Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Ran into an old friend from high school at the store today. She got married last year, has a four-year-old and is seven months pregnant with twins... I didn't bring it up when I got back to our place... but... all our friends are getting married and... and having kids... and... I admit- I'm jealous... but what do I say? How the hell do I even bring up a subject like this to Ev? I know he loves me and we've been together for nearly six years, but... What if he reacts badly? What if this... if this is the straw that not only breaks us, but... destroys us?

Thanks to Reader for reviewing 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13.

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), German-born Theoretical Physicist

Oświęcim Hotel

Suite 145

Ziva sat back, startled. Her short, blunt nails dug lightly into his chest. She... she had to have heard incorrectly...

Ella had been-

"Pregnant?" She whispered, her mind struggling to process this new information. Tim nodded.

"Yeah. Ducky said he found the presence of fetal bones and elevated levels of PTH in her blood."

"Pregnancy hormone." She whispered; meeting his eyes. She sighed, leaning forward to rest her forehead to his. He tugged her closer, ghosting a hand down her back to wrap around her waist. "So... I have to... pretend to be pregnant."

"Yeah." Tim's whisper was soft, a fleeting kiss against her skin, as he closed his eyes and tried to think of what to do. After several moments of silence, it was Ziva that spoke up.

"Well... if she was only sixteen weeks, and it was her first child, then... she can't have shown very much, can she?"

He sighed, never lifting his forehead from hers. "She would have a slight swell to her midsection, but if it was her first... usually a first-time mother doesn't start showing sometimes until her third trimester or late into her second. That's how my mother was with me- she didn't start showing until twenty-eight weeks, and it was the same with Sarah. It all depends on the mother, and her height and weight at time of pregnancy."

Ziva nodded; she remembered vaguely something in her health class back in high school about the teacher saying that it really depended on the mother's shape and size in regards to if she started to show at the beginning of the pregnancy. Ziva had always thought that if she ever had kids, she'd immediately start to show- but then again, she'd seen photographs of Rivka when she was pregnant with her, and had changed her view. "So... we are playing parents-to-be." Tim sighed, swallowing thickly.

"Yeah, and from the way Abby described Ella's death... whoever killed her and Evan obviously didn't care for the life of her unborn child. Then again, maybe they didn't even know about the baby." Tim reasoned, hoping that was the truth and not that her killers knew about the baby and deliberately hogtied her. Not that hogtying someone couldn't be deliberate- there was a whole host of fetishes that involved tying, whips, and chains- but to deliberately tie up a pregnant woman-

He shuddered, and Ziva pulled him closer. They stayed silent for several minutes, before he finally lay back down, gaze moving to the ceiling. Ziva watched him for a moment before she joined him, settling herself against his side, laying a hand against his chest. "So... what do we do?" She knew what to do in these situations, these missions, but the reveal that the woman she was playing had been midway into her second trimester of pregnancy-

It complicated things; not with the mission, but within her. Ziva had always assumed that she would never be able to have children, thanks to her work with Mossad- especially since many agents died young- but since she'd arrived in America under Director Shepard's order, she'd been giving the possibility of maybe having a family one day some thought.

And for some reason, as she lay on Tim's chest, listening to his breathing, feeling his fingers work through her tangled curls, her heart screamed that she wanted to start her family with him. She quickly obliterated the thought, nuzzling into his chest, but it sprang up again, refusing to be ignored. This was ridiculous; she and Tim barely knew each other, had only been working on this undercover op for two days, and already, she was considering having babies with him. Throw in the very real possibility that he probably already had a girlfriend or-

"This is going to change our whole op." He whispered, startling her out of her thoughts. She pulled away and looked up at him.

"How?" He met her gaze, reaching up and catching her chin with his hand before pulling her towards him and kissing her firmly.

"You are supposed to be pregnant, Ella. That means no more wine at dinner." She sighed, settling back against the pillows, her fingers reaching up to tangle in his hair and play with the silky seemed to think over his words before,

"It was only a few glasses, Evan."

"Yes, but that is our child growing inside you, Ella." He responded, pulling her close to kiss her. She laughed, resting a hand on his chest, before stopping as he rested a hand on her belly. She looked up, dark, lust-filled eyes seeing a similar shine within his green ones. A moment passed, before their lips met in another deep kiss; hands began to wander over naked skin as legs tangled and bodies pressed together. Ziva soon found herself being pressed into the blankets; Tim's weight- comforting, safe- atop her as his hands moved about her body, caressing her skin and finding her curves. Through their wild kisses, he whispered,

"Maybe if we get lucky, we won't have to pretend about a baby."

Something about that comment made her smile, and she nodded. "We had better start trying then."