Here we go! Chapter 30! Enjoy :-)

I DO NOT own NCIS or anything related to it…just thought you should know!

Kate laid in bed, the covers pulled tightly around her, trying her best to find the strength to move out of the bed but had none of her own so settle on waiting for the wave of nausea building in her stomach to increase enough to force her out of the bed and into the bathroom. Until then, she simply laid in bed, eyes closed, trying to block out the thoughts in her head that had put her there.

She felt the cool air rush in as the covers rose. The bed dipped ever so slightly as the presence slide close to Kate. Stillness took over as Kate felt the warm breath brush her face. The cold chill of the finger touching the tip of her nose caused Kate to laugh to herself.

"Morning sweetie," whispered Kate, reaching out to wrap her arm around her daughter, pulling her close to her. Kissing the seven year old on the head, she sighed as she felt Arissa's warm body snuggle into hers.

"Are you going to come eat breakfast, Mommy?" asked Arissa.

"No, I'm not hungry sweetie."

"Daddy made pancakes."

"My stomach isn't feeling up to pancakes right now."

"The baby doesn't want it."

"No, I don't think so."

"Are you going to stay home again today?"

"Maybe just for a little while."

"You want me to stay home with you?"

"I wish you could but you have school."

"It's Friday, it will be okay."

"No, you have missed enough school for one year," Kate ran a finger over Arissa's casted arm. "But I would love some cuddle time later on."

"Me too!" smiled Arissa, giving Kate a kiss on the cheek. "I love you!"

"Love you, too!"

Arissa rubbed Kate's stomach. "Love you too, baby!" Arissa got out of bed and left the room.

Kate breathed a heavy sigh before pulling the covers over her head.

Arissa hopped down the stairs to the kitchen where Tony and the boys sat eating their breakfast.

"Hey, no Mommy?" asked Tony.

"She said the baby doesn't want breakfast," Arissa sat down in her chair. "Is she okay? See seems sad a lot lately."

"I noticed."

"I no think she happy about the new baby," said Alex, sticking an oversized piece of pancake in his mouth.

"She no sad about the baby, she sad cause she no want to move to Ohio!" said Aiden, picking at a piece of egg.

Tony looked at his son. "How do you know about that?"

"I listen when you and Mommy was talking."

"You were ease dropping?"

"No! I was listening to you talk! You say we need to move to Nozzo States cause it got more room and then Mommy started looking sad."

"We're moving to Ohio?' asked Arissa.

"Mommy and I are thinking about it."

"I no want to live in Nozzo States, Daddy!" said Alex.

"Me either!" added Arissa.

"Why not?" asked Tony.

"Cause we like living here!" said Alex.

"Yeah! It's not the same there as it is here! We were all by ourselves there!" said Arissa.

"Well, if we lived there I'm sure you guys would make friends who could come over."

"It's not just friends. We don't have our family there!"

"Yes, you will! Me, Mommy, the boys and the new baby will all be there!"

"Yeah but the whole family! The team!"

"The team?"

"They're our family too! If we move then we won't be a family anymore!"

"The team means a lot to you guys, huh?"

"Yeah, we love them!" said Alex. "You and Mommy love them too, right Daddy?"

"Yeah, we do."

"Then why we gots to move away? We no want to move and Mommy no want to move, we should just stay here so she can be happy!" said Aiden.

"Yeah! Let's stay here so Mommy can be happy again and we can be family!" said Alex, opening his mouth to eat a piece of pancake only for it to fall to the ground for Pudding to eat.

Later that morning, Tony sat at his desk, replaying his conversation with his children in his head.

McGee and Ziva rounded the corner.

"Morning Tony," said the Israeli, heading to her desk to put her things down.

"Morning," replied Tony, unconsciously biting on the nail that barely existed on his thumb.

"Something wrong?" asked McGee.

"No, why do you ask?" The thumb in Tony's mouth muffled his speech.

"Well, you are biting your nail. It's a sign of worry or nervousness."

Tony removed his thumb from his mouth, wiping the moisture off on his pants. "Got a lot on my mind."

"Care to share?"

"I'm worried about Kate."

"Is she okay? I thought she was cleared for work on Monday? She hasn't been in all week."

"According to my three year old, it's because she's upset about us moving us moving to Ohio."

McGee and Ziva got quiet.

"You are moving to Ohio?" asked Ziva.

"Thinking about it."

"I thought you and Kate agreed to stay here?"

"Things changed."

Ziva and McGee shared a look with one another.

"What?"

"Nothing," said McGee.

"That wasn't a nothing look."

"Just surprised, that's all!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ziva and McGee said nothing.

"What? You don't want us to go?"

"Of course we don't want you to go, Tony! But you have to do what is best for your family. That means moving to Ohio, so be it. What matters most is your family and their well-being," said Ziva.

"That's not what I asked you."

Ziva looked at McGee. "Fine, I will not lie. The thought of you and Kate leaving saddens me. I often see the team as something of a surrogate family. I feel a kinship to you and Kate and I am more than honored to be able to be an aunt to Arissa, Alex and Aiden. It's hard to imagine not having you or your family around."

"I'm with Ziva," said McGee. "Things won't be the same without you guys."

"You two sound like my kids," said Tony.

"Have you told Gibbs about you moving?" asked McGee.

"We're still just thinking about it. Nothing is really set in stone yet. I'm starting to get a feeling this may not be a good idea."

"Is this move absolutely necessary?" asked Ziva.

"Moving, yes. We can't stay in that house we're in anymore."

"Why not?"

"Too small."

"Too small? It's a three bedroom house, there is only the five of you," said McGee.

"Soon to be six, Kate's pregnant."

