A/N: Thanks for the reviews from the last chapter. I appreciate it. And if you haven't yet be sure to vote on the baby's gender on my poll. They talk about the baby's gender in this chapter, so it may give you a little hint as to the gender.

VillageVoice

"How's our patient doing today?"

Abby looked up as the doctor walked into the room. "Same as usual."

Lawrence checked her vitals and noted everything down on her chart. "She's doing well."

"Yeah." Abby scoffed. "Then why isn't she waking up?"

"It's only been three days; she needs time to heal. She'll wake-up when she's ready. I'll run some more tests, but I doubt we'll find anything different." He hung the chart on the end of the bed. "We're all praying for you."

Abby nodded. "Thanks." She watched Lawrence turn a corner down the hall before turning back to Ziva. She brought her hand to the Israeli's unusually pale face and softly brushed her thumb back and forth across the soft skin. "I told Gibbs I'd meet him for breakfast down in the cafeteria. Can you believe he was still sleeping at the hotel when I left this morning? It's gotta be the time change." She leaned down and Kissed Ziva on the cheek. "I'll be back later."

Abby placed a hand on Ziva's belly to make sure the baby was still moving as he or she should be and turned to leave, but found something holding her back. She looked down and saw Ziva's hand over hers. Her eyes traveled up Ziva's arm, to her shoulder, to her neck and then to her warm chocolate eyes looking right back at her. "Hi."

Ziva struggled to smile back at Abby as she squeaked out a response. "Hi."

"Oh my God Ziva." A few tears slid down the scientist's pale cheek as she sat down on the side of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I have had better days. Although this hospital room is nicer than most I have been in."

"I'll go get the doctor."

"No, Abby." She looked up at Abby. "In a minute."

Abby nodded, bringing her hand back to the Israeli's face. "Okay."

Ziva looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were flying. It was going to be a good day. She brought her hand to her belly and felt the little kicks of her unborn child against her palm. It was soothing. She turned back to Abby. "Did you say Gibbs is here?"

"We'll talk about that later."

"Is he here?"

Abby smiled. "I'm sorry. He was there when I got the call about you and I couldn't have gotten here by myself. I was so worried . . . I . . . I don't . . . Everything is a blur. I don't even know how I got here."

Ziva put her hand over Abby's. "Then I am glad he was there for you when I could not be."

"I'm just glad you're back now."

Ziva smiled. "Me too."

"Thank-you for looking out for her Gibbs." Ziva began once she had finally convinced Abby that she would be fine for the few minutes it would take for Abby to run down to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. "And for bringing her here without telling the rest of the team. I appreciate it. You can consider it the favor you owe me."

Gibbs smirked as he shut the door. "Then we're even."

Ziva nodded in agreement.

"Abby showed me the pictures."

"Of?" Ziva asked.

"Everything. She had a scrapbook."

Ziva chuckled. "She has many. There is an entire bookshelf in our bedroom filled with them."

"You know Ziva" Gibbs began, pulling a chair over to the bed. "Abby's been through a lot."

"I know" Ziva interrupted. "She had an assistant who tried to kill her, an obsessed fan of McGee's who thought his book was real and tried to kill her, a stalker ex-boyfriend who you thought was trying to kill her until you realized the real person trying to kill her was hired by the defendant in a trial she was about to testify in, a killer who planted a camera on a janitor's cart outside her lab made you think he was coming after her next and an SUV that got the closest of any of them in actually killing her. I was there for most of them."

"I'm not just talking about people who tried to kill her. "

Ziva nodded. "I know."

"She's lost a lot of people close to her."

"We all have Gibbs."

"Yeah." Gibbs nodded. "But she's different."

"I know that too."

"Just listen to me." Ziva closed her mouth and looked at Gibbs silently. "Buying a house, building a family . . . if you're not serious about this Ziva and I get a call from Abby saying you took the baby and left or that you left the baby with her and you left . . ." There was no need for Gibbs to finish that thought.

"It will never happen Gibbs."

Gibbs looked deep into Ziva's eyes. "I know. Just something to think about. I gave Abby the same speech."

