Sorry I didn't post last week. My internal clock was off last week. I thought Tuesday was Wednesday and assumed that I'd already posted for the week. Sorry about that. But here you go. Only 4 more chapters left after this one.

VillageVoice

"Abby I cannot stay pregnant another day. My skin cannot stretch anymore and there is no way that I can get any bigger without falling over." Ziva ranted as Abby entered the room with a tray of food she deemed better for Ziva than everything the Israeli was eating. Ziva was hoping that by eating hot and spicy foods it would 'force' the baby out.

"If you keep eating that you're only going to give yourself really bad heartburn and make yourself sick." She grabbed the plate away from Ziva before she could grab another bite. "You cannot keep eating that much."

"If my stomach is full there will be less room for the baby." She protested.

"And it will force the baby out?"

"Exactly."

Abby shook her head. "Well I'm the one whose gonna have to listen to you complain for the rest of the night, so I say you're done." She handed Ziva a plate of delicious looking pasta in place of the other food that was so spicey it burned the Goth's lungs without her even having a taste.

"What is this?" Ziva asked as she shoveled a forkful into her mouth.

"Its pasta salad I made with some herbs that are known to induce labor. It's much better for you that what you've been making."

"I am a good cook." Ziva protested.

"When you're not trying to drown yourself in spice, yes."

"I am simply trying to make my body less . . . what is the word?"

"Hospitable?"

"Yes, hospitable. I am trying to make my body less hospitable so the baby will not want to stay any longer."

"Hate to say it Zi, but it's not up to the baby. And even if it was she wouldn't want to go anywhere because she loves you too much." She placed a gentle kiss on Ziva's cheek and bounced out of the room.

Abby did feel bad for Ziva. She was now three days past her due date and more miserable than Abby could ever remember seeing her. She was actually quite huge and she wasn't sleeping and her entire body was swollen. Abby did all she could to help, but there wasn't really much she could do especially given Ziva's incredibly independent nature. However, nowadays she was more than happy to just sit or lie around and let Abby do whatever she wanted - especially when she felt so inclined to give Ziva foot massages. Ziva had never been a foot person, she found feet more than disgusting which is why she was rarely without socks, if not shoes. Abby always volunteered whenever Ziva mentioned how much her feet were bothering her.

Abby sat down at the computer in the office and put her head in her hands. She needed to think of something to do for Ziva, but what? Anything Ziva would have enjoyed pre-NID, new identities, as she was calling it, was out of the question. As was anything that required . . . any travel really as Ziva couldn't do too much walking and she swore her bladder had shrunk down to the size of an acorn, once Abby had explained how small an acorn was. They had also agreed to stay close to home now that Ziva was past her due date so anything off the island was off limits too. Abby sighed. Abby would know the perfect solution to this problem, but Kate was clueless. It had been so long since Abby had been Abby that she felt like they were two completely different people.

An idea popped into the scientist's mind and she quickly ran upstairs to check on Ziva. She found her fast asleep and snuck across to her bedside table to grab her camera. She snapped a quick picture for the baby's photo album before writing her a note saying that she had to go into work quickly to work on something and that she should be back by four. With a gentle kiss she ran down the stairs and was out the door.

"I don't feel like I'm doing enough." Abby said as she plopped herself down at one of the dining room chairs.

"Trust me" Sam began, sitting down across from Abby. "You are doing plenty. All I really wanted when I was pregnant was for someone to be there. Someone to tell me that it was okay that I was crying all the time or being overly emotional, someone to tell me I wasn't the size of a house." They both laughed. "You're doing great. Anna appreciates it."

"Did she tell you that?"

Sam shook her head. "She doesn't have to. When I was as pregnant as she is I was a complete mess. Worried that noting was ready, that I wasn't going to be a good mother, that my body would never go back to what it was before I was pregnant. When I say I was a mess, I was a mess. You could tell just by looking at me. But Anna is completely at ease. She's relaxed and not worrying about what's to come because she has you."

Abby smiled. "Do you . . . Can I ask you something."

Sam nodded.

"Do you think it would have been different for you if Shannon's father had been around?"

Sam shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. But I'll tell you this, you are doing great. Anna doesn't need some big gesture right now. All she needs is you. And knowing that you have been there and will continue to be there with her and that baby. Anything else she needs she'll ask you."

Abby scoffed. "The only way Anna will ask me for anything is if there is absolutely no way she can get up and get it herself."

"Miss Independent huh?"

"Fiercely. But I mean it has kept her alive all these years so I guess it isn't all bad."

"What do you mean?"

