Around a month later, Monday morning on March 23rd, as Tony stirred awake, the first thing that filled his vision was Ziva's face. Marvelling at how lovely Ziva appeared while sleeping, he gazed into her face for a few moments, then as Tony moved closer to Ziva, stroked her hair away from her face gently. As she slowly opened her eyes, he leaned over and kissed her on her forehead, then whispered, "My sweetcheeks, how beautiful you look. Just like Sleeping Beauty when you lay there by my side, my future wife."
Smiling at Tony, putting her hand on Tony's cheek,she said, "Good morning my Tony, my handsome future husband, the wonderful father of our beautiful daughter Tali, and our unborn child, I think it is time for Tali to know the news that she is going to be a big sister." Ziva spoke gently as she gets closer to Tony, kissing him and let him know how much she loves him.
Tony replied, "Well, let's make it special for Tali to hear the exciting news. Why don't we tell that she's going to be a big sister. I'll tell you what, cook up some breakfast and theeeennnn, we can tell her when we sit down to eat." Tony tilted his head and raised his eyebrows in a querying look.
Ziva agreed to the idea, then she and Tony spent some time in their bed snuggling and cuddling each other, until they heard through the baby monitor that Tali was starting to move around in her bed, making waking-up sounds. Moments later, as they got ready for the day, the sound of tiny feet pattering from Tali's bedroom reached their ears, and the sound grew louder until Tali burst into the bedroom, running and hopping onto their bed in excitement.
"Ima! Abba!" Tali squealed as Ziva reached out to Tali, hugging her tightly. Tali then moved over to hug Tony.
"Fly me!" Tali hopped up and down in little bounces, giving out a short squeal of excitement when Tony suddenly swept her up in the air and did the merry go around.
"Look, Ima, I'm flyiiiiing!" Tali squealed.
Ziva shook her head and said with a smile on her face and a little giggle in her voice, "Tony. If she gets sick, you clean up the mess! Now, I need to cook breakfast."
As soon the breakfast was ready, Ziva served the food as Tony and Tali sat at the table, then took a seat next to Tali, but facing Tony, forming an equilateral triangle around the circular table. Tony and Ziva looked at each other, then they all joined hands to bless the food. As they ate, Ziva shot Tony a look with querying eyes. Tony looked back with a knowing look and took her hand, for he realized that the time has come for Tali to hear the surprise news.
As Tali was eating her favorite chocolate-chip pancakes, Ziva reached out her hand to stroke Tali's hair away from her face, and said, "Tali, your Abba and I have something surprise to tell you, remember you drew us some hearts for us other day? The one framed on your wall in your bedroom?" Ziva asked.
Tali replied in happy tones, as she dug her fork into her pancakes, "Yes, my favorite drawing. there is 4 hearts like a family." She looked up at Ziva.
Ziva smiled and reached out her hand to Tony's hand, then looked at Tali. "About that 4th heart that you drew. In a few months, you will become a big sister. I am having a baby in about 6 months," Ziva replied in a bubbly, excited tone as she held Tony's hand smiling at Tali.
"Really?!" Tali perked up, squealed in excitement and got off the chair to hug her Ima. "Am I going to have a brother or sister?" Tali craned her neck up at Ziva.
"Tali, tell you what. After we are done with breakfast, then we get ready for the day, your Abba and I will be going to see the doctor to check on the baby, to make sure the baby is alright, and that is when we will know if it is a boy or a girl. You'll be coming with us to see the doctor, and you will be the first to see picture of the baby as I promised you that you will know at the same time as Ima and Abba, before everybody else. When we are done with the doctor office, we will drop you off at Delilah's and stay with her while your Abba and I have to do some things to do for a while, sounds good?" Ziva spoke to Tali as she stroked her hair away from her face, and looked at Tony, giving him a smile.
Tali got so happy, hugged her ima and Abba, then said, "That sounds good, so that means I get to play with Johnny and Morgan while you both have to work?"
Ziva hugged Tali, with a smile saying "That's right, my sweet Tali, you will have so much fun there, while Ima and Abba working. Time will fly fast before you know it when we come home to you, everything will be ok, my sweetheart, so go on finish your pancakes and we will be going soon." Ziva glanced at Tali as Tali grabbed her fork to finish up her plate.
