Disclaimer: I own nothing so don't sue me

A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait but it is getting towards the end of the semester and that means tests which means I have to study. But I made some free time and finally finished this chapter because this is the big chapter where everything happens. Not just the scene that everyone has been waiting for (hint hint) but also the one that is chock full of anthropology which as I said is my passion.

Do you doubt me? Well I'll prove it to you.

Everybody remember way back in Season 3 in the episode Silver War, the one where Ziva officially joins the team? If you can recall Ducky spoke of a case where a Civil War Colonel's grave had been broken in to in which a corpse was found without it's head, and since so little of it had decomposed they opened a murder investigation only to find out when tested that the corpse was really the Civil War Colonel? That is a real case conducted by Dr. Bill Bass, the father of Modern Forensic Anthropology. The colonel was Colonel William Shy and his embalming had gone so well that Dr. Bass had assumed he was only a few weeks dead when he was only abou 150 years off!!!! You can read it yourself in his book Death's Acre, Dr. Bass is the scientist that started the infamous Body Farm

Needless to say when Ducky told that story I started screaming and squealing!!! My mom and sister laughed once I explained why I was so excited. Yep I'm a crazy anthropology nut that loves everything to do with the subject, I've met Dr. Bass twice!!!!

I wanted to tell you guys that little story and explain why I can tell you that the information regarding bones is correct because I got it straight from the horse's mouth and my own textbooks. Again I tried to dumb things down because I know most readers aren't as well versed in anatomy as I am.

If any of you have actually read all of this thanks, I hope you guys enjoy the story.

Chapter 4: When All is Revealed

The crime scene tape surrounded the Ramirez property, gawkers and nosy neighbors surrounded the perimeter as they tried to catch a glimpse at what was going on inside and in the backyard. Others took a more direct route and began to annoyingly harass the law enforcement officers and NCIS agents.

The real action was taking place in the backyard, Gibbs and his team searched the area for more clues. Tony was sketching the area while McGee was inside questioning Marisol, Gibbs was currently trying to track down Ducky and Palmer and Ziva was tacking pictures of the scene…in theory. Sometimes she would set the lens on the camera and end up staring at the scorched remains of the Lance Corporal she'd been searching for. She was grateful that the other members of her team were busy; they didn't notice her pained expression or the disappointment she felt in herself. She'd failed, it was as simple as that, she'd gotten here too late and now Mary was dead. She would never be able to put on her uniform and serve her country nor would she ever get to hold her baby for the first time.

And her baby would never take a single breath.

That thought was the most crippling of all. No one could ever be as innocent as an unborn child, no one could be a truer victim and yet Corporal Ramirez's cruelty took both mother and child from the world.

Quickly Ziva brushed away some tears that spilled down her cheeks, now was not the time to mourn the dead.

Ducky and Palmer finally arrived, pushing their way through the throng of curious onlookers. "Sorry Agent Gibbs," Palmer said quickly, "Traffic was backed up."

Gibbs didn't respond with more than a nod, Ducky took the initiative, "Well Jethro, where are my services needed?"

"This way Ducky," Gibbs led him towards the fire-pit in the yard where there was still a little smoke rising from the cooling ashes.

As Ducky walked closer to the pit he saw the skull peeking from the smoldering remains of branches, a femur bone lay near it along with the metacarpal bones and phalanges of a hand. "Good Lord," Ducky uttered aloud, "Sometimes I forget how cruel our species can be."

"Yeah," Gibbs agreed, "but something like this always comes along to remind us."

"Well then my dear," Ducky spoke to the bones lying in front of him, "I promise that I'll give you utmost care when you're with me, hopefully that will atone for something."

Gibbs didn't say anything but respectfully remained silent, Ziva silently thanked Ducky for his kindness, if she ever had any thoughts herself about the maliciousness of the human race Ducky and the rest of her companions were always there to prove that there were opposite ends to the spectrum as well.

