For kesterpan, mibel, SexinSatin and Sarah Withers ...just because.

Please note that this chapter picks up right where the previous chapter left off. Enjoy! =)

Eventually, they settled on some blankets in front of the fire and shared a large piece of warm apple pie. Jethro nearly moaned in ecstasy with his first bite, then had to fight to swallow when she whispered in his ear that they were just getting started.

When the plate was empty, he put it off to the side as she relaxed into the soft pallet on which they were resting. He stretched out beside her, rising up on one elbow to look down at her. She lay on her back with that intimate smile curving her lips again, the firelight dancing attractively over her dusky skin.

"Thanks for dinner," he husked, running his hand lightly down her side and over her hip. "And everything else."

"You are welcome," she answered, caressing his face with the tips of her fingers. "Oh, and I bought you a frame for your picture today while I was at the store in case you would like one."

She gazed at him with a tender smile as she brought to mind the special ultrasound photo that she'd snuck into his inside jacket pocket before he left this morning. He'd found her surprise the first time he'd pulled out his phone to call and check on her. He'd been so moved as he stared at his baby saying Hi, Daddy! that he almost couldn't get any words out. Her heart had echoed the happy curve to her lips as she'd listened on the other end of the line, visualizing the scene. He'd asked how she'd pulled that off and she just answered mysteriously that she had her ways.

While walking through the grocery store today, she'd unexpectedly spotted a small frame in a shiny pewter with the word BABY curved across the top. She thought it suited Jethro perfectly and had impulsively bought it.

He smiled. "Gonna spoil me, ya know." But he was secretly glad to be able to put his picture in a special place – once he could stop carrying it right next to his heart, that is.

"You deserve to be spoiled," she declared in a voice turning husky with emotion. Her eyes gazed deeply into his. "I love you."

Thank God he thought with feeling, pressing his lips to her forehead. Pulling back just far enough to look into her shining brown eyes, he returned, "Love you, too."

"I am so glad," she whispered, pulling his mouth down to hers.

The kiss started out warm and sweet, slow and clinging, heartfelt and full of wonder. As she licked her way into his mouth, it became deep and sensual, connecting and seductive, wrapping them in warm reassurance even as it stoked the fires of their desire.

She pushed gently at his chest until he rolled flat onto his back. She flowed up on her side, draped against him. As she smoothed her hand under the t-shirt he wore, she took his mouth again, robbing him of coherent thought.

His hands wandered over her, absorbing her through his touch. She loved the feel of those big hands on her … smoothing up and down her back, sliding over her hip, gliding up to cup her breast through her clothing. He was gentle there, but she couldn't help the slight noise that escaped her as he rubbed his thumb over her pebbling nipple. It wasn't quite from pain – he'd been too easy and aware with his touch for that. But still, he knew the tips of her breasts were very tender these days.

"Hurt you?" he mumbled against her lips.

She smiled slightly and shook her head. It hadn't hurt. Exactly.

"Tell me if I do," he directed, tilting his head back a little so he could see her beautiful face.

"Stop worrying," she whispered before pressing a string of kisses along his jaw and down his throat, thrilling to the sounds of pleasure that escaped him as she sucked on his neck, then his collarbone as she slowly made her way to his delectable chest.

"Can't," he managed. Barely.

"Then perhaps I can distract you from it for a while."

Ziva released her own hum of bliss as she shoved his shirt up to explore his upper body with her lips, her hands.

"I love your chest," she murmured against his skin before flicking her tongue, scraping her teeth over the hard nub of his nipple.

He squeezed the softness of her breast very gently, reflexively. "Same goes."

Gibbs began unbuttoning that row of a million tiny buttons, going on feel. Even if her dark head had not been blocking his view, he couldn't have seen the damn things clearly without his glasses anyway.

"This is about you," she protested mildly, though she didn't stop him from opening her dress. After all, she hadn't debated her choice of underwear as though the fate of the world rested on her decision just to keep it covered up.

