Last chapter so...I'd like to say thanks for all the reviews and the GUEST reviews..and faves, follows and all that cool stuff

I do not own ncis

xxx

Tim dragged his feet into the bullpen to find Ziva and Gibbs at their desks. Ziva was busily, clicking away at her keys. "Honey, what are you still doing here, you didn't have to wait for me. You must be exhausted."

"No, McGee, actually I haven't felt this great in weeks; lots of energy-" Ziva looked up noticing McGee's pink cheeks and glassy eyes. "Oooo, ..unlike yourself, I see. You don't look so good."

"I think I am coming down with something. Sore throat, chills.. it's not good." He left his jacket on, making his way to his desk. He couldn't seem to get warm enough. He slowly sat back in his chair, feeling relieved to be off his feet.

"Oh, poor baby." Ziva hopped out of her chair, starting towards him, but he quickly put his hands up.

"Oh, no you don't, I don't want you catching this."

She stopped midway, "Well...then lets go. We'll stop off at the store and pick up some medicine, plus I am craving apples."

"Apples? Really?"

"Well, not just any apples, the green, Fanny Smith ones."

"Well, I think they are called Granny Smith, Ziva." Gibbs chuckled. Tim smiled at her, from across the bullpen, endearingly.

Tony walked in followed by Kate. Tim looked up and smiled excitedly towards Tony's wife. Ever since he had seen her at Gibbs' house he couldn't stop smiling at her. She no longer worked on Gibbs' team, having been transferred, but the team was fortunate enough to be able to have her fill-in as a temporary, during Ziva's pregnancy since she had been restricted to desk duty for the last week.

"So...were you able to apprehend Miller or is he still out on the loose?" Asked Ziva to no one in particular.

"No,we weren't. And, the longer he's free the more of a chance some other innocent soul will lose their life," Answered Kate. "Tony and I are heading home for a few hours to get some sleep then going back out early morn-"
"Pick me up-"
"No,Timmy. You sleep this one out. We got it. Now go on, and get home, McGoo. Make sure you take it easy and don't even think of coming in tomorrow if you're still sick and full of all those nasty germs." Answered Tony,wincing.

Kate stood at Tony's desk waiting for him to collect his things when she felt eyes on her back. She turned to find McGee sitting at his desk with a goofy grin, despite how miserable he felt. "Tim, why are you so happy today? Every time I look at you, you have a big, happy grin on your face."

"I, uh...dunno." Tim itched his nose trying to refocus his attention onto paperwork piled on his desk.

Gibbs was finishing up a report, when he glanced up towards his team, "Go on you guys, get outta here. I want to hear from Ziva that you went straight to bed, Tim." Gibbs pointed at his nephew.

"You got it, Gibbs!" Ziva steered Tim away from his desk as Gibbs looked over his glasses sternly towards Tim. Tim gulped then nodded with a small wave.

Once his team had left the bullpen and it was quiet, Gibbs couldn't help but smile, enjoying the quiet, yet, missing their banter.

xxx

Tim drove, pulling up to the convenience store that was closest to their apartment, parking along the sidewalk. Tim felt beat, glancing at Ziva with half-closed eyes. A movement behind her on the sidewalk caught his eye. A little boy with black hair, holding a skateboard under his arm ran to the convenience store, entering it. A flood of memories bombarded Tim like a wave in the ocean. This was the place, the store it had all happened,the place where Ziva had been gunned down. Now, he knew this was what Tony had been talking about; he automatically knew what he was suppose to do.

"Tim, you look exhausted, I will go in and get the items that we need, it will not take longer than-"

"No! Ziva...I'll go in-"

Ziva looked at him, puzzled. "Tim, you are sick, you have a fever, I can do this! Now settle down."

"Zeevs, I have to get the certain medicine I'm not allergic to, plus its no big deal, so, sit back and relax."

