Disclaimer: I own only what I make up!

Author's note: This is my first NCIS story, and I'm currently working my way through season 8 on Netflix. I just had this idea in my head and had to write it out; please be kind :)

Tony was confused, and as usual, it was because of Ziva.

She'd been acting very odd for the past few months—she was more distant than was normal for her, was always tired and making excuses about not hanging out with anyone from the team after work, especially for casual things, and even her wardrobe had changed—instead of her usual tight clothing, everything she'd been wearing lately seemed to be resting loosely on her body. Ziva David was not a woman who purposefully sported baggy clothes… until now. She also seemed sad all the time.

Tony noticed these changes in Ziva because she was usually the subject of his daydreams, and also because though they drove each other insane on a daily basis, they were still friends, and he cared about her well-being.

That was why, even though it would probably make her suspicious at first, Tony found himself in the grocery store at seven o'clock on a Saturday night, putting together a shopping cart of things that he hoped would cheer Ziva up.

In the middle of that, Ziva actually called him, in tears, and asked him to come to her apartment as quickly as possible. Tony was extremely taken aback, but he promised her he would come immediately, even heading straight to the check-out line as they wrapped up their conversation.

Luckily, Ziva's apartment building wasn't that far from the grocery store, and he was knocking on her front door less than fifteen minutes later.

"Ziva?" Tony called.

"The door is unlocked, Tony!" she called back, sounding as upset as she had on the phone. "Please come in!"

Tony entered his friend's apartment, and it wasn't until he turned around from shutting the door and hanging up his coat that he saw Ziva and words failed him.

For starters, she was dressed more casually than he'd ever seen her in an open button-down shirt, a tank top and sweatpants, and her hair was free of its usual confinements and cascading down her back; it was like she'd given up on trying to tame it tonight. Because her hair was as long and thick and curly as it was, Tony knew for a fact that Ziva had always had always preferred keeping it out of her face. Tony was also sure that Ziva wasn't wearing any makeup.

As if Tony wasn't already taken aback, the feeling skyrocketed when he saw that Ziva wasn't alone—in her arms was a baby girl who was dressed for bed and couldn't have been more than six months old. And had it been Tony's imagination, or had he seen a second child, maybe a small toddler, disappear behind the couch when he came in?

As he took the scene in, Ziva said anxiously, "I suppose you think a little differently of me now, yes?"

"No." Tony said quickly. "I actually don't, but this does answer a few things I've been wondering lately."

Ziva nodded towards the grocery bag in Tony's right hand. "What is in there?"

"I was at the grocery store when you called, collecting things to cheer you up. I got your favorite food, drinks, and ice cream."

Hearing that, Ziva's heart lightened considerably for the first time that night, and she almost cried more than she already had been, but she kept herself together.

"Thank you, Tony. That is very, very nice of you." she told him. "How about you go put everything away, and when you come back, I will make the proper introductions and explain what is going on?"

"Okay, but I think that you've got someone hiding behind the couch."

Realizing this, Ziva waited until Tony was in the kitchen before heading to the couch and standing at the head of the space between it and the wall.

"Ella Brave, what have I said about going behind there?"

"It's a no-no?" she queried in her high-pitched little girl voice.

"Exactly. Now please come out."

Ella Brave hesitated. "Who was that?"

"He is my friend, and his name is Tony. I called him because I wanted to see him."

"He is gentle?"

"Yes, my dear little friend. He is very gentle."

Mostly because she was extremely tired, Ella Brave emerged from her hiding spot and clambered up onto the couch, snuggling with Ziva when she sat with her. At almost three years old, Ella Brave had a naturally tan complexion, big brown eyes and beautiful brown shoulder-length hair that was presently devoid of it's usual pigtails. Currently, she was dressed in pink footie pajamas decorated with unicorns. To an outsider, she looked like Ziva's biological daughter, as did the baby in Ziva's arms.

"Is there any room for me?"

Tony had come back and was watching the scene, waiting for an invitation.

"Of course, Tony." cradling the baby in one arm, she patted the empty space beside her. "Please come sit."

When Tony made himself comfortable, he remarked, "I never thought I'd see the day when you were maternal or with children, and willingly, Z. What's happening?"

