A/N – Here is another chapter, not too far in the future like the others have come. I'm thinking on doing a larger series off this story, with more chapters and more details of the in between times… what do you all think, since this is kind of a string of one-shots? I really enjoy this story and don't want to screw it up, but I was thinking that it would be nice to see the whole string of things that Tony and Ziva have gone through since Paris and how they both changed. Leave a review or PM on what you think.
Washington, DC
Ziva stood in front of the mirror of the bathroom for a while, before beginning to pace the room nervously. She was taking much longer to get ready this morning than she did any other morning. They had both woken up rather early, feeling rested from their vacation, but they were a little nervous going back to work today. They knew that the ring on Ziva's finger would be more than visible and that others would ask questions.
Ziva could hear Tony pacing outside of the bathroom, wondering what was taking her so long. She glanced down at her wrist-watch that she was wearing. She continued pacing the bathroom, a million thoughts running through her mind. The first question she had was: why hadn't they been more careful? That was the only thing she could think right now as she listened to the ticking of her watch. She didn't even think time was really passing, because it seemed to be going so slow, and waiting was difficult as always.
Suddenly the bathroom door was opened and Ziva half-jumped and half-turned to see Tony. She could see her worry reflected on his face as he spotted the small white test on the counter next to the sink. He looked at her with question in his eyes, but didn't ask what was on his mind. She glanced at the clock and realized it was time to check. She swallowed about a thousand thoughts she was having and started to turn to the test, feeling more than afraid. She closed her eyes feeling herself trembling and nearly cracking in her fear.
She felt Tony's hands on her. They started on her shoulders and slowly slid down her arms before wrapping around her stomach. She knew that he was facing the test already and probably looking at it. She looked at him and he pointed to the test.
Ziva nodded and slowly turned to face the sink. There was a small plus sign on it that made her choke on some tears. There were tears of fear, tears of joy, and tears of worry all running through her now. She leaned into Tony unsure of what to feel first.
"I'm scared," she whispered into his chest as she pressed herself into him, desperately needing his comfort at that moment.
He nodded, but didn't say anything. Nothing needed to be said. She didn't want anything said. He was scared too; she could feel him trembling. It wasn't that long ago that they had gone through this with some hope. Her arms tightened around him knowing that right now he needed her as much as she needed him.
Tony pressed his whole self into Ziva and took a rattling breath in and let it out in a long and worried sigh. Ziva was trembling more than he had ever felt her tremble and he knew she was working very hard to hold herself together. He squeezed her tight to him and rested his head on top of hers, suddenly feeling the wetness of her tears as she began to sob into his chest.
Ziva tightened her arms around Tony knowing that her emotions were screaming to get out with good reason. She knew that, now more than ever, she had to do the healthy thing and let the emotions go. She finally gave in and allowed those tears at the edges of her eyes slip down her cheeks and onto Tony's shirt. She felt his breath falter as he realized she was crying, but his grip only tightened on her until she wasn't crying nearly as much and was under control again.
Tony lowered his head a little so his chin was resting on her shoulder. His hot breath was hitting her neck and sending very different shivers up her spine. She shuddered in his arms and her breath caught in her throat as she allowed her eyes to slide closed and allowed comfort to come to her as easily as the fear had.
"Call your midwife," he whispered in her ear.
Without letting go of his fiancée, he reached in his back pocket for the phone that was there. It was hers. He had finished collecting her things since he had thought she was just having a slow morning. He knew now that it wasn't an average morning for either of them.
Ziva dialed the phone slowly, almost hesitantly. Why hadn't they been more careful? Would this end up as the incident six weeks ago had? Were they doomed for more heartache? Could this last? Would they make it through the crucial time? What would the others say? Who cared what the others would say?! Why was she worrying so much? And why was she so overwhelmed with worrying about everything now?
She swallowed everyone of those questions and more. She had one thing she could definitely do now that was only a little stressful. She pressed the send button and made the call.
"Dr. Johnson's office, how can I help you this morning?" answered the voice of the secretary that Ziva knew was named Joyce.
"Good morning Joyce, I would like to make an appointment right away. This is Ziva David," she said confidently, though she felt far from it and was shaking in Tony's arms, already knowing they were going to be late on their first day back to work (that they were already late for their first day back to work), which didn't look good. She would explain it to Gibbs, because she could always go talk to Gibbs and she knew that. She had known that before he had said it to them three weeks ago.
