Title: Secret Love

Author: cable_addict

Word Count:

Rating: K

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the brain baby that is this fic.

Spoilers: None that I can think of. Oh! Mentions of Honor Code, Lost and Found and Cloak and Dagger.

Challenge: 'I've Got A Secret' on NFA.

Characters: Tony DiNozzo, Ziva David, Other Character

Pairing: Tony/Ziva

Notes: Trying out a new writing style. I hope it doesn't turn anyone off. Slight AU or set in the future.

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It was a secret. A complete secret. No one knew about it. Not Gibbs. Not Ducky. Not even the director. As far as they were concerned, it wasn't even real.

Naturally, it had started with a kiss. A kiss that may or may not have been brought on by the consumption of alcohol. No one would ever know for sure.

Then one night, she had invited him in. They stayed up most of the night, watching movies, drinking, talking. It became a sort of routine. The feeling was natural. It was like they had done it a million times before. Neither of them had ever experienced normality, but they assumed that that was how it felt.

The next step was sex. Plain and simple. One thing lead to another, and they ended up in his bed. She woke up and his arms and smiled. It felt right. Surprisingly, she was the second one to wake up. He'd laid there, feeling her warmth against his body. He wasn't going to leave before she woke up. He wouldn't do that to her.

Three months later, she realized that something was wrong. She bought a pregnancy test and followed the instructions. When she got the results, she quickly took the other test that was in the box. When she got those results, she quickly ran to the store and bought several more tests. The checkout man looked at her oddly, but she ignored him. After each test came back positive, she shakily picked up the phone and called him.

He was shocked at first, but then he realized that it had to have happened sometime. He was pleased that it had happened with her and not some one-night-stand from a bar. He trusted her. He cared for her. He loved her. The realization that he loved her was more of a shock than the fact that he was going to be a father. He had chuckled at the irony and quickly rushed over to her place.

The pregnancy was easy to hide at first. She was small to begin with, so she blamed it on too many slices of pizza and too many beers after work. McGee and Abby were skeptical, but she had simply threatened them and sent them on their way. Gibbs suspected, but he could never get either he or she to confirm.

When she got into the final months of her pregnancy, she claimed that her Aunt Nettie was ill and that she was wanted back in Israel as soon as possible. This, however, was as far from the truth as it could be. She simply stayed at either her apartment, or his, preparing for the birth of their child.

He had come home one day saying that he had a surprise. They had gotten into the car and driven until they reached a downtown courthouse. She was confused, but he had expected her to be and quickly explained what they were doing. At first she was against it, but as soon as he reminded her that it was against her religion to have a child out of wedlock, she agreed that it was for the best. When they arrived back to her apartment later that night, they were legally husband and wife.

The wait for the birth wasn't much longer. On a Tuesday, she had called him around lunch time. He had run out of the office, ignoring Gibbs' orders to 'sit his ass back at his desk'. He knew that there'd be hell to pay when he got back, but at the moment, he didn't care.

He'd sped to the hospital, breaking as many laws as she had when she had first arrived to the country and sat behind the wheel. He couldn't care less that he was receiving dirty looks from the other drivers. All that was on his mind was their baby and her.

The birth was painful for both of them. She had squeezed the hell out of his hand and threatened to castrate and kill him. He had told her over and over that he loved her and whispered words of encouragement into her ear. She swore that he'd never touch her again and he hoped that she wouldn't remember anything after she held their baby in her arms.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the delivery room was filled with the cries of their creation. The nurse wrapped the pink baby up in a blanket and handed it to her. He smiled over her shoulder at the face of their child. When the nurse came in with the birth certificate and gave them the weight and length of their baby, she also gave them the time that it was born. He swore under his breath, placed a kiss on his wife and child's heads and promised that he would be back soon.

He'd rushed back to the office and tried to sneak back into the bullpen. This was, of course, unsuccessful. Gibbs had slapped him harder across the head than he had ever slapped him before. He had to, literally, bite his tongue to keep from giving the reason for his sudden leave. He'd grinned when he remembered that he was now a father and pictured his wife and child.

He had had to do extra paperwork before Gibbs finally let him leave. He'd rushed back to the hospital and even though it was well past visiting hours, he had somehow been able to convince the nurses to turn their heads the other way. That night, he slept next to his wife in the hospital bed, their baby in a bed next to them.

Months past, and mother, father and child were living happily together in his apartment. A soft cry from the room down the hall caused him to, automatically, roll out of bed and head towards his child's room. He gently picked the wriggling bundle up and made his way over to the rocking chair that was next to the crib. He rocked and sang to the baby until it's eyes began to droop shut.

"You are great with her." Ziva said sleepily from the doorway.

Tony smiled gently and placed his daughter back in her crib. "Who woulda thought, right?"

Ziva crept behind him and placed an arm around his neck. "I always knew that you were good with children."

He rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his daughter's dark hair.

She smirked. "Zach and Carson."

"Amanda." Tony remembered and she nodded.

"I am not at all surprised that you are good with her." She placed a kiss behind his ear and turned towards the door.

"Hey, Ziva?" She turned and looked at him. "Thank you." He swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "Thank you."

She nodded, not needing an explanation for what the 'thank you' was for. "No Tony, thank you."

He smiled softly as she left the room before turning his whole attention back to his daughter. "Good night sweetie, I love you."