"Trust me," he smirked. "It still is."

Her delighted, sexy laugh went straight to his groin.

He tipped her on her back a bit so he could reach all the way to the bottom of her dress. She raised a bent knee provocatively and felt his shaft harden further against her other thigh. Once he had her dress open completely, he pushed one side down to reveal more of her to his gaze. His breath caught in his chest as his pulse pounded in his ears and his blood rushed south.

Jesus.

She was so, so beautiful.

No, he needed a stronger word than that, but his head was too fogged with desire to think clearly enough to come up with one.

In a leisurely, worshipful manner, his hand slid from her knee … along her thigh … lingered at her left hip to trace her tattoo of his initials that still made him practically growl Mine in possessive satisfaction every time he saw it … rested meaningfully for a moment over her middle where his child was growing … trailed up to her breasts to rub the backs of his fingers along the swell of her curves.

The bra and panties she'd chosen were an eye-catching, heart-stopping matching set in a royal purple mix of satin and lace that could not have been more stunning on her. With one fingertip, he charted a course along the lace that edged the low demi-style cup, his touch light enough to tease, firm enough to please them both.

"Haven't seen this in a while," he breathed, devouring her with his eyes.

"I remembered your reaction the last time I wore it and liked the color combination with the dress," she explained, nuzzling her face against the side of his. He felt her lips curve into a grin. "Besides, I thought perhaps I should wear it while I still can. I am already about to fall out of it – and who would have ever thought I would be able to say that?"

He grinned as he bent to kiss the curves under discussion.

"Noticed," he murmured, referring to the fact that her breasts were already larger than before she was pregnant.

"I imagine that you have no complaints about that?" she teased, swirling her tongue along his ear before biting gently on his earlobe.

"Never had any complaints. Love your body," he answered with feeling. "Always have."

She arched into his touch and breathed out, "And I love the way you love it."

Then he raised his gaze to hers while keeping his lips against her skin. "But I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't gonna enjoy this, too."

His roguish grin had her laughing delightedly and hugging him to her even more closely.

God, she loved him … loved everything about how they were together … perhaps especially when they laughed together. It spoke of so much joy that it couldn't be contained and wasn't that just a wonderful thing in a marriage?

"Well, that is good since I am only going to get bigger." She paused for a moment, then added wryly, "Everywhere."

"Can't wait," he breathed against her skin. He raised blue eyes burning with heated emotion to catch her brown-eyed gaze. "Wanna see you like that."

She melted and had to blink back tears at the rush of sentiment cascading through her.

"Speaking of getting bigger," Ziva husked when she could speak, allowing a fingertip to glide lightly over his handsome face. "I was reading in one of my books about lotions that will hopefully reduce stretch marks." She wrinkled her nose rather adorably at the thought of those pesky lines, but she didn't really mind the idea of them too much considering the reason behind them. "I bought one to try today. Perhaps you would help me put it on every night?"

The look in his eyes was a mix of devotion and desire and possessiveness and gratitude that took her breath away. She smiled at him warmly, moved by his reaction.

He couldn't get any words past the lump in his throat so he nodded and buried his head in that sweet spot where her shoulder met her neck. He was thrilled that she wanted him to be as connected to this pregnancy as he could be, even if he couldn't get the words out to tell her. With a sigh that said all he couldn't, he relaxed into her, just breathing her in.

"Love you," he mumbled into her throat.

"We love you back," she whispered, cradling his head against her with one arm, her hand resting on his head. Her other arm was wrapped around him and she pleased herself by running her hand over his strong, attractive back under his t-shirt.

For a while, they just lay together in front of the fire, soaking each other in, reveling in the closeness that neither had expected to find until they found it in each other.

And getting married … having a baby … well. That just left them feeling nearly full to bursting.

Ziva ran her fingers through his silvering hair watching the firelight catch in the strands, making them shimmer enticingly. She loved his hair … the color … the feel.

