A/N – I apologize many times over for the long wait on this. This past weekend was my daughter's second birthday party, though she doesn't turn two until the 24th. Then, she got sick and I have had a terrible time finding any tie at all to myself or with others. Thank you for the reviews and continuing to read this story. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or the characters

Chapter 16

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Ziva groaned as consciousness found her again. Her leg hurt more than it should. She knew she shouldn't have been walking on it Friday night, but she had already done it and there was not taking it back now. She stretched a little, realizing that she was probably going to wake her husband if he wasn't already awake. She groaned again.

"Zi?" he asked.

"I am fine, Tony. Just sore," Ziva said quietly. "How long have you been awake?"

"About four hours," Tony admitted with a small grin as Ziva opened her eyes to see the grin on her husbands face. "You feel rested?"

Ziva nodded slightly and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Gibbs orders were to make sure you were rested when you woke," Tony said quietly. "He also updated me, but told me not to disturb you. There's a lot to tell if you're awake enough to hear it all?"

"What do you have to tell?"

"They have a location on Rivera and they think he's injured," Tony said. "That's some almost good news for you. Liat is capable of moving her legs, but is experiencing weakness and pins and needles every now and then, so they are doing more tests. Eschel is fine and gave his full confession to Gibbs about an hour ago and Abby thinks she's narrowed down the locations that Isaac David could be in. She's working hard on that now, while the rest are working on Rivera."

"This could be over soon," Ziva said quietly. "We need to call the lawyers."

"Already took care of it sweet cheeks," Tony mentioned to her. "They say that since there was immediate danger at a safe-house we were staying in there's no harm. I told them Eschel came to us, which isn't entirely a lie, but that's what Gibbs said in his report."

"I am glad to have you as my husband and partner," Ziva whispered into him as she snuggled deeper into his side. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweet cheeks," Tony muttered into her hair, holding her tightly and sensing that she needed the extra comfort at the moment.

"I do not feel very well this morning," Ziva muttered after a moment. "It is not like I am going to get sick immediately. It is just queasy, nauseous a little."

Tony pouted but held her tightly anyway. When Ziva finally decided to get up Tony followed her and they changed back in to yesterday's work clothes and headed out toward the squad room. Ziva immediately went to her desk and brushed her hair and Tony combed through his. McGee was watching the two carefully, thinking that something was different about them as they continued a morning routine as though they were not at their workplace. Ziva let out a yawn and Gibbs shot a glare toward Tony.

"I am rested, Gibbs," Ziva said. "But that is not stopping me from being tired today."

Gibbs chuckled and McGee looked confused. Jen was staring at the two of them. She shook her head and placed her hands on her stomach deep in thought about whatever was going on with Ziva. Whatever it was they were keeping it secret and she knew that Tony and her father were the only two that knew whatever it was. She thought she had it figured out, but wasn't sure, since she had never expected to see Ziva living again and didn't know if that was something that Ziva still wanted in life. She shook her head again, clearing the thoughts from it.

The elevator let out a ding. Abby walked out with a look of determination on her face. She went straight to the big screen television that was on the wall and picked up the clicker. She pulled something up and stood back, glancing back and forth between Jen and Ziva.

"This isn't the best news in the world," Abby said quietly. "I think that heat dot is Isaac, but it seems that he has a fever or something because he is too warm and there doesn't seem to be any other source of heat in the room he's in. This is the only place with a heat source that is unaccounted for. Unfortunately for us, the location that this satellite image comes from is classified and we can't get a read on it based on geographical markers. I have to get Homeland or the Marines involved in this, and I know how we hate working with others."

"Yes, we most certainly do," said a familiar voice as someone new spoke to them.

They all turned to see Abigail Borin from CGIS standing in the squad room before them. Her red hair was down today and a little longer than the last time they had seen her. She looked around at all of them, reading their expressions. She was frowning. She looked first at the far end of the room. She glanced at Jennifer Gibbs, who was sitting there proudly with her hands on her stomach and looking both pleased and worried at the same time. She looked at Jennifer Shepard whose eyes were narrowed as though she should have known about this girl.

Her eyes met McGee's and McGee was deep in thought about Tony and Ziva and whatever was going on with them, which was where his gaze was. Her eyes met Gibbs, who looked confused as to why she was there. Her eyes wandered toward Abby, who was smiling at her. Then, to Tony who was staring at Ziva and lost completely in his thoughts, not seeming to have noticed that there was someone new in the room.

Then, finally, her eyes went to Ziva. Ziva was looking down at her desk. She was sitting there with her hands folded across her stomach, something that the others couldn't see from the angles they were sitting at. Borin noticed that that was where her eyes and seemingly her thoughts were located; at her stomach. She noticed the ring on Ziva's finger and the look of worry laced onto her face when she glanced up at the big screen. She glanced around the room and found Tony's eyes again, where he was still staring at Ziva with a look of adoration and concern on his face. He was also wearing a ring; a matching one at that.

"Looks like I missed a lot," Abigail Borin said, speaking up again as she walked to stand next to the other Abby. "However, I'm not here about that. That is definitely your man you're looking for. These people are some we've been looking for, but haven't been able to find because it's classified. We don't want to get into the kind of trouble that your team has gotten into this past year and haven't hacked yet. However, we thought if you did it, maybe you wouldn't get in anymore trouble, since you're already in deep anyway."