"Well Mr. Palmer," Ducky spoke to his assistant now, "lets see if we can get her out of there, but be careful the bones are undoubtedly fragile."

Jimmy grinned, "It's a good thing the fire wasn't too hot, otherwise we'd be left with ash."

"An interesting assumption Mr. Palmer but incorrect, even at the most prestigious crematoriums only the soft tissue is reduced to ash, most of the bone remains intact and identifiable."

"So how do they burn them then?" Jimmy asked his curiosity always getting the better of him.
"They crush them Mr. Palmer," Ducky explained and a light came to his eyes, "this reminds me of a case at Scotland yard when I had to identify the remains of a recently cremated…"

"Ducky," Gibbs interrupted quickly, "do we have a time of death."

"Look here Jethro," Ducky pointed at some of the partially excavated remains, "do you think I'll find a liver here?"

Gibbs chuckled, "Can you give me anything then?"

"Well based from the fact that some soft tissue is still clinging to the bones I'd say the body was burning for several hours at least, most likely with the use of an accelerant like gasoline, I'm sure Abby will identify it back at the lab."

Ducky looked over the skull carefully, "I won't be able to positively identify the remains until I compare the dental records but I may be able to give you a general idea of the deceased."

"What do you see Duck?"

"Well you can see here," Ducky pointed to above the eye orbits, "there is not a massive brow ridge, instead there are sharp edges above the eye sockets, that leads me to believe the victim is female. The pelvis," he now pointed to the large hip bones, "confirms this as the innominate bone is wider and the pubic bone longer than that of a male. Female hip bones form an oval shaped opening to allow childbirth, in males it is more heart shaped."

Ducky returned from the skull, "The cranial sutures are clearly visible and not fully fused; this leads me to believe you're looking at a female approximately eighteen to twenty-five years old."

"There is no prognathism evident in her mandible and teeth," Ducky explained, "her skull is orthognathic, flat, this is a clear indicator that she is more than likely Caucasian."

Ziva sighed; she'd heard every word, "That fits Mary's description."

"Yes," Ducky agreed sadly, "but as I said I won't no positively until I compare her dental records." He looked over at the rest of the burning rubble, "I'll need to have all of this brought back to the lab, if this is indeed Lance Corporal Lambert than her child's bones are probably mixed up in there somewhere."

A ragged breath that hinted at tears from Ziva caught Gibbs's attention, he turned to look at her and but her attention was still on the skull, "I'll go take some pictures of the house," Ziva said quickly pretending the scratch an itch but Gibbs saw the tear trickling down her cheek, "I can't take much more of the smell."

Neither Gibbs nor Ducky were fooled by her disguise but they waited until she'd walked out of earshot, "Poor girl," Ducky remarked, "It never gets any easier when one gets emotionally involved."

"She'll be fine Duck," Gibbs assured him, "she just has her own problems to deal with."

"And I'm sure you know what they are," Ducky guessed astutely but the old Gibbs stare told him that he wasn't going to drag the truth out of Gibbs anytime soon.

McGee and Tony came walking towards their boss, "I got the statement from Mrs. Ramirez and reference samples of her DNA and fingerprints," McGee told him, "she says her husband told her was just going to be burning firewood in the backyard."

"She's saying the aroma of burning flesh didn't tip her off?" Tony asked and rolled his eyes, "she knew what was going on."

Gibbs didn't reply to his senior field agent, "Where is she saying her husband is?"

"She says that he told her he was going to the store, she called his cell phone but he's not answering, she doesn't know where he is."

"Convenient," Tony remarked, "he skips town just as we find a burning body in his backyard, and I'm not buying the wife's story. She knows where he is or knows where he might be."

McGee nodded, "So should we bring her in?"

Gibbs didn't reply for a moment, he was staring at Marisol Ramirez. She was calmly looking out the window at the chaos in her backyard, she wasn't in hysterics but she didn't seem to have the mantle of a guilty person either. She seemed afraid, afraid they would uncover something else, something she was hiding.

