Disclaimer: NCIS is not my creation or property- I own all the DVDs though.
Chapter 25
By April, Jemma was four months pregnant. And she was thoroughly enjoying being pregnant. Her students were just beginning to figure it out, and she often came home from school and laughed to Tony about their reactions.
"The boys are the best," she told the team one night.
Ziva had invited the whole team over for dinner and Abby had asked what her students thought about the pregnancy.
"How do you mean?" McGee asked her.
Jemma grinned. "I've got at least half the football team in my senior class this year," she explained. "So, I'm talking huge, burly, macho young men here. I've also got the group of sophomore boys that are in and out of the principal's office daily, always on detention- the 'troublemakers'," she said, placing air quotes around the last word.
"But these are the same boys who no longer let me carry anything when they see me around school; who tell off other kids for running around in front of me in case they knock me over; who are asking questions about my eating habits to make sure I'm eating right; and who I spent twenty minutes the other day discussing baby names with."
"That is so sweet!" Abby exclaimed and Jemma nodded in agreement.
"I know. I love them. And all the girls are just excited. Baby names is big with them too. The girls in my senior class told me they're going to throw me a baby shower before the end of the school year."
"How long will you be on maternity leave for?" Abby asked.
"A year," Jemma replied.
"And Anthony, are you going to take paternity leave?" Ducky asked.
Abby looked horrified. "Wait, Tony's leaving too?"
"I'm not leaving, Abs," Tony assured her. "But yeah, I'd like to take some time off after the baby's born," he admitted. "I've got to see Vance on Monday about it."
"How long would you be gone? And what would happen with us?" Ziva asked, looking between Tony and Gibbs.
Gibbs answered. "Tony can take as long as he wants. And we'll either just be a man down, or Vance might decide to assign us a TAD."
Tony grimaced, he hated the thought of leaving the team a man short, but he and Gibbs had already talked about this. Gibbs may be known as a bastard amongst NCIS, but he wasn't going to begrudge Tony a chance to spend time with his newborn child.
"I'd probably take a month or two," Tony answered Ziva's earlier question.
Abby still didn't look happy about that, but she didn't protest, for the same reason Gibbs had. Tony shouldn't miss this.
"Have you thought of baby names?" McGee asked them.
Jemma pouted. "Tony rules out anything associated with Wicked," she complained.
Tony rolled his eyes. "Jem, you suggested Elphaba for a girl."
"What's wrong with that? She's a great role model!" Jemma protested.
"Yes," Tony agreed. "But she would get teased mercilessly every day of her life. Do you want that?"
"No," Jemma sighed sadly.
"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" Palmer asked.
"Are you going to find out?" Abby asked immediately after.
Jemma and Tony exchanged a glance. "We don't think so, we want to be surprised," Jemma said slowly.
"And my gut says it's a boy, but Jemma isn't sure," Tony added.
"Have you done the ring test?" Abby asked.
Ziva frowned. "What is the ring test?"
McGee rolled his eyes. "It's an old wives tale that if you dangle the mother's wedding ring above the stomach, the way it moves predicts whether it's a boy or a girl," he explained.
"If it moves in a circle, it's a boy. If it moves side to side, it's a girl," Gibbs said to the surprise of all.
"Yes, that's quite right, Jethro," Ducky nodded, taking off his glasses to clean them.
"Story time with Grandpa Ducky," Tony murmured under his breath and sat back with a smile.
"There are many old wives tales and urban legends that claim to be able to predict the sex of a child before it's born," Ducky began.
"The Chinese, for example, believe that the lunar calendar plays a key role in determining the gender. They take the age of the mother at conception and align it with the month of conception, and the two factors are supposed to either predict a boy or a girl."
Abby was already pulling out her phone and loading up the internet. "On it, Duckman. Ok, so what was the month of conception?" she asked Tony and Jemma.
"December," Jemma replied, one hand on her small bump.
"Aw, a Christmas baby!" Abby sighed. "Ok, which means you were still twenty-nine… so according to the Chinese lunar calendar you're having a…. girl!"
"I still think it's a boy," Tony insisted.
"Well, why don't we do the ring test? See what that says?" Palmer suggested.
"Ziva, do you have some thread or something?" McGee asked and Ziva nodded, rising from her seat.
"I think I can shovel something up."
"Dig," Tony called after her.
"And what do you dig with, Tony?" she retorted.
"Depends on what I'm digging for," he grinned.
Ziva returned from the kitchen with a piece of string and Jemma carefully eased her wedding ring off her finger and handed it to Ziva to put on the string.
