I'm gonna to speed up time! Let's do this!

Note: for the purposes of this fic, Vegemite exists only in Australia...I don't actually know if it's exported to other countries though...

Chapter 26

The next nine months passed absurdly fast.

After the initial shock about Dessi's pregnancy had worn off, the excitement had kicked in. Particularly in the cases of Rose and Ziva, who couldn't go an hour without squealing. They decided that it must've been a girl thing.

K-Unit had gotten out of there pretty fast. Well, it had been mission complete – the spy ring had been officially disassembled and stomped out of existence. They were no longer needed. Last anyone heard, it was possible that K-Unit were headed for Iraq.

Ben was recalled. He left with a smile, a wave, Alex's letter of temporary resignation, and a promise of help if ever needed.

Matthew was next to leave. He'd taken the news of his crush being knocked up pretty well, all things considering (though Alex was quite sure he'd never be friends with the boy again...even if he wanted to). He took with him Dessi's own letter of temporary resignation and an accompanying explanation, along with a debriefing of the entire mission. In other words, enough pages to for a small book to be published.

Rose left too, though she fought tooth and nail to stay. But she lost, so she unhappily boarded the flight home, though not before extracting a promise for weekly updates.

With the mission officially over, MI6 had cut the funding for the small rooms they'd been living in. And so, Alex and Dessi had moved in with Ziva, who'd literally forced them to her apartment ("Stay as long as you need," she'd told them excitedly, "Preferably until after the baby is born").

Tony and McGee were caught in the middle. On one hand, they were excited for the baby. On the other...there was going to be a bloody baby. Which meant changing diapers, and screaming, and babysitting duties...

"Dessi? Can I ask you a question?"

Desiree looked up from her position on the bed. "Yeah?"

"How come...well...didn't you know that you were pregnant?" Alex asked, sitting down next to her.

Desiree snorted. "Yeah, that's why I was definitely not in shock."

Alex laughed at the girl's sarcasm, before pulling her into a hug. "Doesn't matter. I'm glad you chose to keep it."

"At moments like this, so am I."

Unfortunately, no-one ever thought to warn the two spies about the horrible moments of pregnancy. It all started with the baby bump...

Alex was woken up that morning with a horrified shriek. Startled, he bolted upright and grabbed the nearest thing that could pass off as a weapon, before spinning around. However, instead of finding an intruder, he found Desiree staring down at herself, horrified.

"Des? You alright?" Alex asked hesitantly, putting the scissors down.

She looked up, crystal blue eyes wide.

"I can see it," she whispered, horrified.

It wasn't the best idea Alex ever had to let the girl know that she looked no different. It ended with Ziva bursting in and having to save Alex from the pregnant girl trying to strangle him.

After a few weeks though, even Alex could see the baby bump slowly forming. The sight filled him with a mixture of dread and excitement. In short, the boy was full of nerves. So much so, that Gibbs came over one afternoon and sat the boy down for a very fatherly talk.

"That child is going to depend on you for everything. Food, shelter, love. You need to make sure that you're alright with this," Gibbs had started off. "And even if you're not, convince yourself that you are."

So yeah, he'd learnt that Gibbs's inspirational speeches were great...if not a bit intimidating.

Ziva started coming home every day with an assortment of baby items; cribs, clothing, toys. She'd decorated the spare room with them, causing Desiree to burst into tears and give the woman a tight hug.

Yes, the hormones had also kicked in.

In all the excitement, Alex forgot about his friends back at home. Until one day, he received a very unexpected phone call.

"Alex?"

"Rose?" Alex asked incredulously.

"Yep! How're you – no, okay, I'll talk to you later. I've got someone here who really wants to talk to you...erm, it might be best if you covered your ears."

Before Alex could ask what she meant, the phone had been passed over. And suddenly, his eardrums were filled with a high pitched, and very loud, squeal.

"Alex! I can't believe you didn't even think about telling us!"

"Er...hi, Jack. How're you?"

"Never mind me, how're you? How's the baby? How long until she gives birth?"

After that interrogation, Alex promised to give Jack weekly updates too. And then of course, there was Tom.

"Dude, how come you never mentioned this before you left?"

"How was I supposed to know?"

"Oh right...good point. Well, I suppose I should congratulate you on knocking her up. You should have seen Detention! Chucked a right spaz, according to Ben. Year Coordinator was apparently clearing all the Bullies from the floor to give him some privacy."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Alex asked, confused. But the names sounded oddly familiar somehow.

Oh wait...the code.