She started to move out from under him, intending to get on with the rest of her plans for him. He grunted and squeezed her a little more tightly, his reaction clear. Where you going?

She smiled and dropped a kiss to his hair.

"I just want to rub your back," she murmured, trying unsuccessfully to raise them both up.

"Just my back?" he asked, lifting his head to look down at her with a cocked brow. Her earlier hints had suggested she had more than that in store for him.

"Well," she drawled. "I thought I would start with your back."

He tucked her hair behind one ear with a small smile as her lips curved seductively.

"This is good just like this," he told her, meaning every word.

Ziva put both hands on his shoulders and pushed until he was flat on his back again. She rested her crossed arms on his chest and stared down at him.

"Well, this is a sad state of affairs," she pronounced.

His characteristic smile played about his lips. "What is?"

"Here we are, married less than a year," she began, waving her hands as she spoke, "I have not even gotten fat yet, and you already find me easily resistible."

One corner of his mouth tucked further into his cheek. "Not easily." He buried his hand in her glorious hair and pulled her down for a kiss that stole her breath. "Never easily."

"You are doing a good job of faking it, then," she decided. Her eyes took on a sexy, yet impish gleam as she trailed her hand down his center to cup his hardening member through his sweats. Now who couldn't breathe? "Well, a fairly good job."

She grinned against his mouth as he huffed out a chuckle that turned to a moan as she squeezed him gently and dipped her tongue into his mouth.

Her mouth moved to place a trail of wet kisses along his chiseled jaw.

"Just … doesn't seem … fair," he managed, feeling the reins of his self-control slipping through his fingers.

"What?" she murmured into his ear as her mouth and hands continued to work their magic. "That I will not have a turn to come tonight?"

He nodded, robbed of speech as a myriad of images flashed across his mind's eye.

She smiled and kissed her way back to his mouth. After lingering there for countless seconds, she finally raised her head and looked at him warmly.

"First of all," she began, "if we are keeping score, I am way ahead in that department." She bent her head and brushed her smiling lips over his.

He couldn't help the knowing, pleased-with-himself grin that curved his mouth against hers.

"Secondly," she continued, raising her head just enough to gaze into his stunning blue eyes, hers glittering with desire for him. "Giving you pleasure pleases me, too."

She hummed out her delight as she slid her hand under his shirt once more and bent her head to kiss him brainless. When the need for oxygen raised a flag, she moved her lips to his throat.

"Although," she drawled, "I suppose I could agree to allow you to return the favor in a couple of weeks." Her offer was made with cheeky mock reluctance.

He choked out a chuckle as a picture of that crashed into his brain.

Her lips continued to move down toward his chest, her tongue sneaking out to taste him.

"S'posed to be taking it easy moving that arm again," he reminded her feebly. He knew her shoulder blade still pained her some depending on how she moved it. And yet, he sensed that the last of his defenses was about to crash and burn.

"I will go slowly," she promised. She worked her way back up and pressed her lips to his, sending another zing straight to his groin when she nibbled lightly at his lower lip before laving it with her tongue. "In fact, that is rather the point." She smiled against his mouth and pressed her lips to his once more. "If it helps, think of yourself as my physical therapy for tonight."

"Ziver –" he started to protest lightly once more.

"You know, Jethro, I have never had to work this hard to get you to come in my mouth before," she observed breathlessly into his ear.

"I just –" His mind was too far gone with passion to find the words he was trying to say, but she knew he was just trying to resist something that felt like it was all about him. It went against his very nature.

She turned even more fully into him and laid a finger over his lips, rubbing gently back and forth.

"Remember how you needed to take care of us?" she asked softly, referring to her and the baby.

He nodded.

"I need to take care of you, too," she husked, her heart in her eyes. "You are the most important thing in the world to me. I never want you to forget that."

Same here he told her with his eyes, earning him another kiss filled more with adoration and gratitude than heat.

"Let me love you," she whispered in a voice husky with emotion.

