I am not so enthused with this chapter, although enthusiasm is something that I am struggling with on a whole at the moment.

And, add to that, life has just become…complicated. And hectic. As I have said, things are getting written, but there is a high probability that nothing will be uploaded for a while.

This just feels…unfinished. But it did not work with any more put in, because it felt clunky. It feels clunky now. Oh, dear…

I am, though, very excited about some of the other chapters that are coming up in this very soon.

XLIV. Children Must Be Taught How To Think, Not What To Think.

"So, are you excited for the wedding?"

"Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah! Ziva's dress is so pretty, it's got…" Ziva, Jenny, Abby and Elsie had been at Nora's getting dresses fitted for most of the day, whilst McGee and Tony had been looking after Mina. The infant was still alive, at least, and so she seemed to be fine, something that had shocked Abby and left Ziva mildly surprised, though she wasn't showing it.

"Sweetie, Tony's not allowed to hear about Ziva's dress." McGee placed a hand on Elsie's little arm.

"Why? He's going to see it at the wedding anyway?"

"Because it's tradition."

"Aw, come on Abs, it's not like we have kept any other traditions. I wanna hear about Ziva's dress." Tony whined in protest, pouting.

"No." Ziva brushed a thumb across his cheekbone and pressed a light kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Elsie is right, you will be seeing it at the wedding anyway."

"But the wedding's ages away."

"Two months and one week. That is not ages. That is very little time at all. I think you will survive." She picked the bottle of formula back off the table and went back to feeding Mina, smiling when the infant laid her small hand on the bottle next to her own. "How about you tell Tony about your dress?"

"It's green and it has white flowers on it. Are you certain I have to wear it, Ziva?"

"Yes, Honey. But, I told you, it is only for the ceremony, and then you can change into your normal clothes."

"But how come Mina doesn't have to wear a dress." She pouted, he little face crinkling up.

"Because Mina does not have the very special job of being my flower girl, does she?" Elsie huffed, but nodded, leaning into Ziva's side.

"Anyway, I'm sure Mina will be wearing a dress too." McGee smiled, about to speak again before being interrupted by Tony.

"I'm hungry!"

"Tony, you're worse than Elsie!" Abby tried to keep a straight face as he pouted.

"I've had longer to practice." He grumbled. "Besides, I'm bigger than Elsie, I need more food than her." He perked up immediately as a waiter and a waitress brought their food over and the table fell silent as they all tucked in – all but Ziva, who was finishing feeding Mina. "You need to eat something."

"I will."

"Ziva…"

"I will, Tony. Do not worry, I am fine. Mina is almost done." She smiled at him.

"Not good enough." He shook his head, taking her fork and spearing a piece of food, holding it out to her. "Eat."

"Aww. Tony that's so cute!"

"No. I will not let you fork-feed me."

"Spoon-feed."

"But it is a fork." She frowned, pulling away when he inched it closer to her face.

"That's just the expression."

"Well, really, when someone is being spoon-fed, it is usually actually with a spoon, or metaphorically, and so, I mean, really I guess Ziva is actually correct." McGee babbled.

"Enough with the big words, McWordsworth." Tony glared at him across the table as he placed Ziva's fork down, making Elsie laugh. He started pulling faces at her, making her laugh louder and attracting a few looks from other tables, none overly angry, but very few ecstatic for their meals to be interrupted by the child's uncontrollable laughing and the man's antics.

"Tony…" Ziva sighed, shaking her head. "You are teaching her bad habits."

"What? No I'm not. Am I teaching you bad habits, Elsie?" He asked and she looked up at Ziva innocently, shaking her head.


"How could you!?" Ziva yelled as she stormed into the squad room, Tony trailing close behind.

"I don't know, it was a stupid mistake, I should never have done it."

"No. You should not have." She flung her coat at her chair and moved over to stand behind a very confused McGee.

"I'll never do it again." Tony said cautiously as he sat on the corner of McGee's desk with their colleague separating the quarrelling lovers.

"I should hope not."

"I'll make it up to you." Tony grinned.

She hesitated slightly, sitting on the other corner of the desk and leaning back on her hand. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. "When?"

"Tonight?"

She looked away from Tony to her watch before locking eyes with him again and shaking her head. "Not soon enough."

"Okay. Lunchtime. We take a long lunch."

