A/N: I'm getting really excited for the future chapters when the baby arrives. I've always thought that babies were the cutest little things, but when my nephew was born they became more than just "cute". They're wonderful and I can't wait to bring a baby in to the story! So, enjoy.

As usual, the stuff where there's song lyrics and such, they're obviously not mine.
All recognized characters are not mine.

Ever since Eli David had made the visit to NCIS Ziva had changed once again. She became more reserved and even refused to talk to Tony about most things in her life. They only communicated when they had to go to her doctor's appointments to check on the progress of their baby. A month had passed since Eli had visited and Tony was becoming worried about Ziva who was now 16 weeks along in her pregnancy. Their house decorating and designing was at a complete stand still as Ziva wasn't all that open to moving out of her own apartment at the current time. Tony spend most of his time working on the place by himself, as he wanted to get moved in because they still had to pay rent on top of the mortgage until they got out of their own places.

Tony had frequently found himself sitting in the room that he and Ziva decided would be for the baby. The two upstairs bedrooms in their house were pretty large, it was good for when the baby started growing out of the nursery stage. Tony couldn't believe that he found himself frequently sitting in a room that was going to be his child's room. He still had the feeling of everything being so unreal.

He heard the door opening downstairs and he instantly put his hand on his gun, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to pull it out. If it was someone who didn't have a key to the place then the alarm's would have gone off. He cautiously went down the stairs to see Ziva standing quietly in the living room, looking around with a thin smile on her face.

"It's coming together very nicely, Tony." She commented quietly, "I can see that you've been working hard to get this place done. I like that book case, too."

"That book case was a gift to us from Gibbs." Tony replied, "He made it himself and then asked me the color scheme of our place and painted it himself."

Ziva bit down on her lip, "I am sorry about this last month." Ziva apologized, "Ever since my father came I have just not been able to gather my thoughts and make them clear to myself. I took it out on you and I took it out on the rest of the team. Not only did I take it out on the team, I took it out on family."

"No one really blames you for anything, Ziva. Of course I was mad for a while that you were ignoring me and wouldn't even speak to me unless you absolutely had to, but I am over that now. We understand that having to talk to your father is never an easy thing for you and that it probably would put you off for a few days. We just didn't expect it to be as long as it was."

"Well I guess the good thing is that it is the past, yes?" The ninja chick smiled, "As I have heard many people say we should let the past be the past. Now it's time to deal with the future and perhaps I should start dealing with it. I am certainly not getting any less pregnant."

"No, you are not getting any less pregnant." Tony smiled, looking at her stomach that only had the smallest little bump that was easily hidden by the loose shirts that she preferred to wear now. Over the next few months she was probably really going to start showing and Tony actually couldn't wait for that to happen even though he knew that brought on the typical aches and pains for the pregnant woman.

"How much have you done with this place?" Ziva asked, looking around at the still generally empty house with just a few pieces of furniture here and there. It definitely looked a lot better than what it did the last time she saw it.

"I have the painting in our bedroom done, the downstairs bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, downstairs bathroom and the downstairs entertainment room. I think we should leave the baby's room until we know the sex of the baby and then paint it."

"I do not think I would know what to do without you, Tony. You have been so helpful now that you're warming up to the baby. I still think I have a bit more warming up to do myself, though."

"It will come in time, Ziva. I just want to make sure this house is ready well before the baby is due to arrive. I want the both of us to be living in this place and leaving from this place in a rush to the hospital. I want the baby to come home to this place that he or she is going to call home for hopefully a long time."

"I see that you have done what I told you when I first found out that I was pregnant." Ziva said, "You have definitely grown a pair."

Tony shrugged and took Ziva's hand, "Come on, I'll show you what each room looks like so far. I think we're actually ready to start moving some big furniture in. My bed set matches with the room downstairs and we've already determined that you want yours up in our bedroom."

"I guess that means we need to go shopping soon."

"Maybe we should be thinking about having a yard sale, as well."

"Not this early in the new year, Tony." Ziva smiled.

"I know, we can have one later on when the temperature starts warming up and the snow is completely gone until Christmas time."

Tony led Ziva up the stairs of their house and the smell of fresh paint was prominent in the air. He took her in to the bedroom and waited expectantly for her opinion on how the place looked. She was silent for a little while and then slowly nodded, giving her sign of approval.

"It looks very nice, Tony." She commented, "I like it. The colors feel very relaxing."

"Relaxing enough that you could sleep comfortably in here?" he asked, hopefully.

Ziva nodded, "Yes, relaxing enough that I could sleep comfortably in here." She said.

Tony grinned and continued to show her around the rest of the rooms that he had proudly painted on his own and actually managed to make them look good. The two of them went in to the baby's room and Ziva stopped and sighed slightly.

"This is it, isn't it?"

