Nick woke up to an empty spot on the bed beside him and the now-familiar sound of his girlfriend getting sick in the bathroom. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the pounding headache that was a result of his now often sleepless nights. Every groan and squirm from Ellie had him up immediately, worrying about the woman and her baby. He sat up and flung his legs over the side of the bed, walking slowly to the kitchen. He started the tea kettle and went to check on Ellie in the bathroom.

"El.." he said softly

She had finished hunching over the toilet and moved back against the wall, looking up at him with wide tired eyes. Almost as soon as she felt her back hit the cool marble she lunged forward again, coughing and vomiting into the toilet. Nick put his hand on her back, helpless.

Nick made his way through the bullpen, his second coffee of the day in hand. He put his bag down at his desk and turned around taking a sip from his cup. He was met in the face with Palmer, he flinched back and almost sent his coffee flying.

"Jeez, Jimmy." Nick hissed

"We need you to settle a debate," Jimmy started, ignoring Nick's glare. "Mcgee thinks that something happened with Gibbs and Jack in Afghanistan. I think that there's nothing there, no feelings, no chemistry, nothing."

Well, you've been wrong before Nick thought. He remembered their conversation not one year earlier about the "nothing between Ellie and Nick". He almost laughed to himself about Jimmy's faulty radar.

"I'm gonna have to side with Mcgee on this one Jimmy." He chuckled.

"HAH!" Mcgee yelled, peering out from behind the monitor. "I knew it, something definitely happened between Gibbs and Jack."

At that note Gibbs appeared out of thin air, looming behind Mcgee. He shook his head, as if not having enough energy to put up with them and continued to his desk. "Let's go, we got a body at the marina."

The team piled all into one car. Gibbs drove and Nick sat shotgun next to him. He pulled out his phone and began texting Ellie.

Hey El, how are you? Nick wrote

He waited a few minutes with no response and shut off his phone, opening the blinder to stop the blazing sun from reaching his eyes. His phone started to buzz, catching the attention of both Gibbs and Mcgee. He pulled it up and unlocked it, feeling his coworker's eyes on him.

I'm ok, reading up on some of the cases you guys have gotten. And look I'm starting to show!

Ellie sent a photo of her standing in the mirror with the smallest of baby bumps gracing her stomach. Nick couldn't help but crack a smile as his co-workers continued to watch his reactions.

"So, how is she?" Mcgee asked.

"Jeez Mcgee, nosy much?" Nick answered smugly. He pulled up the picture she had sent and tilted it so that Tim could see it from the backseat. He smiled goofily and Gibbs tore his eyes away from the road for a split second to see what all the fuss was about. Even Gibbs, owner of rule 12 had a soft spot for these two and turned back to the road smiling.

Ellie sat in her apartment, at odds of what to do with her time at home. She had read as many of the team's cases as she could get her hands on and watched every known movie in existence. Her eyes landed on a photo of her and Abby from before she moved to London and suddenly had an idea. At this point, almost all of her team, new and old, knew about her pregnancy, with the exception of Abby who up until this point had been a pain to reach with her new job. Ellie slumped over in bed and opened up her laptop, trying to ignore the wave of nausea that swept over her. She put in her pin and opened up the skype app, sitting up in bed to make it seem like everything was ordinary.

The screen buzzed and soon enough Abby's face popped up on the other side.

"BIshop!" she yelled with her usual pizzaz.

Ellie giggled, it had been a long time since she had seen her friend, and her newly found secret was bubbling up to the surface. "Hey, Abby."

"Wait," she said quizzically, "why aren't you at work" she looked up at her clock which was still set to DC time.

"Well actually," Ellie said smiling. She pointed down at her stomach and a sly grin forced its way onto her face.

It took a few seconds for Abby to understand but once she did she started to scream, first in excitement and then in panic. "Wait." she raised an eyebrow "Who's is it? Ellie if it's Jake's I swear I will fly back to DC and smack some sense into you.." Abby started to ramble on in frustration.

"It's Nicks." Ellie broke her off mid-sentence.

Abby's mouth fell open and she sat gaping at her friend.

"I know it's a shock, and obviously it wasn't on purpose because we had only been on one date and it wasn't even really a date and you know he's Nick and so I-"

This time it was Abby's turn to cut her friend off, 'Phew, I'm just glad it's not Jakes." she laughed.

When Nick arrived home Ellie was sitting up on the sofa, painting a small bird on a canvas. Nick walked over, dropping his bag by the door. He leaned over, inspecting the painting, and kissed Ellie softly on the head. She looked up from her canvas and smiled, turning her body to face her attention towards him.

"I was thinking of grabbing some food from the place across the street, we could bring it back and maybe watch a movie." He grinned

Ellie shook her head in agreement, she had been surprisingly hungry today and immediately dropped her painting supplies, reaching for her jacket.

Nick was over at the counter paying and had sent Ellie to grab them some sodas from the machine. She filled up the two cups to the brim and set them down next to her, gripping two straws tightly in her hand.

There was a man blocking her way to the lids. "Excuse me?" she asked politely.

The man snapped away from his conversation and turned around to face her. As soon as Ellie saw his face she dropped the straws she was holding, creating a small clattering noise as they hit the floor. Her eyes grew wide and she stuttered as she spoke, "Jake."

Sorry if this ending makes you mad but I couldn't resist sprinkling in an antagonist. On the bright side, I found a way to incorporate Abby into the story because I know we all miss her. I tried to make this chapter longer because I realized how many chapters I was stacking on and thought I should include more information in each chapter. I hope you enjoy this and please leave your thoughts on our two guest appearances this chapter. sending you lots of love and happy reading.