***
Thanksgiving came around quicker than I ever imagined. Jess and myself say our goodbyes and soon I'm on my way home again.
I'm buzzing with lots of things to tell everyone including my first experience of recording a CD! I sit on the way trying to contain myself with excitement keeping my violin close by.
The train journey is only a couple of hours and my iPod keeps me amused for the journey.
When I get off the train I hear Abby before I see her. I can hear her familiar screaming from miles off.
"Bethany!" she screams turning several heads the busy train station. I'm surprised to see her by herself.
"Hey!" I wave. I drop all my stuff and fly into her awaiting arms. She squeezes me tightly.
"Abs, lacking oxygen…" I stagger.
"Oh yeah…welcome home! Everyone wanted to come and welcome you but they're all out in the field" she explains helping me with my bags.
"That's ok, I can't wait to see everyone!" I say.
"The feelings mutual, Tony's been bouncing around all excited all day!" she says laughing.
"How's Ziva?" I ask. Abby laughs a little.
"I'll warn you now…she'll look a little different from when you last saw her, and she'll definitely be waiting for you at the officer, Gibbs has taken her off field work, she wanted to come too but she had paper work to finish" she tells me.
"Wow, she's grown that much? I bet she's really annoyed at Gibbs…" I say
"Your father too…he won't let her do anything, he's become very protective of her, he's taking this whole fatherhood thing very seriously…I mean, not that he didn't with you I mean…" she stumbles in her 'Abby' sort of way.
"I know what you mean, Abby. I got gifts for everyone!" I say.
"Don't waste your student money on us!" she says sternly but also sounding excited at the mention of presents.
"Only this once, soon as Christmas is coming and all!" I say
"I know! I love Christmas…Gibbs is having a Christmas get together at his place on Christmas Eve and Ducky has invited everyone over to his place for thanksgiving!" she informs me as we get to her car…I love the red thing!
"Sounds great!" I say getting in. I can't wait to see my car again and give her a spin!
We chat about random stuff for a while until we get to NCIS.
"It looks different!" I say examining it from the outside.
"Yeah, it's the Dark cloud that Vance has thrown over the building" Abby says
"I miss Jenny" I admit, I have no idea where it has suddenly come from but it's the truth… this will be our first Christmas without her.
"I know, it's gonna be hard…but no one is going to be alone this year" Abby says positively. I know she means well but Jenny won't be there, loosing Jenny was like loosing my Mom all over again.
"Come one, lets go inside, it's getting really cold…they've forecasted snow this weekend!" she says ushering me inside.
The heat of the building hits me as do the surroundings in general. Its been a long time since I've been here, and it's good to be back…even if I don't actually work here.
"Hey, look who I found!" Abby says dragging me into the squad room, everyone is back by now. Everyone gets up from their seats and crowds around me, it's a bit unbearing.
"Hey!" My father calls giving me a hug.
"I'd started to forget what you looked like!" he jokes.
"Dad!" I say.
Gibbs gives me a hug also and McGee rustles my neat hair.
"MCGEE!" I yell laughing. He's the only person who does that to me, I've quite missed it. I see Ziva still sitting at her desk, she doesn't look that different apart from that glow that all pregnant women get. It's only when she gets up from her desk I really understand what Abby was talking about.
"Ziva! You look great!" I say going over to her so she doesn't have far to go.
"No I don't, I look like a whale!" she says.
"Ah hah! She's finally mastered that phrase!" My father continues, "But I very beautiful whale!" he says wrapping an arm around her shoulder pulling her close to him. Her hand rests perfectly on her large bump.
"I come bearing gifts!" I say, everyone ooh and ahhs with anticipation.
I hand over McGee's 3D puzzle of the empire state building.
"Aw, Bethany, you know me so well!" he says, rummaging through the box in order to start building it straight away.
I give Gibbs his I Heart NY travel coffee thermos.
"Thank you, you didn't have to you know" he says.
"Of course I did" I say.
"Me next, me next!" Abby says excited. I pick out her package. It's a mini statue of liberty with no head but instead a vertical crocodile clip so she can put someone else's head there instead. It's tacky I know but she loves it!
