Rifiuto: Non Mirena

Jeanne was right.

Here he comes.

With one last push, Ziva watched as their son slid out of her and into Jeanne's arms. He was then being passed into her own arms; Jeanne was resting him against her chest, and her arms were up, holding the just-born infant to her, as she was gently ordered to push once more, her body expelling the placenta in a matter of seconds. But Ziva wasn't focused on that- she was focused on the baby resting against her chest, his soft cries reaching her ears.

She looked up, tears clouding her gaze. "Tim, look... he's born... he's finally born..." She caught him in a firm kiss, before turning her gaze back to their son. "Oh, and he's beautiful... he's absolutely beautiful..."

"I'm so proud of you, sweetheart." He kissed her temple, his green gaze drinking in the sight of their son.

Finally, after all these months, after all the pain, all the tears and the meltdowns, he was finally out in the world, tucked tenderly into his mother's embrace. Sarah quickly handed her a damp cloth but Ziva didn't notice; Tim took it instead, gently cleaning their son of the blood and fluid he was still coated in from his entrance into the world.

"Well, it's four-forty-five in the morning," Sarah grinned, not at all surprised that her brother and his wife were fixated on their son. "and after many, many hours of countless labor pain and a couple of meltdowns, guess who's finally here!" Ziva looked up at her sister, a small smile on her face. "So, Ziva, do you want to introduce the newest member of your family?"

The new mother swallowed, looking back at her son, who stared up at her with unfocused dark eyes. "This... is our little Amal. Amal Josiah McGee." Her gaze then returned to her son, as she reached up, brushing a finger against his cheek. Instinctively, the baby turned his head towards his mother's touch, and Ziva choked out a sob. A moment passed before she allowed Jeanne to weigh the baby and take his measurements; she leaned back against her husband, tilting her head back to look up at him. "He's finally here, ahuva."

They shared a soft kiss, only breaking it when Jeanne returned, laying the baby back in his mother's arms. "Is he okay, Dr. Beniot?" The older woman smiled at Tim.

"You two have a perfectly healthy baby boy- eight pounds, two ounces."

Ziva looked up, meeting her doctor's eyes. "Eight pounds?" Jeanne nodded, as her patient turned back to the baby in her arms, gently guiding the baby's mouth to her breast, hissing gently as he latched on and her milk let down. "You're a big boy, aren't you?"

Jeanne snorted softly. "Actually, most babies born today are between seven and nine pounds, so eight pounds is relatively small- especially when there are women who have babies born at ten and twelve pounds- but those are usually caused by untreated gestational diabetes." She reached out, gently rubbing a finger over the nursing infant's arm. "This little guy's at a perfectly normal weight."

Once everything was cleaned up, and they had decided to freeze and bank the cord blood- for precautionary's sake, if anything happened- Tim and Jeanne helped Ziva settle on the bed, where she'd be more comfortable. After making sure the new mother was settled and everything was good, Jeanne slipped out to grab the paperwork and give them some alone time with their son. Sarah sat on the end of the bed; she'd set the tripod up on the other side of the bed, where it continued to film, as she took as many stillborn shots of her nephew as possible with her handheld camera. Tears came to her eyes as she slowly lowered the camera, memories of Shanti flooding her mind. "Timmy, Ziva... he's beautiful."

Ziva met her gaze, and seeing the pain in her eyes, slowly lowered her gaze as Tim got up from her side. He helped Sarah up, taking her quickly out of the room so they could talk in private. Normally, Ziva would have tried to insert herself in to help, but she knew that this was one situation that Tim needed to handle on his own. The last thing Sarah needed was her sister-in-law trying to cheer her up, to comfort her- especially when that same sister-in-law had just given birth to a full-term, healthy baby-

The very real reminder of what she'd lost would most likely only send Sarah into a tailspin leading to a mental breakdown. And that was the last thing anyone needed. Yes, better to let Tim handle the tears that were inevitable as they glistened in Sarah's eyes; he was her big brother, and even though he couldn't change things or fully fix them, he could give his baby sister what Ziva couldn't.

As the door shut behind them, Ziva turned back to the infant in her arms. A small smile tugged at her features as she studied the baby; this tiny little person who'd lived inside her for the last nine months, who'd... made his father fall in love with him simply by existing, who... who was slowly, very slowly, pulling the fog from his daddy's mind and giving him back his memories...

"It's nice to finally meet you, Amal. Abba and I... we've been waiting a long time..." She winced as the baby shifted against her breast, kicking her hard in the ribs. A soft chuckle escaped her throat. "I thought you would stop that once you came out, but I must have seriously been dreaming." She chuckled softly, reached up, brushing her hand over his dark head, being careful of the fontanels on her son's head. She then trailed a finger down his cheek. Yes, there were definitely elements of her husband reflected in her son-

I feel like I'm looking at one of Tim's baby pictures.