Tony walked closer to Ziva with a smile on his face, took her hand in his, kissed her and said, "my sweetcheeks, I love it when you know how to make Tali such a happy little girl, that's so awesome to see. I think we 3 will be so excited once we find out, boy or girl, and I think we will be alright as this family expands."
At the doctor's office, as Tony waited in his chair with Tali, the doctor scanned the medical notes as Ziva sat on the examination bed. He muttered to himself, flipping pages on the report. "Hm, everything looks good with the history so far, nothing special to note here..." He flipped the report closed, then turned to Ziva. "Ready for your vitals?"
Ziva nodded, then the doctor took her vitals, then had a good listen to the baby's heartbeat, affirming that the baby's heart was "just spinning along merrily like a top, in perfect shape", bringing a smile to Ziva and Tony's faces.
"Now, are you ready for the sonogram?" the doctor asked.
Before Ziva could reply, Tali burst out with a short squeal, "Yes I want to see the 4th heart baby!"
The joyous outburst got everyone laughing. Tali got up and went to her Ima, looking at the doctor, unsure if it was okay to proceed. Ziva motioned her over, and told her to sit in the chair by her, and watch the screen as Tony walked closer to them, as they all looked at the monitor. As the doctor moved the wand across Ziva's abdomen, an image of a moving fetus suddenly resolved itself on the screen. The rushing, whooshing sound of a beating heart coursed through the room, eliciting some joyous gasps from Ziva and Tony. Happy tears started flowing from Tony's eyes, as Tali sat enthralled, hearing the heartbeat, pointing at the baby on the screen.
"Everything looks good, two arms, two legs, a head, very strong heartbeat and would you like to know the gender is?" As the doctor was commenting on what she was seeing on the screen, the baby changed position, and the shape of the baby became a little clearer . "Let me take some measurements and see how far along the baby is."
Ziva looked at Tony with a smile. "Should we know which gender Tony?"
Tony moved closer to the exam bed and held Ziva's hand, and told her what matters to him is a healthy baby, boy or girl, and it doesn't matter either way.
Tali piped up, "I think I will have a baby brother!"
Ziva looked at Tali and smiled. "Yes, I would like to know."
As the doctor perused the screen the baby shifted position again. She looked at Ziva and Tony, and smiled as she said, "Congrats, it looks like Tali is right, you both are having a boy."
As Tali heard the doctor saying that the baby is a boy, she squealed in joy. Ziva and Tony gasped in joy of tears, hugging Tali as they looked at each other, finding the news to be the best news they ever heard.
Tony stared intently at the screen as Ziva gently asked Tali to go on sit on the chair and wait. Tali zoomed to the chair in the corner and watched. As Tony slowly moved closer to the monitor, he muttered, "A boy? Wow, and you – how, how could you tell that's a boy?"
Giggling a little, the doctor said, patting Tony's shoulder, 'Mr DiNozzo, when your son moved just so, you can see it just peeking out from behind his leg." She pointed out the feature which was now becoming more apparent.
Ziva all suddenly cried in joy as she held Tony's hand, saying "oh my, this is the best news, I can see that there, Tony, this is our son, oh my Tony, we are having a boy," Ziva responded in a joy of tear as she was so happy to hear that her baby boy is all healthy and a strong heartbeat made her and her family's day.
"My sweetcheeks Ziva, this is beauitful... we made this baby, I am in awe, seeing this so little baby there on the screen, this is the best thing I ever seen, and I am so happy that is our son, and we are a family forever, I love you my Ziva," Tony responded to Ziva. He bent over to hug Ziva, kissed her then smiled at Tali as Ziva and Tony looked at her when she looked at the baby on the monitor, standing proudly, knowing that she now can be the big sister that she wanted to be.
As soon the appointment was over, Ziva, Tali and Tony made a quick stop at McGee's quarters to drop off Tali, then told Delilah that they are having a boy, Delilah was so thrilled for them, congratulating them with hugs. After a couple minutes of conversation, they headed to the bullpen to meet with Tim McGee.
