A/N: Again, you guys are awesome. :) This is as far as I've gotten and I'm working on chapter 7, so I will upload it as I get it finished, which may be a few days (and I'm going to be away for a week starting next Wednesday, so the next chapter may be the only one for a little while). I will try to update my Facebook page, or if not there, my Twitter page (follow me smackalalala). :)

Chapter Six

The next morning, Tony arrived early, so as to beat both McGee and Ziva there, and this time it wasn't to earn brownie points with Gibbs (not like the man handed those out). He wanted to be able to confront whoever came in first, to confirm his suspicions that Ziva was indeed pregnant with McGee's child, and to let them know he was okay with it, but they needed to stop keeping secrets from him if they wanted his support. He nodded to himself, preparing for the confrontation, and when the elevator chimed its arrival, he sat up straight, ready to ambush whoever walked out.

His preparations befell him, however, when it was Gibbs who joined him. Tony's shoulders slumped as he managed a, "Good morning, Boss," in spite of the situation. But maybe . . . He stood from his desk, following the older man to his, and before Gibbs could sit down, Tony asked, "Say, you wouldn't happen to know when McGee and Ziva are getting in this morning, would you?"

Gibbs glanced over his shoulder at him. "How should I know?" he said, circling his desk and sitting down, straightening a stack of papers as he did so.

"Well, it's just that you're the boss and, uh . . ."

Gibbs really looked up at Tony this time. "What's on your mind, DiNozzo?"

Tony's eyes widened and he said, "Nothing, Boss." He let out a nervous laugh. "What makes you think there's something on my mind?" He returned to his desk, hoping Gibbs wouldn't push the issue.

But when he sat down, he looked up to find Gibbs giving him a questioning look, and he knew he had to ask while he still had the chance. "Do you happen to know who the father of Ziva's baby is?" He wasn't exactly proud of the look he was sure he was wearing, how he probably looked like a cross between a sad puppy and its angry mother.

Gibbs didn't answer right away, but did stand from his desk, walking over to where Tony sat. Tony cowered a bit, expecting a head slap, but the abuse didn't come. Instead, Gibbs walked around Tony's desk and leaned against it, next to where Tony sat. "Tony," he said quietly, "who do you think it is?"

Tony shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, like the answer didn't really matter, but he knew Gibbs would see through it. He looked up and met the older man's eyes. "I don't want them to be keeping secrets from me, Boss. And I want to be happy for them, but . . ."

The head slap he'd expected earlier came at last, though not as forcefully as he'd expected. He looked up at Gibbs again, who shook his head. "You think they would have kept that from you, Tony?"

Tony kept his expression serious as he held Gibbs' gaze. "I've done it to them in the past. Who's to say they wouldn't return the favor?"

Gibbs shook his head again and stood. "It's not McGee. And I hope you didn't go spreading that rumor around. That's the last thing Ziva needs right now." He returned to his desk then, leaving Tony to think about his words.

He thought for a few moments, then raised his head. "If it's not McGee . . ."

"DiNozzo, if she wants you to know, she'll tell you." He turned his attention to a file in front of him, signing it with a flourish. "All I'll say is that you shouldn't worry about it."

Tony frowned to himself, then remembered his conversation with Abby and his eyes widened. "Well, now that that's over . . ." he started, trying to find a way to go see her without cluing Gibbs in to his intentions.

"Go ahead," Gibbs said, making Tony look over with a raised eyebrow. "Better do it now before she rips McGee a new one for not telling her."

"Uh, right, Boss," Tony said, but gladly took the out, getting up from his desk and speed walking to the elevator, passing McGee and Ziva on their way in, who watched Tony exit with questioning looks on their faces.

As they arrived at their respective desks, McGee said, "Sorry we're late, Boss. I, uh, I had a flat and had Ziva pick me up . . ."

"And McGee does not appreciate my driving, so it took a bit longer than normal," Ziva finished, garnering a dirty look from McGee, at which she smirked.

Gibbs didn't say anything, so McGee continued. "Uh, where was Tony off to in such a hurry?"

Gibbs looked up then, but faced Ziva instead of McGee. "You need to talk to him, sooner rather than later."