"What is this about, Ziva?" the secretary asked, genuine worry in her voice, already knowing enough of Ziva's history to know that she hated going to the doctor and certainly never asked to do so right away. Ziva recognized her worry, but continued on, knowing what had to be done.
"I have had another positive home pregnancy test. I need to come in as soon as you have an opening. It is very important, I had a miscarriage six weeks ago," Ziva said, with a new wave of emotions of urgency and fear washing over her.
"We have an opening now," the secretary said. "What's the soonest you can get here?"
"Now," Ziva said, half-questioning and half-certain.
Her question was for Tony, though she knew that they would make it work out somehow, no matter what the cost, since this was more important to both of them.
Tony nodded toward Ziva and pulled out his own phone. He had the phone dialed, but waited until Ziva was off the phone to make the call, just to double check that they were going to be very, very late to work today. And there was just no way that Tony was going to let Ziva go through this alone ever; not with the fear of miscarriage hanging over their heads.
"Okay, how far away from the office are you?" Joyce asked her.
"Ten minutes," Ziva said with certainty, already having clocked it from their apartment now that she was living with Tony permanently.
"Will your boyfriend be coming in with you again this time?"
"Fiancée now," she corrected automatically, as though they had been engaged forever already.
"Well, congratulations!" the secretary said, sounding as though she had a good reason to smile over this when she usually saw Ziva only twice each year. "I'll see you two in about ten minutes, then."
"We will be there," Ziva promised and took the other phone from Tony as she hung up her own cell phone, wanting to be the one to actually make the call to Gibbs.
She pressed the call button and turned it to speaker phone, her hand shaking with a wave of nerves crashing over her like a tsunami, knowing that his innitial reaction to them being late was not going to be a good one. The phone rang twice and then Gibbs answered.
"DiNozzo, you had better have a god damn good excuse for calling me fifteen minutes after you're already supposed to be here. Obviously you're not on your way yet," Gibbs said, sounding angry. "What in the hell is the hold-up this time? I thought we talked about you two not showing up late again anytime soon, unless it was an absolute emergency? Tell me you two didn't get distracted the morning after you were on vacation for a week?"
"Need another half day, boss," Tony said urgently, sounding worried and using a very short reply to all of his boss's questions, refusing to take too much time in answering all that.
"What's troubling you? Miss the flight? Oversleep? Had a fight?" Gibbs asked, sounding very suddenly worried about what could hold these two up for another half day last minute. He knew that missing the flight was out of the question, but it was the first thing that came to his mind to ask.
"Positive home-pregnancy test," Ziva said in a small voice clenching onto Tony again, as though her whole world depended on his touch in this crucial moment in their lives. "We're going to the doctor's right away. With my history it's necessary. Gibbs, I am sorry."
"Don't apologize, kid," Gibbs said sounding both worried and sympathetic at the same time.
"Gibbs...?" Ziva began, but wasn't entirely sure what she was asking.
"I won't tell the others. Listen, don't worry about a thing now. Get to your doctor and get this taken care of. Family always comes first, kid. Take your half-day. Get here by noon if you can," Gibbs said in understanding, still sounding as worried as Ziva and Tony did. "Just shoot me a text when you're on the way and how long you'll be. I'll see you both later. And, good luck!"
"Thank you," Ziva said quietly and hung up the phone without another word.
Tony led them down toward the car quickly and Ziva climbed in and buckled her seatbelt, her heart already racing. She was unsure of whether to be excited, nervous, scared, happy, or worried.
Tony drove carefully all the way to the doctor's office and parked the car in the parking lot before turning to Ziva and speaking to her. He had been giving both of them plenty of time to collect their thoughts.
"What's on your mind?" he asked shakily, still feeling too many emotions himself for this conversation and knew that she, too, was feeling too many emotions.
"Everything," Ziva said. "I'm terrified, Tony."
"Me too," he said quietly, knowing that was not at all what she needed to hear, but knowing that the truth was what she needed more than hearing false comfort.
"I want to be excited," she said quietly and honestly. "I just do not wish to get my hopes up."
He nodded and took her hand, gently kissing the back of it. She knew that he could feel her trembling and she knew that was why he gave her hand an extra squeeze as he moved it back away from his lips. They made their way into the building. The midwife, Cara, took her in right away and did an ultrasound before anything else.
