Disclaimer: I don't own them, just whoever is original.

Author's Note: So I fixed whatever was "hinky" with my chapter 9, apparently I didn't realize it cut off part of what I wrote, anyways that's fixed. Hopefully I this chapter will be good. I had it near done, but my computer decided to erase all that I had written...grr...With that said, here is chapter 10.

***10***

He opened the door to the empty house, and flicked on the living room light. Setting Rachel's car seat gently on the floor, so as not to wake the slumbering baby, he set his keys on the end table. Deftly, he picked up Rachel's car seat and this time set it just as gently on the dining room table. The baby briefly stirred as Tony picked her up and settled her against his shoulder. As soon as he did so, the term "let sleeping dogs lie" popped into his mind, and just as Rachel let out a gusty wail, Tony realized that the term also applied to grouchy, teething, seven-month-olds as well. With a sigh, he quickly made up a bottle and fed his screaming daughter. Ten minutes later she was once again far away in dreamland, this time in her own bed. As Tony stood in his daughter's room, his eye caught on the photo that Ziva had taken on the day Rachel was born. He smiled weakly at the memory of when he first saw the photo. Ziva had given it to him as a gift, after he survived his first week as a brand new father. Ziva, still adjusting to her rapidly changing hormones, had cried when she saw the look of pure love and joy on his face as he studied the photo. Setting the photo back on the small end table in Rachel's room, he looked now upon the sleeping form of his daughter and wondered if that photo was a premonition of what was to come. Would he end up being "that dad"? The one who was chronically late for after school pick-up because work ran late and there was traffic? Was he going to be the one who missed soccer games and dance recitals because in order to put food on the table he had to put in extra hours at the office, again? Was he going to be the one standing in the back of the church, as friends and family anxiously awaited the beautiful bride, telling her how much she looks like her mother and that even though her mother is not here in the flesh that she is watching from Heaven? Was he going to be the one who was on the recieving end of questions like "Where's mommy?" and "What was mommy like?" As quickly as the string of questions popped into his head, he made up his mind that he was not going to be a single parent. He was determined not to have to call Abby on a Monday morning when all Rachel wants is pigtails and all he knows how to do is brush her hair. He was determined not to send Rachel to Auntie Jenny's to talk about "female stuff" and he was determined not to have "the talk" with his daughter when the time came for that. Her mother was going to do all that with her. Her mother would braid her hair and teach her how to stand up for herself. Her mother would share simple secrets with her at the breakfast table and show her how to execute a perfect arabesque. Her mother would sit with her while she cried over her first hearbreak, and show her how to walk with confidence even when the world around her was seemingly imploding. They would argue over little things like clothes and musical taste, and agree that they are just as strong-willed and stubborn as the other. He wanted Ziva there with him as he prepared to give his daughter away at her wedding, when she was forty.

"I will bring her back." he whispered to Rachel, the baby heaved a sigh in response. Even though he had all but promised Ziva that he wouldn't go chasing after her, especially after she had pointed out that if something had happened to him, Rachel would be left without a caretaker. Oh how he longed to go storming into Leon Vance's office and demand that Ziva be returned, or her location be known to him so he could live out one of his fantasies of sweeping into the middle of the firefight, rescuing the girl, and shooting down all of the enemies in one blaze of glory. He smiled at the thought of this, and chuckled when he realized that it would be Ziva who was taking down all the enemies and blowing stuff up. "Because she's my crazy ninja chick." he said to himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The days began to drag on, and as one week ended another one began until it was noted that Ziva had been gone exactly one month. Twice she had been heard from, and each time Tony wondered if it was the last time he would hear her voice. The mood around the bullpen was tense and quiet. Gibbs was unusually grumpy, Tony was anxious and depressed and McGee was pensively waiting Abby's phone call from home saying that it was time to go to the hospital. It was also noted, that Abby's previous doctor had been way off on the diagnosis of twins, and a new doctor had proclaimed three weeks earlier that there was in fact only one baby. Much to the utter delight of McGee on a strictly financial standpoint. He was kind of looking forward to having a boy and a girl all in one shot, but he was thrilled to find out that his daughter, who was already christened with the name Caitlin Sarah, was to be born at any time.

"Special Agent McGee." he had said into his phone one very boring afternoon. "Abby? Now? Okay I'm on my way." he urgently slammed the reciever down into the cradle, mumbled something that Tony deemed incoherent, and raced out of the bullpen.

As he sped through the streets of D.C. on his way to Bethesda, where Abby had already been taken, his thoughts were on his betrothed and their coming child. Pulling his car to a jerky stop in the parking lot, he raced up to the main entrance.

"Excuse me, where's the Labor and Delivery floor?" he asked the security gaurd that manned the desk.

"Third floor to your left." the gaurd replied as Tim went through security. The alarms went off and the crusty old gaurd was immediatly on alert. "You planning on shooting up the place?" he asked of McGee when he saw the Sig holstered to Tim's shoulder.

"I'm a Federal Agent." Tim replied, reaching for his badge which for some reason wasn't on his belt.

