XXI. It Is Easier To Build Strong Children Than To Repair Broken Men.

"Stop fidgeting." Tony whispered.

"I am not fidgeting." Ziva hissed.

"You are, calm down." He laid his hand on her knee. She scanned the waiting room for the third time in ten minutes. It smelt like strong antiseptic. She gripped his hand. "Hey, it's alright." He smiled, moving her hair away from her face.

"Miss David?" Ziva flinched as the nurse mispronounced her name. Tony shook his head at her as they both stood up and followed her into a smaller room.

"Ah, Miss Ziva David I presume." The doctor smiled.

"It is pronounced Zee-vah Dah-veed." She snapped, ignoring Tony as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"But it's not spelt like that." The nurse smiled and shook her head, laughing with a bubbly sound that matched her bubble-gum pink hair.

"But that is how it is pronounced!" The liaison officer growled, fighting against Tony's restraining hands.

"Is it French?" She bubbled again.

"No it's not French!" Tony yelled. "I'm sorry, even I know that." He shook his head.

"Alice, why don't you go and help Dr Walters?" The doctor pointed to the door. The pink hair bobbed up and down as she nodded and hurried out of the room. "I must apologise for that, she's new, not quiet got her bedside manner perfected yet. I'm Dr Green." She held her hand out and Ziva shook it.

"Tony DiNozzo." Tony grinned proudly. "I'm gonna be a father."

"Ok, well, we'll just check everything's happy then." She smiled kindly. "If you'll just take a seat."

"Can we see our little baby?" Tony asked, his eyes lighting up like a child's on Christmas.

"Well, we'll see what we can do." Dr Green nodded. She hit a few buttons and a machine whirred to life, humming quietly. "I know it's chilly today, but could you just roll your jumper up." She smiled. "Where do you work?" The doctor distracted Ziva.

"Ha, that is a complicated question." Ziva smiled. "I am an officer of Mossad working as a liaison with NCIS."

"Israeli? I thought I recognised the accent. I had a colleague from Tel Aviv." She smiled. "NCIS, sounds like a federal agency?"

"Navy investigators." Tony nodded. "You know a lot."

"Well, you meet all sorts of people in this job." She smiled. "You work together?"

"Yeah, three years now." Tony grinned and placed his hand in Ziva's. "Though I'm not Mossad, just an agent."

"What do your bosses think of this?" The doctor smiled slightly, adjusting one of the dials.

"He is a hard man to read." Ziva raised her eyebrows and laughed quietly. "But he seems okay with it."

"Behind all the cold stares and head-slaps, Gibbs is very happy for us." Tony kissed her hand.

"There…" The doctor pointed to the screen. "Is one of your children, and there is the other." She moved her finger two inches to the left. Tony and Ziva looked at one another.

"Two?" Ziva shook her head and laughed. "There must be a mistake."

"Don't you need a second opinion on this?" Tony asked shaking his head. "Did McGee and Abby put you up to this?"

"No, it's clear as crystal, see." She pointed again. "There are two."

"Two." Tony nodded. "I think we can cope with twins."

"You do not sound confident, Tony." Ziva smiled weakly, feeling about as certain as he sounded, if that.

"Well, we did alright with Mina and Elsie, and we were stuck in an isolated one bedroom cabin with them, so I think we can do fine."

"Alright." The doctor smiled. "Everything seems fine, everyone looks healthy. You appear to be about eight weeks along."

"Thank you." Ziva smiled.

"Considering how active your job is, I recommend taking early desk duty, if not early maternity leave." Dr Green smiled, raising her eyebrows when Ziva did not. There was a silence in the room before Ziva began to speak.

"When I was 19 I…"

"I reviewed your medical records, I know." She smiled gently, placing a hand on hers. "Have you experienced any signs of morning sickness or queasiness?"

"I have had some slight…Tony, what is the word? It begins with a N." She clicked her fingers together, making an nnnnn sound to try to remind herself.

"Nausea." He nodded.

"Does it mean what I want it to say?" She asked him, frowning.

"Feeling sick, but not necessarily vomiting." The doctor nodded.

"Yes, that is what I mean. Nausea." She tried the word out.

"May I ask whether you experienced this in your first pregnancy?"

"No, I do not recall feeling nausea."

"That suggests that there is a better chance of survival: there is a theory that morning sickness is a survival mechanism to prevent mothers for ingesting harmful substances. I just recommend more frequent check-ups, abstaining from alcohol, caffeine, smoking, try to avoid unwarranted danger at work. At the moment everything looks perfect. Just try to avoid stress."

"I think we can do that." Tony smiled. "We just need to avoid Abby at all costs. And Gibbs."

"Like that will be possible." Ziva laughed, holding his hand. "Thank you." She nodded to the doctor as she stood up.

"You're welcome." She smiled, shaking their hands. "I hope to see you soon."


"They are so tiny." Ziva traced the shapes of the twins on the ultrasound image as Tony drove back to the navy yard.

