7

"Are you okay, honey? " Kate stepped out off the bathroom, not looking that well.

"Fine"

Ziva didn't ask more but she was sure Kate lied. It wasn't because Ziva was good in reading people. No it was because honestly Kate looked terrible.

*falling in love with a vampire* *falling in love with a vampire*

It wasn't more than two hours later when Kate came back from the bathroom, looking exactly like this morning. This time Ziva would not let her get away that easy. Something wasn't right.

"Are you really okay? I'll take you home."

"No Zi! I'm fine... Just not feeling that well." Kate added after another wave of nausea hit her. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes for a second. Gibbs was not pleased with Kate being sick at work but he also knew how stubborn she can be. So before he sent her home he told her to see Ducky.

Ducky was really busy preparing an autopsy. He rummaged around the room dressed in his typical work clothes. Jimmy standing by the doors was the first to see Kate.

"Hello, Ka-" he could not finish his sentence. The moment the doors swung open and revealed the dead body on the autopsy table, Kate turned on her heels and headed down the floor.

She studied her face in the mirror and whipped traces of her make-up off her cheeks. She had been crying for the last five minutes and still did not feel better. She never had been a fan of being sick but this was just awful. She cleared her face checking if she was looking human and then she went to autopsy.

"Hi, Kate." Jimmy said once more. This time getting a response as Kate stepped through the doors.

"Hey, Jimmy." she said with a small forced smile.

"My dear, Caitlyn. What can I do for you?" Ducky asked. Hearing her full name Kate winced. "Ah, I see! Not feeling well!" he stated as he turned around to face her. Seeing her pale cheeks.

"Not really. And I have the feeling I have to be out here in less than five minutes or I will have to spend the rest of the day in the bathroom." Caitlyn said when she saw Ducky laying hand on the corpse.

"Don't think I can do anything here. Before you go take a look in the drawer over there."

*falling in love with vampire* *falling in love with a vampire*

"I think you should go and look for Kate." Tony eyed Ziva over his monitor. Ziva agreed, thinking her girlfriend had been way too long down there. She shared a short look with Gibbs, getting her permission to interrupt working on the quiet difficult case and then she disappeared. She decided on taking the stairs because it would save her the time to wait for the elevator. A bit she was afraid something happened to Kate but then she thought she would know that. Kate went to see Ducky. When something was not right he would already have called them.

"Hi. Where is Kate?" Ziva asked while turning to leave the room already, because not seeing her lover anywhere.

"If Caitlyn's not with you I think you should check the bathroom." Ducky knew what was wrong with Kate but he would not be the one to tell Ziva.

"Thank you. And can you do me a favor and not call her Caitlyn? At least not for a while." Ducky was confused but agreed anyway.

When Ziva opened the bathroom door she saw Kate sitting on the floor, back resting against the wall and her head buried in her hands. Without looking at her Ziva could tell Kate was crying. The Israeli rushed over to her girlfriend and seated herself next to Kate on the floor. Then she took Kate in her arms and without asking what was wrong she comforted her lover until she calmed down. After Kate finally was breathing steady Ziva heard the answer of the question she did not even have asked.

"I'm in trouble, Ziva!" Kate was crying again but this time not that hard. She was dried up off tears.

"Shhh. Calm yourself. It's gonna be alright." Ziva rubbed her hands up and down her girlfriend's back. She could not think of anything that bad Kate would start crying over or even consider it as trouble she brought herself into.

"No, Z. Listen it's not alright. I'm pregnant." with that Kate broke down again. She just couldn't stop the tears from falling anymore. Even Ziva, who did her best to be there for Kate, could not do anything.

And Ziva understood her lover. The last thing Kate needed right now was anything that reminded her of Ari. Ziva was enough for that. She was only Ari's sister and it had been hard for Kate to get over this family banter between her girlfriend and her former dead boyfriend. But this child would be his child. It would be their child. It would remind her of its father more than anything else could do.

Eventually Kate was able to face the others. Normally she would pretend nothing had happened – at least for the next few days. Normally she would learn to deal with the news herself first, before she would tell everyone what was up.

But in this case it would be useless. She'd spent about an hour crying in the bathroom. She looked like someone had died. There was no use in hiding anything because no one would believe her if she'd say everything's fine.

It went better than she thought it would. Even though they all were surprised because they did not know that Kate had been with someone before Ziva, they did not let show. They all congratulated her and promised to be there to help her whenever she needed something. Gibbs finally sent her home because she was not in the condition to work at the moment.

Both Ziva and Kate were haunted by the same thoughts that night. Will it be alright when the baby is born? Will they make it through this all? Will she ever be able to forget about Ari with his child in her arms?

*falling in love with a vampire* *falling in love with a vampire*