"No," Gibbs finally spoke, "we'll keep an agent watching her to tell us if she leaves but for now, she's free."

Both Tony and McGee exchanged confused looks, "Why?" Tony finally asks.

"She knows something," Gibbs finally admitted, his eyes still trained on Marisol, "and I want to know what she's hiding. We'll keep tabs on her; if her husband contacts her then we can bring him in."

A few hours later the team was back at the squad room sorting through the evidence they'd uncovered at the crime scene and waiting for Ducky and Abby to give them results. There was a silent acknowledgment that no one was going home, this was sure to be an all nighter.

"What do we know?" Gibbs asked his team aloud, he stood before the plasma looking at the picture of Lance Corporal Lambert and one of Corporal Ramirez side by side.

"Corporal Ramirez is missing," Tony replied, "No hits on the BOLO yet, he's Hispanic so he's probably heading to Mexico."

"It'd be a smart move," McGee agreed, "the Mexican government doesn't like to extradite their citizens."

"They like murderers a lot less," Tony remarked.

"Yeah but either way the death penalty would be off the table."

"No good enough," Ziva spoke finally, "that bastard deserves to die."

Gibbs shot a glance a Ziva, "She's right, we need to find Ramirez now, and he's not going to leave this country on my watch."

"That's easier said than done," Tony shot back, a quick head slap to the back of the head, "but we can do it!" he corrected quickly with a wince, "if I don't get brain damage first," he mumbled to himself.

Gibbs turned to McGee, "McGee, look up Ramirez's friends, family, poker buddies, find out if anyone can get him out the country."

He now focused his attention on Tony, "Check up on his calls, who did he call after he left interrogation?"

Ziva was next but to her surprise her assignment was relatively simple, "You help Tony with phone calls, see if you can match them to any of McGee's people."

With that Gibbs strode forcefully to the elevator leaving Ziva stunned by his choice in assignments. In a moment's notice she jumped up from her desk and rushed towards the closing elevator doors and jumping inside quickly.

"Did you not have an assignment for me or are you still giving me the first degree?" Ziva asked her anger showing.

Gibbs guessed she meant "third degree". He pushed the stop button on the elevator, "You questioning my assignments now?"

"I am a member of your team. I should not be regulated to simply sitting at my desk!" Ziva replied, "I want to help find Ramirez, not just sit idly by."

Gibbs didn't respond for a moment but turned a penetrated stare on to her, "When was the last time you slept? Or ate?"

"I am fine Gibbs," Ziva told him, "I have been on cases like this before. I can handle a little strain."

"Yes you can," Gibbs agreed, "but you have more than yourself to worry about now. Getting involved like this, you need to take a step back and realize that at this moment taking care of yourself should be top priority."

Her anger slowly melted away, he was right, she did need to focus on her own child instead of Mary's. "You are right," Ziva sighed, "I just…I want to find him Gibbs."

"We will," Gibbs told her, "but I don't want you to hurt yourself before than."

Ducky was once more comfortably ensconced in autopsy away from the onlookers and the press, now it was just him and Palmer putting together another jigsaw puzzle of bones, here he could give the deceased the proper attention she deserved in life.

His assistant was looking through the pile of burned wood pieces, trash and of course the remaining bones. The larger more identifiable pieces had already been separated and placed in the correct setting on another table, now he was conducting the more painstaking task of finding the smaller bones. Jimmy held up a small bone he found in the debris, "This looks like one of the vertebrae doctor."

Ducky took a look, "Yes Mr. Palmer, to be more specific one of the cervical vertebrae, since we already have the axis and atlas this must be one of the remaining five." He took the small bone from his assistant and cheerfully placed it near the skull on the table where it joined the other vertebrae found already.

The autopsy doors opened and Agent Gibbs breezed through quickly like he always did, "Got anything for me Duck?"

