Only 8 more chapters left. Hope you enjoy it.

VillageVoice

"So everything's fine?" Abby asked nervously as she gave Ziva's hand a supportive squeeze.

Dr. Lawrence Jacobs nodded as he squeezed some ultrasound gel onto Ziva's exposed belly. "Better than fine. I know it wasn't easy, but you did a good job of staying on the bed rest and resting as much as you could."

"Does that mean I can be off the bed rest now?" Ziva asked.

Dr. Jacobs looked at Ziva with a raised eyebrow before turning on the ultrasound machine.

Ziva looked up at Abby. Abby leaned down and placed a kiss on Ziva's forehead. "It's okay."

"Ten little fingers, ten little toes." Abby and Ziva's heads snapped to the screen. Smiles came to both their faces as they looked up at the little baby kicking on the monitor. "Perfect size, the belly's nice and round, amniotic fluid level is good, good movement. Have you felt any contractions?"

Ziva shook her head. "No."

"Any pain or cramping?"

"No."

"Any pressure? Aching anywhere?"

"No."

"Fever? General feeling of not being well?"

"No."

"Any pain when I press on your belly?"

Ziva laid there as the doctor pressed on her belly until she was certain she felt no pain. "No."

"Okay." He turned back to the ultrasound machine and pressed some buttons to take measurements as he double checked everything. "Yep. Everything looks great. Are you sure you don't want to know the sex?"

"No." The women replied in unison.

"I am assuming you would like a picture?"

Abby nodded when Ziva didn't respond. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Sure thing." He handed Ziva a towel to wipe the gel off her belly while he made some notes in her chart and waited for the picture to print out. "You aren't even dilated anymore. We call it backwards dilation. Basically when labor slows down the body isn't having contractions anymore and if the baby's head isn't pressing on the cervix your cervix can close back up. However you did go into pre-term labor only a week ago, but you have done well on bed rest and everything looks absolutely fine so I would be comfortable with reducing your bed rest to twelve hours."

Ziva smiled. Twelve hours was a lot better than twenty.

"But I still want you taking it easy. Lay down when you can. Don't stay on your feet too much and I want you to say well hydrated. When you're not well hydrated your blood volume decreases, increasing the concentration of oxytocin. As I explained in the hospital, oxytocin is the hormone that causes uterine contractions. Keeping well hydrated will increase your blood volume and keep the oxytocin from increasing. Sound good?"

Ziva nodded.

"Would you be interested in a four-D ultrasound?" Ziva looked up at Abby. She had no idea what a four-D ultrasound was. "We just ordered a new ultrasound machine. This one is getting old and the new one is capable of doing both the standard ultrasound and four-D imaging. It should be here early next week. We would be able to use it for your next ultrasound, if you'd like?"

"What is four-D?" Ziva asked.

"It shows the baby in a four-dimensional image rather than a two-dimensional image." He explained.

Ziva looked up at Abby. "Normal ultrasounds are two-dimensional. You can see the baby's profile and some of its features, but not clearly." Abby explained as Dr. Jacobs handed over the ultrasound photo. "It looks more like an x-ray." She explained further, showing Ziva the picture. "A four-dimensional ultrasound looks more realistic, you can see every feature clearly like a picture."

Ziva nodded. "Oh." She looked at Abby and shook her head.

Abby turned to the good doctor "No thanks Lawrence. It's good to be able to see what the baby looks through the regular ultrasounds, but we don't want to see exactly what she's going to look like."

"Yes." Ziva added. "We would like to wait until the baby is born to see what he looks like."

The doctor nodded. "Fair enough."

"I have a question." Ziva began. "I taught yoga at the dance studio a couple of days a week. Would it be safe for the baby if I went back to teaching one class?"

"How many times a week?"

"Twice or I could also do a once a week class."

"How long?"

"An hour twice a week or two hours once a week."

He took a minute to think. "One hour twice a week. Go back to teaching the class this week and we can re-evaluate at your next appointment." Ziva big smile broke out over Ziva's face and her eyes lit up in a way Abby hadn't seen in a while. "But if anything happens-"

"I will stop." Ziva assured.

He looked at Abby. "I'm counting on you to watch her."