As Tony and Tim sat down at their desks in the bullpen, Ziva went to her desk across the aisle from the two men, and booted up the computer. She then looked over at Tony, who was going about his desk, singing little ditties to himself, then shook her head. Nothing new with him, she thought. Always going on about movies and music. She caught his eye.
"Should we tell him now?" she asked. After all, Delilah would be telling him either way.
Tony looked at McGee, giggled at him as if he want to tease his little brother or not.
"Oh right, so Elf Lord will have his little Elf Lord... let," Tony waved his hand around in the air, "turn our son into another Elf Lord-let, they better not be casting a d20 strength spell on me now!" Tony was muttering to himself out loud as he replied to Ziva.
"Oh Tony. Again with the Elf Lord quotes, like the old days at NCIS? Maybe it is okay for McGee to be the Elf Lord, but our boy is too cute to be an Elf Lord," Ziva replied with a giggle as she looked at Tony and McGee.
McGee perked up as he heard what Tony and Ziva was talking about, and laughed at the Elf Lord comment. "Yup, I heard that Ziva. Us together again, like old days. You're right, it had been years ago since when we three worked together, we had lots of fun doing this together. It is so good for us to be together again. The current team I am on certainly holds their own, but it's not the same as before." He guestured to his stomach. "Look at me. I guess there's a little more around my tummy now, but other than that not much else except doing story writing when I can, and taking care of my family."
Tony looked over at McGee, who was typing as he was talking. "So what's the word on the street? Wow, this feels strangely at home." Tony wadded up a piece of paper in his left hand and over-head tossed it, attempting to bean McGee in the head with it.
"You two. Always with the ribbing," Ziva laughed at them. She shuffled some papers on her desk, not finding much to go on in the current case.
Tony smiled magnaminously. "Well, you know I can't stay away from McGeek and not enlighten him on classic movies, 'cuz I know he's content to be in front of his computer doing geeky things like being an Elf Lord Esteemed in – what's the latest game you're into now, McGeek?"
"Oh – it's called "taking care of the kids" now," Tim responded.
"Well, Tim, now that you mention it, we went to the doctor before we came here. We found out this morning," Ziva walked over to McGee and showed him the ultrasound picture. "It is a boy," Ziva replied to McGee, her face beaming.
"Ah Sweet! A baby boy! Hey Tony, I guess your worst fears may be realized, your boy is going to be a little elf lord," McGee replied in a playful tone as he reached out his hand to give Tony a handshake.
Tony got up from his desk chair, smiling at McGee, he reached out as if to give him a handshake, but just before hands were clasped, Tony swung up and gave Tim a light head slap.
"Oh what was that for, Tony?" McGee asked in mock-surprise, for he knew Tony was more playful than angry with the head-slap.
"A little elf lord!? Well guess what - Elf Lord is your thing, and it sticks with you. And because you are the best elf lord we ever known, let me tell you the good news, we are having a little DiNozzo boy" Tony replied to McGee, smiling.
"Oh a DiNozzo boy! Congrats to you Tony and Ziva, that's awesome news. Having a boy is like a piece of cake." Tim smiled at both Tony and Ziva.
Ziva said, "I think it'll be perfect, your boy and our boy, playing together, having fun with each other doing boy things."
"Oh right, so little McGeek could teach our son Elf Lord things, he's gonna have his mind corrupted when I could be teaching him the finer art of movie connoisseurship", Tony remarked in a slightly sarcastic but joshing tone.
"Yup, he'll get trained up right by the Master, no less," Tim replied, ribbing Tony, in an effort play with Tony's mind.
"Oh you boys, I think I have something better to tell you both, I cant believe this is just reminding me how you both were like that years ago, you both like to wrack each other mind like boys would do." Ziva giggled as she included herself to tease the boys like the old times.
"Oh you mean tossing enigmas and riddles and mind-benders at each other," Tony giggled along with Tim and Ziva as he shook his head with a wry grin, reaching out his hand to shake Tim's hand, smiling at him with a brotherly hug.
"It's like you've never left off from before, with you two trying to break each other's heads," Ziva reponsed with a light laughter she looked at the computer monitor as she enjoyed seeing Tony having fun teasing Tim like old times as she went along with them.