"Tim, I know what medicine it is that I can't get, besides, I'm just...pregnant, I can handle this-"

"Ziva I insist." He raised a hand to stop her negotiating and she leaned back in the passenger seat with a huff, folding her arms over her chest.

"Well...when we get home, you will let me take care of you, and, help you get rid of this cold. And you will not give me any difficulties, all right?"

"You got it." Tim felt relieved he had convinced her to wait. He patted his jacket to make sure he had his wallet then looked into her eyes with a strong gaze, squeezing her hand, before he exited.

"Okay, now hurry up Tim so we can get home and I can get you into bed." She yelled towards him, smiling coyly. She, then picked up a magazine that sat on the backseat, to fill her time while she waited. Tim gave her a quick wave just before he opened the door to the store, immediately spotting the little boy with black hair across the aisles, getting a good look at him. To Tim, he looked too young to be out on his own, after dark, maybe no more than seven years old. The kid showed no interest in him as he scooted through the aisles. Tim sighed, keeping close to him as he kept his eye out for any unusual activity. The boy ran past him holding a quart of milk,bringing it to the counter to check out. The cashier was a young man, probably no older than his early twenties.

The bell rang over the door, and Tim's breath caught in his chest. Two men with black, winter caps pulled over their faces charged the counter holding guns. The boy yelled and started to panic, unable to control his fear. One of the men aimed his gun at the cashier as the other grabbed the boy by the collar trying to cover his mouth while still holding his gun.

"Shut up kid!" yelled the one with his eyes fixed on the cashier.

The kid began to cry. Tim stood, hiding behind a shelf, anticipating their next move. He could alert Ziva but he didn't want to take a chance of getting her involved; he didn't think it would be safe for her to be in this predicament again. He truly believed he was the one to face this challenge on his own.

"If you can't shut that kid up, shoot him!"

The boy yelled louder encouraging Tim to approach them while drawing his weapon. "NCIS Special Agent! Drop your weapons!" The assailants showed no obvious intentions of surrendering and Tim could see that both the cashier and boy were in immediate danger of being shot.

"Drop it Fed or they die!" Tim hesitated, seeing the fear in the cashier's face as he stood there unable to move. The child cried out louder when the robber pulled him closer, jamming the gun into his throat.

"All right, all right." He raised his hands then started to, cunningly take small steps towards them, lowering his arms to place the gun on the floor.

"Stop! Don't move! I see what you're doing. Joe, get his gun!" The one nearest to the register ordered the other; holding the kid. Tim raised his arms higher. The man holding the boy stepped closer to Tim, grabbing his gun. Tim could see the boy was coming undone, trembling and crying in fear. The child abruptly screamed out in frustration and the man at the counter aimed his gun towards the boy, quickly, cocking the hammer. Tim dove towards the boy, pushing him out of the line of fire, without a moment to think. Two shots rang out before he hit the ground.

xxx

Ziva lost interest in the magazine she was reading and glanced towards the store seeing Tim through the plate glass windows, at the back of the store, gliding to another aisle where she could no longer see him. She smiled, as a warm sensation filled her body. She was eager to get home so she could enjoy the rest of the evening nursing him back to health and to help return him back to his ol' self.

She resumed to reading her magazine but was then disrupted when she heard a child screaming; coming from inside the store. She scanned the windows of the store unable to see what the problem was, puzzled, until she noticed two men wearing ski masks, pulled over their faces with guns trained on the cashier and a small boy. She could not see Tim at that point. She watched, intently as she quickly speed-dialed Gibbs while getting her weapon from the glove compartment.

She instinctively screamed when two shots rang out, simultaneously seeing Tim diving forward near one of the masked men. She panicked when she couldn't see him, once he had fallen out of her line of vision. The two men exited the store running in the opposite direction, down the street as she exited the car with no time to prepare to stop them. She ignored the voice on the other line of her phone, still holding it in her hand, forgetting about the call. Her heart was beating wildly as she tried to control her fear of what she would find. The cashier almost ran her down coming out of the store, frantically yelling. "They shot him!"

