It's McGee who's with her when her water breaks.
"But I've been trying to set up this gaming device system through my home computer that could connect to the computer here but I just…"
Ziva's not really paying attention and McGee sort of knows it but the two of them have always had that easy friendship of wanting to just be around each other amongst a flood of conversation and endless amounts of teasing. It's probably the easiest relationship she's ever had.
She wasn't supposed to come in this afternoon, or at all for that matter, but Tony had forgotten some paper work at home and she had dropped it off and had decided to stay. She'd be having mild contractions all morning and wanted and needed something to take her mind off of them.
She's staring up at him, her eyes wide with her head rolling along to his expressions when she starts to feel the leak; she's only wearing a thin cotton dress and her maternity underwear, the summer shaping up to be one of hottest on record. Finding things that were bearable enough to wear was getting near impossible.
She doesn't say anything for a moment and McGee continues to babble on.
When she can feel it trickling down her leg, enough is enough, "Ah…McGee." Her voice an anxious quiver that is so un-Ziva-like he stops immediately, mid word.
She flaps her hands around, parting her legs as she stands, "I ah think…my water just broke."
They simultaneously look down and sure enough at her feet, there is a small, sure, puddle; his eyes go wider than hers and he pulls as far back as he can, "Ziva?"
She clutches her eyes shut just as the bell dings, landing on the squad room floor. Her hands that are splayed out in front of her are shaking and he doesn't know what else to do but grab her right hand and start rubbing at her knuckles.
"What should I….where I should….What…"
He looks like he might be sick.
"Listen to me, McGee. I need you to get Tony."
"Ziva you're…"
"Just. Get…Tony." She stammers out carefully, giving his fingers a tight squeeze before letting them go in order to reach over and flick the switch that would keep the elevator doors open.
He nods quickly and practically stumbles out, he's in such a rush but he stops suddenly and quickly turns around once he's out to look over at her, his eyes quickly darting away and then back to her. Like he's torn between leaving her, staying with her and getting Tony.
She barely lifts her head now resting against one of the back corners, now slowing blowing deliberate air out and in through her nose and mouth, "Please. McGee. Tony."
The contractions were still only mild but she felt dizzy with shock. She wasn't supposed to go into labor this early, let alone at work, this wasn't how they had planned it. She was supposed to be at home, with Tony, both deciding that they weren't going to head to the hospital until they absolutely had to. She's not ready for this, for any of it.
She doesn't know how long it takes but she's panting quietly when Tony finally appears, sounding like he had just sprinted from whatever part of the building he had been in.
"Ziva?" He asks anxiously, rushing towards her. McGee isn't with him and Ziva guesses he's probably trying to locate Abby, Gibbs and whoever else he thought might be needed.
"My water broke." She gets out, barely looking down at him as he settles on his knees.
"Contractions?" He asks and clutches for her hands, trying to get her to look at him.
She shakes her head then lets out a long, low breath, "Not that bad yet."
She squeezes his hands tighter, "Tony. I can't do this."
It's so quiet that if he hadn't had been looking right up into her face, watching her for her expressions, he would've missed it. He bends up, the best he can and reaches for her, cupping her face into the palms of his hands.
"Listen to me, this is crazy and surreal and amazing and all too much, I know but you are the person who can do this, I know you and you can do this." He stumbles over the words, his heart racing because he's just as shit scared as she is but as she rolls her chin up against his fingers, he sees a small smile and it's like the flick of a switch, how much calmer he is from seeing it.
"Okay." She whispers just as McGee comes rushing back, flying against the sides of the elevator and catching himself at the doors.
"Gibbs is coming!"
"McVolume! We are right here. There is no need to shout."
McGee quickly nods at Tony, flicking his eyes onto anything but Ziva and the puddle on the floor.
"Oh!" Ziva suddenly yelps and both boys come forward (though McGee won't put his feet back onto the elevator).
