Though I am not finished writing yet, I'm a proofread and a chapter away from that point. That being said, I can tell you with confidence that this story will be 25 chapters and an epilogue (so 26, technically). Thanks again for all the support on this story- it means a lot :)

At first, Tony was sure that he was dreaming, or that someone was messing with him. He'd just spent the last half hour standing beside Ziva, the feelings of dread and excitement battling relentlessly inside his mind. When the baby finally made her way into the world, Tony let himself feel happy, at least for a little while. The nurse cleaned her up and handed her to Ziva first while Tony stood to the side, a mixture of shock, awe, and fear keeping him immobile. After a moment of pushing Ziva's hair away from her face, Gibbs placed a kiss on Ziva's head, touched the baby's cheek briefly, and walked out, saying he'd be back soon.

If Tony had been paying more attention, he would have thought that to be strange, but his mind was elsewhere. He was staring at his daughter in Ziva's arms.

She was beautiful.

She had her mother's dark brown orbs, and though the hair on her head was thin, it was dark in color, too. It didn't take much to see that she was most definitely her mother's daughter, because she looked just like Ziva. Tony watched Ziva's face carefully, and her attitude was a lot different than the one he was expecting. Ziva was smiling down at the baby, her eyes bright. She seemed at peace with everything. It threw him off, made him wonder if he'd stepped into an alternate reality.

He was curious, but stayed where he was standing, observing from afar with skepticism lying underneath the surface of his thoughts. After a few minutes of holding her, Ziva looked up at him, and he couldn't read the expression on her face. But then Ziva was gesturing to him, telling him that he could hold his baby girl if he wanted to, looking at him with an expression so different than the ones he'd gotten used to seeing from her. He barely registered moving closer to the bed and gently taking the bundle from Ziva's arms. She was tiny- the doctor's had weighed her and said she was just under seven pounds- but she still fit in his arms perfectly.

He supported her body with one arm and lifted his other hand to hold her own in two of his fingers. She blinked up at him, her eyes wide and innocent. Tears stung his eyes and he tried to blink them back, his breath falling past his lips in a small gasp of amazement. She was the most perfect thing he'd ever seen, and even though he'd known her all of five minutes, he was already completely in love with her. Her little hand gripped at his finger, and he couldn't help but smile. "Hey, sweetheart. You're just the cutest thing, aren't you?" he mused to himself, lost in the feeling of her tiny fingers on his skin.

He held her close to him, not ever wanting to let her go, and pushing the thoughts of doing so out of his mind. He didn't want to cross that bridge yet, not while he was holding her, looking down at her, memorizing every detail of her, like her long eyelashes and tiny nose. His throat was tight, and he glanced up at Ziva to see that she was smiling over at them. She looked exhausted, but strangely content. The baby whined a little, her little face scrunching up in a way that made Tony laugh, and it affectively pulled his attention away from Ziva and back to her.

A moment later, the nurse said she needed to take her to their nursery and do a few necessary things, and he reluctantly let them take her from him. Just as she was about to leave, the nurse turned to Ziva and asked, "Do we need to call the woman who is overseeing your adoption?"

Tony felt like his heart stopped in his chest, and his happiness vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. They wouldn't take her yet, would they? She hadn't been cleared. She'd only been born fifteen minutes ago, for crying out loud. He could feel a sort of panic rising and he tried to stay calm, looking at the TV on the wall for a distraction, listening intently.

"Actually..." Tony felt Ziva's eyes on him, and her tone made him snap his gaze to hers. She was wearing the strangest expression, a mix between anticipation and fear with a little spark of something he couldn't identify. She was watching him closely. "You can call and tell her that... that there's been a change in plans and I... we... won't be needing her services."

Tony's jaw fell open just the slightest and his heart very nearly jumped out of his chest. Was she serious? The nurse walked out, but Tony wasn't paying attention. "Really?" It was the only thing he could get past his lips. He was having a little bit of trouble getting air in and out of his lungs.

When Ziva swallowed, but nodded, Tony felt the most liberating relief he'd ever experienced. Before he even realized it, he started laughing to himself, the sudden rush of joy mixed with incredulousness making it hard for him to think straight. "We're keeping her?" he asked, needing clarification. "You aren't letting that couple adopt her?"

Ziva nodded again, and Tony sat down on the couch by the window, running a hand through his hair. He felt tears falling from his eyes, but did nothing to stop or slow them. He looked to Ziva, opening his mouth a few times before he finally got words past his lips. "H-how? Why? What happened?"