"As always Jethro you come precisely when I need you," Ducky smiled at his old friend, "and as always right down to business." He meandered over x-ray screen to show x-rays of the victims teeth and those of Lance Corporal Lambert, "Dental records confirm what we already knew, the victim is indeed Lance Corporal Mary Lambert."

Now Ducky walked back over to the skeleton laid out on the table, "Would you care to venture a guess cause of death?"

"Stabbing?" Gibbs guessed from what little evidence they had in the Lance Corporal's case.

"An interesting idea especially since Abby found the victim's blood on two knives from her home, however I could not find any cuts in the bone to suggest stabbing," Ducky explained.

"What killed her then?"

The doctor smiled, "Mr. Palmer found the victim's hyoid bone hidden among the debris, it was cracked which suggests…"

"Strangulation," Gibbs finished smoothly looking over the bone in question.

"Of course given the conditions the bones were found in it is likely that the cracking occurred during transportation or as a result of the fire, either way strangulation is in my opinion the most likely cause of death," Ducky finished his eyes turning to the remains on the table, his face took on a sad serious tone.

"Something troubles me Jethro," the Englishman began gravely, "The man must have known no criminal charges could have been filed, he must have known that she wouldn't have won her case. There was no way to prove his guilt, so why would he kill her? What was the point?"

Gibbs shook his head, "I don't know Duck. I don't see any reason behind it either."

The doctor looked down once more at the skeleton, "Now a young woman is dead along with her child…for what? Control? Does it look like Corporal Ramirez is in control now?" He looked back up at Gibbs, "Find the bastard Jethro, she deserves that much."

Tony begged and pleaded with the vending machine to release his favorite bag of chips, either it was feeling generous or Tony's begging worked, he finally held the coveted bag of chips and was ready to savor his favorite snack at his desk.

His plans were cut short by the sighting of Ziva rushing through the ladies room door as if the devil himself was chasing her. Tony saw that he had two options, he could go to his desk and satisfy his hunger or he could break into the bathroom and satisfy his curiosity on Ziva's behavior.

It took a split second to decide.

Upon entering the restroom it was obvious as to Ziva's reasons for her visit, the sound of gagging is what greeted him upon arrival. Okay this may be grosser than I thought, he remarked to himself before shouting, "Ziva?"

A groan from the fourth stall told him where she was, "Leave me alone Tony," she called out obviously not to happy with his latest stunt, "This is the ladies room, remember?!"

"Hey you come into the men's room all the time, you're not telling me that this is embarrassing?" He remarked; the slight shuffling of feet caused him to realize that there was another person present.

The geeky young woman he vaguely recognized from legal gave him a wide-eyed awkward look. Tony turned on the charm and smiled, "Hi," he told her but his eyes were speaking a different story. They clearly stated one thing; ­please get out of here now!

The woman caught the unmistakable look hastily making a quick exit and finally leaving Tony and Ziva alone. The toilet flushing prompted Tony to turn back to his reasons for busting into the restroom in the first place, Ziva finally came out of the stall looking a little pale and tired, "What do you want Tony?" She asked as she made her way to the sink to rinse out her mouth as well as splash some of the cold water on her face.

"I just want to talk," Tony explained, "I need to know what's going on with you. You barely speak to me anymore, you're getting involved with this case, attacking suspects," he turned her around to look at him so he could see the hurt in her eyes along with another emotion.

Fear.

It wasn't something he was used to seeing in Ziva, she was the one who could take down three suspects at the same time without breaking a sweat; she could dismantle a bomb without shaky fingers and had the guts to go up against any challenge thrown her way. What could she be afraid of? "I just want to know what's wrong, I want to help and I can't do that until you tell me…until you let me in."

Ziva shook her head and stepped away from him, "There isn't anything you can do." She quickly made her way to the exit but Tony wasn't going to let her drop this that easily.

He caught her outside the restroom and pulled her behind the stairs, a small private place they'd had many conversations before. "No Ziva, you're not going to run away from this one," Tony told her severely, "You need to tell me what's wrong." He looked into her eyes for a long moment before finally asking the question he dreaded, "Do you want out?"

