Chapter 17
A/N: I got asked by a friend who was reading over my shoulder where I got the name for the dog and the name for the Child services lady from, the dog is named after Magnum P.I (Sulli is short for Sullivan as in Thomas Sullivan Magnum) and Carrie King is a mixture of Carrie White (from Carrie) and Stephen King…. I'd just started re-reading Carrie when I decided to write the CS woman into this. So I'm so far ahead on my assignments I'm helping my class do theirs, I figured I'd take a break on the thinking before I fry my brain and give you guys a little extra update
A/N: oh how I wish I owned the show
Reaching up onto his toes Nicky reached for the door handle to answer for whoever had just knocked. Catching him in time an now six months pregnant Ziva scolded "Nicky you know not to answer the door, go and finish your breakfast." Opening the door she found an impatiently waiting Carrie King on the other side of the door, "oh Ms King come in, this is the third unscheduled visit right?" she asked the other woman just nodded.
"Ziva, Ziva, Ziva" Nicky called from the kitchen Ziva simply rolled her eyes. Nicky had a habit of getting clingy when the Child Services woman was anywhere near the apartment, they were awaiting the final okay on the house they'd been looking at the month before. No one knew where it was but it was just the perfect distance between Gibbs' house and work that they felt like of the got it they wouldn't need to worry in case of emergency, if something happened at home, the other could get from work or Gibbs over in no time or vice versa. "Ziva, Ziva, Ziva" came Nicky's voice again.
"Yes, Nicky?" Ziva asked the boy patiently "can we go to the park today?" he asked clearly. 'It is incredible the amount Nicky had learned to pronounce his words clearer in the time he'd been with the couple' Carrie thought to herself, 'he's become so attached to them in his short stay.' "After breakfast baby boy" Ziva answered indulgently, "I'm done" Nicky answered too quickly at the prospect of the park if he finished sooner rather than later "one more pancake please, or you can have two toasts on the way there" Ziva chuckled at Nicky's eager expression. "toast pwease" he answered 'apparently his speech slipped when he got excited' Carrie though to herself, she didn't want to interrupt this interaction but she wanted to see more of it before she made her final judgement "do you mind if I join you at the park?" she asked Ziva who answered with "of course" before turning her attention back to Nicky "why don't you go get dressed and I'll make your toast Nicky" she suggested to the little boy who was bouncing in his seat.
(At the park)
"I've been put on maternity leave because of these two" Ziva offered looking dreamily at her very grown out tummy "it has only been two weeks but if I did not have Nicky to entertain I would have remained as sane as I have." The younger woman laughed, Carrie hadn't had much contact with Ziva she always seemed to be entertaining Nicholas, Tony had done his fair share of playing with the boy but it was obvious Ziva was more maternal then Tony was paternal or maybe that was just because Ziva was pregnant she clung to Nicky as more a form of protectiveness than Tony is just yet.
"Ziva, Ziva come play. Come play" Nicky called out from the top of the slide, Ziva chuckled at his antics and attempts to get her attention, "my master calls, will you be alright over here?" she said to Carrie who just nodded in reply and smiled at the younger woman who seemed more and more enamoured with her charge every time she saw them.
After nearly three and a half hours of swinging and sliding and monkeying on the equipment at the park Nicholas seemed satisfactorily tired out and ready for a nap, Ziva carried him carefully towards the car taking care to avoid leaning him directly on her belly. Strapping the tiny looking boy into his car seat (Tony reasoned they needed the seats anyway for when the twins were born so he'd won the debate on that) Ziva moved towards the driver's seat as Carrie moved hesitantly towards the passenger's seat, the few times she'd had the misfortune of being in the car with Ziva the younger woman drove like she was avoiding non-existent bombs. As Ziva started the car she drove more gently cautious of her precious cargo in the back seat.
"You and Tony seem rather attached to Nicholas" Carrie attempted subtlety in the conversation, testing Ziva feelings towards the boy. "He is an amazing boy, so full of love and life. Always laughing or trying to get someone to laugh, he does not like sad faces. And he adores Sulli and the twins." Ziva answered honestly, "Sulli?" Carrie asked confused. "Our dog" Ziva answered smiling at the memory of the first time the two met, how Nicky had insisted on calling him "Silly" instead of "Sulli". "Have you found out the gender of the twins yet?" Carrie asked, suspicious of how Nicky would react to having new children in the house, in her experience new kids haven't always been accepted easily. "No not yet, though Nicky insists they will be girls, he will not let us sway him otherwise." Ziva laughed quietly as if at some inside joke. That was a good sign really, if the adoptive child was eager to participate in the guessing of the genders of new siblings then they would be more likely to accept the new sibling.
The rest of the ride was in silence, arriving at the apartment building Ziva carrying the sleeping toddler in her arms, whispering so as not to wake him Carrie told Ziva of her plans for their next appointment "it'll be our scheduled meeting so I'll call up to a week before hand to let you know when I'll be arriving for the final inspection." She told the younger woman, helping her to unlock the door and opening it for her. Following Carrie inside Ziva mentioned, "we may have a new place in about three weeks' time, just in time for Nicky's birthday. We have bought a house or at least we are in the middle of settling on one." Ziva said smiling down at the boy in her arms, subconsciously placing a kiss on his head as she mentioned his birthday, "sounds exciting, I'll make sure to get that address off you when you know it. Would you like help putting him down for his nap?" Ziva just nodded in return.
Making their way to Nicholas' makeshift room on the study, Ziva lay the boy down who woke momentarily only enough to whisper an "I love you mummy" before falling asleep again, registering the shock on Ziva's face Carrie sent a questioning look towards Ziva. Ziva shook her head at the woman beside her "he has never called me that before" she whispered.
Later that night Tony climbed into bed next to his fiancée snuggling in behind her wrapping his arms around her, "how'd it go with Nicky today, did he behave?" he asked Ziva he had been a little pensive all night. She was silent for a moment before answering "he called me mummy today," Tony gasped at her revelation, "it was when I out him down for a nap after we all got back from the park" she continued, "all?" Tony questioned "that woman, Carrie? From Child Services? She was here all morning unscheduled visit. The next one will be around Nicky's birthday." Tony didn't respond, he knew they were getting close to Nicky and he them, he just didn't realise it had evolved that far. "Would it be all that bad though? To be his parents? He doesn't exactly have anyone else…" his voice trailed off and Ziva merely nodded silently at which question he didn't know, what he did know was that at this point there was no way they were losing Nicky.
A/N: that's all for now, tune in next time for Nicky's birthday and Carrie's final judgement (okay so that sounds a little more creepy than intended). Hope you've been enjoying this so far, after the next chapter I think I'll do one for each of the three remaining months of the pregnancy and an epilogue of the twins first birthday (total of five more chapters).