"I hope I can fit it back on afterwards," Jemma said glumly, looking at her swollen fingers.
Tony caught her hand in his and squeezed it comfortingly as Ziva readied the string.
All eyes were on the string as she held it over Jemma's stomach and dropped it.
"Side to side," McGee noted.
"That's a boy!" Abby cried.
Tony grinned triumphantly. "See?"
"One said boy, one said girl. Does that mean twins?" Ziva noted and Tony blanched.
"No! No twins!" he said firmly and they all laughed.
"Is there another test you know of that we can try, Dr Mallard? As a tie-breaker?" Palmer asked Ducky.
Ducky sighed. "Well, I do remember reading something that if you add a tablespoon of Drano to a cup of the expectant mothers' urine, it is supposed to turn green to signify a girl, and blue for a boy."
Jemma wrinkled her nose. "You know what, why don't we just wait til September and see? I pee in a cup enough at my doctor's appointments."
Abby giggled. "Ok. Hey, anyone fancy a pool?" she suggested.
"I'm in," Tony said immediately, and Jemma raised an eyebrow at him.
"What? We don't know what it is and we agreed we're not going to find out. Babies are expensive. May as well try and make some money," he defended himself and Jemma rolled her eyes.
"Ok, fine. But I'm so telling the baby this story."
"Fine. I'm telling it how you play the Wicked soundtrack to it every night," he replied.
Tony, Abby and Ziva said boy, and Ducky, McGee and Palmer said it was a girl. They all put in twenty dollars, and Abby was planning to ask around the NCIS office on Monday.
"Gibbs, what about you?" Abby asked.
Gibbs hadn't planned to participate, but Abby stared at him imploringly until he reached for his wallet.
"Boy," he said simply, and Abby and Tony high-fived one another.
"Jem, you want a bet?" McGee asked Jemma, who shook her head.
"No, thanks. I'm good."
When Tony and Jemma got home that night, he turned to her suspiciously.
"You really have no gut instinct whether it's a boy or a girl? No maternal urges?"
Jemma rolled her eyes. "No, Tony. I have no idea, and I really don't care. As long as the baby's healthy, I-"
Tony looked up immediately, worried as she stopped talking mid-sentence.
"What? What is it? Is something wrong?" he asked, jumping up from the couch.
Jemma shook her head silently, taking his hand and pressing it to her stomach. Tony frowned in confusion at first, and then he felt it- a slight fluttering against his hand.
His jaw dropped open as he stared up at his wife.
"Is that… the baby?"
Jemma nodded tearily. "That's it."
Tony was stunned. "Wow… I mean, you see it in the movies, but…"
Jemma laughed as she kissed him. And when he took his hand away, Tony swore his palm was still tingling where he'd felt the motion against it.
As far as he was concerned, it was the most amazing feeling in the world. Not even seeing the sonagram had made him truly realise that there was a tiny person growing inside his wife that they had created.
But feeling it… Tony wasn't quite prepared for the rush of love he felt for his unborn child.
On Monday morning, Tony was up at five-thirty to go for a run. He took Pongo with him, the Dalmatian loved running with Tony. The air was brisk, but he could tell it was going to be a fine day. Hopefully they'd catch a new case- at least it usually meant getting outside and out of the office.
Granted, most of their cases involved dead bodies, which had a tendency to dim the mood somewhat, but all in all, Tony hated being stuck behind his desk doing paperwork.
He got back home at about quarter past six. Just enough time to shower, change and grab a quick breakfast before going to work. Taking off Pongo's leash, he gently pushed the dog towards his water bowl before heading upstairs at a jog.
"Jem, you up?" he called from the bottom of the stairs.
No answer met him, as he headed upstairs. "Jemma?"
Abruptly, he stopped dead at the top of the stairs. Jemma was kneeling on the floor in the hallway, her face white and one hand clutching her stomach. In a split second, Tony was by her side.
"Jem? Jemma, what's wrong?" he asked, completely terrified.
Jemma shook her head, her free hand grasping Tony's tightly. "I don't know. Something- something really hurts!" she gasped. "Tony… the baby…"
Tony's instincts kicked in, and he shook his head, sweeping Jemma into his arms and standing up.
"No. Don't think that. Everything's going to be fine," he promised, already heading for the stairs. "We're going to get you to the hospital, just to be on the safe side, okay?"
She nodded, trembling and Tony continued to mumble faint reassurances as he grabbed his wallet and keys and headed for the door.
It's going to be okay, everything's going to be okay, he repeated to himself like a mantra.
He just hoped he wasn't lying.