He stares into his bowl of cereal in silence. She clears her throat. He sits on a stool at her kitchen table. He looks up at her.
"Did you say something?" He asks.
"Are you staying here, or are you going to bed?"
"What are we going to do?" He changes the subject.
"McGee, you can do whatever you want. I am going to go to bed."
"About the situation," he clarifies.
"I am going to have a baby," she answers, matter-of-factly.
"What does that mean for us?"
"It means that you're either in, or you're out."
"I just don't understand how this happened. We were so careful," He explains.
"Not as careful as you think."
"What do you mean?"
"I had to wrack by brain to figure out how it happened," she admits.
"And?"
"I carefully examined each piece of evidence."
"Did you find anything of interest?"
"The condoms that we have been using are expired."
"You have got to be kidding me."
Kate tucks her daughter into bed, kissing her forehead, as she reaches for the lamp.
"Mommy, wait."
"Yes, Addy?"
"You don't look happy," she exhales.
Kate stares at the precious face of her daughter, who is neatly tucked into her bed.
"Addy, what makes you say that?"
"You never smile, anymore."
"You make me happy."
Addy shakes her head, "Something is missing."
"Nothing is missing. You are all that I need."
"It's lonely here," she adds.
"Addy, what are you talking about?"
"It's so quiet. At daddy's house it is always noisy, and messy."
"You like noisy, and messy?"
"You work too much. We don't have enough fun," Addy continues.
"What do you suggest I do to have fun?"
Addy grins, "Go on a date."
"You want to have a date night?"
"Not with me, mommy!"
"Then, with who?"
"With a grown up."
"Why do you want me to go on a date?"
"Maybe then I could have a sister."
"Maybe your dad's new baby will be a girl."
He is lying in bed, working on the crossword puzzle when he hears bare feet smacking against the hardwood floor. A toddler appears in the doorway.
"What are you doing?"
"Miss me?"
"Of course," Ziva speaks up.
The three year old races across the room, and jumps onto the bed. Without a word he finds the center of the bed, and worms his way underneath the covers between Tony, and Ziva. Tony places his crossword puzzle on the night stand. He turns to his son.
"Malachi, can you tell me what it is that you're doing?"
"I am sleeping in here," he informs his dad.
"You are?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Just in case," Malachi answers.
Ziva puts her book on her bedside stand, and turns towards her son. "You can sleep in here," she kisses his cheek.
"Thanks, mommy."
"Whoa! Wait, a minute! I did not agree to this," Tony argues.
"Daddy, I don't want you to forget me!"
"Son, what are you talking about?"
"If the baby comes you have go to the hospital."
"Yes," he nods in agreement.
"What if you forget about me?"
"I won't forget about you. We talked about this, if mommy goes into labor, then I will come and get you out of your bed, and take you over to Kate's house."
"What if you are in a hurry?"
"I could never forget my little, turkey," he tickles him.
He giggles, "Stop!"
Tony stops, and Ziva reaches over, her hands hovering over the toddler.
"Mommy, no!"
She tickles him, and he laughs hysterically.
He lies in bed, with his glasses on his face. He reads the latest edition of Boating Magazine. Hollis exits the bathroom, wearing striped pajamas, and pulls back the covers. She climbs into bed, and reaches onto her night stand to grab her lotion. She pumps out a dollop of lotion, and begins rubbing it into her hands. As she rubs in the lotion she looks over at her husband. He stares at his magazine, but her glance does not go unnoticed.
"What is on your mind?"
"Nothing," she fibs.
"Something," he argues.
"It's nothing," she insists.
He puts his magazine down, and turns his full attention to her.
"What is it?"
"How did we end up being so lucky?"
"I don't know," he shrugs.
"Who would have ever anticipated that I would have gotten pregnant with Jackson at forty six? How does that happen?"
"It was just meant to be, I guess."
"And everything went so smoothly."
"We have been very fortunate."
"And neither one of us thought that we would use the embryos that we banked after we had Jackson. I certainly didn't think that you would be the one that wanted to have another child."
He grins, "Life is full of surprises. What would we do without her?"
"I would be completely surrounded by testosterone, and wooden models."
"Hollis, where is this going?"
"It is a long shot…"
"What is?"
"Is it selfish of me to do have one more? They are both so incredible."
"We have two perfect pancakes, why would you want to tempt fate? We're not getting any younger, and we don't even know if it would…"
"I haven't gone off the deep end. I don't want to get pregnant again."
He furrows his brow, "I don't understand."
"I have been thinking about adoption a lot lately."
He lies in the dark, and listens to her breathe. He states at the ceiling, and feels the anxiety increasing with each passing second. With no notice he is hit in the gut with a pillow.
"What was that for?"
Abby exhales, "Take your anxiety somewhere else."
"I'm sorry. I am just anxious about all of this."
"You don't have to do anything."
"There are so many things that could go wrong, and…"
"Couch!"
"Abby!"
"If you don't want to do this you can go home."
"I never said that."
"Why are you being such a spaz?"
"What if I'm not any good at this?"
She rolls her eyes, "Why don't you take your negativity, and self-doubt to the other room?"
"I'm sorry."
"I am trying to sleep."
"Fine," he rolls out of the bed.