Thank you again to all who are reading and commenting on this story! I am especially grateful to all the non MPREG readers who really seem to be enjoying it's emotional elements since that is the part that I enjoy the most about this as well.

Despite the revelations of the morning, Tony's departure was still imminent and as they hit the ground running and picked up with the as-yet unsolved murder case, it loomed in the back of both their minds.

Pacci and Barbosa had returned with Parillo in the late night hours. Apparently he had come without a fight and was currently cooling his heels in a holding cell. Gibbs had spent a few minutes reviewing Mansfield's statement about the death as well as Tony's notes on the former Petty Officer's trip to South America six months ago while he had DiNozzo bring him up to interrogation. He was a little surprised to find the younger man waiting in the hallway for him as he rounded the corner.

"Something you should know before we go in there, Boss," he warned.

"He lawyer up already?" Jethro asked irritably.

Tony shook his head. "No. He's…uh…he's pregnant, Gibbs. Really pregnant," he said emphatically. "I thought maybe you'd want me to take the lead on this one?"

"Think I'll be too sympathetic?" If DiNozzo didn't hear the edge in his voice, the man needed to get his hearing checked.

"No,Boss. It's just…" He wisely took a half-inch step backwards.

"That's what I thought." Jethro pushed open the door and had to stop himself from gaping openly at Jacob Parillo. Tony hadn't been exaggerating. The man was certainly in the very late stages of his pregnancy and carrying so big and low that Gibbs found it hard to believe there wasn't going to be an ambulance ride in his near future. Parillo looked ten kinds of uncomfortable as he shifted on the hard chair and tried to find a workable position to support his back and accommodate the mass of his belly. He hated to admit it, but DiNozzo was right, he did feel an automatic pang of sympathy for the younger man and instantly wondered if this would be him in a few months' time. He was pretty sure their suspect noticed his stare as well as his belly.

"Did the agents tell you why you were brought in?" Gibbs took a seat across from the younger man who looked calm despite his obvious physical discomfort.

"They said you wanted to question me about Javiera Rojas," he said quietly, resting his hands atop his stomach.

Jethro nodded. "And about the murders of Lieutenant Barnes and former Ensign Jackson."

"I'll tell you all you want to know about Javiera. All I know, anyway. But I didn't have anything to do with Barnes and Jackson. At least not directly." Parillo shook his head sadly. "I didn't mean for them to die but I guess you could say that it's my fault. I was the one who gave their names to her family," he confessed. "But only because I felt they deserved to know who the men were who took their daughter's life, tossed her body into the ocean and didn't look back." The guilt in his voice was palpable.

Parillo told them the same story they had already heard once from Mansfield. Four young men, free on liberty in Santiago had taken advantage of the town's drinking establishments. They weren't really friends outside of Jackson and Barnes but had fallen into company more out of convenience that weekend than anything. They'd been heading back to port in a rented vehicle along a dark ocean road when the girl had appeared out of nowhere in the headlights.

"We were young. Jackson and Barnes were climbing the ranks, had their eyes on career and we just couldn't…we couldn't see throwing our whole lives away. So we just did it." He looked up at Jethro with eyes full of remembered pain. "We figured people would just think maybe she fell. It was a long way down." His voice grew soft and Gibbs could tell he was far away. Suddenly he seemed to pull out of it and come back to the present. "And we agreed never to talk about it again. But it was still there, you know? I couldn't stay in. Felt like I was dishonoring the uniform. Guess Jackson and Mansfield felt the same eventually." He shrugged. "I never asked them."

"So what changed?" Tony's eyes flickered over to Gibbs and saw that his jaw was tight. That he was holding back something.

Parillo smiled and laid a hand on the peak of his mountainous stomach. "This." He rubbed the dome of it affectionately. "Once I found out I was pregnant it was like the guilt just ate me up inside. I couldn't imagine how I would feel if it-if what we did happened to my own child. I thought they deserved the truth, even if it was late in coming so I started doing some research, tracked down her parents and flew down there while I was still able. I knew I couldn't bring a child into this world with it still hanging over my head and I was prepared to take whatever punishment was coming to me." He looked hard at Jethro again. "It changes things, you know? More than you ever imagine. It's like you can just see everything more clearly. See what's really important," he explained. "I'm sorry if what I did contributed to Barnes and Jackson getting killed but I don't think I would change it."

"Can you think of anyone in her family who might have decided to get revenge? Did anyone threaten you?" Gibbs was certain they weren't looking at their killer but it was possible Parillo could give them something.

"Do you believe that they actually seemed relieved? I told them about the baby, told them how I thought they deserved some peace. I expected screaming, thought they would call the police, but her father just kept thanking me." There were tears in his eyes now. "But I don't know what happened after I left. I never heard from them after that day."

"We're gonna need an official statement. And you'll have to remain in custody until we find out if the Chilean government intends to pursue charges in the death. We haven't been able to get a read on them yet but we'll do the best we can to get it done quickly." Jethro eyed Parillo's big belly.

"Thank you, Sir. I'd rather not have him in a prison cell but if that's what has to happen…" He rubbed nervously at his stomach.