"Have no fear, Katie Biggs is here." Ziva rolled her eyes. Either Abby needed more hours at the lab or Ziva was going to have to hide her DVD collection. She slowly turned around and looked at Abby with a look that clearly read, 'really?' "I've got her. Baby kicks the wrong way and the classes are done and she's on 24/7 bed rest."

Ziva looked horrified. Jacobs nodded. "Good. I'll see you in a week."

"Kate, can you go and book the appointment for next week?" Ziva asked. "I still have some of this … gel on my belly."

Abby nodded and with a kiss to Ziva's cheek left the room to go book the appointment. "I have another question."

"Don't you want to wait until you're . . . ah, until Kate gets back?"

Ziva shook her head. "No. I need to ask you without her in the room because it is about her. About us. About our . . . intimate life."

"Oh." It took Lawrence a minute to get what Ziva was talking about. Which was surprising to Ziva. It was her experience that men were usually pretty quick with anything having to do with sex. Especially sex between two women – With each other. If Tony was here he would have understood the question before she even asked it. "Oh. Um," He cleared his throat. "Wha-what about it?"

"We have not had sex since the night before Kate went home for the wedding. Is it safe for us to have sex again?"

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"What bush?"

"You ready?"

Ziva jumped at the sudden appearance of another person in what was supposed to be a very secret conversation. She smiled at Abby and nodded. "Yeah."

"Anna?" Ziva paused at the door and took the piece of paper Lawrence handed her. Once outside she opened the paper and smiled.

"Everything okay Zi?"

Ziva threw the paper into the trash and reached out for Abby's hand, entwining their fingers together. "Perfect."

"I find it disturbing that the same man I go to for my female exams lives right next door."

"He doesn't live next door Zi. He's at least a twenty minute walk away."

Ziva looked across the room as she took a sip of her water. "I find it…creepy."

Abby followed Ziva's gaze behind her and saw none other than Lawrence Jacobs sitting at a table directly across the room from them. "It's creepy because he's here?"

"Yes." Ziva whispered. "You tell me how awkward it is after you have a female exam and then see your doctor at a restaurant." As if he could sense someone looking at him, Lawrence turned and looked right at Abby and Ziva. Greeting them with a wave. A chill ran up Ziva's spine.

Abby turned back around. "I see your point."

Ziva nodded. "Thank-you."

They turned back to their menus and sat in silence as they both pretended to be looking over the menus. Ziva kept looking over her menu at the table across the room. Abby kept looking around her and fidgeting. "Can we go somewhere else?" Ziva asked.

"I thought you'd never ask."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Abby" Ziva began as she and Abby walked hand-in-hand along the beach. Right along the surf, their shoes long forgotten. "When I was in Israel-"

"Which time?"

Ziva stopped walking, forcing Abby to stop too. She spoke only when Abby looked up at her. Abby never liked Ziva going back to Israel and now with good reason. "The last time. When I was in Israel for eighteen months, did you still consider us to be together?"

"Did I still think of us as a couple?" Ziva nodded. "I never stopped. Did you?"

"No. Of course not. I was just making sure that you did because if you did than it seems that we have missed something." She reached up to tuck a stray tendril behind the scientist's ear.

Abby leaned into Ziva's touch as her hand lingered on her cheek. "What?"

"It is September."

Abby blinked a couple of times, but made no response.

"We started dating in July."

Abby's eyes shot open wide in realization. "Ziva! We missed our three-year anniversary!"

"Well, we did not miss it exactly. We were there. We just did not remember the date's significance or celebrate it." Ziva explained. Anniversaries weren't very important to her, but they were to the woman she loved.

"Where were we in July?"

"Many places. We were deciding on where we wanted to settle down."

"That would explain not remembering it." She threw her arms around Ziva's neck and buried her face in Ziva's hair. "I am so, so sorry."

"It is not only you who did not remember Abby."

"Yeah, but I have no excuse."

"And I do?" Ziva asked.

