Thanks so much for the reviews everyone. I'm glad you all chose to stick around and see how this goes. I promise I will try my very best not to let you down. Anyway, the show must go on, so here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from NCIS, nor do I own Emily (she's from Criminal Minds) and I'm not making a profit from this story.
Chapter Seven: Tell One Other Person, If You Must
"I did," Mark replied, "Congratulations, Ziva. You're pregnant."
Ziva dropped her cell phone immediately. Of all the terrible ailments she expected to have, that was not one of them.
"Ziva? Ziva?" she heard the voice on the phone cry.
Gathering herself, she picked it up again. "Thank you, Dr. Hagerty." And she hung up the phone and sank on to her lounge. She never did see herself as the mothering type. She had friends back in Israel who spoke of it every now and again. When she was in her late teens, just before she undertook the two year mandatory military service, her girlfriends were excited by the idea. But it was never for her. Now, it would seem, she may not have a choice.
She grabbed her phone off the floor, where it had been tossed once more, and punched her Speed Dial 4 in. Emily. She knew her best friend would want to be the first to know and, quite frankly, she desperately needed her advice right now. When Emily didn't answer, she left a voice message asking her friend to come around later, trying to contain the emotion and desperation in her voice.
She sat on her lounge for what seemed like hours when she heard a knock at the door. She rushed to it, expecting it to be Emily. She did not expect her ex to be coming around late on a Friday.
"What are you doing here, Tony?" she asked wearily, trying hard to contain herself. He held a brown box that she could was packed over the edges with her clothes folded neatly.
"You left some stuff at my place," he answered, perturbed by her tone of voice, "Can I come in and, perhaps, get what I left?"
Ziva nodded and moved out of the way of the entrance to her residence. Tony walked directly with the box to her bedroom. She sighed and followed him in, exhausted from a hard week and an even harder afternoon.
He was collecting the clothes that Ziva had simply thrown into a pile when she was raging against him. She walked in to watch him fold his own clothes sadly. It felt like a pang against her heart.
"Did I leave anything else behind?" Tony asked as he began to open the first drawer in her chest of drawers.
"No, and Tony can you stop looking through my panties?" Ziva answered with an unwilling smile.
Tony smiled widely as he went to close the drawer, but then noticed a frame half covered by her socks on the other side. Curious, he reached over and lifted it out. Ziva was not looking at him. Instead, she was making some attempt to fold his creased and tangled clothes.
Tony stared closely at the photo in the frame. Ziva looked happy, smiling widely as though she had been laughing when it was taken. She was clutching the side of a man that Tony knew all too well. Ari Haswari.
Ziva looked up at him to see that his face had fallen, but she could not see the photo frame in his hands. "What is it, Tony?"
"It's seems you were more than just friends in the old days," Tony answered spitefully, not even bothering to contain the anger that was now lacing his voice.
"Excuse me?" Ziva questioned indignantly as she moved around him to see him clutching the photo.
He threw the frame back down in the drawer, nearly breaking it as it hit the wood on its way down. He grabbed his pile of clothes and pushed passed Ziva, who was not looking at him.
"Wait, Tony, stop," she cried out, following him to the hallway, "You do not understand."
"Well then, why don't you enlighten me?" Tony asked, turning around and still very angry.
"He was my brother," Ziva admitted, not able to look at him. Tony's face softened upon hearing the pain in her voice. He did not say anything, allowing her to continue. "I did not know the monster that killed Kate and tried to kill Abby and Gibbs. He was always so kind to me. Good-natured and sweet, even after his mother died. I did not know the Ari that you knew until the very end."
Tony didn't say anything, but nodded to indicate that he understood.
"And I would appreciate it if you could keep it to yourself, Tony," Ziva then said with far more strength, "For obvious reasons, it is not something I want known to all."
"Fine," Tony answered shortly, "I'll see you on Monday, then."
Ziva nodded as Tony made his way out of the apartment. She drew in a heavy breath as she closed the door behind him and let it out shakily. She returned to her slump on the lounge before hearing the door knock again, not even five minutes after Tony had left.
"Did you forget something?" she yelled out as she went to open the door.
"I don't think so," Emily answered as Ziva opened the door to reveal one of her closest friends.
Oh, Emily, I thought it was Tony again," Ziva exclaimed as she closed the door and walked with Emily into the kitchen.
"Tony was here?" Emily asked with proclamation and an incredulous look on her face, "Are you okay? Wait, don't answer that. You sounded so upset in your message after all. I had to raincheck dinner plans with my mother."
"You did not have to-," Ziva started to say before Emily cut her off.
"Oh no, trust me," Emily answered, "I wanted to. So I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours. But first, shall we get a stiff drink?" She walked to cupboard underneath the stove and pulled out a bottle of Cognac.
"No, thank you," Ziva replied earnestly, "But you are welcome to and you may need one."
Emily shot Ziva an interested glance and replaced the bottle in the cupboard, then sat down across from her. "Oh, do tell."
"I'm pregnant," Ziva admitted softly.
Emily face dropped, but she quickly collected herself and went into full therapy mode, forgetting the story that she was going to tell. "Okay, you have the floor."
Ziva replied by shooting her a quizzical look. "I know," she answered, confusedly looking at her tiled kitchen floor, "It is my condo."
Emily laughed. "No, I meant you talk and I'll listen."
"Oh right," Ziva replied, smiling a little, "Dr. Hagerty called with the results this afternoon."
"Did you tell Tony?"
"No," Ziva replied, shaking her head and standing up, "I do not want to tell him, though I know that I must and soon. I don't know how this happened."
"Um," Emily stated unsurely, watching her friend pace up and down the kitchen, "You know when Tony was spending the night and you guys-."
"No!" Ziva claimed, cutting Emily's ramble off, "I know how that happened! But we were being so careful."
"Sometimes these things just happen, Z. The real question is, what do you do now? Have you decided whether or not you will keep it?"
"Yes," Ziva replied, sitting back down, "That was never really a choice to make. I could not do it. But even with that aside, I never saw myself as a maternal figure."
"We'll be fine, Z," Emily piped up with a wide smile, "You have me. And I'm glad that you called me first."
"Oh, I'm not just going to have to tell Tony, but Jenny and McGee and Ducky and Abby and Lee."
"Well, from what I could gather from them when we met, Tony will be Tony-."
"That makes me feel so much better," Ziva outlined, cutting Emily off.
"Jenny will take a hard line at first, but I know she'll support you," Emily continued with great insight, "McGee will be happy that he has something to get at Tony with, Abby will jump for joy, Lee, I don't know her, and Ducky will be very happy for you. Be glad that you don't have to tell Gibbs."
"I am," Ziva answered, giving her friend a worried glance, "We broke his rules."
"I gather that he takes that seriously?" Emily asked.
"Mm, then there's my father," Ziva stated, looking down.
"We'll deal with him when that comes," Emily announced positively, "For now, let's not let Mossad find out. I know that they will eventually, but it won't matter. They can't really do anything."
"You don't know them like I do, Em," Ziva told her, pain etched on every surface of her face.
"It'll be fine, Ziva," Emily claimed reassuringly, grasping her friend's left hand as she did so, "Hey, you're having a baby. This is gonna be great."
Ziva let out a weak smile. She could always count on Emily's ability to make her feel better.
"Thank you, Emily. For everything."
Emily gave her a wide smile. "First, we need to tell Tony and soon. Please, do not let it drag on like you did with 'the talk.'"
But let it drag on is exactly what Ziva did.
A/N: Please review, people. I like to know what you guys think, so drop me a line, just one line. LOL.