"How cool is that!" she says giving me a hug before disappearing back down into the lab.
I give Ziva her necklace which I got for her and she accepts it tearfully being the emotional, pregnant woman she is.
"What did I get?" my father asks me.
"Well, I kind of bumped into someone who came to one our concerts before going to his film premier" I say smiling.
"Sorry about the state of it, it was all I had handy at the time" I say handing him a signed concert programme, signed by Daniel Craig.
"Daniel Craig came to watch you!" he says gob smacked.
"Yes, he thoroughly enjoyed it" I say.
"James Bond came to see my daughter in a concert!" he says gleefully.
"Well, there were 60 other participants, dad, it wasn't just me!" I laugh,
"Last but not least…" I say fishing for the last two packages.
"I'll probably have to keep them somewhere for a little while" I say retrieving two little teddy bears saying 'I heart NY' on little white t-shirts.
"OH, Bethany, you shouldn't have" Ziva says.
"I couldn't leave my little brothers or sisters out, could I? Are you going to find out what they are?" I ask. Ziva and my father exchange glances.
"We were going to wait but someone couldn't wait that long" Ziva says poking my father in the chest.
"You already know?" I say.
"Sorry, we wanted to tell you in person though!" My father says.
"And? Does anyone else know?" I ask
"We were going to tell everyone else at Ducky's thanksgiving dinner" Ziva tells me.
"Ok, so tell me now…I can keep a secret until then!" I say bursting.
"a boy and a girl" My father says proudly planting a kiss on his fiancée's head.
"Have you set a date for the wedding?" I say.
"We were going to wait until after the twins are born…that way I'll at least fit into a wedding dress" Ziva explains.
"And there's no risk of her going into labour on the big day!" he jokes.
"Dad! Your so rude! It's unbelievable, I don't know how you put up with him!" I say.
***
Soon after my reunion with the NCIS team, Ziva and my father took me home. A strange thought occurred to me, this place didn't feel like home anymore…New York was my home, my little bedroom that I shared with Jess felt like home. When I looked in my room, I found that it looked as though it had never been touched, it was exactly how I had left it. Next I peeked into the twins room, little had been done to it that I'd noticed except the two beautifully crafted cribs with matching mobiles.
"It looks lovely-" I say sensing Ziva behind me. I turn to face her and see her smiling, her hand resting comfortably over her unborn children. The look suits her more than I could ever have imagined.
"I know-except your father has changed his mind about staying here…and since I sold my apartment…" she says.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"He thinks that this isn't enough…he's looking at houses in the suburbs" she tells me, I hear a little glint of excitement in her voice.
"Really?" I ask, "House-hunting? Sounds like fun!" I say.
"Not when you're lugging extra weight around!" Ziva laughs.
"Seriously, you look great…erm, have you…" I begin, sensing my nervousness, she knows what I'm talking about.
"I haven't told my father yet" she says. I sigh
"You know, he let you resign from Mossad so you could live permanently in the states…he might be cool with it" I say. Ziva frowns at my expression, pausing, I think to myself and wonder if Eli David could ever be 'cool'.
"Don't forget, he did disown me" she reminds me and I shudder at the remembrance of those events. Only the two of us really know what went on in that room on that day. My father has questioned but knows better and is waiting patiently for the day when she feels she can talk to him about it.
"You're having his grandchildren, Ziva. That is the greatest gift! Promise me you'll tell him, he won't be able to do anything to you if you're standing in MTAC" I say, knowing it will give her closure if she does what I ask of her.
"Ok…I'll talk to your father about it later" she says. I turn to leave the nursery and my fathers voice rattles through the apartment.
"DINNERS READY!!!" He calls in a sing song like voice. My stomach grumbles in response and I realise that I haven't actually eaten since I left New York.
"Good, I'm famished!" I say. Ziva laughs.
"That makes four of us" she says, I think about what she says for a moment because at first it doesn't really make sense, then it does.
"Oh!" I say laughing-she means the twins too!
My father meets us at the table with bowls full of steaming spaghetti and meatballs.
"My favourite!" I say, sitting down.
"So you haven't said much about New York" my father says.
After that, they can't shut me up for hours.