"Yes." Abby began, pulling away. "You've got crazy pregnancy hormones, not that I'm calling you crazy, because you're not, but the hormones, they're…crazy. Not you. But that's not the point. The point is you're growing a human being and you were trying to keep us safe and coming up with new names and cities every other day. I should have helped you more." She looked down at her feet. She was just now realizing everything Ziva had been doing for them in addition to her pregnancy and sometimes not feeling well. She never once complained.

Ziva cupped Abby's face, but when the other woman refused to lift her head at Ziva's gentle prodding the Israeli dipped her head down and brought Abby up with a kiss.

"That's not fair." Abby protested, fighting back a smile.

"I fight dirty." Ziva shrugged.

Abby chuckled. "I know." She sighed. "How could I forget out anniversary?"

"It doesn't matter. We both forgot. But we have plenty of time."

Abby wiggled her eyebrows. "To do what?"

Ziva winked. "To celebrate."

"You know Zi, I never would have thought you were the carnival type of person."

Ziva looked over at Abby and laughed. The cotton candy she was eating – well, more like devouring, had to be bigger than the Goth's head. Abby was not going to sleep tonight with the ridiculous amounts of sugar she was consuming. But that was all part of Ziva's master plan. "I am not." She finally responded. "But I like to try new things."

"Oh really?" Abby tested, holding her cotton candy up to Ziva.

Ziva made a face, but slowly leaned forward and took a bite out of the cotton candy. After all, she had tried some of Abby's Caf-Pow before and it was actually quite good. Abby's tastes weren't all that bad. "Mmm. This is good."

"Yeah." Abby agreed. "Hey!"

Ziva ripped the cotton candy out of Abby's hand. "Mine now."

"I don't think so."

"But the baby likes it Abby." Ziva pouted.

Abby folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes as she attempted to stare Ziva down. Ziva took a defiant bite and walked away. She walked the few steps back to the stand and picked a fresh cotton candy. Abby smiled. "Thank-you."

Ziva held the new one away and handed Abby hers back. "You wanted yours back."

Abby stuck out her tongue. "I did. Thanks."

"You are welcome."

After staring at each other for a few more seconds both women erupted in laughter. Abby pointed out a spot on the sand away from the all the action. "I like it here." Ziva said.

Abby looked over at the carnival. "Hey, any place that throws a carnival on the beach is good with me."

Ziva smiled and nodded. It wasn't a big carnival, a couple of rides had been ferried in and there were some people playing instruments, mainly kids in the school band, a play going on, some little activity and food stations provided by various people on the island. "Some good, clean fun." They said. And it was. Except for the cotton candy melting over their fingers faster than they could eat it.

"Think they're gonna miss us?" Abby asked, cuddling up against Ziva.

Ziva looked over at the various groups of people mingling around. She and Abby had been hanging out with Samantha, Lucinda, Gwen and some of the other women they had become friends with. She shook her head and held Abby closer. They had spent most of the afternoon being social. Now it was time for some alone time. It was their anniversary after all – well, their two month late anniversary celebration. "I think they will understand."

Abby laid her head on Ziva's shoulder and let out a contented sigh. They sat there for a few more minutes silently enjoying the other's company and watching the sunset over the carnival. Once the sun had set Ziva kick started her plan into action. "Do you think you can survive without me for a few minutes?"

Abby chuckled. She loved how much Ziva had changed and relaxed in the few months they had gotten away from DC and Mossad and NCIS. She was able to just be herself and live. She smiled up at Ziva. "I guess that depends on why."

Ziva placed a chaste kiss on Abby's head and stood up. "It is a surprise." She squatted down and captured the taller woman's lips with her own in a kiss that left them both breathless. "You will not regret it."

Abby swatted Ziva's backside as the Israeli sauntered off in the direction of their house. "I better not!"

"You better not what?"

Abby turned around and smiled. "I better not regret letting her go."

The woman sat down next to Abby, taking up the vacant spot just vacated by Ziva. "Well I hope you didn't let her go too far." She joked.

"She sent you to keep me down here didn't she?"

The blonde woman winked.

Abby chuckled. "Thanks Lil." Lillian Blake was about Ziva's age and had quickly become friends with both Ziva and Abby. Before Ziva and Abby came to the island, she was its newest occupant having moved from England six years earlier. She was the resident florist on the island and was single handedly responsible for all of the beautiful landscapes, flowerbeds, trees, bushes and indoor floral arrangements on the island. Before her arrival there had been sand, grass and a few sparse trees. She certainly had left her mark. She and Abby had become fast friends the first time Abby stepped into Lil's shop and saw black roses.