She considered his offer for a moment. "Both. Lunchtime and tonight. And this time you will not fall asleep!"

"Deal. Never falling asleep again. Don't know how I could…see, I think it was 'cause I was so tired after looking after Elsie and Mina…y'know what, we don't even have to discuss it…" He trailed off as her eyes flared with anger again. "You look sexy when you're mad at me, y'know that?" He grinned, running his eyes up and down his fiancée's body as she lounged on McGee's desk. She quirked a small smile, winking at him as her anger dissolved.

McGee coughed, alerting them to the fact that he was sat in between them. "I'm feeling really uncomfortable."

"Me too, McGee. What did I say about keeping this out of the office?"

"Gibbs, oh, um, we were just, uh…"

"Tony fell asleep during sex last night! I was just bargaining with him to make it up to me." Ziva defended herself as Tony's face fell and she smirked.

"You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"I decided that it would be to my advantage."

Tony looked between his colleagues, his jaw hanging open. "Boss, can you tell her she's wrong to do that?"

"You shouldn't have fallen asleep, DiNozzo." He shrugged. "Going down to Ducky. Get on with your work." He rounded the corner, then back-traced his steps. "Oh, and David, DiNozzo, either of you mention your sex-life again this week and I'll shoot both of you."


Gibbs coughed as his two agents started sneaking towards the elevator, making them both freeze and cringe. "Going somewhere?"

"Uh, yeah, actually. Lunch." Tony grinned the most charming grin he could summon and they turned around to face their boss.

"Good. You can bring back mine and McGee's orders, too." He smiled cordially and Tony's face fell.

"Oh, well, actually we, uh, we weren't going to our usual place, and um…see, Ziva was actually going to, um, cook our own lunches today, and she did, she, uh, made these little sandwiches, and she cut them into little triangles and wrapped them real neat and all, and…"

"Oh, really. What flavour were the sandwiches?" Gibbs asked, silencing them both.

"Honey."

"Tomato."

"Honey and tomato." Tony grinned. "It's a great combo. Not an obvious mix, but they really work. It's, uh, unique."

"Right. And so, if they're already made, why do you need to leave?"

"Well, see, Ziva told me to make certain that I picked them up this morning before we left, but I thought she said that she certainly had picked them up, and so I kinda forgot, and, um, so they're sitting in the fridge still."

"Why can't you get your usual lunch order today, and have the sandwiches some other time?"

"They do not keep very well, you see, Gibbs, and I am…really…craving honey and tomato sandwiches." She struggled to sound convincing, the thought of putting honey and tomato together making her feel queasy.

"There are no honey and tomato sandwiches, are there?"

"No Gibbs. No honey and tomato sandwiches." Tony shook his head.

"Can we stop saying honey and tomato sandwiches, please?"

"What's wrong with honey and to…I'll stop." Tony winced at his fiancée's glare.

"This is make-up sex."

"What?!" Tony screeched at his boss's words.

"You're going off, on your lunch break, for make-up sex because you fell asleep last night."

"Oh, right, I get what you mean, I thought you meant right now we were having make-up sex, and I was really worried that you thought this was what sex was like, because, you know, you should really get out more if that's the case, Boss…thank you, Boss, shutting up now, Boss." He nodded when he felt two hands hit his head, one Ziva's, one Gibbs'. He looked down to his fiancée to see her bright red face. Clearly she wasn't too happy with his attempt at distracting Gibbs off the subject of them leaving.

"You finished that cold case you were typing up, David."

"Yes, Gibbs."

"What about you, DiNozzo?"

"Ooh, uh, um. Nearly. There's just like a little bit, and I…no, Gibbs."

"And you think your little escapades are more important?"

"No, uh, but, no offense, but she scares me more than you do." He darted out of both of Gibbs' and Ziva's reaches, hitting the down button on the elevator and being grateful that it closed without letting either of them on.

And then he realised he had just shut Ziva out of the elevator. And called her scary.

"Oh, God. I'm dead."

I do not know what I am going to do for the next chapter. I have no ideas. Yet. It might be time for the first chapter that I have pre-written, or maybe I will have that as the one after the next, but either way, that is going to be an interesting one, so look out for that. Again, I do not know when it will be up, whether it be tomorrow, or next month, though hopefully not that long.