"Uh-huh and I'm the President of the United States." the older gentleman rolled his eyes as if this sort of thing happened every day. "You got some i.d., Mr. Federal Agent?"

"Yes." Tim hastily reached into his pocket for his identification, which was not there. "Uh it was here earlier." McGee babbled on as he searched his pockets, desperate to find his i.d.

The gaurd shook his head as half a dozen uniformed police officers decended on him like flies to a dead body.

"You're going to have to come with us sir." one of the officers said as they strapped cuffs on McGee and lead him into a waiting squad car.

"Look, I'm a Federal Agent. I work for NCIS." McGee tried to reason with the officers, but they were not buying it.

"If you work for NCIS, where is your badge? Where is your identification?" one of the officers scoffed.

"My fiancee is up there about to give birth to our child. You have to let me go." Tim's voice was muffled now as the officer shut the door to the car and got in the front passenger seat. The frantic father-to-be was helplessly trying to explain to the officers that he really was NCIS, and that he really did have a fiancee that was about to have a baby. "Call Agent Gibbs. Special Agent Gibbs will vouch for me." McGee said as they hauled him into the station.

"Come with me sir." another officer stated as he removed the cuffs and slammed the door to the temporary lock-up.

"Hey I get one phone call." Tim shouted, knowing that his only phone call was not going to be the easiest.

"Alright quit your whining." the officer gave Tim the phone. McGee prayed that Gibbs would answer, and that this phone call wasn't going to be his last.

Forty minutes later, Gibbs arrived and slapped a badge and identification on the nearest desk.

"You better be glad that I don't strip you of that badge right here and now." Gibbs glowered from the other side of the bars.

"S-sorry boss, it wo-won't happen a-again." McGee stammered.

"Looks like we can't hold you." the arresting officer declared.

"Told you." McGee said as he picked up his badge, and i.d.

Gibbs drove McGee back to the hospital. This time, Tim had his badge and i.d. and was able to make it through security and up to Labor and Delivery with about half an hour to spare.

"There you are!" Abby cried out when she saw him. "Where were you I got worried."

"You will never believe it if I told you Abby." he replied, grateful that he was with her instead of locked up in jail.

"Tell me after this contraction." Abby breathed as a powerful contraction gripped her. She reached for Tim's hand, and struggled through an intense wave of pain. Once the contraction had subsided, Abby reminded her beloved that he still owed her an explanation. So, between contractions, he told her how he was arrested for leaving his badge and i.d. on his desk, and how Gibbs came to the rescue at the police station. Abby slugged his arm and pretended to be furious, only to have another wave of pain roll through her.

Twenty nine minutes after McGee arrived at the hospital, the eight pound nine ounce baby girl was placed on Abby's chest.

"We did it Abby." he said, his voice laced with tears. "She's perfect."

"Congratulations daddy." Abby said with a teary grin on her face. As she stared down at her new baby girl, she thought that Tim was right when he said she was perfect. She was a beautiful baby. With her dad's cute button nose, and her mom's dimpled cheeks, and sweet smile, she was a perfect combination of the two of them. The somewhat curly patch of blond-brown hair on her head completed the package.

"Are we still going with Caitlin Sarah?" Tim asked.

"Yes." Abby answered.

"Welcome to the world Caitlin Sarah." Tim kissed his new baby's cheek. "I love you." he whispered.

Three hours later, the "family" filed into Abby's private room, all crowding around to see the newest addition, all except Ziva who was still unaccounted for. Amid the "ooh's" and "aahh's" baby Cait's arrival was somewhat overshadowed by the gap that Ziva had left.

"Only you McGeek." Tony had chortled when news of McGee's earlier "misfortune" had been revealed. Abby reached over slapped Tony upside the head and scowled.

"Leave him alone, he feels bad enough already." she admonished.

"Sorry McDaddy." Tony said quickly. He turned to his friend, "Can I hold her yet?" he asked with mock impatience.

"Okay, but be careful." Tim passed his newborn daughter to Tony. The tiny baby didn't even flinch as she was passed from one warm and snuggly person to the other.

"Hey there Cait." Tony grinned at the baby. Little Cait frowned, much like "their" Kate had done every time Tony said her name like that. Tony's smile became a little faded as he remembered his former partner. "Well little girl, you have quite the name to live up to." Quickly he passed the baby back to her father. "Hey congratulations you guys, she's beautiful." Tony hugged Abby, who seemed to feel what he was thinking.

"We will get her back." she said to him, "It won't be like it was with Kate. Ziva will come home safe."

"I know." he replied lamely.

"You have to believe it."

"I know." he said again. "I gotta go."

Tony was sorry for his friends, worrying about him when they should be celebrating the birth of their baby. He hadn't meant to put a damper on the festivities, but he honestly didn't know what to do anymore. He missed Ziva more and more each day. Each day that passed felt, to him, like she was slipping further and further away. He knew it wasn't true, that their bond was as strong as it was the day they met, but he just couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something wasn't right. What that something was he didn't know, but oh how badly he wanted to find out.