"Anytime. So what's going on tonight anyway? Why do I have to keep you down here?"

"We're celebrating our anniversary tonight."

"Oh why didn't you tell me?! Happy anniversary. How long?"

"Three years." Abby said with a smile. "But it's not tonight. It was in July. We both kind of . . . forgot."

Lil chuckled. "At least you're celebrating it now."

"Yeah."

"Any idea what Anna's doing up there?"

Abby looked in the general direction of her house. If she squinted she could just see the lights of the house, but it wasn't yet dark enough and the house was too far away for her to have any idea what Ziva was doing. "Not a clue."

"So how did you two manage to miss your anniversary?"

"It's a long story."

"We've got half an hour."

"What? She said a few minutes. What a liar."

They both laughed. "Well it is a few minutes. You know, thirty few minutes." Lil explained.

Abby chuckled. "Okay, so we were traveling for the few months before we moved here. I guess we lost track of time. Sometimes we'd stay in one place for a week, sometimes we'd see several cities in a week." She left out the part about being on the run for their lives. That tended to shift anyone's priorities to one thing – survival. "Before we knew it we moved here and missed our anniversary." She paused a minute. "I guess it's not that long of a story."

"Where did you go?"

"Everywhere."

"I'm going to travel someday. I've only been over Europe and here."

Abby smiled. "It was awesome."

"What was your favorite place?"

"Paris."

Lil nodded. "The city of love. I myself have had an affair or two in the French capital."

Abby cast Lil a look. "Of course you did."

Lil shrugged. It was no secret that Lil was enjoying her youth sewing her wild oats. "Hey. It's not like I'm looking like the cover of some family magazine practically married, expecting a baby and buying a house. That's all you. I like going out all night, waking up beside someone new every morning not remembering their name and puking my guts up all day while dealing with an unbearable migraine. It's a good time."

Abby sighed. "I remember those days. Well, not about waking up next to some random person every morning, but the going out all night and getting passed-out drunk."

"You miss those days?"

"No." Abby shook her head. "I'm still going to be up all night and have splitting headaches, but for a different reason. Gotta grow-up sometime."

"Yeah." Lil sighed. "Maybe in a few years."

Abby laughed.

"Well, you know, in a few years you'll actually have a reason to go see little kid movies. And someone age appropriate to go with."

"There's always that." Abby agreed.

"I had a kid once. Did I ever tell you that?"

Abby's had whipped around. "What? No."

"I did." Lil nodded. "I was seventeen. It was a little boy with blonde curls and these big blue eyes. My Mom and my step-dad kicked me out when I told them I was pregnant and the baby's father refused to take responsibility. Here" She grabbed her wallet out of her bag and showed Abby a picture of her and the baby. "I had one of the nurses take a picture of him and me before I gave him over to his adoptive parents."

"He's adorable."

Lil smiled. "Yeah. I wanted to name him Henry. Of course I don't know what his adoptive parents named him. He'd be thirteen this year."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It'll happen again. When the time is right. We all have our time." She cast a quick glance through the thin path to Abby and Ziva's house and looked back at Abby. "Your time is now."

Abby thanked Lil and followed the path to her house. With each step the fluttering low in her belly grew stronger, her excitement becoming almost unbearable. When she finally got to the front door she took a few deep breaths before pushing the door open. "Wow."

Ziva came through the door from the 'formal room' as they had taken to calling it looking absolutely breathtaking. Abby had never really believed in the saying 'weak in the knees,' but this was pretty damn close. She was wearing a short-sleeve off the shoulder knee-length deep emerald dress with side rouching detailing that hugged her new pregnancy curves in all the right places and a pair of mile high heels Abby was surprised didn't have Ziva toppling over herself. "For some reason I feel like I should be dressed . . . differently."

