A/N: Thank you so much to the folks on my Facebook page who helped me think of other things to include here! Sometimes a story is so big you forget about the obvious, and that's what was happening to me. Now I have lots of opportunities for further things to include. And you guys can help, too! Feel free to 'like' my page and offer more suggestions! Can't promise I'll use them all, but I'm open to suggestions. :)

Chapter 13

Ziva awakens suddenly. She balls her hands into fists, rubbing them over her eyes, and looks over her shoulder. Tim is sleeping solidly next to her, his arm flopped over her abdomen. She smiles down at him and pushes his arm away, climbing out of bed and making her way to the small room next to her bedroom. She is quiet in pushing the door open, not wanting to frighten . . .

Her child. The baby squirming and threatening to let out a wail that would wake up everyone in the building. She reaches down, whispering soft words to calm, and brings the baby girl up to her shoulder, patting her softly on the back.

She hums a lullaby to soothe the child's worry and when she feels her relax into the curve of her collarbone, smiles to herself. "Sleep, tateleh. I love you." She pulls the child back to look her in the face and the face that stares back at her makes her eyes grow wide.

"I love you, too, Ziva," the baby says, but it is not a child's face nor a child's voice. The face and voice belong to the man she left sleeping in her bed and Ziva quickly puts the child back before running into her bedroom.

And he's gone. Her sheets are rumpled and she sinks down onto the edge of the mattress, not knowing if he was ever there in the first place . . .

But his voice, his voice follows her into her bedroom and she has to cover her ears at the sound of it, not believing any of it at all.

"Ziva . . . Ziva . . . Ziva . . ."

She felt someone shaking her, a presence over her shoulder, and opened her eyes. She found that she was still in her bedroom and closed her eyes again, knowing this was real and she couldn't escape . . .

"Ziva, look at me." McGee's voice was soft as he hovered over her, his palm resting on her shoulder. "It was just a dream."

His last statement seemed to make an impact on her as she chanced rolling over, only opening her eyes once she was facing him. Once she took him in, assured that it wasn't his face and voice on the body of an infant, she let out a relieved breath.

McGee smiled down at her. "Weird one?"

She nodded, unable to express the image in words right at the moment. "Yes, quite. You . . ." She shook her head. "It is not important." She gave him a tense smile, then glanced down at herself and nearly yelped at her state of undress, tugging the sheets from under herself to cover her mostly exposed chest.

McGee laughed at her actions. "Relax, Ziva, I wasn't looking." She shot him a look that said she didn't believe him and he sighed. "Okay, so I looked. But I wasn't being . . . Tony about it or anything." Ziva huffed and pulled the sheet tighter around herself and McGee shook his head. "You're right. It's not appropriate. We're . . . friends," he struggled to get the word out, as it was not what was in his heart at all, "and . . . yeah. I'm sorry." He looked down at his watch. "I should get going, anyway, to get ready for work, so you can get dressed in peace." He pushed himself off the bed and started toward the door, as Ziva watched him leave, words bubbling up in her throat.

"Wait, Tim," she finally said before he could get too far, and he turned back, his eyes wide. She gave him a shy smile. "Thank you . . . for last night. It really did help. And . . . you should know you are welcome here anytime. Day or night."

He nodded at her words. "I will definitely keep that in mind. But for now, I have to get going, otherwise Gibbs is going to have both our hides."

Ziva's smile widened. "I will see you at work, Tim."

He waved and left the bedroom for real that time, and Ziva waited until she heard her front door shut behind him before allowing the bed sheet to fall to her lap. She moved her hands to her stomach, caressing it, and thought how ironic it was that her pregnancy from someone she'd likely never see again had made her realize the person she most likely would want to have children with in the future was right in front of her this whole time.

She knew she had to get ready for work, but she blamed her actions on her hormones as she laid down again, not even bothering to brush away the tears that ran down her face.

McGee frowned as he arrived at work and Ziva wasn't sitting at her desk, smirking at how she had arrived before him. Even though she was pregnant, she still didn't waste any time in getting to work in the morning, and usually arrived before him. He figured today would be no different, especially since he had to drive back to his apartment before coming to NCIS.

He picked up his desk phone, intending on calling her, but before he could press any numbers, Gibbs breezed in, glancing at Ziva's desk before turning to McGee. "You see Ziva this morning?"

"Uh, I thought she'd be here already, Boss," McGee said, putting the phone receiver back in its cradle. "When I left this morning . . ." He trailed off as Gibbs turned to look at him, a questioning look on his face. He sighed. "It's not what you think, Boss."

"Uh huh," Gibbs said, then nodded toward the elevator. "Come on, Tim."

McGee could tell from Gibbs' use of his first name that the conversation they were about to have was serious and he found himself wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants before standing and following Gibbs to the elevator.

Once inside, Gibbs waited a few minutes before hitting the switch that would shut down the car. He waited another few beats before he turned to McGee and studied him, then finally said, "What's going on with you and Ziva?"

"Nothing, Boss," McGee said honestly. "We were just hanging out last night and I fell asleep at her apartment . . ."

Gibbs shook his head, waving away McGee's comment. "That's not what I meant, McGee." He paused, then said, "You have feelings for her, don't you?"

McGee just stared at Gibbs for a minute before letting out a sigh, unable to hold it in any longer. "I'm sor- . . ." he started, but cut himself off as he remembered the older man's rule about apologizing. "I know this makes this complicated, but . . ." Gibbs reached over and gave him a head slap, interrupting him. McGee just nodded. "Yeah, I probably deserved that."