"You are pregnant, Ziva," she confirmed, looking at the picture. "Judging by the growth of the fetus I would say around six weeks. The fetus is attached in a good place, where there wasn't much scarring to begin with. That's a good sign. Things appear normal. The fetus has a strong heartbeat. I would like you to come in next week at the same time for another ultrasound, so we can see how things are progressing. Don't change anything about your routine, just remember, no getting shot in the uterus."
They both nodded at her. "Cara?" Ziva asked timidly. "What are the chances I will lose this one?"
"Lower than last time," she said certainly. "But, I can't give you a number until next week. I would say they are much lower than last time around. Go on to work. I know you're late. We can talk more about it next week when you come in again. Just make sure you're eating healthy and all is well. Here's a prenatal vitamin for you with extra iron oxide in it. That should help with everything, since you have a history. Go on to work."
They both nodded and stood up, looking at each other fearfully but also with hope lacing its way into their minds. Ziva took the pill as soon as she got into the car. Her hands were shaking with excitement and nerves.
"Why were we so careless?" she asked Tony.
"Because a part of us wants this so much that we don't care if it happens now," Tony replied. "I want this, Ziva."
"So do I, Tony. I'm just afraid," she said quietly, taking his hand off the steering wheel, needing him closer to her.
They arrived at NCIS, both having forgotten to text Gibbs on their way. They climbed into the elevator and Tony pulled her into a tight embrace. They clung to each other like the world around them didn't matter.
The elevator soon dinged as the silver doors slid open and they were still locked in an embrace. Someone joined them and pressed a button before they could realize thattime hadn't actually stopped and get out. They only realized who was there when the elevator stopped suddenly.
"Talk to me," Gibbs said as both his agents looked up.
"Six weeks," Ziva said quietly unable to think everything through at that moment.
"And?" Gibbs asked.
"The fetus is attached in a better area than last time; an area that didn't have a lot of scar tissue before it was removed, so it's less likely to lose it this time," Tony explained. "The midwife says chances are better than last time. Boss?"
"Yes, Tony," Gibbs said, using his Senior Field Agent's first name for the first time in his memory.
"We don't want to tell the others right now," he said. "We're both afraid of what might happen."
"I thought you two were trying to wait."
"My prescription ran out and we had some problems with the pharmacy for a couple of weeks there," Ziva explained. "We were careless."
He nodded in understanding, seeing how these two could be careless when all they were filled with was love for each other and happiness. Now they were terrified and they needed his help. He was going to do whatever it took to keep these two feeling safe through this.
"I've got you," he said, taking both his agents into a hug and pulling them close. They were his kids and they knew it. They could feel the fatherly love in the embrace and then Gibbs switched the elevator back on. "Restrictions?"
"Don't get shot in the uterus," Ziva said.
"Well, it's recommended that you don't do that anyway," Gibbs said with a chuckle. "But, we'll take some extra precautions when we go into the field from now on. I'm glad you two talked to me. If there's anything else, all you have to do is let me know and I will make sure you are taken care of."
They both thanked Gibbs as the elevator doors opened and all three agents got out to a confused-looking McGee, Ducky, Palmer, and Abby. They were staring at the three who had just exited the elevator each wondering why Tony and Ziva were so late and then also wondering why Gibbs had joined them in the elevator and everyone was looking so worried.
"Back to work," Gibbs barked at the others.
But, no one moved. They had all spotted it, including Gibbs, though he hadn't said anything in the elevator about it. They all were staring down at Ziva's hand as she placed her hands on her desk and began to work on some paperwork from the previous case before they had a new case to work on.
"Ziva?" Abby questioned.
They hadn't even known about the relationship that her and Tony were having and therefore they didn't know that they were engaged. For that matter, they were all under the impression that both agents were completely single and therefore didn't know that either one of them could possibly be engaged.
"Abby?" Ziva said, turning to her and realized instantly where her eyes, along with everyone else's eyes, were staring.
Ziva's face broke into a smile and her face went pink. It was so flushed with color that others that weren't Tony actually noticed and she could tell. Ducky walked forward to her, looking confused and examined the ring before backing up.
"You going to tell us about your relationship?" Abby asked quietly. "Who are you seeing? How long have you been seeing him? When did he propose? Oh, and how was your vacation?"
"My vacation was wonderful," Ziva answered, still feeling slightly flushed but standing up from her desk and walking around it. She glanced at Tony who was also standing. She looked around at the group of people surrounding her. They were family and they needed to know. Ziva went the rest of the way to Tony's side. "We've been together for more than a year. He proposed to me almost a week ago."