"Who do you think is going to be so shocked by the fact that we're having twins?"

"Abby will be most excited." She shrugged.

"No surprize there." He laughed. "Just think. Two little DiNozzo-David's running around."

"That is a scary thought indeed." She laughed with him as they pulled into Tony's usual parking space. "Who do we tell first?"

"Whoever asks first, I guess." He kissed her cheek. "You're beautiful."

"You are Tony." She smiled, running her thumb along his cheekbone.

"That a compliment?"

"The highest." She smiled, climbing out of the blue 64 Mustang. "You realise that neither of our cars are exactly child friendly."

"What's not child friendly about this?" He stroked the canvas top.

"It only has two seats." She looked at him incredulously.

"Well, I'm not getting rid of it." He pouted as she walked around the side of the car to him.

"I do not want to lose my car either." She took his hand. "But we may have to."

He sighed and shook his head. "It's a good job I love you because I would have gotten Abby to kill anyone else telling me to sell my car without leaving a trace of evidence."

"Even McGee?" She asked as they pushed through the front doors and into the elevator.

"Yeah."

"Director Shepard?" They exited the sliding doors.

"Yeah."

"Gibbs?"

"No." He turned and looked at her. "The man would come back as a ghost and haunt me."

"You do not believe in ghosts, Tony." She sat down at her desk.

"Yeah, but the man moves like a ghost already, maybe he is one…" He drifted off, a frown set deep in his face.

"That so, DiNozzo? And when is it that I supposedly died?" Gibbs stood behind him.

"Uh, hypothetical situation, boss." Tony winced in anticipation of the dreaded head slap. "I'm not saying that you are a ghost, just that you might be…uh, maybe we're all ghosts…"

"Give up now, Tony." Ziva shook her head, smiling slightly.

"How'd it go?" Gibbs smiled, walking past DiNozzo – still stood in anticipation – and standing in front of Ziva. Abby, McGee, Palmer and Ducky all stood beside Tim's desk, listening in."

"We are all fine, everybody is healthy and happy." A smiled played on Ziva's lips slightly as Gibbs raised his eyebrows. She stood up as he hugged her.

"Twins, huh?" He whispered in her hear and she nodded, noticing that nobody else had picked up on the suggestion behind her words.

"How did you know?"

"My gut." He shrugged. "Congratulations." He kissed her forehead and squeezed her thumb in the same way her father used to do when she was little. "You too, DiNozzo." He stroked his senior field agent's head in the same place that he usually hit. "For once, you got something right."

"Can we see?" Abby bounded over at that point, much like an energetic puppy. Ziva handed the image to her and Ducky frowned.

"I don't wish to alarm you in any way, but it is very clear from this that you are expecting twins. I would recommend finding a new doctor." The Scotsman looked at them and Tony laughed.

"We know, Duckman." He patted the pathologist's shoulder.

"Well why didn't you say so?" Abby exclaimed. "That should be the first thing you tell someone! Having twins is even huger than you two just having a baby!"

"Of course it is Abby, we are having two babies." Ziva looked at everyone, confused.

"I think she means metaphorically." Jimmy piped in.

"I do not understand."

"Well, when we found out that you were pregnant, we didn't know you were seeing anyone…"

"Let alone Tony…" Abby cut McGee off before he regained control of the conversation.

"No, so that was like, the biggest news of the last fifty years…"

"Maybe more…" McGee glared at the forensic scientist for interrupting him.

"But what Abby's saying is that having twins is big for anyone, and so for you two it's even bigger."

"McGee, stop your McBabbling." Tony grinned.

"Tony, you can't talk in that way to a child." Tim sighed.

"And I won't, McProbilicious." He flinched as Gibbs' hand collided with the back of his head. "Sorry boss."

"Hey, lets all go out for drinks tonight to celebrate!" Abby jumped up and down.

"Abby, I cannot drink." Ziva looked at her.

"And I have a date tonight." Palmer grinned as all heads swivelled to look at him.

"The gremlin has a date?" Tony walked closer. "Who is this girl?"

"Oh, just someone I met at the…rubber glove convention that I went to last month."

"I went with you to that." Ducky frowned at him.

"I met her as I was going to the restroom." Palmer nodded, finding his answer adequate.

"You met her going to the restroom?" Tony shook his head.

"Hey, some of our most meaningful conversations have been in the head." Ziva raised her eyebrows at him.

"That's very true. I wish you all the luck and happiness you need, Palmer." He clamped his hand onto the young ME assistant's shoulder.

"Well, how about everybody else?"

"Got plans." Gibbs shrugged, walking away from the crowd surrounding Ziva's desk. Everybody stared at him. "What?!" He questioned their looks.

"Well, you just never seem to have plans, boss." Tony said without thinking.

"That right, DiNozzo?"

"Well, no, it's just 'cause you're so private. What is it that you're doing?"

"None of your business, DiNozzo."