It had been thirty minutes since plane tickets dated for the next day had been placed on each agent's desk, and regardless of his request, that included Ziva's. As Anthony DiNozzo stared at the plane ticket, which sat quite innocently on his desk, the words printed on it brought the facts home much clearer than ever before. It was quite a simple concept, but it was proving hard to get his mind around it and since only he and Vance knew what happened in the Director's office, it was becoming more and more of a battle than he ever expected it to become.

Tel Aviv, although a beautiful place, was a city which held rather a high number of memories, ones which would be preferred to be forgotten. Nothing was ever simple when the team went abroad, and the not-so-great relationship with the two agencies was surely going to make things more difficult than usual. Clearly, Tony's request had been rejected, which meant that his earlier revelation to the Director didn't go down particularly well. Rule twelve was clearly taken rather seriously.

"You ready?" The familiar, accented voice of his partner nearly startled Tony, causing his eyes to shoot up, meeting hers.

"Huh?" He questioned, feeling as if he were on a completely different planet. He knew it had been the right decision to keep his mouth shut about what had happened, but it sure threw his concentration into next week.

"Are you ready to go? We have an appointment to get to," Ziva explained, her observant eyes watching as her partner managed to come back to reality after spending a while in his own world. As of yet, she hadn't inquired as to what Vance had wanted, but it was clearly something of importance and something which had affected DiNozzo in quite a way. The whole building was used to a cheery, flirtatious, movie-quoting agent but for the past hour or so, it was as if he was a different person. Still, Ziva refrained from delving into it, for now.

Just the mention of the appointment the two of them had made caused a small smile to tug at Tony's lips, pushing the negative thoughts out of his mind for the time being. "Of course I am." Scooping up his backpack, he threw it over his shoulder before grabbing the plane ticket off of his desk, ignoring the thoughts that it usually induced. He offered a warm smile as the two headed over to the elevator. To any other agent who was still at work despite the reasonably late hour, it was just two partners leaving work, possibly to have a drink or a chat now that the shift had finished. Not even close.

Pressing the button to summon the elevator, Ziva waited patiently beside her partner, silently watching him. She battled with herself to ask if everything was alright, wanting to know what was on his mind but not wishing to go into things which were perhaps not her business. As the silver doors opened, she stepped inside, hitting the button for the garage as she leaned against the back of the elevator. The initial jolt of the elevator as it began its descent allowed a few moments for them to talk. Flicking her gaze to Tony, Ziva let out a quick breath, "Is everything alright?"

The break of silence was a big relief, but Tony still felt a tang of guilt. Any normal day he'd be skipping with joy at the fact that in less than an hour he'd be finding out all kinds of interesting facts about their baby, and he was sure that that would be the case very soon, but the constant thought of travelling away in the morning and the uncertainty of what Vance would do about their situation caused him to be more wary about their circumstances. "Yeah, 'course it is. Why?"

"You seem…distracted," Ziva commented, turning her body so that she faced him properly. "What happened?"

Tony smiled gently, pressing his lips to her temple, "It's fine, I promise. Let's just focus on this little one here, yeah?" Softly, he placed his hand over her stomach, his smile broadening. The ding of the elevator signalled that the doors were about to open, and when they did, the couple walked out into the garage with their footsteps echoing around them. Fishing out his car keys from his pocket, he unlocked the car and the headlights flashed, illuminating the space for a brief second.

Within a few moments, both agents were in the car with their seatbelts on and, with Tony at the wheel, were well on their way to the local clinic. It seemed almost surreal that just two months ago, both of them were scared out of their minds about what to do and now, these kind of procedures had almost become second nature. Parenthood was something that was never certain, particularly in the profession the both of them had, but with each of them leaning on one another they knew things would only get better.

Having missed all the rush hour traffic by a few hours, Tony managed to pull up at the clinic within half an hour of having left work. Turning the key in the ignition, the usual roar of the engine came to a slow stop and both agents stepped out of the car, pushing the doors behind them. The building before them was small, almost homely and was one which would answer so many questions, bringing smiles without a shadow of a doubt.

Despite the irritating thoughts of what the next week had in store for them, Ziva couldn't deny the smile which teased her lips. Knowing that the next hour or so was going to be overwhelmingly amazing filled her stomach with butterflies and as the two walked up to the automatic front doors, Ziva easily found Tony's hand with her own, lacing their fingers together.

The inside was what one would expect from any clinic; the walls were painted an off-white colour with various posters and medical advertisements pasted on the walls. Beside the waiting area was a small area with a carpeted floor which was covered in boxes full of children's toys and books. Despite the late hour, there were still quite a few couples who had arranged to see the medical staff, about ten seats taken up in the waiting room.

Glancing up to Tony, Ziva offered a gentle smile, "I'll go sign us in," Releasing his hand, she headed over to the reception desk on the left side of the room, giving her details to the woman on the other side of the desk.

Meanwhile, Tony stood, eagerly studying the various posters on the wall. One in particular caught his eye, causing a warm, fuzzy feeling to build up in the pit of his stomach. He read happily about the various facts and stages a baby went through during the entire pregnancy. Of course he knew the vary basics, but when it was about your own child it was so much more fascinating. His emerald eyes seemed to sparkle as he absorbed every piece of information, treasuring each word. There was just so much to look forward to, and being able to spend that with somebody he loved, his best friend, his partner made it even more indescribable. Wait, had he just admitted he loved her? He'd known all along that his feelings were unlike anything he'd had before, and now that he thought about it, perhaps 'love' was really the only way to describe that.

