Rifiuto: Non Mirena

Thanks to DS2010 for reviewing 72, 73 and 74, mcgeeksgirl for reviewing 74, and Reader aka Sun Samurai for reviewing 72, 73 and 74.

She took a deep breath, resting her head against his shoulder, her hands tangled in his. Tim had returned to his place on the sofa, and Ziva was dangling between his legs; the contractions had eased up, shifting from dilating to pushing contractions, though Ziva felt no urge to push at the moment. He brushed a kiss to her hair, whispering softly to her, trying to keep her mind on something other than the current situation.

"Remember when we started talking about making a baby?"

She nodded slowly, too focused on gathering her strength to notice the importance of his question. A small smile tugged at her lips, and she reached down, laying her hands on her belly. "We... tried... for two years and..." She let out a groan, laying her head back against him.

"Didn't even tell your parents until last fall."

A groan escaped her throat, and she took a deep breath, nuzzling her nose against his chin.

"They were... so happy..."

Sarah watched her brother and his wife, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. Though Tim had his fears, seeing Ziva in so much pain put them all on the back-burner for him, and he focused solely on her, on making sure she had the support she needed at the moment. And now that it was the latent phase of the second stage-

"They've been through a lot, your brother and his wife." She turned, meeting Jeanne's gaze with a soft nod. "You know, when your brother was brought into the ER that night... honestly, I took one look at the damage from the accident and thought, 'there's no possible way someone could survive this'. The odds of surviving being hit head on and going through two windshields just... it's nonexistent. It doesn't happen, surviving that type of crash. And then he slipped into the coma, and I figured, you know, give his body time to heal, and then I met Ziva, when she came in that night, barreling into the intensive care unit in tears. And all I did was look at her and say, 'You're pregnant, aren't you?' and she nodded, and I could have kicked myself."

"How did you know she was pregnant?"

"Because I've dealt with accidents like this before, but this was the most secure case. There was a hit and run accident I worked on a few years ago, and his wife reacted just the same- I've just... a woman who's pregnant and who discovers her husband has been in a bad accident or fallen into a coma... they react differently. More severely."

"Because of the excess hormones."

They briefly turned back to the couple, before Jeanne continued. "The fact that your brother was married made it hard, the fact that he had a baby on the way too-" She shrugged. "I have a degree in both obstetrics and neurosurgery- I'm used to bringing life into the world and saving it, but... but I've never gotten used to telling someone their loved one might not wake up. But this-" She shook her head. "Your brother defied the odds, on everything. He could have come out with severe brain damage, could have lost his sight, his hearing, could have been on a ventilator for the rest of his life, or been paralyzed from the neck down or he could have ended up in a wheelchair... or it could have killed him on impact."

"So losing his memory was the best thing that could have happened."

"Yeah." She turned back to the couple, watching them for several minutes. "Ziva could very well have found herself a widow with only his child as that last reminder of him. So really, Tim's surviving that accident is a miracle. He might have lost any memory of his wife and son, but that doesn't mean he's not trying to remember them."

"So... this... today, it's... it's good.. for Tim?" Jeanne thought a moment, before nodding.

"Yes, absolutely. And I think, what's happening is that your brother is remembering things- little things, but still, things- without even realizing it. It's slowly becoming automatic."

"So like... muscle memory... for his brain?" The doctor nodded.

"With victims of amnesia, things that seem familiar to them- a kiss, a touch, a smile- will often bring back the strongest memories, but those memories often won't appear for days, especially if there's major stress taking place."

"And having a baby is the ultimate in major stress." Sarah finished, and Jeanne nodded. "Hey, Dr. Beniot? Do you think after the baby's born, that... that Tim's memory will come back?"

The doctor sighed. "It depends."

"What do you mean?"

"It depends on Tim's mind. It depends on if it wants to take the risk of remembering everything or if it would just rather remain in that fog. It's all up to him-" Ziva let out a cry, leaning her head back against his shoulder, and both women rushed back; Sarah held the camera in her hands, watching as Jeanne knelt beside the laboring woman. "Ziva. Ziva, look at me." Slowly, the woman lifted her head, meeting her doctor's eyes. "Talk to me, do you feel the urge to push?" She shook her head.

"It hurts..."

"What hurts, sweetie?" Tim whispered, brushing a kiss to her head.

She let out a moan, shaking her head. "I can... I can feel him..." She choked on a sob. "move... moving... oh, God, it hurts..."

"Okay, Ziva, I'm gonna check you real quick. All right? So just stay calm and relaxed-" She nodded as Jeanne got up and quickly grabbed a pair of gloves before returning.

"Tim, it hurts..." He squeezed her hands gently.

"I can feel his head; Ziva, he's right there. Honey, do you hear me?" Ziva nodded slowly at Jeanne, eyes closed. "He's come down your birth canal and he's right there, he's getting ready to come. Pretty soon he's gonna start crowning, and once he's crowned, then you can start pushing okay?"