"Please! Sir-"
"They shot the...the police man-"
"Please, you need to wait out here, sir!"
The man began to run his hand through his hair as he leaned against the outside of the store's brick wall, his eyes darting around him.

The bell rang over the door as she entered, as she cautiously called Tim's name. A small boy was sitting on the floor, quietly crying, hugging his bent legs to his chest with his chin on his knees. A quart of milk lay on the floor spilled, close by. "Little boy...honey. It is okay, I am a Federal Agent, I can help you. Are you injured?" The child shook his head. She followed his eyes as she walked to find Tim's still form in an aisle. "Tim!"

Tim lay on his back, his arms stretched outward to his sides. Ziva darted to his side realizing he wasn't breathing, his chest, still. "Tim!" She pulled him into her arms. "Timothy! Answer me!" She noted no sign of blood as she ran her hands over his chest and stomach, looking closely for any signs of a gunshot wound. She shook him, frustrated, "Answer me, dammit!" Still unresponsive, she checked his pulse, finding it faint. It suddenly dawned on her; the case he, Tony and Kate had been assigned, during the day. Their mission was to apprehend a dangerous killer, so...he must have his vest on! She ripped open his shirt, gasping to find he was wearing his bulletproof vest. The breath she had been holding escaped her lips. "Tim, honey?" He suddenly arched, gasping loudly, his eyes opening, wide. He grabbed his chest then ripped through the velcro to release his vest. His hands pressed on his chest with the desire to relieve the pain the bullets had caused.

He coughed as she pulled him close to her chest, crying with relief.

While the coughing subsided, Tim lay there, an instant flood of memories returning to him; Shannon reading a story to him and Kelly when they were six, building a tree house with Gibbs when he was ten, handing Tony the wedding rings during his wedding ceremony, holding Jackie during her Christening, babysitting little Timothy with Ziva, and the endless amount of memories continued. The onset of strong emotions of each event breathed exhilaration into his lungs as they became a part of him. He wrapped his arms around Ziva's waist pressing his face into her stomach, his eyes squeezed shut as he inhaled deeply; the joy of the new learned memories and the accomplishment of saving Ziva and his daughter, almost too much to bare.

Epilogue:

Tim, Ziva, Tony, Kate, Gibbs, Shannon and Jackie sat around the Gibbs' living room, watching a late night movie that Tony convinced them all to watch in honor of Ziva's 'about-to-give-birth state'. She had been experiencing frequent, mild contractions throughout the day that hadn't yet become consistent or overwhelmingly painful.

The movie was a 1980's classic starring Molly Ringwald and... some other guy,stated Tony. Kate sat on the couch next to Tony with Jackie curled up in her lap. "Tony, I don't know if our daughter should be watching this, its about a girl in high school that gets pregnant-"

Tony had his fingers in front of his lips, "Shhh."

"Oh. She's sleeping?" Kate whispered as she craned her head down to admire her child sleeping in her lap. Tony smiled then leaned over kissing Kate. "Sleeps like an angel, just like her mom."

"I don't see how this is at all beneficial to watch Tony-" Ziva abruptly stopped talking to take hold of her stomach.

Tim had been in the kitchen cooking popcorn when he was by Ziva's side, instantly; holding her hand. "What hon? What is it?" He watched Ziva and could tell she was waiting for another contraction as she looked at her watch to see if it was time. It was obvious when she yelled in pain within five minutes.

"Hey, you guys better go, that baby is coming fast." Shannon spoke calmly, sitting beside Ziva. Tim looked at her with wide eyes then back at Ziva as she nodded to him. Tim smiled, looking at Ziva through the tears that blurred his vision, hugging her tightly, "I love you, Ziva."

"I love you, too, Tim. Now no more dawdling, let's go!"