At first, the others looked very confused, as though they didn't have a clue as to what Ziva was talking about, and they all narrowed their eyes and exchanged perplexed glances before returning their eyes to Ziva, hoping she would explain what she said and why she was standing so close to Tony.
Ziva slid her arm carefully around Tony's waist and he smiled down at her as he slid his own arm behind her back and around her waist. He pulled her close to his side and held her tight, protectively.
Abby and McGee both looked more confused by this gesture, wondering what the hell was going on. Palmer was shaking his head as though he was seeing something strange and had misheard her and Ducky was smiling at the two holding onto each other tightly. Ziva glanced at Gibbs, who was also smiling at the two of them.
"Took him long enough," Gibbs said quietly with a slight chuckle. Ducky laughed at this but the others just turned to look at him confused. "What?" he asked with a shrug as he sat back down at his desk to continue working. He still didn't remove his eyes from Tony and Ziva, already knowing there would be more questions coming his way since he wasn't protesting what was clearly in front of him.
"You approved this?" Abby asked, clearly confused.
"I did," Gibbs said quietly, nodding. "I definitely did."
The others looked more confused than before. "Congratulations, I think," McGee said, shaking his head. "Any reason you didn't share with the class?"
"We are not in a class," Ziva said confused.
"It's an expression, love," Tony said quietly into her ear, though he knew the others heard his words. "Meaning you didn't share with the other people in the room."
Ziva nodded slightly and said a silent "oh" as she understood the meaning. "No particular reason, McGee," Ziva said quietly. "We just did not tell anyone for a long while. We wanted to make it work first."
The others were still looking confused and Abby was shaking her head. "I didn't see that coming," she muttered quietly. "I thought I would know if you two started something. I mean, yea… there's definitely chemistry between you two and you've both been acting strangely nice to each other lately and been showing up late and took a vacation at the same time… but I just thought it was a coincidence… although you've also both been busy on the same nights too. I guess I should have seen it, huh?"
"Yea, I guess so," Tony said quietly chickling at just how obvious it was that they had been together. "But we did work hard to hide it for a long while. Gibbs approved it about three weeks ago when we were working that case in North Carolina."
"He actually approves?" Palmer asked. "He hates coworkers dating!"
"He usually does," Gibbs threw in. "But this is Tony and Ziva we're talking about. They fell in love a long time ago, but they've refused to see it until now. I just hope that they don't see some other things so unclearly ever again. They're perfect for each other, like they were made that way."
"Now that I've heard everything… I think I will go back to my lab and prepare for the end of the world as we know it," Abby said, still shaking her head. "Congratulations, I think."
She sounded so confused and lost in her thoughts and Tony and Ziva wondered if they would get any genuine statements today or if they were all going to be so down at that moment.
"Congratulations to both of you and I am with Jethro on this one. It's about time!" Ducky said with a smile before retreating after Abby.
McGee was at a loss for more words, so he sat back down at his desk and Ziva turned her face to Tony and pressed a light kiss to his cheek before returning to her desk. Her stomach felt a little off, but she knew that was just because she was hungry and was getting nauseous from not eating. She looked at the clock. It was twelve already. She glanced at Gibbs, who was deep in his work. She didn't want to say something, because it sounded rude, especially after showing up late, but she needed to eat. She needed to stay as healthy as she could.
"Um…," she began as Gibbs glanced from his computer screen to Ziva.
"You and Tony go get lunch," he said instantly.
"What about me, boss?" McGee asked with a frown.
"You can have yours at the normal time, McGee. Ziva needs to eat. Hasn't eaten all morning," Gibbs said softly. "They had a good reason for being late this morning and that reason also requires Ziva to eat on time. And, who am I to split up the dynamic duo?"
"Are you sick Ziva?" McGee asked.
"No, McGee. I just need to eat on time and all the right things. It is nothing to worry about now," Ziva said quietly, shaking her head a little and realizing that hiding this and not hoping so much was a little more difficult than she thought it was going to be.
Tony met Ziva near the elevator and pressed the button to send them down, planting a kiss on top of her forehead. They told the team. They were taking care of Ziva. Gibbs was helping them. They were going to be okay, no matter what happened.
A/N – Don't forget to leave a review or a private message on what you think about me doing a larger story based on this one of the events that went on between these chapters, including what was already stated in these chapters. Thanks everyone!