"Well, I guess it is. It'll probably become more official once we find out what the baby is and then start working on the bedroom. Yeah, it does seem like this is it, though."


Ziva sat at her desk in the bull pen and grumbled to herself about not being able to do interviews anymore when out in the field. Her interrogation rights had even been taken away from her as she was slowly but surely starting to show. It still wasn't even all that bad when she wore her loose clothing, but wearing the loose clothes made it more obvious for Ziva as it did look like she was trying to hide something.

"Complaining about it isn't going to help you any, Ziver." Gibbs said, looking at both McGee and Tony. "The two of you can gear up, we've got a case."

"Where are we going, boss?"

"We've got a body in Quantico."

"Well surely I can go to at least observe something." Ziva insisted.

"Ziva, I have told you that you are going to stay here and do paperwork." Gibbs said, "You can do stuff like collect reports from Abby and Ducky once we get to that point in the investigation. Actually, just go down and see if Abby needs help with anything and keep her company. Don't come to the crime scene."

Ziva glared at the three men on her team rolled out of the place and she was left behind to just do paperwork and talk to people. She waited for a few minutes and then got up and went down to Abby's Lab to try and see if there was anything she could possibly do there.

"Ziva!" Abby grinned, "Ziva, I missed you!"

"I have been here at NCIS all this time, Abby." Ziva said.

"I know, but you haven't been down here in my lab for such a long time. It made me sad."

"Abby, I was down here on Friday when Gibb's asked me to come and collect a report for him."

"Ziva, don't make this difficult for me. If I say that I have missed you, then I have clearly missed you and nothing is going to change that."

"Well, alright then." Ziva said, raising her eyebrows. "Is there anything that I can do to help you right now, Abby?"

"No, I don't really need any help with anything because I don't have anything to really work with yet." Abby shook her head, "I hope this is an easy case."

"Why is that?"

"I am trying to quit the caffeine again."

"Anything I should know about Abby?" Ziva smirked.

"What? No way, I am not pregnant!"

"Are you sure about that? You and McGee seem to be smitten."

"We are not smitten, Ziva. Unlike you and Tony we are aware of the whole rule twelve situation and would prefer to avoid the wrath of Gibbs."

"I am already receiving the full blown wrath of Gibbs." Ziva sighed, "I have only gained about seven pounds right now and have just the smallest little bump that is only noticeable when I have a fitted shirt on and he has me benched. I am not even allowed to do interrogation anymore, not even if he or Tony were in the room."

"I think he is actually just concerned about you and your unborn child. It's not that he's taking it out on you, it's that he's trying to protect you. Gibbs just works in really odd ways." Abby explained, "Don't be mad at him, Ziva. It's just his way of showing concern."

"I am still capable of going to a crime scene and talking to witnesses. I would understand if I was about 22 or 23 weeks along but I am only 18 weeks. Gibbs is torturing me and so is Tony!"

"Ziva, Gibbs is like your father figure and he's just being protective of you in his own little way. Tony, he's just Tony. He doesn't even know what to do with himself now that he knows he's going to be a father and he's worried about you. Tony needs a little bit of credit because at least he's trying. You deserve a medal for all that you have been through so far, but Tony is getting pretty close to deserving a medal as well."

"I know that Tony deserves a medal, Abby. I just miss doing my job and being out on the field. It feels as if it's one of the only things I live for sometimes."

"Well now you have your baby to live for and we can't be risking his or her life if you go to a scene just to interview someone and the killer is nearby. Then what would happen? They could come out and shoot you and then you could risk losing it all. Do you want to lose your baby, Ziva?"

"No, I do not want to lose the baby, Abby." Ziva sighed.

"Then start acting like you don't want to lose the baby, Ziva!" Abby snapped, "You are sounding so selfish in all of this. You sound as if you don't even value the life of your unborn child. Well, maybe you don't value the baby's life but there are people around here that do value him or her. Tony values that little baby, Gibbs values the baby, I value the baby and even McGee values that baby! Now it's time for you to jump on our band wagon, and you better do it quickly!"

The ninja chick held back the tears that were threatening to spill and she turned on her heel and walked out of Abby's lab as calmly as she could. As soon as she was in the elevator she pushed the button to stop it and sat down in the corner of the elevator, deciding to let the tears fall in secrecy. Abby had just accused her of not valuing the life of her own unborn child and it had stung Ziva. She cared deeply about her little baby. She was the one who had already been carrying the little one for eighteen weeks and she had to carry the baby for many more weeks. She was the one who got to feel the little one moving around and 'kick boxing' inside of her. She cared more about the baby than anyone else did. She and Tony cared the most about the baby. No one could tell her any different, not even an angry Abby.

You're skin, oh yeah, you're skin and bones. Turn in to something beautiful. Do you know? For you I'd bleed myself dry. For you I'd bleed myself dry.

Reviews, please?