Ziva smiled and took a few slow steps closer to Abby. She was determined to use the idiom right. "If you play your cards right . . . yes?" Abby nodded. "If you play your cards right pretty soon you won't be dressed at all." She closed the distance between her and Abby and captured Abby's lips. The kiss was deep and passionate and left both women breathless. A kiss so hot and so deep that neither wanted to come up for air.

"Give me five minutes to change?" At Ziva's nod Abby gave her a quick kiss and bolted up the stairs.

True to her word Abby came down the stairs four minutes and fifty-nine seconds later. Her hair was down, which was pretty much all she did with it now since it was so much shorter than what she was used to, but she had ran a brush through it and put on her favorite little black dress. She found it when she and Ziva went on their mega shopping spree when they first moved to the island. It was a simple a-line silhouette with v-neck and, true to Abby fashion, red beaded detailing under the chest. She looked damn good and she knew it.

Ziva was ready with a full champagne flute when Abby rounded the corner. She handed it to Abby. "For you." She held her own glass up. "Ginger ale for me." The Israeli waited until Abby had taken a sip and sampled the champagne before she took her by the hand and led her into the formal room. With a big, bright smile on her face she turned to Abby. "What do you think?"

If Abby's jaw hadn't been attached it would have fallen to the floor. "Wow." Was, yet again, the only thing that seemed to do Ziva any justice. The entire room was covered in candles. There was no way she was able to set this all up in the thirty minutes she had. There was a roaring fire in the fireplace bathing the room in warmth and light. The dark burgundy curtains were all drawn closed eliminating all traces of outside light. In front of the fireplace was a bed of black and crimson velvet blankets and sheets.

"That is for later." Ziva explained, taking Abby by the hand through the formal room into the dining room, which was also only lit by candlelight.

Abby squeezed Ziva's hand and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. "You made my favorite."

"Gibbs gave me the recipe."

Abby turned toward Ziva with as much love shining through her eyes as she could manage as she gently placed her hands on either side of Ziva's face. "You are too good to me." She guided Ziva's lips to meet her own.

Ziva pulled away before the kiss could get very far. "First, we need to eat. If we don't it is very likely that I won't make it through the rest of the evening's activities."

"Activities, huh?" Abby winked. "Can't wait." She gave Ziva another quick kiss and then headed toward the table. "Oh wait. I'll be right back."

Ziva nodded and chuckled as Abby bolted out of the room. She sat down and took a couple of bites of the freshly baked bread Ernie's wife had dropped off when she and Abby were at the carnival. By the time Abby came back Ziva had eaten most of her salad and all but one singular ravioli of her cheese and broccoli ravioli. She grinned sheepishly at Abby. She rarely stopped with one serving lately, so she and Abby would still get to eat together. Growing a baby was hard work that required a full supply of energy.

Abby, however, was too excited to even notice. She came to an abrupt stop in front of Ziva and held out a silver box. "I got this for you. Well, for us."

Ziva stood up and took the box. Inside it, among pink and blue tissue paper were two circular silver loops on silver chains. "They're beautiful."

"I got two of them, one for each of us. The guy at the store where I got them said that he can engrave the baby's name and birth date once she's born. See, it even has the October birthstone. The baby's due the third week of October, so hopefully she will be born in October. If not though, the guy said he can just change out the stones." Abby explained as she fastened the necklace around the Israeli's neck.

Ziva took out the last pendant and looked at it for a minute. Right now it was just a plain silver loop with two little stones opposite each other on either side. Opals, as was the birthstone for October. Opals came in a wide variety of colors. Most commonly white, but they also came in pale red, pale yellow, grey or even black. Abby of course had voted for black, but when they talked about which stone they wanted to use for the baby when they were out shopping one day they had decided on the pale yellow opal, which was what was on either side of the loops. Ziva could picture their baby boy's name engraved across the top, or she was even willing to entertain the idea of possibly a baby girl's name. She smiled and clasped the thin chain around Abby's neck. "I love them." She kissed Abby. "Thank-you."

It wasn't long before the dinner was forgotten and Abby and Ziva were nestled together among a sea of black and crimson velvet in front of the roaring fire. Ziva had a surprising amount of stamina for a woman a mere six weeks away from her due date. A fact both women used to their full advantage. Neither was heard of for the rest of the weekend.