(A/N: Here is the seventh installment of my story and my second update of the day, thank you to all my readers who reviewed I love you all and also to all those who have put this story and me on alerts and favorites. Also this is the first brand new chapter, it's been a long busy week but I did promise you all. Hope you enjoy and remember to let me know what you think. Enjoy and loves x)
Disclaimer: Very soon!
She became pregnant by one brother, and married the other. Now her first love is back — who will Ziva choose? Eight years ago Tony DiNozzo married the young and pregnant Ziva David when his brother had abandoned her. But now Marco DiNozzo is back in town and the two brothers are competing for the same woman. Who will Ziva choose?
Chapter 7
Tony was paused in the small dark bedroom at the end of the hall. Gazing down at the red "Magnum PI" Ferrari 308 bed and the dark haired sprawling eight year old lump that was currently draped half on it and half on the blue rug on the floor. Both Ziva and he had often joked that their son could sleep anywhere and as a baby and in his younger years he often had. The number of times they had found him asleep on the bottom of the stairs where he had gotten tired and decided on a nap, as a toddler he would often fall asleep straight after he had eaten his food at the table. He would simply push his plate aside and lay his head in its place. Tony had once found him asleep hanging off their washing machine where the vibrations of the spin cycle had gently lulled him to sleep. Gibbs would often comment after babysitting for them that Jacob could sleep positioned upside down balanced on his head in sinking sand and Tony was inclined to believe him. And the tales he had been told by Abby and Tim on the few occasions they babysat led him to believe that Gibbs was a lot closer to the truth than they originally suspected.
Today had been a long day and Jacob had taken Ziva's dizzy spell hard, once they'd gotten home he had seemed to relax and after dinner he had seemed to wind down quite quickly, enough for him and Tony to have they're man bonding movie time quite early while Ziva took a leisurely bath and as soon as the movie finished he had said his goodnights, read his bedtime story with Ziva and promptly fallen asleep in a matter of minutes. Ziva would often remark on how he had inherited his sleeping habits from his father. Tony often took it as meaning him but lately he had begun questioning whether she was talking about him or Marco.
They had agreed even before they had married that they would raise Jacob as his but recently Tony had begun questioning their decision and increasingly ever since he had heard of Marco's return to DC. Jacob was growing up and eventually he deserved to know the truth. With Marco permanently relocating to DC was it fair to keep their true father and son identities in the dark? Would Ziva want to tell Marco now that he was back?
He leaned closer over the bed and gently lifted his son's top half up back onto the red car bed from where he'd been hanging face down near the floor. Jacob as predicted didn't even stir. There was not even a snore out of place which made Tony let out a small chuckle and a contented smile gently fixed onto his lips. And again nothing a few minutes later as Tony re-arranged Jacobs bedding, pulled the quilt up over his shoulders and settled his noonoo teddy back beside him on the pillow. Not even the slightest slur as Tony settled his weight down on the bed beside the young boy, the mattress denting under his weight.
As he stared at the sight of his son, he just wanted to gather up the eight year old and just in his arms, hold on tight. Hold on and never let go. Damn it he was Jacobs's father. Jacob was his. His Dammit. Not Marco's. His and he loved his little boy so much. How could he bare it if Ziva took him away? And Jacob had been ever since that day almost nine years ago. On a cold dark November Friday evening when Tony had walked in to Abby's empty lab to deliver a report and found his partner crouched in the corner breaking her heart. In less than ten minutes he had listened to the story, dried her tears and convinced her to keep the baby, marry him and raise Jacob as their own.
Tony remembered the day as if it was yesterday rather than almost a decade ago. He had stayed behind on a Friday night to finish some paperwork before having an entire weekend to himself for a change and unwinding. McGee and Ziva had left earlier and he had just finished the last report all that needed to be done would be deliver it to Abby so that she could sign off on her forensic report before filing it in the cabinet. Might as well take it up there before leaving he thought as he set his computer to close down and gathered his belongings before placing them on the chair and picking up the report. Just leave it in the lab with a note for Abby then make his way back in to the bullpen to collect his rucksack and home. He had no plans for the night, he would collect take out on the way home and settle in front of the TV with a movie.
He had made his way to the lab, dropped the report on her desk, left her a quick note, turned the lights back off and was about to walk back out when he heard a sob. He waited a beat just to see if he was hearing things or if there was someone there. He heard the sound again and made the conscious decision to keep the lights off while he searched for whoever was hiding.