Ziva's face lit up. "Kate is pregnant?"

"Yeah, that's why we need to move. We have nowhere to put a new baby, and hopefully it's just one!"

"Just one what?" asked Abby, walking into the office, Caf-Pow in hand.

"Tony was just telling us he was thinking about moving to Ohio," said Ziva.

"What?" exclaimed Abby. "Why?"

"Tony and Kate are in need of a bigger house so he feels that it is best that they move to DiNozzo Estates."

"Bigger house for what?"

"Kate's pregnant," said Tony.

Abby's eyes grew bigger as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my God! Kate's having another baby?"

"Yeah!"

The happy look in Abby's eyes quickly turned to anger as she punched Tony in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Are you out of your mind? You can't move to Ohio! There is another DiNozzo baby on the way, how am I supposed to love and hug my babies if they are halfway across the country?"

"Abby, we need more room. DiNozzo Estates has the space we need."

"And so do plenty of houses around here! You're a millionaire you can have any house you want why are you moving?"

"We were only thinking about it!"

Abby punched Tony again. "Stop thinking about it!"

"Would you stop hitting me?"

"No! I can't believe you would even think about leaving the team! What does Kate think about this?"

"Tony thinks the reason Kate has been out sick all week is because she doesn't want to move," said McGee.

"She's at home sick because of this?" Abby hit Tony again.

"You know for us to be a "family" we are very violent towards one another!" said Tony.

"You are not moving! I forbid you!"

"You forbid me?"

"Yes! Now you go home and you tell Kate that you're not moving so she can stop stressing herself out about this and focus on my new DiNozzo baby growing inside her!"

"What if I don't?"

Abby's eyes narrowed as she stepped closer to Tony.

"Kate always said there is a reason why I didn't have sisters growing up, now I know why." Tony reached down to grab his things and when he stood up Gibbs was right in front of him.

"Going somewhere, DiNozzo?" asked Gibbs.

Tony hesitated. His arm stinging from Abby's blows he hated to feel what Gibbs would do if he knew about them moving. "Um, Kate still isn't feeling well. I was going to go check on her."

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just a case of the blahs. She should be better soon."

Gibbs studied Tony's face. "Keep your phone on."

"I will." Tony breathed a sigh of relief as he walked towards the elevator.

"Oh Tony…"

Tony froze. "Yeah, Boss?"

"Congratulations on the baby."

"Thanks, Boss."

"Just know the next time you think about leaving my team, it won't be because you are moving, it I'll be because I'm having your ass transferred!"

Tony laughed. "You wouldn't transfer me and Kate!"

"Not Kate, just you!"

Tony arrived home and slowly made his upstairs to his bedroom. Standing in his bedroom door, he looked upon Kate, still asleep in their bed. Tony walked over and sat down next to her sleeping form. Placing a kiss on her cheek, he watched as her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Hey," said Kate, half asleep. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize," said Tony.

"Apologize for what?"

"For this. For you being laid up in bed all week, not going to work, barely eating! This is my fault and I'm sorry!"

"Tony, this has nothing to do with you. I just don't feel well."

"You don't feel well because you don't want to move to Ohio. You like our children and our very vocal team, rather we be here than in Ohio."

"I never said that."

"But that's what you're thinking! That's why you are acting like this! You don't want to move."

Kate slowly sat up in bed. "Is it that obvious?"

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I was trying to be supportive."

"By making yourself sick?"

"Some of that had to do with your kid living inside of me."

Tony placed his hand on Kate's stomach. "Well you can both rest easy because we are not moving."

"We're not?"

"I thought moving to Ohio would be more convenient, not having to look for a house and all but after talking to our kids and seeing what it's done to you, I realized moving isn't a good idea. I'm not moving anywhere that makes my wife or my kids unhappy. I would rather us be cramped in this house than to have to see you the way you have been for the last week."

"You sure, Tony?"

"I'm positive! Plus, I'm a little concerned what would happen to the team if we aren't here! Those people are very attached to us! Not that it's a surprise, DiNozzos have that effect on people."

"So, you're not mad?"

Tony rolled into bed, pulling Kate into his arms, hearing her laugh for the first time in days. "No, I'm not mad! To be honest, I really didn't want to move either, I just thought it was the right thing to do but clearly I was wrong! I just hope you two can forgive me."

Kate gently kissing Tony. "We forgive you! But what are we going to do about a house?"

"You let me worry about that. You just focus on baby DiNozzo in there!"

Kate relaxed into Tony's embrace. Holding his wife in his arms, he unconsciously started to counting the breaths that Kate took, breaths that several weeks ago were nearly taken away from him for good, now those breathes were not only breathing for her but for a new life inside of her.

Tony laughed to himself. "Never would have thought that after all we went through these past few months that we would have a happy ending?"

"Of course we would have had a happy ending. We had each other through all of it. As long we are together we will always have a happy ending."

"Well, here's to our happy ending," Tony pecked Kate on the lips. "And our new beginning," He kissed her again.

"Have I told you I love you lately?"

Tony smiled. "No, I don't think so."

"I love you, Anthony DiNozzo, Jr.!"

"I love you too, Caitlin Lauren DiNozzo!" Tony leaned down to kiss Kate again but was blocked by her covering her mouth before she darted out of bed straight to the bathroom. "Yeah, this new beginning is going to be great!"

The Heart of the Matter

A SportyLovatic FanFiction

That's it kiddies, the end! What do you think? As always your reviews and comments are welcomed. I would love to do this again, that is if you are still game for some more Tate? I just want to thank all of you for reading and for all your great reviews and comments. I especially want to thank you for sticking with me through the elongated update breaks, I am ever grateful! So in parting, I wish you love, peace and Tate :-)