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "What is the phrase when you are dating someone, but you decide to end things in a not so nice way?"

"Dumped." Tony supplied. "Is that what happened?"

Ziva nodded. "I was dating a Marine lieutenant for the past few months, and he dumped me because I told him something that he did not want to hear."

"Is there anything I can do?" Tony asked seriously.

Ziva shook her head. "Other than just be here with me, there is nothing that you can do. But thank you."

"Any time. Seriously."

A small smile flitted across the brunette's lips, and when the baby in her arms gave an impatient wiggle, Ziva gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I did not forget about you, Alush."

Comforted by the sound of Ziva's voice, the baby gave a huge yawn and began grizzling Ziva's chest. In turn, Ziva spoke to Tony again.

"Will you please give me that bottle on the end table beside you?"

Tony looked and spotted a baby bottle full of infant drinking formula and handed it to Ziva. She gave it to the baby who immediately latched on and began suckling contently, even going so far as to close her eyes in enjoyment. Pleased the little one was happy, Ziva continued on.

"My ex, his name is Lieutenant Miles Shockley, and these are his children."

With an elbow, she indicated the toddler beside her, who was now fast asleep.

"The firstborn is Ella Brave, and she turns three on Christmas Day."

That was just over a month away.

"Ella Brave is a cool name." Tony mused. "I take it that you're holding her sister?"

"Yes. She is now six months old, and her name is Alison Joy."

Hearing her name, Alison Joy made a sound that was a cross between an extremely amused laugh and a coo, prompting Ziva to give her an extra cuddle.

"Good job recognizing your name!" she praised. "Good job!"

Alison Joy cooed again and settled in to finish drinking her bottle, so Ziva resumed her explaination to Tony.

"The way that I understand it, Miles' marriage to his wife Moira was on the pebbles—"

"On the rocks." Tony corrected automatically.

"On the rocks," echoed Ziva, taking the correction in stride. "And she did not even want a second child. She took her own life when Alison Joy was just a few weeks old, even though she and Miles were about to divorce. He was to get full custody because she wanted out."

"But what? Moira couldn't wait?"

"Yes."

"And when did you meet Miles?"

"A little over four months ago at a bar, and I met the children not long after."

"You love the kids, don't you?"

Ziva nodded. "I did not think that I would, but I do."

"You look really great with children."

Before Ziva could respond to that, Alison Joy had finished her bottle, so Ziva put it aside and busied herself with getting the little one to burp. Once that had been achieved, Ziva rocked her to sleep, only relaxing again when Alison Joy began sawing logs.

Tony hated to break up the moment, but he still had a question burning in his brain. "What did you tell Miles that made him dump you?"

Ziva's answer was blunt. "I am having a baby."

Tony opened his mouth, only to close it again quickly because he didn't know what to say.

Ziva keeping quiet she was in a relationship was one thing because in the year she'd been part of the NCIS team, they'd learned that she was a very private person. Keeping quiet that she had unconventionally come a mother was also another thing, but not spilling the beans about a pregnancy? Tony was both impressed that she'd managed to do it, but also confused that she was pregnant at all because although it was becoming clear that she had a maternal side, she had just never struck him as the type to want to physically be in the family way.

Finally, he said, "Mazel tov, David. How are you feeling?"

"Surprised and exhausted. I did not know for quite awhile that the baby is even there, but remember how I came in later to work this morning?"

Tony nodded. "Uh-huh, and you wouldn't say where you were. It was the doctor's office, wasn't it?"

"Yes, because I figured it out the day before yesterday, and I am actually further along than I thought. But I saw the child on the screen and heard the heartbeat."

"Everything check out alright?"

Ziva's eyes filled with tears as she nodded. "I left the doctor's office knowing that I really want this child. What do you think?"

Tony reached over and wiped Ziva's tears for her. "I think that if you ever need any help or someone to go get your ice cream and pickles or whatever, you can call me, and also that this means that you've grown a lot in the past year."

Ziva turned to putty. "I have always wanted to be a mother, believe it or not, but I just did not imagine that it would happen this way."

"I don't think anyone in your situation would. Where did Miles even go?"

