Still not mine, but I own Ari (the kid), the baby twins, and the people treating Ziva.

And no, Ari is not Tony's kid. I dislike obsessive Tivafics.

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"She had just turned eighteen, and was supposed to be going into the IDF within a couple of months. When she asked me to postpone her enlistment, I… I thought she wanted more time at home to… recover, I guess. It was only a couple of months after Tali died. I let her stay at home, but then when Ari left to back to medical school…"

"You realized that she'd wanted to stay with Ari? Which makes sense, considering he was the only sibling she had left."

Eli nodded. "The two of them had always been close, but after Tali died, well, they hardly ever split up. I'm pretty sure he got her into a bar or something -he was always good at getting what he wanted- and I know Ziva spent more than one night away from home."

"Drowning her sorrows?"

Another nod. "Something like that. I have no idea who the father was, probably just some random guy she picked up."

"And whom Ari probably shot."

Eli and Gibbs turned to look at Tony, who shrugged. "Just saying."

After the doctor had finished the ultrasound, he and the technician had left the team to hear Eli's explanation in private. Abby, Gibbs, and Tony seemed offended that Ziva would have kept such an important secret from them, but Ducky and McGee thought that it made sense, that Ziva would not have wanted to reopen old wounds.

Eli continued. "I had suspected that Ziva was pregnant -she kept running to the bathroom, kept acting like she was hiding something, even looking through a baby name book once. But she never told me… I guess she thought I might be angry at her, or might hurt the baby- I don't know."

He shook himself, as though literally casting off the pall of past evils. "Whatever the reason, she never told me. I'm sure she told Ari -the two of them were too close for her to have kept that secret from him- but never me. And I know he wouldn't have told me, even if she had been okay with it. But anyway, about three months after Tali had died, Ari was supposed to go back to medical school, and he asked me if Ziva could come with him. It seemed a reasonable request, considering the circumstances, and so I agreed, and the two of them left for Edinburgh. The next summer, when they came back, they never mentioned it, so I pretty much put it out of my mind… until now, that is."

"You never wondered what… happened?"

Eli hesitated, tapping a finger on the edge of Ziva's bed. "I had, once or twice, thought to wonder what has become of my grandchild. I even checked the records of the hospitals in the surrounding area, but none of them treated Ziva. Of course, she could have used an alias, or even avoided a hospital altogether…"

"With a med student for a brother, she wouldn't have had to go to a hospital."

"True."

"And you're sure she was pregnant?"

"Very sure. Even if I somehow managed to miss all the signs while she was still at home, she seemed far more… sympathetic than usual when talking with a pregnant woman, or one who had their child with them…"

"I remember I once asked her if she wanted kids; she said she did not have a simple answer."

"I am certain that my daughter wanted to take care of her child, but, well, considering everything, she probably did the right thing for the baby by giving him up."

"Unless the baby died."

Eli hesitated, then shrugged. "I hope not, and I don't think so, anyway. I think she would have told me about the baby if she wasn't still protecting it."

XXXXXXXX

He sat on a bench, munching on a granola bar as he watched the people go by. They all seemed to be going somewhere in a hurry. As they walked past, never paying any attention to him, he sorted them into categories. The teenagers covered in ink and metal, ipods plugged into their ears; the mother with the baby in the stroller, trying to stop her older kid from asking the teenagers why they had so many piercings; the father who seemed to be paying more attention to the young, hot female than to his own wife and children; the stray cat who was carrying a dead mouse back to its den for its young.

Finishing the food, he shoved the wrapper into a nearby trash can and stood up. Stretched. Resumed walking down the road.

The sun was starting to set at the end of the road when a police car pulled over next to him. It's about time somebody noticed.

Walking over to the car, he didn't even bother to greet the officer.

"Yep. I'm running away. You should probably call social services so they will find me a new home. Do you want any more information, or should I just get in the car?"

The officer seemed rather taken aback at Ari's forthrightness. He wasn't surprised. Adults never seemed to understand how he thought. They acted like somehow he was still three years old.

He sighed and got into the car. Let's see how long it takes this time.

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Ziva held the tiny bundle in her arms, unwilling to let go. He was so adorable, so small, so fragile.

"Ziva?"

She looked up at her brother. Tears streamed down her cheeks, landing on the blanket Ari had bought.

"We have to go."

She nodded, still reluctant. "I'm still not sure this is the right thing."

Ari sat on the bed next to her, putting his arms around her and her baby son. "You don't have to, you know. I would help you take care of him."

Ziva shook her head. "We can't take care of him ourselves. I have to go into the army, then Mossad, and you are supposed to infiltrate who-knows-what after med school…"

Ari couldn't argue with her. She had to do what was best for her baby. He just wished that he could somehow magically fix her pain.

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Author's note: 50 reviews, 10,000 hits? You guys are awesome!