"You did?"

"Oh yeah." Gibbs nodded. "You've both had a lot of hurt and loss in your lives. There's no reason to have any more."

"Let us make a deal then." Ziva said as she pushed herself up to more of a sitting position. "If I ever harm Abby in any way, you can kick my ass."

Gibbs put his hand out and waited for Ziva to do the same. He was careful of the IV line as he shook her hand. "Deal."

"What are you two 'dealing' about?" Abby asked from the doorframe.

"Nothing." Ziva and Gibbs both replied.

Abby looked at them both skeptically, but let it go. "Whatever." She handed Ziva a bowl with cinnamon apple oatmeal, a container of strawberry cheesecake yogurt, a banana, small cup of peanut butter and a bottle of orange juice.

"Abby, you are a . . . what is it called again? A send from God?"

"A Godsend." Abby answered.

"Yes. Abby, you are a Godsend." She reached up and brought Abby's face down to hers to give her a thank-you kiss. Nothing PG-13, Gibbs was in the room. And after being unconscious for a few days she didn't have the energy.

"I figured you weren't going to touch whatever they gave you."

"You were right." Ziva said as she took whatever the nurse had given her for breakfast and set it aside. She took the spoon Abby held out and dug into her oatmeal. Abby sat down on the edge of the bed and began eating her fruit cup.

"Shannon craved fruit when she was pregnant too."

Ziva and Abby looked at each other in silent conversation. Ziva went back to eating her oatmeal and Abby hopped off the bed and sat down in the chair next to Gibbs. "I'm sorry Gibbs."

Gibbs nodded. He had everything with Shannon. A home, love, family. Everything he would ever need. She was the reason he couldn't make a relationship work with anyone he dated or married after her. He had already found everything he wanted in his first wife. Subconsciously he didn't want to find real love again as that would be a betrayal to Shannon and Kelly. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't wonder what Kelly would look like now, what she would have studied in college, what profession she would have chosen. Who she would have grown up to be.

His heart ached for Shannon every day. The more he missed her, the harder he was on his team and the more he reinforced all of his rules. The women he married and dated after her were just placeholders. There was a reason none of his relationships lasted with women. Except for Jenny, but she died, and Ziva and Abby. His relationship with Abby bypassed any of his post-Shannon marriages. Sometime in the course of their relationships Abby and Ziva had become his surrogate daughters. He had lost Ziva several times, but never again would he allow either of the relationships he had with these women to be anything less than one-hundred percent. No matter where any of them were in the world and how far apart they were. He would make it work.

"We'll send you pictures." Abby nudged Gibbs with her shoulder. "Grandpa."

"Yes you will."

"We will be back Gibbs." Ziva said. "Someday we will be back."

"Yeah." Abby added. "When the baby is older we'll be back. We'll be sure to show her your picture so she knows you're her Grandpa Gibbs." Gibbs cracked a smile. "And now that you told Lawrence you are Anna's father, the whole island will have heard by now so it won't be suspicious to have the picture of a strange man up at the house because you're not a strange man." She nudged Gibbs again. "You're Grandpa Gibbs."

"Grandpa Reyes." Gibbs corrected.

"Oh right. Well then we'll just have her call you Grandpa." Abby suggested. "That work Zi?"

Ziva sat there like a deer caught in the headlights with the spoon sticking out of her mouth. She nodded. "Works for me." She mumbled. "But the baby is a 'he.'"

Abby turned back to Gibbs with a smile. "Problem solved."

"What is the baby going to call your parents Abby?" Gibbs knew not to ask Ziva what the baby was going to call he father as she knew the Israeli would give her own life rather than have her child even look at a picture of Eli, much less have a relationship with him.

Now it was Abby's turn to adopt the deep-in-the-headlights look. "Um…"

"Have you told them?" Gibbs asked.

"Of course not. Ziva is dead Gibbs."

He had forgotten about that. A momentary sign of his age he would never admit to. "Do they know about you and Ziva?"

"Of course." Abby bounced over to the hospital bed and snuggled up to Ziva. "They love her."