Ziva sighed. "I do not know, nor do I wish to. The children were here with him, visiting, when I told him about the baby, and he got so upset that he just left."

If anything, Tony was appalled now. "Ziva, he just committed child abandonment, leaving his kids here, and that's a felony."

"I know, and I refuse to give them away, especially after what I found in Ella Brave's backpack."

"Which was?"

"Documents that state he does not want the girls anymore, and that he is relinquishing custody, on one condition—that I take them. I will do it, but I am so confused."

"That's only natural."

"Of course, and he has never hurt any of us, but we have seen him drunk before; he has a frightful temper. I am glad that Ella and Alison can have peace now, but I would like to see Miles at least one more time, just to try to understand why."

Fully invested in Ziva and her unconventional family now, Tony asked, "Would you like me to find him for you?"

"No, but thank you. If you left right now, I would be alone, and I do not want that. Oh…"

"What? What is it?"

Ziva had suddenly let out an audible puff of air and was again cradling Alison Joy in the football hold as she rubbed soothing circles over her bump with her free hand and spoke to the baby in Hebrew.

After a moment, she smiled at Tony. "It is nothing. She started moving this afternoon, and it is taking some getting used to."

"You're having a daughter?"

Ziva bobbed her head in confirmation, very proud. "I will make sure with her, and Ella and Alison, that they will not grow up as I did."

Beside Ziva, Ella Brave let out a massive sneeze in her sleep, rubbed her nose, and slept on.

"Will you put her in the guest bedroom please, Tony?" Ziva asked her friend. "That is where she sleeps when she is here."

Tony obliged, secretly turning to mush when Ella Brave snuggled up to him as she slept.

When he returned from tucking her in, he saw that Ziva had laid Alison Joy in the portable bassinet near the couch and was now finally relaxing, tracing shapes over her baby bump, which now that Tony knew actually was a baby bump and not Ziva packing on food pounds, was very obvious. She was even smiling as she interacted with her baby.

A year ago, Ziva had blazed onto the scene, chasing after her brother in the wake of Kate's death. She had orders to take him out, although when she did, she did it to keep in from killing Gibbs, a man that she had hardly know at the time, but was now becoming a close friend of hers. After that was all over, they all assumed that that was that, and that Ziva would be going back to Tel Aviv, but she surprised even herself when she stayed in Virginia and joined the NCIS team.

A year later, she was part of the family and showing her true colors as a person who, despite her status as an elite trained assassin for the Mossad, was not only witty and sarcastic, but also warm and a very good friend.

Somehow, it just seemed fitting that she'd become a mother.

"Ziva, can I ask you something?" Tony asked as he sat with her again.

"Sure."

"Why did you call me, instead of the others?"

"Gibbs and Director Shepherd are too much like parents to me, Abby would buckle, Ducky is already taking care of his mother, and I do not think that McGee or Palmer would know where to even begin."

"So that leaves me?"

"Yes, and thank you for coming so quickly. I thought that you would be busy."

"You're welcome, and for once, I actually wasn't busy on a Saturday night. Is there anything you need now? Are you hungry?"

Right on cue, Ziva felt her stomach emit an audible rumble. "I think we both are."

Tony stood and stretched. "Then you just chill out and you do whatever it is that Israeli assassin princess ninjas do for fun while I go make something in the kitchen."

Ziva smiled at Tony's litany of descriptors. "Alright, Tony, and thank you again."

Tony had to resist the urge to kiss her, even on the forehead, because pregnant or not, Ziva would still deck him.

He repeated his promise from earlier. "Any time, Ziva. Any time."

Meanwhile, over in Rock Creek Park, Lieutenant Miles Shockley was running as fast as he could down a hiking trail in the dark. He had a large amount of money in the duffel bag he was carrying, and someone on his tail.

He needed the money, but he also needed to still be alive to use it when he started over, so when the person behind him called out, threatening him, he put on an extra burst of speed. Numerous twigs and patches of snow continued to crunch under the soles of his favorite steel-toed boots.

He was almost clear when—

BANG! BANG!

The sound of gunshots rent the air as two bullets ripped through Miles' body and he fell to the ground in an abrupt unceremonious manner, dead.

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