So here is the next chapter, set during 6x04 Heartland

Chapter 24 – Word Moves Quickly

The group sat in the bullpen doing old paper work. Ziva looked up and stared at Tony. She and Abby went to the doctor yesterday, they were both roughly a month pregnant. She would have to tell him, and soon; she had already emailed Gibbs warning him that she was pregnant and would eventually need maternity leave. She stood and started to walk to Tony's desk.

"Officer David, my desk. Now." Ordered Gibbs, Ziva's eye went wide, he better not have just read the email.

"Tony I need to talk to you." She said trying to pull him out of the chair,

"Then talk Zee."

"No Tony, now." She said panic in her voice,

"Wasn't a request Ziva." Warned Gibbs

"Tony, please!" Begged Ziva now holding onto his ear trying to get him to move,

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, Ziva what!"

"David!" Yelled Gibbs, "My desk! Now!"

Ziva sighed and let go of Tony then, aware of all eyes on her, she walked to Gibbs' desk. "Yes?"

"You requested leave?" Asked Gibbs calmly,

"No. I warned you I will most likely need leave in the future." Corrected Ziva,

"You seen someone about it? To double check."

"Yesterday."

"Ok." Said Gibbs; Ziva sighed with relief. She started to walk back to her desk when Gibbs spoke again, "Oh and Ziva, DiNozzo… Congratulations."

"Congratulations boss? What are you congratulating?" Asked Tony, confused,

Gibbs glared at Ziva, "You haven't told him?"

"Told me what?"

"No. I only found out Monday, and I went to the doctors yesterday to make sure and I was planning to say something yesterday but I just couldn't and I-" She stopped and gave a pleading look to Kate who got up and put a comforting arm around her.

"It's ok," She soothed, "we understand."

"Understand what?"

"Well!" Demanded Gibbs, "Are you gonna tell him?!"

Ziva turned to her fiancé, "Tony, I- I-" she cleared her throat, "Tony, I…" Her voice failed,

Kate sighed and looked at Tony with a regretful longing glance, "She's pregnant Tony."

"Oh." He looked at her with wide eyes, his whole body frozen.

There was silence and everyone stared at either Ziva or Tony. Tony stood and walked forward, but instead of going to Ziva, he went to Kate.

"You knew?" He asked in a dangerous whisper, "You knew the other night, when you came to my house?"

Kate stared at him.

"You knew when you told me I was moving to fast in my relationship? When you said you were concerned in this because we were once in love! When you went on about how we were something special! When you told me you never took off the promise ring I gave you! When you said Ziva is too young for me, and just a girl! When you told me you're still in love with me, never stopped being in love with me and will probably always be in love with me!" He was yelling at her, anger seeping through his voice. He gave a glare to her and turned to Ziva.

She was staring at Kate; shock written in her face.

Tony walked to her and raised a hand, taking her face gently in it, leaning his forehead against hers. I'm going to have a baby… He thought, and his face split into a wide grin. He picked her up under the arms and spun her around. He set her down and held her close, she looked into his eyes, his face an inch from hers.

"I'm gonna be a dad." He whispered,

"Yes, yes you will."

Tony beamed and bent down kissing her deeply. And Ziva moved her hands to Tony's neck.

That was when they saw it.

The beautiful ring on Ziva's finger.

Immediately the tears Kate was forcing back spilled from her eyes. She heard a sob escape her and knew she couldn't keep it in.

Kate ran from the bullpen into the elevator and pressed the button to Abby's lab. When the doors opened again Kate walked into the lab, now sobbing completely.

"Kate! What's wrong?!" Asked Abby; rushing to Kate's side,

"T-T-Tony!" wailed Kate, "He's- He's- He and Ziva are- They're engaged!"

"Oh My God! Finally! This is great! Oh my God!" Squealed Abby as she did a victory dance around the room, "Wait! Why are you crying?"

Kate looked up at Abby and sniffed, wiping her eyes and nose, "Would it be completely horrible if I told you I'm still in love with Tony?"

"WHAT!" Yelled Abby, "Oh my God, Kate!" She engulfed Kate in a huge hug, and for once Kate didn't try to prevent it.

"There's more." She whispered,

Abby let go and pushed Kate to go sit in the chair behind her desk then ran and grabbed Bert giving him to Kate.

"Four years ago," Said Kate, still sniffing, "right after Ari shot Bethany; I hid, waiting for McGee to leave the car. When he did, I rushed to it, I was planning on putting my silver necklace in his jacket pocket. At that time we had been officially dating for a week, though we had admitted our feelings and slept together for the first time almost a year before."

Abby opened her mouth to ask Kate about Tony's ability in the bedroom but Kate started to speak again.

"And when I reached into his jacket pocket," Kate pulled out her phone as she spoke, "I found this." She gave the phone to Abby, who looked down and gasped.

It was a picture of a navy blue box, in which sat a silver engagement ring, with a gorgeous diamond set in the middle.

"Oh my God." Whispered Abby, staring at the photo, "He was gonna propose."

Kate nodded sadly as she looked longingly at the picture. "I love him Abby, I really do." She put the phone down and started to twist her promise ring.

Abby noticed this, "He gave you that; didn't he?" She asked, indicating the ring Kate was twisting.