At those words, the last of his resistance melted away. Wordlessly, he allowed her to tug off his shirt and then he stretched out completely on his stomach, pillowing his cheek on folded arms, enjoying the feel of her as she straddled him around the waist.

Ziva reached for the massage oil she'd tucked beside the fireplace earlier. Pouring a little into her hands, she smoothed them up his long, sexy back, reveling in the Mmmm of pleasure he couldn't hold in. With great satisfaction, she felt him gradually relax under her ministrations.

For endless moments she lost herself in massaging his skin, delighting in the hard muscle that lay under it. She searched out knots of tension and worked until they released.

"Missed you today," he sighed softly as he lay with his eyes closed, all the better to steep himself in the sensations she created by sitting on top of him, rubbing her hands over him.

"I missed you, too," she admitted quietly, her eyes and touch focused completely on him.

Leaning down, she pressed soft kisses along his shoulders and down his spine, slowly inflaming his senses, especially when her tongue came out to taste him. Mmmm … brown sugar, vanilla and him. A heady combination. His relaxed body began to harden again, making it a little uncomfortable to lay with his front against the floor.

He twisted to look up and back at her and nearly swallowed his tongue at the sight of her astride him, her dress completely open, her sexy underwear visible, her mouth and eyes softening with desire.

Gibbs slowly turned over to his back and she rose up just enough on her knees to allow it. He caught the tell-tale dark spot dampening the center of her panties and it was all he could do not to grind up against her. He couldn't stop himself from lightly running his finger over it, though, his eyes burning into hers knowingly.

"I am trying to keep myself under control," she admitted breathlessly, catching her bottom lip in her teeth as she dropped her head back and slid reflexively back and forth against his finger. "But there are some things I simply cannot help."

"Good," he growled, as thrilled as always at the proof her body couldn't hide that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Ziva somewhat regretfully took his hand in hers and removed it from between her thighs, placing it on her hip with a squeeze. Then, she settled back down against him, gliding her hands luxuriously up his chest to grip his shoulders. Leaning down, she captured his lips in a kiss that went from soft and warm to deep and sensuous in a slow slide of pleasure.

Sitting back up, she allowed her fingertips to roam lightly, further arousing every nerve in his being.

"Take this off - ?" he husked, tugging at the skirt of her dress.

A slow, sultry smile curved her very kissable lips.

"If you like."

He nodded, completely enthralled by the vision in front of him.

Without hurry, she lifted her hands to where her dress still clung to her shoulders and gave it a push that sent it sliding slowly down her arms. With one hand she dropped it to pool on the floor at his side. His breath caught in his chest as his eyes asked for more.

She slid one fingertip over a silky bra strap alluringly, raising an eyebrow flirtatiously in question.

He swallowed hard and nodded.

Moving as though they had all the time in the world, she unclasped her bra in the back and allowed it to follow a similar path as her dress.

His eyes darkened with heat and glittered with desire as his gaze feasted on her nearly naked form.

He urged her a little further up his body so he could slide his hands from her thighs to her hips to her breasts, pausing there to carefully cup her swelling curves tipped with sensitive, peaked nipples that had grown darker with her pregnancy.

Rising up at the waist, he teased her neck with his tongue … paused to suck lightly at that spot that never failed to send goose-bumps zinging down her arms and a flash of heat straight to her core … pressed feather-soft kisses over her chest. Her lips parted in a silent gasp of pleasure as she instinctively arched against him.

"Need another word besides beautiful for you," he husked without removing his mouth from her skin. "Doesn't do you justice."

A pleased smile tugged at her lips as she smoothed her fingers lovingly along his shoulders before wrapping her arms around them and bending her head to nuzzle against his.

"Beautiful works just fine," she told him warmly. "It makes me happy that you think that about me."

"You take my breath away," he admitted, raising his head to look into her face. "Still can't always believe you're mine."

"Believe it," she husked, emotion lighting her eyes. "I will always be yours."

