"You can't dress it up, in lace or rhinestones. Don't matter if you're in a crowd, or home all alone."

"Count to a million. I'm on my way."

"I will be waiting."

By the time his flight landed in Israel at 11:00 PM local time he was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. During the flight, he had imagined every possible scenario for how this meeting with Ziva would go, from holding her in his arms and vowing never to let them go to her declining all help and him getting on a return flight to America never to see them again, although he refused to accept the latter. In a perfect situation, she would come back to D.C. with him where they would raise their child together. He could already picture a little girl with Ziva's complexion, unruly hair, and beautiful eyes and his mischievous smile. The sound of a man grumbling in Hebrew brought him out of his thoughts and he quickly collected his bag that just appeared on the carousel. He began walking toward the exit to catch a cab when he saw her out of the corner of his eye, holding a sign that read "Daddy to Be."

After replying to Tony that she would be waiting for him, she quickly became nervous about seeing him in person again and how he would react now that he's had time to process her news. Would he hug her hard and beg her to come home with him? Or would he decide he wanted nothing to do with either of them and leave before she could even talk to him? Not wanting to think about the what-ifs, she begins putting her plan in place for meeting him at the airport. She heads to her office and grabs paper and a pen, ready to write a welcome sign like she had seen in many movies she had watched with him. It took a lot of thought, but she finally came up with the perfect greeting, wrote it out quickly, and then placed the paper on her kitchen table where she would be sure to grab it before heading to the airport. His plane wouldn't be landing for another five hours, so she decided a nap was needed so they would have plenty of time to talk when he arrived.

The grin spreading across his face at the sight of her sign was contagious as a smile broke across her face. He paused to take her in before walking quickly to meet her in the middle, as she had started walking towards him. Not sure where to start, they both whispered a shaky "Hi" and laughed that they were still in-synch even after almost a month apart. Setting down his bag, he slowly stepped toward her, bringing a hand up to touch her shoulder. Immediately, she dropped the sign and stepped into him and his arms came up to encircle her, pulling her into an intimate embrace. Tears were now falling from each's eyes at the emotions hit them that they were finally together again. They stayed that way for several minutes before Ziva pulled back, wiping at her eyes, only this time his hand came up to cradle her cheek and he used his thumb to brush away the tears that were still falling.

"Look at me, I am a mess." He tilted his head to the side and stared at her with nothing but adoration in his eyes.

"You, Ziva David, are not a mess." The smile she gave him verified that he had said the right thing so he continued. "Besides, if anyone's a mess here I am." Ziva lightly shook her head and brought her hand up to wipe the few tears that were left remaining on his cheeks.

"You, Anthony DiNozzo, are definitely not a mess either. But if you were, then I guess we can be a mess together."

"Together. Gosh I really love that word coming from you." They suddenly realized that they must look ridiculous, standing close together in the middle of an airport, crying, and stepped back from one another. He leaned down and grabbed his luggage and the "Daddy-to-be" sign she had previously held. Taking the sign, he tried to place it on his shirt by tucking the corners into his shirt collar but it fell, fluttering to the floor. This time, Ziva bent over and picked it up, pulled out two bobby pins from her hair, and clipped it to his shirt.

"There, now it will stay." The look she gave him made him think she wasn't just talking about the sign and gave him hope for their future.

"So Mommy-to-be, ready?" She smiled at his label for her, thinking it was ridiculous but loving it at the same time. Falling into step beside him as they walked toward the exit, she reached down and grabbed his hand and squeezed.

"Oh yes, I am very ready." They headed to her car hand-in-hand with smiles on their faces, ready for the next step.

Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed so far! I am overwhelmed at the amount of response this story has received, every review fuels me to keep writing so please keep them coming! This is not the end of the story, I expect one or two more chapters after this one, maybe more if I really get into a groove.