"I can't believe you still remember it!"

"What are friends for?" Alex could almost hear the grin in Tom's voice. "Anyway, tell Dessi I said 'hi'. And Jack says to make sure she doesn't overexert herself. She's reading all these baby books...it's getting kinda weird..."

And then, the cravings kicked in. They started off relatively tame, like chocolate coated tuna, and spinach with honey and pepper. And then...

"Alex?"

"Hey Des, how're you feeling?" Alex asked, looking up from the case Gibbs's team were working on (he'd been assigned as a temporary liaison, until Dessi gave birth anyway).

"I...I want something to eat," Dessi said, sitting down next to him.

"Yeah? Tell me, I'll go get it for you."

"I want Vegemite," she said, turning those crystal blue eyes on him.

"Erm...what?" Alex asked, baffled.

"Vegemite! You know!"

No, Alex did not know. Not even Ziva knew, when she came home. Neither did Tony, who'd tagged along with her. They ended up phoning Gibbs, who'd started laughing at them and refusing to answer.

It was a good thing that particular craving passed. And didn't come back.

But by far the worst one was when Desiree turned to him and asked for chalk. That was when he put his foot down.

The of course, there were the baby names. Dessi hadn't wanted to know the gender, and to be fair Alex hadn't either. However, it did make the naming thing a tad hard, since they had to think up twice the amount of names.

"Okay, if it's a girl, how about Linda?" Alex asked.

Dessi wrinkled her nose, "I don't really like Linda."

"Alisha?"

"Had a bad experience with an 'Alisha' trying to kill me."

"Brenda?"

"Maybe..."

"We're not going to get anywhere, are we?"

"No," Desiree laughed, "I don't think so."

There was one thing Alex noticed about Dessi throughout her pregnancy. And that was that she started laughing more now. It reminded him a bit of the hyper, over-excited girl he'd first met all those years ago.

"I vote we just wing it," Alex said, "When the baby comes out."

"Okay."

And then of course, came that inevitable day nine months later, when Desiree suddenly froze on her way to lunch, and turned her wide eyes on him.

"Alex? I...I think my water just broke..."

.

Two hours into labour, and still no sign of the baby. At Desiree's insistence, Alex had been forced to wait outside. He wasn't sure why; it wasn't like he'd never seen blood before.

"Alex!"

He looked up to see Ziva rushing towards him. "Why are you outside? What happened?"

Alex shrugged. "Got kicked out. And...I'm not sure. Why are you here?"

"Gibbs said you could use some support. And, well, I did not think you wanted Tony or McGee here," Ziva said, smiling wryly.

"Thanks."

They sat in silence, for what seemed like an eternity, before the door finally opened.

"Alex Rider?"

Alex stood up with a jolt. "Yes?"

The doctor smiled. "Congratulations. It's a healthy baby boy."

And Alex broke out into a grin, with Ziva pulling him into a hug before pushing him into the room.

Desiree lay on the bed, looking tired as hell. Her hair, which had grown long during the nine months, was matted with sweat. Despite all that, she looked rather pleased with herself, and kept cooing at the bundle in her arms.

When Alex looked closer, his breath caught in his throat.

"Is that..." he whispered, awed.

Dessi looked up with a smile. "Yeah."

"Wow. He's so...small."

She laughed. "I know."

Their little boy was asleep, fists tightly curled, snuggled against Desiree.

"D'you want to hold him?" She asked.

Alex just smiled, reaching out and accepting the precious bundle. "He's...so..."

"Beautiful? Gorgeous? Adorable?" Desiree supplied, yawning.

"All of the above," Alex said. "Gregory."

"Hm?"

"I think...I think he's a Gregory."

Desiree blinked. "I think you're right. Gregory. Gregory Alex Rider."

"Wait, what?" Alex looked up, startled to hear his name.

"I like it," Dessi smiled. "I think it fits."

Before Alex could reply, not that he really could with his throat clogged up the way that it was, Desiree leaned back and closed her eyes. She was asleep within seconds, her soft breathing filling the room.

Alex looked down at the little boy, his little boy, cuddled within his arms. "Gregory Alex Rider. I like it too."

The baby made a soft noise, almost like he was in agreement.

"Gregory it is," Alex laughed. He drank in the small features of the newly named Gregory, everything from the curled fingers to the tuft of blonde hair on his head.

"I hope you have your mother's eyes," Alex whispered, pressing a kiss to Gregory's forehead.

.

Stay tuned for the next chapter! It's going to be the last one... *sob*

Love Chariots99