A/N: So, I managed to get another chapter in. :D But I have other things I HAVE to get done today & I gotta start getting ready for my trip & I have to work tomorrow & Tuesday, so I can't promise anything as far as another chapter before I leave Wednesday. :P But we will see. Again, thank you all for the reviews/alerts/etc. I appreciate it. :)

Chapter Eight

McGee was stunned by her words. "You want me with you when you find out the sex of your baby?" he repeated. He blinked a few times, then said, "Wow."

Ziva shifted in her seat, uncomfortable. "If you do not feel comfortable being there . . ."

"No!" he interrupted her, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. When she looked up at him, she found him wearing a huge grin. "I'm totally flattered that you would ask, and I would be more than happy to go with you."

Ziva let out a breath of relief and smiled. "Good. Good. I did not want to ask anyone else, and I did not want to go alone, either. I am very happy you will go with me." She nodded, then her attention fell elsewhere, as McGee continued to watch her.

"What do you want it to be?" he asked, not knowing himself what her answer would be.

She turned back to face him, her face thoughtful. "When I was younger, I always thought I would like to have a daughter, a little girl I could raise to be a dancer or a singer, something less dangerous than being in Mossad, like nearly my entire family."

McGee could hear that there was more to her story. "And now?"

She shrugged. "It does not matter to me. I had given up hope of having children after I joined Mossad, but then I joined NCIS and I thought it was perhaps possible again. And now here I am." She gave him a bittersweet smile. "I suppose I imagined being married to someone, being very much in love, before I had the chance to raise a family."

"You know that's still possible, right?" McGee said, giving her a kind smile.

Ziva gave him a look as if to say, 'Thank you for trying,' before saying, "Possible, yes, but probable?" She shrugged. "I will have a child in a few months, and he or she will have a wonderful family around in you and the rest of the team. I am content with that."

He reached out and brushed a hand across her arm. "Don't give up hope on finding love, Ziva. You never know when it'll happen."

She smiled up at him and said, "I will not," then raised a finger and added, "as long as you will promise me to do the same."

He narrowed his eyes at her, slightly irritated at how she had turned his words around on him, but then nodded. "I can do that." He slid off the edge of her desk then. "We should get going. It's getting late. You need a ride home?"

She shook her head, stacking some papers into a neat pile on her desk. "I think I will be fine. I will call you if I need anything."

"You better," he teased, grinning. He walked back to his desk to shut off his computer, as Ziva did the same at her desk, then stood up to leave. "Hey, Ziva." She looked over when he said her name. "Thank you for asking. It means a lot to me."

She nodded, her face glowing, and absently passed a hand over her slightly swollen stomach. "I am just glad you said you would go with me. Good night, Tim."

"Good night, Ziva," McGee said, watching as she made her way to the elevator, her hand making its way back to her stomach. The image brought a smile to his face and he grabbed his backpack, following Ziva's lead and leaving the squad room.

A few days later, it was time for Ziva's appointment and McGee arrived at her apartment with the intention of picking her up. He knocked on the door, hearing a muffled, "Just a minute," come from the other side, and he grinned to himself.

The door opened shortly after and he found Ziva with her toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. She motioned for him to come in as she returned to the bathroom, turning on some water and finishing up before returning to the living room, braiding her hair as she did so.

"I am sorry I am not ready," she said, quickly wrapping a hair tie around the end of her braid, then stooping to pick up a plate with a few crumbs on it and taking it into the kitchen. "I had a difficult time sleeping last night, and by the time I fell asleep, it was nearly time to be awake." She ran some water over the plate, shaking her head as she did so, while McGee watched in amusement. It wasn't often he saw Ziva frazzled, and she appeared to be just that right now. He could only imagine what she would be like taking care of an infant . . .

"Tim." He looked up as Ziva said his name. She was still in the kitchen, shaking off her plate before setting it in the dish drainer. "I said I was ready to go."

"Sorry, just thinking," he said, then added, "You been having trouble sleeping a lot?"

She looked up from where she had been searching for her keys on her counter. "No, I have been sleeping fine. I suppose I was nervous about today, so I spent most of the night tossing and turning." She started turning over papers on the counter again, letting out a growl. "Where are those keys!"

She continued to rustle the papers around as McGee walked over to her, saying, "These keys?" She looked up, finding him dangling some keys from his hand. He smirked at her. "Nice keychain." She narrowed her eyes at him and snatched the squeaky pig keychain from his hand, as he continued. "You should have called me."

She scoffed. "So we could both be up all night?"

He gave her a look as she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, grabbing a cardigan from her sofa and waiting for McGee to join her so they could leave. He walked her out, watching as she locked the door and saying, "Maybe you just needed someone to talk to and then you would have been able to sleep. I don't want you feeling like you'd be bothering me by calling. You need to take care of yourself, Ziva."