Ziva blinked, not having expected that. "I . . . alright. I will have a talk with him later." She turned her eyes to McGee, who shrugged.

Gibbs nodded, turning back to his paperwork. "Get to work," he said, and McGee and Ziva shared another curious look.

Ziva caught Tony later as he was exiting the break room, and stopped him before he could go too far. "Ah, do you have a minute or two?" she asked, and his chin dropped to his chest.

"Gibbs said something, didn't he," he said quietly, and Ziva nodded, though she still looked a bit confused.

"Yes, though I am not exactly sure what he meant," she admitted, and Tony's head popped up, his expression relieved.

"Oh, well, it was nothing," he said, giving her a winning smile. Ziva saw through it, though, rolling her eyes, and Tony's smile faded. "Okay, fine. Give me your best shot. I can take it."

"I have not been forthright with you about my . . . pregnancy," Ziva said after a moment, looking slightly uncomfortable. "You are right to want to know who the father is."

"Who said I wanted to know that?" Tony asked, trying to play nonchalant again, and hoping Gibbs hadn't told her what he had thought.

Ziva tilted her head at him. "You did. Yesterday, when I told everyone. I should have told you then, but I didn't, and with McGee knowing . . . I can see where you came to the wrong conclusion."

Tony gave her a look of disbelief. "You think I thought you were McKnockin' Boots?" He barked out a laugh, shaking a finger at her, but his laugh quickly ended with a sigh. "Okay, so I did think you were getting a bit McFreaky, but can you blame me? I saw how he handled things yesterday. I wasn't exactly being the best friend in the world."

Ziva nodded slowly, but gave Tony a small smile. "I will take that as an apology, and I forgive you. It was certainly nothing I had expected myself, and . . . the father is out of the picture. It was a one-time thing." Her smile faltered a bit. "I did not even know his name."

Whoever Tony had been anticipating the father to be, Ziva's news came as a complete surprise to him and he blinked in shock. "Damn," he breathed out, and Ziva nodded her agreement.

"Yes, but there is nothing I can do to change it." She hardened her expression. "I have the support of you all, and that is what is important to me."

"That's right," Tony said, smiling. He narrowed his eyes then. "But just to be clear . . ."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "I think you would know if we were, Tony."

Tony looked away, muttering to himself, and said under his breath, "Abby was right."

It was Ziva's turn to narrow her eyes. "Abby was right about what, Tony?" she asked, stepping closer to him. "You did not give her the idea that McGee was the father of my child, did you?" Tony didn't answer or look up at her and she shook her head. "Oh, if you told anyone else . . ."

"I didn't!" he quickly said, raising his head to look at her again. His eyes were wide, but returned to normal after a moment. "I let her know already that it wasn't McGee." He paused. "And I didn't tell anyone else."

Ziva smacked him with the back of her hand as she walked past him, a signal that their conversation was finished. As she walked back to the squad room, she smiled to herself. Now that she had cleared things up with Tony, it seemed that the drama was gone for the time being, and they could return to some state of normal.

At that thought, her smile fell, as she was alone and didn't have to pretend for anyone. Her whole life had done a complete 180 over the past few days. Never had she wanted "normal" as much as she did now.

As the day drew to an end, Ziva's phone rang and she picked up without looking at who the caller was. "Ziva," she said into the receiver, as she signed her signature on some paperwork.

"Hey, Ziva, it's Abby."

Once she realized who it was, Ziva set down her pen and focused her attention on the call. "Is something wrong, Abby? You sound troubled."

"No, I just . . ." A sigh. "Do you have a few minutes to talk before you leave?"

"Of course," Ziva said, the expression on her face still showing the confusion she felt. "What is on your mind?"

"Well, I kinda wanted to talk to you face-to-face, if that's okay."

"Yes, yes, that is fine." She began the process of shutting down her computer as she spoke and turned for her backpack after. "I will meet you down in your lab in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Ziva. I just . . . It's nothing bad. Just something I wanted to talk about."

Ziva paused in her shutting down. "I believe you, Abby. I will be there in a few minutes." She hung up just as McGee returned to his desk from the bathroom.

"Hey, you leaving?" he asked, watching as she stood and slung her backpack over a shoulder.