"No," Ziva said instantly, standing up and staring at Abigail. "No. We will not fight your fight for you. We are facing enough right now and we will not put our family at risk by breaking more laws. We will help you in whatever way we can with our legal resources, but we won't break federal laws."

Borin was taken aback by this and nodded her head, even though she was confused by the sudden defensive nature of this woman. Every time she had seen Ziva she had realized a little more that she was a risk taker and one to step on any rule or law that came across her path to knowledge. But now… now she was different. Perhaps it was this marriage to DiNozzo that had changed her, or perhaps it was something more.

"Ziva's right," came Director Vance's voice. "We'll help you, but we will not break laws for you."

"You break them for each other though?" Borin asked.

"No," Jen Gibbs said as she stood up. "My name is Jennifer Gibbs and I did the report on their activity that is supposedly against the law. That is classified information, however I am allowed to tell you that it was in no form breaking any federal laws. Not one thing this team has done has broken the rules. Perhaps they have bent them a little, but never broken them."

Borin nodded and then glanced sideways at Gibbs. "I didn't know you had children, Jethro," she said with a softer look.

"Had two," he said. "Only have one now. Long story. Ending is I only have one left. She's pregnant with my grandson and granddaughter and her fiancée is missing. That's my priority. Not to mention that the others are my kids as well. There's Tony and Ziva who are in trouble for something they didn't do. There's Abby who works hard and puts too much stress on herself. And McGee who is generally very confused by whatever is going on around him, but somehow manages to come up with answers anyway."

"Who's this?" Abigail asked, looking and Jenny.

"I am Jennifer Shepard. I was the director here for a while," she said. "I faked my death for my safety and the safety of my team and have obviously been found out since then. Now they are my family again."

"I see," Borin said. "Glad to meet the newcomers. Glad to see all the old-timers again, as well. I guess we'll be working together now."

"Are you sure you want to work with this team?" came another unwanted voice.

This was Parsons. "I just came to see what happened the other night. I heard on the news that there was a massive shootout where you were all staying and that there is a Mossad Officer in the hospital. I hate to say it, but you are all under investigation now."

"She was shot in the back and facing us. Why don't you talk with Officer Malachi Ben-Gidon about it," Gibbs suggested. "The suspect got away but we're working on finding him. Now, if you could please leave so we can do our jobs without distractions that would be a wonderful thing. Abs, great work, kid. Come up if you get more information and keep working. You're doing great."

"Thanks, Gibbs," Abby said with a smile and returned to the elevator, dragging the other Abby with her.

"The names are getting confusing," Ziva said. "Gibbs and Gibbs. DiNozzo and DiNozzo. Abby and Abby. Jennifer and Jennifer. Perhaps we should give everyone nicknames."

"Yea," Tony said. "We could have boss and smarty-pants, hairy butt and ninja, goth and foreigner, and smarty-pants and former boss."

"DiNozzo, get to work," Gibbs said, sounding as though he should have head-slapped him."

"Yes, boss," Tony said immediately. "On it."

Monday, November 4, 2013

They all woke early that day. Ziva was standing in the middle of the conference room by herself and trying hard to button her pants. She was struggling to say the least. Tony walked into the room at the same time that Jen Gibbs did. They stared at each other for a moment and heard a sniffle coming from Ziva. Tony walked over and Jen just watched. Tony leaned into her back and whispered in her ear.

"We seem to have company, my ninja," he whispered. "Jen's here and watching closely."

He reached around her and pulled the pants as far away from her growing stomach as much as they would stretch and managed to get them buttoned. She frowned as they came to tightly rest around her stomach. She then looked at the table, where she had thought she had put her shirt, but it wasn't there. Tony was holding it in front of her and she smiled back at him as he walked around her, his eyes glancing down at her stomach as he raked over her half-naked body. The bump was definitely more noticeable now. However, she had tears in her eyes. She smiled at him and wiped the tears away quickly.

"Later," she whispered, reading his expression to mean that he was asking what she was crying about. He nodded, realizing that whatever it was it wasn't to be said in front of a Gibbs that didn't already know their small secret.

The others were already dressed. A lot had gone on at the ending of the second day. But, they all had the day off of work. They had found Isaac David's exact location and they were flying out tomorrow first thing, except for Jen and Ziva who weren't allowed to go. Tony was also staying behind with them while the others handled this. Vance was even flying out, leaving his Deputy Director in charge for the time being and Tony in charge of the others; as long as things went well here.

They had to leave for the trial in a few minutes and both Tony and Ziva were nervous. They didn't know what to expect as they hadn't been on trial of any kind before. At least not a fair trial, Ziva reminded herself as she thought a little into the past, before shaking the thoughts from her head.

She took Tony's hand as he finished buttoning her shirt for her. She looked him straight in the eyes and silently promised that no matter what happened after this, they would be okay. They had consequences to face and they were facing them full on. They left the room without Jen being given the chance to say a thing.

They were all going to the trial, as witnesses if they needed anything. Jen had a small smile to herself, which must have been given clearance to talk about whatever it was that was so classified from the courts and the system. Ziva crutched her way from the conference room to the elevator; out of the elevator and to the car; and they climbed in together, both too nervous to say a word and both lost in their thoughts, hopes, and silent prayers.