Thanks for the reviews and I am sorry this took so long. My muse is getting close to hitting rock bottom again so I decided to write and post. Your reviews always seem to help! That would also be why this chapter is a little shorter then normal. I decided to go ahead and update so I will have more inspiration for the next chapter, which by the way I am very excited about…

That's all you get for now, but please review!

Disclaimer: No its not mine

"Tony," Ziva whispered, her hand light playing with his chest hair. "I have to ask you something."

"Hm," he mumbled with his eyes still sighed and sat up a little.

"This is serious."Her tone seemed to wake him.

"Okay, you have my undying attention."

Ziva rolled her eyes but when she looked at him her face was mask of confusion and worry. "She is our daughter. Earlier, when you said you did not want to take my daughter away, that was not right. She is our daughter, so I decided that, regardless of what my father does, I'm getting citizenship for the two of us. I'm going to stay in America and if Eli tries to change that, I will hire a lawyer to ensure he doesn't touch her." She leaned over and kissed his cheek before turning and going back to sleep.

Tony lay there, watching as she slept. He tried not to let his thoughts go to those three words he had whispered to her. It was stupid and a spur of the moment decision, but yet he couldn't decide if he regretted telling her. It was easier to play pretend, but after a while, pretending gets old. He reached a hand out and ran a finger lightly over her cheek. He was sure he loved her, but he wasn't sure where she stood in all this. He kissed her forehead and pulled back the covers. He was sure not to make a sound as his feet hit the wooden floor and made his way down to Adara's room. He needed to think.

/

"Boss?" Tony called, looking around the bullpen."What!" Tony jumped at the sound of a voice behind him."I need to talk to you about something," Tony mumbled, dreading the conversation that was inevitable.

Gibbs looked up from sanding something that Tony couldn't decipher. "You slept with Ziva. Again."

Tony gapped, there was no way he could of known that. "How did you figure it out?" Gibbs just smirked. "Oh yeah, I forgot you know everything."

This time, however, Gibbs face held no emotion that Tony could read. "You two better of thought damn hard about this-"

Tony cut him off not wanting to hear his thoughts at the moment. "If this is about rule twelve, then the speech is a little late."

"It's not." Gibbs shook his head. "There's a child involved now."

Tony nodded. "I know. That's what I came here to talk to you about. Ziva and I talked and decided we're going to fight for custody, if it comes to that. Apparently, Eli's mentioned fighting for sole custody and I can't let that happen."

Gibbs had to hide his smile forming. He understood what it was like to lose a child. And if anyone would have given him a choice, he would of fought for her. "So I came to the conclusion that the only way to ensure we get custody is to marry Ziva."

Gibbs took note on how as he said the words he avoided eye contact. "And this involves me how?"

"Well, ha, you see, I know she thinks of you as more than just a boss. She looks up to you as if you are her father and I also know you have been there for the two of us more times then we can count, so I wanted to ask you," he took a deep breath trying to find the right words, "for her hand in marriage."

He braced himself for yelling, but was startled when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. "No."

Tony looked up, surprised. "No?"

"Yes, no. I don't think for one moment that you don't respect her or that baby, but I need to know you are marrying her for the right reasons. Not because you want custody, but because you love her and want her in your life. You need to make sure you love her and want her in your life first. You can't just jump into this head-first," Gibbs said and, though Tony didn't completely agree with him, he had a point.

"But, boss, that's the thing: I love her. I know I should have proposed earlier, but I just couldn't. That might sound crazy, but it's the truth."

Gibbs pulled his stool closer to the younger agent. "When I started dated Shannon, I never really took it seriously. I was young, she was young, and we didn't know what we wanted. It took me at least three tries to finally ask her and when I did she said no."

"How reassuring," Tony mumbled.

Gibbs laughed. "My point is, she said she didn't know what she wanted. If I had talked to her first about marriage, I would have known what she wanted."

"So what happened?" Tony asked intrigued but how much information his boss was offering.

"We waited a couple more months and I asked her again." He had a smile on his face, one Tony had never seen before.

"And she said yes." Gibbs nodded. "So your point to this story is…"

"I believe the two of you are ready, but do you believe the two of you are ready?" Tony was silent as he pondered on that the man said.

"But I love her," Tony fought immensely against his wondering thoughts.

"I never said you didn't, but sometimes saying you love someone doesn't mean you should get married. Take my advice and talk to her."

The pair sat in silence until Tony brought up another subject. "When we do this, I'm going to need to know we have a hundred percent protection. We don't need Eli or Joshua getting within a hundred mile radius of us."

"You have my word. We'll have your backs." Tony smiled with gratitude and made his way up the steps.

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