"I am good with parents." Ziva admitted.

"You'll make a great one too."

Ziva smiled. "Thank-you Gibbs."

Abby rather loudly cleared her throat. "You will too Abby."

Abby smiled. "Thank-you Gibbs."

"Have you two thought of any names yet?" Gibbs asked.

"Ziva is only willing to discuss boy names."

"That is because it is a boy." Ziva said.

"Well" Gibbs began. "It could be a boy." Ziva looked at Abby and smiled smugly. "Or . . . it could be a girl." Abby mirrored Ziva's smug smile right back at her. "Doesn't matter. All that matters is that it's healthy."

Ziva nodded. "Agreed. And that it is a boy."

Abby crossed her arms over her chest. "A healthy baby still needs a name."

"A healthy baby does." All three occupants in the room turned to see Dr. Jacobs standing at the doorway. "And yours is a very healthy baby Anna."

Ziva rubbed her belly. "I am very glad."

Lawrence walked over to Gibbs and held out his hand. "Good to see you again Mr. Reyes."

Gibbs stood and shook the doctor's hand.

"It's good to have family around at times like these."

Gibbs nodded. "I tried to get her brothers to come down here with me, but it's a long flight and they have families, work. You know."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Is he serious?" She whispered to Abby.

Abby chuckled. "Oh yeah. And I bet their names are Tony and Tim too." She whispered back. "Hey Lawrence. When can I take them home?" She asked with her hand over Ziva's on her very round belly.

"Soon. I just want to do one last scan to make sure nothing has changed since the last one we did before you woke-up. You have a concussion, but I'm guessing you already know that." He explained, gesturing to the chart lying open beside Ziva. Ziva closed the chart and handed it to the doctor. "Your blood pressure has been perfect, but our tests are starting to show that you are anemic."

"I always have been."

"Oh, so then I don't have to say anything on that subject. Do you take iron regularly?"

Ziva nodded.

"Then it was probably just the few days of being in here and not taking it that made your iron levels drop. They should return to normal once you start taking your iron again. Just to be safe though we will give you some before you leave and you should see me in a week or so so I can check your iron levels again. Now, about the concussion."

"Oh, she totally knows how to deal with those." Abby said.

"Have you gotten a concussion before Anna?"

"Several." Abby answered for Ziva. Ziva elbowed Abby.

"She was in a car accident when she was seventeen." Gibbs answered.

"Yes." Ziva agreed. "I was also very active as a child. Soccer ball to the head at age eight, fall from a horse when I was thirteen."

"Wow." Abby mumbled. They were good. And quick. She needed to learn when to keep her mouth shut.

"Just be careful. You don't want to add another one to that list." He turned to Abby. "I'm counting on you to keep her out of this hospital."

"I will do my best." Abby answered. Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "I will keep her out of this hospital Sir."

Lawrence nodded. "Great. Then I will order the CT and if that comes back clear you will be free to go. However, Anna you will have to be on bed rest. We can't risk you going into pre-term labor again and it going too far for us to stop it again. Twenty hours, minimum. We can make an appointment for you to see me in a week back on the island and we can re-evaluate from there."

Ziva let her head fall back against the bed and let out a long, slow breath of air. It was going to be a long week.

Gibbs set the two now framed photographs he had given to Abby a few days before on one of the bookshelves in the living room. Everyone was there, but now instead of being NCIS Agents Gibbs was Anna's father, Tony and McGee were Anna's half-brothers, Ducky was Kate's father and Palmer her younger, geeky brother. With no pictures of Abby's real family, they worked with what they had and what they had left were Ducky and Palmer. So Abby and Palmer were the children born to older parents and their mother had died from cancer when Abby was fifteen. Rule number seven; always be specific when you lie. Although they hadn't figured out who Jenny was yet. She couldn't be Anna's mother because she had to be Spanish to account for Gibbs' lack of being Spanish and as for being Kate's mother, where would Kate and Palmer's dark hair come from since Jenny is a redhead and Ducky . . . well, he could have had dark hair in his younger days, but probably not.

"Thanks for staying with us for a few days Gibbs."