She turned to him as they reached the elevator. "I appreciate the offer, and I promise if something like this happens in the future, I won't hesitate to call you, but my mind was on other things last night. But thank you. It is nice to know I have someone there whenever I need something."

He smiled at her as the elevator opened and motioned for her to enter, then followed her in . . .

. . . They stepped through the doors to the clinic where Ziva had her appointment 15 minutes later, McGee's gaze drifting around the very beige waiting room to the front desk, where Ziva led him.

"Hi, Ms. David," the receptionist said, giving them a warm smile. "Dr. King is just finishing up with another patient. He'll come get you when he's ready for you."

Ziva nodded, and McGee placed a hand on her back, leading her to the suite of chairs, where a few other people sat, idly flipping through magazines or chatting softly to each other.

"I do hope this does not take long," Ziva said, jiggling her foot anxiously.

McGee saw her nervousness and placed a hand on her knee, stilling her actions. She looked over at him and found him giving her an amused look. "Calm down. Everything will be fine."

"I cannot help it, Tim," she said. The use of his first name had become second nature to Ziva since they'd begun spending more time together, and she wondered why she hadn't always called him by it. She quite liked the way it sounded. "I just want to know already! There is so much I have to do yet, like decorate the nursery and buy baby clothes and . . ."

"Ziva!" McGee said softly, drawing her attention back to him. He was still smiling. "There's plenty of time for all that yet." She opened her mouth to speak and he continued before she could. "Though I know you're just anxious to know. I'm pretty curious myself."

Ziva leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. "This is all becoming so real," she said, resting her hand on her stomach.

"Ziva?" The masculine voice caused Ziva's eyes to pop open and she nearly bolted from her chair, McGee joining her just as quickly, if only to keep up with her before she sprinted to the doctor.

"Doctor King," she said, glancing behind her as McGee put his hand on her back again. "Ah, this is Tim McGee, my co-worker and close friend." She gave him a shy smile at the label before turning back to the doctor. "I wanted him to accompany me today, so if you do not mind . . ."

Dr. King smiled, his blue eyes crinkling in delight. "Not at all. A lot of women like to have someone there to share the moment. And if you're ready . . ." He turned slightly, motioning toward the examination rooms. Ziva froze in place, only moving forward with McGee's gentle urging.

"I suppose I am still nervous," she admitted to McGee as they walked down the hallway, Dr. King a few steps ahead of them.

"Don't be," he said, sounding far more confident than Ziva felt. "Everything will be . . . perfect." Ziva looked up at him and smiled, and he directed her into the room Dr. King had walked into.

"You know the drill, Ziva," Dr. King said, and Ziva sat on the table used for exams, swinging her legs up before lying down, resting her head on the raised end of the table. Dr. King smiled at her and said, "You won't need to get undressed for this, but I will ask you to roll your shirt up so I can apply the gel to your stomach."

Ziva nodded and did as the doctor ordered, and McGee smiled to himself, thinking how he wasn't used to seeing her so docile. He ran a hand over her head and she turned her head to smile at him. Her attention was drawn back to her stomach as the doctor squeezed some clear gel into his hand and rubbed it on Ziva's now exposed stomach. She squirmed at the cold, but relaxed when Dr. King turned on the ultrasound machine, her focus on the screen.

Dr. King ran the transducer over Ziva's stomach and within a few moments, an image came up on the screen. Ziva let out a small gasp, then felt a gentle weight on her hand. She glanced over and saw that McGee had put his hand on hers and was just as focused on the screen as she had been. She smiled softly and turned back to the screen, watching as the image slowly came to life and she saw the outline of her baby.

"You want to know what it is?" Dr. King asked, and Ziva simply nodded, finding she had lost her voice. "Alright, we'll see if the little guy or girl will let us take a look and find out."

Ziva watched the screen anxiously, and when the baby continued to obstruct their view, looked at her stomach and said, "Do I have to order you to turn over, little one?"

McGee snickered beside her and she turned to glare at him. He grinned at her. "Stubborn already, just like mommy." She swatted at him, but turned her attention back to the screen when the doctor cleared his throat.

"I think your request worked," he said, smiling at them. "Congratulations, Ziva. Looks like you've got a healthy baby girl on your hands."

"Watch out, world," McGee said, as Ziva smiled next to him.

Dr. King handed Ziva some paper towels to wipe the gel from her stomach, saying, "I'll give you a few minutes to process everything, then I'll be back with your printouts."

"Thank you, Dr. King," Ziva said, already wiping her stomach. He exited the room and Ziva finished up, pulling her shirt down once she was finished and pushing herself to a sitting position.

"Looks like you're gonna get that daughter after all," McGee said, watching her to see her reaction.

What he didn't expect was for her to throw her arms around him and bury her face in his chest, and when he felt the wetness of her tears soaking his shirt, that's when he really grew concerned.

A/N: Yeah, that was evil. Sorry. :P