"Maybe that ex-Mossad assassin did not want to pass their firearm profiency exam."...Ziva stated, she promptly turned and moved back to the stairs.

"Even Special Agent Lee passed her exam and she couldn't hit me from where you're standing."...Gibbs retorted.

Ziva stopped after descending the first set of steps...."My place is home."

"And why is that?"

Ziva slowly started to turn..."Because it is first normal, real thing in my life. Getting married and becoming a mother is the best thing that ever happened to me. I do not have to be who my father trained me to be, I can be the person I want to be."...Ziva smiled and softly laughed..."I love to bake, Gibbs."

Gibbs took a step towards her..."You failed on purpose?"

"Yes."

"Why not just tell Tony you didn't want to come back?"

"Because he would not come without me."

"I don't understand, w-why."

Ziva moved back up the stairs..."I am pregnant and he..."

"He what?"

"Does not know, Gibbs."

"Why not? When you were pregnant, that's the happiest I've ever seen him."

Ziva sighed..."I cannot."

"Ziva, you're not making any sense."

"Since I had Anthony, I have gotten pregnant six times, five ending with miscarriages and, and I feel broken, that I cannot do this for him and he, he does not take it well, I cannot see him like that again, I will not hurt him, the pain, I cannot, I will not."...Ziva covered her face, sobbing into her hands.

"Aww, Ziva."...Gibbs opened his arms, but Ziva stepped back and headed towards the elevator, she pressed the button and entered the elevator.

Gibbs stepped towards the elevator, but Ziva raised out her hand to him, pleading for him to stop..."Please."...The elevator doors closed.

Ziva wiped under her eyes, trying to compose herself, the elevator dinged, she smiled as the doors opened. She walked out of the elevator and headed into Abby's lab.

Abby was holding Junior as she sat at her desk, they were watching cartoons on her computer monitor. He was holding a large cookie in his hand, crumbs decorated the front of his shirt.

Ziva knelt next to them, caressing the back of his head..."Good, yes?"...He smiled. She licked her fingers and rubbed softly on his cheek, cleaning off some chocolate..."All clean."...She smiled back..."Come on, lets go home."

"Home?"...Abby asked..."It's only lunch."

"I am not feeling well, Abby."...Ziva replied, taking him. She stood up, holding him firmly to her left hip, his right hand clung onto the back of her shirt, while his left grasped the rest of his cookie tightly.

"Do you want me to take you home?"...Abby rose from her chair..."Because I can."

"No, thank you."...Ziva smiled and made her way to and through the entrance of Abby's lab and onto the elevator.

"Mommy."

Ziva knelt down, setting him in front of her..."Yes, Honey?"

He wrapped his arms around Ziva's neck, hugging her..."I love you, Mommy."

Ziva closed her eyes and started to cry again..."I love you, too."

The elevator doors opened, he let go, backing up, he held out his cookie to her..."Want some cookie?"

Ziva laughed through the sniffles, she smiled at him..."Someone is getting ice cream on the way home."

"Yay!"

-------------------

"68 percent of all driver have at least one accident in their lifetime, of those 68 percent, 9 percent of them die, I do not want to be a statistic, Sir."...Keating stated, opened the backdoor of the NCIS truck.

"You're making that up."...Tony replied.

"I read it on wikipedia."

"Aww, of course, if you read it on the internet, it must be true."

"It is a wonderful source of many, many wonderous things, Sir."

"I'll have to remember that the next time I'm online looking up foods that start with Q."

"Sir?"

"What floor, Keating?"

"Room 823."

"Grab the bags, meet me up there."...Tony said, moving towards the hotel entrance.

"Anthony."...Ducky called out, making Tony turn, seeing Ducky and Constance standing on the other side of the truck.

Tony walked over..."Ducky."...He looked at Constance and tugged at the bill of her NCIS cap..."You behaving for the good doctor?"

"Miss DiNozzo is absolutely splendid and she actually knows her way around, something Mr. Palmer never fully learned."...Ducky smirked.