She looked at him confused, "Outside?"

He almost rolled his eyes at her English skills, "No not outside, do you want out of this relationship? Do you want to break up?"

Now her eyes widened with surprise which was quickly replaced with pain, "Is that what you want?"

"No," Tony replied quickly but it didn't relieve the anguish in her eyes, "I thought that maybe that's what you wanted."

"It's not," Ziva told him but didn't reveal anything more than that.

Tony sighed a little relieved but returned to prodding for information, "Then what is it?"

She shook her head, "Just let it go Tony."

"No I want 'let it go' I want to know what's going on," He cupped her cheek his hand forcing her to look up at him, "What aren't you telling me?"

Ziva looked into his eyes for a long time, he couldn't tell what she was thinking or why she was hesitating. Her eyes spoke little beyond fear but he silently prayed he had broken through the wall that surrounded her secrets and now she could tell him the one that was currently burdening her the most. He could take what ever it is she threw at him.

Ziva took a deep breath, a calming motion that gave Tony hope that she had finally decided to tell him the truth, finally she would speak whatever it was that was weighing on her so heavily. They could sort out whatever the problem was and they could return to the comfortable nature of their relationship, he was certain of it.

She chose her words carefully, pronouncing each word with a heavy weight as if they had difficulty leaving her lips.

"I am…pregnant."

Of all the sentences he thought Ziva would utter that was not one of them. He swore as soon as the final word registered in his mind the temperature in the room dropped forty degrees. This must be how a heart attack, stroke and an embolism must feel like, he decided but as his thoughts swirled around inside his head the only one that remained crystal clear was the most frightening of all.

Ziva was pregnant.

The whirlwind in his mind and his certainty that his heart would never stop beating again accounted for the stupidity of words that finally left his mouth, "Is it mine?"

As soon as he spoke his brain decided to start working again, he winced once he realized the idiotic question he spoke and he could tell from the annoyance in Ziva's expression that she agreed with him whole heartedly.

"Of course it is yours," she told him angrily, "what do you think I am, some sort of scamp?"

"Tramp," he corrected reflexively and winced again. How could he be handling this so badly? Before she could yell at him he held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, "I'm sorry that was stupid I just… I need to wrap my mind around this." Tony covered his eyes with his hands to block out any and all thoughts beyond Ziva's surprising revelation.

Gratefully Ziva seemed to understand that he needed a moment, she didn't speak but let him try to sort out his own thoughts. Tony finally looked at her again, "You're pregnant," he repeated hoping that speaking aloud would let it register, "Are you sure?"

Ziva nodded, "I took a test before we were called in," she explained, "and I cannot ignore the other symptoms, morning sickness, fatigue…it is the only rational explanation."

Tony silently agreed and wondered how the hell he'd missed all of this. It explained her marathon bathroom time earlier, her reaction to the hamburger he'd eaten earlier as well as her anger towards Corporal Ramirez. Most of all it explained why she was taking Lance Corporal Lambert's case to heart, she identified with Lambert and her child because she was pregnant herself. Ziva's wistful looks in the nursery, her tears at the crime scene and her pain when the body was found, it all made since now.

Ziva continued to explain now that she'd finally told him the truth, "I know this is unexpected and the timing is…bad, but I really want this baby. I want to be a mother and I…I do not want to do this alone." She waited for a reaction from him but he was still stunned speechless and having trouble putting together a coherent sentence.

"Please say something," she pleaded with hurt eyes.

Tony wished he could but every thought that came to his mind; every word he wanted to speak seemed more idiotic than the next.

A baby? He was going to be a father? The idea seemed foreign to him, a nice picture he'd had tucked away in the back of his mind. A far off picture that he wasn't ready for, it wasn't something he thought about a lot. Children weren't something he and Ziva had ever talked about, maybe later when more time had passed.

But now? He couldn't be ready, he wasn't ready. How could he be when something like this just surprises you? He could barely take care of himself, how was he expected to be a father?

