Tony smiled softly when he saw his girlfriend's face. It had regained some one its color, which was great. But she was still very pale. She wasn't hooked up to as many machines as before, and had a bowl of soup on her bedside table. Her bed was cranked up so she was sitting in an almost upright position. And she smiled back at him. Her eyes were bright, but even from a distance, Tony could tell they were just a little bit red.
"Hey Tony."
"Zee. You were worrying me."
"Sorry. I'll try to stop."
He chuckled, leaning over her bedside and kissing her on the cheek. They were both silent for a moment.
"I ran into Dr. Cameron outside."
Ziva sighed deeply. "Oh, that is good."
"I asked her why she was here."
She knew where he was taking this conversation. "And what did she say?"
"To come talk to you."
"And that is precisely what you are doing, is it not?"
"Zee, what is your ob/gyn doing here?"
Ziva exhaled and rested her head back on her pillow. She wasn't ready for this. Not now. But Tony deserved to know. He had to know.
"I was going to tell you. Next week, for your birthday. I had a little ultrasound picture, I was going to put in on your cake."
Silence again.
"You... pregnant?" Tony managed to murmer.
She nodded and lowered her eyes.
"You were shot in the abdomen."
"Yeah."
"The nurse said- complications in the surgery."
"Yeah."
"The baby... did they make it?"
She looked up at him. Tears were welling up in her eyes, mixing with pain and heartbreak. "What do you think?" Her voice broke.
He pulled her close and stroked her hair as she cried into his shoulder. But she stopped crying at an almost superhuman speed, and was composed in seconds. She stared straight ahead at the wall with such intensity, Tony thought she might burn a hole through it.
"How far along were you?" Tony asked cautiously.
"Only two months. Morning sickness started a week ago, remember?"
He did remember, but he'd thought it was food poisoning from the taco truck they had visited. Ziva's had been undercooked. Or so he thought.
"You would have made a great mother, Zee." He imagined her holding a baby, singing in the kitchen while she made gingerbread cookies, Tony's personal favorite. She probably would have been over-protective (and very aggressive), but a wonderful mom.
"And you would have made a great father." He smiled at the thought of himself carrying around a babbling child in a Ziva-demanded baby papoose.
"Maybe, someday we both will."
"Be great fathers?" said Ziva, genuinely confused.
"No, be great parents."
She nodded and smiled, ever so slightly. "Someday."
Silence again. But this time it wasn't a heavy silence. This time they were both thinking about the future. About their future together.
"Also, it might be a good time to tell you that Gibbs knows."
She shot up in her bed, wincing at the pain that had shot up from her abdomen. "He knows about the baby?"
"No, he knows that we're together."
"Oh, I thought he had already figured it out."
"No, actually, we did a pretty good job at keeping a secret."
"And he is okay with it?"
"Well, yeah. He kinda broke rule twelve first, so it's not really valid anymore."
She sighed, and leaned back in bed. "Good, I was almost going to break down and tell the whole world." She leaned oven and took his hand. "I love you Tony. So much."
He gave her fingers a squeeze, then gave her a kiss. "I love you too, Zee. We're going to be okay."
Hey, people! I thought I was gonna have an awful case of writers block after chapter 4, but the idea for chap. 5 popped into my head during school. I wrote it down on a sticky note and the back of my hand. And here it is, weeks earlier than I thought it would come.
I'm sorry to disappoint all of you who wanted a Tiva baby. I wanted one too, but it's just not that kind of fic. Do not lose hope, because you all heard Tony. "Someday."
Thanks for all your lovely comments, please feel free to leave more! Don't leave anything rude and/or vulgar.
Love you all! xoxo- J