail, she turns and says to Gibbs "You made all of this for us?" He just nods at her with a smile on his face, which makes her happy emotions finally break and as she heads towards him, she gives him a hug and says in between the tears "Thank you, it's beautiful and perfect. This is just as I imagined it and I love it." Before then going to hug and kiss Tony who says "Well I know that we would have done this together otherwise, but with what happened to you I was worried that you wouldn't be able to cope with the smell of paint and things, so I thought that I'd do it how I thought that we'd both like it. And I haven't let anyone else come in here either, so the secret of us having a boy is still with me, Gibbs and your dad."

She sighs and says with a brilliant smile "Well I do really love it, as will our son when he's here."

Following Tia getting home, Tony has another couple of weeks off before he returns to work again, but to only being on desk duty only. Not that Tia can really do all that much at home though because of being so big and heavy as she enters her last few weeks of pregnancy. In her final examination a couple of weeks later they also find out that he has turned himself round and his head is also engaged, so now it's just down to a waiting game in waiting for him to decide when he wants to be born. The only other problem with him also having turned himself round is that when he's being really active, Tia is starting to get painful ribs from where he keeps kicking her.

A few days before he decides that he wants out they have their third false alarm, luckily though it happens not long after she and Tony have had their evening meal, so at least the two of them are together. It just gets to the point where she's thinking that this time it might be the real thing, especially when she has a really strong contraction, which has been a lot more painful to what she's had before. But once again after that one they start to peter out again and eventually stop.

By the time she does finally go into labour Tia quite welcomes it, especially as she also a week and a half overdue, and that time has been very hard on her because once again Junior decides that he's going to be really active again during the wee small hours of a morning, so she's feeling very tired and fed up with not being able to move much with being so big and everything just seeming to also ache as well. On the first morning he wakes her up she ends up just lying there on her back with her hands on her stomach willing him to stop what he's doing. But when Tony wakes by himself an hour later and sees her wide awake, he suggests that they just go for a walk round downstairs which is what they do. Then after that he gets them a hot drink which they then have together cuddled up on the sofa. By the time they go back up to bed again junior has thank goodness settled himself down once again. Then on the night before things finally happen junior ends up waking Tony first, because of the way he'd got his hand over the bump as they slept, he gets wacked with a very big kick and when things eventually wake Tia as well they end up doing as they previously did with the walking round and having a drink.

With them having been up during the early hours on the day that she goes into labour when Tony wakes her as he's getting ready to go to work, she finds that her back is aching like crazy, not only that she has a bit of a strange feeling with the butterflies in her stomach that something is going to end up happening that day, but she also has a kind of relieved feeling wash over her as well. So when Tony kisses her and says "goodbye" before he leaves the house, he also tells her to get some rest because of having already been awake so early. She does manage to go back to sleep again and when she wakes again a couple of hours later, it's a very strong contraction that actually wakes her up. She then sits up and does some deep breathing through it, and then when she is finally able to stand up she thinks to herself "oh well here we go!" And then finds herself saying a silent prayer that both she and Junior will be ok and that he will arrive safely to them all.

A/N: Here we go with the penultimate chapter and I know that I've been rotten to you in leaving you on a bit of a cliff-hanger! But I did have a play around with this chapter because of it seeming to come up a bit short, then trying it with the final chapter to this it was coming out a bit long, so I decided that it might be a bit easier to split them up even though they both might come up a bit short! Anyway all the usual thanks for the favourites, follows and reviews, I do really appreciate getting them all! xxx. D.