Abby's eyes went wide. How could she cover this one up? "Oh you know her home life growing-up wasn't that great so she had to fend for herself a lot."

Sam nodded in understanding and Abby thanked her lucky stars when she left it at that. Abby chuckled. "I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days she goes into labor and doesn't tell me until after the baby's born."

"Okay," Abby began hoisting several full brown paper bags up onto the island in the kitchen. "I got everything you asked, but I really don't think it's going to work. And it's not very good for you either." She added, checking the label on one of the boxes. She shook her head and set it aside. "But hey," She mumbled. "I'll try anything just to get you to shut-Oh hey Ziva."

Ziva smiled weakly in greeting as she entered the room. One hand on her back, one on her protruding belly as she made her way to one of the chairs at the island.

"Still no change?"

Ziva grimaced. "No."

"Then whats with the face?"

"I am forty-one weeks pregnant."

Abby nodded. "That would do it." She went back to putting the groceries away.

"Sam dropped this off while you were out." Ziva held up a cup of lavender colored liquid.

"She isn't boring I'll give her that."

"Can you zop it for me?"

"What?"

"Zop it." Ziva reiterated. "In the microwave."

Abby chuckled as she took the drink. "Zap it."

Ziva waved her off. "I will be in the living room."

Abby nodded and 'zopped' the beverage in the microwave. "She would tell me if she was in labor . . . right?" She eyed the doorway. "Yeah. She would." She turned back to the groceries. "She would." She looked around the room as if searching for the answer before she bolted out of the room, hot drink in hand.

"What are some of the signs of labor?" Abby asked.

Sam smiled. "Aside from the pain?" She joked. "There are contractions, she can pass her mucus plug-"

"The what?" Abby interrupted.

"You don't want to know. Anna knows she'll tell you."

Abby nodded. "What else."

"Aside from her water breaking, the contractions are the biggest thing. Braxton-Hicks contractions are irregular and mostly only painful in the belly, but when they start becoming regular, more painful both in her belly and back and closer together she may be in real labor."

Abby handed Ziva her drink and dragged the blanket off the back of the sofa, draping it over them both as she cuddled up to the Israeli. She casually laid her arm across Ziva's belly as they watched whatever show Ziva had turned on. Some documentary about different war and battle strategies used by warlords in ancient Greece and Rome. Abby wasn't surprised. They had watched a program on the same channel earlier comparing weapons of today with earlier weapons and which were more effective for the time and more effective in general. It was interesting, she'd give it that. But right now she was on a mission. Operation Determine Whether or Not Ziva is in Labor had commenced.

"So how's my little girl doing today?"

"Our son is doing fine. He, however, thinks that he still has a lot of room in there when he does not. Talk to him maybe he will listen to you."

Abby casually glanced at the clock over the TV when she felt a contraction start. "Maybe she would behave if you would stop calling her a boy." Ziva grimaced, but Abby let it go for the time being. "Alright now little girl listen. You're not a little baby anymore. You don't have all the room in there that you used to so you need to stop practicing those soccer kicks."

"If it is a girl, which it is not, but if it is she will be taking dance."

"What if she doesn't want to?"

"She will not know what she wants at three."

"Three? As in three years old?"

Ziva nodded. "Yes. That is when I started dancing and my sister, our mother before us and her mother. It is a family tradition."

"Okay. We can sign her up for dance, but if she wants to do soccer she can do that too right?" Ziva looked over at Abby. "Call it a family tradition of my own."

Ziva nodded with a smile. "She can do soccer too." She leaned over to kiss Abby. After the kiss Abby noticed a very subtle sigh escape her love's lips that she probably wouldn't have noticed if not for the fact that she was on a mission. She looked over at the clock again and mentally logged the length of the contraction. All that was left to do now was lay back and gather more evidence. She bent down to Ziva's belly and placed a kiss right where she felt a sharp kick. "Be good."

-2 Hours Later-

"Hey can we watch that forensic program now?" Abby asked as the credits started to roll.

Ziva nodded. "But you will have to change the channel." She handed the remote over. "The batteries are dead and I cannot stand-up at the moment."

Abby glanced at the clock. "Why not?" She smirked. "You in pain?"

Ziva took a deep breath. "No. I am just tired."

Abby jumped up. "Bull!"

"What?"

"I call bull."

"You want to call an animal?"

"No. Bull. It's like I'm calling you out on your blatant lie."

"I am not lying. I am tired."

"I don't doubt that, but that's not the reason you don't want to move."

Ziva raised an eyebrow. "I do not know what you are talking about?"

"BULL! Ziva David you are in labor!"