"Yes." Said Kate, "Late one night, only days after we told each other our true feelings. I told him I wanted to have a trial period, I wasn't going to be just another notch on his bedpost, and he gave me this; it's a promise ring." She pulled it off her finger and passed it to Abby, who looked at it carefully, reading the inscription.

"Puppy?" She asked,

"That was his pet name for me," Explained Kate, "I would call him Monster."

"I gathered." Said Abby, "…Wait a minute," She whispered after a while, "Those flowers you used to get, from Mon…"

"Yea?"

"Mon wasn't short for Montgomery, was it?"

Kate laughed, "No, they were from Tony. He was- is –the best guy." She sighed, then whispered, "Ziva's very lucky to have him."

* * *

They were rushing to the elevator, Tony couldn't believe it. They were finally gonna see Still Water, the place Gibbs grew up!

"DiNozzo!"

"On your six boss!"

"Follow up with the Taylor family, Todd, help him."

"But I…" Ziva and McGee ran pass them into the elevator, "On it." He looked at Ziva and McGee who were grinning smugly at him and Kate, "I hate you."

They just smiled in a way that said 'you love us'. The doors started to close, "Take lots of pictures!" Begged Tony,

As soon as the elevator started moving Ziva's cell rang, "David." She answered,

"Be careful." Came Tony's voice,

Ziva chuckled, "I will, do not worry."

"Ok."

"Goodbye Tony."

"Bye Zee, love you."

"Love you too." He hung up,

"Tony?"

"Yes Kate?" He said, in monotone, he hadn't spoken to her since she ran crying from the bullpen,

"Congratulations and… I'm sorry."

"Thank you." Tony sighed, "I know it must really hurt, seeing me with Ziva, but you will find someone Puppy, and that's all I want for you; for you to be happy."

"Me too." Whispered Kate, and they hugged lightly before getting to work.

* * *

Ziva internally groaned when she saw she had no signal. She was trying to phone Tony; Gibbs' orders of course, but she knew Tony would want her to call anyway.

"Afraid you're not gonna have much luck,"

Ziva turned to find an older man standing on the path, watching her, "Occasionally though, when the wind is right you can get a signal."

"Thank you." Said Ziva, closing her phone, "Is there a public phone around here I could use?"

"There's one in my store. My name's Jackson."

"Ziva."

"Ziva?" Jackson looked at the ground, "Well, Ziva, it looks like you dropped something." A twenty dollar bill sat on the ground. Ziva bent down to pick it up; but Jackson put his cane over it.

"Kind of tells a story, doesn't it? A twenty dollar bill in your wallet is just a piece of paper. You put it on the ground and, suddenly, it's full of wonder."

Ziva smiled, she liked this man.

"Context, can change a thing."

"That it can." Jackson released the bill and Ziva picked it up, "For instance, I'll bet, back in, uh... Israel, you were considered a pretty girl. You step one foot in my country and, instantly, you're an exotic beauty."

"When did we start talking about people?" Asked Ziva; amused.

"Well if the 'I' in 'NCIS' is to be believed, you're observant enough to realise that all this is a pretext for engaging a young woman in conversation."

"Word travels fast." Came Gibbs' voice,

"That it does." Said Jackson, "When people actually open their mouths and speak with one another. You don't call. You don't write. Were you gonna come by and say 'hi'?"

"Hi… Jack."

"Hi… Leroy."

"Ziva, McGee," Said Gibbs, "Jackson Gibbs. My father."

McGee looked confused. Ziva was wide eyed. She had to call Tony.

* * *

Ziva walked into the store to find Gibbs yelling at McGee.

BANG!

"What was that?!" Asked McGee and the three ran out side to see the car full of their evidence in flames.

"Jethro? Jethro? Everybody ok?" Jackson asked

"Yeah fine." Said Gibbs in monotone,

"All our evidence was in there."

Ziva stopped listening. Not one minute earlier, had she sat in that car.

A hand went to her flat stomach, as though she was trying to cradle her child. She turned and vomited on the footpath.

"What now?" She asked wiping her mouth.

"You ok Ziva?" Asked Jackson,

"I'm fine. The baby…" Her voice trailed off,

"Baby? Congratulations."

"Thank you."

A car pulled up behind the now toasted car.

"Hey guys." Said Abby,

"What happened?" Asked Kate,

"Looks like someone stuffed a rag in a gas tank and lit the fuse."

"And toasted our DNA." Spoke Ziva from her sitting position next to the vomit Jackson was pouring sand over.

Tony rushed over and crouched down, "You ok Zee?"

"Fine Tony, just morning sickness."

"You sure?"

Ziva laughed, "Yes Tony."

Tony took her hand, "I missed you."

"You're a wuss."

"Can't a guy miss his fiancée when she goes all the way to Still Water, Pennsylvania?"

Ziva rolled her eyes as Abby loudly 'aww'ed.

* * *

Ziva sat in the front seat of the car, not listening to the conversation between, Abby, McGee, Tony, and Kate. She thought of Gibbs and Jack, and her relationship with her father. He didn't know of her pregnancy or her engagement, and she doubted his reaction would be a good one.

She thought of her mother and Ari. They would be so happy for her. Neither of them wanted her to become apart of Mossad, they wanted her to be an ordinary girl, though that was impossible after Catryn. She could imagine Ari's face light up when he was told he would be an uncle. And Tali celebrating by dancing around the room and hugging her tightly. How would she tell her father?

Suddenly Ziva gasped, "Michael." She breathed,

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