Tony was the remaining single man in his group of friends from college. Most of them had nice Stepford Wives tucked away in quaint suburbs, across the eastern seaboard, and expensive girlfriends in the cities where they commuted to each day. Their children attended esteemed boarding schools and would return to them on breaks having been properly trained without very much influence from home. It didn't matter what they were really involved in as long as they kept up their grades and appearances.
In some ways he was envious of them because of their extremely lavish lifestyles that once upon a time he had been accustomed to while living with his father in Long Island. The Gucci shoes and Armani suits left very little to be desired. However in other ways he was grateful that he had become a cop, instead of a business executive like the rest of his fraternity brothers. He got to carry a gun, and more importantly he got satisfaction from doing meaningful work at NCIS. Although each day he seemed to be getting more tired with the incredulous hours and crazy situations that he was throw into. He was getting old.
His child certainly wouldn't be getting shipped off to boarding school like he was as a boy. His baby was going to have two loving parents, constantly involved in its life. He could at least guarantee that, so long as they were both alive. He shuddered at that last thought, since they did both have a dangerous job, in which their lives were endangered almost weekly. Additionally the potential mother of his child was the impulsive thrill-seeking type. He made a mental note to make a living-will as soon as possible, indicating that Abby would become the legal guardian of his theoretical baby if anything were to happen.
Most of his college buddies were envious of him, or of what they perceived as his swinging bachelor lifestyle. He wasn't weighed down by the wife, the kids, or the several mortgages like them. It would be liberating not having so many people depending on them all of the time. The perceived freedom that he had was astounding to these men approaching their fifteenth wedding anniversaries. Although he tried to explain to them that he was really married to his job, which was just as complicated and demanding.
In some ways it made them uncomfortable because he was not on the same level as them. He didn't understand the delicate pressures of making sure his kids got into the right prep schools and the daily rituals of multi-million dollar business transactions. However this divide between them was easily overcome with a couple of beers at a nice bar in downtown D.C., which is where the five middle-aged men sat at a booth in the back of the bar reliving their college glory days, and talking about sports and other manly pursuits.
"I can't believe your oldest daughter is starting college next year." A man with a chiseled jaw teased another man with stern ice-blue eyes.
"Does this mean I need to stay away from Georgetown co-eds now?" Tony joked.
Between friendly jabs at each other, Tony managed to find time to send Ziva a text message who he couldn't stop thinking about. Come over tonight when you leave Abs party.
"Hey, Tony, you better not be texting your girlfriend during our guy's night out." One of his friends pestered him, as he stared at his phone waiting for her response that wouldn't come for another hour.
"Sorry guys, I'm kind of preoccupied," he began, and then he continued with wild abandon and for no particular reason, "I actually have some pretty exciting news to share with you all. I'm having a baby. I just found out today."
The lie or uncertain truth tasted so good coming out of his mouth, and congratulations were given all around for Tony, their last single friend who was finally going to join them down the rabbit hole.
Tony wasn't able to focus on his friends very well. His thoughts were completely occupied by Ziva. He wanted to be with her, and he left as soon as he thought his friends were drunk enough to not miss him.
He hadn't brought his car with him, as he figured that he would not be able to drive tonight. He hailed a cab fairly quickly on the street outside of the bar and gave them Abby's address. He was not able to stay away. Plus he could only imagine what kind of shenanigans that his best friends were getting into right now, and he most definitely didn't want to miss out on what was sure to be the office gossip for the next week.
Ziva hadn't responded to his text message yet. He wanted to surprise her so he tried to call Abby to make sure that she stayed there, but the call went to voice mail. He then tried Ziva and also nothing. He didn't like that at all. Rule 3: Never be unreachable. He decided to try Abby's party first, and if she wasn't there then he would just go back to his place, since he didn't want to bother her if she really did want her alone time tonight.
x
Abby's dinner party was a general success, as were most of Abby's parties. The woman had uncanny hostess prowess. The ten bottles of wine that had been split between her eight dinner guests (one of whom was not drinking) probably helped get things moving along.
Gibbs had brought a date to the party, causing a huge uproar of gossip from the other members of the team. She was a vivacious redhead with very little to say, but sometimes Gibbs liked them that way. Jimmy and McGee were winning the unofficial drinking contest, and were playing show tunes on Abby's baby grand piano. Jimmy's girlfriend, Breena, was engaged in deep conversation with Ducky about the burial practices of the indigenous populations in Central America. Those two could go on for hours. Abby and Ziva were sitting in at the bar, watching everything unfold in front of them. It was quite a funny scene.
