The days pass, and not much progress is made. Eventually Gibbs is able to be weaned off the ventilator, and breathe on his own. It has been two weeks since his surgery, and faith is wearing thin. Ziva sits at his bedside, as per her usual morning routine. Jonah sleeps in her arms. Her eyes are heavy, and her arms are asleep. She lifts the baby onto Gibb's chest. She places his hands on the baby. She closes her eyes, as Jonah sleeps on his chest.
"I want you to know that Tony has really surprised me. He is so good with Jonah. I know you saw something that I wasn't entirely sure of. I just wish that you would see it. I wish Jonah had the chance to get to know you."
She opens her eyes, and looks at Gibbs, with the hopes that something has changed. Nothing has. She watches her son, as he sleeps. She smiles, and begins talking to him.
"Jonah this is your dad. I know that you are too young to understand any of this, but you still need to hear it. Your being here is a miracle. I know that you're not going to remember any of this. I just wish you got to hear his voice."
She chokes up. She swallows hard, and wipes the tears away with her sleeve. She looks at the clock on the wall. It reminds her that the next shift will be here in the next half an hour. She stands up, and reaches down. She goes to move Gibb's hand off Jonah. He grips her wrist. She writes it off as a reflex. She attempts to remove his fingers from her wrist, but she can't. She looks at his other hand. For a moment it seems as if his grip on the baby is tightening. She reminds herself that it isn't possible.
"Gibbs let go," she says in frustration.
His hand lets go of her wrist. It returns to it's resting place on Jonah's back. Ziva furrows her brow, and looks up at Gibbs. His blue eyes stare at her. She tries to tell herself that she is imagining things.
"Jonah," he whispers. The baby stirs in his sleep. Ziva nearly passes out. She stands in front of his bed, frozen. She grips the rail of the bed.
"Gibbs?" her dark eyes watch him, questioningly.
His blue eyes don't meet her gaze. Instead, they fall to the infant lying on his chest. He stares at the baby. His hand rests, protectively, on Jonah's back. "Jonah," he repeats.
Ziva presses the call button. The nurse comes into the room. She looks at Ziva.
"Do you need something?" she questions.
Ziva simply nods. She can't seem to get any words out, so she just points to Gibbs.
The nurse approaches him. She looks into his bright blue eyes.
"Agent Gibbs?"
He manages to smile. He looks at his son, "Jonah."
Abby gets on the elevator. She is on her way to the hospital, after Ziva's call. The elevator door opens. She gets off, to tell McGee. She races towards his desk. She furrows her brow, finding Tony at his desk too. Tony just smiles at her. She moves towards McGee's desk.
"McGee, I have something to tell you."
"I already know," he points out.
"Ziva called you?"
He shakes his head, and points to the desk across from him. She spins around, and finds that Gibbs' chair is not vacant. Instead she finds him sitting in the chair, with gauze wrapped around his head. He sits in the chair with a smirk on his face, and a little boy in his arms. Jonah sleeps, with his ear pressed against Gibbs' chair. A smile creeps across Abby's face. She moves forward to hug him. She realizes that she can't since he has Jonah.
"What are you doing here?"
"You mean what am I doing alive?"
"No, I knew you would pull through," she insists, "What are you doing here?"
"The hospital released me."
"When?"
"About an hour ago."
"And you're already at work?"
"I'm not working, I'm just here to see you."
"You're ok?"
He shrugs, "Aside from a few holes in my head I'm fine."
"Where is Ziva?" Abby wonders.
"She went to get lunch."
"When did you wake up?"
"Three days ago," he answers.
"I have been at the hospital everyday."
He smirks, "I know."
"Why didn't you say anything? You pretended to be unconscious."
"I was sleeping," he points out.
She turns to Tony, "Did you know?"
"Ziva told me three days ago, when he woke up."
She looks at McGee, "McGee?"
"I was sworn to secrecy."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"We thought it would be a nice surprise. We didn't want you to worry," McGee explains.
"I was worried sick, every single day."
Tony adds, "And we wanted to make sure that he was going to stay conscious."
"I was so worried about you," she points out, looking at Gibbs.
"I know."
"Why did you wait so long to wake up?" she questions him.
"I didn't have any control over it."
"Are you sure that you're ok?" she queries.
"I'm fine."
"You're going to take it easy, right?"
"Abby I'm not coming back to work," he admits.
Her smile quickly disappears, "What? Why not?"
"I am going to retire. I think that it is time."
"You never stay retired," she points out.
"Because all I had to do, before was build a boat."
"But," she tries to argue.
"Someone has to watch Jonah while Tony, and Ziva are here," he adds.
"You're going to be a stay at home dad?" Abby furrows her brow, "What has the world come to? First you sleep with Ziva, and get her pregnant. And, now you're going to stay at home with the baby?"
"Yeah," he smiles.
Abby looks at the baby, who sleeps peacefully. "I can understand why. He is pretty awesome."
"You know why he woke up, don't you?" McGee quizzes Abby.
She shakes her head.
"Lying there, unconscious, in a coma he suddenly realized that someone was going to have to teach Jonah to fish, and we all know it isn't going to be Tony. Tony could teach him how to play football, or flirt with a woman, but fishing is not in his skill set. And, we all know Tony can't build a boat."
Tony furrows his brow, "I built a boat once."
"It was a model, and I don't think you finished it," McGee jabs.