Chapter 7

"DiNozzo." Gibbs greeted, if you call that a greeting.

"Hey Boss." I said as I watched him work on his boat and leaned up against his workbench. "Whatcha doing?" I laughed as he just shook his head and glared at me.

"Why aren't you with Ziva?"

"Abby kicked me out." I said crossing my arms over my chest. "Think she figured it out?"

"DiNozzo." Gibbs started with a small chuckle. "We all know, they just don't know who else knows."

"Seriously, even McGoo? How'd they find out?" I didn't get an answer but a typical Gibbs look instead. "So that's why Abby's been weird with me."

"Well yeah, DiNozzo, remember Ziva told her it was a one night stand." Gibbs said and turned back to his boat.

"Oh yeah." I mumbled and ran my hand over my face frustrated.

"Did you need something?" he asked his back towards me.

"Help." I sighed and he turned and looked at me curiously and expectantly.

"With?" Gibbs pushed on as he took a threatening step towards me.

"Telling Jen, Director Shepard I want out of this." I said seriously as I met his eyes.

"There's no technique, Tony." He said with a small smile. I wondered if there was a way to get Gibbs to tell her for me. "Did you break up with the girl yet?"

"No, I think she knows something's up. I canceled on her the last couple nights to be with Ziva and Avery." I said. "You think her father's gonna kill me?"

"Don't know." He shrugged. "How are Ziva and the baby?"

"Good." I smiled enjoying the change of subject. "Ziva's still sore from the c-section and Avery's great, really calm."

"You're staying with them?" Gibbs asked eyeing me.

"Yup, couch is all mine." I laughed with fake enthusiasm. I'd much rather spend the next couple of nights in bed with Ziva.

"What are you going to do first? Talk to the director or break up with your doctor?" She wasn't my doctor, she was my assignment.

"What should I do first?" I risked, hoping he would give me answer.

"Do what you think, but if you break up with the doctor first Jen doesn't really have too much of a say any more."

"Right." I said and headed back up the stairs before turning around and coming back down. "Thanks Boss."

"I didn't do anything." He shrugged and I just laughed and climbed back up the stairs.

~**~

"Tony." Jeanne said surprised as she opened the door and saw me on the other side.

"Hey Jeanne." I said shoving my hands in my pockets.

"I thought you were busy tonight." She said with a slight attitude as she leaned against the door and watched me.

"I was." I shrugged and looked past her into her apartment. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." She said and stepped aside to let me enter. "Is something wrong, Tony?"

"Yeah, kinda." I said as I watched her walk over to the couch and we both sat down.

"You're breaking up with me." She sighed as her voice cracked and she looked away from me.

"Jeanne, I'm sorry." I tried, I really didn't want her to start crying. I hate dealing with crying women, they always make me uncomfortable. Except Ziva, when she cried in the delivery room my heart broke, part of that was also because I was scared to death over Avery's lack of crying.

"Why?" she asked setting her hands on her lap. "We've been together for a while and things were going well until a couple days ago, what happened?"

"My son was born." I said easily as I pulled out my 'undercover' cell phone and flipped it open to show her my background picture of Avery.

"Your what?" she asked horrified as she glanced the phone then back at me. "Your what?" she asked louder as she stood from the couch and looked down at me.

"Son." I said simply. "Please sit down."

"Since when do you have a kid?" she asked as she obeyed and sat back on the couch. "Are you married too?"

"No, I'm not married." I sighed as I placed the cell back in my pocket.

"You're being serious?"

"Yeah, his name's Avery." I smiled as she stared at me with her mouth ajar. "His mom's my ex."

"The woman who said lost your baby?"

"Well she never lost him, I did." I explained as I rubbed the back of my neck.

"What?"

"She left me and after you and I got together I found out she was pregnant." I looked over at Jeanne to see she was obviously waiting for more. "She offered me the opportunity to walk away and I took it."

"Ass." She whispered as she stared at me. "So that Ohio State onesie was for your son?"

"Yeah." I felt myself smile wide. "He wore it home from the hospital."

"So you're breaking up with me, to get back with her?" she asked weakly as a tear ran down her cheek.

"No, she has no interest in being with me." I sighed sadly. "Avery lives with her and-." She cut me off.

"She's making you choose between me and your son?"

"What? No." I said starting to get angry. "She wouldn't do that. She wants me to be with you, she thinks that makes me happy. She wants me to be happy, just like I want her to be happy."

"So I don't make you happy?" she accused and I buried my head in my hands trying not to yell at her. "Why were you with me so long if you weren't happy?"

"Sometimes I was." I said looking at her. "But Avery was usually on my mind and she was too."

"You love her." It wasn't a question but a statement. I nodded and she wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Love at first sight?"

"With Ziva?" I laughed but Jeanne didn't seem to find it funny. "Avery, yes. Ziva, no."

"Ziva?"

"Mmhmm." I said not exactly sure how to elaborate on Ziva considering Jeanne still doesn't know who I really am or what I do. "She's Israeli, but that's a part of college having a foreign teacher you don't understand."