"Not a problem."

Abby shifted the laundry basket on to her other hip. Gibbs smirked. It was a sight he never expected to see. "I'm gonna go to the basement and throw this into the washer. I'll be right back."

"Abs." Gibbs stopped the scientist before she got very far and took the laundry basket from her. "Go to work. I'll look after Ziva and … do the laundry."

"Thanks Gibbs, but I need to be here. Ziva is not going to stay in bed willingly and-"

"That's why I'm here." He interrupted. "She won't argue with me." Ziva knew better than to argue with Gibbs.

"Yeah, but Gibbs-"

"No buts Abs. You work, that's how you get through things. You almost lost Ziva and the baby. Right now you're ignoring that when you need to be working through it. Go."

Abby opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it. Gibbs was right. "I'll just go say bye to Ziva."

"Go Abby. I'll tell her."

Abby nodded and headed toward the door. Gibbs waited until he heard the door close to put the laundry basket down and made his way up to Ziva in her and Abby's bedroom. He lightly knocked on the door. He didn't want to wake her if she was sleeping.

"Come in."

"Just me. I made Abby go to work."

Ziva chuckled. "I am glad you could because I was not doing so well in convincing her that I do not need a babysitter."

"She just wants to help. Make sure you and the baby are okay."

"I know and I appreciate it, but sometimes-"

"You just want to be left alone." Gibbs finished.

"Yes." Ziva sighed, putting the book she had been reading down. "I do not mean that to sound ungrateful for everything that Abby is doing because I am not. I just . . . I am used to doing things for myself and being by myself."

"It's an adjustment.

"Yes."

Gibbs looked around the room and raised an eyebrow. It looked like something out of the page of a magazine he would never buy. If he didn't already know Abby and Ziva he would have made quite a few assumptions about the people who owned this house. But he did know them and so he knew that they were both as far the assumptions that came to mind as they could get. It was far from anything either of them would ever live in as their real selves, so it was perfect.

"Did Abby show you your room?" Ziva asked with a yawn.

"Yeah." Gibbs nodded. "I came up to give you this." He walked over to the bed and handed Ziva something from inside his jacket.

Ziva took the offered gift. "A book of baby names?"

"The baby needs a name Ziva."

"I will think about it."

Gibbs took the book from Ziva and set it on the nightstand. He pulled the covers up, tucking her in as he would have a young child. "Get some sleep."

Ziva yawned, snuggling into her blankets. "Yes Dad."

Gibbs paused by the door and smiled. This bed rest was a good idea. Ziva was more tired than she would ever let on and he bet that by the time he got downstairs she would be fast asleep. "Night Ziva." He flipped the lights off and left his pretend daughter to her beauty rest.

"Abby, do not get me wrong, the man is the closest thing I have to a father, but I am not naming my child after him." Ziva said with a yawn, reaching out from underneath the covers to check the time on her nightstand clock.

"Why not? Jethro is a good, strong name."

"Besides the fact that I do not want to," Ziva explained. "It is against my religion to name a child after someone still living."

"Oh. I didn't know that." Abby said. "Well we could name her Raven."

"No."

"Wednesday?"

"No."

"Satine?"

"No."

"Ziva are you even listening to me?"

Ziva turned onto her other side. Away from Abby. "No."

"Ziva!"

"What Abby?"

Abby leaned over Ziva and grabbed the baby names book off the nightstand. There were a few moments of silence as Abby read through some names. "What about Penelope?"

"No."

"Ophelia?"

Ziva didn't even have an answer for that. Abby couldn't be serious. She turned onto her back and reached over to turn the page of the book until she found a name more her style. "How about Noah for a boy?"

"Maybe." Abby shrugged. "How about Madelyn?"

"I like it, but every other little girl in the past four years had been named Madelyn."

Abby nodded. "True. Do you want the baby to have a Hebrew name?"

Ziva shook her head. "It does not matter to me."

"Okay." Abby nodded. "Ooh how about Kaia?"

"Kaia." Ziva cocked her head to the side. "I like that."