As he turned the corner to the side of Abby's Major Mass Spec, that was where she was. Crouched in to the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest and her face buried in to them, her long chocolate curls acting as a curtain. But it was no mistake that it was Ziva, his partner. His first thought had been curious as to how long she'd been there? She and McGee had left hours ago, before he came to his senses and realized how distressed she seemed to be. She was sobbing, not the usual crocodile tears he was used to seeing from women when they didn't get their way. Ziva was sobbing her heart out, her shoulders were wrenching with her tears and for the first time in his life he was speechless. This was Ziva. His ninja. She never cried, she was the strongest person he knew. What could have possibly happened to get her in such turmoil? He put a hand on her shoulder while calling her name softly, trying not to startle her.
Her head shot up so fast, Tony was convinced she must have suffered whiplash. The anguish in her eyes let him know the seriousness of the situation and for once in his life he didn't crack a joke. He sat down by her side; put a hand on her back and began rubbing it from left to right up and down in a comforting gesture. They sat there in silence for about ten minutes before she started to open up. She began to explain what had happened with Marco, how she had thought she was ready to settle down, how she thought he had been the one and why she had allowed him to sweep her off her feet. Tony never uttered a single word as she spoke; hearing her speak of Marco in those glowing terms and realizing that she was ready to settle down with his half brother was killing him slowly. Her words ripping his heart out slowly. Painfully. But her happiness was more important than his feelings.
Then came the angry part, she revealed to Tony how they had been careless when it came to birth control and how a week ago she had received an SMS message and e-mail from Marco stating that he was once again leaving DC and heading back to London where he was a graphic designer and wouldn't be returning. And today after leaving NCIS she had visited her doctor because she had been feeling under the weather only to have him reveal that she was in fact 6 weeks pregnant. She had tried in vain to contact Marco with no success and she was at her wits end. Maria wouldn't help her either. She had come here to talk to Abby but finding the scientist gone she had lost it and broke down and needed space to gather her thoughts. Tony's feelings had begun turning to anger at his half-brothers treatment of Ziva. He had known she would get hurt by him. Hadn't that been the reason he had issued his warning in the beginning to prevent this. But even as he tried to justify himself he knew it had been a lie. He had issued the warning to Marco because Tony thought of her as his. She had been his since he had found her alive in Somalia. He had been biding his time until he was sure she was ready before he made his move. Yet Marco had seen the warning as a personal challenge and as always he had come out on top, leaving Tony to clean up the mess in his wake. Tony could have murdered him and thought nothing of it. How dared he treat Ziva that way? Didn't he have any clue how amazing and beautiful she was? He hated his half-brother with a passion for this and decided that he would be quite content to never have to lay eyes on him again.
In the past few hours Ziva had told him how she had decided that she would have the baby, she couldn't face having an abortion but neither could she keep the baby and raise it on her own. She had decided that she would give the baby up for adoption. After all she reasoned, she didn't know how to raise a baby and she had never had great role models in her parents and besides, what baby would want an ex-assassin for a mother. Not only that she explained to him but they worked extremely long hours and their job was never safe. A baby needed two parents who could be relied upon to come home in one piece at the end of the day. Not some one who could be shot at any given moment on a normal day.
Tony had waited until she had lapsed in to silence before taking a deep breath, turning her face to his and began to counteract each of her arguments with reasons for why they could do this together. In ten minutes he had convinced her to keep the baby and marry him where they would raise the baby together as their own and nobody would ever know. They wouldn't need to worry about Marco as he had made it cleat that he would not be returning to DC.
They had married a week later at a small ceremony, with only Ziva's old neighbor and Tony's old partner at Baltimore as their witnesses. They had spent the weekend moving all of Ziva's belongings in to Tony's apartment until the house he was working on was finished and 32 weeks later they were joined by a dark haired, blue eyed beautiful baby boy. Tony had been in the delivery room with Ziva and had watched Jacob's entry in to the world before cutting the cord and was the first to hold the crying baby. He had fallen instantly in love with him and knew from that day forward that Jacob would always be his son, no matter what and he would do everything in his power to protect him and never let anything hurt him.
But the truth was however, that even then he'd anticipated this very day coming. Just waiting for Marco to return. It may have taken eight weeks, eight months, Hell eight years. But what would it even matter in the scheme of things? He'd known from the very beginning that this perfect family really wasn't his, that they didn't truly belong to him. He knew even then he was living on borrowed time with his beautiful ex-Israeli "ninja" wife and their precious dark-haired son. He'd been sure sooner or later either his selfish half-brother Marco, the man she'd loved, would return; or if not him eventually she would decide she wanted, needed more than he could give her and she would fall for someone else. Someone who'd be able to give her the large family she'd once dreamt of having. Someone she could love. But he knew that whoever it was that she would eventually give her heart to, he was sure they would never be able to love her or Jacob as much as he did.