Just then, a staffer burst into the bullpen and made a beeline straight for the trio. He stopped before the three and opened a folder. "Tony, Tim, Ziva? Yes, that's you three, follow me." He snapped the folder shut and made an about-face and walked away. The three quickly got up from their seats after locking their terminals and followed the staffer to a secure conference room, where they were asked to go inside.
As they entered, they were surprised to see Vance and Gibbs there, along with Nick Torres and Ellie Bishop, along with a couple of intelligence officers. Among them were a couple of military officials. As everyone started to take seats around the long conference table, a few more people filtered into the conference room. Once the last person entered, the room went on lockdown, becoming SCIF-secure, so as to prevent any leakage of classified information.
As everyone was starting to wonder what the significance of being in that room, whispering to each other in hushed tones, Vance stood up, clutching a short stack of folders stamped CLASSIFIED. As he started passing out the folders, another person stood up.
"As the director of Homeland Security, I have decided to call all of you to this meeting. As you have noticed Vance passing out those folders, you may be wondering what's up. I'll give Vance the floor."
Vance walked to the head of the conference table and faced the group, giving a quick nod. He looked at everyone, slowly scanning the table, his look boring into each person's eyes. He took a deep breath as he set his set of folders down on the table, pausing for a moment to think about where to start.
"Alright, as you may have noticed, we have a few people in here that is germane to this information that I am about to share with all of you. We feel that it is best to pool our resources, and as such, I had meetings with Homeland Security, and pretty much every three-letter agency under the sun – CIA, FBI, NSA, you name it. Secretary of Defense has been looped in, just in case. The SEALS are on tap for this." Vance opened a folder and continued. "This is to be a joint mission, NCIS spearheading this, but everybody playing on the same field. This carries national-security implications."
Gibbs sat back and looked at some of the information within one of his folders. As everybody followed suit, Vance walked around the table and handed to each person another folder.
"Inside those folders I have just given you, will be your part in this mission. I expect that the roles assigned to each person is done to the best of their abilities," Vance spoke then paused for a moment as he looked at Ziva for a moment as he stopped walking around the table by Ziva.
She looked up at him, and he said, "Ziva, I'm sorry, but you're not going out on the field for this. I want you to be the liaison for our agencies as well as Interpol. We have decided for the best interests for you, your daughter, and your unborn child, that you stay and do this."
"But, Vance, I -" Vance stopped her from saying more.
"I hope you understand why I am doing this to you, I know you have your skills, you have done a lot already, you have done awesome, I dont want you to end up to be like Eli. I knew your father that well. I would rather you not be like him, so please allow us all do the job. Remember, we have the best on the job, including the SEALS that we have on tap," Vance spoke in a tone that would brook no further argument.
As her anxiety started to slowly creep up within her, Ziva just sat there, looking at Vance, wondering what he is trying to say. She said "Vance, I do think I should go out there and do him away for what he is doing to us." She quickly added before Vance could speak, "But you are right, I have chosen not to follow the choice that Eli would do, for that is not me. I do not want to be like him. Yes, I am pregnant, but I will not allow it to stop me from putting him away, even if I contribute as
a liaison. I am willing to do that as long as I am not alone doing this whole thing myself." Ziva managed to stuff her anxiety back into its little box, and hold back her tears as she answered Vance.
"Ziva, we will get this Ray guy. Now, heads up, people. This guy, he needs to be found. I don't care if he's dead or alive, find the bastard. He has killed some of our agents and is now actively stalking one of our own. Now, if you need to take him out, you have the green light to put him down like the rabid dog he is." Vance patted Ziva's shoulder. "Even though Ziva comes from another country, she is still one of ours. We back each other up, all the way. We'll do all the hard work for you out in the field, Ziva. You've done enough out there."
Ziva cried softly realizing how much she have people that do care and love her for who she is, as people stood up clapping at her, praise her for her courage to do anything for people she cares about, and would serve the country with her love. Tony hugged Ziva, held her hand as he smiled at her, told her that he is proud of her, as Ziva hugged Tony back.
"Ellie will be your partner on this, Ziva, with her NSA hookups. She will also be stationed here for the time being," Vance looked at Ziva and Ellie.
Ziva raised her eyebrows. Ellie shifted in her seat and looked at her folder. "Vance, you said that pretty much all of the agencies were involved in this?" Ellie held up her folder as she asked.