"It's okay, it's pass…passing." She tips her head up and gives them a smile, shrugging Tony's hands away and walking past McGee towards her desk.
"Ziva!" Tony exasperates.
She breathes in and out calmly and sits down at her chair, her butt only making it half way on.
"It's fine." She assures them but her voice is way too high and breathless for it to be anything but fine.
"Ziva," Tony sighs and ducks down so that they have a little privacy. McGee has disappeared again, "Come on sweetheart, we really need to get home or even better the hospital."
She shakes her head, still smiling weakly and opens her mouth to retort but then her eyes suddenly go wide and she's gripping to her desk. She leans over it, rolling out her groans through her teeth.
"Let's just go to the hospital, quickly in and out." He says restlessly and clutches for her arms.
"No." Ziva suddenly juts out, loud and clear, and her hand becomes a vice around his and he looks towards her pleadingly.
"Please…I just need…I can't have. It. Now. I just. Can't. Do. It."
McGee comes racing back and almost falls over his feet he brakes so hard just before he passes Gibbs desk, spotting Ziva hunched over her own, with Tony's hand covering her head.
"You know what I think if Abby and Ducky prepared her lab or autopsy for it to be sterile…and and and if they laid out towels I think you could-"
"I am. Not. Having. My. Baby. Here." Ziva grits out through her teeth and pulls her head up to glare at McGee.
Tony shoots McGee a look before ducking down next to her ear again, whispering things McGee can't hear.
"What the hell are you two still doing here?" Gibbs demands and he strides past McGee and both Tony and Ziva methodically bring their heads up.
Gibbs points in the direction of the elevator and brushes off Tony, reaching around to pull Ziva off her chair.
"Palmer's getting Ducky and Abby."
Tony takes over helping her back onto the elevator while Gibbs slaps the button.
"We'll meet you there." He says and the doors shut with the two of them still staring at him, baffled.
"Well, I guess we're going to the hospital."
Ziva looks at him, her face an array of overwhelming emotions that are matched by his.
They make their way over to his car, with the hospital overnight bag packed and ready in the trunk. And it isn't until their almost half way there when the contractions start to get stronger and more frequent; Ziva no longer tries to mask the pain, freely groaning out, her face scrunched tight.
He keeps hold of her hand, feeling overwhelmingly helpless, "Deep breaths, baby, that's it." He says.
He's running another red light when she exclaims in a yell and drops his hand in order to brace herself against the dashboard. She hums as he reaches over a hand to rub at the back of her neck, needing to do something, anything.
"Almost there, Ziva, you're doing great."
She groans in a reply that sounds too much like a curse to not be one and rocks back onto the seat, spreading her legs open and reaching over for his hand again.
He pulls the car into the allotted emergency space and quickly jumps out, running to the other side.
"Okay, honey, here we go." He's gently pulling her up when an orderly spots them and comes running over to help.
"How far apart are her contractions?" The guy asks quickly, looking like he was young enough to still be in high school.
Tony answers, "Almost 5 minutes."
"Right, we'll get her into a wheelchair and up to the birthing center immediately." He could pass as a kid but he was good, Tony thought, as he immediately grabbed the attention of a nurse with a wheelchair.
They had made arrangements for a private room with as little staff in the room as possible and with as little machinery as possible. It wasn't highly suggested for first time mothers but Ziva had opted for a natural birth (Tony was the only one who wasn't surprised).
Their midwife Carrie is already waiting for them in their room and Tony thinks that somebody from the base must've called her; he hadn't even thought of it.
"Okay Ziva, we're just gonna get you up and comfortable on the bed and then I'm going to check how dilated you are, okay?"
Ziva nods as Tony reaches for her arm, lifting her up off the wheelchair and pivoting her around to slide onto the bed. She wriggles a little until she's comfortable but lets go of his hand suddenly, now looking at him with a blank expression on her face that scares the living shit out of him.
"Ziva? What is it? Another contraction?"
