A/N: Really big thanks to all those who have reviewed so far. There was a little problem with the alerts I received to my email and I got really confused as to who I had replied and who not. I'm sorry if I didn't reply to your review or if I replied twice.
A/N2: I decided to make their daughter two years older, so she is now four. It just fits better with my plans this way.
Ziva waited for the elevator doors to open. When they did, she saw McGee standing there, waiting for the little metal box.
"Gibbs is really mad," he whispered to her while passing.
That didn't surprise her. She knew he'd be mad. After all, she was almost four hours late.
Then she heard her daughter's squeal. "Uncle Gibbs!" She ran to him and he picked her up, hugging her. "Hey, Rach," he greeted her. Then he put her down. "Go to your father for a little while."
Ziva watched her little girl running to Tony, her dark curls bouncing. The love in her heart was almost too strong to bear. Love for both of them, both little Rachel and Tony.
But she quickly returned to reality when she saw that Gibbs did not look like he was going to hug her. He glared at her and started towards the elevator, motioning for her to follow.
She did. Once back inside the little metal box, Gibbs pressed the emergency button and turned to her.
Ziva prepared herself for the wrath of Gibbs, but it didn't come. Instead he looked at her with worry. "Is everything okay, Ziva?" he asked her caringly.
Ziva was stunned. That was not like Gibbs. She had been expecting for him to yell at her and give her a Gibbs-slap, but there he was, acting like she had just gotten out of a hospital, not being late for work.
"Yes, everything is okay."
"The hell it is." That was a bit more like Gibbs. "Both you and Tony look like you've been up whole night, Tony is sleeping on his desk, you are late for four hours, when you finally show up you bring your child with you and to the top of it all, Tony doesn't even tell me where the hell you are!"
That was an awful lot of talking for Gibbs.
Ziva narrowed her eyes with suspicion. "He did not tell you where I was?"
"If he did, I wouldn't be asking."
"He will regret that," she threatened, speaking to herself.
Gibbs still stared at her. She stared back.
"Where were you?" he demanded.
"Rachel kept us up half the night and our nanny did not show up today." She summarized it all into one sentence. "The next time I see her..." she started, but Gibbs cut her off.
"Easy, Ziva. The next time you see her, you'll ask why she didn't come."
Ziva glowered.
"Come on. Let's go and wait for McGee and the coffee."
They returned to the bullpen, retrieving look full of questions from Tony.
"Something you want to tell me, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked with a half-smile. His bad mood seemed to have disappeared for a while.
Tony looked at Gibbs, completely clueless. Ziva went to stand next to Gibbs, pointing at Tony accusingly.
"You promised."
Tony still didn't understand. "What did I pro-," and then it clicked. "Oh. That."
"Yes, that. Why did you not tell him?" she demanded her husband.
Tony held up his hands in defense. "I was going to, I was already telling him but…" His excuse faded under Ziva's glare. His fear of Gibbs' bad mood seemed like nothing now. Ziva was the only one who could really scare him.
The worst thing Gibbs could do to him was to fire him. Or in a worst case scenario kill him.
Ziva could leave him. He couldn't bear that thought.
Suddenly she felt a little hand touching hers. "Mommy, what's wrong?"' Rachel asked, looking a little concerned.
Ziva looked down at her daughter and smiled. "Nothing is wrong, baby." She gently stroke Rach's hair, the exact copy of hers and pushed her softly towards Gibbs. "Go play a little with Uncle Gibbs. Mommy needs to work."
Then she went to her desk, glaring daggers at Tony. He grew more and more uncomfortable. At last he gave up and left for men's room, although he was quite sure Ziva would follow him.
He was right. About a minute after Tony had left, Ziva stood up and headed for men's room too. This was their private conference room, just as the elevator was for Gibbs.
She pushed the door open quietly as always, locking it after her. Tony was standing by the sinks, staring at his reflection in the mirror.
"Ziva, I…" he started, but Ziva stopped him.
"I know."
Tony still felt the need to justify himself. "He was just in such a freakin' bad mood the whole freakin' morning."
Ziva's chocolate brown eyes narrowed again and Tony realized his mistake. "Okay. I'm guilty. I should've told him."
Ziva's features softened. At least he had the courage to acknowledge his mistake.
"Apology accepted," she told him, and leaned closer to his face. Tony understood and took the lead. As their lips met, all of their troubles and problems were forgotten for at least a while.
When they finally broke apart, they left the men's room hand in hand. One man was already waiting behind the door.
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