"Sure did, Tim, and not for the reason you think," Gibbs said, and McGee looked up at him, confused. Gibbs took the opportunity to get in his face as he said his next words. "She needs you, Tim. She'll never admit it, not until she's absolutely sure she can trust you with her heart, but she needs you. The only way you can screw things up now is if you abandon her."

"I'm not leaving, Boss," McGee said quickly, his expression dead serious. "Ever, if I have anything to say about it."

His vehemence surprised Gibbs, as he was used to McGee being much more mild-mannered, and he wasn't able to keep the surprise from his face as he repeated, "Ever?"

McGee's face heated up under his boss' scrutiny, but he nodded. "Even if it's just as a friend, I want Ziva to know she can trust me and come to me whenever she needs something."

Gibbs remained silent, considering the younger man's words, then finally nodded. "You two have a lot to talk about."

McGee sighed. "I know, Boss." He glanced up at Gibbs. "You wanna do it for me?"

Gibbs couldn't help but laugh at his words, and turned to flip the emergency switch back on, lighting up the elevator again. "Not in a million years, McGee."

When the two men exited the elevator, they were both relieved to see Ziva sitting at her desk, arranging everything into tidy piles, though one of the men appeared a bit more relieved than the other.

McGee hurried over to Ziva's desk, saying, "Are you okay? Why did it take you so long to get here? When I got here and you weren't here yet, I got worried."

Ziva looked up at him, amused. "I am fine, Tim. I fell asleep again for a few minutes after you left and it took me longer than expected to get ready." She frowned as she shifted in her seat. "They really need to design these maternity pants differently, because they are just atrocious."

McGee listened to her words carefully, trying to determine if she was lying to him. "So everything's okay?"

She reached a hand out and placed it on one of his. "If something were wrong, you would be the first to know. So stop worrying." She smiled to show him he could – and should – lighten up.

"Okay, just making sure," he said. He turned to head back to his desk, but then thought better of it and turned back to her. "Ziva, you should know that I'm really not going anywhere."

Ziva's eyes narrowed as she contemplated his words. "I know that, Tim. You don't have to tell me."

He nodded. "Just making sure you knew," he said, suddenly losing his nerve, how he was going to tell her everything he was feeling. But maybe it was for the best. She was under enough stress right now – not like it would magically go away once she had the baby; it was probably going to get worse, really – and he should wait.

He realized he was still standing at Ziva's desk, lost in his thoughts, so he forced himself back to reality, leaning down and brushing a soft kiss over her cheek at the worried look on her face. "I'm glad you're okay," he said before he stood up, then headed for his desk before Ziva could say anything, leaving her looking slightly dazed.

Gibbs watched the exchange silently from his desk, wondering how long it would take before they got their acts together and allowed themselves to be truly happy. He couldn't say he was thrilled about one of his rules being broken, but he knew his team, and they wouldn't risk it unless they were sure . . . or if it couldn't be helped.

He had a feeling both were the case here.

McGee looked up from his desk a few hours later at hearing a slight gasp come from Ziva's direction. He thought maybe she was in pain again, but then saw the wide smile and glow to her face as she stared at something on her computer monitor. Gibbs had gone out for a coffee run and Tony was in the bathroom, so he stood up and made his way over to her desk, sliding in behind her.

"Whatcha looking at?" he asked, and Ziva glanced at him for only a moment before pointing at the screen.

"I just found the perfect crib for the baby," she said, still gazing in admiration at it. She then sighed. "I just wish it were not so expensive." She clicked the back button, and McGee frowned.

"Why'd you do that?" he said, and placed his hand over hers on the mouse, clicking back to the page with the crib's information.

Ziva looked down at his hand on hers, which he didn't move even after he'd accomplished his goal of going back to the page she had discounted, and tried to resist the temptation to lace her fingers through his, instead saying, "I cannot afford to buy something that costs so much now. I am going to be a single mother. I cannot be frivolous with my money." She continued to stare longingly at the webpage.

"So I'll help you," McGee said, like it were no big deal at all.

Ziva shook her head. "I cannot ask you for money . . ."

He turned her chair so she was facing him and crouched down so they were at eye level with each other. "You're not asking, I'm offering. I mean, don't go expecting me to buy everything, but . . ."

He was cut off by Ziva throwing her arms around him in an uncharacteristic display of affection, and he returned the hug, enjoying the feeling of her in his arms. After a few moments, she pulled back reluctantly and smiled, saying, "I do not deserve you. Not at all."

He returned the smile, saying, "Nonsense. You're worth everything I can give you and then some." He paused. "Because, you know, I'm not a multi-millionaire or anything . . ."

Ziva laughed and swatted at him, and right then, Tony came back from the restroom. "Uh-oh, someone's in trouble," he commented upon seeing Ziva's actions.

"Far from it, Tony," Ziva insisted, turning and meeting Tony's eyes. "Tim has offered to buy me the most wonderful crib, just what I was looking for."

McGee looked at the price listed on the website again and laughed slightly. "Well, how about we split the cost? It is a bit steep . . ." Ziva turned and gave him a slight pout and he sighed. "Okay, fine. I guess you've got enough things to worry about buying."

Ziva beamed and pressed a loud kiss to his cheek, as Tony shook his head to himself, muttering, "Oh, yeah, definitely in trouble."

A/N: 'Tateleh' means 'little darling' in Hebrew. Aww.