"She's hard to understand?" Jeanne asked obviously confused because with both knew I wasn't multilingual.

"Oh yeah, especially when she uses idioms." I laughed but pulled myself back when seeing the Jeanne wasn't too amused. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She said wiping more tears away as she stood from the couch and headed over to the door.

"I didn't mean to hurt you." I said as she pulled the door open and I stepped out and turned back to her.

"But you did." She said. "Congratulations on your son, Tony."

"Thanks." I said as she closed the door.

~**~

"Tony?" Abby questioned as she came down the hall at the sound of the door opening. "How'd you get in?"

"Ziva gave me a key." I said as I held the key up on my key ring. "Where's Ziva?"

"Sleeping." Abby said as she pointed to Ziva's closed door.

"Avery?" I asked as I glanced in the bassinet not seeing my son.

"Crib." Abby said crossing her arms and watching me as I walked past her into the nursery.

Avery was sound asleep on his back. His hands curled into fists one laying on his chest and the other above his head. My old, his new baby blanket lay on top him from his mid stomach down.

"Ziva says he sleeps like you." Abby whispered as she stood next to me and we both watched Avery sleep.

"Yeah." I said and turned to smile at Abby. "Except with Ziva," I started and stroked the hand that was laying on Avery's chest. "this arm would be wrapped around her." That earned me a punch to the ribs and I whimpered as I stepped from the crib and keeled over trying my damnest to be quiet. "What was that for?"

"Follow me Anthony DiNozzo." She hissed quietly as she drug me out of Avery's room by my ear.

"Abby Abby." I whined as we entered the living room and she squeezed harder before letting my go. "Ow, what was that for?"

"You sleep with her." She started and pinched my arm. "You get her pregnant." She pinched my side. "You leave her?!" she hissed and pinched my neck, hard.

"No, that's not how it happened." I squealed trying to wiggle away from her.

"Not to mention you've had some new girlfriend for a while." She added obviously ignoring my previous statement.

"Abby, please let me explain."

"Be quiet you're gonna wake up Ziva and the baby."

"Then let me go." I pleaded as I pulled at her hand. She finally let go of my neck and crossed her arms over her chest. "Thanks."

"You said you could explain?"

"We didn't just sleep together the one time." I started and her eyes went wide with anger. "No, I mean we were together, you know like a relationship."

"Oh so you were together and she told you she was pregnant and you got a new girl?" she offered.

"No!" I yelled and we both immediately fell silent waiting to hear either Avery cry or Ziva. "This summer, we were together and when Gibbs came back. She. Left. Me." I said and watched as Abby's face softened. "Okay? She ended us and I let her."

"Why?" Abby asked as she glanced back at Ziva's closed bedroom door. "Because of Gibbs and his rule?"

"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged as I sat on the couch. "She also said something about how we didn't work well together."

"That's bull." Abby said as she sat next to me on the couch. "But why did you walk away when she told you she was pregnant?"

"She told me to." I said as I played with my watch. "I was already with someone else when she told me."

"Oh Tony." Abby sighed. "What does your girlfriend think about this?"

"I never told her, until today, when I broke up with her." I couldn't help but smile seeing the smile break out across Abby's face.

"To be with Ziva?" Thankfully I didn't have to answer because of the cries coming from Avery's room.

"I got him." I said as I stood from the couch and headed towards my son's room. "Hey." I smiled as I picked the crying baby up and turned back to Abby who had followed me into the room.

"Are you scared?" Abby asked as I rocked him.

"To death." I whispered as I reached into the crib and grabbed the blanket and brought him over to the changing table to wrap him in it. I made sure his arms were free because when they weren't he was not happy.

"He's probably hungry." Ziva said from the doorway as I brought the tiny baby back into my arms.

"You should be resting." Abby scolded and Ziva glared at her. I laughed and followed Ziva back into her bedroom where she carefully laid down on her side. "Okay, I'm going to go now, call me if you need anything."

"Thank you Abby." Ziva said with a smile.

"Thanks Abs."

"No problem." She said as she left the room and we soon her the front door close.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as Ziva pulled off her shirt and put it on the other side of the bed. My eyes went wide at the sight of Ziva's engorged breast and all the blood in my body was starting to head south.

"What? It's nothing you have not seen before." She smiled as I set Avery down on the bed next to her and she arranged herself so she could feed him.

"Yeah, but it's something I haven't seen for awhile, especially not when they're this big." I smirked as I sat on the edge of her bed and did my best to keep my eyes on her face.

"I do not think your girlfriend would like the looks you are giving me." She added as she stroked Avery's cheek.

"Girlfriend no more." I smiled and glance to her scar to see it seemed to be healing nicely. "Broke up with her."

"Oh?" she questioned as she looked from Avery to me. I smiled and scooted further up on the bed so I was closer to her and Avery. "You were together for awhile."

"There's a reason for that." I said as I placed a strand of hand behind her ear.