"As I have said before, Ellie, within the folders I have given you, is information that have national-security implications," Vance said.
He then walked around to McGee and Tony, putting a hand on the back of Tony's chair. "McGee, and Tony, you're both going out into the field. Get geared up, because you both will be leaving tomorrow for exercises with the SEALS. The reason we hand-picked you to do this is based on your history, which I must say has been nothing short of impressive. On this mission you will have SEAL support. We believe you're the man for the job. Gibbs thinks you are the man to do it,Tony." Vance patted Tony's shoulders as Tony looked up in surprise. As he looked at Ziva, he saw her eyes swell up in tears, realizing that he is being deployed into potential harm's way, knowing how devious and dangerous Ray could be.
Eliie held Ziva as tears flowed down Ziva's cheeks, lending her a small degree of comfort as Tony held Ziva's hand. Ziva squeezed Tony's hand with enough strength to cause him to wince in pain, and he realized that one of her bouts of anxiety was just under the surface. Tony let out a very small grunt of pain, not quite heard by the others in the room. Vance turned to McGee.
'Your orders are in here. You also head out with Tony. You stick with him, no matter what. Whatever happens, you report back to us," Vance said.
"So, I head off and train with him?" McGee asked.
"Elf Lord, did I stutter? Of course, you go train with him, because you're his partner on this." Tony chuckled when Vance answered.
"Ah, just making sure I understood correctly," McGee said.
Tony laughed. "Oh, it's just because McGeek here has gotten used to being in clean jobs... the dirtiest he's ever gotten in a long time was cleaning the dust out of computer keyboards."
This brought out a chuckle from Ziva, for she had missed hearing the friendly banter between Tony and Tim for far too long in the past.
"Alright, Nick , you're going to Mexico. There, you'll meet up with a group of people working for the CIA. You will be collecting anything you can find out about Ray, and feeding that back to us here. Your information and orders are in this folder." Vance spoke.
As the meeting progressed, Gibbs was silent throughout the meeting. Ziva, Tony, McGee, Ellie and Nick was looked at Gibbs, wondering if he set the whole thing up, that he encouraged Vance to create these marching orders, in order to protect Ziva and the children. Gibbs could not stop notice the puzzling looks from his team, so he stood up, then looked at Ziva and everyone, as he struggled to explain why this mission has to happen; "First of all, Situations had been changing ever since Ziva and Tony got here, we had worked so hard on those emails, those letters, and those encrypted emails and phone calls, we had tracked it all back to Ray, so Ziva, we are not going to let you to be out there to hunt Ray down, you had done enough like Vance said. I'm taking point and overseeing this. I will do everything to protect my family." Gibbs put up a finger in front of his face. "We will not rest until Ray has been brought to justice."
Vance adjourned the meeting by telling the respective people to gear up in whatever way they needed, because the mission was to due to kick off within a few day's time.
As McGee, Tony, and Ziva slowly walked down the hall to other side of the facility on their way to their quarters, they heard someone calling their names from back down the hallway. They turned around and saw Gibbs, with Ellie and Nick. They walked back down the hallway and met them halfway. As they came closer to each other, Gibbs said, "It's for the best that this is set up that way. I am not letting you go out on the field, I want to keep my word for you. I promise you that I'll do my best to have Tony back in time for the baby."
As they were walking, they passed a small chapel-like room off to one side. Ziva brought everyone into that room, a room where Ziva had gone on occasion as sanctum for her worship, and asked for a joining of hands. As everyone bowed their heads down, Ziva offered up a prayer in Hebrew, as Tony translated for her.
As soon the prayer was over, Gibbs gave Ziva a huge hug, then he whispered in her ear, "Always know we got your back. We'll be back before you know it."
Ziva sniffled as she rubbed her eyes from being swell up from crying at times and managed a smile. "It is good to know that you guys truly do care. I will stay strong for Tali and the baby, and I will be ok. I have my confidence in you, I love you for being good to me, Abba Gibbs," Ziva spoke as she fought back her tears and hugged Gibbs. As Gibbs turned around to leave, she turned to Tony, got a momentary grasp and squeeze of his hand, then took off crying.