But Ziva was still standing there, waiting for him to speak. She needed his reassurance, she needed him to hold her close and help her sort through this crazy mess because as terrifying this was to him it had to be worse for her. He wanted to help her but he just couldn't seem to will his mouth to speak, his body to move and comfort her.

Instead he was still frozen, the living statue of Tony DiNozzo.

It was McGee who was able to break through the fog in Tony's mind. The younger agent was coming from the evidence garage when he saw his friends by the stairs, seemingly in a deep conversation. "Hey guys," he said cheerfully, "what's going on?"

Ziva never looked at McGee, her eyes remained on Tony only now a cold resignation seemed to be in place, "Nothing important McGee," she told him with her eyes trained on Tony, "I should get back to work."

Tony was left to stare at her retreating figure, now he could only wonder if an opportunity had been lost. Had he caused irrevocable damage or could he fix this?

He didn't know, anger surged at McGee for interrupting what was certainly the most important, albeit frightening, moment of his life. Tony turned a scathing glare at McGee, his hands raised ready to head slap or maybe even punch the eager MIT graduate.

Luckily for McGee Tony's conscience kicked in, McGee was blameless and clueless. He had no idea what was going on between Tony and Ziva, he didn't know the importance of the conversation he'd interrupted or what a royal ass Tony had made of himself. Tony wasn't realy angry at McGee, he was angry at himself and the other agent shouldn't suffer from that.

Instead Tony's hands curled into fist and he resisted the urge to hurt McGee though he couldn't completely repress his anger so he spoke through gritted teeth, "Great timing there Probie."

Now it was McGee's turn to watch his friend walk away, he hadn't been oblivious to Tony's emotions when the senior agent had spoken to him, he just didn't know the cause of it. He was left to wonder aloud, "What did I do?"

Abby strolled through the doors to autopsy a one hundred mega watt smile on her face, "Hey Duckman, got anything for me to compare to Corporal Lambert's DNA?" In most agencies dental records would have sufficed for identification but since Vincent Hanlan's teeth had shown up in a body that wasn't his, she and Ducky had always run DNA as well as dental records.

"Well hello Abby," Ducky greeted the forensic scientist, "I'll get you your sample in just a bit." He was examining the skeleton for a bit of charred flesh to place in her waiting petri dish.

Abby's attention turned to a small pile of tiny burned bones on a separate table, "Are those the remains of Lance Corporal Lambert's baby?" She asked her voice taking on a sad tone; it was never easy to deal with dead children.

"Perhaps," Ducky told her, "but it seems that most of those are more than likely the Lance Corporal's tarsal or carpal phalanges or other small bones." Ducky shook his head, "I'm having a devil of a time finding the child's bones."

Abby's brow furrowed, "Why?"

"Most babies are composed of mostly cartilage which burns with the rest of the body, but even unborn children do have some bones that should survive. Very small of course, the inomniate bones of the hip would be small than Lima beans. But I can't even find the skull!"

The Goth scientist was still listening to Ducky but her thoughts were taking a different twist, an idea was forming in her mind. If she was right than Gibbs would probably want to kill her!

"I suppose it is possible the remains are still in the pile of debris over there, of course since the child's bones are so fragile they could have been destroyed in transport…"

"I have to go Ducky," she said quickly rushing out the door before Ducky could finish his sentence. She'd barely heard the rest of his ramblings; she had to get back to her lab now!

It was the hardest part of any case, telling the victim's family that their loved one would never be coming home. Gibbs hated having to be the bearer of such bad news but as team leader it was a job that fell on his shoulders.

He'd been prepared to call Susan Lambert into headquarters to explain but her desperation for news on her daughter's case led to her showing up at the agency before he had a chance to call her himself.

Being of gentle nature he led her into a private room, one like the one Ziva had interviewed her in. Her eyes were large with lack of sleep and fear, he guess that a part of her already knew what was coming.

