I can hardly believe we are on number 11 already! Thanks so very much to the reviews I have gotten from you wonderful readers, they always make my day.

Thanks again to AliyahNCIS, my beta.

11: Dreams

The rain awakens … /We must sleep with open eyes /We must dream with our hands/we must dream dreams of active rivers/ Searching for their cause/Dreams of the sun/dreaming of its worlds / we must dream aloud/ we must sing till the song /casts roots, /trunks, branches, birds, stars, /we must unearth the lost word,/and remember.

"What do you dream about?"

Ziva looked up from the book in her lap to her husband who sat at the other end of the couch they were sharing. He had her feet in her lap, and even though his eyes were intent on her face, his hands hadn't stopped rubbing her swollen ankles.

"Why do you ask, Tony? That question was into the blue," Ziva focused her attention on him, curious about the odd question.

He smiled. "It's 'out of the blue' Ziva, and I just remembered how when I was a boy, my mom always used to say that rain was for dreams, that when it rained, it made the world so peaceful that it was the perfect time to dream. She meant a soft, steady rain, not the downpour of a storm."

They both looked out their large living room window, to where rain fell steadily, making rivers down the window panes and glistening on the plants. It had been falling all morning, it was the reason they were on the couch relaxing rather than taking a walk. It was a tradition they had made, to do on Saturdays when they were not working. For a few moments, both watched the rain fall, absorbed in their own thoughts, until Tony spoke again, his voice quiet, "You never did answer my question, Ziva. What are you dreaming about?"

Her eyes went back to him. "A lot of things, I guess," she said, bringing her hands to rest on her swollen stomach. "The baby, for sure. Just think, in about four months, we will have a child." Her smile was small and pleased, his answer was a grin. "I dream of holding them, and watching them grow."

"Me too. I dream of being a better father than I had." Tony's voice was quiet, almost sad.

Ziva reached out, and grabbed his hand. "I have no doubt you will. Just think, this child will have Gibbs wrapped around their finger, especially if it is a girl. She will get whatever she wants."

Tony chuckled. "Ducky will have someone to tell his stories to."

"Abby is so excited to be 'Aunty Abby'"

"That's fine, as long as she doesn't give a weird black stuffed animal to the baby."

"Would you accept a stuffed hippo?"

He laughed again. He grinned mischievously, and he grabbed her left foot from where it had been resting in his lap. He stripped off her sock, and gently tickled the sole of her foot. She squirmed, giggling, trying to free her foot, and kicked him lightly in his chest. "Tony!" she shrieked, laughing at the same time. "Stop tickling me!"

"What if I don't want to?"

He kept tickling her, and he used her ankle to pull her closer to him. He tickled her, and even though she shrieked, he kept going. Ziva was protesting, but not too much. It was kind of fun to have him tickling her and laughing together. Soon, she was in his lap, he was still tickling her, and she was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.

"Please, Tony!" she gasped in between laughs, "I need to breathe."

"Alright, on one condition…."

"What?"

"You tell me what else you were dreaming about."

Ziva turned to glare at him. "You just will not drop it! You are like a dog with a chew toy or Gibbs with his gut!"

"That is silly, Zee-vah. I just want to hear your dreams. If you like, I can tell you what I was dreaming about."

"If you would be so kind."

"I was dreaming about the baby, and teaching them to play sports, like football…"

"Even if the baby is a girl?" Ziva interrupted.

"Who says girls can't play football?" Tony shot back.

"Should I not be the one saying that?" Ziva asked, giggling again.

"If we were normal. But, thankfully Ziva, we are not normal. Normal men would not have fallen in love with a beautiful woman who could kill him many ways. Normal women wouldn't have seen behind the jokes and juvenile ways to the real man." His voice had become serious, but tender.

"We could never be normal."

"So the baby is doomed to be unusual."

"Without a doubt. After all, look at the people who will help us raising them. We have Abby…"

"Who couldn't be normal if she tried." Tony interrupted this time.

Ziva glared at him and then continued, "We also have McGee. He is pretty normal."

"Are you kidding? McGoo will have taught our child how to hack the government before age ten."

Both parents-to-be laughed at the image of a ten year old hacking into classified government information. Ziva went on, "Plus, Gibbs and Ducky, are here to help too."

"Ducky will have someone besides Palmer to tell his stories to."

"He is looking forward to it. Our child will be well rounded."

"Maybe," Tony said, smiling at his wife, "but they might get made fun of in school."

"They will be able to take care of themselves. Just like their father."

"Flatterer. You just want me to go out and buy more of that coffee cake ice cream you like so much and Ducky doesn't want you to have."

Ziva looked up at him from under her eyelashes up at him. "Would you please? It tastes so good."

"No, I won't." He smiled at her as she pouted. "Do I spy my Ziva pouting? I though they trained the pouting out of you."

"I was not 'pouting'," she lifted her hands and did air-quotes around the word.

"Were too. I saw you. You had your lip stuck out and everything."

Ziva chose not to reply, and instead she leaned back against his chest. His arms tightened around her again, and he rested his chin on her forehead.

"Did you ever think we could end up like this? Married with a baby on the way?" Tony said quietly as they both stared out into the rain again, still falling steadily. Ziva didn't answer right away, and they both just sat there, comfortable, watching the rain.

"I hoped, down deep inside, not that I would have admitted it, but I did. I could not help it, especially after Somalia. I had feelings for you long before that, but there was Jeanne, and then Michael, I was not sure if it would ever be the right time."

"But then there was Paris."

"Yes, Paris." They both smiled at the memory. "We have more than Paris. We didn't leave it there."

"Best decision I ever made, besides asking you to marry me."

"Best decision I ever made was saying yes."

He kissed the back of her neck gently. She was about to turn around so she could kiss him properly when her stomach growled.

"I think that means I had best feed the two most important people in my life."

"Yes, you should. You could go get that ice cream."

"Not a chance."

That took me three tries to write, but I like how it turned out. Let me know what you think!

-The Lady Grace

Dear Freud,

I think we should discuss that whole "Oedipus Complex" thing you came up with...

Sincerely, Mom.