"I always wondered why you never got a GPS for the truck."

Ducky chuckled..."Maybe I enjoy getting lost."...He playfully shrugged..."Have you seen the body?"

"Nope, just got here...we're going to room 823."

"Shall we?"...Ducky declared, he looked at Constance..."My bag?"

"Got it, Doctor."...Constance said with confidence, holding up his bag.

------------------

Tony, Ducky and Constance stepped off the elevator onto the eighth floor, a thin, tall man in a suit and trench coat came walking towards them..."DiNozzo, NCIS."...Tony showed his badge and identification to the man.

"Detective Kip, Metro PD."...He held out his hand, Tony shook it, they walked down the hallway to a man in uniform..."The victim is a Marine Sgt. Patrick Gregson, 27, Officer Johnson here was first on the scene."

Tony nodded to the man, stepping into the room..."I was wondering where the hell you were."...McGee was standing over a large white male in fatigues taking photos, the handle of a k-bar was sticking out of the man's chest, there was blood all over the bed and blood spray along the headboard and wall behind him..."It's hot as hell in here."

"The shower was on when I arrived, Sir, I turned it off, during my sweep of the room."...Officer Johnson informed them.

"McGee."...Tony gestured towards the door.

"Copper?"...Constance asked, taking a large whiff.

"It's the iron in the blood, my dear...it gives off a strong copper smell."...Ducky stated, he moved over next to the body..."Determining TOD, what's the first thing we do?"

"If we can, we use a liver probe."...Constance said, setting Ducky's bag next to him.

"Correct."...Ducky said, he knelt down, opening his bag, pulling a liver probe from it, he inserted into the man's stomach..."Care to guess on COD?"

Constance moved to the opposite side of Ducky, looking at the knife wound..."Looks like the knife pierced his heart, death by Exsanguination."

Ducky smiled..."Correct, again."...He pulled the probe out..."98.5."...He looked at Constance.

"That's around normal, so within the hour?"...Constance said.

"Is that a guess?"...Ducky asked.

"Am I right?"

"Maybe."

"Well, the core temperature of a human remains relatively static for the first 1-2 hours after death and then there's the whole, the body loses 1.5 degrees every hour scale, which a lot of people use."

"You're been reading your medical books, I see."...Ducky smiled..."What other way can we determine time of death."

"Well..."

"She knows her dead people."...Tony smiled, proud as could be as he stepped out into the hall..."Tell me about victim, McGee."

McGee's head was turned, looking off to the side, he didn't respond.

"McGee?"...Tony reached over, slapping McGee on the back of the head.

McGee swung his head towards Tony..."What?"

"You okay, McGee? You seem distant."

McGee quickly shook his head..."I'm fine, Boss."

"Heh. Boss. God, I love that, but anyway...you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, about the victim."

"Well, now that you mention it...I got this deal today, but I don't know if I'll get it, because they want me to get Gibbs on board and there's no way in hell he's gonna do that, right?"

"What the hell are you talking about, McGee?"

"They want to make my books into movies."

"You're kidding, right? Deep Six?"...Tony laughed.

"Ten million bucks says I'm not and another million to Gibbs if he comes on board as special advisor."

Tony stopped laughing..."Did you say ten million dollars?"

"Never mind, waste of time, Gibbs won't do it."...McGee looks at his iPhone..."Sergeant Patrick Jonathon Gregson, he's married, four years to a Sarah Belle Gregson, they have a 10-month-old daughter, Clara Belle Gregson, stationed at Quantico, he works for Resource Management at Marine Corps Systems Command, glorified desk job."

"Ten? As in: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine...ten? Ten million dollars?"

"Yeah."

"That's a lot of zeros, Mc..."

Constance walked out of the room, holding out a evidence bag to her father..."Here."

Tony took the bagged pacifer from her..."Where did you find it?"

"Next to the bed."

Tony moved back into the room and into the bathroom, he wiped persperation from his brow..."Why run the hot water? Steam. The baby has the croup."

"What?"...McGee asked, standing in the doorway to the bathroom.

