Cape Hatteras, NC
They stood in the small cottage that Vance had rented for them for the night. They were exhausted and ready for bed. But, they just stood there looking around. There were only two bedrooms, one bathroom, one kitchen, and one small living area. They had to talk to Gibbs now, before he decided on where they were all sleeping, which he seemed to be struggling with now, or hesitating, giving them the opportunity to think.
Tony and Ziva exchanged a quiet glance, both looking nervous. They were going to tell him now. Ziva moved closer to Tony as he moved closer to her. Tony's arm went instinctively around Ziva's waist as they turned to face their boss who was staring at the couch.
"Boss?" Tony said quietly.
Gibbs turned, he saw how they were standing. But, it wasn't just that Tony's arm was around Ziva that caught him off-guard. It was Ziva's head leaning against Tony, as though looking for some form of comfort from him. Both of them looked tired. They all had a long drive and a long day. It was late and they were definitely tired. He was standing there and not handing out rooming assignments, but he knew that whatever was going to be said now was going to change his dilemma significantly, s he had hoped.
"DiNozzo?" he asked, trying to keep a calm and even tone, though he was nervous to hear whatever the two agents had to say now.
"Gibbs, Tony and I have something we want to tell you," Ziva said nervously, her arm tightening around Tony's waist and his tightening around hers.
Gibbs noticed this and sighed. Eh indicated the couch and they both sat down. He took the chair next to it and sat down. He looked at them and noticed that they were managing to squeeze themselves onto one cushion of the couch, needing to be near each other for a while.
"Go ahead," he said calmly and quietly, now determined to listen to whatever they were going to say.
"Boss, Ziva and I are together," Tony said, feeling a flutter of nerves in the pit of his stomach as he released this information to his boss and father-figure.
"We have been for about a year," Ziva added.
"Since last summer, at the end of June," Tony said quietly.
Gibbs was silent for a moment. His eyes closed. He should have expected this. He should have expected them to get together and not tell him. He had expected it and it was still difficult for him to hear it. He had some questions.
"The late mornings to work?" he asked them, as his eyes finally opened and found theirs again.
"Because we stayed up late the night before," Ziva admitted, going pink and glancing sideways at Tony.
"The two times that you answered the other's cell phone when McGee called?"
"We were together," Tony said quietly, going as pink as Ziva had before, since they hadn't known that Gibbs had figured that out on his own without McGee's help.
"The car breaking down?"
"You saw the receipt. It did break down, although I did not have to call Tony," Ziva admitted to Gibbs. "We would have been late anyway, but the cr did make us more late that morning."
"Okay, I have one more question. This one is one I can't assume the answer on, because I just don't know," Gibbs said, shaking his head and realizing that if they were this close and still together it wasn't that either of them had screwed it up. He needed to know why they were both more than upset a few weeks ago and why they both had a doctor's appointment on the same day at the same time, quite suddenly and necessarily. "There was a day a few weeks ago. You both went to the doctor, same morning, same time. You came in late. You arrived in the same car. You were both upset. What was that about?"
"I... it ws… we…," Ziva said quietly.
"Didi you two have a fight or something? A breakfast date? What happened?" Gibbs asked.
"Boss. Ziva had miscarried the morning before that," Tony said very quietly, squeezing her tighter as tears came into both of their eyes.
"Oh," Gibbs said in nothing more than a whisper, unsure of what else to say to them at that moment.
"It was nothing involving NCIS that caused it," Ziva said quietly, not looking at Gibbs. "I had some scarring on the lining of my uterus from my time in Somalia. They have cleaned it up, but Tony and I are trying to wait to have children. It was unplanned and we were unprepared for it."
Gibbs smiledd gently to himself. Yea, his kids were really thinking things through. Sure, they had an unplanned pregnancy, which he wasn't gong to ask the details on, but they wanted this and they wanted to make it last.
"You two went through that silently?" he asked. "You know you can always talk to me about something if it's bothering you."
They both nodded and sighed in relief. "Thanks, boss," Tony said quietly.
A/N – So, they told him. They finally told Gibbs and he is reacting calmly, as we all knew he would, because we have seen his thoughts. But, I'm sure that Tony and Ziva are feeling a little more calm with him reacting calmly and talking this through with them. Leave a review and let me know what you think.