She took his mouth again in a deep, sensuous kiss that drove a groan from his chest as her tongue danced and tangled with his. Then, with a maddening lack of speed that drove him crazy even as he loved it, she gently pushed him back and thoroughly explored his body on the way to her ultimate goal.

Reaching the edge of his sweats, she ran her tongue along his skin at the waistband, a sense of satisfaction rolling her through her as he moaned her name and tunneled his fingers into her hair. Tugging his clothing down, she released him from his pants, nearly purring as his long, thick erection sprang free. Nuzzling against him, she rubbed her cheek sensuously along his hard length, luxuriating in the undeniable proof of how much he wanted her.

Turning her head, she pressed a row of kisses down one side of his straining cock before tracing a moist line back up along the underside with just the very tip of her tongue. To her extreme gratification, he gasped out her name and thrust his hips at her, the head of his shaft bumping against her lips.

She swirled her tongue around the tip, catching the salty bead of cum that had already formed there. A moan of pleasure left her own throat as she tasted him.

Wrapping one hand around the base of his shaft as best she could, Ziva parted her lips and took him inside her mouth at long last. He nearly passed out from the ecstasy. His lips formed her name, but he could barely force out any actual sound.

Slowly, she worked him with her mouth, her tongue … licking, sucking, pulling … sliding up only to take more of him in as she slid back down until she eventually engulfed him completely ... gradually picking up the pace of her movements until he was mindless with desire.

He couldn't help but thrust himself in and out of her sweet, warm, moist mouth, passion forming a red haze over his mind. He prolonged the delightful torture as long as he could, but reached a point where his control shattered.

"Ziva!"

White-hot pleasure ripped through his body. Fisting both his hands tightly in her hair and thrusting into her mouth one last time, Gibbs shuddered as he emptied himself inside her. She swallowed all he gave her, relishing the taste of him and the fact that she had brought him the mind-blowing satisfaction that now left him completely boneless beneath her.

Oh-so-slowly, she released him from her mouth and kissed her way unhurriedly back up his chest.

With a contented curve to her lips, she tucked her nose in where his neck met his shoulder and pressed herself so tightly against him that not even a whisper of air could have passed between them. He managed to raise one arm to bury a hand in her hair, cradling her scalp in those long fingers.

They lay together quietly for the longest time as the fire burned low and strength slowly returned to Jethro's limbs.

Rolling them onto their sides, he leaned down to take her mouth in a deep, sensual kiss, something primal and possessive moving through him as he tasted himself on her tongue.

Resting his forehead against hers, he released a sigh of deep satisfaction.

"That was incredible," he husked, running a hand up and down her back. "You're incredible."

Her smile was nothing but fulfilled herself. "It was my pleasure," she told him in all truthfulness.

He huffed out a chuckle and shook his head slightly. "That's gotta be my line, babe."

She laughed lightly. "I think we will have to share it."

He nuzzled his nose into her cheek and she turned her head to capture his lips once more in a gentle, affectionate kiss.

When he thought his legs would hold him at last, Gibbs tugged up his sweats and rolled to his knees to make sure the fire was safely out. Ziva slipped her arms into the short sleeves of her dress and wrapped it around herself like a robe. Standing, Jethro assisted his wife to her feet with a gentle pull on her left hand and then boosted her up so her legs wrapped around his hips and her cheek rested on his shoulder as he carried her to their bed.

Loving Ziva was one of the best things that had ever happened to him. And the way she loved him back …

She embraced his heart, his soul, his mind, his scars.

She helped him heal without even trying, took care of him just because she wanted to. Needed to.

She never minded when words failed him, never demanded that he be someone he wasn't.

She breathed life into his future even as she unassumingly nurtured his capacity to remember his past with more than simply gut-wrenching anguish.

She was the brightest star in his sky and never ceased to make him feel like he was hers, too.

While he couldn't have chosen every turn that had led him to this place in his life, he was here – and he was beyond grateful that she was here with him.

He could only hope – and even pray – that, this time, forever really meant forever.