Dropping the Bomb...

Ziva paced in front of Nick’s large log home wondering why everyone else thought it was uninviting.   The fireplace inside was huge with a wide stone hearth that called for, well, sex. 

Damn!  Why did it always come back to sex in her mind?

Probably because she was as needy as her family and wanted to indulge in their kinky play again.  It had been far too long since they’d actually played.  Oh there was the outdoor sex, but that was before Thanksgiving and it was now after Christmas.

Of course, in the days between then and now had been filled with reconnecting, just not physically.  She’d hoped and planned for wicked Christmas sex, but instead she’d gotten Reetha–her past bestie and major pain in the ass. 

Mildly exhausted and nauseated, Ziva dug and snuffled through inches of snow to reach the frozen grass.  It tasted nasty, but it would get the job done.  Hopefully, the resulting puke would settle her stomach long enough to plead her case with Nick before he caught her new and improved scent. 

It didn’t take very many of the frozen blades for nature to take its course.  She bolted around the back of the house, deeper into the woods, but not out of hearing distance.  She needed to make sure he didn’t leave before she was done changing the color of the snow.

“Unbelievable, urReetha!”

“Shuddup, Looney Mooney.”

Damn it!  Ziva gagged as quietly as possible in her wolf form, not wanting to be overheard.
What were Reetha and Mooney doing here?  She’d planned to say her peace and give Nick the news in private.  Last she’d heard from Marissa, Reetha was spending some time, this time, with her and Mooney, getting to know the boys.  What had changed?

“You return from California, where you’ve conveniently been living without telling anyone, at Christmas and then when I let you spend time with your nephews you give me that?  In front of Marissa as well?  Fucking Lupa…”

“It was a gift…who knew you’d decided to go ape.  Last I knew you had a powerful thing for that Kitty chick.  So really the gift was perfect … it looked just like her.”

“Don’t refer to Marissa as an ape!  Ever!”

Ziva continued to heave, hoping the duo…

“ENOUGH!”

… make that a trio now that Vernon had bellowed, would move on and leave Nick free.

“Pops” “Daddy”

“Both of you hush.  Now, Mooney …”

“Oh sure, the old boys club strikes again.  Why ask Looney first, huh?  Favoritism much?”

“Reetha, that’s an old, ridiculous, argument.  I love you all the same.  Why, I’m not sure sometimes, but I do.  Now, I know your position.  You bought Mooney a present.  I want to know why he has a problem with it … Son?”

“It was both the picture and the delivery I’m angry over…”

“The delivery?  I thought that was ingenious.”

“Of course you did, but that was the worst part.  You showed a picture of a cat to my family and said that you’d brought me a…”

“Little pussy for Christmas … acha…cha…cha.”

Ziva groaned and not from just the typically bad joke from Reetha, but more from the full body regurg that was happening not twenty feet from the front door.

“All of you shut up. Now!”

“What is it, Nick?”  “Son?” “What no laugh about my delivery?”

“Anyone hear that?”

“Hear what?” “Seriously, ‘a little pussy’ along with the picture.  Good right.”

“It sounded like a sick animal and its scent is … off.”

Great.  She could hear footsteps coming around the house, but was still gack deep in vomit.

“My one-liner gets dismissed for some sick wolf?  Just shoot it.  I have a gun here in my purse.”

“NO!  That’s Ziva.” 

The bellow startled her down to her toes and the last thing she witnessed was an enraged Nick attacking his sister and Reetha giving her a wink and a smile as she went down.  Then darkness.  Blessed darkness.

##

Ziva came to snuggled and warm, wrapped in a blanked that smelled of Nick, the night before coming back to her slowly.  Nervous, nauseated and being too short on cash to feed herself and the other three women in her family, she’d not eaten or drunk enough in the last few days and it had caught up to her at the worst time.

“Something you want to tell me?”

Startled, Ziva covered her stomach under the blanket and turned to look at her love.  “Ah, I …”

“Wait.”  Nick held up his hand and stopped any fib she may have been about to tell with his next words.  “Lou was out a few hours ago and gave you a clean bill of health for someone four weeks along who is sorely lacking adequate liquids and food.  Now, what would you like to tell me?”

“It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle?”

##

Nick blew out a breath and counted backwards from five.  He could not lose his temper here, not now and not with, oh Lupa, the mother of his cub.   “I shouldn’t be surprised our child would be created from a game of naked chase.”

“Ha…true, but we’re not naming her Chase.”

“What makes you think that little mustard seed is a girl?  I’ve decided to only make boys…”

“Well that’s sexist of you.  You have something against girls?”

Nick grinned.  Even as nervous as she had to be in this situation, she hid it well.  “I like women…one in particular, but having a daughter with her beautiful face and soulful eyes would kill me.  Or land me in jail when I killed anyone to cross her sweetness.  Boys I can teach to fight, to rule.  A girl…”

“Can fight and rule just the same, Mr. Editor Man.”

Any daughter of theirs, with her mother’s genes would be one hell of a fighter and he would make sure she ruled well, the one area her mother struggled with.  “When’s the last time you ate, Z?”

“Dahm-bfnoer yesterday.”  She mumbled.

At least she had the sense not to lie outright to him.  Hedging he wasn’t crazy about, but he’d count again and stay cool.  “There’s saltines and clear soda on the bedside table.  Get some in and we’ll get you up and fed real food when you’re ready.”

“Sweet Lupa,” she mumbled again, thinking he wouldn’t hear as she started to eat.

“Have you been making sure your family eats before you again?”

“I’m responsible for them, Nick,” she huffed.  “You know what that’s like so don’t give me shite for it.”

“You now have a responsibility to our child…”  Nick once again held up a hand to halt her response. 
“That being said, you will take your meals here or wherever I am and let your family eat whatever is at your house.  You will also come back to work so you have money to feed your tribe.  That does not mean I expect you back in my bed, but I would like the chance to earn my way back into yours.  What do you think?

“Yes, so very much yes.”
~~~

Well, Nick took that better than I'd given him credit for in the past.  Now, Ziva needs to get on with the fessing up about her part in Reetha's running away.

Stay tuned...

Next week we'll be Blog Hopping into the New Year.  More details to come.

Keep warm,
Serena