XX. Anything Worth Having Is Worth Fighting For.
"You're happy, aren't you?" Tony asked as they lay in bed together.
"Mmhm." She nodded and pressed a kiss to the arm that he had wrapped around her shoulders.
"You're sure we're not moving to fast?" He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"We are having a baby, Tony. I think now is a little bit late for that question." She laughed slightly. "Why? Are you not happy?" She propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him, frowning.
"I am the happiest man in the world." He smiled and kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you more." She grinned and relaxed back, nestling her head on his shoulder.
"Ziva, about your father…" Tony sighed as she climbed out of bed. "Ziva, no, don't…" He followed her.
"I do not want to talk about it." She yanked a sweatshirt on and walked into the kitchen, stuffing a slice of bread in the toaster and hitting the defenceless machine when it refused to turn on.
"Ziva, you need to talk to him." He said, plugging the cord in and standing the appliance upright.
"There is nothing for us to talk about." She looked at him, tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes. "Please leave it alone."
"Ok. We don't have to talk about it." He wrapped her arms around her, pulling her head into his chest and kissing it. He waited for her erratic breathing to settle down. "I'm sorry."
"Inside is my vote." He handed the envelope to Abby. "Don't open it until she's had the baby." Gibbs warned.
"Your vote on what the baby's gonna be?" Abby grinned, taking hold of the letter.
"Lock it away." He said. "And don't peek." He nodded, unfolding his fingers from the paper sheath.
"How much money are you putting on it?" She asked, opening a cupboard under her desk and unlocking a safe.
"None. How long you had a safe there?"
"Since my crazy psyco lab assistant tried to kill me." She smiled and locked the envelope away. "Do you think they're gonna get married?"
"I hope not, Abby." He flashed her a grin.
"Oh, Gibbs, don't you think it would be better for the baby?" She shook her head.
"Not for us, though." He shrugged.
"Do you really think that?"
"Been married four times, Abs. You think I don't know what will happen?"
"People have good marriages." Abby argued.
"That may be true." He shrugged, placing a Caf-Pow on her desk. "But I won't hold out much hope."
"You seem like a good man." Eli walked up behind Tony, who leapt out of his seat.
"Er, I work on that. A lot." He nodded, turning around. "I don't think Ziva'll be happy that I'm talking to you."
"She does not have to know." Eli stood next to Tony's desk. "My daughter has been through a lot."
"She's a wonderful woman." Tony nodded, uncertain of where he was taking the conversation.
"Some of the things she has been through were of my design, others not." Eli shrugged. "When she was younger she was ignorant, she got pregnant…"
"I know." He jumped up from his chair. "But she doesn't think you do."
"I am the director of Mossad. I knew everything that went on in her life." He said. "I did not think she would want to talk about it with me."
"It might have helped."
"It made her stronger." Eli shrugged, following as Tony led him to the elevator.
"Putting her through that was 'training'?" Tony yelled as the doors slid shut.
"No, not planned training, but it helped." He narrowed his eyes. "You do not approve."
"I don't approve of a lot of things your agency do. She was your daughter!"
"Was?" Eli stayed calm, raising his eyebrows.
"After all you've done, you think you can still call yourself her father?"
"Everything I have done, I have done for her sake." He bowed his head. "Agent DiNozzo, you seem to be a good man."
"You've said that already."
"Then let me finish it." The Mossad director looked at him. "You seem to be a good man, and I hope that means that you will be there for her." He paused.
"Always." Tony nodded.
"But do not make the mistake of spoiling her. Take care of my daughter, agent DiNozzo." He walked out of the elevator, leaving Tony to contemplate the conversation and how he was going to keep it from Ziva.
"You're beautiful." Tony pressed his lips to her forehead.
"So you are fond of telling me." Ziva smiled, looking into his eyes
"I don't think you hear it enough." He grinned, twirling a strand of her hair around one of his fingers. "You're beautiful."
"You are Tony." Her smile widened.
"Am I?" He frowned, patting his chest and his face. "Are you sure?"
"Most definitely." She laughed, placing her hand on his cheek.
"Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better. I was worried I was loosing my me-ness."
"Your me-ness?"
"Yeah, my Tony-ness." He nodded, cradling her face in his hands. "What makes me me."
"Well, that cleared a lot up." She murmured in his ear sarcastically.
"You look tired." He stroked the hollows under her eyes.
"I am fine." She smiled.
"Ok, well, just so I know, is there a reason that we are standing in the hallway outside the door to my apartment instead of actually inside my apartment?"
"Well…" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Since you are pressing me against the wall, I believe I have no control over whether we are inside or out." She watched him think about that, smiling.
"You're right." He looked at her and frowned. The lock turned in the door across the hall and Tony immediately placed his key in his door, pulling Ziva inside before his neighbour could step outside.
"Why is it that in the two months we have been seeing one another you have met and spoken to all of my neighbours, yet in all the years I have known you, not once have I met any of your neighbours?" She asked, frowning.
"Um, because I don't like any of them and I think you talking to them would be a really bad idea." He shrugged, wrapping his arms around her.
"I do not think that is a good reason for you avoiding them. Have you ever even spoken to them?" She tapped his lips.
"Sadly, yes. I was invited to a building Christmas party when I first moved here." He said. "The worst forty minutes of my life."
"You only stayed for forty minutes?" She laughed, unbuttoning his shirt.
"Yeah, there was a creepy old woman who followed me everywhere, a man who kept asking to hold my gun." He shuddered. "And then there was this weird blonde woman, she lives downstairs, who literally unzipped my fly. Right there in the middle of the kitchen!" They stood as Ziva began to undo his jeans. She paused.
"I am not really in the mood any more." She shook her head and cringed.
"No, me either." He swallowed.
"I think I need a shower." She shut her eyes.
"Not if I get there first." They looked at one another before both running towards the bathroom.