"Mrs. Lambert," he began but her own intuitiveness interrupted.

"You found my daughter," she stated knowingly.

Gibbs nodded, "Yes."

"Where is she?" Susan asked frantically, her thoughts turning towards the worse but her heart begged for hope. "Is she here? Is she alright…please don't tell me that she's…please…"

The agent's blue eyes were sad, with a slight shake of his head slowly began to dispel the hope in her heart, "I'm so sorry Mrs. Lambert."

That sentence was all it took; it was all she needed to hear to let the rush of sobs control her. That simple sentence said everything.

Her daughter was dead.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Tony was desperate to find a way to talk to Ziva; unfortunately she was pretty dead set against leaving her desk or the safety of the squad room. He couldn't blame her, standing there in shocked silence didn't look well on his qualities of fatherhood; it showed that he hadn't known what to do.

He still didn't know what to do, he just hoped that maybe working things out with Ziva would give him a good idea, then the terrified feeling would go away. Tony kept peeking up at Ziva from his desk, she was busy on her computer, she might not have noticed his attempts to get her attention…or she was pretending not to.

Thank god for Instant Messaging. With a few clicks of the keys a message box popped up on Ziva's screen with Tony's familiar screen name attached.

We need to talk.

She pursed her lips and responded.

Not right now.

Tony wasn't going to take no for an answer, not without a real reason beyond her own misguided ideas.

When?

Ziva sighed, she wasn't a fool. Tony's reaction to her pregnancy had not been unexpected, but it didn't look good on his thoughts of fatherhood. She could tell that the thought frightened him, what she didn't know is if it frightened him to the point of running away. She hoped not…but she couldn't help but think that maybe her own fears on Tony were correct. Could she be faced with raising their child alone?

We can't deal with this right now. You need to decide if you are ready to deal with this at all.

Tony stared at the words on his screen. She didn't think he was ready; he couldn't blame her for her thoughts since he wasn't at all sure if he was ready either. At any rate her words clearly stated that she didn't want to discuss the status of their relationship over the computer. He snuck another peek at her over the desk.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Where's Gibbs?!" Abby shouted from across the room, running towards the team leader's empty desk.

"He's not here Abby," McGee replied taken aback by her frazzled state.

"I can see he's not here McGee," she snapped, "where is he?!"

"He was speaking to Mary's mother," Ziva told Abby standing up from her desk, "Is something wrong?"

"I messed up big time!" Abby explained, "I mean really bad, Gibbs is probably going to head slap me for this one, I can't believe I missed this!"

"What Abby?!" Tony asked now all three agents surrounded the scientist.

"Not until I tell Gibbs."

"Tell me what?" Gibbs asked as he rounded the bulk head, his appearance showed that he was a little ragged from talking with the sobbing mother of the victim.

"Gibbs, I really screwed up," Abby repeated, "In my defense it didn't seem like I needed to check, after all what evidence suggested it. It wasn't until Ducky mentioned that he was having a hard time finding the baby's bones that it even occurred to me."

"What?" Gibbs asked now getting a little frustrated.

"The blood on the knife," Abby explained quickly, "the blood that belongs to the baby, well sort of."

"Just tell me Abby."

"Okay, I looked deeper at the blood on the knife, more specifically the protein that made it," she told them her words leaving her mouth a mile a minute, "the DNA on the knife isn't from the baby, it's from the placenta."

"What are you saying Abby?" Gibbs asked, all of eyes were on the forensic scientist trying to understand what she was frantically explaining.

"It's the baby Gibbs," Abby finished, "the baby could still be alive."

*foof*

A/N: HAHAHAHA I love ending things on cliff hangers. Remember I did say that I would diverge away from the real case this is based off of, from now on even you guys well versed in Maria Lauterbach's case need to expect the unexpected. LOL, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Head's up, the next chaper is the last one so you guys will find out soon if they'll find Ramirez in time, where the baby is and of course what's going to happen between Tony and Ziva.