She turned to him. "Ah, Abby called me. She said she wants to talk to me about something, so I am going to see her first."

He nodded. "Alright. Well, have a good night." He returned to his desk, and Ziva found herself somewhat disappointed that he hadn't offered his companionship for the night again. She wasn't particularly looking forward to spending all those hours by herself, thinking.

"McGee," she found herself saying before she could think otherwise of it. He looked up at her. "Ah, I was just thinking, if you are not busy this weekend, we should take Jethro to the park or something." He tilted his head at her, clearly surprised at her words. She rolled her eyes at the ceiling and shook her head. "I do not know that I want to spend all that time alone." She lowered her eyes, meeting McGee's gaze, and saw that he was giving her a warm smile.

"That sounds great," he said, then his grin widened as he added, "Jethro will love to have someone else to slobber on."

"Oh, yuck," Ziva muttered to herself as McGee laughed. She gave him a wave as she walked toward the elevator, to go see Abby and discover just what it was that she wanted to speak with her about.

Ziva crept into the lab, peering around for the other woman. "Abby?" she called out, as she didn't see her right away.

"In here," she heard Abby call from her office. She looked over and saw the Goth waving at her, so made her way toward the office. Once she was inside, Abby picked up a remote and pointed it at the door behind Ziva, sending it shut. Ziva jumped a little at the noise, then looked back to Abby, who shrugged. "Just wanted to make sure we didn't get interrupted."

Ziva nodded. "So, why did you call me down here?"

"Have a seat, Ziva," Abby said, and Ziva did so, though a bit reluctantly. As soon as she was sitting, Abby took a deep breath and continued. "So, Tony told me about McGee being your baby daddy."

Ziva closed her eyes and shook her head. "He is not . . ."

"Which is what I told Tony," Abby said, and Ziva opened her eyes again, finding Abby smiling at her. "I just was wondering . . ."

Ziva nodded. "Who the father is."

"Well, actually, no," Abby said, then paused. "Okay, I do want to know that, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay," Ziva said, slightly amused at Abby's behavior.

Abby sat up a little straighter. "Alright. Here we go." She let out a breath, as Ziva watched with an eyebrow raised. "When Tony talked to me last night, he thought what he did about you and Timmy because, well, it seems like you two are a lot . . . chummier than you were before."

"Chummier?" Ziva repeated.

Abby nodded. "Yeah, you're spending more time together, seem like you're better friends. Just . . . chummier."

"Right, and so Tony assumed that we were sleeping together because of that?" Ziva said. She shook her head. "As I told Tony, he would have known about it if that were the case."

"That's what I said!" Abby said, throwing her arms up. "But he was convinced you, well, the term he used was, 'had a McBun in the oven.'"

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Tasteful."

Abby shrugged. "That's Tony."

Ziva finally decided she couldn't wait any longer and threw her hands up. "Okay, so we are in agreement that Tony is Tony and I know that he told you his wrong suspicions. Is that why you wanted to talk with me?"

"No," Abby said, then bit her lip nervously. She waited a few more moments before speaking again. "Tim is sensitive, Ziva. He might not say anything to you, or he might act like it's okay if you completely break his heart, but . . ."

"Wait a minute," Ziva interrupted, holding up a hand to stop Abby. "You think McGee has feelings for me?"

"Well, no," Abby said, and Ziva raised an eyebrow at her. "But he could in the future. And I don't know how you feel about him, but I just wanted to let you know that you should let him down easy, if it comes to that point."

Ziva smiled at her. "I will keep that in mind, should it come up, but I do hope it will not be necessary, for whatever reason." She paused, then added, "I do not have romantic feelings for McGee, but I do know what a wonderful man he is. I would not want to do anything to change that."

Abby nodded, then bounded out of her chair to give Ziva a gentle hug. "He'll be so nice for you to have around." She backed away then, her smile turning devious. "You could probably get him to do whatever you wanted. He's great like that."

Ziva laughed softly. "That is a tempting offer, but I do not like to take my friends for granted. And he has already been more than helpful." Her smile grew. "You all have been wonderful. I do not know what I would do without you."

Abby grinned and went in for another hug. "That's what friends are for, Ziva."