"Agent DiNozzo is going to escort you back to holding for the time being but we'll see what we can do about making you a little more comfortable," Gibbs promised grudgingly. Jesus he hated it when Tony was right.

Tony helped the very pregnant man up from his chair and gazed back sympathetically at Jethro who looked lost in thought and very conflicted.

"You did the right thing, Gibbs."

Tony's fingers dug hard into the aching muscles of his lower back and he groaned his relief as the deep knots began to undo themselves. "Still not sure it was the right thing, DiNozzo, but I think it was the best thing. The girl's still dead, two men are still dead. Doesn't feel like justice to me."

"Then why did you ask Morrow to get the Chilean government not to pursue it?" He knew how Jethro had agonized over the decision.

"Because nobody wins here, Tony. Either way, nobody wins. Three people are dead and nobody wins." Jethro felt the heat behind his eyes and tried to rein it in. There were things Tony still didn't know about the death of his wife and child. Things he intended to take to the grave. But he couldn't help but feel the parallels in the twists and turns of this case.

"So that's it? It's over? What about Barnes and Jackson's families?" He worked his hands up Jethro's spine.

"Cases get classified. They get nothing." It was one more burden to carry. Parillo and Mansfield went free with their guilt and the US avoided an international incident and a lot of bad press for the Navy. In return they stopped pursuing Barnes and Jackson's killer. They had already tracked a few likely suspects through immigration but the hunt ended now.

"Something else on your mind?" It had been another long day and tomorrow would be their last together for a few weeks. But Gibbs seemed distracted by more than the obvious.

He hesitated, feeling a little foolish. "Think I'll get as big as Parillo?" Jethro placed his hands on his stomach which was admittedly tiny by comparison. He wasn't a vain man even though he'd always been quietly confident in his attractiveness to others. But this was much more about the physical limitations he was already experiencing as his belly blossomed and his fear of depending on anyone other than himself.

Tony smiled and pressed his lips to the older man's shoulder to stifle the laugh that rose in his throat. "Never. That guy was crazy huge." He kissed his way lightly up Gibbs' neck. "But even if you did, I'd still think you were the sexiest man I'd ever seen." It wasn't a lie but he doubted Jethro would believe it.

"I never thought this would be me," he admitted. "I couldn't have imagined myself here even a few months ago. You…this," he cradled his belly. "Sort of keep expecting to wake up. Not sure I deserve it."

"Me either," Tony confessed. "Tonight's two lap dances for the price of one down at Velvet Touch."

"Failing to see your point here, DiNozzo," Jethro grunted.

"The point is that normally on a Wednesday night after work, I'd have a couple drinks, enjoy a couple dances, then go next door and pick someone up at the bar and I thought that was a pretty good night. The point is that I haven't been once since I met you. Just didn't fill the void anymore, you know? And if you'd told me six months ago that I wouldn't run screaming from this the first chance I got I would have laughed in your face." His palms slid next to Jethro's atop the bump. "But you couldn't drag me away if you tried."

"Hope you still feel that way after three months of sleepless nights and endless diaper changes." Gibbs pressed back into the warmth of Tony's chest and felt the fear lose its grip on him just a little.

"Hey now, I never agreed to diaper duty," DiNozzo teased as Gibbs finally relaxed against him.

Jethro was unusually quiet. Well, not unusually, exactly, but there was a heaviness about his silence that said something was still eating at him.

"That was supposed to be a joke, Gibbs." Tony tried to break him out of his mood.

"How much of this is about me and how much is about her?" Jethro asked out of the blue.

"How much of what, exactly?" DiNozzo hedged.

"You said you loved me. And the crazy thing is that I believe you. But I need to know how much of that is you and me and how much is the baby," he explained.

Tony thought of a dozen ways he could answer the question but the truth was the simplest. "I don't know," he confessed. "Honestly it's all wrapped up together in there and I don't really know where to begin to even try and separate it."

"Okay." He wasn't sure if he was disappointed by the answer or not.

"I know it started before we knew about her. I know it started the minute I ran you down in that alley, and it got stronger during that whole case." He shook his head. "Jesus, Gibbs, I followed you here. There was something…I'd never felt like that before with a man but there was something more to it than that. I trusted you with my life without even knowing why and when it was over, I just knew that wherever you were was where I belonged. I decided I would take whatever I could get."

"And what did you get?" Gibbs tried not to hold his breath.

"I think I got everything I never knew I wanted," Tony said quietly. "At least I hope I have it."

There was a long moment of silence. "You do." Jethro squeezed his hand partly to reassure Tony and partly to secure his own fear of the depth of emotion flowing between them.

Tony held on a little tighter but when he felt the heat behind his eyes begin to build he pushed them past the slightly awkward moment and cleared his throat loudly to change the subject. "You know we promised we would finalize a birth plan before I left. We should probably decide exactly how we want to get her out of here when she's fully cooked." He patted Jethro's belly. They'd started the conversation a few times but Gibbs didn't seem happy with any of the options they'd discussed so far.