"Hey, Zi! Come take a look at this!" Tony said excitedly, beaming. When Ziva joined him by his side, Tony immediately started pointing out facts he had learnt in the short amount of time, "Our baby's the size of a lime already!"

A small chuckle slipped past her lips, her hand instinctively resting on her stomach, "Really?" Ziva replied, almost in disbelief as to how quickly that time had gone.

"Yeah, and he or she is learning how to move." Nothing could break Tony's smile. He felt like a kid in a candy store whenever he was learning anything about their baby. Anything to do with their child instantly made him smile, and he was more than proud to call himself a father-to-be. "Our little one sure is growing fast,"

"Perhaps a little too fast," Ziva joked, "We only have five months to go and we have a lot of things to plan."

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Tony smiled warmly, "And we'll get it all done in time. Both you and I will be allowed some time off where we can do all that stuff."

A door to their right opened, revealing a young doctor, dressed in the traditional white overcoat which had her name tag pinned to the breast pocket. With a clipboard in hand, she scanned the piece of paper attached before calling out the name, "Ziva David,"

The mispronunciation of her last name was something Ziva had become accustomed to and she no longer bothered to correct it. Instead, she turned and headed down the hallway to meet the doctor, Tony following closely behind after being torn away from the intriguing poster. Heading into the examination room, which was marked 'A', Ziva politely smiled and shook the doctor's hand.

"I'm doctor Christine Richards, it's wonderful to meet you both," She said, smiling as she introduced herself, "You must be Ziva and, you must be Anthony,"

"The one and only," Tony replied, grinning.

"Well, today I'll be taking some routine blood samples to make sure everything is in check with you, and then we'll do an ultrasound to make sure your baby is developing properly," As Dr. Richards explained the schedule, she placed down the various medical forms on the table which was placed at the side of the room, pulling on a pair of white latex medical gloves, "Have you experienced anything out of the ordinary as of yet?"

Hopping up onto the bed in the middle of the room, Ziva lightly shook her head, "Well, morning sickness just happens to occur throughout the day but, no, nothing out of the ordinary," Being more than used to having blood samples taken, Ziva rolled up the right sleeve of her shirt.

Setting the needle and syringe down in a sterilised dish, Dr. Richards offered a smile, "Well, having looked at your records, the morning sickness should subside a little from now on. But if it does persist or you think something is wrong, then don't hesitate to call." Taking the needle into her hand, the doctor expertly found the vein needed, "Sharp scratch," she warned before gently pressing the sharp needle into Ziva's arm, drawing the small amount of blood needed to run the necessary tests. Once the procedure was done with, she offered a bud of cotton wool to stop the minimal bleeding. "I'll send this off tonight, and we should have the results in by the day after tomorrow. I'll usually call with results, but if something does occur, then you may have to come in,"

"Uh, we're not exactly here as of tomorrow," Tony stated, glancing to Ziva for a brief second, "We have to fly out of the country tomorrow but we're not quite sure when we'll be back,"

Dr. Richards nodded understandingly, "Okay. I can ask one of the administrative staff to e-mail the results, but when you do return, we will have to have a check-up especially after long-haul flights." Removing the white latex gloves, she placed them into the disposable waste bag in the corner of the room, "Right, Ziva, could I get you to just lay down and lift up your shirt please. We'll just do a few routine checks to make sure the baby is doing well. You are sixteen weeks gone, correct?"

Swinging her legs up as she lay down, Ziva nodded in affirmation as she rolled up her shirt which revealed her stomach, now with a small bump. "Yes, sixteen,"

"Okay, then the next couple of weeks will be full of changes. At the moment, you're going into the second trimester, so morning sickness should mostly subside and the baby will grow a lot quicker than it has been doing up to now. By now, the baby should be about seven centimetres in length or…"

"The size of a lime," Tony interjected, grinning. "Or a lemon, if that's your kinda thing,"

The doctor simply laughed, nodding in concurrence, "Yes, about that. I see our posters clearly work on fathers-to-be," Grabbing the sonogram wand and the gel needed, Dr. Richards set everything up before turning her attention to Ziva, "This will be cold, but only for a few seconds," Squirting a golf ball size of gel onto Ziva's stomach, the doctor gently moved the wand over the Israeli's stomach and soon all eyes turned to the image on the screen.

Without any hesitation, Tony linked his hand with Ziva's, his grin easily transforming into a gentle, fatherly like smile as he watched in awe at the little picture on the screen. It was hard to deny the small amount of tears which welled up before him emerald eyes; he had never seen anything so tiny and yet so perfect. The sound of their baby's strong heartbeat echoed throughout the room, sending waves of emotion flowing over the both of them.

"Well, everything looks fine. Nice, strong heart beat and growing well. The baby is a little bit smaller than we would have liked, but that is nothing to be concerned about, I am sure it will catch up over these next few weeks." The doctor reported happily.

Ziva's eyes glistened in amazement; how could such a tiny little, innocent being move her to tears? It was unreal to think that in five months' time, they'd be meeting their baby. Turning to Tony, Ziva smiled brightly, letting out a happy, relieved breath, "That's our little baby," she stated obviously, but with such excitement.

Pressing a soft kiss to her lips, Tony leaned his forehead against hers, "Our baby, and our future," he whispered softly, simultaneously giving her hand a gentle squeeze as their fingers laced together.