Abby leaned down to Ziva's belly. "What do you think little one? Are you a Kaia?" She sat back up after a few seconds. "No response. Maybe she doesn't like it."

"Maybe she is asleep. She kept me up all night. It is about time she was tired."

"Aw Zi, why didn't you wake me up?"

"Just because I cannot sleep does not mean that you should not have to. When she is born someone will need to take care of her in the middle of the night." She winked. "Besides, waking you is like waking the dead. Impossible." She closed the book and set it aside. "Abby I think we should wait until the baby is born to choose a name. We need to meet him and see what kind of a person he is."

"Meet her and see what kind of a person she is." Abby corrected. "But don't you think we should have a few names to choose for when the baby is born? And narrow down the list from there once we meet him or her?"

Ziva shook her head. "No. I think the baby will tell us what his name should be." She said with a yawn.

Abby pulled the blankets over Ziva and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

She took the book and quietly slipped out of the bedroom, leaving the door slightly open so she could hear Ziva if she needed anything. She went downstairs in search of her favorite Gibbs. She found him in the basement folding laundry. She really needed to stay on top of that so it didn't get so backed up or they were in for a lot of trouble when the baby came. "Gibbs, can I ask you a question?" She asked as she hopped up onto the washer.

"That was a question Abs."

"Right, but can I ask you another one?"

Gibbs momentarily stopped his task of folding laundry and looked at Abby with a raised eyebrow.

"Right, well I'm just gonna come out and ask you. How . . ." She took a minute. The topic of Shannon and Kelly was always a touchy subject, but she needed to ask someone. And he was her person, the one she went to with all of her life questions. "How did you and Shannon chose Kelly's name?"

Gibbs thought for a moment. "When Shannon first found out that we were pregnant she went out and bought a book of names and chose Kelly."

"Before you had even found out if it was a girl or a boy?"

He nodded. "Shannon said she knew it was a girl."

"Knew or hoped?" Abby asked.

"Knew. She wanted a boy, but she said she knew it was a girl."

"Hinky."

"Mothers intuition."

"So Ziva says it's a boy-"

"Ziva wants it to be a boy."

"But she says she knows it's a boy."

Gibbs shrugged. "Wishful thinking."

"I know, but I can't figure out why. I know she says she wouldn't know how to deal with a girl, but I think a little girl with her curly hair and big brown eyes would be the most adorable thing."

Gibbs chuckled and turned back to the laundry. "She'd scared Abs. All of the women in her life have died; her mother, her sister, even though she didn't know her she couldn't protect Kate from her own brother, she couldn't protect Jenny…She is worried that if this baby is a girl she won't be able to protect her."

Abby nodded in understanding. "She blames herself for not protecting them."

"And herself. She was raped and couldn't protect herself."

"That's crazy Gibbs. She was drugged. It wasn't her fault. If anything it was her father's fault for sending her there."

"Doesn't matter. Ziva sees it as a failure. It doesn't matter that her sister was killed in a suicide bombing Ziva didn't know was going to happen when she was off on a mission. She thinks that she should have been there to save her sister. Her mother died when she Ziva was fifteen. Kate, Jenny…" He closed the dryer door and turned to Abby. "Ziva protects the people she loves. She sees the deaths of her mother, her sister, Kate, Jenny and I'm sure many more, as her fault. She wasn't there, she didn't protect them."

"But she couldn't have known they were going to die."

"No she couldn't." He shook his head. "But she doesn't see it that way." Abby watched as Gibbs took the laundry and climbed the stairs out of the basement.

Abby sat there on the washer for a few more moments. She didn't know how, but somehow she had to convince Ziva that their deaths were not her fault. The only deaths that were her fault were the people she killed. Well, even they weren't her fault because she was either ordered to kill them and had no choice or she had to kill in self defense – but Abby wouldn't bring that up. She had to get Ziva to see that the deaths of her mother and her sister, Kate and Jenny weren't her fault. She hopped off the washer. She would think about that later. For now, while Ziva was napping, she would make a list of names she liked just in case Ziva wanted some suggestions when the big day came. It never hurt to be prepared.