Chapter 19

Ziva was sitting up in bed watching Spaceballs, It wasn't on the Approved watching guide, but occasionally she needed to get away from Tony's constraints and watch something she enjoyed. She didn't see why he didn't want Caramel and Nougat to watch it. She found all the literal interpretations of idioms such as "Comb the desert" to be hilarious! Besides, what Tony didn't know, Ziva didn't need to worry about.

When the keys rattled in the door she quickly flicked her eyes to her watch. It was only 10:30 in the morning, there was no way Tony would be home yet. She reached her hand beneath her pillow and pulled out a gun. She heard someone enter, but who ever it was remained quiet. She placed her gun, concealed, under the sheets ready to greet her intruder. She could heard them moving down the hall towards her. She cursed her heavily pregnant body, for her lack of mobility, she couldn't even see around the corner to ascertain what was happening. The footsteps drew closer, her heart beat faster as she covered her children protectively with her free hand. A hand and the tip of a black leather shoe appeared first, "Ziva? you awake?" she heard a familiar voice whisper.

"What are you doing home Tony? I was about to shoot you!" Tony moved into the room a little faster now.

"Sorry Sweet Cheeks." He said Sourly. "Wasn't exactly my idea to come home at this time of day."

Ziva looked confused. She wasn't sure what was going in. Gibbs entered the room behind her husband who was now sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. "Gibbs?" Ziva's mind started to search for possible reasons for them both being there. She searched their faces for any hint of what was going on. "What is wrong? Oh God, has something happened to McGee or Abby? Ducky or Palmer?"

"No, they are all fine Zi."

"Well then what is going on?"

"what's going on is that you're corrupting our innocent child with Spaceballs."

"Tony. That is not why you are here. Why?" out of the corner of her eye she noted a new entry to the room. She glanced over and there standing in front of her was Fornell.

"Jeeze Tony, who'd you piss off now?"

"ME? Why would I have pissed someone off? And why does everyone just assume that?"

"Have we pulled out our file of suspects? Tell McGee I've kept an up-to-date spreadsheet on my computer under the name…"

"It's not DiNozzo in trouble this time." Fornell interjected.

"Well then what are you doing here?"

"It's you Ziva." Gibbs said with his comforting voice, not wanting to distress her. "We found your fingerprints and DNA at a crime scene."

"Well that is not possible, there must be some sort of mistake. I have not done anything. Literally. All I have been allowed to do is lie in this bed."

"Where were you yesterday?"

"Here. I mean, I also went to the hospital."

"Ziva? what?" Tony was alarmed by this.

"Dr White was sick so they rescheduled some of her appointments at the hospital. It was no big deal."

"You drive?" Fornell asked.

Ziva bowed her head, she was annoyed that she had to reveal her weakness. "No, I could not reach the break or the steering wheel. I caught a cab there."

"Thats a good think Ziva." Gibbs said, noticing her shame at not being able to do something. "We'll check with the cab company, and they'll tell us exactly where they picked you up and dropped you."

"...and if you made any stops. You take a cab home?" Fornell enquired.

"The doctor didn't want me going home alone, my blood pressure was too high, so I called Abby."

"what was wrong." Again, Tony became distressed by this information and Ziva realised how much information she'd neglected to tell him last night thanks to her diversions and Gibbs calling him out to a job. "Why was your blood pressure high? Is the baby alright?"

"Yes Tony, everything is fine. She was just outlining the procedure and I got a little concerned."

"but everything is okay right?"

"Yes Tony, everything is fine."

"So when Miss Sciuto dropped you home what did you do then?" Fornell inquired.

"She helped me in and settled me down on the couch and we just talked."

"How long was she here for?"

"I don't know maybe an hour. I told her she should get back to work before Gibbs found out."

"Ziva, she was looking after you, that's just as important as her job."

"Thank you Gibbs."

"So when she left?"

"I read my book until Tony got home."

"and no one saw that did they?"

"No."

"What time were you at the hospital?"

"I left home about 1100 hours got to the hospital close to 1200hours. I sat in the waiting room for maybe an hour before I saw the doctor."

I'll need to get the name of the hospital and the doctor you saw to confirm all this." He handed her a pad of paper and she wrote down all the information he would need to check her alibi.

An hour later Fornell had seemed content with her responses and left with Gibbs and DiNozzo. Ziva knew she'd done nothing wrong and if nothing else, her size seemed to tell Fornell that she couldn't possibly have caused the carnage from the crime scene. Once, before she was pregnant maybe, but now? There was no way she could have done that. She couldn't wait to get her body back and go back to what she perceived to be normal.

She lay there, with her now cooled soup that Tony had left next to her and a fresh jug of water by her side. He was obviously worried about how Fornell's visit would worry or stress her. She had urged him to go back to work for several reasons, the first was that she didn't really want him obsessing all afternoon. Ziva also wanted this sorted out as soon as possible, she didn't want the birth of her children to be overshadowed by their mothers pending incarceration, plus, with Tony on the case, she would be assured that she'd be able to get the most up-to-date information about the case. She picked up her book and began to read again, she had to try and do something to stop obsessing about the case and wishing that she could be involved in proving her innocence.