Ziva's POV:

In the weeks leading up to Zoey's arrival, we had so much preparation done; it was more like we were adopting five kids and a horse. With the help of a very eager Abby and a very insightful Gibbs, we went shopping for everything we'd need: a crib, baby food, baby toys, a stroller, and a house.

I was walking in the baby girl aisle of a Walmart with Gibbs and Tony.

"Man, do you even know how wrong this feels?" Tony whined.

"Oh, man up!" I grumped.

"How can I 'man up' in an aisle full of freaking pink?"

"You're trained as a federal agent. You should know how to keep your composure in any situation."

"Excuse me, but I did not see 'baby aisle full of pink' on that list of situations."

"Tony, i swear to god, if you do not quit your complaining, I will personally beat the sh-"

Gibbs interrupted our heated dialogue.

"You both need to shut up and pay attention."

"Yes, Gibbs." We said together.

"Okay. Let's see if those lessons I gave you paid off."

He held up a package of diapers and a small pacifier.

"Which one goes in the baby's mouth?"

"The pacifier." Tony replied.

"Correct. Which one goes on the baby's bottom?"

I jumped up and down excitedly. "Oh! Oh! I know this one! It's the, uhh, die-apper!"

"Close enough."

I smiled.

"Okay, round two." Gibbs held up an apple and some baby food.

"Which one do you give to the baby?"

Tony: "The baby food."

"Explain why."

"Because the apple is too big for the baby."

"Good. Ziva, explain what a lullaby is."

"A lullaby is a slow song or melody that usually lulls one to sleep, unless one is a terrible singer."

Gibbs chuckled. "Correct. Okay, you guys are ready."

Tony and me smiled at each other.

We were painting the nursery in our new house. We agreed on light blue, probably because Ziva said pink made her want to throw up. Ziva was painting the right wall and I was painting the left. I looked mischievously at Ziva, whose back was turned. Smiling, I covered a paint brush in blue paint and flung it at her. Blue splattered all over her overalls. She turned, gaping. "You did not." She said. "Oh yes I did." I taunted her. She dipped her brush in the can and flung it at me, covering my entire back with paint. I had my brush, and she had hers. We ran towards the center of the room, getting paint all over us. I streaked some across her cheek, and she did the same to my shoulder. I backed up and braced.

"Oh, you want some of this?"

"Bring it ON!" she said, also bracing herself.

We ran at each other. However, her foot caught the edge of one of the tarps on the floor, and it sent her reeling.

"Oh, crap!" she yelled as she fell on me. She stared at me. I stared deep into her glossy brown eyes. Those beautiful, heart-melting, electrifying eyes. I ripped my sekf out of my trance."Get off!" I said playfully.

The black Lexus pulled up to the house at about five. We opened the door to Gibbs, Ducky, Abby, and McGee. "Come in. We're still finishing the pizza, but it'll be done in a bit." I ushered them inside. I liked our new house. Gibbs helped us buy it. It was about $140,000, and there were two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. We all sat in the living room, talking and laughing. We were throwing a dinner party because tomorrow we were to pick up Zoey, so this was our last night of freedom- I mean, our last night as unbridled people. "You guys wanna see the nursery?" I said, smiling. 'Oh, yay!" Abby shouted. "We'd love to." Gibbs said with a rare Gibbs grin.

I led them into the freshly dried nursery. Zoey's white crib was in there, complete with mobile. A basket of toys was in the far right corner, a rocking chair in the left and changing station on the right wall. A window, covered by flowing white curtains, looked out onto the street. "It's perfect, you guys." McGee said.

I heard the oven ding to say that the pizza was ready. I rushed in to pull it out. "Who wants pizza?" I asked. "Oh, yeah. Hold on, guys." Gibbs said, rushing out to his car. He opened the door and threw down a six pack on the couch. He ripped off the plastic top. "Catch." He said, looking at me. I caught it. He tossed one to McGee. "No thank you, Jethro. I think I'll skip out."

"Whatever you say, Duck."

"Hey, what about us?" Abby asked impatiently.

"What, you think I forget?" Gibbs said with a grin, tossing Ziva and Abby one.

I popped open mine. "To us. To NCIS."

"To NCIS!" we all cheered, raising our cans.

Gibbs, me, and McGee headed outside to play a little football. Well, rather, me and Gibbs played while McGee tried desperately to keep up with us. We stopped to take a rest, lying on the green grass behind our suburban house. "Wow." McGee said suddenly. "What's up, McGee?" I said. "I remember the first time I met you, Tony. I was a probie, and you were a field agent. Yes, I hated you sometimes, but most of the time, you were so much cooler than me. I envied you a lot of the time."

"Whoa. Slow down, McLover."

"Shut up. But, really, I could never see you as a father, or even as a husband."

"Ouch."

"Seriously."

Gibbs broke our dialogue. "I have to agree with Tim there, Tony."

"Wow, boss. Really?"

"No. I'm just saying that."

I laughed. It made me feel more confident that I knew nothing was gonna change.