Ziva shrugged, playing with her fingers. "I just... Gibbs talked to me a little, and... and I realized that you were right. I have been looking at this the wrong way. I needed to look at it differently, and for some reason, Gibbs helped." A small smile tugged up the corners of her mouth. "He thinks we can do it. Separately, I do not think we could pull this off, but with both of us? Maybe we can. Besides, I... I really did not want to give her away. Gibbs just... pushed me back over the line of indecision I was on."

Tony tucked the reminder to thank Gibbs into the back of his mind before nodding. "We can do this, Ziva. I know we can."

Ziva pursed her lips. "I am still very afraid of... this. It is not going to be easy, and a lot of things will have to change for us to be able to do this... But I am willing to take the risk as long as you are going to be there."

"I will be," Tony told her gently. "I promise." He stood once he was sure he could do so and walked closer to her, coming to stand right beside her bed. He hesitated, reaching over to pick up her hand. "Besides, I'm scared, too. And you know, the best things rarely are easy. Look at us."

Ziva nodded with a smile, giving him that much. "I really do not think I would have been able to give her away anyway." Her face fell just the slightest, as if she'd just thought of something that made her sad. "I am sorry that I... was so difficult. I... I was making myself so scared that I could not focus on anything else. I was so stubborn, and I hurt you. I am very sorry, Tony. I would not forgive me if I were you, for treating you the way that I did and dragging this all out just to change my mind. You did not deserve that."

Tony shook his head at the trivial information. "I forgive you, because that doesn't matter now anyway. What matters is that they're going to bring our little girl back in here to us, and when she's cleared to go home, we'll take her with us, and then we'll figure everything else out from there. Okay?"

Ziva nodded, leaning back and closing her eyes briefly. She pulled her hand from his to rub her palms over her face. "I am exhausted. What time is it?"

Tony looked at the clock. "Three. She was born about twenty minutes ago." He paused, and then sat back down on the couch. "So, what is her name?"

Ziva's mouth dropped open slightly, and guilt settled back in on her features."We never got to really talk about that, and I had a name picked out for..." She trailed off, taken over by a yawn. "I am so sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Ziva. I just wanted to know what you named her. I'm sure I'll love whatever you picked out," he said, assuring her and watching her relax slightly.

"I named her Annabelle. Annabelle Kelly." Ziva's voice was soft, and Tony couldn't help the admiration that swelled in his chest. "I decided to take Abby's advice on what I named her. I think they already wrote it on the card in the little bed over there."

Tony stood to see that Ziva was right, and the name, along with some other information, was scribbled onto a little slip no bigger than an index card. "Annabelle," Tony tested, smiling to himself. "I like it. And if you took Abby's advice... it means something in Hebrew." He looked at her curiously.

Ziva nodded, playing with her fingers. "Annabelle means "grace" in Hebrew," she told him, and Tony nodded in approval.

"It's perfect." he told her affectionately.

Ziva nodded, yawning again. "I like it."

A comfortable silence fell between them for a moment, and then Tony spoke again. "She looks just like you, you know." He felt relaxed for the first time in months, and it showed in his tone. He made his back over to the couch, leaning against it and letting his body ease itself into the cushions.

"She does," Ziva agreed, smiling. "Sorry?"

Tony laughed. "That's not something you apologize for, Ziva. I think it's one reason she's so beautiful."

Ziva blushed slightly, and was at a loss for words. Gibbs walked back in then, and when he saw the postures of the two, he smiled. "You tell him?" he asked Ziva, grinning.

"Yes," Ziva replied, looking happy. She was smiling, and even though she'd just been in labor for about twelve hours, she looked like she was ready to take on the world. There was an underlying exhaustion there, but it didn't seem to matter at the moment. It was a beautiful sight to see. Tony wanted to take her face in his hands, kiss her for everything it was worth, but he knew he probably shouldn't. Maybe once they got settled into this new journey, they could figure out the rest of the details. He hoped they could, anyway.

Gibbs started talking to Ziva about something, but Tony wasn't really listening. He was lost in his thoughts. It was strange, actually, how quickly his entire perspective had changed in the last hour. Sure, it had been a long and terrible few months. Yes, they'd both said a lot of things that hurt each other. But suddenly, it was okay. Just that quickly, everything was forgiven and they were moving on, finally on the same page.

Because they weren't giving up their baby anymore. Instead, they were keeping their Annabelle. And that changed everything.