"Abby," Ziva began, smiling at her friend who had finished an entire bottle of wine by herself and was starting on another, "I want to talk to you about something important."
"Ziva, my best friend, you can talk to me about anything!" Abby practically screamed at her, while leaning out of the bar stool and clinging to her shoulders.
"Maybe we could go into the bedroom for a second. It's sort of private." Ziva lowered her voice, indicating that Abby should do the same.
"Sure, Ziva, since it's important," Abby said solemnly, trying and failing to sober up for their talk.
"Attention, everyone!" Abby yelled into her living room to her guests, most of which didn't even notice she was speaking because of all of the ruckus that was taking place. "Ziva and I have to have girl talk in my bedroom, we will be back shortly!"
Everyone was too drunk and otherwise occupied to mind their disappearance. Ziva was eager to talk to Abby about the new development in her relationship, since she was the only person on their team that knew about her and Tony's secret love affair.
They slipped into Abby's bedroom, or coffin room. It was more of an office than anything else, books and different computers covered the walls. There was a voodoo doll and African mask collection in one corner and many framed band posters on the walls.
Ziva sat down in a black desk chair and spun around to face Abby who had sprawled herself out on the floor in front of where Ziva sat.
"I feel kind of bad not inviting Breena in for girl talk. She seemed kind of hurt," Abby gushed, laying down and talking to the ceiling, the effects of an entire bottle of wine taking hold. "So, Ziva, where's your man tonight?"
"Well I have given him the night off to hang out with some friends from college that came into town today," Ziva answered her, not able to stop smiling.
"Aww…Ziva. You're such a good girlfriend to let him go out by himself on a Friday night. You all are so good together. I just want to scream your love from the rooftops." Abby stretched her arms out on either side of her body.
"Well please do not scream it from the rooftops yet, but I do have some exciting news for you." Ziva eagerly continued, because for once in her life she was excited to be able to talk about a normal aspect of a human relationship that she was personally involved in. "Tony and I have decided that we are going to have a baby."
Abby sprung up from her position and let her mouth drop for dramatic effect, "Oh my God, Ziva, that's completely huge. You just completely blew my mind. I don't think that I've ever heard such amazing news in my entire life. You and Tony having a baby must be the most exciting thing that's ever happened at NCIS, ever."
"I know!" Ziva exclaimed, practically beaming at her, "I mean, I am not sure if I am even pregnant yet but we are trying, and I just had to share with someone! I was not able to keep it contained any more. I want to shout it from the rooftops too!"
Abby laughed and smiled knowingly at her friend, "I wondered why you weren't drinking and now I know. I was suspicious of you."
Ziva's face dropped a little, "You really noticed?"
"Yes, a host always notices these kinds of things. Plus it's weird for you to not be drinking. You're like normally the life of the party, Ziva."
"I hope no one else noticed. I do not want to have to explain myself quite yet."
"In a room full of investigators, of course not," Abby teased, "Maybe not?"
"Well if anyone asks, tell them that you asked me to be the designated driver for the night."
"Will do, Ziva, but you do realize that people are going to notice when you're pregnant, and they might want to know who the father is. Especially when the kid is born and it has Tony's green eyes and bone structure…"
Ziva laughed again, back in her pleasant mood, "Yeah, I figure that we will have to tell everyone eventually but I want to wait a while at least, but I just had to tell you."
Abby jumped up and grabbed Ziva by the waist and tightly squeezed her, "Thank you. I'm really happy for you all and I love you so much."
The girls were met with McGee singing Piano Man as they made their way back into the party from the bedroom. Both Abby and Ziva were much gigglier after they had emerged than before they had entered, and Abby hugged Ziva before she made her way to sit by McGee at the piano, as Palmer had returned to his date.
Ziva walked over to her purse to check her cell phone for the time and noticed the text from Tony. She responded to him with, I'm tired of your place, my place feels neglected. Meet you there in an hour? She really did prefer her own bed.
He responded quickly to her with a short, NO. She was taken aback and had started keying another text message, when she heard a knock on Abby's front door. She smiled, figuring who it probably was and went down the hall to answer it for Abby.