"McGee, put out an amber alert on the little girl."

"What little girl?"

"There was a baby in this room, McGee."

"The victim's daughter?"

"Start searching door-to-door, floor-by-floor and where the hell is Keating?!"

"Dad!"...Constance yelled..."Over here!"

Tony and McGee ran out the door, seeing her at the end of the hallway, the stairwell door was slightly opened. A faint crying sound escaped from the stairs and became louder the closer they got to it.

Tony drew his weapon, gesturing his daughter to stand back as he entered the stairwell. At the bottom of the first set of stairs, a woman rocked her baby, trying to calm it..."Federal agents."...Tony, followed closely by McGee carefully moved down the stairs.

The front of the woman's blouse and jeans were covered in blood, the baby's blanket was littered with bloody hand prints..."Sarah Gregson?"...Tony holstered his weapon.

The woman looked up, her cheeks red and pruny from crying.

"It's okay."...Tony reached out towards her, she leaned away, her hands were shaking, she had bruises up and down her arms..."I'm not going to hurt you."

"Dad?"...Constance said. Tony looked up at his daughter as she started to descend the stairs. She stopped next to the woman, squatting down..."Hey."

The woman turned to Constance.

"We're the good guys."...Constance pointed to her hat..."Is your baby, okay? Can I help you?"

"H-h-he th-threw her."

"What?"...Constance leaned into the woman.

"He-he threw her against the wall."

Constance looked up at her dad, then back at the woman..."Oh my god."

Tony squatted in front of her..."Did you stab him?"

"Do you blame her?!"...Constance shouted.

Tony held out his hand to Constance..."Did you stab him?"

The woman nodded vigorously, her chin started to quiver and shake..."Okay, okay."...Tony held out his hands, showing he didn't have anything in them..."We're not gonna hurt you, no one is, we have a doctor here, he can examine your baby, make sure she's okay, okay? She had the croup?"

"I-I ran out of medicine."...She uttered through her tears.

"Can my daughter take the baby to him? Her name is Constance. My name is Tony, that's Tim."...Tony pointed at McGee..."Please."

The woman looked down at her crying baby..."Y-you'll take c-care of her?"

Constance held out her hands, placing them under the baby..."Like she was my own."

The woman placed the baby in Constance arms and slowly pulled away.

"Thank you, Sarah."...Tony took her hands in his, holding them as Constance quickly made her way up the stairs back to Ducky.

-------------------

Tony and Constance were standing next to an ambulance, two paramedics lifted Sarah Gregson into the back of it.

"What's going to happen to her, Dad?"

"She'll probably be charged with manslaughter, her lawyer will plead self-defense."

"Thank God the baby is okay, just bruised up a little...will she get her baby back?"

"Hopefully, but until then, her mother will be taking care of her."

Constance buries her face into her father's chest, hugging him.

Tony tilted his head down, kissing the top of her head..."You did a great job today, babygirl, I don't think we could've done it without you."

"I don't know if I can do this, I was expecting dead bodies, now all this, I mean, what kind of person throws their own baby..."

"Shh. Don't think about it."

"How can I not think about it?!"

"Constance, it's not for everyone, if you don't think you can do it, it's okay. Do what you love, I'm proud of you, no matter what."

---------------------

Water rushed over Ziva's head as she sat in the shower, her knees to her chest, her head down.

Tony stepped into the shower, completely dressed, he slid down the wall, sitting next to her..."Helluva day, huh?"...Tony placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling her over, caressing her hair as she laid her head on his shoulder..."Here."

Ziva lifted her head, looking at Tony, he was holding a bag of gummi bears.

"Tony?"

"You're pregnant, you should start acting like it."...He smiled.

"Gibbs told you?"

"Naw, I've known for awhile, you're my wife, I kinda know ya, inside and out."...He turned his head, kissing her on the forehead.

"Tony..."

They both looked at one around..."Yeah?"

She gently kisses him on the lips..."What movie is this from?"...She smirked.

"Heh."