"Tony? What is the matter? Why are you still awake? It is after midnight. Is there something wrong with Jacob? Is he all right?"
Tony's head shot up at her soft whisper he'd been so deep in thought he hadn't even heard her come in. How long had he been sitting here? Indolently staring at Jacob, trying to soak up as much of him as possible before he was cruelly taken away. Ziva was padding further into the room, coming to stand beside him, looking down at Jacob adoringly. Her arms were wrapped snugly around her tiny waist, her way of trying to keep warm when she felt cold.
"Nothing" Tony eventually answered as she settled on the bed beside him, their knees just touching. "He's just fine, deep in dream world as usual" He stood abruptly and moved behind her where he watched her run her small hand to smooth over Jacob's bed tousled hair, before coming to her feet and her body being overcome by a sharp shiver. "Ziva you're cold. You should get back into bed after what happened today. You need to take it easy and rest."
Ziva turned to face him as he spoke and lifted her eyes to look at him, she lifted one small feminine hand to push back a piece of hair that hung in her face, and pushed it towards the back where the rest of her hair fell in wild curls half way down the back of the faded blue football jersey, she must have appropriated from his side of the closet. Her hair just about covered his name on the back of the jersey, but he could still make out some of the letters. The small movement forced the too-wide neckline of the too-big shift to gently slide down one tanned smooth shoulder.
The effect shot desire straight through him. Hard and hot, it ripped right through him and gathered just below his stomach and between his thighs. God didn't she have any clue what she did to him? And the way she wore his old jersey, with his name splayed over the back, it always inspired a possessive reaction inside him. It took almost all his strength not to reach for her and drag her into his arms before he lead her down the hall and straight to bed. The knowledge that she'd fainted dead from the mere sight of his half-brother this afternoon however was enough to ensure he kept his hands to himself.
"But what about you? Aren't you coming?" she pleaded gently.
Dark amusement and passion curled through him; obviously she didn't she know the effect she had on him or she was teasing him either way he needed to cool it. "I'll be along in a little while." he answered in a strained voice as he followed her out into the hall from Jacobs dark bedroom and quietly pulled the door closed "I won't be long" He just needed some fresh air and a step outside would do both his head and body some good. It was either that or a cold shower.
Ziva had taken a few short steps towards their room before she stopped. She turned back, to look at him. Her eyes were shadows in the dim light. And she took a deep breath, contemplating whether to say anything before plucking some courage and just going for it. "Tony, are…umm .are you all right? Is there something wrong?"
And just like that the amusement in him died and it was replaced with something he was unable to recognize at that precise moment. "Sure Ziva, is there a reason you think I wouldn't be?"
"Well… It's nothing. I just….. I mean you aren't...well … look Tony… "
"Come on spit it out, ninja."
Her full peach lips quivered at the nickname, and automatically shifted to a shy smile then firmed once she realized her reaction. "You seem...I'm not sure, just…. Upset. I don't know there's just this tension and it's been there ever since you told me about, about —"
"You can't even say his name, can you? After all this time and everything he did. You're still….." He left the sentence hanging after all, he knew that if he had said exactly what he was thinking, he could never take it back. And once it was out there they would never be able to go back.
She made a low frustrated sound at the back of her throat before she answered softly. "I knew it you are upset. But you really have no reason to be Tony. You haven't even come to bed."
"I am not upset! Did you want me to come to bed?" he asked after a few seconds had gone by.
How was she supposed to answer that? Of course she did, why would he think different? Her lips parted. "I do not understand Tony; of course I want you to come to bed and get some sleep. You get up every day before dawn, before me even and – you…"
"Ha-ha sleep, is that why you think I should be in your bed?" He interrupted shortly.
She issued him a look he wasn't able to read, but just as quickly looked away as if she was frightened she had revealed too much. "You're my husband Tony"
He was unsure what devil provoked him but suddenly it seemed incredibly important to know. "And that's your only reason for wanting me to come to bed?"
"Actually," her usual melodious voice sounded strained. "Tony I think it's time to talk..."
(A/N: Well I promised and here it is… Please let me know what you think. Hope you enjoyed and have a good weekend everyone. Big loves and hugs xxxx)