"Why would she want you to call me?"
"She wanted me to tell you something."
"Is there some reason that she can't tell me herself?"
"No, there isn't. She is perfectly capable of telling you herself."
"So then why are you telling me?"
"Have you ever tried to tell her no?"
"I have."
"Did it end well, for you?"
"No. It is difficult to tell her no. I guess I see your point. Now what is it that you have to tell me?"
"It's good news."
"Good news? What kind of good news?"
"She's pregnant."
"Pregnant?"
"With twins," Tony adds.
"I didn't know that she was involved with anyone."
"Are you spying on her again?"
"No. I just thought that I would know, if she..."
"It's complicated."
"Did she get married?"
"No."
"Oh," his tone changes, "Tell me who the father is."
"So you can kill him?"
"Maybe. There is a father, isn't there?"
"What do you mean?"
"She didn't go get..."
"No. It happened the old fashioned way."
"So who is the father?"
"Are you going to kill him?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
"What his intentions are. Is he going to marry her?"
"I don't know."
"Why not? You're her partner, shouldn't you know that."
"I don't know if she wants to get married."
"Does she love him? Are you with her now?"
"Yes."
"Why? It's eleven o'clock at night, there? Will you put her on the phone?"
Tony nods, and hands the phone to Ziva. She sighs, and puts it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Tony tells me that you're pregnant."
"Yes."
"With twins?"
"Yes."
"And the father? Is he in the picture?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to marry him?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"I do not know. One day."
"One day? Do you love him?"
"Yes. Why are you asking?"
"Because I want to know."
"You cannot kill him."
"I wasn't..."
"Leave him alone," she warns.
"Who is it? Where is he? Shouldn't you be with him right now, instead of your partner? Are you at work?"
"No, I'm not at work. I am at home."
"With your partner?"
"Yes."
"What are you going with your partner, at home, at eleven o'clock at night?"
"We're getting ready to go to sleep," she admits.
"Excuse me?"
"Tony is the father."
"Oh."
"Oh? That's all you have to say?"
"He's not Jewish."
"No, he's not. Does that mean you are going to disown me?"
"No. I had just pictured something else for you."
"And what would that be, exactly?"
"That when the time came you would settle down, with a nice Jewish..."
She cuts him off, "Don't finish that sentence."
"Doctor," he finishes.
"That is not what I want. It never has been."
"You have made that very clear. You have never been anything that I expected you to be."
"I am sorry to disappoint you."
"I am not disappointed. I am glad that you are the person you are."
"I should go, I have to be at work in the morning."
"Ziva?"
"Yes?"
"He's not what I wanted for you."
"I know."
"But he is a good man."
"I know that."
"He really loves you, don't let him go."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Eli hangs up.
Tony looks over at her, "So he'll by Tuesday to kill me?"
"No," she shakes her head.
"Sooner?"
"No, I think that he is ok with it."
"Ok? I doubt that," he argues.
"He seemed... different."
"Normal?"
"As normal as he can be."
She settles into the bed. She turns off the light, and finds herself wrapped in his arms. He was her safe place. It didn't matter where she was in the world, he was home.
He breathes in the scent of her hair, as her breathing slows. He would gladly die, at the hand of Eli, if it meant that she could have what she had always wanted. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her, because she was the only person in the world, that had ever really mattered.