"Only one way she's comin' out, DiNozzo." He shifted uncomfortably. This was far from his favorite subject but Tony was right, a decision needed to me made fairly quickly and it shouldn't wait until he got back.

"You could always just opt for a C-section. Anesthesia, a quick slice, and instant baby," he suggested.

"Yeah, and at least six more weeks of leave and a higher risk of complications. I don't think so. She's coming out the old fashioned way whether I like it or not." Again he was back to the fear of being out of control. He wanted to be in touch with the experience because he certainly didn't plan on doing it again but the thought of being hovered over, attached to monitors, trapped…he just felt like it should be more private.

"What about the one place Reed recommended? It looked nice. The rooms were really big and it had the whirlpool thingy," Tony reached for the brochure from the coffee table where it had been pointedly ignored for the last week and a half.

Gibbs shrugged. "Guess so. Think they'll mind if I bring some tools?" He sat up and turned to face Tony on the couch. "Just can't imagine being trapped in a room for god knows how long with nothing to do but hurt and breathe," Jethro said sullenly.

Tony gave him a sympathetic look. He could feel the fear bristling just beneath Gibbs' skin where his palm rested on the older man's thigh. "This is all you, Jethro. I'm just along for the ride on this part. What do you want to do?"

"Damn it, I don't know." He scrubbed a hand through his hair in frustration. "Wish we could just do it here and keep it simple," he sighed.

"You can't just squat down under the boat and pop out a kid, Gibbs," Tony said gently.

"Why not? People do it," Jethro argued. Now that he'd said it out loud the idea didn't sound completely ludicrous.

"Because there are risks and you need a medical professional." DiNozzo could see he had grabbed hold of the notion and wasn't about to let it go now.

"So we get a medical professional. I'll ask Ducky." Okay, maybe that was pushing it a little far.

"Ducky's a medical examiner. He doesn't do babies. Gibbs, you need to be where there are people trained to deal with labor and…" he stopped himself just in time.

"And what?" Jethro pressed.

Tony sighed. He didn't want to have to say it. "And all the things that could go wrong, Gibbs," he said soberly, holding Jethro's eye. "If something happened to either one of you…" He shook his head, refusing to let the thought take shape.

"It won't," Gibbs reassured him, taking his hand. "What if I can find someone who does do babies? Who specializes in this kind of thing? Had an old Marine buddy last year who spent the afternoon working on his '76 Camaro and gave birth to his son before dinner time. Right in his living room. Said he had some kind of midwife there with him…but for men." He looked at Tony hopefully.

"And what if there were complications?" He wasn't sure whose fears were going to win out here.

"The hospital's five minutes away. Hell, I could walk there if I had to." Jethro hoped he was being as convincing as he thought he was. He certainly had his own misgivings and he might regret this decision when the whole pain part started but for right now, he felt more relieved than he had in weeks, at least about this.

"If it's really how you want to do it I guess it's worth looking into. But you have to promise me, Gibbs…you have to promise me that if anything at all feels like it's wrong or if Reed says it's not safe for you, we'll go to the hospital okay? And the person has to be a REAL professional. Not some hippie who read about birthin' babies in the back of a magazine or watched a few videos. I want credentials, serious ones. And references," he added.

"I wouldn't do anything if I thought it was going to put her in danger, you know that. This just feels right to me." Jethro didn't know how to explain it any better than that.

"Okay," Tony agreed reluctantly. "I guess now that we have the beginning of a plan at least you can look into someone while I'm gone. You're the one who has to be comfortable with all of it. But we should probably sign up for some of those classes where they teach you to breathe funny before too long."

"Lamaze?" Gibbs cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that 'heehee-hoohoo' stuff." He waved his hand dismissively. "Supposed to help you focus or something."

Jethro nodded. "Made a couple of classes with Shannon. Could probably use a refresher though." He laughed a little nervously but was relieved that the memory brought only a deep twinge of sadness instead of paralyzingly sharp pain now that he felt free to be more open about his past.

Tony looked a little sheepish. "I keep forgetting you've done this before."

"Was a long time ago, DiNozzo," Gibbs said wistfully. "Besides, somehow I think things are going to be a little different on this end." He rubbed at his swollen stomach.

"I guess I kind of got the easy part didn't I?" He had had more than a few moments of deep guilt as he thought of all Jethro had and would have to endure to carry and deliver their child.

"Guess you'll just have to think of a way to make it up to me." Gibb's voice grew suddenly thicker and the hand on Tony's thigh slipped toward his groin.

"Oh yeah?" DiNozzo took the hint and leaned back as Jetho shifted and straddled his hips, settling his weight happily in Tony's lap and rocking gently against his cock.

"Maybe a few times," Gibbs growled as his mouth descended hungrily.

I'll take this time to apologize if you felt cheated on the case stuff at all. I didn't intend it to become as big a piece of this as it did and initially it moved the story a little but I really needed to ditch it so I did take a few short cuts. It's probably not a realistic ending to it but I hope you'll forgive me. I promise to make up for it with a lot more one on one time.

Thanks again for reading!