And Carrie, perhaps spotting it a mile away, already has the bucket in her hand as Ziva rolls her head forward and vomits into it.
"This is completely normal for first time mothers, it's a mixture of the hormones and endorphins," Carrie explains gently, rubbing Ziva's back with one hand and holding the bucket in the other. Tony quickly shrugs off his jacket and comes around the opposite side of the bed, beginning to rub at the base of her spine.
Once the nausea has passed, together, Tony and Carrie help Ziva lay back flat onto the bed and she swallows against a moan a few times before she reaches for his hand again, her face already covered in a thin layer of sweat.
"Okay Ziva, let's take a look."
"You're doing so great babe." Tony mumbles against her ear, squeezing her hand. He doesn't like that she hasn't said anything since being in the car but he thinks she might still be in shock.
"Well Ziva, you're only 3 centimeters dilated but your water has obviously broken and you're comfortable enough and prepared, which I like. It's good you got here so quickly! I'm going to go check another patient but I'll be back in around an hour to check on you okay?"
Ziva has her eyes closed but she nods.
"Thank you, Carrie," Tony says and Carrie smiles warmly as she ducks out of the room.
He sits back down on the chair that was pushed against the bed and squeezes her hand again, looking at her.
"Sweetheart, did you wanna change? You have clothes in the bag, I can run out and get it quickly, we left it in the car…"
He watches as a single tear trickles out of her right eye and feels his throat close with the ache.
"Ziva…look at me." He whispers gently, shaking her hand a little.
It takes a moment but she turns her head, her lips pursed together and her eyes filled with worry. They look at one another for a long, heavy moment until he lays his head down onto the bed so they were face to face.
"When I was 6 and I was stuck in some hotel room, my dad at another one of his business meetings, I remember watching this show on tv," He whispers to her, keeping their hands tightly together, "It was about these mothers, giving birth and talking about how it felt, how much it changed them having a baby, how happy it made them and I remember thinking, if only I could have a baby, I would be less lonely than what I am now."
She smiles and blinks through her tears, rolling her head closer towards him.
"What did you do when you found out that you could not have one?" She asks softly and he grins and kisses the very tip of her nose.
"I got lucky and found somebody who made me forget what being lonely felt like, and it turns out, she's the one having the baby."
She laughs against the side of his arm and he gazes at her, feeling his ache disparate at the sound. After a moment, she looks back at him, her face settling, "I'm scared."
"I know, baby, and I wish I could take that away but I'm scared too, heck I'm scared to death," He says and strokes her cheek, tucking pieces of hair behind her ear, "But It's you and me, the whole way through this."
She doesn't say anything but she smiles, her face a little calmer and the grip to his hand has softened.
"Would you mind running out to get the bag actually?" She asks as he shifts himself off the bed.
"Yeah sure," He says and jumps up, leaning over to kiss her forehead, "I'll be back in just a sec."
She nods and the door is barely closed when a wave of pain crashes down onto her body, creeping from the base of her spin to the valley beneath her breasts. She cries out and uses her hands to buck her off the bed, hoping to ease it somehow.
Nothing in her life, not her Mossad training, could have ever prepared her for this, this type of pain. She grips to the bed, balling the sheets up tighter and tighter until her knuckles are turning white. She doesn't know where the call button is but that is the last thing she is thinking about as she cries out again.
"Did we need some help in here?" A voice asks calmly and a nurse comes racing in, grabbing the bucket off the floor just in time for Ziva to be sick again.
"That's the way darlin ', just let it out."
It's nausea mixed with the excruciating pain of another contraction that makes her feel like she might pass out.
Somehow, the nurse gets her to sit up but doing so makes her vomit again; eventually she ends up on all fours, crouched over with her butt in the air.
"Might find this position more comfortable." The nurse says and places one hand on Ziva's tummy and the other on her back, rubbing small circles.
It does help but barely and Ziva lets her next contraction come out through her mouth, groaning loudly and deeply into the room.
