Chapter 10

A puzzled frown crossed Tony DiNozzo's face. Why was Ducky constantly giving him funny looks, and then an even sillier, mysterious grin to go with it? A couple of times he was certain that he had even winked at him! He dared to glance his way again when he spotted him heading his way, and sure enough, Ducky was grinning from ear to ear.

"Is there a problem, Dr. Mallard? You seem rather chipper today, if I might say so."

Ducky laughed out loud at his question. "A problem, Tony? Good heavens, no, I don't think I have a problem."

Tony looked at him a little oddly then rose to leave, having had enough of his cryptic nonsense. "I'm hitting the head."

Tony headed for the gents very perplexed. What on earth was wrong with him? He went into rest-room and checked his reflection in the mirror. No, he couldn't see anything untoward. "The man must be getting a touch senile." He groused.

He went and stood in front of the latrine and unzipped his fly. He barely got started when the door opened. Tony groaned when he saw in the mirror who his toilet partner was.

Ziva David.

Jeez, not again!

Tony watched her warily as she locked the door and propped herself up against the wall across the room. He inwardly sighed with relief. The last time she had approached him in the John she had all but watched him take a whizz.

She seemed a little nervous and that was unusual for her and Tony could only surmise that something was deeply troubling her. But even so, Tony went for light rather than concern. "This is getting to be a regular spot for you to hassle me, so, is there something I can I do for you, Ziva?"

He watched as a rush of breath left her mouth and he realised that she was bolstering herself up to tell him something serious. "Tony, I need to tell you something."

The jock of Gibbs' team entered the bullpen sometime later, only this time he was now a deathly shade of pale and with a stunned expression on his face. Worriedly Gibbs stood to face him as he watched the younger man slip into his seat. "DiNozzo, you okay?"

Tony stared at him for sometime and for a moment Gibbs thought that he had received bad news. Perhaps his dad had died, or worse, he'd been robbed via credit card fraud. He asked again, only this time, he did it in usual, brusque way. the way that Tony knew best. "Hey! DiNozzo, you o.k? Has something happened that we need to know about?"

The question finally shook the young man out of his trance. "Oh, no. Well, yes, but I'm not sure how to quite explain it, boss."

He didn't have to because it became obvious to Gibbs that Tony hadn't known about the baby and Ziva had just this moment told him. The man was in shock! Gibbs grinned and steered him back towards the rest room passing command to McGee who was watching the scene with his usual naive interest. His priority moved back to the view screen once Gibbs had given him an order to continue with the case at hand, his curiosity immediately switching off temporarily to do as he was told. Be it wouldn't stop him from wondering, especially as Ziva was conspicuously missing too.

Gibbs stood in front of the man who had become the only person, other than Ducky, he had ever gotten even remotely close to. He wasn't quite sure whether to laugh at the expression on the Tony's face, or show a false concern. He decided to show the latter. "Care to talk about it?"

Tony looked at him for a long moment then he frowned as he posed his question to Gibbs. "How did you feel when found out that Abby was going to have a baby?"

Gibbs smiled at the memory. "Well, I was so stunned that I actually ran off out of the hospital room and had a good cry. Of course, it was slightly different for us, circumstances, an' all. But once I got over that, I was over the moon, as I'm sure you will be, Tony, once it has sunk in. I'm sure you'll make a great dad.

Then it dawned on Tony that Gibbs had already know that Ziva was pregnant and he was not amused at the finding. "Are you telling me that you KNEW she was expecting, boss?"

Gibbs laughed at the memory of Abby telling him about her meeting with the nauseous Ziva in the corridor. "Not really, other than the fact that I'd recognised the similarities between the two women. Ziva started turning green about the same time as Abby, and I had noticed that er...she had..."

Tony blushed to his boots. "Yeah, I get the picture, thanks."

Gibbs turned to go but turned back to give his sidekick a gentle piece of advice. "You should go to her, Tony. It's important that you're there for her. Whatever you may be feeling, her thoughts and feelings have to come first."

Tony smiled his thanks and Gibbs left him alone with his thoughts. A few minutes later Gibbs watched the young agent walk out and go straight into the elevator He smiled his understanding as the rest of the bullpen wondered what the hell was going on. Nobody dared ask, though.

Abby was sitting with Ziva in her lab holding her hand trying to calm her. Ziva had done possibly the worst part, telling the wanna be jock, Tony DiNozzo that she was two months pregnant and that he was the father. Then she had ran.

Abby had met her on her way back to her floor and was now attempting to help her friend focus on what she was going to do now, about her feelings about the baby, and most of all, her feeling for Tony. She knew that she was relieved that she had finally plucked up the courage to tell him, and now she was worried about his reaction once he'd gotten over the shock.

They both jumped as the elevator as the door 'dinged' and Ziva's frightened chocolate eyes stared into Abby's calming green ones. Hands squeezed each others and Abby decided to be the one to call him in. "Come on in, Tony, we don't bite. Well," She amended, adding a little sass to lighten the moment. "I guess Ziva did just once."

Tony stepped into the room and hesitated when he saw Abby push Ziva back to her seat as she too rose to leave, raising her palm to halt his flight. "I'm just leaving, Tony. I'm sure you two have got lots to talk about. I'll see you guys later."

She smiled tenderly at the them both and walked out of the door leaving the couple to their own devices. Tony and Ziva stared at each other in silence for some time until eventually and unable to resist the pull, he went and sat down beside her and gently took her in his arms.