"That's the way, deep breathes, Carrie will be back in 15 minutes, she's almost done with her other patient."
The nurse continues to rub her back just as Tony comes flying into the room, hearing the cries.
"What happened?" He asks, throwing the bag on the floor and rushing over to the bed.
Ziva only groans a reply but the nurse waves his hands over to replace hers, "She's just having heavy contractions but she's dealing with them really well."
Ziva shakes her head and rocks herself back.
"Carrie will be here soon." The nurse repeats and ducks back out of the room.
"S'gone," She mumbles and he helps her sit into an upright position.
He kisses her forehead then bends down for the bag, bringing out their toiletries bag, a blanket from home and the ipod.
He's helping her change into the hospital gown when Carrie comes back into the room.
"Let's see how we're going here."
They help Ziva back onto the bed and Carrie does her check while Tony wipes her forehead with a towel, laying out the blanket from home behind her head.
"6 centimeters, Ziva, you are doing absolutely fantastic, Michelle filled me in on the contractions, it might be some time till she's here but you are doing so wonderfully."
Ziva nods, feeling breathless and sinks against into the mattress.
Carrie leaves the room again.
"Gibbs and the others are all downstairs, do you want any of them up here, Gibbs maybe?" He asks softly, wiping her forehead again.
And for some reason as she looks at him, her body and mind exhausted and weary, the only person she thinks of wanting is her mother.
As his hand stills, she wonders if maybe she's voiced it aloud but then another contraction is rocking through her body and it's only the pain she can concentrate on.
Another nurse appears at the doorway, this one looking much older than the other and walks right in carrying what looked like a fitness ball.
"Here we are, Ziva, let's get you set up on the birthing ball. My name is Elizabeth and I'm the on call nurse."
Tony doesn't have time to process what the heck a birthing ball could do before Elizabeth is gently helping Ziva out of bed and guiding her over the ball.
"That's the way, Ziva. Now just lean over and rest your head on the bed, you'll feel much more comfortable."
Ziva rests her head over, fixing herself better on the ball as Tony comes around to fit himself behind her, immediately rubbing at the base of her back.
"Didn't even have to ask you to do it." Elizabeth teases with a warm smile and Tony felt more comforted that he ever had since first coming into the hospital by the woman's presence.
Ziva's moans quietly subside to mere grunts, her pain more manageable now on the ball and she could hear Tony's whispers of, "I love you so much, you can do this" in her ear now and then, carrying her through.
"You're doing great, Ziva just keep rocking from side to side, it'll move the baby down where she needs to be." Elizabeth said.
Ziva zones out, retracting inside herself in order to keep her focus. The ripples of contractions sear through her body but the bounce of the ball and the warm hands behind her keep her steady. She felt a straw at the side of her face every once in awhile as Elizabeth gave her water and she kept her breathing as loud and open as she needed.
She doesn't know who puts the music on, Tony's hands don't move from her back so she assumes it was Elizabeth. It immediately grounds her further, the familiar opening chords of a song the both of them loved as another contraction tears through her.
"Doing so well, Ziva." Elizabeth soothes as Ziva groans again, digging her forehead into the bed.
"I think…I feel as though…I need to push." She moans after it's passed and tips her head up.
She can hear Tony's shocked, "Really?" and lets Elizabeth lift her gently up, the two of them helping her back onto the bed.
"Let's just check and see, though I think we might still have a little longer to go."
Tony kisses her forehead again as Elizabeth checks, gasping out an, "Oh" once she had.
"You're 10 centimeters dilated my darling, I think we're ready to go."
Elizabeth buzzed on her pager letting Carrie know and fixed the pillows and blanket behind Ziva's back as both Tony and Ziva look at one another, a mixture of exhaustion and elation on both their faces.
"This is it baby, game time." He mumbles and settles himself around her back, one arm underneath each of hers.
"Game time?" She mutters in that familiar tone that always used to secretly turn him on.
He presses his lips against her cheek, "Game time."